Do you have any specific headcanons regarding Mr Scroop such as his backstory, hobbies, and extra lore?
I do! It’s somewhat a lot… but it’s what I’ve developed for Chain the Underdogs. He’s one of my interpretations whose backstory has been very affected by the sociopolitical state of the Etherium.
(The backstory is lackluster, however, it has to do with the society of his species, the Mantavores. In Across the Etherium, we chose to base Mantavore society on 16th-18th century Ethiopia. The Mantavore icons in Battle at Procyon fall under the roster for the Procyon Expanse, so obviously we made this species to be subjugated under the Procyon Expanse as well.)
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Roughly 75 years before the film (combining both canon lore and the AtE extension) would be when the Procyons and Terrans have their first major conflict post-Second Technological Relapse (a massive historical event, you can probably imply what it entails). This was the Garn Archipelago conflict and unfortunately, the solar system the Matavores are native to was caught in the crossfire of this war.
Pre-Garn Archipelago/First Terran-Procyon War, the Mantavores were already highly effected by the state system the Procyons imposed by them: basically, because the Procyons were once a tribal society, the differing beliefs and traditions that came with that society type still linger in the modern day through highly diverse spiritual-political ideologies (think a more messed up version of the Holy Roman Empire/pre-unified Germany) in which this unstable political diversity was harmfully pushed upon the species they colonized.
These differing political ideologies being present within the Mantavore society would make it near impossible for them to unify and create a plan to heal from the fallout of the First Terran-Procyon War. Only a year after the war ended, the unstable governing of the Mantavore society would result in the beginning of a civil war between the Mantavores that would last 20 years. This was known as the “Era of Dukes”.
Scroop’s parents were unwillingly involved in the Era of Dukes, with his father fighting in the war himself and going missing in action; with no one to go to, Scroop’s mother then chose to flee the Expanse for the safety of her unhatched son. However, because so much of the Etherium has a social hierarchy built off of humanoid supremacy, it would be dangerous for a Mantavore to immigrate- especially as a refugee- to other nations… forcing her to leave the Milky Way entirely and end up in the Galaxy of Andromeda (space Americas, colonized in a similar fashion roughly 200 years before all this). Poor and without support, she would hesitantly make the decision to become an indentured servant under a wealthy Bourdish conquistador (an Oricuerno named Vigil) so she could at least have basic necessities.
Scroop would hatch here in Andromeda and immediately take on the burden of indentured servitude as well. His reserved personality would begin from this as he was afraid of his master (especially since he was aware that Vigil could dump him and his mother for the slightest disobedience, leaving them without anything) and didn’t want to show fear or any negative emotions around him. Scroop was also commonly isolated from his mother, Vigil saw that their familial bond was “getting in the way of work”.
A mixture of suppressed emotions and lack of self care would ultimately begin his behaviors and it was especially obvious as a teen with how antisocial he was… Now, these are the parts still being worked on, however, in Across the Etherium his relevant story- starting as a teen- would begin with him secretly joining outlaw groups in attempt to gain money. He didn’t actually care for joining a solid group and connecting with them, he just wanted to one day gain enough money to buy the freedom of himself and his mother. Unfortunately though, a series of events centered around instability in the Bourdish colony they all resided in resulted in the assassination of Vigil would cause Scroop to become permanently separated from his mother, however, he was now free.
Scroop’s young adult life now consisted of him continuing outlaw work by becoming a poacher, essentially a trafficker who would either stun or kill sentient species in order to take biological assets from them (like cutting the horn off a Tuskrus or taking the fur off a Felinid) and putting them on the black market. This path was taken because it was really his only choice… Andromeda was a heavily colonial society mostly under rule of the Terrans and Bourdish; because it is so far away from the Milky Way Galaxy, it was difficult to properly maintain colonies and supply them- so it was very Wild West-esque (remember this for later!). This lawlessness meant that piracy, burglary, and the black market were all major hubs here and many would turn to these practices as getting a normal job usually meant you were either an apprentice to a rich Terran/Bourd, severely underpaid, or again, just straight up a servant- criminal work allowed you to gain more despite the high risk that came with it.
Scroop never settled with one poaching group, he joined the ones with the highest pay before going off a doing his own thing. The work didn’t get him a lot of money, Andromeda’s colonial instability meant that it had a busted up economy and simply he just needed enough money to handle basic necessities. Over time, his poaching work is what really desensitized him and is why he is arguably sadistic- simply, he saw his job as just supporting himself and therefore did not care what happened to those he targeted. Scroop would have a knack for stalking targets the poaching groups gave him before actually going after them (makes it easy to predict their moves, the behavior definitely stuck as it’s why we see Scroop lurking so much in the film as well). Scroop went after his targets via shooting them, his main weapon in Chain the Underdogs is literally a giant laser sniper-rifle that shoots both plasma blasts and anesthetic darts; he is incredibly good at shooting this big thing and he’s got great aim.
(I’d say if anything this is technically a hobby of his… he’s a great gunslinger and he enjoys using his weapon recreationally)
Roughly 25 years before the film would be when Scroop meets Silver and Turnbuckle… it’s not an initially friendly interaction.
Basically, the Andromedans (specifically the ‘Terran/Bourdish washed’ natives that no longer practiced their indigenous culture or beliefs) would begin a revolt after the Terrans and Bourds began cutting off money and resources to the colonies in order to recover from the second Terran-Procyon War (the one that was led by King Alexander/The Mad King) that had ended roughly 10 years before (the recovery period was so long because this war is what lead the Terran Empire to abandon its absolute monarchy and instead adopt a constitutional monarchy, so lots of infrastructural damage). This revolt would then turn into a large scale war for independence where the Andromedans would drive out colonial rule.
Now, that distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda I mentioned earlier? That would be detrimental for both sides. Andromeda had many shipbuilding sites, however, in order to actually build a ship or any other flying vehicle, you need avionics, they are critical components that actually make the ship fly. This distance meant that avionics- which were only manufactured in the Milky Way- could not reach Andromeda in time, leaving the Terrans (and Bourds kind of, this was primarily a Terran vs Andromedan war but the Bourdish relied on the imports as well) with limited Navies and the Andromedas with barely any ships. This also caused any available avionics and ships to become extremely expensive and mostly confiscated by the Andromedans for strictly military and emergency usage.
Silver and Turnbuckle were both outlaws in Andromeda during the Revolution (Turnbuckle grew up there also while Silver was essentially marooned there after leaving Ironbeard’s crew but that’s a story for another day) with the pair being partners in crime for the last 2 years. They both were pushing to one day buy a ship and get out of Andromeda with Silver wanting to start his own pirate crew. The two saw the avionics crisis as a perfect opportunity, they would begin robbing trains carrying these avionics and illegally selling the avionics they stole in order to generate enough money so that they could soon buy a ship.
Silver and Turnbuckle weren’t the only outlaws with this idea though, they’d start competing with many other bandits- who also wanted to become rich for whatever reasons- during train robberies. This widespread burglary issue began concerning the now-developing independent Andromedan government: they needed to stop these criminals immediately or they would be unable to fight using any ships or aircraft against their colonizers, and in the worst case scenario, this could lead them to not have ships at all. They lacked a proper military already and practically had non-existent law enforcement, so, in order to keep bandits away from their technology, they would turn to the nearest offensive force in Andromeda: the poachers.
Similar to privateering, the Andromedan government would hire these poachers to hunt down and kill bandits who were robbing avionics and other essentials, and coincidentally, the poaching group Scroop was apart of would be the ones hired to hunt and kill Silver and Turnbuckle.
Silver and Turnbuckle don’t really know who Scroop was at this time, but Silver has caught on that Scroop is eerily consistently present and probably stalking them. There’s a few events where the pair nearly die under the Mantavore and the poachers he works along with Scroop earning the reputation of “guy that wants to kill us”; obviously, they don’t die. In Scroop’s time stalking the pair though, he would become interested in the Treasure Planet plan Silver always talked about with his interest quickly shifting to it… Treasure Planet would provide him with more monetary gain than he could ever possibly get from a lifetime of poaching. Scroop didn’t much care for his poaching group anyways- per usual- and he already hated being used as a government pawn, so, he willingly left.
After a few months of getting chased around, Silver and Turnbuckle would encounter Scroop face-to-face. Turnbuckle didn’t like him at all, logically because he tried to kill them both before, but Silver on the other hand would take Scroop into consideration after he showed what seemed to be genuine interest in Treasure Planet. Scroop also knew plenty of loopholes in the law and offered that if he were to join their group, he could easily get them a ship and maps (with routes) through his black market ties. Silver agreed to this and from then bloomed “the original trio” as we like to call pre-crew Silver, Scroop, and Turnbuckle in Across the Etherium.
Because of who Scroop was, there would be a constant distrust between him and Silver (which obviously extends into the film) while him and Turnbuckle just stuck to disliking each other even though Turnbuckle did want to settle their tension a bit (it somewhat calmed down over time but is still present). I also imagine that Scroop’s ties would allow for some of the crew outside of the three to begin as well since Scroop was the one that brought in Hands… but I haven’t determined how the two knew each other yet.
For the longest time though (before the rest of the crew popped up), Scroop was essentially third wheeling Silver and Turnbuckle because those two already had a much closer and intimate connection with eachother than Scroop would ever have with them… Honestly, it just annoyed Scroop since it always seemed like Silver prioritized Turnbuckle when Turnbuckle wasn’t the brightest star in the sky if you get what I mean…
Outside of all this backstory mash up though, I imagine Scroop isn’t as cruel as we imply in the movie. The movie is from Jim’s perspective, and he hated Jim for interfering with the Treasure Planet plan which was honestly a fair reaction. I imagine him killing Mr Arrow was partially fueled by his preconceived hate for the military/government. His connections with others are still loose though. He gets irritated incredibly easily and is mostly disappointed in the crew because he thinks most of them are unreliable. Turnbuckle tries to act buddy-buddy with him sometimes but Scroop more often than not turns him down. He does have other loose connections with the crew though- being close acquaintances with Hands and finding their mentally unstable lookout- Onus- amusing. He’s got a major dislike for Mackriki though because of how short-tempered and foul-mouthed, yet cowardly he is.
As for more domestic things about Scroop, I imagine he is inconspicuously picky about the foods he eats. He enjoys the wide range of fruits and meats the Etherium has to offer (Mantavores are omnivorous) but he’d never touch something he finds personally unappealing or what he otherwise thinks looks inedible. He secretly enjoys Silver’s food, it looks appetizing and it tastes great, you’ll just never catch him admitting that to anyone haha
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(psst, other thing I didn’t really mention here: if you’re wondering who won the Andromedan Revolution, it was none other than the Andromedans themselves, now we have space USA- aka- the United Andromedan Federation. Unfortunately, they will have lots of internal conflicts as the ‘Terran/Bourdish washed’ Andromedans oppress other Andromedans for continuing to practice their indigenous culture and beliefs)
It's a NO-HOLDS-BARRED match. The choice is yours—would you rather be the one hanging by a thread from the turnbuckle, or the one wielding the steel chair? In the glorious madness of professional wrestling, chaos reigns supreme, and pain is just part of the thrill. Welcome to the spectacle where every moment could be your last… or your finest!
Dude sitting in the corner and he just pummels him with a boot to the face.......
Oh fuck yah, look at that gloating!!!
This dude gets surprised knocked into the corner and worked unmercifully, then later gets guided by the back of the head and face smashed into the top turnbuckle!!
Check out this piece of artful corner work..... dude is laid out in the corner, his legs kicked apart so his foe can step closer, then proceeds to nail him in the face with his dirty boot, then continue to kick him behind as the ref tells him to stop!! Total villain here!! Stomp stomp stomp!!! No one to blame but yourself for stepping in the ring with this evil bastard!!
Fuckin beautiful top turnbuckle corner reversal here, followed by a massive hip bump, sending the already dazed opponent further into daze land......
The seductive way he pulls him back and down into that corner.......