Gary Goodspeed

Gary Goodspeed is the main protagonist of the Final Space series.

Gary is a hyperactive yet good-hearted astronaut who finds himself on a journey to save the universe from whatever threats may come its way.

Appearance
Gary is a tall, thin man with light skin and bushy blonde hair. During his sentence aboard the Galaxy One, he wore a red jumpsuit with a teal belt, gloves, boots, and a white triangular collar bearing the Infinity Guard symbol. When his prison sentence ends in Chapter 8, he changes back into his civilian clothes: a red shirt with a blue circle on the chest, a brown leather jacket, blue jeans, a black belt with big silver buckle, and brown boots.

In Chapter 2, after returning back to the Galaxy One after Gary's arm was ripped off by the Lord Commander, Mooncake gets the idea for a cybernetic replacement by ripping off one of the S.A.M.E.S.' (specifically Rob's) left arm. Avocato then volunteers to perform the prosthetic surgery on Gary, which strengthens their bond and officially signifies the start of their friendship.

Starting in Season 2, Gary has a much more roughed up look. His outfit is the same with the blue circle on his shirt changing to orange. His hair is more “fluffy” looking when compared to season 1. During the time when he was stranded on Terra Con Prime following the events of The Remembered, he grew patchy stubble, which can be inferred he shaved off shortly after being rescued by the crew. He still keeps his jeans, jacket, belt, and boots during season 2 and 3.

Personality
At the start of the series, Gary is shown to be more immature and arrogant, but as the series progressed, Gary has notably matured over the course of each chapter. Gary often has a habit of talking inadvertently, or as he self-proclaims it: 'word-arrhea'.

His time spent isolated in deep space has made him excessively receptive to friendship, as shown through his staunch loyalty to both Mooncake and Avocato, despite barely knowing them and becoming involved in various dilemmas because of them. Despite this, his hate of KVN has not been whittled away by his years of separation from intelligent lifeforms, and instead reveals a very petulant and short-tempered side of his personality.

Gary's emotional development seems stunted to some extent, which series creator Olan Rogers' notes as being a consequence of his father's passing away when Gary was quite young. In addition, Rogers has commented that Gary's energetic and cheerful demeanor is a psychological defense mechanism that he uses to cope with the grief of losing his father. It is also evident that his mother abandoning in his childhood also played a role in his current personality as he grew up. Furthermore, this element of his personality may have been further compounded by his five years without human interaction; while Rogers states that Gary is at least thirty, his personality seems more akin to someone in their twenties, which is the age at which Gary was imprisoned.

While his immaturity seems to lessen between the flash-forward in Chapter One and his current state, he is still shown to develop emotional attachments with extreme ease, and to have very poor and strange mechanisms for handling rejection, which seem to entail "Footloose," styled episodes of elaborate dancing. In addition, he has an obsession with cookies, to the point of being willing to undertake the risk of imminent death for the opportunity of being able to slip a cookie under his helmet, throwing a childish tantrum after H.U.E. tells him that he's matured too much over the course of the series to possibly want cookies anymore, and even asking that H.U.E. change his death countdown to the time until a batch of fresh cookies has been baked.

Abilities
Prosthetic Arm: Once belonging to one of the S.A.M.E.S., Gary's left arm was replaced with a mechanical prosthetic, with the help of Avocato, after Lord Commander ripped off the original limb in Chapter Two.

Piloting: Gary starts out inexperienced with flying spacecrafts, seen in the flashback scene prior to his arrest in Chapter One. However, as the series continues, Gary's piloting skills and overall knowledge of the ships he flies gradually improve. It is also implied that Gary had hoped to become a pilot for the Infinity Guard growing up, as shown in "The Sixth Key".

Thievery: It is unknown how long Gary has been experienced with stealing, but he has always been seen getting away with anything he takes. Stolen items include a piece of jewelry in Chapter One, a dimensional key in "The Remembered", and stealthily taking another dimensional key from Sheryl in "Descent Into Darkness".

Trivia

 * Gary is voiced by the creator of Final Space, Olan Rogers.
 * Gary's phrase, "tough titty whompus" comes from show creator Olan Rogers' own mother, a phrase she would use when he didn't get his way.
 * It's possible that the reason Gary messaged Quinn every day of his sentence, is because he has no one else to call and talk to outside of the Galaxy One ship.
 * As a child, Gary has an interest in insects, as his childhood treehouse had a collection of bugs. This could also be a reason why his father gave him his pet caterpillar Mooncake.
 * He is the first character to lose a father. The second being Little Cato.
 * In Chapter 1, Gary mentions that he is Presbyterian. This is then later referenced in episode 8 when Gary is told that he had been pre-selected to see Bolo before he had been born. This is a reference to a belief that Presbyterians believe in called "Predestination" where a person would be destined by God to either go to hell or heaven before they had been born.
 * According to Olan Rogers twitter, all of the characters birthdays are the same as thier voice actors. This would make his birthday June 11.
 * Gary is 32, as mentioned in The Sixth Key.
 * Gary is a parody and pastiche of science-fiction protagonists.
 * Similar to Luke Skywalker and his father Anakin, he loses part of (or all of) an arm to the main antagonist.
 * He is blond and wears red, similar to Cale Tucker from the film Titan A.E.
 * Both of their fathers are voiced by Ron Perlman.
 * He was born during the rinse cycle of a hovercar wash.
 * After his mother abandoned him, he lived in his treehouse and burned down his house.