Gene Steward

GH3 - Gene Steward (Art by Serpico)

Gene in his fanservice costume as drawn by diseasedbear

Name: Gene Steward

Gender: Male
Age: 16
School: Davison Secondary School
Hobbies and Interests: Acting, Reading, SOTF TV, History, Video games

Appearance: The 5'7" tall Gene Steward weighs 160 pounds, which doesn't make him stand out from the other students. He has long, smooth light brown hair and brown eyes. Under those you can see small dark circles caused by fatigue. On some days you can even see his conjunctiva turned red due to watching too much TV or using his laptop too much. He has a small nose on his oval shaped face, which is, like the rest of him, evenly pale.

He usually wears jeans, hoodies and chucks. Some of his things are SOTF merchandise. In Season Sixty-Six he wears white chucks, blue jeans with a red hoodie, which has a drawing of his favourite SOTF winner Travis "Bug" Hood on it. Underneath it he wears a white T-shirt.

Biography: Gene Steward was born on the Fifteenth of February 2004 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was the only child of Carl, a shoe salesman, and Tara Steward, an environmental journalist. Both have educated Gene and cared for him in his childhood.

He had his first experience with SOTF at the age of seven, where he watched some episodes of Season Eighteen and asked his parents if real people were dying or if it was just fake. His parents lied telling him it was acting. Since then he got interested in acting, because he thought the people on the TV were just really good actors.

When Gene was twelve, his father quit his job as a shoe salesman to reunite with a band he founded with his friends when he was in High School and went on tour. Before that event he spent much time with his son, but when he went on tour he had not much contact with him, unlike Tara who often had long phone calls and Skype meetings with him. She had to search a second job to get more money, so neither of the parents had time to care about Gene. So Gene filled his free time more with TV, books and friends.

After five months, his father returned, because the tour and the band itself in the end were not successful, primarily due to the fact that they invested more than they gained. Carl then worked as a waiter in a restaurant and the parents did not spend much time with Gene together compared to the time they did spend with him together before Carl left, due to their full schedules. Gene was at first happy about the return of his father and his father tried to spend more time with him, which Gene had done for some days. But after those days Gene felt a bit annoyed by him, because he preferred spending his time with friends or the TV instead of spending it with his father and was already used to splitting up his time the previous five months without his father.

As a teenager, his belief that SOTF TV was scripted was shaken when his friends told him it was real. At first he was shocked and felt really bad that everyone who died really died, as he gained sympathy for most contestants. Later he just dealt with it and continued following the Seasons. He eventually got more attached to the players on TV, because he knew those were real people and it became his favourite TV Show.

Even though he then knew that the SOTF students did not act he continued to be interested in acting, so he entered the school drama club. But soon he left the club, as he disliked the people there, because they criticized him too much and he dealt with it poorly.

As a child he had no problems getting friends due to his naievety, however as he grew he began to be more skeptical about things, probably because he read philosophy books that taught him to question everything and the fact that his parents lied to him about several things. Since then he had more problems talking to new people and becoming friends with them. This made him the person who distrusted strangers and just wanted to be friends with familiar faces he was. Therefore he just had a specific circle of friends he hung out with. His friends did not have to share his opinion, as he liked to debate about various things and he liked the fact that every person had another opinion, brain and mindset. Generally he acted friendly and nice towards everyone, including both people within and outside of his circle, especially when they were friendly to him. But he was more open to his closer friends than to strangers. In discussions he always tried to convince the people, who he thought were completely wrong, in a friendly, never violent, manner. He however could insult people who he either held grudges against, who annoyed him too much or who hit some of his trigger points.

Tara blamed Carl's lack of education for his unsuccessful career and encouraged Gene to get a real job where he gets a lot of money. She wanted him to become a lawyer, not an actor, and saved money so Gene can afford joining the upper class school Davison. Because the money she earned and saved wasn't enough for Davison she had to ask some of her friends to lend some money, but she repaid everything before Gene turned sixteen. However secretly Gene didn't want to become a lawyer or get a job that he wouldn't enjoy.

Gene's favourite subject was History, because he was interested in the way the civilization had changed and he always was interested in different cultures. He was also good at Mathematics, because he could easily remember formulas and he thought Maths was easy if one could use logic. While he was generally good at school his grades dropped when he was fourteen years old, because he got distracted a lot as he focused more on SOTF, Video games, girls and friends. He neglected his school life and sometimes goofed off in the class and one time even fell asleep during class, because the previous night he spent with playing an SOTF Video game. During class he rather talked with his seat neighbours about various topics instead of participating in the lessons and when the teachers forced him to sit on a place where he was alone or next to students who were trying to focus on the teachings, and he didn't want to distract them, he goofed off thinking about, for him, more important stuff like the newest SOTF-TV episode, his prediction what will happen in the next one, his ideas for new video games and stories or about what he should do with his friends in the future. Still there were some phases and classes where he focused in the class, either when he was in a class where the teacher was sympathetic, the class was about his favourite subject, his friends advised him to focus and participate to get a better grade or right before the finals or a class test. Even though he tried to learn for tests he delayed the learning and focused more on his friends and SOTF.

Gene planned to let his in-school-more-successful friends help him with learning, but when he met with them he got easily distracted and wanted to do something else with them. His homework however was managed to be done by himself, even though he sometimes asked his friends how to do it, at home as he was a fast writer and made it quickly, trying to be finished with speed rather than with quality, before bothering with other things. He did not manage to get a good grade for some subjects even with learning so he quickly gave up learning those subjects and dealt with getting bad grades without getting upset. When Gene failed exams he tried to avoid talking with his parents about exams or school in general. However his parents noticed that his grades dropped when the school contacted them via phone calls and began to be more strict and took his laptop away. Even though Gene was very angry and aggressive about that, he improved his grades as he focused more on his school work. When he became fifteen he got his laptop back and got a special present from his parents, a smelly bloodstained T-shirt of an SOTF contestant they bought at an auction because his grades improved, and he was very grateful for both the fact that he became better at school and the fact he got that special T-shirt.

Gene visited no clubs sans the drama club, even though he played with the thought of joining the volleyball team, as Volleyball was one of the few sports he played decently and enjoyed, or the Debate team, because he was interested in debating, but due to the lack of motivation and time he visited no clubs on Davison and the only advantage of the facility of Davison he took is that he irregulary visited the School Library to lurk there and read some books.

In his free time Gene surfed on the internet and followed the new seasons of SOTF. In addition to that he also rewatched some old seasons he liked, even though their quality was not as good as the new ones. On the internet he was also active on some big SOTF fansites and he also wrote and read some SOTF fanfictions and analysis. This lead to the reduction of him reading books. He also liked to meet with friends, having fun with them or play Video games with them or alone. He was still interested in Acting after he left the drama club so he liked going to the theatre or watching some dramas on his laptop.

While he was silent and pretty shy in public, he was pretty loud-mouthed and open when he was with friends. In the future he wanted to become an actor or if that career would fail he'd like to work as a Librarian.

Advantages: His massive knowledge about SOTF might help him to survive. In case he meets the right allies he'd have an easy time persuading them, because he has acting experience. His friendliness and calmness would not only prevent himself from snapping, but also others. His well-tended relationships with his friends also might help him allying with them.
Disadvantages: As he doesn't do much sport activities he isn't in a good shape and could be an easy prey to other players. Also he gets distracted easily and doesn't focus, which might lead him into getting off guard quickly. His cockiness and the fact that he thinks he's top notch and utter is a great disadvantage as he might gain antipathy with that attitude. His mistrust for strangers also could prevent him from allying with students from other schools.

Designated Number: Golden Hyenas 3 (GH3).

----

Designated Weapon: Slingshot

Mentor Comment: "Guess we got a tactician here, if he knows so much about TV already. In sports knowing the other guy's plays before you hit the field or court is a nice advantage, so this kid'll....wait? Bloody T-shirt? Jesus, what's going on in the world today?"

Evaluations

GH3 - Gene Steward (Art by Ryuki)

Handled By: RCee

Kills: Valerie Fitzroy, Will Brackenrig, Bunny Barlowe

Killed By: Bella Bianchi

Collected Weapons: Slingshot (designated weapon), pony pogo stick (from Valerie Fitzroy)

Allies: Yagmur Tekindor

Enemies: Aidan Adelman, Laura Mason, Yagmur Tekindor, Colin Pigeon, Will Brackenrig, Asa Rosen, Bella Bianchi

Mid-game Evaluation:

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes: "Hello Laura, I'm your mentor Jackie, but you can call me Jack. It seems like your mic of your collar is broken, therefore you should go to the beach, there a boat awaits you. Your collar will be changed there and you'll get a new weapon, as we accidentally gave you the wrong weapon. Good luck on your way." - Gene attempting to fool Laura and Aidan

Threads

Below is a list of threads that contain Gene, in chronological order

Sandbox:

• Gene In Jeans and Terrible Narrative
• Albuquerque Arcade

SOTF-TV:

• Speechless
• It's Dangerous to Go Alone, Take This
• Septette For The Dead Princess
• GLHF
• Take That Money, Watch It Burn
• Not Laughing Hyenas
• The Jellies Experience
• The Reviews Are In, and It Does Not Look Good At All
• Rock the Flock

Your Thoughts

Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Gene. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!

• Personally, Gene Steward is in contention of being my favorite TV2 character by far. He manages to be both insanely funny with his ideas and blatant attempts to play for the camera and menacing with how he reacts to people dying and his own murders, particularly his first one with Valerie. Part of that is how the handler gives the other characters stuff to play off, which arguably ends up some of the best material with Gene. The best example of this that I could find was his temporary partnership with Yagmur Tekindor. There are some problems with Gene though, the first of which is that his story can come across as manic and overstuffed, especially towards the end where too much gets crammed in as his posts get really long to accomedate. Secondly, there are times when Gene gets a bit too silly, mostly it's his interactions with other students that can make him come off as too much of a joke. Overall Gene is heavily recommended, there are some pacing and grammar issues, but those can be easily overlooked for a character that has some of the funniest stuff in TV2, yet at the same time some of the darkest. - Ohm
• You know, I'd actually forgotten that Gene appeared in Sandbox, but seeing what's there helps me appreciate him even more. Gene dips into an archetype that's not totally uncommon in SOTF—the loser turned threat—but while there are certainly shades of Jimmy Brennan or Ryuhei Sasagawa to Gene, he stands apart from them to an extent because Gene's narrative doesn't particularly seem to be making fun of him. There's a tone of real earnestness as we're brought along with Gene on his plans and adventures, and what wild and wondrous adventures they are. From impersonating a mentor to getting help hostage to being beaten and shot to bludgeoning somebody to death with a Pogo Stick while dressed in a golden pimp suit, Gene is like no other character in the version.
  
  I'm probably making Gene sound crazy and wacky, and he certainly is, but I don't want to reduce him to that. He absolutely had his serious moments, and he posed a real threat; at the time of his death, Gene had more kills than Vahka and had managed to provoke even a member of his own team into gunning for his head. He was unpredictable, and more clever than smart, if that makes any sense. Whenever he rolled into a thread, it was certain something was going to happen. Gene did not stand for boring scenes. RCee is also incredibly willing to let his characters be kicked around, thwarted, and abused by others, and Gene's suffering gives him a human air that he might otherwise have lacked without seeming gratuitous. Yes, Gene does some pretty terrible stuff, but other people return the favor in kind. We can see to an extent why he does what he does, even if we might never agree with or condone his actions.
  
  He's not perfect, of course; no character is. Gene's world tour following his rolling was the source of a bit of consternation at the time, and while I think it actually reads pretty well in retrospect, it leads to his actual death being a little hurried. He's also a character who's so bursting with ideas that sometimes it can get exhausting trying to keep up, though he manages to avoid the trap of feeling like he's a whole new character every time his direction changes. Really, I think the big thing that keeps Gene together and lets him work is that he's got a well-conceptualized and consistent personality. He's the sort of guy who ragequits online games buth only after playing half a dozen rounds past the point where he's having fun, the sort of guy who challenges a classmate to Guitar Hero knowing they're both terrible at it, the sort of guy whose best real idea for how to kill people is pushing them down the stairs and smashing them over the head with a Pogo Stick but by god makes that work. And that's why I like him so. - MurderWeasel