Odd Della Robbia

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Odd is, above all, a very special character, remarkably casual, bringing to the series his own bits of craziness.
He clearly shows his complete nonchalance thanks to his look, which is a reflection of his personality. Always dressed in rose or purple, his blond hair always tinted in the front with a blaze of color and combed to a point (thanks to a ton of gel to hold it in place), and his individualistic clothes clearly indicate the cheery and mischievous person who resides within.
Always in good humor whatever the circumstances, always in search of a new bit to play for his audience, or a good joke to use, combined with his small stature (somewhat relieved by his hairstyle) only make him more remarkable.
Of a nature not always very sensitive, he can sometimes become abrasive and hurtful to others, especially in the case of his "girlfriend" Sissi who is often the target of his jokes, and thereby his barbs.
Very eccentric, he always surprises his friends with his novel attitudes and his sensitive side, which often astonishes them, but sometimes unnerves them too.
Aged 13, and in the same eight grade class with his friends, he does not particularly shine with any extreme maturity, often behaving childishly. Life does not seem to him any more than a simple game, which also explains his scholastic difficulties. Producing always the appropriate behavior, whether in everyday life or in class, is difficult for him to do, especially while amusing himself at the same time. Happily for him, he can count on his friends to keep him on a level course.
The only school classes that he bothers to pay attention to are the artistic subjects, in which he particularly excels. Having himself been born into a family of world renowned artists, it is only natural that he would have inherited from his parents the curiosity and awareness that for him are so characteristic, aided also by his parent-child relationships which were excellent in every way.
He is a little interested in everything, such as fashion, painting, and certain sports activities like juggling and even acrobatics (which serve as training for his expeditions on Lyoko). He seems to have a special interest in music, which shows up in a number of episodes. Without categorizing, he likes nearly all genres, but prefers rock music, which he considers a veritable cult and performs with the others on bass and guitar.
Socially, one can say that he gets along well with everybody, his happy personality allowing him to gain a lot of esteem and affection. His "trendy" look particularly inspires the admiration of little Milly and Tamiya, who consider him somewhat like a handy big brother to whom they can come for advice. Meanwhile, despite his personality, he seems intimidated by girls, and Naomi (in "Seeing is Believing") and Samantha (in "Rock Bottom?") are practically the only ones in whom he seems to be interested.
As another characteristic, Odd is the joyful owner of Kiwi, a small dog of undetermined breed, and of strange appearance. Kiwi is not extremely bright -- a slow wit made to take risks for his master who even smuggles him into the airport where animals are forbidden. Nevertheless, he becomes of great use to the group, sometimes even saving their lives, as in the episode "Satellite".
When he is transferred to Lyoko, Odd is virtualized in a form similar enough to his real appearance, except for the addition of claws and a tail, making him resemble rather a "cat-man". In this environment, he displays an extreme agility which permits him easily to sidestep attacks and making him a serious adversary for the minions of XANA.
Also, he is capable of projecting a dozen arrows from his gauntlet at the arch of his hand, making him particularly dangerous to his adversaries, but only until his supply of projectiles is exhausted, in which case he becomes very vulnerable and has no choice but in avoidance or flight.
His fighting tactics are not highly developed, but instinctive. Following a logic all his own, it is not unusual for him to be the first to fall into the traps arranged by XANA, much to the consternation of Yumi, who has to go to a lot of trouble to extract him.
Odd particularly excels when acting to create a diversion (the well-known "peekaboo, here I am!"), to attract the attention of the monsters and permit his friends to slip by. Nevertheless, this risky tactic has its limits and Odd, despite his agility and trickiness, is often the first to be devirtualized back to Terra.
His friends distrust the crazy ideas that he comes up with, often doing the complete opposite of what he proposes, despite his instinctive character. Concerning powers that he might have, he seems sensitive to the "thoughts" of the super-computer, which allows him to anticipate what is about to happen in excellent "flashes of intuition" that occur to him at the right moment, helping his friends out of inextricable situations.

Cl_Xana (November 27, 2004),
Translation by Chauve-Souris
http://www.codelyoko.net/
© March 2006

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