Hatchworth

“Open your heart, to me, Come on everybody, open up that chest cavity” - Hatchworth, Hatch Fever

Hatchworth was one of the Steam Powered Giraffe automatons constructed by Peter Walter I in 1896. He was upgraded with musical capabilities and played in the band beginning in late 2012, singing and playing primarily bass guitar, until his departure from the band to pursue his passion of gold-fishing in 2016.

He was portrayed by Samuel Luke.

Appearance
Hatchworth is an art-deco style, and constructed primarily of bronze, typically shaded with dramatic dark areas around the eyes and the sides of the neck. He has blue eyes and bright orange hair, with his large, bright orange mustache is one of his most striking features. He also has an orange soul patch, sideburns, and (in later appearances) beard. He has various geometric lines over most of his face, with his small rounded cheeks as the exception. He has a unique diagonal screw-thread design on his neck. He wears round glasses, and a bowler hat with a small chimney-like spout on his left side.

His outfit is in black with many red details, and his Blue Matter power core clearly visible in the front of his chest. He wears a long black sleeveless tail coat with red lining, with large conical red cuffs that flare in size from his wrist to halfway along his forearm. The red-lined tails of the coat are curled upwards in many of his appearances. The front of his coat, around his blue matter core window, is decorated with 6 slanted diagonal red stripes, starting on his upper left and moving to his lower right. Each consecutive line moving downwards is shorter than the stripes before it.

Under the coat, he has a tight black shirt. He wears red gloves with black fingerless gloves over the top, showing his fingers in red. He wears long, baggy black pants with a light gray grid pattern. The pants are tucked into knee-high spats, and he variably wears black loafers or blue-and-gold Fancy Shoes.

Personality and Traits
Owing to his history of being locked in a vault for his blue-matter leak, isolated for many years, Hatchworth was ignorant on many matters pertaining to humanity. Many of his songs expressed wonder and confusion at experiencing life outside of his confinement for the first time in so long.

Hatchworth’s eponymous hatch is not just for show — he is able to use the blue matter in his core to pull all sorts of things into existence, most famously sandwiches with unknown ingredients(“mystery sandwiches”).

History
Peter Walter I built Hatchworth from a cast-iron stove while salvaging what materials he could for his army of robots in 1896. Hatchworth was an experiment in Blue Matter space-time rifts; minute tweaks to his power source meant his core served as a dimensional portal, useful in combat as it meant Hatchworth could essentially manifest endless ammunition. His power core was protected with a reinforced hatch to keep the humans around him safe from exposure. Following the Weekend War, Hatchworth became a butler in Walter Manor, where instead of ammunition, his personal portal produced “mystery sandwiches” on demand. His name comes from this ability to produce a “hatch’s worth” of delicious sandwiches at any time.

In 1938, strange things began to happen at Walter Manor as they were hosting the Fluffy Kitten and Puppy Foundation's Annual Gala. Kittens and puppies were transforming into giant badgers. Hatchworth tried to help by sending them through his hatch portal, but they reappeared at the nearby Yearly Tea & Quiet Music Exhibition. Peter Walter II found the cause when he examined Hatchworth and found that there was a fracture in his core, leaking concentrated Blue Matter into his surroundings. Unable to repair it, the Walters were forced to set Hatchworth in a lead-lined vault until a solution could be found. However, their lifetimes passed before any progress had been made.

In 2010, Peter Walter VI finally realised how to fix the leak, after experiencing a personal accident which he realised was similar in nature to Hatchworth’s predicament. He built new parts for Hatchworth to plug his Blue Matter leaks, got into his protective gear and set about personally installing them. Around this time, Hatchworth was also upgraded with musical capabilities so he could join Steam Powered Giraffe.

In 2016, Zero returned home to Walter Manor, penniless after an unwise investment left him bankrupt. Hatchworth approached Peter Walter VI for permission to vacate his position in Steam Powered Giraffe, and go gold-fishing instead. Peter, along with the other band members, accepted and bade Hatchworth farewell.

Rabbit and The Spine
Hatchworth was delivered, in a box, as something like a gift to the other Steam Powered Giraffe automatons. The story is recounted in Hatch Fever.

Peter Walter VI
Peter VI performed the repairs on Hatchworth that stopped his blue matter leak and allowed him to leave the vault safely.

Trivia

 * Hatchworth still likes making mystery sandwiches as well as pretending to ride a bike and reading his copy of Mustache Today when it comes in the mail.
 * Hatchworth, in his crochet puppet form, takes on a vaguely English accent because he believes tiny things sound “more British”.
 * After he’s hit by a bus, it is said that Hatchworth only has one hand, the other being made up of an apple and various erasers and pencils. This is, however, a lesser known fact due to it being excellently covered by a glove.