Man, for a character intended to be a random, one-off antagonist, Stuart’s proven himself pretty useful as a source of external conflict generation. Just goes to show you, you never know what’s going to happen next, not really.
I remember junior high school, and hearing about the parties the popular kids had. I knew I wasn’t the kind of person who got invited to the cool kids’ parties pretty early on, so it wasn’t like I felt left out or anything (I did, after all, sit at home and play Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 the night of my senior prom, and I went to see Weird Al the night of homecoming sophomore year, so it’s not like I couldn’t wholeheartedly embrace being who I am), but I was still curious as to what went on. Was that the one time real life resembled crappy movies aimed at teenagers? I didn’t know, and I didn’t expect I ever would.
In eighth grade, though, I think the popular kids took pity on those of us less idealized (or maybe they just invited us and hoped we wouldn’t come), because I remember going to parties thrown by kids who you’d say were pretty well-regarded, universally. They were pretty boring, frankly; about an hour in, every single time, I was just wishing I’d stayed at home with my books and movies. But, I wanted to know what it was like to go to a party, and I finally did, only I found out I didn’t really care. Chalk that one up to experience.
Just because you’re not popular, doesn’t mean you don’t want to know what it’s like, and just because you’re a mad scientist, doesn’t mean you don’t wish you’d been invited to the cool kids’ party.