Animated Characters: Jasper, Thelonius et al

Jasper, 3rd World Inventor, Manic Magician


Jasper

Yebo!

Jasper's an African Renaissance ..er.. person. The child of a circus family, he's a natural performer, so he does tend to be a bit overdramatic at times. He's a juggler, but that's just his circus role. There's something of the nutty professor in him too - his mercurial mind will gather together the oddest objects and persuade them to do things they never knew they could. Like his Flycatcher, for example. His real life begins in the events of The House of Ma-Chi, where his offbeat personality is introduced to a mysterious force: Ma-Chi. The mystery, fun and danger of playing with this stuff is what the Jasper story's all about. Metaphorically speaking:- Jasper, a chemistry set, a box of magic tricks. Gunpowder. Matches. No instruction manual. And so begins a journey of exploration that goes anywhere and everywhere. Maybe even everywhen.


Thelonius

"The chaos will provide"

No ordinary fish, this. He floats. He breathes air. He says the weirdest things. He's been around for a while - an old sole.

He's Jasper's opposite - inscrutable, reserved and philisophical. They meet in The House of Ma-Chi, and Thelonius becomes a guide of sorts for Jasper's impetuous action. The truth is he could be a lot more helpful, but he finds Jasper's chaotic antics refreshing, so often he's deliberately infuriating.
Still, if you're tuned to his wavelength what he says does make a weird kind of sense. And if you aren't? Hey, just ignore him - Jasper does. Mostly.

Bolsch

Bolsch is a primary character in Ma-Chi.
He's cold, calculating, and driven by a desire to dominate.
There was once much more to him, but a long-forgotten conflict tore him apart, leaving the machinery of his vast intelligence intact but diconnected, consumed with rebuilding his physical strength and obsessed with one thing:

Power.

Deepmind

Deepmind is no less obsessive than Bolsch, but she's his polar opposite. Her mind is of a whole different nature to his, dreamlike and flowing to his rigid logic.
She has no body of her own, and inhabits the 'Ma-Chi' power a bit like the genie in the lamp.
Well . . . close enough.

They don't understand each other. They don't get on.
He makes his plans, she works to frustrate them.
The two are like a couple at war, inhabiting different parts of the once majestic 'House of Ma-Chi', locked in an embrace neither can escape.

This is what Jasper walks into, innocently looking for food and water.

But that's plot, not character. On the other hand, one of those old Greeks once said, "Character is plot".
Or was it the other way round? Whatever. You get the picture.


	The Computoaster

		This quirky little character is one of my favourites. He's an automated info centre, a cross between an abacus and a pop-up toaster, stocked with a range of cards that answer your queries with mute symbols. Helpful, but hard to understand. He features in the only scene from Ma-Chi that's been animated so far - Right of Passage - which you'll find under Movies.


Snapper!

	I guess the grin says it all. This guy is one of a roomful of critters that Jasper encounters in Ma-Chi. You don't want to get too close to one of these dudes - they're biting machines with no sense of self preservation, and they'll laugh at anyone's misfortune. Even their own. Great for chaos and mayhem. Catch one in action in Right of Passage.


	The Swarmy Bird

		If you look closely, you'll see that this birdy is really a jumped-up Swiss Army Knife. Not a complex personality here. She likes shiny pretty things. A lot. Something to do with adoptive eggs, I guess. She has a minor but crucial role to play in Ma-Chi, wiring the plot together at times, and chopping it up at others. She gets things moving by uncovering the Orbstone at the start of Ma-Chi.


Kickstart

	Another quirky little character. Imagine a dog crossed with a horse who's body is made of a toaster casing, screwdrivers, a battery, a miner's helmet . . . He comes into being right at the end of Ma-Chi, then features in Journey to Legasus where he kicks things off by getting a flat tyre. That event has been animated as No Spoon, which you'll find under Movies.