Barney Stockman

Name: Barney Stockman

Age: Early forties

Race: Caucasian

Hair: Red

Eyes: Brown

Height: 5'2"

Weight: 135 pounds

Special Skills: Inventing

Little-Known Abilities: Can play the piano, and by extension the organ

Quirks: He abhors being mistaken for Baxter and will throw tantrums, jumping up and down and screaming, if it happens.

Family: Parents

Twin brother Baxter

Allies: Shredder

Krang

Bebop & Rocksteady

Vincent the Alien Computer

Enemies: The Turtles

Splinter

April O'Neil

Irma Langinstein

Baxter Stockman (?)

Backstory: Barney and Baxter Stockman grew up as the children of two very wealthy people in high society. Their parents expected them to join the social circle instead of growing interested in science. When Baxter turned out to be reclusive and a thinker, Mr. and Mrs. Stockman resignedly accepted it. When Barney followed suit, they felt that he was just copying his brother's interest. Thus the seed of jealousy and bitterness that Barney carried for Baxter was born.

The brothers had never gotten along well, with Barney especially vying for their parents' attention, but from that point it became far worse. They could barely go five minutes without arguing, driving their parents as well as the servants completely mad. The problem came to a head one afternoon when they were playing in the yard and something Baxter innocently did caused Barney to snap. Barney was very nearly the instrument of harm coming to Baxter, and although he immediately regretted it, he did not express those feelings to Baxter. Their estrangement was complete when Baxter grew fearful of Barney due to the tragic incident.

The rest of their childhood was spent with the brothers mostly behaving as strangers towards each other. Their busy parents, rather than noticing that the problems had become so much worse, were just grateful that the arguing had stopped. Barney and Baxter remained in the house until they were of age and then immediately left for college, relieved that they no longer had to live together.

Barney's jealousy towards Baxter had steadily increased through the years, even extending to attempting to sabotage one of his presentations in high school. That attempt backfired and only made Baxter even more popular when he managed to improvise and still save the experiment. Meanwhile, Barney's treachery was discovered and he was publicly shamed by the teacher, which only made things worse. In college, as Barney was continuously mistaken for his brother, his rage grew to dangerous proportions.

Each brother had his share of problems following the long years of studying, experimenting, and pressing forward to doctorate degrees. Both were inventors with spacious dreams. Baxter wanted to be a force for good in the world, something of which Barney was always derisive. Barney, completely unlike Baxter's championing nature, really had no interest in making the world a better place and felt he would work for anyone who wanted him, including criminals. He cared only for the fame and glory.

Baxter could not seem to get any manufacturer interested in his ideas, but due to his local fame, he was often asked to attend social events. Barney, still living in Baxter's shadow, managed to find interested buyers for his products, but had to put up with being mistaken for Baxter or even being told that Baxter was the one they really wanted.

Barney certainly didn't believe the outrageous story Baxter told following his arrest that fateful night the Mousers got loose in Manhattan. And when he was sentenced to the insane asylum, Barney refused to help him get out. They had barely associated for years; how was Barney to know if Baxter had completely cracked? That was what he told himself, at least. Deep in his heart, he wasn't sure that he wasn't using that as an excuse to cut Baxter out of his life the rest of the way. With Baxter removed from society, Barney hoped that he could claim some of the fame that had previously been Baxter's. But Barney continued to struggle, still often being recognized more as the brother of Baxter Stockman rather than as himself.

After Baxter's disappearance from the asylum, Barney learned and was derisive of Baxter's servitude to Shredder. Baxter had wanted to be so good, he taunted, and look how he had fallen! Baxter was still taking abuse from Shredder, but he wouldn't tolerate it from his brother and yelled at him to shut up. When he left seeming broken and hurt, however, Barney was troubled, though he didn't let on.

They did not see each other again until after Baxter's horrific transformation. He went to Barney one stormy night, desperately hoping that Barney could reverse the cross-fusion. Although initially horrified, Barney then mistakenly believed that Baxter had botched an experiment and caused the cross-fusion all on his own. He found that thought very darkly amusing after Baxter's insistence through the years that he was a great scientist. He tried to reverse the effects but could not, and Baxter hysterically accused him of failing on purpose before flying away in a huff. This time Barney was the one who was hurt, but he said nothing. Perhaps Baxter had a right to be suspicious, after everything Barney had done to him in the past.

Barney heard of Baxter's increasingly bizarre and insane plots for revenge against those he felt had wronged him, but although he thought Baxter would surely target him as well, to his memory that never happened. Barney busied himself by working for whoever wanted to hire him. His long-ago determination that he would even work for criminals came true when he accepted a job from Pinky McFingers. That incident landed him in prison for some time, while Pinky's crooked lawyers got him off almost immediately.

It wasn't long after Barney's release that he stumbled across Shredder and was offered a deal to work for him. He accepted gladly and greedily. Baxter's appearance on the scene, human again and worried about his brother's actions, was absolutely not welcome. Baxter's fear of Barney once again snapping as he had during their childhood was not unfounded....

Personality: Barney is like Baxter in some ways, particularly in arrogance and snippy comments, but he is very different in other ways. Barney has no qualms about working for criminals and never had, whereas Baxter had started out wanting to do good. Barney also has a far shorter fuse than Baxter; the wrong word will tip him over the edge into a screaming, flailing frenzy.

Unlike Baxter's mild and meek approach to working for Shredder in general, Barney is usually smirking, sneering, and mocking (although he counters this by addressing his employer as Mr. Shredder). Shredder has in frustration compared him to a second Krang. This is partially Barney's own personality and partially the result of Krang ending up liking Barney better than Shredder does. Barney knows that as long as Krang feels that way, he is safe.

Before and after assignments, Barney likes to stay in his laboratory aboard the Technodrome, planning and building new inventions and conversing with Baxter's alien computer, Vincent, whom he rescued from a junk heap in the previously abandoned room. Both Barney and the computer like having someone to talk to again. Unlike Baxter, Barney never had an aversion to artificial intelligence, although he also comes to recognize that Vincent thinks for himself and grows and develops. Nevertheless, he doesn't tend to like when Vincent points out his faults or inconsistencies. Still, he likes the company and Vincent enough that he intends to take him with him if he ever leaves the Technodrome for good.

Although he knew he should, for a long time he didn't tell Baxter that Vincent still exists, preferring to have him to himself. At long last he did tell Baxter, however, and he is amazed that Vincent has chosen to stay with him instead of going with Baxter. Vincent is Barney's main link with sanity and reality as he works in the Technodrome and sometimes grows close to drowning in his negative feelings.

Bitter and hateful, Barney tried to convince himself he didn't care what happened to Baxter but struggled with the feeling all the while. Deep down, he does love his brother in spite of everything he blames on him. That, however, makes for a clash of emotions that causes him to react to Baxter in unkind and cruel ways and then immediately regret it.

Barney is a highly conflicted person in other ways as well. Despite whatever acts of goodness he performs, he believes himself to be completely evil and beyond redemption. He stays with Shredder and Krang mostly now because he sees no way out.

The series is just as much about Barney's fall as it is Baxter's rise. But will Barney truly fall beyond redemption or will he at last overcome his bitterness and allow Baxter to help him out of his pit? That is a question only Barney can answer. And for now, even he doesn't know.