In Character Guide

[perhapsormaybe]

Just another helpful guide. Because I'm bored, and nothing makes me sadder than to see Kevin out of character (...I'm weird, I know).

The Basics:
From what we know of Kevin, he can be a jerk. There's no getting around this one. Yeah, he's on the good team now. No, he doesn't seem to be doing illegal deals anymore. But Kevin is Kevin, and if an opportunity to make fun of Ben presents itself, he's going to take it.

He's also very stubborn. It's very well established in the series that he likes Gwen. Most guys would have loved for the girl to admit she likes him. But in All that Glitters, all Gwen gets as a response is that it's a guy's job to do the asking. And yet...he still hasn't. Kevin does things on his own terms, when he's ready for it. Never before.

Romance

Concerning pretty much everyone, Kevin's become very protective, both of Gwen and Ben (keep an eye out...someone falls down? Kevin tries to run to the rescue. Especially with Gwen). He's never tried to get Gwen to stop fighting, and she is one person he seems to acknowledge is stronger than him ("Grounded", when the Highbreed says "you think you have a chance against me?" "Me? Nah....now her, on the other hand...."). Protective, yes. But he's not stupid enough to try to get her to stop fighting. As for Ben....Kevin won't say it (probably because they fought so often as children), but Ben's stronger than him, at least using the omnitrix he is.

Kevin does not 'wax poetic'. Ever. While he is not unintelligent (he knows his way around alien tech better than just about anyone, and it takes a special sort of skill to be that good at fixing cars), he does seem to have a limited vocabulary (he didn't know the word 'rhetorical'). He also does not call Gwen by nicknames. If they started dating, it still wouldn't fit into his pattern of speech to call her 'angel'. "Pumpkin" is her father's nickname for her. Having Kevin call her that would be like you're giving Gwen daddy issues. The closest you'd probably get to a nickname from him might be 'babe'. However, someone like Gwen's likely to smack him for it.

As for if you're a Bevin supporter....honestly ask yourself, would someone like Kevin be that comfortable coming out of the closet? Especially beating Ben out of the closet? Personally, I don't think so. If he's being shy about asking a girl out, it's only going to be worse about asking another guy out. He would take more work than that.

If you support Kevin with an OC....well, that's your business. Just make sure the OC isn't perfect, and at no point should Kevin ever be scared of him/her.

Reactions

To someone getting hurt: Kevin tends to barrel in. He doesn't stop the fight, he'll attack whoever hurt his friend. However, he doesn't spend his full time protecting people, and doesn't seem too concerned about Gwen and Ben being able to take care of themselves. If he's not surrounded at the moment and sees one of them needs help, he'll help. Sometimes, though, he does have to go rescue mode (Gwen almost being sucked up by the tractor beam in "Inside Man"). At those times, he grabs the wounded person and tries to protect them. But notice it doesn't usually happen unless the person he wants to protect has passed out.

To a challenge: Kevin does not back down. Not from anyone. If you say anything he takes the wrong way, he'll try to pummel you, or at least start yelling. He is not afraid of an OC. Ever. Kevin's got a bad habit of talking smack, even to characters who prove they can kick his butt. Doesn't matter to him, he'll still keep write on with the jokes and/or insults. And he may even try to fight them.

Trust issues: Kevin is the least likely to trust any new additions to the group. He was the only one suspicious of Morningstar, and he didn't trust Sim. He admitted to Darkstar that he didn't trust him, but basically was fine with him being there because if Darkstar didn't help, he'd probably be killed (if the Highbreed had been successful in their assault).

Jealousy Issues: Obviously, Kevin's main distrust of Morningstar came from his feelings for Gwen. But it seems he must actually see the person as a threat - he doesn't seem concerned that Cooper's very obviously crushing on Gwen. He even teases her about it in both episodes Cooper shows up in.



That's all I can think of for now, because my brain is slowly turning into mush. If you have anything to add for Kevin, please suggest it (or if you feel I got something wrong). I'll do other characters later, but if you guys want to write your own for a character, that'd be great. It was just that Kevin being OOC was part of the reason I started writing. I was trying to see if it was as hard as some people were making it to keep him in character. It kind of depends on the story, I guess.

[perhapsormaybe]

Ben Tennyson

The Basics:
Ben is a somewhat awkward teen - note his social life...the fact that his best friend is his old enemy, his other best friend is his cousin and the only person from his school you ever see hanging out with him is his girlfriend. He loves helping to protect the world...when he was 10, it was probably motivated more of the idea of being a hero. Now that he's 15 and a lot more mature, his motivation seems to be a truly noble one - that he cares. He wants to keep *everyone* safe (note his "No sacrifices" line in "Inside Man").

He's a bit worried about his secret getting out (He tried very hard to hide it from Julie in "Pier Pressure"). Whether this is because he thinks he'll be thought of as a freak, or he's worried someone he cares about might get hurt is not fully explored. It could easily be both.

Romance

First off, let's go canon. Julie. Ben started off protective of her (Pier Pressure), but he seemed to come around to the idea that she can handle herself (he didn't complain or try to get her to leave in "War of the Worlds"). His attraction to her is probably that they are very similar. Both are brave, strong characters. And Julie seems to find him funny.

As for Gwen...be careful with this one. Gwen or Ben often come off as clingy when written as a couple. The main argument against it is, of course, they're cousins, but there are states were that is perfectly legal, so we're going to assume they're in one of those states for this. The pairing does make sense, at least in theory. They care about each other, they spend a lot of time together, and Gwen is who Ben turns to for advice. If you're going to do this pairing, you have to take multiple things into consideration. Ben is not the type to cheat, so you have to explain what happens with Julie. Gwen is well established to like Kevin, so you have to explain that as well.

And of course, Bevin...Ben/Kevin. I've already gone into Kevin's side on this...the good news is Ben is a lot easier. There are things about his personality, just the way he responds to things...he could easily be gay, or bi (nothing concrete there, especially as he has a girlfriend. I'm mainly saying that it's not a far out there idea). Again, we go back to this - Ben is in the awkward teenage stage. Nothing happens over night with relationships period, whether straight or gay, and it often takes longer for teenage boys who aren't certain if they're gay or not (and *can* end in heartbreak....I had a straight friend who wasn't sure if he was gay...he went out with another guy friend of mine, then broke up with him a week later. The actual gay guy was pretty broken up about it).

As per OCs - again, don't usually condone this (for now, the only example is Karian/Ben ...for ones I like, I mean), but it's your business if you want to try. I can't give a guideline for this, though, as I'm unsure of how to do it (Perhaps Lasa will be so kind?).

Reactions

to someone getting hurt: Ben isn't usually the one running after them. Generally, it's Kevin or Gwen getting hurt and they run after one another to check on each other. Ben's usually too preoccupied trying to defeat whatever hurt them. He will check on them to make sure they're okay, and if they're kidnapped he'll go after them, but that's about it.

To a Challenge: Ben can be a bit mouthy himself sometimes. This isn't too common, but we do see him standing up to the first Magistar, to Kevin, and he fights Pierce. He doesn't back down from challenges, but he generally isn't cocky about them (not at this age, anyways).

Trust Issues: Ben gets a bit more complicated here. He did not trust Kevin until the end of "Kevin's Big Score", but he was still the first to trust Sim. You have to speculate yourself to come up with how he'd react to a third untrustworthy person... In theory, the last person he trusted betrayed him, after a person who he didn't trust turned out to be helping him. Maybe the experience with Kevin made him trust Sim. Maybe not. it seems more likely Ben will trust the person if he can identify with and/or sympathize with them.

Jealousy Issues: This is unknown. We haven't really seen a jealous Ben, but his girlfriend doesn't show up too often.

Common errors: The main thing I see messed up with Ben is that some authors write him as though he's still 10, even though they establish that he's in Alien Force time. He'll be immature, annoying, frustrate the heck out of both Gwen and Kevin...and it doesn't fit. Ben grew up remarkably well. In romances, he's usually captured pretty well, regardless of the pairing.

[mintychinchilla]

You should take into consideration some new developments on Ben. Season three of Alien Force has been slightly spoiled at Comic-Con 2009, and the clip they showed has Ben rudely burping at some alien dignitary presenting him with a medal in appreciation for his defeat of the Highbreed. Ben's getting cockier and more immature. Gwen'll probably be pissed. Kevin'll go along with Ben, if what I've gleaned is right, and the two boys will be in some hot water because of their carelessness and tampering with alien tech (namely, the Omnitrix). So writing Ben as immature or cocky isn't that far of a stretch for the Alien Force era.

[perhapsormaybe]

Yeah, this was written before that leak....I'm going to watch a few episodes before I re-write.