Stephanie Brown (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ichoosefight) wrote2019-03-04 08:03 pm
ichoosefight) wrote2019-03-04 08:03 pm
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ainmhian Application
CHARACTER INFORMATION
NAME: Stephanie Brown
CANON: Pre-Flashpoint DC Comics
CANON POINT: Convergence: Batgirl
AGE: 21
HISTORY: here
PAST GAME MEMORIES: N/A
PERSONALITY: To put it simply, Stephanie Brown and the second Batgirl series are about two things: personal growth and second chances.
From the beginning of her creation Stephanie was meant as a plot device to be impulsive, unpredictable, and headstrong. Every major event in her life started as an ill-advised impulse, be it donning a costume and taking to the rooftops to fight crime or leaving Gotham for a year and allowing everyone she knew to believe she was dead. It isn’t until recent canon that Stephanie learns to curb some of her impulses and take responsibility for the ones that she doesn’t curb.
Although her fighting style is mostly impulsive, it can be seen near the end of the series that she plans her actions more and more. She still has the tendency to go in to a fight with no real plan, but her plan develops over the course of the fight until she succeeds. After a year with no practice her skill level goes down a bit, but she retains the ability to prioritize and make sure she makes it out of a fight alive.
The biggest development in Stephanie’s character from the beginning of her creation until the end is that she is no longer easy to manipulate. Several times throughout her history Stephanie has been manipulated or tricked into doing things that she regretted almost instantly.
Upon Batman’s return to life, Stephanie is at first strung along by his plan for her. By the end of the day, not only has she solved his puzzle, but she is furious that he has once again tried to manipulate her. In a fight later on she takes her future into her own hands and informs him that he has no right to take away from her an identity that she has created for herself and developed without him (i.e. Batgirl). While it is somewhat discrediting that Batman approves of her outburst and allows her to keep the Batgirl identity, this was a big moment for Stephanie in which she stops letting other people determine her fate.
One thing that hasn’t changed from Stephanie’s beginning to her end is her stubborn streak. Once her pride and determination made her easy to manipulate as long as she could be convinced that her desires where the same as whomsoever was trying to manipulate her. Before the Dome and her vigilante hiatus, Stephanie fights tooth and nail for her own future and for who she wants to be rather than who she thinks other people want her to be. Her stubbornness over the course of her life transforms from a desperate dependence on others to a strong independence that carries her into the future with a sense of strength and optimism.
In the end of her series, Stephanie has changed from a child dependent on the help and guidance of others into a guide in her own right. She also goes through a great deal of effort to help Barbara’s replacement, Wendy, through a very hard time in her life. It is clear that Stephanie relates to Wendy’s troubled past and family life and because of that she wants to help.
Despite this improvement in Stephanie's decision making process, she is still known to be a bit of a flirt and highly socially awkward. This doesn't seem to stop her from making friends so much as it stops people from taking her seriously. This can be and is used to her advantage as Batgirl, but is mostly damaging to her self-esteem at times as Stephanie Brown. The friends she holds in closest regard are those who share her difficulty in social interactions and don't have many friends as a consequence (see: Cassandra Cain, Kara Zor-El, and perhaps even Damian Wayne).
Stephanie no longer fights purely for the excitement or to show off. Another notable development shown in the Batgirl series is that she has learned to fight for the people around her simply because it’s the right thing to do. Although it took three agonizing years, Stephanie’s moral compass now points strong and virtuous. After the Dome comes down Stephanie quits the vigilante life not because she doesn't believe in it, but because she knows there are other ways she can help. With other vigilantes stuck in a small area where day to day life is a struggle, there just isn't a strong need for Batgirl on top of everything else. There's a need for medical practitioners, and she takes up that niche instead.
From the beginning of the Batgirl series she has something to prove and selfish motivations similar to those seen in her earlier appearances as a side character in Tim Drake's Robin series. By the time the final plot line of Batgirl makes itself known she realizes that she doesn’t have to prove herself to anyone. This is especially poignant in the job of a vigilante in Gotham, where there is very little thanks, help, or appreciation. Realizing this makes Stephanie’s job much easier to bear and her sense of self and purpose much stronger.
At her core, Stephanie is a very caring girl. Although she is willing to hide or bend the truth to get what she wants, in the end she wants to be honest with the people she cares about. She is okay with keeping her nighttime activities a secret when her mother tries to stop her, but once her relationship with her mother grows into something more positive she feels bad about her dishonesty.
Stephanie seems the happiest at the end of the Batgirl series, when her mother has uncovered her secret and given her approval. Although she has come to terms with the previous years in which everyone who knew her tried to convince her to stop work as a vigilante, the approval of the ones she loves still means a lot to Stephanie. She simply won’t let the lack thereof hold her back anymore.
A prominent aspect of Stephanie's personality is her love of fun, which hasn't changed much since the beginning of her time as a vigilante. It takes on a new perspective for her in current times but it is still a motivator in a lot of the things she does. As her original superhero name (The Spoiler - because she spoils plans, get it?) suggests, she has a love of puns, media references and the rhetoric that often comes along with comic book vigilantism. She doesn't take for granted the exciting things that other vigilantes do a hundred times a night, but rather takes joy in them and life as a whole.
She has never been afraid to speak her mind even in the heat of battle. This can cause strife in her personal life, but she is able to overcome it in most circumstances by taking a step back, analyzing the core of the problem, and letting her anger or misconceptions or prejudices go. In battle the back and forth dialogue does nothing to distract her anymore. Rather, it appears to be a benefit in distracting and sometimes confusing or enraging her opponents.
Stephanie has the tendency to take the seriousness out of a situation with her dry, down-to-earth humor that reminds us that it's probably a school night and she probably has a pile of homework she hasn't even started on yet. One of the more lovable traits of Stephanie's as a character is how easy she is for readers to relate to despite the more outrageous aspects of her life.
Her ability to let things go and remain optimistic despite a lifetime of trauma and mistakes is and has been the one thing that keeps Stephanie alive against all odds. It may have been a need for revenge and a strong hatred that drove her to don the costume of Spoiler and take up arms against her own father, but it was the hope that she could do something better with her life that kept Stephanie from becoming like her father in the first place. She has a very clear vision of the ideal world, and although at times it has made her depressed more recently we have been shown that it drives her onward. Stephanie Brown is, more than anything, able to let go of past mistakes and work towards a better future.
Stephanie is also the type to pry and ask questions where she isn't wanted. It is a quality that makes her a good vigilante as well as a trouble magnet. Her curiosity caused desperate trouble in her relationship with Tim to the extent that they nearly broke up once she uncovered his secret identity. Her curiosity can get her in trouble just as easily as it can earn her friendships and valuable information. Stephanie can rarely resist prying into other people's lives, and once she does she sees the value in them. Her compassionate nature allows her to wriggle her way into even the hardest of hearts.
The trait that allows Stephanie to fit in with the odd-ball group that comprises the Bat Family is her willingness to accept things she doesn’t understand. This is most obvious in the cases of Cassandra Cain and the revival of Bruce Wayne.
Although Cassandra didn’t talk at all or understand Stephanie’s culture at first, through patience and her desire to be helpful Stephanie was able to not only befriend the quiet assassin but also teach her to read and speak more often. Stephanie isn’t the type to discard someone or make fun of someone because they’re different – in fact, she seems more likely to embrace them because of it. The same attitude applies to unusual situations. When Bruce Wayne returns from the dead (“or the past or whatever”), Stephanie doesn’t waste her time with questions the answers to which she wouldn’t understand. Instead, she takes the incident for what it is and moves on. Anything strange or different she takes in stride and uses however she can.
All told, Stephanie Brown is the result of three years of character development that took her from a side character meant solely to cause trouble as needed to a strong young adult with a sense of individuality and purpose. She is a caring, strong-willed vigilante with a miserable past that allows her to relate to people in a way that nobody bothered trying to relate to her. She has no illusions of saving the world – but she could certainly make it a better place.
POWERS/ABILITIES: Baseline human.
SAMPLES:
A network post from Eudio
The city at night. For the most part it looked the same, she decided. It was the feel of the place that was wrong. There wasn’t much different about the lights or the buildings or the crowds passing below, but they seemed different, and that was enough.
She took off, leaping from the edge of the roof she was perched on and shooting a wire up to another building. Her cape flew out behind her as she wove her way through the streets, trying to get a better feel for the layout. She could stare at maps all day if she wanted, but it wouldn’t be the same as if she experienced it for herself.
For all the reasons she had to be unhappy with her circumstances, the wind in her hair seemed to wipe it all away. She relished in the familiar thrill as she flew through the air. Not actually flying, she noted with some disappointment. Apparently that had been a possibility, but she simply wasn’t that lucky. It was close enough for her, and she liked to fight with gravity like this.
It would have been nice, she mused to herself, if she had a partner on this run. But everyone else was busy, and this was something she needed to do herself. And besides, who would she go with? Her comms didn’t work here, so there was no voice in her ear. And without Oracle, there wasn’t anyone else she wanted to have around. This place could take anyone from anywhere and anywhen, but it didn’t bring her Kara or Cass. Even Tim would have been nice, if awkward and incredibly uncomfortable.
But she wasn’t totally alone here, she reminded herself. And even if she was, she had worked alone before. She would manage just fine.
ANYTHING ELSE? Anything else that you think is important, that doesn't fall under the above, you can place here.
NAME: Stephanie Brown
CANON: Pre-Flashpoint DC Comics
CANON POINT: Convergence: Batgirl
AGE: 21
HISTORY: here
PAST GAME MEMORIES: N/A
PERSONALITY: To put it simply, Stephanie Brown and the second Batgirl series are about two things: personal growth and second chances.
From the beginning of her creation Stephanie was meant as a plot device to be impulsive, unpredictable, and headstrong. Every major event in her life started as an ill-advised impulse, be it donning a costume and taking to the rooftops to fight crime or leaving Gotham for a year and allowing everyone she knew to believe she was dead. It isn’t until recent canon that Stephanie learns to curb some of her impulses and take responsibility for the ones that she doesn’t curb.
Although her fighting style is mostly impulsive, it can be seen near the end of the series that she plans her actions more and more. She still has the tendency to go in to a fight with no real plan, but her plan develops over the course of the fight until she succeeds. After a year with no practice her skill level goes down a bit, but she retains the ability to prioritize and make sure she makes it out of a fight alive.
The biggest development in Stephanie’s character from the beginning of her creation until the end is that she is no longer easy to manipulate. Several times throughout her history Stephanie has been manipulated or tricked into doing things that she regretted almost instantly.
Upon Batman’s return to life, Stephanie is at first strung along by his plan for her. By the end of the day, not only has she solved his puzzle, but she is furious that he has once again tried to manipulate her. In a fight later on she takes her future into her own hands and informs him that he has no right to take away from her an identity that she has created for herself and developed without him (i.e. Batgirl). While it is somewhat discrediting that Batman approves of her outburst and allows her to keep the Batgirl identity, this was a big moment for Stephanie in which she stops letting other people determine her fate.
One thing that hasn’t changed from Stephanie’s beginning to her end is her stubborn streak. Once her pride and determination made her easy to manipulate as long as she could be convinced that her desires where the same as whomsoever was trying to manipulate her. Before the Dome and her vigilante hiatus, Stephanie fights tooth and nail for her own future and for who she wants to be rather than who she thinks other people want her to be. Her stubbornness over the course of her life transforms from a desperate dependence on others to a strong independence that carries her into the future with a sense of strength and optimism.
In the end of her series, Stephanie has changed from a child dependent on the help and guidance of others into a guide in her own right. She also goes through a great deal of effort to help Barbara’s replacement, Wendy, through a very hard time in her life. It is clear that Stephanie relates to Wendy’s troubled past and family life and because of that she wants to help.
Despite this improvement in Stephanie's decision making process, she is still known to be a bit of a flirt and highly socially awkward. This doesn't seem to stop her from making friends so much as it stops people from taking her seriously. This can be and is used to her advantage as Batgirl, but is mostly damaging to her self-esteem at times as Stephanie Brown. The friends she holds in closest regard are those who share her difficulty in social interactions and don't have many friends as a consequence (see: Cassandra Cain, Kara Zor-El, and perhaps even Damian Wayne).
Stephanie no longer fights purely for the excitement or to show off. Another notable development shown in the Batgirl series is that she has learned to fight for the people around her simply because it’s the right thing to do. Although it took three agonizing years, Stephanie’s moral compass now points strong and virtuous. After the Dome comes down Stephanie quits the vigilante life not because she doesn't believe in it, but because she knows there are other ways she can help. With other vigilantes stuck in a small area where day to day life is a struggle, there just isn't a strong need for Batgirl on top of everything else. There's a need for medical practitioners, and she takes up that niche instead.
From the beginning of the Batgirl series she has something to prove and selfish motivations similar to those seen in her earlier appearances as a side character in Tim Drake's Robin series. By the time the final plot line of Batgirl makes itself known she realizes that she doesn’t have to prove herself to anyone. This is especially poignant in the job of a vigilante in Gotham, where there is very little thanks, help, or appreciation. Realizing this makes Stephanie’s job much easier to bear and her sense of self and purpose much stronger.
At her core, Stephanie is a very caring girl. Although she is willing to hide or bend the truth to get what she wants, in the end she wants to be honest with the people she cares about. She is okay with keeping her nighttime activities a secret when her mother tries to stop her, but once her relationship with her mother grows into something more positive she feels bad about her dishonesty.
Stephanie seems the happiest at the end of the Batgirl series, when her mother has uncovered her secret and given her approval. Although she has come to terms with the previous years in which everyone who knew her tried to convince her to stop work as a vigilante, the approval of the ones she loves still means a lot to Stephanie. She simply won’t let the lack thereof hold her back anymore.
A prominent aspect of Stephanie's personality is her love of fun, which hasn't changed much since the beginning of her time as a vigilante. It takes on a new perspective for her in current times but it is still a motivator in a lot of the things she does. As her original superhero name (The Spoiler - because she spoils plans, get it?) suggests, she has a love of puns, media references and the rhetoric that often comes along with comic book vigilantism. She doesn't take for granted the exciting things that other vigilantes do a hundred times a night, but rather takes joy in them and life as a whole.
She has never been afraid to speak her mind even in the heat of battle. This can cause strife in her personal life, but she is able to overcome it in most circumstances by taking a step back, analyzing the core of the problem, and letting her anger or misconceptions or prejudices go. In battle the back and forth dialogue does nothing to distract her anymore. Rather, it appears to be a benefit in distracting and sometimes confusing or enraging her opponents.
Stephanie has the tendency to take the seriousness out of a situation with her dry, down-to-earth humor that reminds us that it's probably a school night and she probably has a pile of homework she hasn't even started on yet. One of the more lovable traits of Stephanie's as a character is how easy she is for readers to relate to despite the more outrageous aspects of her life.
Her ability to let things go and remain optimistic despite a lifetime of trauma and mistakes is and has been the one thing that keeps Stephanie alive against all odds. It may have been a need for revenge and a strong hatred that drove her to don the costume of Spoiler and take up arms against her own father, but it was the hope that she could do something better with her life that kept Stephanie from becoming like her father in the first place. She has a very clear vision of the ideal world, and although at times it has made her depressed more recently we have been shown that it drives her onward. Stephanie Brown is, more than anything, able to let go of past mistakes and work towards a better future.
Stephanie is also the type to pry and ask questions where she isn't wanted. It is a quality that makes her a good vigilante as well as a trouble magnet. Her curiosity caused desperate trouble in her relationship with Tim to the extent that they nearly broke up once she uncovered his secret identity. Her curiosity can get her in trouble just as easily as it can earn her friendships and valuable information. Stephanie can rarely resist prying into other people's lives, and once she does she sees the value in them. Her compassionate nature allows her to wriggle her way into even the hardest of hearts.
The trait that allows Stephanie to fit in with the odd-ball group that comprises the Bat Family is her willingness to accept things she doesn’t understand. This is most obvious in the cases of Cassandra Cain and the revival of Bruce Wayne.
Although Cassandra didn’t talk at all or understand Stephanie’s culture at first, through patience and her desire to be helpful Stephanie was able to not only befriend the quiet assassin but also teach her to read and speak more often. Stephanie isn’t the type to discard someone or make fun of someone because they’re different – in fact, she seems more likely to embrace them because of it. The same attitude applies to unusual situations. When Bruce Wayne returns from the dead (“or the past or whatever”), Stephanie doesn’t waste her time with questions the answers to which she wouldn’t understand. Instead, she takes the incident for what it is and moves on. Anything strange or different she takes in stride and uses however she can.
All told, Stephanie Brown is the result of three years of character development that took her from a side character meant solely to cause trouble as needed to a strong young adult with a sense of individuality and purpose. She is a caring, strong-willed vigilante with a miserable past that allows her to relate to people in a way that nobody bothered trying to relate to her. She has no illusions of saving the world – but she could certainly make it a better place.
POWERS/ABILITIES: Baseline human.
SAMPLES:
A network post from Eudio
The city at night. For the most part it looked the same, she decided. It was the feel of the place that was wrong. There wasn’t much different about the lights or the buildings or the crowds passing below, but they seemed different, and that was enough.
She took off, leaping from the edge of the roof she was perched on and shooting a wire up to another building. Her cape flew out behind her as she wove her way through the streets, trying to get a better feel for the layout. She could stare at maps all day if she wanted, but it wouldn’t be the same as if she experienced it for herself.
For all the reasons she had to be unhappy with her circumstances, the wind in her hair seemed to wipe it all away. She relished in the familiar thrill as she flew through the air. Not actually flying, she noted with some disappointment. Apparently that had been a possibility, but she simply wasn’t that lucky. It was close enough for her, and she liked to fight with gravity like this.
It would have been nice, she mused to herself, if she had a partner on this run. But everyone else was busy, and this was something she needed to do herself. And besides, who would she go with? Her comms didn’t work here, so there was no voice in her ear. And without Oracle, there wasn’t anyone else she wanted to have around. This place could take anyone from anywhere and anywhen, but it didn’t bring her Kara or Cass. Even Tim would have been nice, if awkward and incredibly uncomfortable.
But she wasn’t totally alone here, she reminded herself. And even if she was, she had worked alone before. She would manage just fine.
ANYTHING ELSE? Anything else that you think is important, that doesn't fall under the above, you can place here.