Stuart "Stud" Stampler

Template:PLAYER CHARACTER

**[WARNING: This page contains spoilers for the At the Mountains of Dadness sidequest. The "After the Campaign" section contains spoilers for Season 1: Odyssey.]**

*"You just want us to preserve the magic of the movie. Make it real again, y'know?"*

Stuart "Stud" Stampler is a PC in the At the Mountains of Dadness sidequest. He is an aspiring actor who builds sets on the lot of Father's Own Studios. He is the paternal great-uncle of Ron Stampler. He is played by Beth May.

## Description

> *"I play Stuart, AKA 'Stud', Stampler. Stud is an aspiring actor, dancer, and singer seeking stardom on Broadway. Brought to San Dimas by the death of his alcoholic brother, Carl. Now tasked with raising his nephew, Willy, as his own son, Stud has given up his dream for a more practical career: doing construction work. But Stud, always in awe of the silver screen and the adventures it depicts, compromised by working at Father's Own Films, where he could be close to the excitement he so longed for in his showbiz days." - Beth's description*
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### Appearance

Stud, according to Beth, is "huge and very hot". He has a thick New York accent. He is described by a telegram to the monochrome Conductor as an "extremely large handsome man".

### Personality

Stud is an upbeat, optimistic, and kind individual. He adores the movie industry and values the magic of film very highly. Stud isn't afraid to stand up for himself; if he believes he's being treated disrespectfully by someone above his station, he speaks up about it. He tries his best to be a good father and role model for his nephew and adopted son, Willy.

## At the Mountains of Dadness

### Chapter 1: Casting Call of Cthulhu

Stud identifies himself as an optimistic, confident man who believes in the magic of film and the idea that anybody can be a star. When the studio head, R. L. Stein, punches Robert in the face, Stud punches Stein in the mouth and knocks two of his teeth out.
When it's time for the group to start investigating the missing film crew, Stud is the designated driver.

At the editing suite, Stud tries to help the editor, Gertrude Von Strumph, who has been overtaken and corrupted through editing the film. Gertrude shoves his face into the moviola where the sharp film is exposed and slices his eyes out. After this, Stud is permanently blind.

Stud's only angry outburst directed at one of his party members takes place outside of the editing studio. He yells at Robert for running away when Stud called to him for help. Stud immediately apologizes for the outburst, saying that he's just in a lot of pain.

Stud is the first party member to discover Hildy's secret identity as a journalist. Even after this betrayal, he rushes to save her when the casting assistant and actors at the Griffith Observatory attack her.

### Chapter 2: Casting Call of Cthulhu

Stud mostly retains his blind optimism (no pun intended) concerning the movie industry, but starts to question the purity of the industry by the end of the episode.

Stud goes into the dining car with Meryl to mingle with other passengers and listen for valuable information. When Kathleen Kennedy insults Meryl, Stud immediately jumps to his defense. He also defends Meryl when Robert criticizes him for being more focused on his acting than the mission at hand.

When Hildy reveals her true identity and motivations to the group, Stud isn't upset that she lied. He says he's okay with her publishing an article about everything they've experienced on their adventures, as long as she waits until they've "handled the situation".

When the group stops in Albuquerque, Stud uses the telephone to call Willy. He promises to never leave him, but tells him not to adopt anymore cats because he keeps killing them. When Stud hangs up, he confides in the group that he's worried about Willy's violent behavior and his rigid views about masculinity.

When the crew decides to steal the script for *The Heart's Greatest Desire* from the sleeper car, Stud is the one who suggests that they replace it with a fake script so no one will know it was stolen unless they actually try to read it.

While Meryl and Hildy sneak into the sleeper car, Robert and Stud go into the dining car to create a distraction. Stud stands in front of the door while Robert tries to approach the Conductor. When the Conductor tries to leave, Stud blocks him.

Stud and Robert catch up to Meryl and Hildy, and the four of them run for the baggage car. Stud goes to hide inside a duffel bag, but Hildy finds a huge pair of pants in a trunk she opened. Stud hides in the pants and enjoys it.

While the group talks in a crew huddle to prepare for the Conductor's return to the baggage car, Stud asks why they should be afraid of the Conductor and sepia-toned film crew if they're all heading in the same direction. Hildy tells him that these people are similar to the actors at the Griffith Observatory and Gertrude in the editing studio. Robert points out that all of these people have been talking about the same creepy idea of "seeing the truth". Stud asks why, if the film is bad and "the dream is dead", they're still pursuing it. No one has an answer for him.

The group gets to work and prepares to ambush the Conductor when he re-enters the baggage car from the engine car. Stud, still in his pair of pants, lies down right in front of the door to trip the Conductor. He also comes up with some excellent one-liners for Robert to say when he threatens the Conductor with a gun: "Here's lookin' at you, kid," and "I'm tired of all these snakes on this train. Meryl tells him that he should consider being a writer. Stud says that he's considered being a writer; he thinks that "there's nobody better than a writer."

When the Conductor enters, he doesn't see Stud and trips over him.

During the fight, Stud wraps a pant leg around the Conductor's ankle to trip him again. When the Conductor dodges an attack from Meryl, he falls on his face. He quickly tears through the pants on his leg.

Stud tries to tie his other pant leg to a violently paranoid Meryl to force him to stay with the group, but Meryl resists. Robert grabs Stud and leads him out of the baggage car into the ante-chamber between the baggage car and the engineer car.

Meryl follows Robert and Stud into the ante-chamber and tries to attack them again. Stud tries to knock him out for his own safety, but fails.

When Stud dodges Meryl's third round of attacking his allies out of paranoia, Meryl realizes that Stud isn't his enemy. He snaps out of his paranoia and starts helping the group again.

Robert detaches the engineer car from the ante-chamber of the baggage car. Stud has to make a blind jump across the three-foot gap between the ante-chamber and the engine car. He runs and goes to jump, but his foot slips down through the gap between the cars. He manages to grab the handrail on the ante-chamber side before he falls.

Robert jumps across the gap and uses luck to succeed. He reaches down to help Stud up and yanks him into the engine car with him. Robert and Stud are safe and exit initiative.

### Chapter 3: Nuclear Family

[Description of Stud's actions in this episode.]
Stud has been overtaken in a fit of temporary insanity. Reduced to hysterical crying, he still manages to cast Dismiss Deity and prevent The Doodler from entering the portal. When the ritual fails, the portal becomes a black hole that starts engulfing everything around it. As the research facility collapses, Stud is too hysterical to try to escape. He enters the portal along with the building.
## After the Campaign

At the end of Chapter 3, it is undetermined whether Stud survived the events of the campaign. There is no confirmation of what, exactly, happened to him until about halfway through Season 1: Odyssey.
In Episode 41 [?], Henry Oak enters his memory box thing [will fix this phrasing later] with Darryl Wilson and Ron Stampler. They enter what used to be the Oak Ridge research facility. While inside, they encounter a zombie wearing 1930s clothing. They kill this zombie before journeying further into the facility. In [will find the talking dads episode later], Anthony confirmed that this zombie was, in fact, Stud Stampler. In the same Talking Dads [?], Beth May revealed that Stud didn't escape the facility like Hildy did because he was completely out of luck points.

Stud's nephew, Willy, would go on to have a son named Ron. Stud never got to meet him.

## Great-Uncle Facts

* Chapter 1: Stud does not have polio.
* Chapter 2: Stud does not have tuberculosis.
* Chapter 3: Stud does not have diphtheria.

## Other Facts

* Stud built the craft services table on the set of Blue Planet.
* Stud doesn't like when people curse around him.
* Stud admits to having "untoward thoughts" about Meryl Streep.
* Stud practices Meryl's famous catchphrase in the mirror every day.
* Stud isn't actually employed by Father's Own Studios, but he works on the set because he wants a job there.
* Stud has been tap dancing since he was a kid.
* Stud used to own cats, but doesn't anymore; Willy has killed several cats.
* Stud, along with the rest of the party, smokes. (It's 1939. Of course he does.)
* Beth made Stud an uncle instead of a father to create the Stampler family "tradition of raising someone else's kid".
* Stud loves a voiceover in a film.
* Stud is into tentacles. This kink saves him from Temporary Insanity in Chapter 3.
* Stud was killed by the dads in episode Ep. 40 of season one after he had turned into a zombie.

## Quotes

* [After being blinded] "Good thing there are talkies, now."
* "You gotta look on the bright side, even when you can't look."
* "Maybe I won't be able to see myself on the big screen someday, but other people still will."
* "Robbie, Meryl's got dreams! And sometimes your dreams take priority over the basic sort-of structure of human life, but that's what keeps us goin'!"
* "I'm so much more than a pair of pants."
* "I'm tired of all these snakes on this plane."
* "Normal success isn't enough in showbiz."
* "Y'know, whatever's in that box, it won't be as intriguing as the mystery itself."
* "Wait. I'm the understudy. This is my turn to step up."
* "It's something I've seen only in blind dreams."
* "I'm gonna try to erase this doodle."
* (Banishing The Doodler) "Go away, baby, and get your body as far away from me as you can."
* Last words: "I did it. I'm a big star. Everybody was lookin' at me, even for just one moment. Man. This is the magic of the silver screen..."