Characters: Jumper

Hello! This edition comes a couple days late because I got a bit swamped with the rest of my life, but it's here! Sorry about the delay.

One of the topics requested for Mimi's Diary on Discord was Jumper, so here's my ramble on Mr. Popcorn Bag!

When I came up with Arx initially, I didn't have many characters to go with it. I knew I wanted to try playing with a superhero story, and I had two characters to go with it (they'll get their own post later on). These characters, however, were later-game and not great for a main protagonist. Hence, I decided to come up with a sort of everyman to be a major perspective character.

That everyman turned into Joey. I wanted someone young, since the protagonists of these stories tend to be fairly young, at least in my experience. Having relatively recently been 19 myself, I decided that that would be the approximate age of our protagonist (though as I write this, I'm closer to 30 than 20... D: )

I wanted a unique power for him too. I've seen various versions of Superman, as well as plenty of characters in other media with the major superpower bases - super speed, super strength, super martial arts, etc...

I don't remember exactly how I landed on the jumping idea. I think I wanted a relatively simple power that hadn't been overused, but that could still be interesting to play with. After settling on Jumper's power, Arx's verticality made it immensely useful. I don't think it would hit the same if the story was set in, say, Toronto, or LA, or any current real-world city. Too much urban sprawl.

Anyway, once I'd set on the high jump thing, I had to think about how it would actually function, and came upon an interesting side effect.

See, if he was to be able to jump seven stories high, he'd have to be able to land a seven story drop. You can jump as high as you want, but it's pretty useless if you break your legs on the way back down. So obviously Joey needed some kind of impact nullification bundled up with his Miracle.

And if we take that impact nullification to its extreme...we get a guy who can take a million punches and barely flinch. In that sense, he's stronger than Achilles. When I came up with Achilles, I decided to have him foil Joey a little bit (Joey came first). Their powers both grant a form of incomplete invincibility, with their Miracles covering different forms of damage. Achilles' skin can't be penetrated, while Joey is immune to (in D&D terms) bludgeoning damage.

So that's kind of where the power came from. As for the character, I said I wanted an everyman. The trick with an everyman, though, is to make sure they aren't boring. I decided to lean into the uncertainty that comes with the late teens/early twenties time period. I certainly was a bundle of uncertain nerves at that age. By twenty it was starting to get better, but my last two teen years were a mess. Just ask my dad. I definitely didn't spend a disproportionate amount of my first year of university curled up in a blanket on the floor. Though that may have been more the depression than anything else...

Anyway, I didn't feel like giving Joey a mental illness (I'll reserve that for other characters) so he'd be a little more 'normal'. No matter who you are, though, that time of life comes with a lot of uncertainty and trying to figure out who you are. I watched friends deal with it. Adults seemed to think we had to have ourselves figured out by the time we graduated high school, but when you've never left your gated garden how the heck are you supposed to know what the outside world is like?

I decided to have Joey study psychology as a reflection of his caring personality and mental fortitude. He's fairly level-headed, even in a crisis, and his even-keeled temperament would have been great for any patient he took on after getting his degree. Alas, the plot had other plans for him.

Even if the plot had other plans for him, though, it was important to me that his power didn't define him. He was a fully formed person before getting a Miracle, and he'll continue to be an extension of that person after getting it.

The very qualities that made him want to go into psychology also mean he's relatively well-equipped to deal with Cleo, who is perhaps the most mentally unstable character (at least among the 'hero' side). When Ned became more developed, it also gave Joey a good way to be an older brother to him, and perhaps explain how he developed those qualities in the first place.

I dunno, Joey just turned out pretty well for my generic everyman. My editor's greatest complaint with everyman protagonists is their lack of personality, but he hasn't bellyached about Joey that way. In fact, he rather likes Joey, which is more than can be said for other characters (looking at Achilles, Light Master, Hot Rod, and Paris).

As the story went on, Joey continued to rebel against the plot in ways I didn't think he necessarily would (like never actually joining Achilles' Legion). My editor referred to him as 'the Legion canary' since he was always the first one to back up and get anxious when Achilles started going in the wrong direction. I have to respect Joey though - he's managing to keep both sides of himself intact. Both the side that wants to be normal, and the side that can't just let bad things happen on his watch.

One of his defining moments early in the plot is the popcorn bag incident actually. Despite having told Achilles he wants nothing to do with His Superheroness, when the rubber hits the road he does what he can to help. And it's that sort of mentality that I think made him perfect for the role of main perspective protagonist.

Anyway, that's kind of my thinking on Joey. If there's a topic regarding Arx's worldbuilding or characters you'd like to see, leave a comment! I'm happy to go into things that people are interested in. I'll see you next month for another episode of Mimi's Diary!