PREPARE FOR A DAMN LONG POST Y’ALL
now everyone’s entitled to their own personal takes on the guy, and there’s plenty of empty space to play around in when it comes to personality
but if you’re like me and adore striving to write characters as “realistically” as possible, this is what i generally see based off canon, counting both the series and games:
>avid smoker.
always portrayed to sneak a puff even in the midst of combat. implies he occasionally feels confident enough in battle to take a break. after finishing, he carelessly flicks it away, hinting at a likewise careless disposition
in hell, he does a resigned smoke after falling further down, showing that it’s a habit and a comfort to him.
in project nexus, his chainsmoking is evident from his very gravelly voice. notably talkative during social occasions, but otherwise reserves his voice to very quip and low phrases when working/fighting
>foodie.
very tiny note, but he’s the only one to actually suggest going to Gil’s now and again in project nexus, so he’s a little more indulgent than Sanford on that front.
which is interesting, because in most promo art Sanford looks to be more beefed up than Deimos (not only in a muscular sense, but fat percentage wise)
from this, my hc is that Sanford does eat more, but in a “fuel” type of way, whereas Deimos seems to seek it out for actual enjoyment–a nice contrast to his supposedly strict AAHW past
>techie.
holds great attention to detail. is able to sit still and work a screen in spite of his very active lifestyle otherwise. good with headsets, hacking, coding, flying a wholeass helicopter, often the one to receive orders from 2BDAMNED in order to relay it to Sanford.
also helps that he’s able to use his AAHW past to get past certain barriers/passcodes, familiar with their stations
>flexible in fighting.
in the beginning, we see Deimos blazing ahead a lot. even when Sanford is the first to enter a room, he sprints past. even when first encountering Tricky of all people, he seems to antagonize him before attacking first, whereas Sanford knows when to quit.
this tells me Deimos really likes fighting (and considering how much fun he has after his upgrade in hell, bloodlust)
he FREQUENTLY grabs an attacker’s knife directly on the blade in order to disarm them (like, this happens oddly often), so he doesn’t seem to care much for cuts. that and he (not unlike hank) doesn’t seem to fear bullets very much, typically waltzing forward when faced with guns and merely anticipating the trajectory shot, dodging shots casually (far more than his partner, both before and after Sanford got shot by an engineer)
slightly reckless, but in a calculated way to get the job done.
later in the series however, we see him favor guns more (which coincides the incorporation of his technical skills), naturally leaving Sanford to do a little more of the heavy lifting as compared to before.
still, they seem peculiarly balanced in the sense that they take turns switching leads, with Deimos occasionally charging to the frontlines no problem (with a newfound sweet ass gun or not)
additionally, there are episodes where Deimos (after being established to be more technical and gun adjacent) heads straight into the fray regardless.
in 7.5, deimos clearly enjoys close combat still–considering his excited gesture in punching an open palm, so he remains very fluid.
+ throughout all of this, Deimos seems to be just as, if not more agile than Sanford. they’re both graceful in the air, but Deimos is shown to do more flips overall
>humor.
he likes to joke around and make light of situations. even when he’s in plight, he cracks a one-liner for comedic relief. enjoys taunting the enemy.
does a little jig when on his way to kill a giant agent in hell before stealing his shades + plays up a dance when trying out clothes with Sanford (who also reciprocates with little finger guns) + does outlandish bets with Sanford + not above pranking tf out of his partner by wearing an engineer mask, laughing at him afterwards
not to mention the very first scene that made me fall for his character to begin with, where he flashes a “rock on” sign with his hand while shooting some agents in the face with a shotgun, my man [and naturally, this means my hard rock loving ass will make Deimos a hard rock lover too lol]
>caring.
he very much steps up and takes care of Sanford after he gets shot by an engineer, constantly looking back on him to ensure he’s fine + actually gives a friendly wave to Hank during one of the what if episodes.
rushes to Sanford upon seeing him get ridiculously injured in hell, then finding himself unable to shoot when he turns out to be a traumatic hallucination/trippy threat of some kind
also–this is super small but–when they’re shopping in the Rift, he notices that Sanford is interested in the tea shades after he tries it on, immediately just giving it to him + finding a mirror to show him, thus resulting in that iconic lip haha
>diplomatic.
strangely, he seems to be the one to try diplomacy first, despite loving to fight close and personal. after a building falls on them and they encounter agents, he actually tries to hold out a hand to see if there could be peace.
it doesn’t last long, and he doesn’t ever do it again, but very notably we DO see him try it again when first encountering those mustache dudes (idk what to call em) in a what if episode. Sanford is highly wary of them, but Deimos convinces him that they’re fine. up till Sanford shoots them, in which case Deimos immediately goes with it
so; it seems to me that he gives pacifism a shot whenever meeting a NEW group (not that the agency is new to him, but on screen, it’s the first time he’s about to fight a whole bunch of em). could tie in with the “caring” trait.
if it fails, he doesn’t try again and returns to the default of violence
>fire.
boi literally has a lighter for a thumb lmaooo
this used to be the default for all grunts, until the animation improved, and krinkels kept it for Deimos
in 6.5, Sanford takes the high ground while Deimos just… walks, through a puddle of fire on the ground. slowly.
so, ig he’s just fireproof now lol ?
>insecurities
this is more up to interpretation, but what a lot of people took from the dedmos adventures stint (with the enlarged enemies and teasing posters), is that he does feel somewhat insecure in either being shorter than average OR having less raw muscle strength (relative to Sanford and Hank anyway, i can’t speak for how he was in the past yet)
plus, his wanted posters declare him a traitor and that he “CAN NOT REFORMAT”, as opposed to Sanford’s “WILL not reformat”…
he left the AAHW to fight against them for a reason, so, do with that what you will
in conclusion, i see Deimos as a foil to Sanford, and vice versa.
by that i mean whatever complex layers you can find in Sanford (eg. bit hardy on the outside while simultaneously outgoing on the in), i’d feel safe in assuming the exact antonym for Deimos (easygoing on the outside while simultaneously reserved on the in)
character analyzations are so fun and sorry OP for such a lengthy reblog sjfkds