FILE #008: Justin Collier

Name: Justin Michael Collier (based on an old character with the same name)
Date of birth: 12 June 1998
Age: 21
Height: 165cm
Nationality: English
Hometown: Deal, Kent, England, United Kingdom
Languages: English
Eye colour: Dark brown
Hair colour: Dark brown
Skin colour: Pale
Distinctive features: Eyebrow piercing, a star tattoo on neck, burns on hands
Personality in a few words: A naive and kind dreamer who doesn't judge but might sometimes sound a bit loony.
Family: Angela Collier (mother), Brian Collier (father), Richard Collier (older brother), Jeffrey Collier (older brother), Scott Collier (younger brother)
Issues: Ganser syndrome

Detailed information

Favourite music: The xx, MGMT, Belle & Sebastian
Favourite movies: Citizen Kane, Braveheart, Titanic
Favourite TV series: Louie, Deadwood, Friday Night Lights
Favourite foods: Summer pudding, bacon, chocolate brownies
Hobby: Snowboarding, race car driving

Character history

COMING SOON

The creative process

In Zach's segment, I wrote about how the Zach/Justin/Ernie trio came to be, so I'd rather not repeat myself again here. I have to say that Justin is my favourite out of the three, even though I personally probably relate to Zach the most (what can I say, I was an angry teenager) and he's the easiest to write. The first version of Justin in the original Lapin tähdet was called Zeke and he... had no personality whatsoever. He was created for the sole purpose of being a member of Nathan's old gang of misfits back in the UK. In one of the spin-offs we had, Zeke came to Finland as an exchange student.
   Where Zach's core personality is somewhat based on his namesake from Harry Potter, Justin's mostly isn't. When I started thinking about the trio and how I could make their personalities both clash and complement each other, it became clear to me that one of them needed to be slightly naive, very kind and a bit dreamy. Since Zach became the angry sceptic and Ernie the calm intellectual, it only felt natural to put Justin in the remaining role. And to be honest, I can't even imagine him with a different personality. He's another one of those characters who I know exactly what they'd be like if they were real people.
   I knew from the start that Justin would be the shortest out of the three. That mostly stemmed from the image of him clinging on to Ernie (and Zach, but to a lesser extent) all the time and just from the fact that I imagine him being really adorable. His appearance is somewhat the opposite of Ernie, with his dark eyes and dark hair, but I always knew he'd look like that. I also imagine him looking slightly younger than he is (I do love a good self-insert), with a slightly rounder face than his friends. Also, I know I wrote above that he has an eyebrow piercing, but I don't know where that came from. I'm not sure I can see him with it, so it's a mystery for now. I might keep it, but I might get rid of it. Decisions, decisions... Also, he's always had those burns on his hands, but as of now, I still don't have a proper explanation for them. Oh well.
   At this point you're probably wondering what the hell is Ganser syndrome and how I came up with it. According to the internet, Ganser syndrome is ''a rare dissociative disorder characterised by nonsensical or wrong answers to questions and other dissociative symptoms such as fugue, amnesia or conversion disorder, often with visual pseudohallucinations and a decreased state of consciousness''. We had a universe focusing on a psychiatric institution with a friend of mine and one of my characters had Ganser syndrome; I spent hours doing research about mental illnesses and when I came across this particular syndrome, I was really fascinated by it. When I was remaking Justin and writing his personality, it came back to me and I felt like it sort of fit his personality traits in a weird way.
   The first version of Justin somewhat existed in Lapin tähdet. In the most recent version of that universe, he was mostly the character he is now, and then I remade him into the first version of Sunset Bay. Justin's power was... Oh, fuck, I can't remember what his power was. No, wait, I do. He was practically immortal, as in he could regenerate from any wound (except, you know, if you chop is head off). I developed him further when he became a part of the Hopeakukat-universe with Zach and Ernie. He was a ''normie'' as well. That's really when Zach, Justin and Ernie became a trio of their own, instead of being just background characters in Nathan's group of friends.
   So the trio has been best friends for most of their lives. I had fleeting thoughts of relationships between them possibly ruining their friendship, but I really wanted some romantic drama between the three (I do love a good ol' friends to lovers-trope). At first, it was just Zach who became Justin's love interest, but later on Ernie became one too and Justin sort of evolved into a polyamorous character. It's an interesting storyline to write and develop; when writing from Justin's point of view, especially in the beginning it's mostly his inner struggles with his feelings, with him questioning if it's possible to love more than one person at a time.