hamtaro & crosscheck

[rikoren]

♚ OOC
Name: Kestrel
Age: 26
Contact: rikoren
Character In-game: （・∀・ ）ヾ(- -；)コラコラ

♛ IC
Name: Hamtaro
Canon: Hamtaro
Canon Point: After episode 26
Age: ??? (mentally probably around 10, like his owner)
Gender: Males
Species: Syrian Hamster
Appearance: Looking heroic!

History/Background: The series revolves around Hamtaro, a hamster belonging to a little girl named Laura. Having just moved into their new home, Laura goes out to see the town and make new friends - not knowing that Hamtaro is sneaking out too. He quickly gets to know and befriend all the local hamsters, and works together with them in a variety of adventures, most of them involving meeting more new hamsters (like Jingle and Stan), learning - or misunderstanding - new things (konpeito is the hamster word for stars!?), or more often, getting in and out of trouble (Hamtaro getting stuck in a delivery van heading out of town, Boss getting stuck in a tree, Cappy running away from home and almost drowning in a stream, etc). The first season ends with Hamtaro and Laura dreaming up a fantasy adventure where they're a knight and princess respectively, the dream (and the day) both ending happily for everyone.
Personality: Hamtaro is, in some respects, your basic shounen hero. He's positive, friendly, outgoing, adventurous--on his first day in a new town, he immediately escapes his cage and wanders out into the great outdoors, is the one to offer a paw of friendship when he meets Oxnard, and attempts to protect his new friend from Boss (before realizing that it's a friend rather than a foe). He's quick to take action, putting on an impromptu song and dance number when Boss gets stage fright, and is always offering encouragement to his fellow hams regardless of what they're trying to do.

But heroics aside, Hamtaro is still a child, and it shows in everything he does. He's totally oblivious to anything romantic, and gets horrendously embarrassed when the girls draft him into their love-related plans. (When he has to deliver a confession to Maxwell, he actually yells it out with a lot of "The girls made me say it I'm doing this against my will!!!") He also has a really strong sense of curiosity, wanting to know about everything he hears, but - as a hamster, with no access to education, and no way to ask the humans for explanations - he's taken to jumping to conclusions when answers aren't readily available. One example is when Laura goes back to school after summer vacation, excited to see Mr. Yoshi (her teacher) again. Neither Hamtaro nor Oxnard knows anything about school, but a half-remembered comment about teacher's pets leads Hamtaro to decide that this stranger must be the class pet - another hamster. Which leads to his visiting the school on his own, which again leads to him wanting to play school with his friends, which leads to him learning that learning is hard...

Speaking of which, he has kind of a short attention span! An example aside from the school incident: despite having seen konpeito (diamonds of sugar in the dub) in person, and having heard from the humans that it's candy not for hamsters, he forgets all but the name and appearance in his excitement to tell the other hams, and is easily tricked when Boss (in a desperate attempt to look good in front of Bijou) tells the gang that "konpeito" is actually the hamster word for the stars in the sky. That particular episode ends with him yelling to the stars that he'll catch them someday, but - like many children's goals - he seems to have forgotten about it relatively quickly, as it's never mentioned again over the rest of the first season.

Bravery doesn't necessarily mean he's fearless, either! While he's perfectly willing to climb trees, to sneak outside, to run into places he's never gone before...cats are still a terrifying menace, and when Boss suggests they cross over a running river, he hems and haws and veeeeerryy slowly toes his way onto the log, not running even when Boss falls off and starts yelling for help. (The danger was what got him moving at all, actually.) Still, he's definitely braver than the other hamsters, and the one most likely to act first in an emergency - he's the only one to wander close enough to the sea to almost get swept away by it, the first to climb up when Boss gets stuck in a tree, the one to act as decoy when Penelope gets targeted by a cat...and also the first to worry at any chance that Laura might not like him as much as he likes her. Which is a lot! He's actually pretty forward when it comes to Laura. She's his favorite human! She's his human! He gets jealous at the idea she might have another hamster in her life, and in the first movie, he actually packs a little backpack and tearfully runs away from home when he doesn't get invited to her birthday party. He pouts for a good chunk of that movie, too, stubbornly refusing to go home until he's found a magical seed that will supposedly give him the power to talk to humans. (Whether or not the movie is canon is a mystery.) This isn't a romantic attachment though, so much as it is the attachment a kid might get for their favorite babysitter.

Last but not least, Hamtaro is a very community-oriented hamster. He puts friendship and teamwork over personal gain, cheering for the enemy team when they win a soccer match, and often being the one to pull everyone back together when they get split up by arguments or other circumstances. When someone is in trouble, whether it's Laura, a hamster, or a total stranger, he's always quick to offer help, a common theme in a lot of episodes. If Laura lost something, Hamtaro's here to find it! If Penelope's in trouble, Hamtaro's here to save her! If Laura wants to find her Grandma's friend, he's here to look for whoever that is! (It's actually a miracle that particular mystery gets solved, considering nobody knows what the friend looks like.) He can never leave an unhappy person alone, always wanting to help others smile so that they can enjoy the day together. Friendship is magic! (Wait, wrong series...)

Carrier: This.
Magic Weapon: A stick that can transform into a sword! Hamster-sized, of course.

Sample: Test drive!