Aske Stenstrom

Aske Stenstrom (Alex Stenstrom in the English Dub) is the main protagonist of the 2018 Danish Animated Film Checkered Ninja and it's 2021 sequel Checkered Ninja 2. He is a 7th grader who got a ninja doll from his uncle Stewart Stardust during his birthday, which was possessed by the spirit of the ninja Taiko Nakamura. The two would later become friends and he would help him in stopping the child murderer Philip Eppermint.
He is voiced by Alfred Bjerre Larsen in the Danish Version, and by Cameron Simpson in the English Dub.
==Biography==
===Backstory===
Not much is known about Alex's backstory, only that he was born as the son of Sirena Stenstrom and an unnamed man. At one point, Alex's father either left them or passed away, so Sirena married another man named John, who was an app inventor, and he also had a son named Sean (Sean in the English Dub), who would annoy Alex often.
Alex would then become friends with a kid named Odysseus, and they would start to get bullied by a student named Glenn. At this point in his life, Alex would start having a crush on the girl one year older than him named Jessica Eppermynt.
===Checkered Ninja===
During Alex's 13th birthday, he would make a drawing when he was thinking about Jessica, saying that he loved her. Later that day, his uncle Stewart gave him a ninja doll, and when he was getting bullied by Glenn, the doll came to life and mocked Glenn in Alex's voice, causing Glenn to go after Alex, but the doll knocks Glenn out when he was about to punch him.
In his house, Alex would question how he was alive, and he told him that he would help him defeat Glenn and end his bullying towards him and others in exchange for him to help find the man he was looking for, Philip Eppermint, whom he thought was Jessica's father since they have similar names.
Sean would then appear in his room and steal Alex's notebook, and after seeing his drawing about Jessica, Sean threatened that he would make the drawing viral if he didn't do his book report about the three Lord of the Rings' books. Alex then angrily said after Sean left that it would be better if the latter died.
Later, the ninja doll would try to train him to become a good fighter so he could defeat Glenn, although he wasn't very good at fighting, Alex was still capable of defending himself. The next day, Alex would make a book report about the books Sean wanted him to read, and made part of it right and the rest being nonsense so he could get revenge on Sean for blackmailing him after he got his diary back. He would also put a magazine on his step-father's room so his mother could find it and ask him why he had it.
The ninja doll would try to convince Alex to distract his teacher while he took several tools from a room to make things to fight Glenn, but after Taiko got the tools, the teacher brought Alex to the headmaster's office because the teacher didn't allow the students to make swords.
Sean also got into the headmaster's office as well due to several of the things that were written in his book report were profanity, Sean would then reveal to Alex that he copied the drawing and that he would publish it after he got out of the headmaster's office.
Taiko decided to fake Alex's voice and use the school's radio to say that Alex loved Jessica, does making June's threat meaningless. Taiko would then convince Alex to climb a table during lunch break, where Taiko tells everyone in Alex's voice that he will fight Glenn that Saturday. Taiko and Alex would then make things to help thru latter fight Glenn.
During this, Alex asks Taiko how he was alive, and he explains that four hundred years ago in Japan, the shogun ordered his four hundred thousand samurai to kill all ninja in Japan, while some died and others escaped from the samurai and lived their lives, one did both of those, Taiko Nakamura. Taiko explains how he actually is Taiko Nakamura, a ninja who protected ten children, and one day, the samurai raided his village, so he and the children left to a house in the middle of the forest after a clan leader told them to go there.
The clan leader then betrayed them for money, with sixteen samurai appearing during the night, but Taiko saw them and fought against them, after killing all the sixteen samurai and getting heavily injured, Taiko saw the house with the children in it being burned down. Taiko then swore revenge and killed himself so he could become a spirit and get his revenge on the clan leader who betrayed him. For the next four hundred years, Taiko would kill those who would dare to hurt children.
That Saturday, Alex fought against Glenn with the help of Taiko by making through several of his traps, causing Glenn to get knocked out. When Alex became happy after he understood that Jessica saw the fight and was starting to like him, Glenn got up and holed Alex, but he kicked in the privates and holed him down until Glenn told him that Alex won, causing him to stop holding Glenn. Jessica would then tell Alex that she hoped to see him on her party later that day, impressed over Alex defeating Glenn.
Alex would then go to the party, but Taiko told him that he wanted to meet Jessica's father. After he convinced Jessica's mother to leave the room the father was in, Taiko was about to kill him, only for him to stop after realizing that Jessica's father wasn't the Philip Eppermynt he was looking for. Taiko then tried to insist Alex to leave the party and go after the Philip Eppermint he was looking for, who lived close to Alex's neighborhood. Alex would tell Taiko that he would go to Philip's house after the party was over, but he refused to wait and threw a drink on his pants and faked Alex's voice that he pissed himself and that he was about to defecate.
Taiko would then tell Jessica while still with Alex's voice that he was too hot for her and that she should start dating Odysseus. While going after Taiko, Jessica got angry at Alex and kissed with Odysseus to spite Alex, the two would then have sex offscreen. Angered by this, Alex told Taiko that even though he helped him a lot, he still had no right to ruin his life.
Taiko would then tell Alex that he would help him get back with Jessica after he helped him find Philip, which Alex agrees to. After getting into Philip's house, Alex goes to his room to give him his credit card, as he believed that they were going to Philip's house for that reason. Taiko then asked him where Philip was traveling to, as he understood that he was going to travel the next day to somewhere since he had tickets to an airplane and had his bag ready. After finding out where Philip was going to, Alex said bingo, which caused Philip's dog with the same name to attack Alex.
Taiko would then knock Bingo unconscious, but Philip heard the sounds and went to look what happened, and after seeing Bingo unconscious, knowing he is an attack dog, he asked who was in his house, with Taiko then trying to kill Philip, but Alex stopped him, causing Philip to run away and call the police. The two have an argument after escaping, with Alex saying that he wouldn't tell him where Philip was going because he refuses to become a murderer.
Angry by this, Taiko threatened him if he didn't tell him where Philip was traveling to, but he refused to tell him, and when he was about to kill him, Taiko refused, as they had went through so much together, but he decided to try to kill Sean. Alex begged not to, but Taiko used the fact that he said he wanted Sean to die, but he tells Taiko that those were just words and that he didn't mean it, but Taiko tells him that he doesn't understand words, only actions.
Alex would run to his house to stop Taiko, and after breaking through Sean's room, he sees Taiko trying to kill Sean by smothering him with a pillow, with Alex trying to stop him. His parents then appear and see him and believed he was trying to kill his brother, while Alex tries to explain that it was the ninja doll who was trying to kill Sune, but they didn't believe him and sent to a psychiatric hospital.
While in the hospital, Taiko appears and starts to taunt him over his unwillingness to kill, and threatened to kill the doctor who was looking after him if he didn't help him kill Philip, but he convinces him that there is a way to stop Philip without killing him, so Taiko threatened the doctor to convince Alex's family that Alex was sane and there was nothing wrong with him. Alex would then visit his uncle Stewart and asked how could someone get possession of drugs, with Stewart saying that he had bought drugs before, and that he had a friend who was a drug dealer named Scooter Scotty and told him how to call him.
Alex would then call Scooter and asked him for a kilogram of cocaine, and after meeting with him, Alex and Taiko get the drugs and knock Scooter Scotty out and call the police, getting him arrested for drug dealing as a result. Alex would then bring Taiko to the airport so he could get to the plane Philip was and Taiko puts the cocaine inside of him to get it to Philip and incriminate him of smuggling cocaine, with Alex saying goodbye to Taiko before he got onto the plane. After Alex saw that Philip was arrested through the news, he understood that Taiko was gone and that his mission was complete.
He was at school and Jessica appeared and complimented "his" voice message to her, which Taiko made before he went to Thailand in Philip's plane, with him seeing a ninja cloud waving at him after Jessica told him that they were dating again. That night, Alex saw on the news that people were getting robbed and assaulted on the streets, so Alex decided to leave his house to stop the criminals as he believed that if he didn't do anything, no one would, but not before putting a scarf on his face.
===Checkered Ninja 2===
Alex is first seen in the sequel trying to do his best to protect his neighborhood, but his actions now amount to almost nothing in his society, such as a saving a kid from being bullied, or covering up an offensive Nazi graffiti. His family then start to plan where they would travel to, as Alex's step-father John had his app approved so he gained an amount of money, which was enough to make a trip. While doing gym at school, Alex was failing to keep his focus, as he noted that Jessica hadn't texted him in a week, so he would later go to her house, only to find out her talking with two of her friends about the "bad boy" Jessica was attracted to, so Alex decided to leave. He then called Odysseus and asked him if he wasn't a bad boy since he was able to beat up Glenn, but Odysseus laughs about it and tells him that being a bad boy wasn't for him.
While going home, Alex saw a lightning strike down close to him, causing him to fall, and then saw a smiling hedgehog and it started talking, Alex then came to understand that the hedgehog was Taiko, so Alex decided to bring him home. Taiko would tell him that Philip was planning to escape prison, as his only witness, Mr. Chang, was murdered and the doll that had the cocaine was destroyed. Understanding that Philip needed to be stopped, Alex convinced his mother that Thailand was a good place to travel by saying it was a very relaxing place.
When John made a vote system of the place that was voted the most would be the one they would go to, Thailand won with two votes, with Sean accusing him of being a traitor, as Sean tried to insist Alex to vote for Spain because of the food there. Alex then asked his mother to make a ninja doll for him, as he knew that they wouldn't allow an hedgehog on the plane to Thailand, so Taiko could come with them, which she does. After the hedgehog Taiko was possessing started having health issues due to eating smoothie, which hedgehogs are allergic to, Alex came with the doll just made by his mother and had Taiko switch bodies. 
The family then go to Thailand, with them staying in an hotel close to the prison Philip was in, as Alex wanted to make sure he would be close to Philip when he escaped in order to stop him at any time. After bringing his parents to a store his mother was liking a lot, he was able to go to the prison when Philip was about to leave it, and followed him to a restaurant where Philip talked to his henchman Jimmy. 
While they were talking, Taiko decided to come close to Philip and Jimmy to listen to what they were saying, but he's caught by a kid, so Taiko stabs him in order to get free, only for the child to start crying and giving Taiko to Alex, causing Philip to leave since he was believing that he was being spied on and because he was afraid of the ninja doll, as he's become scared of them because Taiko getting him to prison and incriminating him of smuggling cocaine. Alex would then find out from a card Jimmy dropped that they were going to meet at a strip club. 
That night, Alex convinced his family to have a dinner close to the strip club Philip and Jimmy were going, and lied about going to the bathroom in order to get into it. While he had a few problems, he was able to get in the strip club and go to Philip's office, and while he was in it, Jessica called Alex telling him that she was sorry for not telling him about them not dating anymore, but Alex gets angry, asking how he could start dating someone else behind his back without telling him. Taiko then turned off the phone since Philip and Jimmy were about to enter the office. 
While Philip and Jimmy were talking about killing all the children that used to work in Philip's factory to get rid of witnesses of the former's actions, they hear Alex's phone, since his step-father started calling him, causing Philip to decide to leave while Jimmy tried to interrogate him. Taiko then left to go after Philip, leaving him at the hands of Jimmy. When about to get beaten by Jimmy with brass knuckles, his uncle Stewart appeared and beat up Jimmy, saving Alex and then going to see the rest of his family. After returning to their hotel, he has an argument with Taiko, as he put Alex in danger just so he could kill Philip, Sean then appeared and asked him if he was talking with his doll, but Alex told him not to, and to make sure he wouldn't find out about Taiko, he left him in the balcony of the hotel. 
Understanding that his step-father and Sune wanted to get away from Stewart, Alex told them to go to the island where one of the children who used to work for Philip named Honey Bee so he could stop Philip from killing her, and asked his mother to call Stewart so he wouldn't have to worry about them. The next day, they try to get into the island, but there were no tickets left, only for Stewart to appear and reveal that he bought tickets for all of them. They then go to the island, with Alex deciding to see all the restaurants in the island, as he knew Honey Bee worked in a restaurant of the island. Sean tried to ask Alex if he could go with him, but he refused. 
Alex and Taiko then went to all the restaurants in the island, but were unable to find Honey Bee. While going back to their hotel, they git hit by Philip's former interpreter Jasper, who tells them that he would help them stop Philip and find Honey Bee, and hoped to see them that afternoon. Taiko and Alex then talked with each other about whether or not they should trust Jasper, and after this, they find out that Sean filmed them talking with his drone, and threatened to tell his parents about his ninja doll being alive if they didn't allow him to come with them on their mission, which they agree to. 
Alex and Taiko would then talk to Jasper on a shop while Sean stayed outside, but Philip and Jimmy appear, with Philip revealing that he betrayed them in order to protect the other children from Philip. They then lock Alex and Taiko in a room, and when Jasper tried to stop them, Philip knocked him out and threw him in the room as well. They then put a bomb to destroy the shop before leaving. Taiko is able to escape from the room and tells Sean that Alex is trapped, so he goes there and opens the door. While Taiko suggests on leaving Jasper, Alex refuses and convinces Sune into getting him up and saving him before the shop exploded. 
Jasper then gave them his bike so they could get to Honey Bee. While going to the restaurant, Philip sees them and orders Jimmy's gang to go after them, but Taiko is able knock them out. They then go to the restaurant where Honey Bee was, and Philip causes a blackout and sets multiple snakes in the restaurant in order to kill her without leaving any witnesses of the murder, but she leaves, although Jimmy kidnaps her before she is able to escape. Alex then went to protect Honey Bee, and when he was trying to comfort her, Philip appear and tries to kill them, but he is able to take the gun off his hand and Philip gets knocked out by Sean's drone. After Philip wakes up, Alex told him not to come any closer and grabs his gun, but he refuses, causing them to dodge him and Philip then falls to a cage filled with snakes, killing him. 
The next day, Sean reveals that he filmed Alex fighting Philip and posted it online, causing Jessica to call him and ask him if they could start dating again, but Alex refuses, as he knows she only likes him because he looked like a bad boy for beating Philip, and tells her that he didn't need to be a bad boy, he only needed to be himself. In the end of the movie, Alex and Taiko then talk that even though his mission is finished with Philip's death, he still wanted to be with him. Alex then revealed that he made a better ninja doll for him, which Taiko then possesses. 
==Personality==
Alex is a friendly person who loves her mother deeply, being the only one to eat the things she does, no matter how bad they are in comparison to the ones his step-father buys, Alex also desires to be liked by others. Despite being a victim of bullying both at school and in his house from Glenn and his half-brother respectively, Alex is rarely expresses his hatred to them. He loved Jessica Eppermynt, but after understanding that she didn't like him because of his personality but because he was cool in her eyes, he chose to break up with her.
Alex also believes that Taiko shouldn't kill people and there is no reason to kill others no matter what, which caused him to have difficult moments with him that once almost lead to Taiko killing Sean and Alex being blamed for the attempted murder, as he was holding the pillow Taiko was using to kill Sean and his parents didn't believe that the ninja doll became alive. Alex is also determined to protect others and is able to forgive people who hurt him, as he saved Jasper even after he betrayed him and nearly caused his death.
Despite the problems they have, Alex cares deeply for Sean, as he begged Taiko not to kill him, and even though he said he wished he died, it's clear that those were just words, as he saves his life from Taiko. Alex's relationship with Taiko would also grow and two would become great friends, making a better doll for him so he could do his missions.
==Gallery==
CheckeredNinjaPoster.png|Alex in the Checkered Ninja Poster.
Checkered ninja.png
Checkered Ninja 2.jpg|Alex in the Checkered Ninja 2 Poster.
Aske Glenn.jpg
Worried Aske.webp
==External Links==
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