Goober
Stanford Kenneth Petersen, known mostly by his call-sign Goober is a Signaljammer from the Lillifuture. He is one of several operatives who use footage, both archival and recorded from the main timeline, to hijack Interpol Authority propaganda.
Appearance
Goober appears as a short young man in his early 20s who wears a largely-green paramilitary outfit (complete with lots and lots of pockets) that covers him completely from head to toe. In most cases, he covers his face in a balaclava, a knit cap, and a pair of welder's goggles. In this, his entire body is covered head to toe with no visible identification. He affects a Galarian accent from Motostoke and uses a voice changer to make people think he's someone else.
As a civilian, Stanford generally resembles a younger version of his father, only he has blue eyes and sandy blond hair. He usually wears rather casual, never-quite-out-of-style clothing that indicates a minimum of effort. His accent is distinctly from Nacrene City.
Background
Stanford was born on the 1st of August to Andrew and Jane Petersen. He was named after both his paternal grandfather (who he shared a birthday) and his grandfather's brother. A consummate tinkerer, Stanford much like his older brother Junior came to like optical media and wanted to pursue a career in that growing up. As he grew older, however, he and his brother saw more and more of the Interpol's injustices. After a falling out, the brothers' paths diverged. Junior joined his parents and became a very outspoken journalist, while Stanford joined Team Signal and became a propaganda hijacker. As a civilian, he works as an assistant librarian and archivist in the Nacrene City Library, which he uses as a cover to ensure both a constant access to archival documents and as a means of protecting these records from the Interpol censors.
He has an uneasy, somewhat distant, if still loving relationship with the rest of his family, who have assumed that he has become an uncaring feckless layabout who chose the most boring job imaginable due to it being low-effort. He does nothing to dissuade this impression as he believes that it keeps his family safe.
Relationships
He and his older brother Junior share a complicated relationship. On the surface, their relationship is mostly antagonistic. Junior judges his life choices poorly and derides him as immature, lazy, and lacking in principles. Goober resents his brother's judgmental attitude and calls him out for being too willing to associate with members of the Interpol Authority's military apparatus. Despite this, Goober does not want to see his brother come to harm and worries about his safety constantly.
As a child, he has also looked up to his father and idolized a figure known as Arachna-Guy, who reportedly died trying to save trapped civilians in Castelia City several years back from his present. Learning that Arachna-Guy and his father were the same person blew his mind.
Goober can't stand Dave and resents his brother's association with the IDPD agent. As a librarian, he fears that the temperamental cyborg will one day do a Fahrenheit 451 on his library.
Goober's Pokémon
Trivia
- Goober's phenotype is based on one of the Peter Parkers in the film Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse
- Stanford is named after Stan Lee, co-founder of Marvel Comics and co-creator of Spider-Man
- Doreen is named after Doreen Allene Green, Squirrel Girl from Marvel Comics.
- Two of his other Pokémon continue the Spider-Man theme naming:
- Harrison is based on Neil Patrick Harris, who voiced Spider-Man in the early 2000s CGI series.
- Nicky is named after Nicholas Hammond, who played Spider-Man in the live-action Amazing Spider-Man TV series.
- Ezra is named after Ezra Bridger, protagonist of Star Wars: Rebels.
