App for route_29

[artfuldestruction]

Player
Name: Typhie
Personal Journal: typhie
E-mail: typhlogirl@gmail.com
AIM/MSN: typhlogirl
Timezone: GMT +10 (North-East Australia)
Current Characters in Route: N/A

Character
Name: Dr Kato
Series: Astro Boy (2003 series)
Timeline: After neatly escaping the doomed energy plant in Vol 3, Chapter 3.
Canon Resource Links: Oh. goodness, well! Due to the obscurity of both him and his canon, the best I can give you is this, which at least proves he exists. Kato's character design is actually based on an Osamu Tezuka character called Rainbow Parakeet, but the similarities end with their appearances, as RP is a thief and Kato is a scientist/terrorist who enjoys blowing things (and people) up for his art. He was specifically created for the 2003 reboot of the Astro Boy anime, meant to be a nod to Tezuka's past works while being a villainous presence.

Basically, Dr Kato used to work for the Ministry of Science before being fired for only having an interest in producing weapons, rather than peaceful advancements in robotics, and secretly making explosives on the government's time. He then proved that the Ministry was completely right in letting his batshit ass go, because he promptly tried to destroy a train carrying 900 people by inserting a Speed-style device that would blow up if the thing went at less than 700 km/hr. Fortunately, he was thwarted by Astro Boy.

Following this, he was employed by an anti-robot organization who enabled his love of Blowing Shit Up. His final act in the series was to arm an energy plant on the moon to blow, which could have potentially knocked the Earth out of it's orbit. Again, he didn't succeed thanks to Our Hero, but he escaped the energy plant anyway, never to be seen in the series again.

His role in the manga and anime clash a bit, as his ending in the anime is slightly different (no energy plant, and he ends up arrested) so I'll just be taking pieces from both for his characterization. My ending of choice is the one from the manga, but since his arrest causes him to reveal another aspect of his personality, I'll work that into the appropriate section.

If you'd like me to expand on this section at all, I'm happy to!

Personality: Dr Kato is, in a word, an artist.

Producing works that are both terrifying and destructive, he's a highly intelligent man with a serious flair for the dramatic. His mantra is that destruction is the purest form of art, making him the purest form of artist. The universe creates and then it destroys, as he says, and Kato is out there happily creating the most destructive forces possible.

As an artist he started out more on the 'creation' side of the coin; with painting and sculpting. However, he soon gave that up in favour of joining the Ministry of Science, where he could indulge what really fired his creative juices; destruction.

His speciality is explosives; mechanical bombs and all manner of things that make a loud bang and ruin everything in the immediate vicinity. He's so obsessed with his depraved artform that he manages to get himself fired from his job at the Ministry of Science purely through being devoted to nothing but the research and development of weapons. Oh, and that whole 'making bombs when he was supposed to not be making bombs' thing.

After the ministry let him go, he promptly decided that that was really quite rude of them, so to stick it to his old boss he armed the train carrying him and 900 other people to either explode or crash into a metropolis. Because they'd underestimated him, and he wanted them to bear witness to how powerful he was. The fact that so many people (thousands, really) could have been injured or killed during that little stunt was of absolutely no concern to Kato. If anything, it only sweetened the deal; what is art without people to admire it? The more victims, the greater the impact of the piece!

He didn't succeed, of course, but that didn't seem to hold much concern for him other than mild annoyance. Ignoring the insults of the Police Chief holding him captive, he promptly escapes (by pulling an exploding tablet out of his mask that activated in a glass of water) to try again. He may have lost the battle today, but the war is far from over.

His 'art' is constantly evolving, but he prefers to stick to his tried and true method of basic bomb design. It works, so why change it? Despite his dramatic personality, Kato is a logical thinker at heart. His design is quite sadistic in it's practicality; the bomb can be removed, but it will still explode, so either way, Kato gets his masterpiece. In both major incidents in his canon (the train and the energy plant), both bombs have to be hurled into the air so they can explode safely.

Kato has no issue working for a superior; if you're willing to give him his art supplies he'll happy use whatever you like as a canvas. He tends to be respectful and almost subservient (he's seen pouring wine for the leader of the anti-robot organization) when you're enabling him, but will happily stab you in the back once the gravy train stops. He has to be the one to walk away, however, otherwise he can get quite bitter and nasty (trying to blow up that train with his ex-boss on it purely because they snubbed him, much?), despite hiding it under his usual guise of smug indifference.

He also has no problem taking command when things appear to be going pear-shaped; when his boss is getting flustered because a laser attack isn't working, Kato quickly orders the attack to continue, before departing to fix the problem himself, quickly coming up with a solution. He's a very quick thinker and his solutions tend to work, they just also tend to get foiled by infuriating little robots who may or may not be called Astro.

The only moment in which his calm demeanour slips is when he's being arrested in the anime. At that point, the game is over; he's lost. Badly. When the officers come to take him away, he yells and struggles, demanding they get off him. He's so infuriated that he accidently knocks his mask off with his flailing. (And no, it's not concealing anything interesting about his appearence! It's more a technological device than anything he's hiding behind.) It's all a reaction to the fact that, simply, he's been outwitted and defeated. Kato doesn't take serious defeat like that lightly; most of the time he's happy to shrug and move on, planning his next piece, but in that situation he was, frankly, shit out of luck. Said shit-out-of-luckness caused him to snap, revealing that he is quite the sore loser.

In summary, Dr Kato is a dramatic, pretentious, dangerous and psychopathic scientist with no regard for life, either human or robot. He is a brilliant engineer and strategist, who views everything as merely a game to be won. There is no end to his brutal style of art; only the development of his next magnificent masterpiece. Try not to be caught in the blast.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

+ Highly intelligent - He's a scientist of calibre worthy of the Ministry of Science, along with being a genius engineer and innovative inventor. In a world with easy space travel, robots and flying cars. Need I say more?
+ Efficient - When it comes to his activities that don't have Astro furiously standing in the way to cockblock him at the last minute, Kato is very, very efficient. All of his plans are developed down to the last minute detail, and are seen to go off without a hitch even when complicated circumstances are involved. It's not so much that Astro outsmarts him, he just has the distinct advantage of being robotic, and is thus able to rip the bombs off their targets and fly them away to explode safety. Which is cheating, really!
+ Thrives under pressure - In the situation where an attack against a ship is failing due to a force-field, Kato promptly takes command and both keeps his boss from panicking, and takes care of the problem of that bothersome force-field. With a strategically placed bomb, of course.

+/- Apathetic - There's very little that Dr Kato truly cares about, which can be both a negative and positive trait, depending on how you look at it

- No sense of empathy - Kato does not have any fucks to give for other people's lives. He actually prefers it when high numbers of people die in his escapades.
- Impulsive - Who the hell gets a Doctorate in science and/or engineering and then decides to become a painter?
- Selfish - Unless it benefits him in some way, chances are Kato won't be the one you want to ask if you need help. He even states that he's unwilling to sacrifice himself for anyone, so generousity isn't exactly his strong point. Really, his idea of being generous is allowing you to be a part of one of his latest masterpieces. Feel honoured!
- Misanthropic - Astro asks Kato at one point why he wants to destroy human property. He's human, isn't he? Kato promptly says that that is why he wants to destroy human propertly; because humans are such flawed creatures who only care about protecting themselves. His opinion of humanity is condescending; he finds other humans 'adorable' in their stupidity, and tends to be amused by notions of ~friendship between them and robots. After all, it's a moronic idea thought up by some humans; of course it isn't going to work. Why on earth would you endeavour to befriend a contraption you designed to be your slave?

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket
Starter: Deino
Justification: During Kato's first time in Route he had a Hydreigon that caused him no end of grief and tended to completely ignore whatever orders he gave it - I'd like him to be stuck with a Deino as his starter as a reminder of that first Hydreigon and all of the nightmares it caused him, because....well, I'm an awful mun who likes to torment her characters NO BUT REALLY it will cause him angst and annoyance and give him quite a lot to bitch about!

There's also the fact that the Deino line is known for their violently destructive nature, and Kato has somewhat of an obsession with destruction (if that wasn't obvious, uh).
Password: Ginger Snaps

Samples
First Person Sample: [[The feed opens to show a masked gentleman leaning into the camera, smiling slightly. He appears to be in a laboratory of sorts, with all sorts of mechanical implements around him. In front of him, on a metal operating table, is an unconscious Voltorb.

Running his gloved fingers across the Pokemon, the man begins to speak.]]

Despite how primitive your technology is, I must admit I'm fascinated by this robot. The construction is exquisite; I can't find any sort of screw or seam. It's a perfect sphere.

[[Leaving the pokemon for a moment, the man moves along the table and picks up a small, pen-sized device with a rotating saw at the end.]]

Of course, while the design is innovative, it also presents me with a few problems. Much as I'd love to learn about your technology in theory, I much prefer to investigate myself.

[[With the press of a button, the saw activates with a high-pitched whine, and the man brings it over the Voltorb, that smug smile continuing to linger on his face as he lowers it.]]

So let's see what I'll find.

Third Person Sample: The room was small, but it was dark; just how Kato liked it. The spareness wasn't appreciated, but what could he expect? He could improve on that later, once he'd gotten his bearings. This was an odd chain of events, and mildly disappointing; he'd so wanted to watch the Tokogawa energy plant go up. It must have been magnificent.

Sighing slightly, he took one look at the uniform he was supposed to wear before laughing softly and tossing it in the corner, out of the way. No one would be telling him what he could and could not wear. Besides, he was a scientist; he had to wear his coat! The uniform was dull and uninspired, anyway.

Simply not good enough for a man of his artistic integrity.

Straightening his clothes, Kato seated himself at the small desk and leant back in the chair, linking his fingers together on his lap and crossing his legs neatly. The robot following him around was certainly an interesting specimen, despite the incredibly basic design; it seemed to be a conductor of some sort. It was presently located on his bed, sparking gently and blinking at him, appearing to be wanting some sort of order. He didn't do overly well with robots, but he could tolerate the clearly pathetic ones like this odd little ball.

He'd take it apart for investigation later; he did so enjoy playing with the things. Perhaps, with the right modifications, he could produce something....a little more explosive.

After all, a change of scenery was no reason why he couldn't continue his art. If anything, it just provided a beautiful blank canvas.

Chuckling to himself, Kato slid his fingers along the desk, before drumming them against the metal gently, his gloves dampening the sound. Oh yes, this was certainly not a negative set of circumstances.

He'd have another masterpiece under his belt yet.