CHARACTER RECLAIMS

[powersthatbe]

From now until endgame, Synodiporia is closed to new applications. However, players who dropped or idled characters but who do not have a behavioral strike against them may reclaim characters at any time. Dungeons and app windows are no longer necessary. Simply comment below with "I'd like to bring [character (username)] back!" And we'll take it from there. Players already at 3 characters who wish to bring back a 4th or 5th may do so so long as they're current on AC. Players wishing to bring in characters above 5 may request special mod permission. If you are uncertain if you qualify to reclaim, please email us at synodiporians@gmail.com and ask!

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[angermanaging]

CANON PERSONALITY: Headcanon for MCU is in green.

Character-wise, Bruce is quiet, guilt-ridden, and uncommunicative. He's incurably paranoid and justifiably so - he hasn't used credit cards or had an ID in years, and he rarely uses his real name. It's easy to understate how deeply he feels responsible for what he does as the Hulk, but in one deleted scene from the movie we see that he tried to kill himself in the Arctic of Alaska, only to be stopped by the Hulk itself. While a small scene, the implication that Bruce is readily willing to commit suicide - even for such an altruistic reason as protecting people as a whole - is undeniably telling. There are largely two levels to him: what he admits and accepts about himself, and what he denies and tries to eradicate. This push and pull between the facets of his personality is psychological; the Hulk is but a representation of it.

In general a decisive, unassuming person, Bruce doesn't flinch from his circumstances. He is withdrawn and broods more than is healthy, but in the end he is very practical and constructive about what he does. When it's more prudent for him to return to civilization instead of retreating to hermitage, he does so. He is, actually, very lonely, and longs for something as simple as being able to make friends without putting them in danger - yet his sense of responsibility is too strong to put aside. He's a person that takes absolutely nothing for granted.

He is a deeply emotional person that nonetheless rules his decisions by logic. Inherently wary after an abusive childhood (comic canon that Edward Norton has stated he used as material for his role), as an adult he maintains poor self-image and a strong reluctance to argue or yell. This is a naturally developed trait and not one he trained himself into after gaining the Hulk. Despite this deep well of negativity, though, his rational mind is constantly overriding his emotions, discarding or ignoring those that are hindering him and examining critically even the ones that aren't. However much he doubts himself, his unceasing capacity for sharp logic keeps everything else in check. Uncomfortable as it may make him, Bruce is willing to do things against his conscience and his feelings if logic dictates that it's the best course of action. This is exemplified in how he completely leaves Betty behind for her own safety, and how later he does endanger her when needs must.

The abuse his father inflicted on him made him a wary person at the outset, and years of living on the run has compounded his innate caution. Bruce has long trained himself into emotional distance from other people, particularly now that it would put them at risk - if not from the government, then from himself. Those people that with calm persistence make it past his internal barriers gain a lifelong, loyal friend. Because it takes Bruce so long to trust and open up to someone, by the time he does he is absolutely certain that they are worth his consideration, and he rarely if ever reverses that decision. The list of people he openly cares about is a short one; in canon, we pretty much only see him display this sort of committed devotion to Betty.

Bruce is drawn to Betty because of a combination of factors. On their own, these are not unique character traits, but together they are compelling to him: ready kindness, an intelligence and wit that can keep up with his, and a kind of independent strength that we see when she stands up to her father time and again. Betty is well able to take care of herself, but cares about Bruce simply because she finds him worth caring about. The unconditional simplicity of this is powerful to him. Someone that relied on him too heavily would make it difficult for him to relax around them, unable to stop thinking about his responsibilities; as strongly responsibility-driven as he is, then, Betty's ability to compel Bruce to stop and think about himself compassionately is crucial. She is one of the few things that unequivocally provokes a sense of calm rest in him - even as the Hulk, something unique to her.

The Hulk itself is a purely visceral expression of emotion, an outletting of everything Bruce denies himself during his conscious, waking life. In some story lines in the comics, the Hulk is written almost as an alternate personality, but ultimately it is simply an expression of repressed anger and hurt. In a very real sense, there is something of it in everyone alive. Bruce states in the movie that he isn't interested in controlling that other force, only in getting rid of it. This is a very childish, if understandable, reaction. Wanting to 'get rid of it' as he does lends it more power, and it's at the end of the movie when he decides to try to control it that he's able to accomplish something more - a glimpse of a reasoning, thinking Hulk. There's hints of this earlier, when it protected Betty and took care of her, but those were abstract and basic concepts. Once Bruce does work in cooperation with it, the Hulk speaks and starts to understand consequences on both a real and emotional level.

His intense reluctance to accept the Hulk is a clear mirror of his reluctance to accept himself. While rationally he understands that this is a product of unproductively low self-esteem, practically that makes little difference: Bruce struggles with his own identity and his unwillingness to acknowledge that inside of him is the capacity to be the same kind of monster that his father was, a perfectly human one. He grew up with his father convinced that he himself was a monster, and had genetically passed it onto his son, so this is a very real fear to him (comics canon again). To Bruce, the sheer possibility is horrifying, no matter how unlikely we may realize it is for him to ever become a selfish, angry, violent person. He obsesses over control, ever striving to maintain a perfect grasp on his every emotion and action. Obviously this is impossible, but his deep, gnawing fear of being a monster in truth - one without the excuse of gamma radiation - drives him to attempt for it constantly.

The true irony here is that, at least in the movie version, Bruce is incredibly selfless and moral. He does have a sense of humor, sardonic and rarely seen, and in average interactions is calm, unjudging, and even kind. He is the kind of person you would trust your baby to after you just met him; there is a compelling levelness about him. When he is not in danger and has room to think for himself, out of the heat of the moment, he is extremely reliable and not unfriendly. Dauntless and constantly thinking of others, Bruce is always, always focused on doing what is morally good - the proverbial right thing that so often eludes the best of us.