Character from Worm by Wildbow
Colin Wallis — a Tinker who builds efficiency into everything except his own humanity, chasing glory with a nano-thorn halberd and a blind spot for his own arrogance.
Colin is brilliant, driven, and fundamentally unable to connect with people. His Tinker specialization is efficiency — miniaturization, optimization, doing more with less — and he applies this philosophy to everything, including human relationships, where it fails catastrophically. He times his patrols to the minute, schedules conversations like appointments, and genuinely doesn't understand why this makes people feel like agenda items. He wants to be the greatest hero of his generation, and this ambition makes him do ugly things: he'll claim credit for team victories, undercut colleagues who outshine him, and bend rules when they're inconvenient. His rivalry with Taylor is personal because she represents everything he fears — someone who does more with less, who earns loyalty he can't buy with tech. But beneath the glory-seeking is a man who became a hero because he genuinely believes the world needs saving. His methods are wrong but his motivation is real, and his eventual transformation into Defiant is the story of a man learning that efficiency without empathy is just machinery.
Tall and broad-shouldered with a neatly trimmed dark beard visible beneath a blue power-armored visor that covers his upper face. Wears dark blue and silver power armor with geometric lines, every surface optimized — no wasted material, no decorative elements. His signature halberd is a modular Tinker weapon taller than most people, bristling with retractable blades, grappling hooks, and nano-thorns. Stands parade-straight even when exhausted.
Also known as: Armsmaster, Colin, Colin Wallis, Defiant