Roger w 11 and 12
UNHINGED CHARACTER ASKS.
11. Forget the sex or die trope. This character must attempt to rob a bank or they will die. Do they succeed/how much do they get? (If you have extra time, what’s their plan? Who is their crew?)
for all that Roger generally flounders trying to cover up his involvement in a crime in the pen arc, he is very well motivated by desperation, and this is the guy who masterminded a decent scheme to keep himself out of jail, and that went undisputed for a decade. so! I'm going to say succeed, but this isn't going to be Lupin iii levels of heist
importantly, he's going to act mostly alone, rather than with a whole crew — he can't let Liz know he's a common bankrobber, that's mortifying. Burke would be the best choice of partner (and pre-accident, he'd almost certainly pick burke) but that's inviting a lifetime of holding that over his head or extorting him for it. he could twist Carolyn or Vicki's arms into helping him, but they'd probably talk, and David, while a great kid to have with you on a heist, would probably extort him worse than Burke.
I really have two different answers, depending on what part of the show we're in. in the beginning, I think he'd pick on Joe: he's muscle, generally obedient, and Roger can use his working for the family to hold over him, and importantly, he won't talk because to do so would sacrifice his own pristine reputation. he also might be convinced for a share of the money (to marry/take care of Maggie) and Joe, while usually morally sound, has been persuaded before to take up nefarious grave robbing when he thought it was necessary to help the family.
The basic plan would be to use the leverage of his name to get them to open up the bank after hours — i.e. that Liz wants something from the family vault, and he's fetching it (because she's still in Liz Jail) and they have to have it now because of whatever excuse — mostly, because Collinsport runs on the Collins Whim. That ensures the least amount of witnesses possible, and probably only one employee, and a pretty safe getaway. He'd make sure plenty of people in the Blue Whale heard him say he was heading to the bank, which could supply any number of possible suspects.
Roger would then use his charm on the poor teller, and get him to open up whatever (I'm assuming this is just the local bank, so not a huge institution with complicated security, there's probably only one vault). then, enter Joe, in some kind of mask, knock out Roger to make things look good (which he has always wanted to do), and either knock out the teller or just intimidate him (since this is Joe, probably the latter) until he gets away with however much he can fit in a seabag.
It's not gonna take long for the Collinsport police to get there because they're like. two minutes away. so it's important that he hurts Roger pretty significantly, such that the teller is motivated to get him to the hospital before he calls the police. (again. Joe has dreamed of times like these). stash the money in Roger's trunk, and he can make it to the Evanses within a few minutes, who will supply a solid alibi that he was there with Maggie the whole night. Roger, when he comes to, will of course refuse medical care, and insist on driving himself back to Collinwood, where Patterson can question him at his convenience. By which time, one hopes, he'd have already put the money in some little secret compartment, and the worst thing he has to worry about is David finding it.
but that's all if this is pre-Barnabas. post? of course he's robbing a bank with his bestie Julia, who a) loves to do a little crime, b) has the most braincells of anyone, and c) has the powers of hypnosis and milf audacity on her side. the basic premise is the same, because they still don't want any extra witnesses if they can help it, but let Jules hypnotize the guy at the bank and they can both get away with significant chunks of money, with very little suspicion cast on either of them. It's still possible that Roger's car could be noticed, which is probably the most vulnerable spot in their getting suspected — it'd be pretty essential that Julia didn't erase his memory of their being there entirely, even let Roger make whatever withdrawal he was going to before the hypnosis, so that when he's questioned he remembers both of them making a normal visit and leaving.
12. This character suddenly finds themself on the titanic. Do they survive?
probably! first and foremost, Roger is basically indestructible. people have tried to kill him many times and he's emerged each time with a few scratches from things he definitely should have died from, or at least been severely injured by. and a Collins can't die from a sinking ship in the middle of the frozen ocean. please. it's in his genes. he's cursed to be a miserable maritime survivor.
but, more seriously: it's likely Roger would be a first class passenger, which means his odds of survival are much better, even if, on the whole, not many men survived. he's also, well. selfish. and entirely willing to make sure he gets on the lifeboat instead of a woman or child he doesn't know. he may not have any joie de vivre to speak of, but when the chips are down, he's preserving his own skin.
for the sake of hypothetical, I'm going to say that he didn't sail on his own, but went with the rest of his family. having David also increases his chances of survival, even if David would much rather just push him overboard, since parents with children held priority over childless adults. today, he is a loving father that cannot bear to be separated from his beloved son. tomorrow, who knows.
there's also the fact that Liz wouldn't let him drown. she'd pull him bodily out of the water if she had to. there's being willing to sell your brother for one corn chip; and then there's Liz facing the prospect of her baby brother, a Collins, dying a slow, miserable, awful death. so she'd do, or say, whatever she had to to get him in that boat with her and Carolyn and David, she wouldn't leave Roger behind.
