Private Barry Jackson, also known by his codename Shotgun, is an agent of the Dino Attack Team, formerly a sniper in the LEGOLAND army.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
To be expanded...
Military Service[]
At the age of 23, Jackson enlisted in the LEGOLAND Military, and found himself enduring several weeks of training in boot camp. He eventually began training as a sniper, something he became particularly good at. Soon his training came to an end and Jackson was assigned to a platoon of soldiers.
Unfortunately, actual combat missions were fairly scarce, the closest thing often being the fights that often broke out amongst the men, usually thanks to Ivan Tzenovich's infamously bad temper. While he was fortunate enough to avoid getting any serious injuries from Heavy, Jackson was on at least one occasion nearly accidentally shot by Heavy whilst he was firing one of his large weapons with no real target in mind. Nonetheless, Jackson did manage to form a decent friendship with Giovanni Wade, and often helped him in the hospital. He also befriended a young female soldier, whom he briefly had a relationship with before it started getting in the way of their duties, although they still remained good friends afterwords.
Despite all this, Jackson found that he simply spent much of his time waiting for an assignment. However, whenever they were given a mission, Jackson always had his weapon ready, supporting his comrades from a distance.
Eventually, Jackson's tour of duty finally came to an end and he was given a discharge from the military. He initially had difficulty adjusting to civilian life, and considered re-enlisting, but ultimately spent the following years at home with his family.
Dino Attack[]
When the Dino Attack broke out, Jackson quickly signed up for the team, realizing that his experience in the military would likely be useful to them. Due to his previous work, he originally went under the codename Sniper, but he had it changed to Shotgun after he found out that the name had already been taken. Jackson was able to provide assistance in various manners, usually by sniping mutant dinosaurs from a distance.
Adventurers' Island[]
A man with Jackson's skills was obviously a perfect choice to travel to Adventurers' Island. He initially arrived with the Rear Guard before they were unexpectedly shot down. They eventually worked their way to a temple occupied by a Skeleton Mummy, but Jackson was unable to participate in the fight as he discovered that sniping the mummy did nothing to help defeat it.
The mummy was eventually defeated by Septimus, and the surviving agents were reunited with another T-1 crew. They later stumbled upon a battle between the regular dinosaurs and the mutant dinos. Once again, Jackson took cover and shot at mutant dinosaurs from a distance. Finally, Reptile resorted to using a secret weapon which disintegrated all mutant dinos in sight.
After the battle, it was discovered that a fortress belonging to XERRD was located nearby, and after a brief investigation, another T-1 squad arrived, led by Semick (who had been led to their location by Alan Pierce. The team agreed to set up camp in the area while they plan their next move.
The next day, Jackson joined the crew of the Renaissance, which was being used by Elite Agent Rotor to lead a distraction force against the fortress. It did not take long for Rotor's squad to destroy the main defenses before landing. However, they eventually started to regroup and overpower the squad. When a XERRD sniper suddenly began shooting at the team, Jackson volunteered to take care of him. He successfully managed to shoot the sniper right through his scope.
However, Rotor was eventually forced to pull his forces when skeleton mummies arrived. When the fleet was unexpectedly attacked by skeletal Mutant Pterosaurs (mutant pterosaurs transformed by the skeleton mummy), they ended up fighting over the surrounding oceans. One T-1 was destroyed, and Jackson was present when they attempted to recover the survivors. Realizing there might be others trapped inside the T-1, Jackson proceeded to dive out of the helicopter into the water. Sure enough, he was right, and managed to free the pilot, who was trapped in the cockpit, and brought him safely to the beach.
Once on the beach, he encountered David Norman, who joined him in investigating a XERRD machine gun post. Eventually, they both returned to the main camp, where they learned that a second assault on the fortress was being attempted. Jackson, along with rookie agent Kate Bishop, proceeded to travel to the battlefield. Upon arriving, Rotor ordered Kate into the fortress whilst Jackson remained outside.
During his time outside, Jackson was reunited with his old friend Wade, but just after their meeting, Wade was called into the tent to help Kareem Nazareno. Later on Jackson heard sounds coming from the medical tent, and attempted to shoot a Stromling Zachary, but missed, and ultimately he failed to prevent J.D.'s assassination. When Zach left, Jackson told the medics to try and operate on J.D. and remained whilst the attempted operation took place.
Jackson was on the ground when Rotor made his controversial decision to destroy the XERRD Fortress. When Rotor suddenly ordered the arrest of a group of agents, Jackson found himself boarding a T-1 Typhoon headed for the main camp, uncertain of what was going on.
When a mysterious XERRD sniper shot Dr. Cyborg, Jackson was hired to join Cabin's team to locate the man responsible. However, the only person they found was Dr. Strangebrick, who was brought back to camp. Shortly after, the camp was suddenly overrun by mutant dinos.
Jackson's current status is unknown. However, given that he was not present in the aftermath of the battle, and his body was never found, it is likely that Jackson fled into the jungle amongst all the chaos (much like Rotor, George Brown, Dr. Strangebrick, Lance Williams, and Commander Johnson).
To be expanded...
Abilities and Traits[]
Jackson is a skilled sniper. He can hit any target with relative ease, and always keeps his rifle ready in case it is needed. Unfortunately, he often has to work without a spotter, making his work more challenging due to the narrow range of his scope.
Jackson never forgot his experiences in the army, and makes a point of using everything he learned from it to his advantage, even wearing military camouflage on combat missions. For the most part he can be described as a friendly guy who is willing to help anyone in need, but when there is a target, he is not afraid to shoot to kill.
Trivia[]
- Jackson's role as a professional sniper was loosely inspired by Pvt. Daniel Jackson from the film Saving Private Ryan. When he was first introduced, Shotgun actually took out an enemy sniper by shooting him through the scope in a similar manner to Jackson in one scene of the film. The first name Barry is a reference to Canadian actor Barry Pepper, who played Jackson in the film.
- The fact that Jackson and Wade are old friends who served in the army together is a reference to the fact both were based on characters in Saving Private Ryan, and together among the squad sent to rescue the title character.
- Jackson's backstory also borrows some elements from Jarhead, namely in the fact that he never got to see any real action.
- Jackson's codename is somewhat of a misnomer, seeing as his weapon of choice is actually a sniper rifle.