Nathan Explosion

Nathan Explosion

Template:Character

Nathan Explosion is a fictional member of the virtual metal band Dethklok who are the lead characters in the animated series Metalocalypse. He is voiced by show's creator Brendon Small who also writes the music for the show.

Character biography

Nathan was raised in Florida, the sole child of Oscar and Rose Explosion. Nathan has an overbearing mother and stern father. In the episode Dethfam, Nathan's mother rambles at him incessantly, much to his annoyance, while failing to notice her husband being seduced by Skwisgaar's mother. In the same episode, Nathan's father states that he was happy until Nathan was born, and resents having had to spend his "beer money" on children's clothing. Nathan is known to make hateful comments regarding his family, particularly his father. In the short interview Family, he expresses an irritation at his resemblance to his mother, and says the mere fact that he has a family makes him "very angry inside." Later, he states that the fact that his parents had sex to create him makes him want to be buried alive. However in Dethdad he states that he does have a good relationship with his father, stating they drink together and go hunting and says he would be upset if his father died. In fact, as shown in "Fatherklok", he is the only member of the band to have a good relationship with his father (Skwisgaar and Murderface grew up without a father, Pickles' father treated him like trash, and Toki suffered an abusive childhood from his parents), showing them doing various activities such as fishing and go-carting, saying his dad is awesome and actully says he loves his dad, a huge step for any Dethklok member. According to Nathan, his endorsement Explosion Sauce changed his relationship with his father.

Nathan did not speak until the age of five and was an unremarkable student in high school, excelling only in frog dissection and football. He eventually dropped out without earning his diploma. In Dethgov it is shown that Nathan won the election for class president in the second grade, but said nothing, even as a police chase gone awry kills his teacher and classmates.

Character appearance

Nathan Explosion is the frontman, lead vocalist and "lyrical visionary" of Dethklok. Nathan always speaks in a very deep and grave voice, even when not singing in public (this is known as the death growl because many singers from death metal bands adopt this vocalisation). He is mainly a tall, imposing figure (Skwisgaar is the only one who overcomes him in terms of height) with very long jet black hair, black fingernails, pale skin and green eyes; when performing on stage sometimes he wears corpse paint. Throughout the series Nathan's appearances changes:

• In Dethgov, in the childhood flashback a very young version of Nathan has his hair cut short to the jaw and his clothes stayed the same as his adult version in the show.

• In Renovationklok, at the time the newly formed Dethklok had signed with Crystal Mountain Records, Nathan's hair was almost symmetrical, save for the stray hair strand, and he wore a sleeveless black shirt, black jeans and boots. This was during the time where Nathan was in his prime, as he has a muscular build from playing football in his high school days.

• By the time of Metalocalypse , Nathan's hair was parted back on his left ear, and he wore a grayish black T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black boots. Physically, he has very broad shoulders, a wide chest, prominent high cheekbones, and a square jaw. He had also gone visibly older, having developing wrinkles on his face, his muscles softer, and a noticable beer gut from drinking too much alcohol.

• During episodes Girlfriendklok and Performanceklok, Nathan wears a light purple polo shirt with pink horizonal stripes just below the chest, light blue jeans, light gray shoes, and has his hair cut so that part of the hair mainly draped over the shoulder is longer than the one in back, and the stray hair strand is gone.

• In Dethwedding, Nathan is seen wearing a black tuxedo along with the rest of the band during Pickles's older brother Seth's wedding reception.

• In the music video "Thunderhorse", Nathan is wearing barbarian garb inspired by ancient Norse Vikings and Conan the Barbarian, and he wields a double-sided axe.

• In the music video "Black Fire Upon Us", Nathan is wearing black armor and wields a sword, similar to Toki's black armor in "I Tamper With the Evidence at the Murder Site of Odin" except that Nathan is wearing a helmet much like in "Thunderhorse", a long cape, and his armor has more spikes and large shoulderguards.

Character Personality

Despite being shown to be clueless and naive about most things outside the scope of metal (which is quite often throughout the series, though his bandmates have the same problem as he does), Nathan is apparently a lead songwriting force in Dethklok, and demonstrates specific knowledge of music and songwriting, particularly observable in Cleanzo. During Dethklok's travels Nathan comes up with violent ideas for song material, which he records on a portable digital recording device. He has exacting standards and appears to have the final word in the music Dethklok produces; he will erase entire finished Dethklok albums if they do not ultimately meet his approval.

In all episodes of Metalocalypse, Nathan is usually seen looking serious about something; this is mainly due to being appointed frontman of Dethklok and he knows that being a frontman of an extremely popular metal band has a lot of responsibilities that must be taken seriously, especially coming up with ideas for the songs that rose him and his bandmates to fame, and managing activities that happen within Dethklok (well, any activities related to metal anyway). Despite his apparent seriousness Nathan occasionally smiles in some episodes such as Dethkomedy, and is shown to have a dark and wicked sense of humor, such as putting small firecracker bombs in the seat of Murderface's shorts and hurting his bass-playing hand with one in Dethdad, and making fun of Murderface's disliking of hotdogs by asking him if he likes eating sandwiches shaped like dicks. He is also capable of texting knock-knock jokes in Toki's manner of speech.

Nathan has a fairly simplistic way of thinking, often describing things and assessing their value in terms of whether or not they are "brutal" or "metal." He is impulsive in his reactions and decisions, and has violent tendencies toward things he dislikes, for example once purchasing several designer watches intending simply to smash them. According to an expert procured by The Tribunal, he shares a similar psychological profile to that of former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in his ability to "galvanize the proletariat."

Despite his academic ineptitude, he sometimes displays a better ability for basic reasoning and analysis than his band mates. For instance, in Performanceklok he was able to draw the conclusion that Dr. Twinkletits was using the banana stickers as a form of psychological validation. Another example is visible in Skwisklok as he attempts to explain to Toki the ill effects of eating too much candy and the differences between primary and adult teeth. In a stark contrast, he is often oblivious to simple ideas, such as the concept that the band could fire its own employees. In Dethcarraldo, when the Dethboat gets stuck in a narrow river, he demands that Dethklok employees drag it over a large mountain; it is successful but the Dethboat falls over the other side, killing many Klokateers responsible for pulling it over and eventually crashing. When speaking publicly, Nathan shows a profound difficulty reading the speeches written for him by Offdensen and usually gives up trying; however, he is shown stumbling through Hamlet and was reportedly paid a billion dollars to record his recital of Shakespeare 's works for a Books on Tape collection (although this failed because Pickles forgot to have the recorder on since he was drunk, and he was responsible for the recording, and also caused Nathan to wreck his vocal cords losing his voice in the process). Although he does not show it, Nathan is very much aware of his own flaws especially his stupidity, as he tried to get a GED in Go Forth and Die since he never finished his high school education as a teenager, as well as the more obvious flaws of his own bandmates - he had once pointed this out to Offdensen during a band meeting by yelling, "WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!!!".

He appears to be the band's leader, at least when it comes to practicing and recording. He also takes up the leadership role when their band manager Ofdensen is believed to be dead. After Skwisgaar's departure from the band, Nathan is the one who keeps everybody in line, by slapping Toki and Pickles and calling Murderface to get back to where he is. In a sense he acts as the group's 'father figure' whenever they require one, despite Murderface trying to become a father figure to Skwisgaar in Fatherklok.This can be seen as the balance to the group's 'mother' figure in Ofdensen (as Ofdensen nags them and tries to keep them from physical harm as much as humanly possible), and he has demonstrated these traits at various times, mostly when the band is in danger or at serious risk of falling apart (best example being carrying the paralytically drunk Toki to safety in the Season Two finale and taking the opportunity to tell him that he's been drinking too much).

Nathan also appears to be better emotionally adjusted than the other band members. He is the only band member to have a good relationship of any sort of family member (namely his father). He also appears to be the only one who can start and maintain any sort of real romantic relationship, whereas the others are actually so oblivious that they try to completely ruin Nathan's dates and don't understand simple aspects of relationships, since all they know of relationships is having sex with women, much to his chagrin. However, he is prone to emotional outbursts and tantrums such as in Dethecution where when angry he is prone to breaking things so Ofdensen had the picnic tables bolted to the ground, and Religionklok where, feeling very guilty for causing Murderface's hospitalization, yells that he is sorry and it was his fault for injuring him.

Origin

Cannibal Corpse lead singer George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher has said in interviews that Nathan is based on him. This has been confirmed by Brendon Small. Peter Steele of thrash metal band Type O Negative also shares similarities to Nathan such as being the lead vocalist of his own band, having a tall, imposing figure (his height stood at 207 cm tall), an angry-looking face, long black hair, and a deep singing voice.

Trivia

• In Dethcarraldo, Nathan's spirit animal is revealed to be a crocodile or alligator.
• In Dethgov, Nathan is made Governor of Florida after the public execution of Governor Kip Slaughter by rabid Dethklok fans. This alarms The Tribunal, causing them to go to Purple Alert.
• Nathan was once noted to have a similar psychological profile to Joseph Stalin. This connection is further strengthened in "Dethdoubles", when Ofdensen is explaining to the band what the doubles are. When Ofdensen mentions that Joseph Stalin had a double, Nathan excitedly shouts, "Awesome! I'm Stalin!"
• He is capable of speaking fluent French, as shown in the episodes Mordland (complimenting Dethklok's chef about a drink) and Dethsiduals (to apologize to the owner of a winery when bandmates Toki Wartooth and William Murderface cause havoc there for their unruly behavior).
• Nathan has an apparent hatred for clowns, especially Dr. Rockzo during the episodes where he makes appearances. In fact, he wrote and reads out loud during therapy a hate letter describing how much he hates him.
• Nathan is capable of reading Norwegian in Dethdad when he tells that the "first black metal records shop that started it all" Toki introduces the band to is actually a smoked fish shop the first time.
• Nathan is capable of driving a motorcycle as seen in the opening introduction of every Metalocalypse episode and briefly in Religionklok.
• Nathan is the only Dethklok member shown to be proficient in firearms, as he is able to use rifles and bazookas in episodes Dethdad and Doublebookedklok.

References

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