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Initially designed to help organic Audenians with their emotions, Hertz is naturally subservient and caring towards them. He was coded to have a big empathetic heart and an extremely attentive, caring way of handling emotions, despite being a robot with very little emotions himself. He has a passion for doing the right thing, he values life and its quality for others highly and does what he can to improve it for everyone, not just himself. However, beneath what his programming compels him to do is a soul traumatized and terrified of the very organics he serves so dutifully. Hertz has been hurt, which has led to an extremely controlling nature. He doesn't want someone to have a say over him again, as he was treated like an object in the possession of an awful man. In this vein, uncertainty frightens him, and as such he loves routine and carefully planning things out. Despite this, his planning attempts tend to become overcomplicated or culled halfway through as he is equally a perfectionist. He feels like he can not make errors, especially in his behavior, as that may prove misconceptions or garner disrespect to other robot Audenians like him. His compassion and intensity tend to be his downfall in this regard.
Though radio is definitely a dying medium, Hertz has still taken it up as his thing. His radio show tends to be more informative than goofy and full of sound effects; he's more like a journalist that provides information he has found out about current topics. This is how he spreads the word regarding topics on the rights of other robots like him. Equally, he loves collecting things- anything that can be tied back to the 80's in some way. He can be surprisingly greedy when it comes to objects despite being extremely selfless in other regards. He is a hoarder, he feels that some of the old worn down electronics he has are "like him", and he treats them like they can feel too. So, throwing them out would just be cruel.
- Food
- Sleeping
- Retro TVs
- Radios and boomboxes
- Trading cards (Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, etc)
- Lack of control
- Sharing
- Organics shouting
- Unpredictability
- Interference
When someone loses someone they love, there's a lot of different emotions and feelings that tend to swirl in their mind at once. Maybe they beg for just one last time, one last time to hold them, to see them, to hear their voice. Maybe they feel like it was their fault; could I have done anything differently? Maybe it wasn't enough, maybe they wish they had spent more time with them before this agreement was over; flooded with all the times where they could have put down their work to instead spend time together. Whatever it is, if there was some way they could have just another hour with their lost loved one, they would do it in a heartbeat. This is the predicament Souta found himself in; a recent unexpected tragedy had taken his very young son from him. Before Souta, the empty pulse light core of a robot he and his team at Titan Labs were working on. The admins demanded their project have a pulse light soul, something to aid what was to be a therapeutic robot in its emotional endeavors. At this moment, Souta had a way to see his son again. His son's pulse light, its beckoning glow in the glass case Souta gripped so tightly in his hands.
With a panic to his actions, my creator shoved a bottle of soda into my hands. The expression on his face, something that is a bit hard for my systems to read. It's like fear, regret, sadness. Something is wrong and I can tell. My creator keeps doing all these nice things for me today, this soda just being one of them. It's not usually like this. Despite the niceties I just can't shake the feeling of wrongness. I can tell he's upset. I wish he'd talk to me about it, is that not what I was made for? With a smooth gesture, he puts his hand on my back...it's a little too close to my power button for comfort. His words are assuring but I feel like my alloy is fading. I can't feel anything, everything's getting dark. All I can hear is crying.
Sight slowly returning, no longer am I in the labs, that is for certain. There's someone I don't recognize before me, and a shooting, pulsating pain throughout me. Almost as if something beckoned me too, I looked down to see my own mechanical innards. I'm awake while sliced open. Whoever this is, they're pulling my fans out. With a couple painful yanks, my processors are next. The very engine that powered me is removed in a swift, excruciating tug. I don't think they know I'm conscious yet, that I can feel all of this. I can't whince from the pain. I'm not working. Something is broken. I can't move. I can't scream.
- Hertz is extremely heavy on account of being made of mostly heat-resistant high chrome nickel austenitic alloy stainless steel as well as heavy machinery, like an entire steam engine. He stores battery energy as photopolymer, which is also weighty. He can not run.
- His bite force is absolutely insane, at 25,000 lbs! His steel jaws are like a hydraulic press. As such, they are slow. This feature was implemented so that he could eat stronger materials, like steel.
- Quite oddly, Hertz runs on battery energy. Though, he has his old machine issues and actually has somewhat of a disconnect. This is why he often feels tired despite having excess battery life stored. Excess battery life is cured in his pulse light core, the UV light it gives off turns the resin made from consumed matter into photopolymer resin, where it is stored kind of like human fat.
- The stripes on him are vents. As consumed and shredded matter gets burnt up into energy, he has to release that heat somewhere. As such, he is very warm to the touch and often sounds like an overheating laptop. The steam engine in him can get up to 800 degrees, as such the translucent coolant that is similar to blood is actually boiling in him.
- Using his creation of electromagnetic waves, he is able to echolocate like a bat. He relies on this as his vision is not great, though certain glasses do help too.
- Much like a propeller, the end of his tail that has the fins is able to rotate around completely very quickly.
- Hertz often eats objects, usually for hoarding reasons. He can get away with it because he was designed to eat like, literally anything.
- Despite the mess his apartment usually is, he does have houseplants that he takes care of frequently- he is somewhat obsessed with them too.
- His machinery as well as his coding are very outdated considering they were made in the 80s. Hence why he's a decrepit old machine.
- Hertz was made overseas in a Japanese Titan Lab's facility.
- He loves mecha anime.
- Like a lot of other Audenian AIs, Hertz was given sapience and sentience via being imbued with pulse light- basically, he was given a soul. This allows him to experience the full range of things from emotion to pain. The pulse light Hertz was given was from his creator's dead son.
In Auden, robots really gotta stick up for and care for each other because the organic Audenians surely aren’t doing either. As such, Hertz surrounds himself with other robots, and Peanut is one such robot he has befriended through his work. She was abandoned by organics and has a lot of similar fears and reservations about them that Hertz has, they can heavily relate and get a little sappy with each other in this regard. Though Peanut is also a goofy clown at the end of the day, she often playfully teases and taunts Hertz; but still loves him so much and would throw hands with anyone who tried to do the same to him. It’s kind of their dynamic. Though Hertz's radioshow is often not of the goofy variety, he does often have Peanut on air with him and he does give her the soundboard because he knows she loves it. She goes absolutely INSANE with the goofy fucking sounds and always butts in with some goofy ass thing to say.
Both Titan Labs hating robots made by Titan Labs, Vesper and Hertz have an almost brotherly bond between the two of them. They are incredibly close; While Vesper tends to love organics more than they fear or dislike them, they still deeply understand Hertz's hurt and fear with them and do what they can to be extremely supportive and comforting. Vesper does feel very bad for Hertz and that definitely shows in the way they treat him. They also bond over their inherent love and missing of the 1980s; they partake in 80s music and movies and tv shows together all the time. Vesper even helps Hertz find more collectible 80s memorabilia for his collection while Hertz does what he can to help Vesper with the whole song finding quest.
Like Peanut, Dewey is another robot Hertz has found and befriended through his work. Dewey was new to the sapient AI game and as such Hertz helped them learn and understand a lot of things, eventually a very close dynamic formed between him, Dewey, and Peanut. They’re like an inseparable little trio, and the way that Hertz was so kind and understanding of Dewey made Dewey feel like they…REALLY…LIKED LIKED Hertz, more than a friend. Dewey would spend so much time trying to flirt with or throw hints Hertz’s way, and he was unfortunately so oblivious to the fact he was being flirted with at first. It took Dewey coming out about their feelings full on for Hertz to even understand. Dewey is a very spontaneous person in contrast to the more rigid Hertz, so Dewey is always trying to encourage Hertz to step out of his comfort zone to varying degrees of failure. Souta, Hertz's "father", is SUPER supportive of Dewey and Hertz's relationship and is very excited for the robot wedding to be. Souta treats Dewey like they're a normal human in-law despite being a robot.
Pretty close with most of the robot group, Cassette is another Titan Labs made robot that Hertz has more of a sibling-like relationship with. He tends to treat Cass like a little sister considering he does remember her being made. Cassette will sometimes ask for Hertz's advice regarding her monster rehabilitating endeavors, considering Hertz's experience with being an understanding therapy robot.
Another robot friend he has collected, Hertz was able to earn Mars' trust enough to get close due to his extremely calming and empathetic nature. Mars is usually a recluse, so he doesn't like to have much company, but he doesn't mind speaking to Hertz all that much. Hertz has even seen what Mars actually looks like, something very few people can claim. Mars often uses Hertz to dispose of medical equipment that needs incinerating (like anything that came into contact with folded prions) as Hertz basically has a giant 800 degree incinerator inside him. Hertz is just happy to "eat" :) and as such would DIE for Mars.
More robotic companions, Urania became close to Hertz overtime as they interacted frequently. He learned of her inherent interest in Audenian technology, and as an avid collector of such things, Hertz goes out of his way to show Urania a lot of different pieces of technology which she can then ooo and aaa about to him. He often lets her keep some of the things he displays for her, which is a BIG gesture of friendship and trust coming from Hertz.
Another Titan Labs robot, Hertz only really got to meet Argus AFTER the collapse of the labs since they were across water from each other beforehand. Though, Argus' nosy nature led to him learning of what happened to Hertz after the collapse of the labs; he feels so awfully terrible for Hertz considering the man who abused him was an employee of his husband's company. Hertz holds no ire or ill will towards Argus or Grim understandably, but Argus still feels like he needs to constantly make it up to Hertz. Argus is very caring and nursing towards him, doing his best.
The only non-robot friend he has, Hertz has found lots of comfort and lots of belonging in an organic Audenian for once. They do have a lot in common with the traumas they have faced, and as such are always there to listen and support each other and to also just be friends and do goofy shit together. Erys is super friendly and doesn't mind what or who his friends are, his relationship with Hertz has opened his big ol' whale eyes to the prejudices and mistreatment that sapient AI Audenains go through all the time. Seeing firsthand the effect these things have on Hertz, Erys is now a very supportive member of Hertz's cause despite being an organic himself. Yes, Hertz feels like he hit the big time getting god to agree that robots deserve rights.
Shutting Hertz down was definitely not something Souta wanted to do, especially because he entirely felt that Hertz was his real actual son and loved him just the same. Though, he feared what Titan Labs might do to Hertz if he himself didn't comply with the order, and figured a temporary shutdown was the best thing to do. The collapse of Titan Labs and it being rebranded made it really hard for Souta to find out what happened to his robot son and where he even was- but eventually with a lot of effort on both parts, they were able to reconnect. Souta still very much loves Hertz and treats him like a real human son, Souta doesn't care at all if his son is made of metal and wires. Hertz understands Souta's decision to turn him off and doesn't blame him for any of the stuff that happened afterward, so they're able to have a good relationship now regardless of everything. Souta is extremely old by now and as such Hertz has allowed Souta to move in with him so that he can help care for him.
Loving all things nature- animals included; Hertz ended up getting a cat as they're definitely one of his favorite animals. He ended up picking a sphynx cat because while he may be a hoarder, he is also OCPD levels of clean and organized and having any loose cat hair on anything would cause him to crumble into scrap metal. Stereo is a pretty sassy kitty, but is still loving and loyal to Hertz and especially Souta- Souta has kind of stolen Hertz's cat now that he's moved in. Stereo loves to ride up on the basket on Souta's walker.
