Line #35 Creator/WilWheaton


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6	->''"I thought it was brilliant satire, not only of [[Franchise/StarTrek Trek]], but of fandom in general. The only thing I wish they had done was cast me in it, and have me play a freaky fanboy who keeps screaming at the actor who played 'the kid' about how awful it was that there was a kid on the spaceship. Alas."''
7	-->--'''Wil Wheaton's [[http://www.wilwheaton.net/mt/archives/000768.php review]] of ''Film/GalaxyQuest''.'''
8
9	Wil Wheaton (born Richard William Wheaton III; July 29, 1972) is a [[JustForFun/OneOfUs geek]], [[http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/ blogger,]] [[http://thebloggess.com/heres-a-picture-of-wil-wheaton-collating-papers/ paper collator,]] and actor best known for ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and ''WebVideo/TableTop'' on Creator/GeekAndSundry's Website/YouTube channel.
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11	Born in Burbank, California, he became a full-time actor at the age of 8, scoring small roles and a large voice-acting credit for the classic ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH.'' Then in 1986, he was cast as the lead in the Rob Reiner movie based on Creator/StephenKing's novella ''The Body,'' called ''Film/StandByMe.'' This got him plenty of public exposure, enough for him to land the job that he's most known for:
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13	[[TheScrappy Wesley]] [[CreatorsPet Crusher]] of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration.''
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15	Imagine that you're playing a character that you know is [[TheScrappy hated by the fandom]] that [[PromotedFanboy you're a part of]]. Imagine reading the hate mail it gives you, despite the great feelings you have of the cast, the crew, and the creator himself. Now, imagine you're 15, and thus interpreting all the hate as hate against you (which, [[IAmNotSpock unfortunately, some of it was]]). Now you'll understand Wil Wheaton's demeanor towards fans until his epiphany in the late '90s (as chronicled in his story ''The Saga of [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Spongebob Vega$pant$]], or [[Film/DrStrangelove How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Star Trek]]'').
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17	Believe it or not, ''he'' hates [[CreatorBacklash Wesley]], or rather what the writers had him do as Wesley. [[http://www.aoltv.com/bloggers/wil-wheaton His reviews]] of the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episodes are sure to mention exactly how annoying Wesley is each time he appeared in the show. (Though he did reprise the character in a brief scene in an episode of ''Series/StarTrekPicard.'') Unfortunately his review column was discontinued in early 2008 when TV Squad was bought by AOL, but he has collected his reviews of the first 13 episodes, expanded them and put them in a book called ''Memories of the Future: Volume 1'' released in late 2009. ''Memories of the Future Volume 2'', due to be released [[DevelopmentHell whenever]], will cover the rest of the first season, most of which he didn't get the chance to review before the aforementioned discontinuing.
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19	Since embracing his inner geek, he's written four compilations of memoirs, has a famous blog, and is embraced by geekdom as their avatar. It doesn't hurt that many of the mostly guest acting gigs he's scored these days are as geeks or voices of comic book heroes such as [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans Aqualad]] and [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold the second Blue Beetle]]. He was a caustic comic book collector on an episode of ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' that took place at a comic convention, a supremely creepy unsub (as if there's any other kind) on ''Series/CriminalMinds'' and a {{Jerkass}} computer hacker on ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', a role which he has reprised several times.
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21	He also did a hilarious take on KentBrockmanNews as Richard Burns on ''Radio/GTARadio'', plays [[StrawNihilist Fawkes]] on ''WebVideo/TheGuild'' and was a frequent guest on the [[WebVideo/AcquisitionsIncorporated Dungeons & Dragons podcast]] alongside his fellow geek luminaries from ''WebComic/PennyArcade'' and ''Webcomic/PvP''. He also plays Darkstar (imagine if Wesley was more obnoxious and villainous) in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]]'', and ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]''. He also had a recurring role as Dr. Isaac Parrish, a {{Jerkass}} [[TheAce Ace]], astronaut candidate, and Fargo's [[TheRival long time rival]], on ''Series/{{Eureka}}.'' He is also the host of ''WebVideo/{{Tabletop}}'' and its RPG spin-off ''WebVideo/TitansgraveTheAshesOfValkana'', and plays a gleefully evil version of himself as a recurring character in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. In addition, Wil, like his ''The Guild'' co-star Creator/FeliciaDay, has a voice role in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', as the voice of the Robobrain enemy. In ''VideoGame/CodeNameSteam'', he voice-acts UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln. He used to host ''The Wil Wheaton Project'', a show which could be described as ''Series/TheSoup'' for sci-fi/fantasy and geek culture in general, but it was cancelled after a single season. In 2014, he was cast as recurring character Earl Harlan in ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale''.
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23	Offscreen (well, and on, really), he's become pretty much the poster boy for JustForFun/OneOfUs.
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25	At PAX 2007, he coined what has become known as Wheaton's Law: "Don't Be a Dick." The irony of this, considering most of his TV roles are {{Jerkass}} characters, has not been lost on the fandom. This has led to the corollary of Wheaton's Law, "Don't be a dick, [[ImNotADoctorButIPlayOneOnTV but you can play one on TV]]."
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27	In 2018 he quit posting on [[http://www.twitter.com/wilw Twitter]], deleted his archive and made his account private after Elon Musk took over in 2022, and as of May 2023 the account no longer exists. He still posts regularly on [[http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/ Tumblr]] (incidentally, [[Webcomic/QuestionableContent Jeph Jacques]] drew his profile image).
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29	!!Other Roles:
30	* ''Film/MrStitch'' as Lazarus (TV Movie)
31	* ''Film/TheDayLincolnWasShot'' as Robert Lincoln (TV Movie)
32	* ''Series/{{Monsters}}'' as Kevin (1 episode)
33	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'' as Franchise/TheFlash
34	* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' as Dr Isaac Parrish (recurring)
35	* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' as End of the World Protestor (1 episode)
36	* ''Film/{{Flubber}}'' as Bennett Hoenicker, son of the film's BigBad.
37	* ''Series/DarkMatter2015'' as Alexander Rook (recurring)
38	* ''AudioPlay/TheSandman2020'' as Brant Tucker (voice role)
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40	-----
41	!!This actor provides examples of:
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43	* AbusiveParents: He's spoken at length both live and on his social media about the torment he went through from his parents, as his father was emotionally and psychologically abusive and his mother was the stereotypical StageMom. Because of this, he's exceptionally happy with how well he was accepted and valued by his co-stars on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', and considers them more his family than his own, often referring to Creator/GatesMcFadden, his onscreen mother, as [[AffectionateNickname "Space Mom"]].
44	* AsHimself[=/=]AdamWesting: On ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': He plays Sheldon's (ex-)ArchEnemy, an antagonistic version of his real life persona ("Evil Wil Wheaton").
45	* BerserkButton: A gaming convention organizer unintentionally hit his by [[http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2010/09/in-which-wil-goes-hulk-smash.html questioning if he had actually done anything for the gaming community]].
46	* BornUnlucky:
47	** Wil's dice rolls are ''[[https://youtu.be/um7uTlb_i28 legendarily]]'' terrible, to memetic degrees, at the point that he is assumed to be ''genuinely'' cursed. It isn't just that he uniformly rolls low; rather, he rolls whatever is the worst for the game he is in, be it high number rolls or low, and it seems to ''only'' be bad rolls when within the context of the game itself (rolls on the side for no reason are often higher). It's at a point where Wil has legitimate reason to fear his bad luck rubbing off on those in his immediate vicinity; to quote the man during one of his guest appearances on ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'':
48	--->'''Wil:''' I would like to apologize in advance to [[Creator/LiamOBrien Liam]] for having to share a table with me. I am ''sorry'' for what's going to happen to your dice on account of how close we are to each other tonight.
49	** Matthew Mercer, who did not believe in it to start with, becomes not only a believer, but ''disturbed'' by it after realizing he may be genuinely cursed, to the point of a rant when asked for a reason behind said curse.
50	--->'''Matt:''' There ''is'' no explanation! That is -- that is some... like, I don't know what [[HereditaryCurse ancient relic his family uncovered two generations ago and has led this blood curse, from generation to generation]] to this day, but that man ''[[HowIsThatEvenPossible breaks]]'' [[HowIsThatEvenPossible math and]] ''[[HowIsThatEvenPossible physics]]''. I don't understand it. Like I heard about that, I heard about that in advance. I was like, [[TemptingFate "Ah, man, it would be kind of funny if he rolled really poorly."]] ''[[NoJustNoReaction No. No.]]'' Like I had an existential ''crisis'' after he guested, ''both times''. [[ProperlyParanoid I will not touch him physically]], I don't want to go anywhere ''near'' the possibility of, of capturing what dark entity has ''cursed his numeric existence.''
51	** His rolls are so bad the ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' players [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwuU5ZPiqpY weaponized]] his "juju" by having him touch everything on Creator/MatthewMercer's table prior to the 52nd episode of the show. Matthew promptly proceeded to have less than average rolls during the whole encounter.
52	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: From his website:
53	-->"The blog of actor, author, ''WebVideo/{{Tabletop}}'' creator, and [[Series/TheBigBangTheory Sheldon]] [[AdamWesting nemesis]], Wil Wheaton."
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55	-->"I specifically requested that my information not be shared, rented, given, sold, gifted, delivered, or handed off in a dark alleyway dead drop to any third parties."
56	* CatchPhrase:
57	** He ends nearly every episode of ''WebVideo/{{Tabletop}}'' by imploring the audience to "Play More Games!"
58	** He's also quite known for the simple life advice "Don't be a dick!"
59	* CelebrityParadox:
60	** Subverted in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' and ''Series/YoungSheldon''. Wheaton was, of course, Wesley Crusher on ''Next Generation'' and also was on the former AsHimself. Creator/WallaceShawn was Dr. John Sturgis on the latter and Grand Nagus Zek on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', which is a SpinOff of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''.
61	** In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', Star Trek is repeatedly referenced as a property in-universe. Wheaton plays a geeky hacker on the show who at one point references Counselor Troi, which implies that Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration exists in-universe.
62	* CreatorsPest: As stated above, he shares the Trekkies' hatred to his character "Wesley Crusher." Years after ''The Next Generation'' ended, Wheaton took the time to rewatch the series and stated (jokingly) he finally understood why he received so much hate-mail during his time on the show. Like the rest of the fandom, he found the character annoying and poorly written, but didn't know any better at the time since he was young didn't really watch his own show much.
63	* FriendToAllChildren: In the ''Catan Jr.'' episode of ''WebVideo/{{Tabletop}}'', as opposed to the massive salt in most episodes, he's all smiles when playing with the children in the episode.
64	* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: He may hate Wesley as much as the next Star Trek fan, but in 2016 he [[https://twitter.com/wilw/status/688127971337449475 went on record]] to say that he's absolutely sick of the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration "Shut up, Wesley."]] line being said to him, and now insta-blocks anyone on Website/{{Twitter}} who tells him to him, even if it's done ironically.
65	** Before that, he joked that people put their kids through college with how much money the fans made selling homemade t-shirts emblazoned with that phrase.
66	* PlayingAgainstType: He played a rapist[=/=]{{serial killer}} on ''Series/CriminalMinds'' and a cowardly hipster-lumberjack in ''VideoGame/BrokenAge''.
67	* PromotedFanboy: He was a big ''Star Trek'' fan. [[CreatorBacklash Not as much as nowadays, of course, but...]]
68	* RealMenHateSugar: He's stated on ''Tabletop'' that he hates sweets.
69	* RunningGag:
70	** Wil has ''horrible'' luck with dice, to the point where thanks to ''Tabletop'' and ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', he is said to be haunted by "The Wheaton Dice Curse." This extended to ''WebVideo/AcquisitionsIncorporated'' as well as his ''own TV show.''
71	** Whenever someone asks him on his Tumblr if it's really him, he'll reply "No, it's Becky" or some variation of it.
72	* SuperpoweredEvilSide: In ''Tabletop'' episodes featuring games with a traitor mechanic, Wil almost always ends up being evil and winning, in contrast to his prolific losing streak in free-for-all games.
73	* TabletopGames: He's ''really'' good at it... ''as long as he's not rolling any dice.''
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75	----
76	->''... and until then, [[CatchPhrase play more games!]]''
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Context Creator / WilWheaton