Seventh Ocean Media

Family History

Born the eldest child of spider hybrid Soprana Spider and Ed G. Hopper, Strat was an only child for nearly a decade. During that time, Soprana had separated from Edmund, due to the hectic demands of her musical career as an operetta singer, and the two had grown distant. Because of his unique home life, Stratocaster retreated into his budding love of art; musical and craft. When he was 11, Soprana had made a name for herself in the drama and opera circuit, and was experiencing a lull in her career. Strat was happy when Edmund and his mother got back together. Then he wondered if it was the right choice when he was told they were having another child. This notion would not last long, as he came to adore the newborn Celeste, whose leg movements that created music while she was asleep in her pram, gave her the nickname Cello, which became her true moniker, in time.

As Cello grew older, their relationship became a good-natured rivalry as to who would be the better musician in the family. Strat mistakenly thought that his being older than her would give him an edge, but his overconfidence led to a drop in knack; which took him a long time to get back. When Cello was a preteen, she had gotten her first gig alongside her mother at a Nevertribe Benefit. Even with a few chords out of place, Cello blew the crowds away; and Strat felt left in the dust; leaving him bitter and disheartened.

Rather than give in to his despair of his falling behind Cello with his musical talents, he tried harder; buckled down and worked, but even with his best, he was unsuccessful with his music career. At one of his last gigs, a sarsatavern in the Western Forest, Strat had run into an old friend of his, Laddie DeScorch, a colleague of his father’s. Both of them had been unlucky in their lives and were each at a low point, so their friendship was rekindled, frequenting sarsataverns and meeting women. While he did not go home with a girl’s apartment key, he kept getting compliments on the pins that he wore on his shirt. When he was asked where he got them from, Strat merely said that they were his own creation; a hobby. He had entered that particular tavern with at least seven pins on his person, but left with 20 Silver Nevercoins. He had found his calling, and began to collaborate with cousin Celia to get his creations off the ground.

Girl of His Dreams; Not What She Seems…

Curious about other worlds, Strat decided to learn more about spells that would help him see them by paying a visit to the Nevertribe. What Strat asked Prince Silver Dart of, was quite difficult but not impossible. Under the human prince’s tutelage, Strat became one with the dreamtime, projecting his aura to the world that Neverland had once been a part of — Earth, which at that time was going through the 1980s. Learning his lesson from his failed music career, Strat was studious with harnessing his otherworldly dimension eye powers, and used what he learned from Celia to manufacture his enamel pins. His limited powers allowed him to stay tuned to the culture of 1980s America on Earth, “bookmarking” it so that he could view it whenever he pleased; and the result was a techno-neon-loving geek who had a fondness for the popular culture of the humans, so much so that he went from abstract-style pins to replicating images from what he saw. Eventually, he began to think of himself as more human than hopper.

Strat is an odd arthropod who is big into 1980s American Earth pop-culture (judging by his pin collection and sunglasses). His tastes are unusual for one of his species, at least when it comes to garment choice. For years, Strat has been best friends with Laddiebug long before he and Cello became a couple. Strat has always been protective of his siblings and cousins, and especially baby Zimri; considering that Strat’s relationship with his uncle soured when he wed Soprana after his father died. Tetrazin got to know Strat from observation in her true form and by interaction in her borrowed form of a black widow spider.