Shocker

Herman Schultz (Scenesys ID: 9237)
Quote
Profile
Full Name:	Herman Schultz
Gender:	Male
Species:	Human
Theme:	Marvel (VFC)
Occupation:	Criminal
Citizenship:	American
Residence:	New York City
Education:	Midtown High
Status:	Dropped
Groups:	Hench, Spider-Verse
Other Information
Apparent Age:	32	Actual Age:	32
Date of Birth	6 June 1995	Actor:	Jared Kusnitz
Height:	175 cm (5'9")	Weight:	79 kg (175 lb)
Hair Color:	Brown	Eye Color:	Brown
Theme Song:

Profile

Herman Schultz, aka "Shocker," is a costumed criminal whose record is packed with successful and failed attempts at burglary, safe-cracking, association with known felons (i.e., other costumed criminals), destruction of property, and so on. Most heroes consider him a small-time joke who needs to find another vocation. Most criminals consider him either a practical job-oriented colleague or a coward who won't see a mission through to the end.

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Description

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Description:

This man stands just under six feet in height, covered from head to toe in an outfit of a thick yellow material with a diamond pattern and that is reinforced with brown-tinted armor plating. His mask, which completely hides his features, has a brown skullcap with a sharp widow's peak-like point to his forehead. Over his body, the reinforcement covers the man's chest, shoulders, outer arms, groin, and inner thighs. A pair of heavy metallic gauntlets cover the hands and forearms, and sturdy calf-high leather boots house his feet.

History

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History:

Herman Schultz was born and grew up in the Bronx, a promising engineer during his youth whose life was, it seemed, perpetually plagued by misfortune of all sorts. Dropping out of high school to help support his family, Herman decided to pursue a life of crime in order to get rich as quickly as possible. His talents as a safe-cracker and burglar served him--decently.

After racking up a hefty criminal record, Herman decided to gain an edge by inventing for himself a pair of gauntlets that, through powerful vibration of the air, would allow him to crack bigger and more secure safes and vaults more successfully and quickly than he (or anyone else) ever could have before.

Wearing an insulated suit to protect himself in these endeavors, Herman became 'the Shocker' for the shock blasts his gauntlets created. His safe-cracking got easier for a time, but costumed crime leads to costumed hero intervention, and Shocker racked up an even heftier record.

Since donning his costume, though, Shocker has networked with much of the underworld in NYC and elsewhere, especially with his colleagues who focus on similar crimes and who want to pay the bills, if not amass a fortune someday.

Personality

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Personality:

Herman is a pragmatic individual. He approaches his work like the job it is--meaning that he puts the time in to develop, execute, and complete a project, but he also doesn't have the same sort of passionate obsession about his work that many other costumed criminals do.

This pragmatism is frequently viewed as cowardice, and Herman has come to terms with that--he can't convince anyone else otherwise, and it works well for him to be understood as a yellow-bellied loser so that he doesn't disappoint anyone when he decides it's time to pull out of a job. (There are always other heists to pull, after all.)

Abilities

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Skills

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Burglary:
Herman is a competent burglar, even in his Shocker costume. Years of focused practice have allowed him to hone his skills in infiltrating sites undetected, to procure desired items, and then depart again with as little identifiable trace as possible.

Close Quarters Combat:
Although he's no expert, Herman is decently skilled as a close-quarters fighter--mostly as a result of getting into any number of fights with law enforcement officers, costumed heroes, and (while incarcerated) fellow inmates. Herman doesn't have a particular fighting style or martial arts foundation; instead, he fights with a mish-mash of trial-and-error and observation of his colleagues' more successful tactics.

Deception:
As a crook, Herman's become adept at deceiving others--opponents, marks, even colleagues. To protect himself (whether in terms of polygraphs or to keep from becoming a snitch), he's had to learn how to not only lie but convince himself that he's not lying. Although Herman's not always successful, he's gotten pretty good at recognizing and guessing what others want to hear and delivering that information to them.

Engineering:
While he hasn't had much formal training or education, Herman has a gift for engineering, having invented and improved upon the vibro-gauntlets and suit that he uses as the Shocker. While he has colleagues whose technical expertise far surpasses his own, Herman has taken a number of opportunities to learn from them and develop his own skills and knowledge as a result.

Safecracking:

While he's a competent burglar, Herman is an exceptional safecracker. He's studied a wide variety of safes and similar security harwdware and is capable of bypassing the protections of most systems with relative ease, even if some of the more advanced devices require intense focus and time to overcome.

Resources

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Bail Bondsman:
A long criminal record tends to come with a number of legal obligations, including increased bail thresholds with nearly every arrest. Herman's got a preferred bail bondsman who's willing to work with him when times are tight, although he's unwilling to give Herman any more slack than is necessary to make sure his own job is completed.

Criminal Community:
Herman's worked with a large subset of the criminal community in the greater New York area (as well as a bit beyond). For the most part, he gets along with them, although many might view him as a henchman who doesn't think big enough or isn't as dedicated to their cause as they are. Herman can reasonably reach out for employment opportunities or for temporary aid (e.g., a place to crash while on the run), just as he knows he's expected to do the same--it's the price of maintaining one's professional network.

Insulated Suit:
As the Shocker, Herman wears an insulated suit meant to protect him from the devastating force of his vibro-gauntlets, the suit's padding keeping him from shattering his bones and from bouncing his brain against the inside of his skull. The suit is also capable of generating a vibrational field that serves as a secondary form of protection: the field makes Herman difficult for most opponents attempting to grapple him, in some cases, even to target him. The suit and vibro-gauntlets alike are powered by a battery pack in the suit's belt.

Safehouses:
Herman has several safehouses that he can retreat to when on the run. None of them is a particularly "pleasant" abode, but they do serve as a place to sleep, eat (thanks to some stored canned rations), and repair any damaged equipment. Sometimes, Herman has to make use of a safehouse to lodge one or more of his colleagues on the lam, too.

Vibro-Gauntlets:

The Shocker's vibro-gauntlets, when activated by their thumb triggers, can generate intense blasts of compressed and vibrated air that are capable of crumple concrete, weaken reinforced steel, and do unbelievable damage to humans' internal organs. These blasts can also serve as a means of transportation, allowing Shocker to "leap" a full city block through the propulsion created by the gauntlets. The gauntlets themselves are made of an incredibly strong alloy that keep them from disintegrating when used and, in a pinch, can serve as a set of reinforced knuckles to give Herman extra 'wallop' in a fight.

Weaknesses

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Coward:
While Herman views himself as a pragmatic man who knows when to cut his losses, many of his colleagues view him as a coward, a weakling who runs at the first opportunity. As a result, Herman typically gets hired on with the expectation that he's going to split, and so his share of any profits reflects that lessened committal. Similarly, Herman's reputation as a coward means that many other criminals out there are simply unwilling to work with or for him, since it's generally believed that his plans are likely to end in failure.

Criminal Record:
Herman's extensive criminal record basically means that he couldn't get a legitimate job if he were to try, and he certainly can't pass any credit or background checks. As a result, Herman can't get access to a number of resources for better living that most citizens can, and when he's out on parole, he's got to check in regularly with his parole officer to make sure he doesn't go back to prison that much more quickly.

Debts:
Like many other small-time criminals, Herman's racked up some considerable debt from unsavory loan sharks and crime bosses. While he doesn't like to be beholden to anyone else (as it means he has to see more of a disastrous job through than he might like), Herman also knows he has to eat and deal with other expenses. Unfortunately, it also means he has to be at the beck and call of his creditors until his debts are paid off.

Small-Time Ambitions:

Unlike most costumed criminals, Herman doesn't have any particularly lofty goals for world domination, revenge, or the like. He wants to make a living and, eventually, retire in comfort. This approach hasn't served him especially well so far, but Herman's not sure he could even tackle a major life change--meaning that he'll just keep plodding along as the burglar he is.

Logs

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Title	Date	Scene Summary
A Rogues Family Christmas Special	December 31st, 2019	Somebody gets a very special recipe
A Business Opportunity	December 9th, 2019	Herman is hired by Tombstone
There Goes the Neighborhood	December 5th, 2019	Shocker attempts to locate a mysterious treasure beneath an art gallery. Spider-Woman arrives to investigate, and Shocker's hopes get flushed down the drain--so to speak.

Cutscenes

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Title	Date	Scene Summary
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Gallery

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