Dr. Newton Geiszler

Player Name: mippins
Player Contact: mippins, mippins#8641 on discord
Character(s) In-Game: none!

Character Name: Dr. Newton Geiszler
Age: 34
Canon: Pacific Rim

World Description: Basically just our world but in the future with aliens

History: He's German, if you can believe it

CRAU: N/A

Death: In canon, Newt builds a machine (from garbage; it's not exactly up to code) that allows him to link brains with a Godzilla-style alien. He does this in an attempt to gain more information about them to figure out how to stop the invasion, and in canon this goes pretty well! Except that the strain of the link is too much for his brain (since the aliens turn out to be a hivemind, whoops), which triggers a seizure, and he's saved by his colleague turning the machine off for him. For the sake of this game, I'm AUing it so that Hermann doesn't find Newt in time, so Newt dies during the experiment. Bummer, considering he's now the only person who knows how to save his world.

What are your plans for this character in-game? I talked about this a bit in the "mental state" section, but I have two main goals for Newt's development in this game: One is that I want him to wrestle with the idea that his death likely means the end of his world, and two is that I'd like him to grow up a little. That second goal is pretty vague since I'm open to his development going in a few different directions. Newt may be in his 30s, but he tends to behave like a thirteen-year-old whose parents left him home alone for the weekend. It'd be nice to see him care about something outside of himself, whether that be the CR he makes here or getting invested in solving the plot problems or maybe some side project for the benefit of the town. Obviously since I'm a mod, I'm not gonna have him take on too big of a role as far as the plot's concerned, but I can still accomplish some growth and maturity for him while having him play support to other plot-doing characters. He can be a difficult character to forge close CR with, so establishing a CR network will likely be my first priority in the game.

What aspects of this game and/or its setting are you most interested in having this character engage with? This whole setting is pretty much anti-Newt. He's not going to adjust well to having essentially zero light, zero tech, and zero knowledge of the world he's in. Arriving in Beacon is very much going to pull the rug out from under him, which is exactly the kind of situation Newt really thrives in from an RP standpoint. He'll hate it, but without uprooting him, he's a tough character to avoid stagnation with since he's so set in his ways and will just keep on keepin' on unless he has reason to struggle. I'm excited about the setting and the plot as a player (because, like, I made it?), but for Newt specifically, I think the events and CR opportunities are really going to be the key to his character development.

How does your character generally get along with other people? It depends! Newt is an extrovert and really likes being around people, but he can be pretty insufferable to work with. As a colleague, he's arrogant and bossy and will get into a fight with absolutely anyone over what he believes in. It doesn't take much to set him off, which either means you're in for a ten hour argument or he'll just scoff and make fun of you until the end of time. However, he does well with people that respect his authority and don't go against the grain too much. And as a friend, he tends to be self-centered and emotionally dense, but he's fun enough as a casual pal and is capable of shaping up if he sees a reason to. In short, he's actually pretty easy-going, if a bit intense, as long as he doesn't butt heads with the other person. Then, all bets are off and it takes him a while to get over his negative impression.

What is your character's mental state upon entering the game? Not great! I'm pulling Newt from probably the rudest canon point possible, so his initial reaction is going to be angry, both with the situation and with himself. His experiment failed, he died with crucial world-saving knowledge which probably means humanity as he knows it is toast, and he's got unresolved tension with his colleague, Hermann. At first, he'll mostly be hung up on the selfish consequences of his death. He doesn't want to be dead, of course, and surely doesn't want to be stuck in some crummy limbo of an afterlife, and more than that, did I mention his experiment failed? He's so, so mad that he died over what he'll deem a stupid mistake. Before long, though, he'll realize the larger implications of his death, and that his world is probably doomed without him. That'll be a tough realization for him to grapple with throughout the course of the game.

Personality: Newt is dedicated to helping humanity defeat the Kaiju once and for all, but his motivations aren't entirely selfless. He views himself as a rock star of science and his work in K-Science has been a nonstop ego boost for him. As a result, he's super arrogant, which is great because he's confident in himself and not afraid to make bold decisions, but he can be incredibly reckless, directly disobeying orders from his superiors to do cool dangerous stuff that... Well, got himself killed. Also, as mentioned, he can be an absolute nightmare to work with. He's loud and pushy and has little regard for boundaries (personal or otherwise). He and the other K-Scientist, Dr. Hermann Gottlieb, share a lab and Hermann has reported Newt like a million times for rude behavior ranging from blasting heavy metal to getting Kaiju viscera on Hermann's side of the lab. Newt is bad at sharing and also bad at not being the smartest and the best. He's too busy saving the world and being a rock star to worry about stuff like "rules" and "manners".

All that said, Newt is nothing if not enthusiastic. While the rest of the world views the Kaiju as their sworn enemies, Newt has chosen to embrace them. He's got full body tattoos of various Kaiju that have attacked over the years, and he talks about them like they're biological marvels akin to Godzilla and old school monster movies. This keeps him optimistic in the face of what could be the literal end of the world. Because he's so hype about Kaiju, he's developed a kind of tunnel vision to block out the scary and can instead focus hard on the fascination, which is how he deals with stress in most cases. Get hype, forget the bad shit. And getting hype is never not within reach for Newt; he's incredibly high energy, which everyone around him super loves (no they don't he's very annoying).

Long story short, Newt is Extra and has an unconventional way of looking at the world, but his brains make him an asset to most teams... If you can get past the narcissism and the heavy metal.

Items: Aside from his clothes, Newt will have his glasses, his tape recorder, and his PPDC ID badge.

Skills/Abilities: Newt doesn't have any superhuman abilities; he's pretty much just an average dude aside from his intelligence. He's pretty OP in the brain department, but not to a degree that would break the game or anything. Specifically, his specialties are biology, mechanical engineering, and music... Sort of. He can jam to a degree.

Flaws/Weaknesses: Physically, Newt is a hair stronger and faster than he looks, but he's not exactly a big dude. He's 5'7 and his canon weight is just over 130 lbs., so he's not going to win any strength contests. He has no combat skill whatsoever, and somehow has, like, negative survival instinct. He spooks easily when it comes to threat of danger (tangible threat, anyway; he doesn't seem to care much about "you could die" re: his science), but he's super bad at knowing when to run away! Multiple times in canon, we witness his dumb ass wide-eyed and frozen as a Kaiju charges for him. At best, he'll hit the deck and, uh, cower? In the fetal position? His plot armor is the only reason he survived the film, honestly. And as an extension of that, he generally tends to speak/act before he thinks, relying on his gut to guide him. He typically has mixed results there.

Newt's biggest fear is dying, especially without making a name for himself and accomplishing some great scientific achievement and/or becoming a rock star, so. Got it in one, as far as this game goes. Beyond that, he's afraid of his skills being compromised (either physically or mentally) and being bored. He does not function well when he doesn't have some kind of project or purpose, so Beacon is going to be a struggle for him. As far as personal connections that could be preyed upon for events, he's super close to his dad and uncle, and then he's got "unfinished business" with his colleague, Hermann. He and Hermann were super close too while they were penpals, but then they met in person, immediately disliked each other, and didn't speak for a few years until they were both assigned to the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Full disclosure that this bit is headcanon, but I figure that Newt had romantic feelings for Hermann before they met, and then when the meet-up went so horribly and they stopped speaking, he was never able to properly deal with that heartbreak. Their relationship has been strained ever since, and dying before he had the chance to reconcile with Hermann will be difficult for him to get over.

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