For this project, we had to pick a character to be our alter ego in a 1 min film.

 

Task 1: Five Characters from Literature or Fiction

a. Taylor Hebert (Skitter), protagonist of the online web serial Worm 

b. Twilight Sparkle, protagonist of the animated cartoon series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

c. Judy Hopps, protagonist of the animated film Zootopia

d. Bill Cipher, antagonist of the animated cartoon series Gravity Falls

e. 707,  potential love interest in the otome mobile game Mystic Messenger

Task 2: Five Public Figures

a. Coyote Peterson, host of the nature-based Youtube channel Brave Wilderness

b. Auntie Sparknotes, agony aunt

c. Matthew Patrick (MatPat), creator of the educational Youtube channel Game Theory

d. Elodie Under Glass, science blogger

e. Nathan Fielder, comedian

Task 3: Five People I Know or Have Known

These are all good friends, some of whom I’ve known longer than others.

a. Shirin Chew

b. Jessica Nagulendran

c. Katie Kwang

d. Calista ‘Calbees’ Lee

e. Annabel Tan

Task 4: The Top Three

I’ve decided not to do descriptions of the people I know as it’s a bit too private and I know I’m not going to choose someone I know personally anyway, heh. Because absolutely nobody asked for it, I’m gonna add heaps and heaps of context.

3. Coyote Peterson is the host of his own nature show on Youtube, Brave Wilderness.

Why the affinity?  I’m super into the show right now because the guy’s just so darn enthusiastic and earnest about all animals ever that I can’t help but get pulled into his momentum. I love animals, reptiles included. Even though I’m not a fan of having bugs in my general vicinity, I enjoy insect documentaries and find them to be fascinating creatures. Coyote gets hyped when it comes to all things creepy-crawly and slimy-slithery, even the things that are going to bite or sting him. He’s recently accomplished the goal of getting himself stung, on camera, by all the top insects on Schmidt’s Insect Sting Pain Index. That includes the velvet ant, the tarantula hawk and the bullet ant. He subjects himself to such tortures for the purposes of education and viewer entertainment, both of which are noble pursuits. Beyond that, he travels the world to find and interact with animals – something I could see myself doing.

 

2. Twilight Sparkle of MLP: FiM is a unicorn-turned-alicorn princess.

 

 

Why the affinity? Twilight had a lot of flaws that she managed to iron out over the course of numerous lessons: her neurotic and obsessive-compulsive personality, her self-isolation, stubbornness, insecurity. She also faced problems beyond her control, for example, her discomfort at having ascended to a higher plane while her friends could only look up. Currently, she struggles with coming into her own as a princess of Equestria. She’s trying to make a difference with the friendship missionary work, she’s taken on a protegé that she’s not entirely qualified to teach, she’s still attempting to apply her book learning to all problems without adapting them. And yet, Twilight is so much better than me in every way. She is kind, honest and genuinely empathetic.

Besides her formal education courtesy of PCSGU and the Princess’s mentorship, Twilight is a prodigious autodidactic polymath who spends her days reading and studying, not for social reasons or grades (though impressing the Princess is a plus), but for the love of learning. When I’m sick of work, I imagine myself to be Twilight Sparkle – passionate about everything and curious about things other ponies find banal. She solves problems with careful investigation and analysis, rarely jumping to conclusions or falling prey to ill logic. Even as an alicorn princess, she relies on intellect and research and diplomacy, not physical or magical power, to get her through predicaments. (Of course, she does tackle bigger, non-interpersonal-conflict problems with brute force on occasion.

And finally, the character I chose…

 

1. Taylor Hebert of Worm is a scrawny, introverted fifteen-year-old girl who, under extreme stress from regular bullying, triggered with the power to control arthropods. Her first foray into hero vigilantism saw her mistaken for a villain and given the name ‘Skitter’. She took this as an advantage to join up with a ragtag group of villains, hoping to turn them in to the authorities, but came to realise that she could do more to clean up streets and help her community as a supervillain than as an unfeeling cog in the bureaucratic machine. With her natural ability and versatility, she quickly rose to become leader of the group she joined and one of the local warlords controlling her city’s underworld.

Why the affinity? The dilemma that typifies her is said as much throughout the story: she constantly faces the issue of having to do the wrong things for the right reasons. I’m drawn by her ability to see the bigger picture, and prioritise grander goals over fleeting whims. She’s willing to sacrifice anything, even parts of herself, to achieve a greater good. She has a conscience and does her best never to compromise it, no matter the cost. She stands up for the people who can’t. She faces down her darkest fears to save people from theirs, which is remarkable considering her background as a victim.

More shall be said on this character in later posts!