–– FULL NAME: Jeffrey Elric Cohen-Chang
–– FACECLAIM: Ki Hong Lee/Mark Fischbach
–– AGE: 63
–– BIRTHDAY: May 4th
–– BIRTH ORDER: middle
–– BIRTH PLACE: San Francisco, CA
–– SPECIES: Half Lunar Extraterrestrial, Half Human
–– RELATION: Full Sibling
–– MULTIPLE?: No
–– GENDER: Male
–– PRONOUNS: he/him/himself
–– SEXUAL PREFERENCE: demisexual
–– ROMANTIC PREFERENCE: biromantic
–– OCCUPATION:
–– AFFILIATION: Vigilante affiliated with the Extraterrestrial Squad and Jones family
–– POSITION: Instructor at Jones Academy, Head of Moon-Human relations (lives with ET Squad)
–– ALTER EGO: Astro when fighting alongside ET Squad & teaching Vigilantes, Umbra on covert missions
–– POWER(S): Remote Event Viewing, Gravity Manipulation, Force Fields
–– ABILITIES & STRENGTHS: Extensive knowledge in human and intergalactic affairs. Street level magician. Covert skills. Power control/suppression. Emotional control/stability. Can tell a good Knock Knock joke. Knows who is a good boy.
Meet Jeffrey Cohen-Chang, a San Francisco born Korean-American just trying to make it in the world with his artistic mother, not always present father, and the sister he considered his best friend. On the surface, Jeff’s life story seemed rather average– though being a magician meant was a master of misdirection. While Jeff had the playful charm of a typical comedic relief character with no real secrets to hide, Jeff truthfully had plenty. One of the biggest? Jeff was only *half* human.
Humanity came from his mother, Aimee’s, side. The other half of his bloodline was mixed with Lunar royalty from his father, Sirius’, side. This made Jeff not only halves of two completely different worlds, but he was technically in line to rule one. That was a lot of pressure to put on an adolescent who’s current stress until then had been the fact he couldn’t get his Bunnery to evolve in his current Pokemon play through. It was around then that Jeff’s powers started to surface, making it an easy realization that his emotions played a large part in how they behaved– a trait he shared with his sister. When having a power like Gravity Manipulation meant waking up against the ceiling in the middle of the night with no way down multiple times a week, it’s important to get a hold on how to prevent that.
He started wearing ankle weights under his pants and socks to ensure he didn’t float off when stressed out at school though there were incidences in PE that couldn’t be avoided. Given Jeffrey’s sister was having bigger power surges, to the point that recon was needed, it was in everyone’s best interest for the Cohen Chang kids to be homeschooled. Which was fine, really. Jeff liked it. He got to learn everything his sister did, even if it wasn’t for credit. Jeff had a love for knowledge, as information of any kind could easily take his focus, and that meant his emotions were at ease. His quest for educating himself made him try especially hard at keeping any and all of his powers in check. So far he only had the one, but it was rather powerful given the Earth’s natural gravitational pull.
By now Jeff had learned how little the moon cared for the family he loved more than anything, which made him sour on the Lunar side of himself. As a child, the moon seemed like an interesting place to one day explore. To be part of and see what it was like. Granted, that thought was terrifying since surely some of them would be expecting Jeff to eventually rule them. Right? He could have easily just asked his father but he didn’t want to be met with an answer of “yes.” Jeff had hoped his sister’s seniority would play a role and if the day came where they took the throne? It would be the real ruler between the two of them who took it. The one who could protect, care for, make decisions for… all the things Jeff got anxious just considering. Sure, sometimes it felt like the baby of the family was being a coward, but this hope did come from a sincere place of thinking his older sister had what it took to be Queen.
While there were (to put it lightly without raising suspicion) rough patches in the Cohen-Chang household, they were eventually in a place where they could go back to regular school. Finding the balance between being alien and human was something the children were getting successful at finally. It took a lot of different methods for them to achieve it, but they were managing. Until something worse than struggles with powers or banishment from a planet happened– the death of Aimee. His paternal grandmother, the current Lunar Queen, had her poisoned Aimee in an effort to bring Sirius back to take his place on the throne. It was from that point forward that Jeffrey all but physically extracted the DNA within him that he denounced being of Lunar heritage. He didn’t want anything to do with the planet, not as long as his grandmother was its ruler. Jeffrey had already fully embraced being human for the sake of suppressing his powers, so it wouldn’t be hard to keep it up. This caused him to get thoroughly invested in learning all about Earth. Every bit of history he could take in, Jeffrey tucked away and fell in love with the diverse population of Earth as a whole more. Everyone could do terrible things to each other, but Earth and its people (of all backgrounds) often banded together to create change. Being in his 60s now, Jeff had seen firsthand a lot of historical moments that keep him hopeful. Along with seeing how much work was still needing to be done.
While renouncing his Lunar blood was something Jeff was rather set on, he still was involved with intergalactic affairs. He had been at a young age (such as a Coup d'état on Neptune) and would continue to be as he needed to keep some knowledge of his homeworld. The reasoning was entirely on Jeffrey’s belief in his older sister taking the throne over after all. When the time came to overthrow the current Lunar rule, Jeff was there alongside his family. He did not want to be the Prince, but he did not want a planet under the rule of a heartless Queen that didn’t value the lives of all– not just those of her people. Having been successful in keeping emotions under control, it made him an ally. His gravity manipulation was the one he had the most practice with, though he also had developed an ability to see present events happening elsewhere, and force field projection. He wasn’t the most powerful warrior, and that was okay with him, as long as he could help.
Once the Moon’s own Coup d'état was complete, and the throne was claimed by the very family once banished, Jeff softed his stance on the Moon. Yet, it still was not the place he considered his home. He stayed there in an attempt to give it a chance, but he missed Earth. He missed the way of life down there, and the beauty of it. In the end, he decided to go back to Earth even if he was going there alone. The rest of his family and companions decided to remain on the Moon. For almost 30 years, Jeff was on his own living on Earth– he went to college multiple times with multiple aliases as there were only so many times a person could get a degree without aging much. He took in all he could about the planet, and also keep a control with his powers.
It was during these years that Jeff truly got a hold on his emotions and powers. He had learned to removed himself from situations, think intensely before acting, and keep emotions out of important missions. In a way, his ability to suppress his powers became a new power as he could even manage to sneak by power readers undetected. He became more calculated and calm, learning how to keep himself and assess situations. In short, while Jeff might not have been pushing his powers to their limits, he was pushing himself to be a covert warrior for his family. That was his contribution and it felt like it mattered.
Now in his mid-sixties, Jeffrey has multiple roles he plays, all of them different and all of them allowing to express different parts of himself. He teaches courses on Power Control 101-104, How to Create a Secret Identity, Hero Suit design, and Blending in with the Population at the Jones Academy as Professor J (he might have wanted to feel a little like Professor X, especially given his multiple degrees). With his sister and the ET Squad being on Earth, Jeff has taken up the mantle as Astro to fight alongside them as their campy sidekick (even as a hero, Jeff prefers to keep himself low key). His father trusted Jeff with the role as a diplomat between Earth and the Moon, though he likes to extend it beyond the realm of only advocating for Lunars given he knows there are other alien races among Earth. And, the most covert of them all, is his identity Umbra, which is only brought out when needing to do the most secret of missions that a well known face like Astro couldn’t get away with. Keeping focus had never been a problem for Jeff, but with so many different versions of himself to keep in balance, who is to say where the real Jeff begins and ends.
At least regardless of his mental state, Jeff still is one hell of a magician.
