Pin Clemons (Of Machines and Men)

*"She said there are other robots who can think like me. If she's right, it might be nice to not be the only robot here, but... what would that mean for all the humans?"* - Pin

Pin is a robot living in the mountain tourist town of Glade Park, Colorado. He is so far the only known sentient robot in the world, able to form his own thoughts, is entirely in control of his own actions, and has the option to not take orders. However, that being said, his programming breaks all three laws of robotics, which have harsh punishments for the robot and their programmer/owner. So his sentience is only known to the residents of the town, and they keep it a secret from any outsiders. But despite this, Pin still yearns to fit in among human society and live like one.

If I could hire someone, he’d be voiced by Maxey Whitehead

## Concept and Creation

Pin was first conceptualized after I watched several playthroughs of both the classic Megaman series and Megaman Legends. I thought it would be a fun idea to make up my own Robot Master (a nickname for the bosses that are battled in the classic games) who was named Cyberman, who wasn't very different from Pin's current design, that had the ability to control weaker robots with hacking abilities.

However, after some time I came up with the idea to use the same character, but in an original story that featured them being found and raised by a human mechanic that specialized in repairing robots. Several small ideas were also thrown into the mix, such as the character meeting a girl who would grow up without him while he remained the same age, that later became the idea for Agil, but for the moment the story wasn't going anywhere and was kept stored in the back of my mind. Then, after a few months and spending a summer in the mountains, I decided to have a solid setting for the story set in a futuristic world, in a town that was a mix of Estes Park and Glenwood Springs.

## Personality

Pin is harmless, and extremely gentle. Very patient with others, empathetic and has an open heart to those who need to be heard. He believes evil does not exist, and that everyone has something good or beautiful inside of them. He's a little naive though, having only existed for two years, and the fact that his memory files are inaccessible has made him know little to nothing about how the world or people work. He is still learning something every day.

Despite the fact that he has the exact same mental capacity of humans, he does not see himself as equivalent to them. Because of this, he simultaneously envies and pities humans. He wants to be like them, able to breathe air, eat food, be soft and warm, but he knows he cannot and never will be anything more than a robot. He resents this fact, and may always feel lesser to humans. But at the same time, he is also aware that humans are much more fragile and weaker than him. Since they cannot endure some of the things that he can, he also sometimes sees humans as soft and helpless, and will often times underestimate their capabilities. Because of this perception, he will always throw himself in harm's way to protect a human if situation ever arises.

## Relationships

### Copper

Copper is Pin's adoptive mother, which seems to work out well enough for the both of them seeing as how Pin's a little too mentally young to look out for himself, and Copper had always wanted her own child. However, neither of them are perfect, and their relationship can have bumps and tumbles from time to time. Long before Pin had been found, Copper had given up on starting a family, and is still trying to adjust herself back into the mindset of being a mother, meanwhile Pin still hardly knows anything about her history which she refuses to disclose, frustrating him to some extent. But as they're spending more time together, their relationship is slowly building itself up to a healthy and loving mother-son connection.

### Agil

Agil and Pin somehow just seem to click with one another. She is the first friend Pin has ever made, and he is one of the only people in town that doesn't judge Agil for her past actions. So naturally they'd get along, but the two of them run deeper than that. For Pin, Agil personifies some of the best of humanity. He is well aware that she is flawed, and weak, and fragile, but she is also a mentor to him, and shows him kindness, honesty, and the beauty of the world. This, he really likes about her, and slowly it grows into a stronger feeling each day. Also, he’s very protective over her. He’s a little stuck in this mindset that since she’s both a human and a child, that she’s really vulnerable. He goes into full panic mode if she gets hurt, and if he believes there’s a threat, he holds onto her or keeps her behind him just in case. He may also be the “straight man” to her odd behavior sometimes.

## Skills, Abilities, Talents, and etc.

Being made of steel, Pin has endurance and strength surpassing human limitations. While he is a pacifist and will rarely fight, a blow from Pin can be potentially devastating, and a hard punch can be enough to break a bone. But he is aware of his potential to harm another, and chooses to only use his strength for things like heavy lifting. His defense is also very strongly built, with rather thick limbs, he can take a good amount of damage. However, he is a bit physically clunky, and has a rather low running speed. His largest weak point is his face, which is made of a layer of liquid crystal rather than metal. It can be shattered easily and impair his vision. His head is also a weak point, as it is where his AI chip is located, and Pin cannot truly die or be destroyed unless his AI is.

Pin is also naturally talented in "left-brained" activities such as math, patterns, word puzzles, strategies, etc. but he does not consider any of these real skills as they come very easily to him. He has a passion for creative writing, which actually poses as a challenge for him.

## Trivia

* Pin's name is based off of Pinocchio, as the two characters have a similar concept of being lifeless humanoid objects who gained life and yearn to be fully human.
* Pin's personality is also inspired by other young male characters, typically protagonists, such as Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Steven from Steven Universe, and Asriel Dreemurr from Undertale.
* His winter attire is a reference to Sans from Undertale as well
* Pin's eye color changes according to his emotions, but only works for three emotions that he feels. They can turn red when he's furious, yellow when he's terrified, and pink when he feels some form of infatuation or embarassment, essentially his own version of blushing.
* Speaking of eye colors, the only reason Pin (as a prototype model) has the ability to change his light colors is to signify what type of AI chip is inserted inside of him. The eye colors would have defaulted to: red for titan models, yellow for golem models, pink for doll models, and blue for caretaker models. However, his lights also default to blue for custom robots, which is what his body processes his chip to be. This was made into a factor of his design as a way to make up for the lack of expression he can display.
* Pin may occasionally have mouth lights alongside his eye lights appear. Originally these were never intended, but it proved to be difficult to have a character express facial emotions when they only had their eyes (minus eyebrows). So as a result, his mouth appears to help exaggerate or show off new expressions. Without his mouth lights, he is always assumed to have a neutral mouth expression unless shown otherwise by his eye shapes.
* Pin has very strong hemophobia. The sight of human blood makes him tremble, and he has difficulty thinking clearly during this. This fear is possibly a result of leftover code of the laws of robotics, which would make him instinctually inclined to be alarmed seeing blood and would trigger him into a protective state over other humans in his immediate vicinity.
* That being said, he does not bode well with violent video games or horror movies.
* Pin is an asexual panromantic. He is incapable of feeling sexual attraction, as every robot is, but unlike some robots his romantic attraction towards others has no basis in gender identity.
* He really enjoys wearing dresses, but mostly on special and rare occasions.
* Upon witnessing a new action that someone else does, Pin's first response is to mimic it. For example, in issue #2, he had never seen a human eat food before, so he attempted to eat food himself despite not having a mouth. This is also how he has learned human behavior such as speech.

## Gallery

Very first design, most of it has stayed, except for the angle joints, the way the hands are drawn, and most notably, the mouth cover.A reference sheet that was posted on DeviantartBeing two cuties in the snowvery first picture done with tablet, also showing the leads in summer clothingDrawn on the 4th of July for the fun of itTwo leads in formal wear, dancing of courseI CANNOT HANDLE HOW CUTE THIS IS PLEASE HELPBecause aspens are beautiful and this ship is beautifulJust Pin with his favorite PokemonJust Pin in the dreamscape... as a human of course, since robots appear as what they want to be in the dreamscapehe's a bit in touch with his feminine side, and super kawaii while doing itThe dreamscape again, manipulating the code to re-create his and Agil's forest from what he remembersMeeting a more updated, fellow prototype model. Cue existential crisis.His body may be steel, but his face is forever glassthey're rather cutePin on a blustery dayHe's a big fan of the yukataHow did I forget this?Part one of my self-imposed Hero Gallery challengepart 2 of my self-imposed Hero Gallery challengePart three of the self-imposed Hero Gallery challengeThe voice lines are actually on DA but I can find a place to post them hereI love him. Anyways the next part of the challengeFinal part of the challenge. Hooray for weird references!Knight AU where Pin is an enchanted armor golem with a shield and his bestie is an elf girlhe's got a new reference sheet now it's pretty dopeWelp ignorance is bliss I guessthis is really cutespooky scaryfilthysome explanationsDON'T.terminator yoregrets are comingraving in the 90'slots of questionsA LOT OF QUESTIONShe wants to be a submarine because he can't go underwater with the way he is nowwhen you take bae on a charming date to the malt shop and drive-in theatreHe's not very stable on the icehe loves her yooof ouch owie the edgeWear your fucking coat AgilDogeOh yeah gay month happenedMy name is Pin, I'm the android sent by Cyberlife, and you're watching the Disney Channelold animeedgydrive up to the club likelook at these cute fuckslook at these gay ass fuckersdress go spinny
### Quotes

**Voice lines for Hero Gallery Challenge**

*"No, I do not dream of electric sheep."*

*"Can't we all just get along?"*

*"I think you're pretty neat."*

*"I'll keep you safe."*

*"I'm new here..."*

*"Stop shooting, please?!"*

*"You're very squishy."*

*"I'll be back."* - Uprising event

*"\*literally just an autotuned scream\*"* - Halloween

*"Oh come on, play fair!"* - Summer Games

*"Ice to see you again."* - Christmas

*"あけましておめでとう。(Akemashite omedetou - Happy New Year)"* - Chinese New Year

*"I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."* - Anniversary

*"Domo Arigatou, Mr. Roboto."* - Anniversary

*"This place feels... uncomfortable."* - in Volskaya Industries

*"I've never seen so many robots like me in one place!"* - in either Nepal or Numbani

*"I should take Agil here some day."* - in Hanamura

**Quotes from the Comics**

*"Is 'college graduate' another type of human?*

*”She said there are other robots who can think like me. If she's right, it might be nice to not be the only robot here, but... what would that mean for all the humans?”*

*"If we can't take back what we did, maybe we can try to make it better?"*

*"NO! She did nothing wrong! I won't let you hurt her!"*