Information on Gaz Corvin

Gaz Corvin: some general information

from Gary Hamrick Jr.

    The character of Gaz Corvin began as the result of my trying to rename a CAW (or create-a-wrestler) version of "me" (more on that later) that I usually made on the various WWE games every year after they added the ability to create your own superstar.  There were elements of the character that were based on a few ideas discussed by me and a couple of friends who were training to become professional wrestlers. A few of those ideas had to do with an idea for a group of talent that would be called "The Kindred", which thankfully never happened.  Most of the ideas were generally from my preference 90s grunge fashion and my enjoyment of the approach that Raven took with his gimmick in WCW. (Side note: I barely got to see much of Raven's work in ECW aside from a few of his matches there.)

    The name "Corvin" was always going to be present in any version of the character.  Corvin is derived from the Latin word "corvus" which means crow, although the word today refers to the birds' genus which includes both crows and ravens. I was also a big fan of The Crow comic series and movie back in the 90s as well. During those brainstorming sessions, I had envisioned a "manager" character named "Corvin Sandz" that had similarities to what "The Sinister Minister James Mitchell" had done as James Vandenberg in WCW though with different ideas that incorporated Mister Sinister leading The Morlocks in Marvel Comics. Oddly enough, James Mitchell would later manage the one of those guys in the brainstorming sessions who actually made it through training and into the business. For those wondering about the last name "Sandz", it was a reference to the last name of English actor Julian Sands from the 1989 film Warlock.  And honestly, I wouldn't have thought to use it as a last name had it not been for The Underworld films which had a character named "Michael Corvin" that was played by Scott Speedman.  To be honest, the idea was rubbish but it made for amusing brainstorming.

    As for the name "Gaz", that is another story.  I've an old friend / acquaintance named Mark Ashworth who is an actor from Manchester, England.  I met Mark because both of us were involved with an attempt to develop a film version of a web series that I had worked on previously.  I have no idea if the project got anywhere as I left the project before production even started.  (Oddly enough, the topic has never come up between Mark and myself since.) Mark and I became friends soon after and have remained in touch when possible since then with mixed results.

    The whole time that Mark and I have known one another, he'd been referring to me as "Gaz" and I think sometimes "Gazza".  I had no idea what he was calling me and didn't want to be rude by asking as it didn't seem to be anything offensive.  Years later, Mark would wind up working on the pilot episode for the NBC series "Constantine" which is based off one of my favorite comic series.  Being a longtime fan of the "Hellblazer" comics, I wound up being quite involved with the fan base of the series which led to some various social media exchanges with the actors.  This included Matt Ryan who played the title character of John Constantine and would reprise the character on the show Legends of Tomorrow.  During one of those twitter exchanges, Matt Ryan referred to the character of Gary Lester as "Gaz" which led me to ask him about the nickname.  It is apparently "shorthand" or "slang" in some parts of England for the name "Gary" which happens to be my name.  Realizing this, "Corvin Sandz" became "Gaz Corvin" though I have managed to incorporate the other name into the character.

    Not long after the character was renamed, I began moving the CAW character away from resembling me too much. Some of this was necessary due to obvious reasons like my physical health issues and I am nowhere near athletic enough to be a professional wrestler.  Over time, I began moving the character away from being a "stand in for me" and toward being a completely original character.  Well, mostly original as there still are some things that the character shares with me.  In fact, there's a few things that have been added back in recently, especially with taking the character into confines outside the WWWN project.  Though the character is not meant as a form of wish fulfillment, I'd be lying if I said there weren't some elements of it there.  And while admitting that, the things involving the  character of Gaz Corvin that are and are not that wish fulfillment might surprise you.

    Corvin is meant to have several traits related to the Byronic Hero and Nominal Hero as well as the Anti-Hero to him as well as some other traits related to several other "hero tropes" common in various forms of media though those are the first ones that come to mind.  I've always been more drawn to the flawed classical anti-hero than the ideal hero. There are reasons for this though not ones that should be gotten into here.  It is enough to say that Gaz is flawed but he is quite aware of his flaws and has embraced them at times.  I'd almost call him "True Neutral", to borrow from the Dungeons and Dragons alignment systema bit, though that may be pushing it slightly but not by much.

    Originally, I thought of it as Corvin being a knight in "grunge rock apparel" rather than one in "shining armor". This is true for all of the Corvin Family but especially Gaz Corvin. He doesn't care if he is cast as the hero or the villain (or rather face or heel in terms of professional wrestling). Like the rest of his family, he is quite pragmatic. His flaw is that he is arguably just jaded enough or cynical enough to believe that he is doing whatever is necessary to ensure he and his "family" (both blood related and extended family) succeed.  (Of course, there are some reasons for this belief too, whether right or not.)

    Gaz Corvin has an "in-universe" backstory that was originally centered around his involvement with the "WWWN and pro-wrestling world" though I've begun expanding on that into other areas such as investigative journalism. I'm limiting his official in-universe backstory though to the WWWN stuff, references to discarded writing projects of mine, and other things that are not related to any specific game or its universe.  For many "gaming universes", there will be some sort of post done later with explanations of his origin in that universe and likely other members of The Corvin Family as needed.

    Another note about Gaz's "in-universe" backstory, there is a lot of information that is intentionally classified as "missing" and "uncertain" about events of his childhood and even his birth.  I was aiming for the idea that a lot of the information known about his past might be questionable.  It may eventually get fleshed out but time will tell there.

Some Information on the Character's Physical Appearance

In official terms

    Gaz Corvin is an adult male of Caucasian origin who is believed to be in his mid to late 40s as of 2022. He is believed to have British, Irish, and German heritage. Over the years, his skin tone has ranged from appearing as a normal, fair complexion to being pale or having a pallor to his complexion. Corvin is considered average in height with estimates that he is slightly under six foot tall (Officially, he is meant to be around 5'10" in height but that will vary due to various things like game universe mechanics.) His hair was originally black though grey started appearing in it during his mid to late 30s. Presently, it is more salt and pepper in color and completely grey around his temples. While normally adverse to dying his hair, he has been known to do so on a temporary basis. (This is basically my excuse to give him black hair in a video game.) For reasons unclear, his eyes are said to have a purple color to them.  It has been said they were originally brown.

    While not involved in sports much in high school, Gaz Corvin is said to have always tried to remain in reasonably good shape. This is believed to be due to the influence of both his wife and mutual friends of theirs, including a previous girlfriend. Despite this, it is noted that he is not the "gym rat" that his wife is or even his best friend Orion Masters. He has noted that at the time of wife's foray into amateur MMA, he would have been a "light heavyweight" or "cruiserweight" if he had any interest in competing. Those closest to him have said that he'd probably never weighed over 200lbs had he not gotten involved with professional wrestling.

    Corvin's sense of casual fashion ranges from "grunge rock" to "business casual" though he had frequently leaned toward the latter in recent years.  He was known for wearing long coats in high school, specifically a dark Navy blue raincoat that he got from a military surplus store. With regards to formal attire, he is said to own multiple tailored suits, which he gained a preference for in his late 20s, that he typically wears with either a white or dark colored dress shirt.  He hates wearing ties.

Some "unofficial" notes

    In the early days of the character, when I was creating a "character to be based on me" in wrestling games, I initially using Marvel Comics' Alex Summers aka Havok as height and weight base for the character and then just dropped the height down to my own 5'9'' - 5'10" (at the time) range.  Later on, I raised the weight of the character quite begrudgingly due to the weight detection becoming a thing in the older WWE games.  During the process of moving Gaz Corvin away from being "based on me" and toward being an original character, I began using pro-wrestler Dean Malenko as the height and weight base for my character as Malenko was a technical wrestler and was considered a "cruiserweight" at the time in pro-wrestling vernacular.  Upon being introduced to MMA, I got the idea of using Georges St-Pierre as a height and weight base for Gaz Corvin before I realized that Georges St-Pierre weighed less than I realized even without cutting weight. (Bah! I knew nothing about the MMA weight classes then! Still don't know much now.)  Since then, my general rule of thumb is that Corvin is a "pro-wrestling light heavyweight" that could cut down to being a "pro-wrestling cruiserweight" if he had to but he would rather not.

    Apart from putting him in pro-wrestling games, I would describe Gaz Corvin as being "fit enough" but not a "gym-rat" anymore than he feels necessary.  Having said that, he is definitely in good shape for a guy in his mid-late 40s. Despite saying that, don't expect him to have six pack abs or anything like that.  Either way, he is in better shape than I am in real life (especially since my health problems put me on disability).  I've a couple decent gaming analogies for them related to gaming.  In many fantasy games, for example, I would put him in the "rogue" or "mage" role over being the "warrior" role.   If we are talking Marvel Comics or MCU Live Action stuff, think somewhere between Phil Coulson (before bionic arm on Agents of SHIELD) and Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil) as played by Charlie Cox.

    One last note: I've tried to leave a few things open to interpretation in describing Gaz Corvin's appearance. The biggest thing is the hair.  Most of the time, the type of salt and pepper hair color that he is considered to have ideally is not going to be games.  I've varied on my solutions to this from having him with black hair as he had in his youth to going with a dark grey color that some games have like on "Skyrim".

Hmmm... I think that is everything. At some point, I will upload the "in-universe" information on Gaz Corvin but I have other blogs to get written up and released at the moment.
Cheers.