abraxas app.
May. 25th, 2023 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
respitingOOC INFORMATION
Player Name: zelly
Are you over 18?: absolutely
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
thwip | PM
Other Characters in Game: n/a
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Rocket Raccoon
Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Canon Point: post-Endgame, after Tony Stark's funeral
Age: ~13 human years
Background: LINK
Arrival Scenario: Solvunn
Suitability: ( WARNING FOR GOTG3 SPOILERS —) At Rocket’s core (prior to becoming the jerk raccoon we know and love today) he had been chosen as one of the High Evolutionary’s early experiments to bioengineer the ‘perfect species’ due to his cleverness and kind nature. As such, as a young raccoon, Rocket started with peaceful intentions and innocent dreams to explore the skies, hang out with his friends, and live a full life as part of a small close-knit family and community. It’s with this in mind that Solvunn makes for a good choice, especially following his canon-point post-Endgame.
By deciding against the obvious choice for the Free Cities where Rocket would have ample opportunity to continue avoiding his past through aggression and violence, both things he does seem to enjoy very much as a strong defense mechanism, it seems even more of a developmental challenge to force him to confront the ideals from his past while also rectifying with the individual he’s become today. Rocket has been through unspeakable traumas and the development made throughout his time with the Guardians and the Avengers during the battle against Thanos, has set up opportunities for those strands of community and family to form again.
Additionally, having just been through an immense emotional rollercoaster saving the universe, time-traveling, being a part of a small superhero team, and losing his found family for the second time, it would be beneficial for Rocket to be forced to ‘slow down’, take stock of what had just happened to him, and work through it in an environment that wouldn’t tempt him (too much) to fall back on his usual defenses. It would be good for Rocket to experience the reinforcement of what a strong family and community connection feels like, and to learn to open his little heart up to that with more than just the Guardians. It would also be a beneficial challenge for him to learn that there is more to life than what he’s closed himself off to, as his world-view is understandably extremely narrow in an attempt to protect himself from being hurt, or experiencing the devastating pain of loss.
Being in Solvunn and being persuaded to spend some time away from his crutch of violence and engineering weapons for said violence, and instead turning to use his skills for something a little softer and less aggressive will help him for what’s to come in Volume 3 where he can learn how to become someone an entire team can rely on: a leader to look up to, and a different kind of hero, one that is his own unique sign to call.
Powers: As a result of illegal genetic and cybernetic experiments done to him as a ‘lower life form’, his powers and abilities can generally be summed up as Artificially Enhanced Physiology and Bionic Enhancement. They include the following:
In summary, what this means is that his enhancements make him much smarter and more powerful than any baseline raccoon; however this doesn't mean he is impervious to being harmed by powers and strengths greater than him. He cannot grant any of these abilities to anyone else, and does not possess any magic or metahuman-based powers. And finally he is still subject to aging (raccoons don’t live very long, even enhanced ones), being wounded, being sick, and as he is mortal: death.
In addition to his genetic enhancements, Rocket is also:
Of course while Rocket operates well in his own world, obviously learning how to navigate a world under its own rules and systems such as the ones in Abraxas means that Rocket may not be The Best There Is™ here. He is also often motivated by his own pride, spite, and currency, and as such may not always be the first to volunteer his abilities unless there is something in it for him.
PERSONALITY QUESTIONS ( WARNING FOR GOTG3 SPOILERS —)
Describe an important event in your character's life and how it impacted them. One of the most pivotal events in Rocket’s relatively short life might explain how and why he became the cynical little jerk he is today: the traumatic and gruesome executions of his first found family when he had been a child. This, along with the betrayal by his father figure, has shaped Rocket’s attitudes towards himself, towards others, and towards his view of the universe around him.
After the first set of experiments had been done to him as a child, Rocket was treated with immense kindness by three other experimented animals: Lylla, Floor, and Teefs. They bonded over their pain and overcame it together, looking towards more optimistic, brighter, and kinder days when they would be free to live in the new world promised by their maker, the High Evolutionary. This new life outside of a cage was what motivated Rocket to continue helping the High Evolutionary until the day he learned that their destiny ended with their destruction, and furthermore that the High Evolutionary intended to use Rocket as nothing more than a tool, removing his brain as his final purpose. He witnessed his friends being killed by the hand of their maker, and seeing no other way out, it snapped something angry and frustrated and pained within him. He enacted what physical revenge he could on the High Evolutionary, took off into a stolen ship, and ran. And he had been running ever since, using the skills and abilities he’d been engineered with to survive. He hardened himself against kindness, made very, very few friends, and pushed everyone and everything else away. He learned that in this galaxy it was money that drove people, and he sought to gain as much of it as he could in order to use it against others and to buy bigger and better things to gain what little power he could over himself. He would never let anyone try to get the advantage over him, and he belittled and ridiculed anyone who tried to show kindness towards him because it was a weakness to be kind and optimistic. It was, after all, what killed his friends.
Does your character have a moral code, or other set of standards they try to live by? As a former bounty hunter and professional thief, Rocket carries with him a twisted sense of ethical boundaries regarding the law, and generally considers his own self-preservation and comfort to be priority. If he wanted something more than someone else, he felt he had the right to take it, for example. Most of his solutions involve shooting and exploding things, and prior to becoming a Guardian of the Galaxy, it was largely money that guided most of his decision-making: the higher the price, the higher his motivation to do something.
Since he had found the other Guardians, Rocket has demonstrated that while all of the above does remain true, he also possess the capacity for compassion and justice, and will step up to protect the innocent from being harmed, stating: “Of course I care about the planets, and the buildings, and all the animals on the planets.” (Never mind that he absolutely reacted with ‘eh’ regarding people. He still does help to save them.) In times of great universal distress and need, Rocket will step up to help because ultimately it is the right thing to do.
What quality or qualities do they admire most? Rocket tends to find himself drawn and attached to those who have demonstrated qualities of loyalty, empathy, and compassion through their actions or through their heartfelt, shared stories. These genuine moments of sharing something deeply personal are what seem to get through to him and appeal to the equally compassionate, lonely side of Rocket, ultimately preventing him from shutting down or acting out through violence or aggression.
It was Yondu’s empathy for Rocket, given their similar harsh childhood histories and their deep and profound loneliness, that earned his respect as well as an emotional bond that would last until Yondu’s death. By the end of Yondu’s life, Rocket had been deeply moved by his actions and felt his loss. In order to do right by him, Rocket arranges for the Ravagers to gather and rescind his punishment of exile, allowing Yondu to be sent off into the stars the Ravager Way.
It was the knowledge and heartfelt understanding of devastating loss that bonded Rocket to Thor as well, as he had also lost his family, his friends, and his home just as Rocket did before he’d met the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy. And as he would go on to lose them during the Snap as well, he would start to be more empathetic and open to those bonds he’d shared with others rather than turn from them.
And ultimately, it is unconditional loyalty that Rocket admires the most as he’s always felt it easier to keep everyone at arm’s length to avoid the pain of their eventual loss, and to push anyone away if they began to show the faintest hint of being kind to him. He’s astounded and touched when he witnesses the Ravagers assembling for Yondu, saying, “He didn’t chase them away. Even though he yelled at them, and was always mean.”
Do they have a part of themselves they dislike? No one hates Rocket more than Rocket hates himself. For most of his life he considered himself a monster and an abomination because he had been made and then recreated multiple times, enduring physical and mental pain and torment along the way. Every enhancement he’d been given was a result of the experiments done on him, and after everything he had endured he was destined to be surgically taken apart for his valuable organs (his brain) and then destroyed once he was no longer ‘useful’ to his maker. Not-so-deep down, he is extremely sensitive and insecure about his existence, reacting explosively towards anyone who appears to look down on him. He will attack anyone who calls him anything other than his chosen name, and seems to take the most issue with words like “vermin”, “rat”, and “raccoon”. (The latter is more for the joke, but in canon Rocket does seem to consider this offensive until Volume 3.) He also takes huge issue against anyone who seems to possess more power than he does and does not take kindly to authority figures, because for a large part of his childhood he had no control or power over his own autonomy or his fate. Or the fate of those closest to him.
As a result, Rocket has internalized his self-loathing so deeply that it has become what drives him, what motivates him, and causes him to constantly test his boundaries with others to the point of driving them away. He interprets any kind interaction with suspicion because how can anyone like something as horrible as him? In a way, he lives by the code of ‘if you always expect disappointment, you’ll never be disappointed’, and if he acts like a complete asshole, then the dislike of his character doesn’t come as a surprise, and furthermore, it won’t remind him of how scared and empty he feels inside.
What is their sign, and why? THE CHARIOT — After suffering a traumatic childhood, being experimented on and torn apart and put back together again, over and over, Rocket will never be that level of vulnerable ever again. His personality developed through his suffering, and as such he has become a survivor, becoming incredibly assertive, speaking his mind without filter, and refuses to be pushed around. He already possesses a genius-level intellect, but he prefers to let everyone around him know that. And like the Chariot sign, he will not give up easily if he puts his mind to it and the stakes are high enough to act as motivation, no matter what that challenge may be.
SAMPLES
Samples: TDM top level. (80+ comments)
Player Name: zelly
Are you over 18?: absolutely
Contact:
Other Characters in Game: n/a
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Rocket Raccoon
Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Canon Point: post-Endgame, after Tony Stark's funeral
Age: ~13 human years
Background: LINK
Arrival Scenario: Solvunn
Suitability: ( WARNING FOR GOTG3 SPOILERS —) At Rocket’s core (prior to becoming the jerk raccoon we know and love today) he had been chosen as one of the High Evolutionary’s early experiments to bioengineer the ‘perfect species’ due to his cleverness and kind nature. As such, as a young raccoon, Rocket started with peaceful intentions and innocent dreams to explore the skies, hang out with his friends, and live a full life as part of a small close-knit family and community. It’s with this in mind that Solvunn makes for a good choice, especially following his canon-point post-Endgame.
By deciding against the obvious choice for the Free Cities where Rocket would have ample opportunity to continue avoiding his past through aggression and violence, both things he does seem to enjoy very much as a strong defense mechanism, it seems even more of a developmental challenge to force him to confront the ideals from his past while also rectifying with the individual he’s become today. Rocket has been through unspeakable traumas and the development made throughout his time with the Guardians and the Avengers during the battle against Thanos, has set up opportunities for those strands of community and family to form again.
Additionally, having just been through an immense emotional rollercoaster saving the universe, time-traveling, being a part of a small superhero team, and losing his found family for the second time, it would be beneficial for Rocket to be forced to ‘slow down’, take stock of what had just happened to him, and work through it in an environment that wouldn’t tempt him (too much) to fall back on his usual defenses. It would be good for Rocket to experience the reinforcement of what a strong family and community connection feels like, and to learn to open his little heart up to that with more than just the Guardians. It would also be a beneficial challenge for him to learn that there is more to life than what he’s closed himself off to, as his world-view is understandably extremely narrow in an attempt to protect himself from being hurt, or experiencing the devastating pain of loss.
Being in Solvunn and being persuaded to spend some time away from his crutch of violence and engineering weapons for said violence, and instead turning to use his skills for something a little softer and less aggressive will help him for what’s to come in Volume 3 where he can learn how to become someone an entire team can rely on: a leader to look up to, and a different kind of hero, one that is his own unique sign to call.
Powers: As a result of illegal genetic and cybernetic experiments done to him as a ‘lower life form’, his powers and abilities can generally be summed up as Artificially Enhanced Physiology and Bionic Enhancement. They include the following:
ENHANCED DURABILITY— due to the cybernetic implants in his skeletal structure, he is capable of withstanding more damage to his physical form that would otherwise kill him were he a baseline raccoon.He can also take hits in battle and dole out hits as well without injuring himself too easily.
GREATER STRENGTH— he possesses the ability to carry weapons far larger and heavier than his own weight to use them. He can also throw down a decent punch.
ENHANCED STAMINA— he won’t tire as easily as he might otherwise if he was a regular baseline raccoon.
ENHANCED REFLEXES— he has the ability to react very quickly in high-intensity situations.
ENHANCED SENSES— specifically his sense of smell and hearing is much stronger and more acute than the baseline raccoon, providing him with the opportunity to get the upper hand on his enemies in battle.
GENIUS-LEVEL INTELLECT— his maker had enhanced the genetics within his cerebral cortex, giving him far superior cognitive and intellectual abilities over any of his fellow experimented siblings, and certainly more than the baseline raccoon. He can speak with other species, multitask and successfully perform complicated tasks, can work through battle strategies and tactics, pilot just about any spacecraft, and MacGyver any weapon together using scraps.
ENHANCED AGILITY— with his cybernetic skeletal structure, Rocket is able to move far more articulately than the baseline raccoon, can move more like a human, while also still maintaining his animal agility.
In summary, what this means is that his enhancements make him much smarter and more powerful than any baseline raccoon; however this doesn't mean he is impervious to being harmed by powers and strengths greater than him. He cannot grant any of these abilities to anyone else, and does not possess any magic or metahuman-based powers. And finally he is still subject to aging (raccoons don’t live very long, even enhanced ones), being wounded, being sick, and as he is mortal: death.
In addition to his genetic enhancements, Rocket is also:
GENIUS ENGINEER, MECHANIC, SCIENTIST— with an intellect that rivals Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. He is highly skilled in constructing and modifying high-tech weaponry and other mechanical equipment, and can understand how a gadget works within moments of handling one. He is often the one on the team to fix and repair the ship, he can create bombs and other forms of defense through collecting different scraps from random weapon parts, he can enable and disable security systems, traps, and doors. He tells Tony Stark that Tony is only a genius on Earth, implying that Rocket is a genius in the galaxy.
MASTER TACTICIAN, FIGHTER— as previously stated, his greater intelligence and enhanced abilities lend itself to his skill in tactics, strategies, and in fighting. He can improvise quickly as situations and circumstances change.
EXPERT MARKSMAN— he can handle just about any sort of weapon with expert aim, though he does seem to prefer high-powered artillery for its berth of power and range. As an engineer and mechanic, he understands how weapons come together and how they’re powered, which makes for his ability to pick one up and use it without trouble.
SKILLED PILOT— it is almost second nature for Rocket to know how to pilot just about any starship and spacecraft. As he tells Peter Quill, he was cybernetically engineered to pilot a spacecraft which isn’t a lie.
Of course while Rocket operates well in his own world, obviously learning how to navigate a world under its own rules and systems such as the ones in Abraxas means that Rocket may not be The Best There Is™ here. He is also often motivated by his own pride, spite, and currency, and as such may not always be the first to volunteer his abilities unless there is something in it for him.
PERSONALITY QUESTIONS ( WARNING FOR GOTG3 SPOILERS —)
Describe an important event in your character's life and how it impacted them. One of the most pivotal events in Rocket’s relatively short life might explain how and why he became the cynical little jerk he is today: the traumatic and gruesome executions of his first found family when he had been a child. This, along with the betrayal by his father figure, has shaped Rocket’s attitudes towards himself, towards others, and towards his view of the universe around him.
After the first set of experiments had been done to him as a child, Rocket was treated with immense kindness by three other experimented animals: Lylla, Floor, and Teefs. They bonded over their pain and overcame it together, looking towards more optimistic, brighter, and kinder days when they would be free to live in the new world promised by their maker, the High Evolutionary. This new life outside of a cage was what motivated Rocket to continue helping the High Evolutionary until the day he learned that their destiny ended with their destruction, and furthermore that the High Evolutionary intended to use Rocket as nothing more than a tool, removing his brain as his final purpose. He witnessed his friends being killed by the hand of their maker, and seeing no other way out, it snapped something angry and frustrated and pained within him. He enacted what physical revenge he could on the High Evolutionary, took off into a stolen ship, and ran. And he had been running ever since, using the skills and abilities he’d been engineered with to survive. He hardened himself against kindness, made very, very few friends, and pushed everyone and everything else away. He learned that in this galaxy it was money that drove people, and he sought to gain as much of it as he could in order to use it against others and to buy bigger and better things to gain what little power he could over himself. He would never let anyone try to get the advantage over him, and he belittled and ridiculed anyone who tried to show kindness towards him because it was a weakness to be kind and optimistic. It was, after all, what killed his friends.
Does your character have a moral code, or other set of standards they try to live by? As a former bounty hunter and professional thief, Rocket carries with him a twisted sense of ethical boundaries regarding the law, and generally considers his own self-preservation and comfort to be priority. If he wanted something more than someone else, he felt he had the right to take it, for example. Most of his solutions involve shooting and exploding things, and prior to becoming a Guardian of the Galaxy, it was largely money that guided most of his decision-making: the higher the price, the higher his motivation to do something.
Since he had found the other Guardians, Rocket has demonstrated that while all of the above does remain true, he also possess the capacity for compassion and justice, and will step up to protect the innocent from being harmed, stating: “Of course I care about the planets, and the buildings, and all the animals on the planets.” (Never mind that he absolutely reacted with ‘eh’ regarding people. He still does help to save them.) In times of great universal distress and need, Rocket will step up to help because ultimately it is the right thing to do.
What quality or qualities do they admire most? Rocket tends to find himself drawn and attached to those who have demonstrated qualities of loyalty, empathy, and compassion through their actions or through their heartfelt, shared stories. These genuine moments of sharing something deeply personal are what seem to get through to him and appeal to the equally compassionate, lonely side of Rocket, ultimately preventing him from shutting down or acting out through violence or aggression.
It was Yondu’s empathy for Rocket, given their similar harsh childhood histories and their deep and profound loneliness, that earned his respect as well as an emotional bond that would last until Yondu’s death. By the end of Yondu’s life, Rocket had been deeply moved by his actions and felt his loss. In order to do right by him, Rocket arranges for the Ravagers to gather and rescind his punishment of exile, allowing Yondu to be sent off into the stars the Ravager Way.
It was the knowledge and heartfelt understanding of devastating loss that bonded Rocket to Thor as well, as he had also lost his family, his friends, and his home just as Rocket did before he’d met the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy. And as he would go on to lose them during the Snap as well, he would start to be more empathetic and open to those bonds he’d shared with others rather than turn from them.
And ultimately, it is unconditional loyalty that Rocket admires the most as he’s always felt it easier to keep everyone at arm’s length to avoid the pain of their eventual loss, and to push anyone away if they began to show the faintest hint of being kind to him. He’s astounded and touched when he witnesses the Ravagers assembling for Yondu, saying, “He didn’t chase them away. Even though he yelled at them, and was always mean.”
Do they have a part of themselves they dislike? No one hates Rocket more than Rocket hates himself. For most of his life he considered himself a monster and an abomination because he had been made and then recreated multiple times, enduring physical and mental pain and torment along the way. Every enhancement he’d been given was a result of the experiments done on him, and after everything he had endured he was destined to be surgically taken apart for his valuable organs (his brain) and then destroyed once he was no longer ‘useful’ to his maker. Not-so-deep down, he is extremely sensitive and insecure about his existence, reacting explosively towards anyone who appears to look down on him. He will attack anyone who calls him anything other than his chosen name, and seems to take the most issue with words like “vermin”, “rat”, and “raccoon”. (The latter is more for the joke, but in canon Rocket does seem to consider this offensive until Volume 3.) He also takes huge issue against anyone who seems to possess more power than he does and does not take kindly to authority figures, because for a large part of his childhood he had no control or power over his own autonomy or his fate. Or the fate of those closest to him.
As a result, Rocket has internalized his self-loathing so deeply that it has become what drives him, what motivates him, and causes him to constantly test his boundaries with others to the point of driving them away. He interprets any kind interaction with suspicion because how can anyone like something as horrible as him? In a way, he lives by the code of ‘if you always expect disappointment, you’ll never be disappointed’, and if he acts like a complete asshole, then the dislike of his character doesn’t come as a surprise, and furthermore, it won’t remind him of how scared and empty he feels inside.
What is their sign, and why? THE CHARIOT — After suffering a traumatic childhood, being experimented on and torn apart and put back together again, over and over, Rocket will never be that level of vulnerable ever again. His personality developed through his suffering, and as such he has become a survivor, becoming incredibly assertive, speaking his mind without filter, and refuses to be pushed around. He already possesses a genius-level intellect, but he prefers to let everyone around him know that. And like the Chariot sign, he will not give up easily if he puts his mind to it and the stakes are high enough to act as motivation, no matter what that challenge may be.
SAMPLES
Samples: TDM top level. (80+ comments)
it fits! it fits in one comment!
Date: 2023-05-30 04:01 am (UTC)Player Name: zelly
Are you over 18?: absolutely
Contact:
Other Characters in Game: n/a
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Rocket Raccoon
Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Canon Point: post-Endgame, after Tony Stark's funeral
Age: ~13 human years
Background: LINK
Arrival Scenario: Solvunn
Suitability: ( WARNING FOR GOTG3 SPOILERS —) At Rocket’s core (prior to becoming the jerk raccoon we know and love today) he had been chosen as one of the High Evolutionary’s early experiments to bioengineer the ‘perfect species’ due to his cleverness and kind nature. As such, as a young raccoon, Rocket started with peaceful intentions and innocent dreams to explore the skies, hang out with his friends, and live a full life as part of a small close-knit family and community. It’s with this in mind that Solvunn makes for a good choice, especially following his canon-point post-Endgame.
By deciding against the obvious choice for the Free Cities where Rocket would have ample opportunity to continue avoiding his past through aggression and violence, both things he does seem to enjoy very much as a strong defense mechanism, it seems even more of a developmental challenge to force him to confront the ideals from his past while also rectifying with the individual he’s become today. Rocket has been through unspeakable traumas and the development made throughout his time with the Guardians and the Avengers during the battle against Thanos, has set up opportunities for those strands of community and family to form again.
Additionally, having just been through an immense emotional rollercoaster saving the universe, time-traveling, being a part of a small superhero team, and losing his found family for the second time, it would be beneficial for Rocket to be forced to ‘slow down’, take stock of what had just happened to him, and work through it in an environment that wouldn’t tempt him (too much) to fall back on his usual defenses. It would be good for Rocket to experience the reinforcement of what a strong family and community connection feels like, and to learn to open his little heart up to that with more than just the Guardians. It would also be a beneficial challenge for him to learn that there is more to life than what he’s closed himself off to, as his world-view is understandably extremely narrow in an attempt to protect himself from being hurt, or experiencing the devastating pain of loss.
Being in Solvunn and being persuaded to spend some time away from his crutch of violence and engineering weapons for said violence, and instead turning to use his skills for something a little softer and less aggressive will help him for what’s to come in Volume 3 where he can learn how to become someone an entire team can rely on: a leader to look up to, and a different kind of hero, one that is his own unique sign to call.
Powers: As a result of illegal genetic and cybernetic experiments done to him as a ‘lower life form’, his powers and abilities can generally be summed up as Artificially Enhanced Physiology and Bionic Enhancement. They include the following:
In summary, what this means is that his enhancements make him much smarter and more powerful than any baseline raccoon; however this doesn't mean he is impervious to being harmed by powers and strengths greater than him. He cannot grant any of these abilities to anyone else, and does not possess any magic or metahuman-based powers. And finally he is still subject to aging (raccoons don’t live very long, even enhanced ones), being wounded, being sick, and as he is mortal: death.
In addition to his genetic enhancements, Rocket is also:
Of course while Rocket operates well in his own world, obviously learning how to navigate a world under its own rules and systems such as the ones in Abraxas means that Rocket may not be The Best There Is™ here. He is also often motivated by his own pride, spite, and currency, and as such may not always be the first to volunteer his abilities unless there is something in it for him.
PERSONALITY QUESTIONS ( WARNING FOR GOTG3 SPOILERS —)
Describe an important event in your character's life and how it impacted them. One of the most pivotal events in Rocket’s relatively short life might explain how and why he became the cynical little jerk he is today: the traumatic and gruesome executions of his first found family when he had been a child. This, along with the betrayal by his father figure, has shaped Rocket’s attitudes towards himself, towards others, and towards his view of the universe around him.
After the first set of experiments had been done to him as a child, Rocket was treated with immense kindness by three other experimented animals: Lylla, Floor, and Teefs. They bonded over their pain and overcame it together, looking towards more optimistic, brighter, and kinder days when they would be free to live in the new world promised by their maker, the High Evolutionary. This new life outside of a cage was what motivated Rocket to continue helping the High Evolutionary until the day he learned that their destiny ended with their destruction, and furthermore that the High Evolutionary intended to use Rocket as nothing more than a tool, removing his brain as his final purpose. He witnessed his friends being killed by the hand of their maker, and seeing no other way out, it snapped something angry and frustrated and pained within him. He enacted what physical revenge he could on the High Evolutionary, took off into a stolen ship, and ran. And he had been running ever since, using the skills and abilities he’d been engineered with to survive. He hardened himself against kindness, made very, very few friends, and pushed everyone and everything else away. He learned that in this galaxy it was money that drove people, and he sought to gain as much of it as he could in order to use it against others and to buy bigger and better things to gain what little power he could over himself. He would never let anyone try to get the advantage over him, and he belittled and ridiculed anyone who tried to show kindness towards him because it was a weakness to be kind and optimistic. It was, after all, what killed his friends.
Does your character have a moral code, or other set of standards they try to live by? As a former bounty hunter and professional thief, Rocket carries with him a twisted sense of ethical boundaries regarding the law, and generally considers his own self-preservation and comfort to be priority. If he wanted something more than someone else, he felt he had the right to take it, for example. Most of his solutions involve shooting and exploding things, and prior to becoming a Guardian of the Galaxy, it was largely money that guided most of his decision-making: the higher the price, the higher his motivation to do something.
Since he had found the other Guardians, Rocket has demonstrated that while all of the above does remain true, he also possess the capacity for compassion and justice, and will step up to protect the innocent from being harmed, stating: “Of course I care about the planets, and the buildings, and all the animals on the planets.” (Never mind that he absolutely reacted with ‘eh’ regarding people. He still does help to save them.) In times of great universal distress and need, Rocket will step up to help because ultimately it is the right thing to do.
What quality or qualities do they admire most? Rocket tends to find himself drawn and attached to those who have demonstrated qualities of loyalty, empathy, and compassion through their actions or through their heartfelt, shared stories. These genuine moments of sharing something deeply personal are what seem to get through to him and appeal to the equally compassionate, lonely side of Rocket, ultimately preventing him from shutting down or acting out through violence or aggression.
It was Yondu’s empathy for Rocket, given their similar harsh childhood histories and their deep and profound loneliness, that earned his respect as well as an emotional bond that would last until Yondu’s death. By the end of Yondu’s life, Rocket had been deeply moved by his actions and felt his loss. In order to do right by him, Rocket arranges for the Ravagers to gather and rescind his punishment of exile, allowing Yondu to be sent off into the stars the Ravager Way.
It was the knowledge and heartfelt understanding of devastating loss that bonded Rocket to Thor as well, as he had also lost his family, his friends, and his home just as Rocket did before he’d met the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy. And as he would go on to lose them during the Snap as well, he would start to be more empathetic and open to those bonds he’d shared with others rather than turn from them.
And ultimately, it is unconditional loyalty that Rocket admires the most as he’s always felt it easier to keep everyone at arm’s length to avoid the pain of their eventual loss, and to push anyone away if they began to show the faintest hint of being kind to him. He’s astounded and touched when he witnesses the Ravagers assembling for Yondu, saying, “He didn’t chase them away. Even though he yelled at them, and was always mean.”
Do they have a part of themselves they dislike? No one hates Rocket more than Rocket hates himself. For most of his life he considered himself a monster and an abomination because he had been made and then recreated multiple times, enduring physical and mental pain and torment along the way. Every enhancement he’d been given was a result of the experiments done on him, and after everything he had endured he was destined to be surgically taken apart for his valuable organs (his brain) and then destroyed once he was no longer ‘useful’ to his maker. Not-so-deep down, he is extremely sensitive and insecure about his existence, reacting explosively towards anyone who appears to look down on him. He will attack anyone who calls him anything other than his chosen name, and seems to take the most issue with words like “vermin”, “rat”, and “raccoon”. (The latter is more for the joke, but in canon Rocket does seem to consider this offensive until Volume 3.) He also takes huge issue against anyone who seems to possess more power than he does and does not take kindly to authority figures, because for a large part of his childhood he had no control or power over his own autonomy or his fate. Or the fate of those closest to him.
As a result, Rocket has internalized his self-loathing so deeply that it has become what drives him, what motivates him, and causes him to constantly test his boundaries with others to the point of driving them away. He interprets any kind interaction with suspicion because how can anyone like something as horrible as him? In a way, he lives by the code of ‘if you always expect disappointment, you’ll never be disappointed’, and if he acts like a complete asshole, then the dislike of his character doesn’t come as a surprise, and furthermore, it won’t remind him of how scared and empty he feels inside.
What is their sign, and why? THE CHARIOT — After suffering a traumatic childhood, being experimented on and torn apart and put back together again, over and over, Rocket will never be that level of vulnerable ever again. His personality developed through his suffering, and as such he has become a survivor, becoming incredibly assertive, speaking his mind without filter, and refuses to be pushed around. He already possesses a genius-level intellect, but he prefers to let everyone around him know that. And like the Chariot sign, he will not give up easily if he puts his mind to it and the stakes are high enough to act as motivation, no matter what that challenge may be.
SAMPLES
Samples: TDM top level. (80+ comments)