The Brook's Personality

Everyone has a slightly different view on the personality of their favorite characters. There are some things that are considered constant.

Brooklyn is the sarcastic one.

But is that all he is? Just one big red bundle of sarcasm?

Hardly. Who wants a one dimensional character?

Apart from Goliath, in my eyes, Brooklyn is the most well developed of all the Manhattan Gargoyles.

The other gargoyles are relatively stereotypical.

Broadway, the big goofy one that likes to eat and is sweet.

Lexington, the smart nerdy one that is somewhat naive.

Hudson, the old grumpy one with a heart of gold.

Bronx... he's a dog, okay? Loyal, not too bright and somewhat slobbery.

(Yes yes, I realize that Brooklyn could be stereotyped as the 'jaded cool dude'. My blog. My rules. Brooklyn = Awesome.)

Goliath has deep anger and passion. He reads, not just books and magazines, but literature and art. He has a deep sense of right and wrong. He loves deeply and hates strongly, but has the capacity for forgiveness. He does what is right, because it is right, even if it is not easy.

Then there's Brooklyn.

Brooklyn's sarcastic side hides a sensitive nature.

Of all the younger Gargoyles, Brooklyn takes censure the heaviest.

He is literate (to the point where since awakening in Manhattan, has read Shakespeare (albeit he didn't know Shakespeare wrote a play called Macbeth)), likes music and motorcycles, has eternal hope that he'll make friends with the humans he meets and will one day find love.

He helps people and has such dejection in his frame, eyes, posture, when they rebuff him.

He has strong passions, putting his heart into everything that he does. He does what is right, even though it breaks him to do it.

And sure, one could argue that all the Gargoyles are the same. Broadway isn't just a mouth with wings. Lexington doesn't come across as a stereo instruction booklet. Hudson isn't a stunt double from 'Grumpy Old Men'.

To my eyes, Brooklyn just has more of the qualities that make him a real character, a character that not only do you grow to like, but that has the potential to develop in your heart, that has the ability to make you care when he is hurt, feel when he is injured and grin at his triumphs and jokes not just because the jokes are funny, but because it is Brooklyn who is saying them in his Brooklynish way.

Brooklyn covers his soft heart with his sarcasm and jaded comments. He hides his heart behind a gruff exterior because that is what he has experienced, and what he knows. When he has the chance to let his heart live, with close moments with his brothers, his clan, his family, his friends, the gentle warmth is so much deeper than what is exhibited by the easy smiles of Broadway and Lexington.

He sounds sarcastic and at times, unconcerned and uncaring about what is going on to others and himself, but his actions always speak louder than his words.

He delivers statements in a deadpan manner that make people do double takes.

And while he can seem more headstrong and given to harebrained ideas than his brothers, he mostly reserves that right for when (pre-Timedancer) he encounters Demona, otherwise, he is more likely to think a course of action through and to plan situations.

Some quotes where I draw my inspiration for Brooklyn:

From Temptation:

Demona: Don't be afraid. I just want to talk.
Brooklyn: Uh huh? Yeah, last time we met you just wanted to blow me away with a bazooka.
...
Lexington: Hey, what happened to the motorcycle?
Brooklyn: Um...it blew up.
Lexington: Oh. What?!

From Her Brother's Keeper:

Broadway: Feel the air currents. Use them, just like you do with your wings.
Brooklyn: Yeah, use the Force, Lex.
...

Lexington: Don't worry. I'll tell you what has to be done.

Brooklyn: Oh, yeah? You and what Starfleet?

From A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time:

Broadway: Well I can't read and I don't think I'm missing anything.
Brooklyn: Uh huh. Ignorance is bliss. Right, Hudson?
Hudson: Ughh, leave me out of this, it's time for Celebrity Hockey.

From Kingdom:

Hudson: I thought you didn't want to lead us, lad.
Brooklyn: This has nothing to do with what *I* want. You'd better come along this time, Hudson. We'll need all the help we can get.
Hudson: Is that an order?
Brooklyn: Yeah, I guess it is.

From The Mirror:
Brooklyn: Yeah, that guy Shakespeare wrote a play about them: A Midsummer's Night Dream.

From Upgrade:
Lexington: [the Pack is escaping] We can't just let them get away!
Brooklyn: Helping Goliath is more important!
...
Brooklyn: Goliath and Hudson might be in danger. Do we have a choice?
...
Lexington: You may be afraid to fight without Goliath, *I'm* not!
Broadway: Me neither!
Brooklyn: Guys, we won't get two chances at this... I have a plan.

When I attempt to write fan fiction that involves Brooklyn, these are all the things that I try to incorporate into the character when he speaks, moves, plans, acts and feels.

As I stated in my first blog post... writing a character that is NOT mine, that I did not create and know the ins and outs of intimately because he is, in every way, mine... is a mental challenge that I find myself enjoying far more than I thought I would.

I admit to the temptation to rewrite some things, revision 'history' the way I want it to be at times. But I respect the writings of the canon Gargoyles and the 4 Season Timedancer archive that I found too much to do that.

Instead, I play a game where I focus on staying within the carefully defined lines of what Brooklyn would and would not do, say and would not say, and feel and would not feel.

I give myself the ability to flesh out certain aspects of his character, how he'd move and fight. In the cartoon, Brooklyn is... well... cartoonish at times. It only makes sense. I have the ability in what I write to try to make him appear less cartoonish, but at the same time keep the same essential concepts that make Brooklyn so very endearingly Brooklyn.

My latest 'work in progress' came to me out of nowhere. It's... well, it's a crossover of an early Timedancer dance (before Sata, after Meryt) and sometime in the first half of Season 1 Charmed.

Yeah. You heard me. Charmed.

My husband said, "So you wrote a crossover story about a cartoon and a live action TV show?"

To which I said, "Yup."

And here's the secret?

I had fun doing it.

Brooklyn vs. Drizzt / Seyonne / Spider-Man

My favorite type of hero comes in a certain form...

They tend to be lean, muscular and agile.

They have dark / tragic / painful pasts or situations happen to them that they have to overcome.

They often have to continue to struggle to do the right thing, for reasons that are internal or external to the character.

They often have a sarcastic or acerbic wit.

So why does Brooklyn come out on top?

(You'd have to live under a fantasy/fiction rock to not know who Drizzt or Spider-Man are... but I hear a lot of people asking, who the hell is Seyonne?)

(Anyone who knows how Carol Berg writes can figure out that I absolutely adore her books, based off of the list I gave above as to what I really love in a protagonist.)

Let's look at Seyonne first, shall we?

He's got most of the things that I like in a character. The dark tragic past, the leanly muscular frame, the struggle to continue to do what is RIGHT when internal and external events are all weighing against him, and the physical trauma that he suffers, both in the past and in the course of the story that he bulls through to continue doing what he needs to get done. He uses his words as careful weapons, instruments of fate as he helps the other protagonist of the story evolve. What's more, he struggles up from a place where he had given up everything... to become what he needed to be again to save the world.

What don't I like?

Not too much, honestly. If it had been a question of just the first book and not the second or third, I think there would be a tie between Seyonne and Brooklyn, with maybe Seyonne edging out slightly over Brooklyn. However, the second and third books ... it's hard to explain. They just weren't AS GOOD as the first. Seyonne wasn't AS GOOD of a "K's ideal protagonist" character. Something, something I can't put a finger on, just dropped him from the pedestal.

Seyonne also isn't as sarcastic as Brooklyn. What's the point of having a cool character if they don't deliver snappy comebacks? Granted, such a thing is completely OUT of character for Seyonne, and I think he did just fine without it. But it is a point to consider.

What about Spider-Man?

C'mon, he has it EASY. He pulls off his costume and BOOM... he's Peter Parker, average guy, average world. He can escape anytime he wants to. He's got tragedy in his past (oh wah, Uncle Ben, nooo!) sure, but pretty minor compared to the other protagonists on the table.

What he does have going for him? The wit. Oh gosh, I LOVE the humor. The easy strength to lift a car without looking like Arnold on steroids, but without looking like the cartoon version of Mr. Fantastic with no musculature what-so-ever.

How about Drizzt? Drizzt used to be my favorite... oh le sigh, the fond teenaged daydreams I had.

Drizzt Do'Urden, the shining trophy boy of the Forgotten Realms, along with Elminster and some other realm 'notables'... who doesn't lurrrrv Drizzt? He even has his own cameo in a video game!

He seems to have it all. He's a Forgotten Realms elf (thus leanly muscular, very agile). He's a drow that has suffered at the hands of his own people, and then also suffers at the hands of the surface dwellers he tries to help. He tries to help people, time and again, and is rebuffed because of his race.

What does Drizzt lack?

He is content in his life because he has his friends and companions and knows he is on the right path. There is no internal drive or struggle against himself and what he wants to do or be. Sure, he had that tiff with Artemis Entreri, but other than that...

He is quiet, contemplative and while he is given to flourishes of humor and shots of sarcasm and sharp wit, he spends most of his time writing journal entries about the morality of the world and his people and etc, etc.

And sometimes, when he gets really upset, he runs around without his shoes.

He's a pretty boy and at least in the latter books of the Legacy books, has become accepted in the surface society because of his deeds.

In fact, there's a short story where Drizzt rescues some people... and a good goblin. The goblin confronts Drizzt about his assumptions... because the goblin is ugly, no matter how good his heart is... people will always see him as a monster. Drizzt is beautiful, exotic. Even people who fear him cannot help but see his beauty. And eventually, they will come to believe their eyes, because they give him a chance... because who doesn't naturally assume that beautiful creatures are good?

And finally... we have Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is not as massive as Broadway or Goliath, instead favoring a leaner frame, but is as strong as one would imagine a gargoyle should be. He has a very tragic past (I'd say having your entire family massacred counts as more tragic than losing Uncle Ben or Zaknafien. The only contender that comes close to this level of personal historical tragedy is Seyonne.) and has struggled to overcome heavy odds to continue to protect people who, if they don't run screaming, try to attack him.

He's a large, winged, red skinned, beaked, clawed, taloned, tailed, fanged gargoyle. He falls under the initial designation 'monster'. In fact, he's very devilish looking. He doesn't get that first impression of 'Hey, maybe I should stay and listen to the pretty elf talk to me, he doesn't seem aggressive.' that Drizzt occasionally gets. Instead he gets 'OMFG! MONSTER *scamperscamper*'

He has been well known, of all the gargoyles, to be the most sarcastic and dry witted, with a dark self-depreciating humor at times.

On top of it, you then add the Timedancer series, where he's wrested away from his family, sent spinning through time and tragedy after tragedy, finding love and family again only to become separated from them yet again...

And then there is the fragile counterpoint to the gargoyle life... sure, they're powerful, they age slowly, they can heal from almost anything during their stone sleep cycle... but they are REMARKABLY fragile creatures if found during the day. You could maim them easily by breaking off a wing, or their face, or their arm.... and they can do absolutely nothing to prevent you from doing it.

Can it get any better?

I think not.

An introduction, of sorts...

I started blogging as a WoW Blogger, over at More Dots! More Dots!. Yes. I'm K. Hi. Nice to meet you.

However, recent events made me realize that I was losing track of my life in the game. So I took a hiatus.

I am still happily on hiatus. I log in to raid, to play with my husband, but otherwise I have found that I don't really miss WoW that much.

On the other hand, I have rediscovered the joy that is Brooklyn. (And unfortunately, have switched some of my addictive tendencies from the crack that was WoW to the heroin that is Brooklyn.)



(That's a scene from the season 1 episode 'Temptation'.)

Gargoyles was a Disney cartoon that ran in the mid-1990's. It had two 'canon' seasons, and a third season considered mostly non-canon by the original writer (and many fans).

There was a semi-planned spin off starring Brooklyn (who is the most awesome of awesome characters. He tops Drizzt Do'Urden as my favorite fictional character of all time). I didn't know about the spin off, until in a fit of going, "I can't believe they canceled this wonderful amazing cartoon when I'm still needing a Brooklyn fix!" I stumbled upon a series of stories about Brooklyn... called Timedancer.

(In VERY brief summary: Brooklyn finds a damaged magical artifact that basically teleports him through time. It turns out he's been chosen by Fate (or just the whim of the ever erratic Fae) to be the 'Timedancer', the creature who has the most influential effect on the history of the world. Unfortunately, Brooklyn can't CONTROL where he goes, and is at the whim of the erratic Phoenix Gate... which causes all sorts of problems, as one can imagine.)

*sappy sigh*

I loved it. (There are some differences between the posted Timedancer stories and the 'intended' (as per the creator) story, such as the difference in Brooklyn's wife. In the posted stories, a green gargoyle named Sata, and they have twin children named Ariana and Graeme. In the intended version (and in the proposed comic book version), she is a white gargoyle named Katana and he has a son named Nashville and a younger child named Tachi... among other slight differences. But I digress...)

And that led me into the realm of fan fiction. Some of it that I found is exactly what you'd expect. NSFW, bad plots, bad stories, etc, etc... Others are good.

I had to try my hand in it. A lot of people have told me that I write fiction well (albeit my grammar is NOT the best...). I have countless original stories that are in the making, but I just never actually keep going with them. I run out of steam, or come to a wall in the plot that I can't think my way around. Or the plot line just peters out.

But fan fiction... that's another challenge entirely. It isn't just me writing whatever I want... if I'm using Disney characters, the challenge is writing them as they should be written.

It's the difference between writing Darth Vader as saying, "Your lack of faith disturbs me." and, "I think you want to rephrase that statement."

He could be doing the same action, but one sentence brings immediately to mind the voice of the character, the tone, the very essence that makes people SEE Darth Vader in their head as they read the story. The other one ... doesn't sound like Vader, does it?

The challenge in writing Brooklyn, or any of the other Gargoyles, is just that. Bringing the character to the story and not recreating the character to something that someone ELSE reading it can't envision them doing or saying.

Now, some of it I'm sure... I don't do right. I see it in my head as 'This is SO Brooklyn', because I can picture it in my head. But I may not get it down on 'paper' the right way.

And to those who are unfamiliar with the Gargoyles universe, stories, or the Timedancer chronicles in and of themselves will be unlikely to recognize a good portion of what is going on.

But I find myself intrigued. And I find myself wanting to write more. Because though Gargoyles has been canceled since 1996... I want more. (Disney, pretty please? With sugar on top? And cherries? Lots of cherries? *sob*)

It's the same urge that drove people to play Star Wars RPG and tabletop. The desire to live in the world that George Lucas created, and play a role, see the characters, the situations. Be involved in something that stirs your heart and your imagination...

So I've been posting to two fan fiction sites, Gargoyles Fan Fiction and Stone by Day under the writer name 'kiatrix'. I have three stories posted, but I've actually written about seven so far. I'm TRYING to not jump the gun and post stories that I haven't actually sat down and reread several times, especially as I'm starting to develop an original character that I want to keep writing about. I need to make sure she's 'real'. I need to make sure I'm not making her into a super-heroine, or a Mary Sue, as I've discovered they're called.

So... what is the goal of this blog? I intend for it to be a blog where I can brainstorm, flesh out ideas and plots... as well as just a place for me to also store my little tales of fiction, just another place for someone who also loves Brooklyn (or Gargoyles in general) to possibly stumble upon and also become inspired to delve creatively into this wonderful story concept.

(Original Post Here)