Morbid, paranoid, and a total pessimist, Stork is described by the series' creators as a "pretty typical Merb". He's the only Merb seen in the show so far, so we'll have to wait and see about that. It would kinda seem he can't be completely typical, though, since despite all his phobias he's chosen a life of travel, danger and airborne adventure.

He has severe agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) and seldom leaves the comfortable confines of the Condor, which he has loaded with traps and defensive devices to repel any intruder. Next to the ship, his preferred environment seems to be caves: he was delighted to find a thermal cave on the frozen surface of Terra Blizzardis (ep. 10), wistfully called the dark caverns of Cyclonia "kinda homey" (ep. 2), and is so familiar with the forbidding ravine known as the Black Gorge that several members of the Hawks squadron refer to him as "the expert" on the place (ep. 7). (There's even a theory that he himself drew the only known map of the Gorge.) His very large eyes also suggest that he's accustomed to living in dim light, leading one to speculate that the Merbs are naturally cave dwellers, or evolved from same.

Stork has a slightly haughty and sarcastic attitude, and has little patience with noise and foolish behavior. He's never part of Finn and Junko's pranks and horseplay (except as a target) and clearly wanted nothing to do with the reckless bad-boy hijinks of the Absolute Zeroes, escaping back to the ship as soon as possible (ep. 10) In this, as in a few other things--they're also the "techie nerds" of the team-- he's closest to Piper, the only female Storm Hawk, who often despairs of her teammates' lack of discipline, manners, and/or common sense. (In Season 1, Piper seemed in general to feel a shade more warmly toward Stork than to the others, having made a point of paying him compliments on several occasions, and even hugged him --to his shock--as a thanks for steering the team out of the Black Gorge. [In Season 2, however, her affections decidedly shifted toward Aerrow. Sigh.] --Stork, in turn, is nearly always in accord and sympathy with Piper, and is openly fond of her cooking, considering a day without her homemade sandcakes to be "like a day without bat repellent".) (ep. 13)

Stork is a pilot of tremendous talent and slightly suicidal daring; he knows precisely what the Condor is capable of and drives the old ship through risky precision moves with split-second timing. Sky Knight Aerrow, the squadron's leader, places a high value on Stork's impressive skill and keen calculations, and doesn't hesitate to ask him to push himself and the ship to the limit when a high-speed escape or evasive battle maneuver is needed. (Aerrow may or may not be aware of the "slightly suicidal" part. If so, he's got enough nerve of his own to risk it.) However, Stork is extremely sensitive to damage to the ship, once protesting that a fast chase through narrow tunnels would leave scratches. He's --as might be expected of such a Goth--a highly dramatic and physical pilot, who throws himself into his work and often seems to pull the Condor through tight spots by a combination of physical effort and sheer force of will.

Interestingly enough for someone so anxious about disease and infection, Stork wears two metal rings in his left ear, which are presumably surgical stainless steel or the Atmosian equivalent. It's intriguing to wonder if this is typical for a male Merb, or is another way in which he deliberately stands apart from his kind--maybe even a gesture of teenage rebellion!

Stork stated early in the series (ep. 1) that he was only staying with the Storm Hawks "until something better comes along", but he's given no hints yet as to what he'd consider better, and he may have just wanted to avoid any appearance of commitment. We have no idea yet how he met the team members or exactly why he signed on with a concern as consistently life-threatening as a fighting air squadron. There's something in it for him, but we'll have to wait --it is a 52-episode series after all--to find out what.

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