Wagstaff

Robert Wagstaff is a Character in single-player Don't Starve. He requires no Experience to unlock and is immediately available. He is a pivotal character in the game's lore, being the founder of the Voxola Radio Company and worked alongside WX-78 before they turned themselves into a robot. Though he seems to be trapped in The Constant like any other survivor, Wagstaff seems to have brought himself there on purpose to seek the forbidden knowledge that the world contains.
== Origin ==
Robert Wagstaff was introduced initially in a forum post from 2013 about the radio by Kevin Forbes, who was developing Don't Starve at the time:
"The radio is a Voxola PR-76, manufactured in 1919 by the Voxola Radio company of Sidney, Ohio. The radio offered revolutionary sound and reception quality for the time, and was promoted by an intense national marketing campaign. Very few units were actually produced, because the factory was destroyed in a fire only days after production began. Voxola founder Robert Wagstaff went missing the night of the fire, and the company declared bankruptcy soon thereafter." Kevin's forum post. Originally posted on April 11, 2013.
Despite not appearing as a playable character in Don't Starve Together (DST), he briefly appeared, though obscured, in the animated short Next of Kin, where it was shown that Winona had worked for him. The short also reveals that a malfunctioning portal was the cause of his disappearance and the factory's destruction. In DST's Compendium, Winona's biography further suggests that Wagstaff and his radio factory had something to do with Charlie's disappearance, and in turn, with the other mysterious happenings related to it. It is notable how, per his examination quotes, he recognizes not only the radio that is part of the Divining Rod, but also Divining Rod Holder and Gramaphone. He also seems to recognize WX-78 when they are seated on the Nightmare Throne.
In the animated short Disconnected, he is shown to have worked alongside the human version of WX-78. However, due to their general distaste for all organic life, the to-be WX-78 creates a robot body for themself, seemingly with the help of Wagstaff. However, due to dissociative trauma brought upon WX-78 when putting their human memories and feelings into a robot body, they cut off their empathy module, making them the soulless robot we see in-game. WX-78 continued to try to make more robot bodies before being stopped by Wagstaff, who destroyed every bit of the project, and sent WX-78 into The Constant.
== Trivia==
* Wagstaff was officially added to the Hamlet Early Access beta branch on April 18, 2019, alongside Wheeler.Game Update - 327257 forum post. Posted on April 18, 2019.
** Wagstaff had sound files added in the Hamlet Early Access February 27, 2019 update. They were removed in the March 18, 2019 update.
* Despite being added in Hamlet, he is playable without the DLC.
* When Wagstaff is damaged, his appearance and voice will be distorted. The lower his health, the more distorted he will become.
*He may be voiced by a factory whistle. 
* When Wagstaff is not wearing goggles, he can mistake mobs and objects for any other named object. This includes Warbucks or Unimplemented Features such as the Hay Fever Hat.
* When Wagstaff is not wearing goggles, any random object that something is given stays constant. If a Beefalo was named "Grass Tuft," you could come back and find the same Beefalo still named "Grass Tuft".
* In the roadmap forum post where he was first teased, he was described as "a mysterious inventor who finds himself exactly where he wanted to be".Forums Update: Don't Starve: Hamlet Roadmap Posted on February 15, 2019.
* Wagstaff is the only addition to the Don't Starve original cast not to be playable in Don't Starve Together. However, he is present as an NPC.
=== Lore ===
* Wagstaff is one of the five characters whose full name is known, the others being Maxwell, Wilson, Wendy, and Wheeler.
* Jeff Agala confirmed in a Tumblr post that Wagstaff was the person Winona tried to save from the malfunctioning portal that he built in the animated short Next of Kin.Jeff Agala Tumblr post: "Winona tries to save Wagstaff from being sucked into a portal of his own design. Rough animation done in Adobe Animate." Posted on April 10, 2020.
* Wagstaff's quote for Snake Oil reveals that he used to be a snake oil salesman.
* In the files for Don't Starve and DST, Wagstaff is referred to as a projection.
* In the short film Along Came A Spider, Robert Wagstaff is seen driving a Ford Model T (produced from October 1, 1908 to May 26, 1927).
==References==
ru:Вагстафф
vi:Wagstaff
pt:Wagstaff
ko:와그스태프
Category:Lore
Category:Characters