Matthew Wroe

* 2011
* 2010
* 2009

"*Riding trains is **good for you**...as long as you're **born** for it,*"
—Matty's motto[src]
**Matthew "Matty" Wroe** is a main character in *Juvenile Prosperity*. He is a member of the Lost Boys who becomes friendly with Travis. Years after Travis was separated from the Lost Boys, the two met again in 2009 and Matthew joined the Fr8ers.

## Biography

### Early Life and Background

Very little is known about Matthew's early life, and he does not like to discuss his past. His accent suggests he is from the American northeast, and he mentions that he hails from New York City and honed his trainhopping skills there. He began travelling with the Lost Boys around six months before the events of "*Lost Boys*", forming a good friendship with Vince.

### Season 1

#### 'Lost Boys'

Matty first appears waking up on a hillside overlooking a trainyard. He listens to Travis playing his song "Trainyard Blues" before Vince wakes everyone else, telling them that they are moving on.

As the group heads into town, Matty retreats to the rear and joins Travis. He compliments Travis' song before Vince suggests that they get breakfast at a nearby diner.

### Season 2

Between the events of *Season 1* and *Season 2*, Matty became separated from the rest of the Lost Boys and eventually encountered veteran freighthopper Marie Brodie. During this time Matty suffered a major injury to his left eye that led to him wearing an eyepatch.

## Overview

### Physical Appearance

Matthew is weathered and dirty from a life on the road. He cares little for his physical appearance and often allows his hair to grow unkempt, only cutting it when it starts to cover his eyes. He is apparently unable to grow a full beard.

Beginning in *Season 2* of *Juvenile Prosperity*, Matty is defined by his eyepatch, which covers his missing left eye. The story behind this injury is unknown as he outright refuses to tell it.

### Personality

Matty, like Vince, is typically sarcastic and a free-spirit, albeit one haunted by his past. He is just as quick to make banter and jokes with his friends as he is to insult his enemies. He is very confident and friendly to most people, assuming they don't have a problem with him. Matty is always just living in the moment and enjoys having fun. He is charismatic, supportive, and is often seen as the authority in his group of drifters. Although he is a natural leader, his laid-back nature and ideals leads him to not exploiting this, and he instead prefers to lend leadership to figures like Vince and Travis. His wealth of experience from living on the road makes him an ideal teacher and advisor to newbie vagabonds.

Despite his mellow and carefree nature, Matty is considered to be reliable, responsible, smart, and thoughtful, which demonstrate his social skills, and he is not afraid to speak his mind. His strong social skills were likely developed to hide whatever psychological damage his past inflicted on him. Matty is often seen as the mood maker among his friends since his behaviour makes him likable and fun to be around. Travis remarks that Matty's presence helps the Fr8ers pull through their rough lifestyle.

However, Matty can also be selfish sometimes because he can be too stubborn to listen to others' opinions, although his stubbornness is often caused by good intentions, and he occasionally needs to be called out if he gets a reckless idea.

## Powers, Equipment & Abilities

### Equipment

* **Eyepatch:** After suffering a permanent injury to his left eye, Matthew starts wearing an eyepatch. Despite this, Matthew's coordination ability has barely suffered.

### Abilities

* **Musical talent:** Despite having no previous musical experience, Matthew, like Travis, demonstrates a quick learning ability. He shares the same passion for music as Travis, and even appears to have knowledge of music theory, something Travis lacks.
* **Sense of direction:** As an experienced vagabond who has travelled widely across the United States, Matthew has developed an excellent sense of direction; like Travis, he rarely follows maps or even road signs. He is able to navigate desolate environments with ease, including the vast expanse of the American southwest, and easily navigated New York City in his youth.
* **Endurance and athleticism:** Matty's experience with walking across the country has made him a durable hiker, and he finds no trouble in travelling across various terrains. His fitness also comes in handy when chasing after and climbing onto moving trains.

## Relationships

### Marie Brodie

"*I'm sorry. I'm just...**crazy about her**. And I think she's crazy about **me**. And I don't want anything to get in the way of that...not even **you**,*"
—Matthew to Travis about his feelings for Maria[src]

*To be added...*

### Travis Rogers

"*You're the greatest legend that the hobo world has ever known,*"
—Matthew upon finding out that Travis is Mr Old Soul[src]

During their time in the Lost Boys, Travis and Matthew became good friends, with Matthew being Travis' best friend in the group. As he had more experience with homeless life, Matthew often gave Travis advice to slowly break down Travis' relative naivety about life on the road, lessons Travis would always take to heart.

After Travis got separated from the Lost Boys outside Concordia, he was sure he would never see Matthew or the others again. Nonetheless, several years later, Travis - by now a veteran of the road and leader of the Fr8ers - encountered Matthew in a trainyard and invited his old friend to join him. The friendship between the two men has remained strong and has even taken a step further, with Travis joining Matthew and Marie in a threesome during which Travis and Matthew passionately kiss. However, as this dynamic progresses Matthew begins to become jealous of Travis, having fallen in love with Marie, which Travis reluctantly accepts, having developed feelings for both of them.

### Vince

Matthew and Vince are very good friends despite only been shown to interact on a few occasions in "*Lost Boys*".

When Matthew encounters Travis again and joins the Fr8ers, he reveals that the Lost Boys eventually dwindled down to himself, Vince, Craig and a few others, at which point Matthew became separated from the others. He believes Vince is still out there but hasn't seen him since.

### Craig

Matthew and Craig are shown to be friendly but not particularly close.

### Sadie

Matthew and Sadie are shown to be friendly but not particularly close. Matthew tries to show Travis that Sadie's interest in him is just so she can make her ex-boyfriend, Craig, jealous. Matthew lost contact with Sadie but heard somewhere that she was in prison by 2009.

### Melody Jones

Matthew cares greatly for Melody and shares the Fr8ers' goal of protecting her from the brutality of the world while also teaching her the skills necessary to survive on the road. Upon joining the Fr8ers, Matthew treats her as a child and disregards her opinions on matters, demanding to know why Travis is looking after her when their way of life is incredibly dangerous. However, when Melody demonstrates her supernatural powers, Matthew has a change of heart and commits to protecting and guiding the girl.

## Trivia

* Matthew is **The Pirate**, one of *Season 2*'s five essential characters in David's transformation into Travis Rogers.
	+ Matthew is also the only one of the instrumental characters to physicaly appear before being labelled as such, having first appeared in "*Lost Boys*" in *Season 1* as a standard character and then in "*Debts*" in *Season 2* as a major character.
* Matthew and Travis are the only two characters that were part of the Lost Boys that are also members of the Fr8ers.
* Matthew is the first character in *Juvenile Prosperity* to have suffered a permanent eye injury, although he has not yet revealed the circumstances behind the injury. He wears an eyepath to cover his wound.
* Matthew is one of two characters from *Juvenile Prosperity* to appear as a crosscover character in *Onwards*, the other being Melody Jones.
	+ Matthew appears in the *MindBlown* mini-series, while Melody will appear as a main character in *Onwards: Season 2*.
		- Matthew's appearance in *MindBlown* also confirms that he left the Fr8ers by 2012.
	+ Travis is also mentioned in *Onwards* by his nickname "Mr Old Soul" but has yet to physically appear.

## References

1. ↑ King of the Road
2. ↑ Debts