Character Profile: Shindo East

Full Name: Shindo East

Sex: M

Age: 30

Aliases: Wattz (current), Herttz (former), University Grey (former)

Titles: "The Undaunting Villain" (As Herttz).

Superhero References: Red Hood (Jason Todd) from DC comics, and The Flash (Barry Allen) from DC comics.

Job: Hero, Gadgetsmith (former), Villain(former).

Hair color: Brown

Eye color: ???

Height: 5' 11" or 180.34 cm

Weight: 181 lbs or 82.1 kg

Blood Type: A-

Song Motifs He Is Based Around: "I See Red" by Thousand Foot Krutch and "Talking to Myself" by Watsky

Superpower: Vibration (Enhanced Archetype)

The full extents of Shindo's metahuman abilities are unknown. However, these past two arcs have shown two absolute facts about his power: The first is that it causes Shindo's body to vibrate/oscilate when he is experiencing emotional stress. The second is that he currently can't control this power, which causes him pain and in extreme cases, it can momentarily criple his arm. However, when Shindo fought Pyro in Arc 1, he momentarily controlled the pain... What could that mean for the former supervillain in the coming arcs?

Likes:

- Making gadgets

- Zipping through the city with a Grapnel Gun.

- Finding good coffee shops in Vermillion Blue City.

- Reading.

- Crepes of any kind.

- Chemistry.

Dislikes:

- Informants.

- Touching dried gum.

- Poorly made or badly designed gadgets.

- Being underestimated.

- Sapphire's Coffee Express's café late.

Hates:

- His past actions as Herttz.

- His own powers.

- Showing his eyes to other people.

- Child abusers.

Equipment:

- Herttz armor V8.9.1 (last armor he wore as Herttz)

- Fracture Suit V1.0 (As Wattz)

- Various Green tinted "String" Visors.

- Controllers (RTCs, Stattics, and PRs)

- Extendable metal baton/polearm

- Metal Darts

- Grapnel Gun

Curiosity: One of the most interesting speech quirks Shindo has is that when he meets someone new, he usually addresses them formally and with respect, usually by addressing them with a Mr. or Ms. This is usally done in an attempt to hide his more gooffy side and not appear as an awkward person. Still, there are a few exceptions to this, the most notable cases being with Pyro, Yata, and Batoon (the same as Yata).

A Bit On The Character's Development: Shindo's initial concept was very different from the end product. Don't get me wrong, Shindo was always planned to be the villain Herttz, but he never was planned to become a full-fledged hero at the beginning of the story. Instead, he was mean to be Lozen's sidekick for the mayority of the story.

Weird right? Yet, that was the idea I had when I started developing Gadgeteer. In his first initial concept, Shindo was a man motivated only by his own personal curiosity and his fear of changing. He let himself be imprisoned during the Night of Fear due to being bored of villainy. Then, at the beggining of the story, Lozen would reach out to him, where she proceeds to strike a deal with him: become her sidekick in exchange for having his sentence pardoned. Amused by this woman's boldness, Shindo would accept this deal, which would start a set of events wich results into Shindo's slow change from a villain into a sidekick and eventually he would end up as an independent hero.

It was a simple premise with a lot of room for flexibility. Still, I saw a lot of potential in developing Shindo's character. Questions like "why did he become a villain?", "Is there a reason Shindo can't use his powers?" and "How can he fight without superpowers and be effective?" made me re-evaluate who he was as a protagonist. Nevertheless, what cemented this change from the conceptual Shindo into his current itteration was when I was first writing a prototype scene that would later turn into the current Chapter 1.

I found really interesting how Shindo dealt with Pyro. Shindo taunted the villain, manipulated Pyro into talking with him, and in the end when some thought Shindo was about to fight Pyro, he subverts the expectations by allowing a newly arrived hero to finish the job. In short, he manipulated the villain into falling for his trap. This deviousness caught my attention, as this was something I rarely saw in typical superhero comicbooks. So I decided to go with that aspect of Shindo and develop it, which then grew into the Shindo we all know and love.

Still, there are a few things from his original concept that where kept in his character. The most prominent examples are in his design, which involve his visor, the green/brown/black color motif present in his costume and his biker look. Yet, in the end, I really like the direction I'm taking Shindo in, and writing him is a blast. I just hope you guyas are also enjoying this character as much as I enjoy writing him!

Artwork:

Shindo Oficial Cover Artwork without the title fonts:

Shindo annoying Yata (Post Arc 2)