Metroid: Third Derivative/Joey

Debut: Comic #7
Joey is one of the main protagonists of Metroid: Third Derivative. His actual designation is "J-0-EE", with Joey being a nickname Samus instinctively gave him.
==Backstory==
Joey is a degenerate-class Space Pirate. Originally born on the Space Pirate colony of Mekar 1, he was later transferred to the planet Samus calls Nemesis and assigned to janitorial work at the base located there. The low quality of life for lower-class Space Pirates, however, was not to his liking. Still, when Samus Aran arrived at the planet, he quickly decided that ANY life was better than being blasted.
==Storyline==
When he first meets Samus, Joey's initial plan to avoid an untimely death is to beg for his life. When Samus takes an interest in a mention of the base's armory, Joey is perfectly happy to lead her there. Unfortunately, this backfires, as Samus now has cool new weapons that desperately want to be fired at somebody.
Seizing the opportunity, Joey offers to find her another weapon that he's heard about. Fortunately for him, she agrees. Less fortunately for him, his first strategy for getting to the weapon doesn't go smoothly (it involves a photocopier), and Joey suddenly finds himself on the run from the other Space Pirates.
It is in this situation that he literally stumbles upon Squish, a Metroid who is being used to generate power. Squish's first reaction to his newfound freedom is to try and make a meal out of Joey, a fate Joey escapes by the clever method of running headfirst into a wall and knocking himself unconscious.
When he recovers, he finds that he is able to understand Squish. After Squish explains the mutation that made this possible, Joey explains the current Space Pirate situation, which Squish is able to quickly solve. Unfortunately, the encounter leaves Squish too sick to fly, which Joey quickly remedies by allowing Squish to ride on him.
With new friend in tow, Joey heads for the nearby science lab, where he runs into an albino Space Pirate. As Squish is too weak to handle this threat, Joey attempts to stall him, which eventually pays off once he reveals that he is trying to steal a weapon for Samus. The scientist is more than happy to give Joey his Kinetic Beam and send him on his way.
Unfortunately, Joey's return to Samus is stopped by several Space Pirates, who are rather interested in Joey's ability to control the Metroid. While their offer of a promotion intrigues him at first, Joey declines on account of being disgruntled. The ensuing firefight leaves the Space Pirates wounded and Joey riding a frozen Squish into the distance.
After recovering from the battle, they come across Samus engaged in battle with her Phazon-based copy. With Squish's help, Joey is able to turn the tide of the battle in Samus's favor and give her the new weapon. Samus thanks him graciously by not shooting him.
Now that Joey and Squish have joined Samus's "party" and explained the earlier events to her, the three proceed to get utterly lost. After a few false starts, they happen upon a wall of Phazon, which gives Joey the opportunity to comment on many of Samus's previous enemies.
After a short interlude in which Joey learns that the Grapple Beam is not a plaything, the group is approached by a series of communication drones. Once Joey convinces Samus to not shoot them on sight and recognizes the voice on the other end as the scientist from earlier, the albino introduces himself as JD (well, sorta) and asks to join Samus's group. The sudden revelation that the group is being tracked leads to an escape into an abandoned Phazon mine, where Joey learns that JD may not be as friendly as he first appeared.
This is practically proven when Samus falls into a deep pit and JD's reaction is to insist on Joey building a fort for his drone's protection. When Joey refuses, JD insults Samus using an impersonation of Joey's voice. Joey is shocked by this and asks Squish to convince Samus that he is innocent of the act.
As Squish flies off to do so, Joey's anger turns to defiance and he attacks JD's drone. When Samus finally gets back and separates the two, Joey becomes depressed that she is going to shoot him. Samus denies this. JD insists that she do so.
This argument is broken up by the revelation that Squish was captured by Space Pirates during his absence. After finally reaching a deal with Samus, and after a few attempts to withhold the information, JD gives Samus the coordinates for Squish's holding area and abandons his drone. With these directions in hand, Samus and Joey prepare to leave the mines via elevator.
Their escape is cut off by a pair of grenade-wielding Space Pirates. Samus is able to defeat one of them with his own weapon, but not before Joey is struck by a grenade, leaving him heavily injured and dismembered. Samus quickly acts to defeat the other one, only to find herself out of missiles. Still, Joey has one remaining surprise for the escaping Space Pirate, as he shows off his ability to regenerate his body after eating a sufficient amount of the Space Pirate.
With this final crisis averted, Samus and Joey head back to Samus's gunship to recharge Samus's suit and plan their next course of action. Samus decides to fly by Nemesis's core and analyze the Phazon within, but Joey spots a nearby Dark Samus before they leave. This comes back to haunt them later, as Dark Samus shoots the gunship down. Only a fortunately-placed floating island is able to prevent their demise.
This turns out to be the place where Joey was raised. Samus reacts to the local degenerate Space Pirate population with hatred, and Joey tries to convince her to spare their lives. He barely succeeds, but he is shot in the process.
Instead, Samus decides to empty the floater of non-degenerate Space Pirates, but not before informing Joey that he would only get in the way during her mission. Upset by this, Joey attempts to obtain a weapon, with mixed results. He's able to take down a nearby trooper with his natural abilities, but not before sacrificing the life of one of his friends.
Samus, who had been watching this skirmish, enlists Joey's help for another task. She has found a way to return to the main continent using a mass driver, but she needs Joey to operate it for her. As Joey complains that this will separate the two again, Samus promises to come back for him.
Joey later gains control of the floater (Floater 12)and becomes captain of the remaining Degenerates their. He then sets it on a collision course with Floater 9, a research vessel, and takes his pirates on board to destroy the other ones. Even though most of his pirates are shooting eachother. He is about to leave when he receives a message from JD stating that Ridley has arrived on Nemesis and his going to send a Phazon Meteor to Earth.
==Personality==
It's understandable to think that Joey is an idiot, but he is more intelligent and practical than he lets on. He is rather inane, tends to overreact to any stimulus, and loves pop culture references. You could call him a Space Pirate everyman.
His opinion of other characters depends largely on how they've acted to him in the past. He is definitely one to hold a grudge, but doesn't hesitate to trust those who are kind to him. As a result, his initial reactions to other characters are passive, and he basically allows them to decide whether he'll like them or not. This is probably a side effect of his upbringing in the Space Pirate lower classes, where deference to his superiors is demanded and expected.
This is especially true in the case of JD, as Joey's reaction to him progresses from initial dislike to respect to begrudging acceptance to angry defiance based entirely on JD's treatment of him.
He is deeply devoted to Squish, although, as Samus suspects, it may be a kneejerk reaction to finally finding someone that he can call a friend.
As for Samus herself, it's complicated. When faced with a person who he has been raised to fear and who could kill him at any time, his immediate reaction is sycophancy. He doesn't start asserting himself or testing his social options until he is fully certain that she isn't just going to pull the trigger on him.
==Abilities==
Joey is unarmed for the majority of this comic, although this has changed. It is unknown what weapon Joey has acquired, as we have never seen him using it.
Being born as a degenerate with heavy exposure to Phazon, though, he has a pretty unique innate ability. His body contains multiply redundant organs and he is capable of regrowing them after eating a sufficient amount. Thus, he is able to regenerate his body after otherwise lethal damage. This does not work on sufficiently severe injury or head damage, though.
This condition has two side effects, though. First, he is constantly hungry. Secondly, he is willing to eat almost anything, including other Space Pirates.
Other than this, he's fairly weak for a Space Pirate. His body is not artificially reinforced by the standard cloning process, although he is still capable of installing a weapon in his claws. This may be a liability, as he has a perfect track record of shooting himself every time he has used a weapon.
His mind is sufficiently clear (or empty, depending on your view) to allow for telepathy. While he seems unable to initiate the process himself, he is a strong receptor. This allows psychic characters such as Squish to communicate with him directly, or even use him as a speakerbox if necessary.
==Fun Facts==
* Joey's sprite was originally used in Metroid Fusion to represent an X virus impersonating a Space Pirate. This sprite was used for the character of Joey because it was felt that purple was not a particularly threatening color for a Space Pirate.
* The designation "J-0-EE" indicates that Joey is a janitor, rank 0, and is considered extremely expendable by the Space Pirates. This was not always his designation, though. Early in the comic, Joey told Samus that his pirate designation was J-0-E. The degenerates later refer to him by the same designation. Possible explanations for the change include his actions making him considered less worthy of keeping alive, or the fact that J-0-EE is more likely to be pronounced "Joey".
* Joey was not originally intended to be a major character, but he proved popular enough in his early appearances to warrant further inclusion.
* The official artwork for the "Joey" Space Pirate, as well as one frame of its turning animation, displays a third eye or similar sensory organ in the middle of its forehead. This aspect of Joey's sprite was largely overlooked (and occasionally edited out) in the comic's early days, but eventually became canon once the degenerate Space Pirates were introduced.
== Appearances ==
Ignoring random filler comics and brief cutaways from the main plot, Joey appears in the following comics...
Category:Metroid: Third Derivative