Backstory: Kerry "Bonkers" D. Bobcat used to be a funny guy, once upon a time. Even when his acting career shriveled up, he kept a smile on his face. It helped him bounce back, get a job in law enforcement, of all things. He wasn’t bad at it, either. Did his duty right and proper, cheered up his coworkers, kept the smile on his face.
Then a felo-supremacist group had attacked a benefit gala. Anthony TIgris III had been donating the Eye of Thundera, and the felo-supremacists wanted to steal it. There was an explosion.
Bonkers didn’t get the worst of it, not by far. His best friend on the force, Officer Phillip Art, had nearly been blown to pieces. As Bonkers recovered in the hospital, he no longer smiled. Maybe the occasional sarcastic smirk, but never a smile.
He retired from the force and moved out to the coast. He and Phil had always talked about moving somewhere warm. Now he spent his days as a lifeguard harassing the hot surfer boys who were usually too dense to realize they were being taken advantage of.
It wasn’t a happy story. It certainly wasn’t funny. But life has a way of turning bright-eyed optimists into jaded cynics.
-----
Commentary: This is another one where the original PSD is missing, making adjustments harder.
When I was conceptualizing this one, I had the thought “what would happen to Bonkers’ personality in the real world?” And my answer to that is above; life has a way of turning bright-eyed optimists into jaded cynics.
I thought making him a lifeguard and Slammu a surfer made perfect sense, at the time. When actually, I dropped the ball. I’d redo it entirely if I had the motivation and patience. I’d keep Bonkers as a regular beat cop instead of veering to lifeguard, and make Slammu a rollerblader or skateboarder or something. Y’know. A street shark. I ventured pretty far from Slammu’s concept and design, but thankfully he wasn’t hard to identify.
Bonus points to anyone who identifies the people referenced in the backstory.
