Characteristic
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10
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2
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5
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20
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The son of a strong unionist, Jean-Alain Trezeguet entered his working life with his eyes open. He knew that employers would sometimes exploit the workers, but he also knew that there would be men, like his father, who would stand up for individual worker's rights. It came as some shock to discover that his father was actually corrupt and working for the employers he was supposed to be investigating. Jean-Alain informed on his father, the results of which sent the elder Trezeguet to prison. Jean-Alain was shunned by his co-workers and his family. His great start in life had already gone off the rails. Without many alternatives he left Belgium, travelling to Britain where he hoped to start afresh.
It took him years to establish himself.
He was hired by Archer Electronics, a subsidiary of Sterling, and began working in the toy department, much to his embarrassment. One day he was asked to participate in a new development within the company and he agreed - anything to get out of the toy department. He joined six other workers and began working on a shrinking ray. At first he assumed it was still connected to the toy industry and inwardly groaned, but he soon realised that the other men involved in the programme were from different areas, predominantly from military and space engineering backgrounds. Jean-Alain wasn't sure whether to be impressed or fearful but he vowed to keep his own background secret and passed himself off as a talented mechanical engineer. No one pursued the story.
When the shrinking ray was near completion, Jean-Alain and the others were met by Sterling himself who turned out to be rather more friendly than his profile suggested and even took time to ask about Jean-Alain's family back in Brussels (not that he had any idea what his family had been up to in the past five years).
Jean-Alain didn't realise it at the time, but Sterling was merely saying goodbye to the scientists, all of whom had now become dispensable and dangerous. They had developed a shrinking ray which Sterling would use as secret leader of T.I.T.A.N. and all evidence needed to be erased.
As the device was being packed up into a truck, something happened which saved Jean-Alain's life. One of Sterling's men made a mistake and opened fire at the scientists before the set time which caused a panic. The truck driver accelerated but ran over a coolant hose and careened into a wall where it exploded along with half of the warehouse they were in. In the extreme heat, the shrinking ray activated and shot random beams across the room. Jean-Alain was struck by one of the beams and as he scrambled about in the firestorm he managed to avoid being shot or overcome by smoke.
As with most of these experiences, Jean-Alain walked away from the inferno a changed man. He felt that everything had gone wrong because of him, that he was the weakest link and just a toy maker trying to make it big rubbing shoulders with military experts. He didn't seem to notice that he was the sole survivor or that he was now forty
centimeters tall.
When the shrinking ray wore off Jean-Alain returned to London but vowed never to return to the toy factory. He hid from visitors (although he never received any) and paid all of his bills via the internet. Gradually he regained a little confidence and decided to try the whole working life thing again. It failed miserably, and as soon as he became frustrated by the long lines at the employment agencies he would snap and shrink to the size of a toy. People laughed at him and he would lose his temper and stamp his feet. They would laugh even louder.
One night he had had enough. A rude woman in an apartment below his refused to turn down her stereo and Jean-Alain found himself shrinking in a fury. He stormed down to her door and attacked her boyfriend, stabbing him with a fork. The woman threw money and valuables at him so he would go away and Jean-Alain found that he could harness his anger to make easy money. He returned the following night and took more money from the woman.
With a little money in the bank his mind turned to his former colleagues and their military background. Perhaps, he thought, he could harness his toy making genius with their military applications. He raided one of Sterling's outer London installations and stole plans for weaponry and then returned to Brussels where he knuckled down and designed toy weapons. He had already stylised himself as one of the new wave of superhuman criminals. It would enable him to strike back at those who laughed at him as well as prove to the world just how big he was.
However, underneath the flourishes and big speeches lies a trembling little man. He is still uncertain whether to embrace his toy making skills or hide them, wondering whether he is getting the respect he so desperately wants. To this end he regularly meets with a therapist online under the online name: Big Al.
The Toy Man has been affected by Sterling's shrinking ray so that his body can now shrink on its own, although he can only shrink to 40cm - no more and no less. He is also able to shrink other people and objects after a series of painful experiments he conducted on himself, although he doesn't usually exercise this ability as its results are still very uncertain.
In addition to his ability to shrink to the size of an action figure, Toy Man also has access to innumerable gadgets all of which are modelled on toys - usually providing lethal effects in the guise of innocent toys.
Jean-Alain Trezeguet is a man in his fifties who has not enjoyed most of his life. His eyes are weary and his nose is blotched and red. His hair is black, streaked with grey and kept short and when he is in his Toy Man identity he wears a black coat, pants and cape over a starched white shirt. On his head he wears an immaculate top hat. Toy Man has access to advanced technologies and has weaved a strong protective fiber into his clothes which protect him from most injuries.