Spanner Squad Newsletter #3: Introducing the Spanner Squad Characters!

Introducing … The Spanner Squad Characters!

We propose 9 core characters in the Spanner Squad, plus a number of other characters depicting other roles within an airline, and visitors from other airlines.

Most of the action takes place in Australia, at a big airport.

Please bear in mind, these are just general character descriptions that will evolve. The images are just suggested likenesses. For some characters, we have started creating more complexity in their back stories, because this will inform the personality of the character and how they act.

Yes, for all you people who are professional pilots, there WILL be pilot characters. They just won’t have the same IMPORTANCE as the maintenance people!

All these characters are inspired by real-life people. If you have worked in the industry, you will know these types of people. They are ordinary, yet extraordinary. Hard-working, yet can sleep anywhere. Smart, yet clumsy, forgetful. Like anybody, they are susceptible to the most obvious human failings.

But they are the type of people you would like to have around you in the trenches. And sometimes night shift is like trench warfare! These people are ordinary, but inspirational … and always funny, even when they don’t mean to be funny.

Elly

Character Overview:

• Elly is the prime character for the project, most stories revolve around her and her interaction with others
• She is the role model, the mentor, the level-headed and creative troubleshooter
• She is the quiet achiever
• Tall, short (funky/shaved) dark hair
• Avionics specialist, but has great all-round knowledge
• Expert technician and decision-maker
• Mentor to Leo, the apprentice, in the early days of his tenure, and a great advisor to other squad members
• Enjoys a laugh, but definitely knows when to be serious
• Sam, the Engineering Supervisor delegates supervision duties to Elly when he is not around, so Elly is usually running the tarmac crew and supervising the hangar
• Often butts heads with Selwyn (Caveman) about his mildly sexist attitudes
• She has worked for the same company all her career, so she knows everyone in the company
• Backstory:
  • Nobody knows much about Elly’s backstory. It is very rare that anyone goes to Elly’s house after work or knows anything about her family or personal life
  • She was a trailblazer as the first female apprentice in the company, so she feels a responsibility to continue the mentorship and nurturing of female talent

Noriko

Character Overview:

• Very short and slim, neat and tidy, conservative and organised
• Japanese
• Very expressive face and speech
• Has a noticeable accent, but speaks English well
• She is highly educated and a mechanical genius
• She is the Hangar Supervisor, so has responsibility for all the equipment and vehicles
• She does some quite mundane jobs, but also gives advice to the other technical engineers in the airline
• Can build and repair anything in her workshop or on the hangar floor
• Her workshop is like a wondrous cave with many tools and other equipment
• There is a big corkboard in her workshop with many photos and other mementos
• Members of the Squad often visit Noriko’s workshop to have morning tea or lunch
• Noriko is very encouraging to Leo the apprentice
• De-facto ‘owner’ of Catwa the cat
• Rides her bicycle on the airport perimeter road and goes fishing with Catwa at the end of the runway
• Backstory:
  • Her lifestyle includes elements of Japanese culture/mysticism/Zen
  • Has a secret in her past, of how she came to stay in Australia
  • Daydreams often about Japan and her family. When she dreams, her vision is in anime or ukiyo-e, or manga style, reflecting her strong cultural connection and the mash-up of cultures

Leo

Character Overview:

• Small in stature
• Short cropped hair
• The early stories are weaved around Leo and his first days at work, mainly mentored by Elly
• The stories will follow Leo as he progresses in his career
• Leo is small, fresh-faced and cute and generates empathy from the other characters and, hopefully, the audience
• Treated like the ’little brother’ by the other Squad members
• Lives in a series of weird share houses, so there are many stories about disagreements, parties and moving house
• Smart and mechanically gifted
• Leo develops a huge admiration of Elly and Noriko, their wisdom and skills, and the other skills of the squad members
• Backstory:
  • Parents were refugees from Ukraine as children in 1980s (from Chernobyl area) and Leo was born in Australia
  • Many jokes are made about Leo’s radioactivity levels (glow in the dark)

Amelia

Character Overview:

• Tall, blonde / coloured hair, pale skin
• Airframe/engine specialist
• Is a private pilot, wanted to pursue a flying career but became more interested in airworthiness and maintenance
• She flies occasionally on weekends and sometimes plans weekends away like flying to the country races, or to take Simon and Keely home to visit their family
• Owns her own light aircraft that is parked at a small airport
• The light aircraft takes up a lot of time and money, always requiring some sort of repair
• Her friend from Flight School is Pilot 2 and they often catch up socially or at work
• Has discussions with Leo about how engineers and pilots should best work together

Simon

Character Overview:

• Medium height, medium build
• Dark hair
• Indigenous Australian from western Qld
• Airframe and gas turbine engine specialist
• Quiet, friendly to all animals
• Watchful, introverted
• Secretly likes and plays with Catwa, but always complains to Noriko that Catwa is pestering the geckos that also live in the hangar
• His sister Keely is a cabin crew member with the same airline
• Simon and Keely live in a share house that is the scene of some socializing, with many drop-in characters from the airline and from Simon and Keely’s family
• Backstory:
  • He has a gecko tattoo on the inside of one of his forearms, one of his cultural totems from Kalkatungu country in western Queensland
  • The story behind his totem governs Simon’s level-headedness and his desire to be comfortable in his own skin. He rarely accepts praise from his group of peers, but everyone knows that they can count on Simon’s intelligence and ability.
  • There are some episode ideas where Simon and Keely visit their family in Mount Isa

We are awaiting further discussion with Kalkatungu cultural liaison people for their assistance and advice about the characters Simon, Keely and their cousins.

Catwa

Character Overview:

• The cat is a protagonist for many amusing things happening
• Feisty but affectionate
• Mostly white or pale fur so grease and dirt shows up easily
• Wears a collar with small ID card replica attached to her collar which gives her accreditation as a Squad member
• Has learnt not to wander far outside the hangar, but explores inside
• Has an ongoing feud with the owl who lives in the hangar roof
• Chases geckos in the hangar which annoys Simon
• Wanders up the tail dock and into the hangar roof sometimes
• Loves Caveman, follows him around sometimes, but Caveman is not a cat person
• Noriko has a basket on her bicycle and takes Catwa fishing at the end of the runway
• Backstory:
  • Catwa was a feral kitten born in the airport drains, and has been informally adopted as Noriko’s pet
  • There were six kittens in the litter from which Catwa originated. One is now owned by Jane the CEO. One is owned by Noriko, 3 kittens went to other homes of airport workers and, legend has it, that one kitten escaped with its mother and is still living on the airport somewhere, living by catching rabbits and is sometimes seen prowling at night, or seen by the guys who mow the grass between the taxiways.

Maria

Character Overview:

• Black hair, shoulder length, dark eyes, olive skin
• Latina, from Colombia
• Has a noticeable accent, but speaks English very well
• Speaks Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese
• Very studious, clinical in her speech and decision-making.
• Sometimes does not understand the jokes immediately, but will then laugh about them all day
• Maria has experience as a ground handler in Colombia and is now studying for her AME licence
• Wants to get FAA A&P licence and move to USA or EASA licence and move to Europe (or both)
• May progress to engineering degree but wants to work as LAME first
• Backstory:
  • Her father worked for the aviation regulator in Colombia and she has some stories about the drug cartels in Colombia running drugs, overloading aircraft or worse

Sam

Character Overview:

• Tall, in his 50s
• Wears trendy glasses and hair product
• Black and grey hair, handsome, but he looks a bit ‘weathered’
• We don’t often see Sam, unless it is the start of the shift and he is allocating work, or in discussion with Greg, the Engineering Manager or Jane the CEO
• Even tempered, especially under pressure
• Very knowledgeable
• The ideal boss, supportive and inclusive, delegates a lot of responsibility
• Relies heavily on Elly and trusts her judgement
• Tells elaborate stories and good examples to illustrate issues and solutions
• Backstory:
  • Worked in many places around the world
  • When he starts a story with “When I was in Yemen …” everyone rolls their eyes and some people sneak off
  • Has a weird digestive illness (from Yemen) and he cannot eat many foods, so he eats a lot of ramen and 2-minute noodles and potatoes and is very slim

Selwyn (Caveman)

Character Overview:

• Tall, heavy build
• Close cropped hair, or shaved head
• Square jaw, thick neck, like a bodybuilder or weightlifter physique
• Rather unkempt, shirt or overalls always crumpled or dirty
• Exceptionally strong
• Ingenious at improvisation
• Knows how to weld and can tie elaborate knots and splice rope
• Plenty of mechanical knowledge but is not particularly studious
• He looks (and sometimes acts) dumb, but is not dumb
• Mildly sexist to the annoyance of everyone, especially Elly, but his opinions are the catalyst for many discussions
• Makes weird concoctions to eat and drink, like protein powder things and egg-white omelets
• Backstory:
  • Lives with his mum and spends all of his time at the gym

What’s Next?

Tell us what you think about these characters!

Stay tuned for Newsletter #4 in a week or two.

In Newsletter #4 I will start to provide description of some of the first snippets of animation that we will be working on, and the reasons why these are specifically chosen.

As always, any comments or suggestions can be made to denis.manson@tenhammers.com

Take care,

Denis

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