Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2021 3:21:04 GMT -5
Who am I? Just a conscience!
Introduce yourself
Hey, howdy, hey! The name's Mordo, and I wished upon a star from Returning member. My other characters include Darkwing Duck. Lightning McQueen and I are so very eager to join the Worlds of Disney circle of life!
Character basics
Character name: Lightning McQueen
Age: 40
Species: Anthropomorphic Stock Car
Birthplace: Nashville, Tennessee
Movie: Cars Franchise
Custom title: Speed Demon
Why'd you pick this character? So this might come as a surprise to some, but the Cars movies have always been among my favorite Pixar films and Lightning himself has always been a favorite character of mine. I just love the amount of character development he gets. He has truly grown up a lot since the first film.
Character appearance
Hair description: As a race car, Lightning has no hair. Instead he is made entirely out of metal. Specifically, he is a red NASCAR with the number 95 and a yellow lightning bolt painted on both of his sides as well as having the number 95 on his roof. His sponsor, Rusteze in golden colored lettering is painted across his hood, on his sides after the bolt, and across his red ducktail spoiler. His rims are red with standard black wheels with the word, Lightyear appearing on them in white lettering.
Facial description/mood/expressions: As an anthropomorphic, Lightning is very expressive. He is prone to get annoyed easily by things; which he typically shows by rolling his eyes. Whenever tired and out of breath he opens his mouth revealing he has a tongue. Whenever happy and in a good mood he'll smile and even laugh at some of Mater's jokes. And whenever angered and frustrated by something a friend did his usual happy expression is replaced with a angry scowl.
Clothing style: Lightning has a fancy, high tech electronic suit that he received from Sterling in Cars 3. This suit not only looks real sleek, but it also comes with real working headlights, a GPS and it allows for Cruz to track his top speed and his vital signs through her agent, Hamilton at a close range.
Body build: As a race car, Lightning McQueen was quite literally built for speed. His whole entire design was made with two main things in mind: speed and efficiency. Furthermore, Lightning often refers to himself as a precision instrument of speed and aerodynamics. Additionally, he has blue eyes, teeth and a tongue.
Any unique traits: Sadly Lightning's sleek electronic suit didn't come with a phone nor does he have a horn. Instead of working headlights he used to only have stickers as is stock car regulation; which is why Sally nicknamed him, Stickers. It has been confirmed by Pixar themselves that the cars in addition to their usual mechanical parts also have internal organs including brains and hearts; which explains why they never open their doors. This proves the cars are living creatures. And so in addition to drinking gas and other types of fuel he also consumes actual human food.
Original character analysis
Personality:
As a rookie racer, Lightning was anything, but kind and selfless. He was once an egotistical braggart whose brazen recklessness was at a dangerously high level. He was the type of race car who enjoyed showing off to his fans and opponents alike every chance he got. He was also quite the stubborn hothead who once was so unbelievably overconfident and cocky that he believed himself to be infallible. A classic example of his high and mighty stubborness was when he refused to take new tires from his former pit crew since he believed he could finish the race without them. Furthermore, he once incorrectly believed that he could easily win races all alone without anybody's help declaring himself a one man show. This also led to him not caring enough to remember anybody's names causing him to become friendless and more and more antisocial. In fact, he was considered by many to be a Class A jerk who cared more about himself than the feelings of others. Lightning, however, has changed his antisocial attitude quite a lot since then. He has grown up and matured a great deal over the years becoming a much better person er car. Still, some of these rather unlikeable traits do continue to pop up on occasion just not nearly to the same extent as before.
Nowadays, the cocky race car is a lot more mature and responsible than before. Furthermore, he has also become a heck a lot more reliable and overall remains loyal to his friends. The best way to describe Lightning is that he is a guy with a ton of racing and life experience behind him. He's learned a lot over the years and has really grown up a lot since when he first started racing as a rookie. However, as any great racer knows he still has a lot left to learn. Lightning has always had a lot of respect, admiration and appreciation for all the great famous racers of the past who came before him unlike some other rookies. Additionally, Lightning may be impatient, a bit prideful, stubborn, and overconfident, but he is also intelligent, courageous, selfless and kind to others. He also understands sarcasm and has a pretty good sense of humor making him a bit of a jokester and even a prankster at times though only all in good fun. He would never intentionally do anything that would cause harm to someone else except for maybe an enemy. Lightning is super loyal to his friends and is quick to defend them from those who mean to do them harm. He is also an ambitious perfectionist who always strives to get things done right the first time making him very much failure intolerant. Secretly, he fears failure almost as much as he fears losing all of his friends.
Further, Lightning has high self-esteem and retains a fairly positive attitude most of the time. This is largely due to the fact that he just never believed he couldn't become a racer. To help himself keep positive and motivated, Lightning repeats to himself a mantra of positivity. His favorite one being, "I am speed. I am faster than fast and quicker than quick!" He always strives to be the very best that he can be at the things he chooses to do! However, due to his prideful nature, Lightning is a pretty self-conscious individual. Part of the reasoning behind his perfectionism is largely due to his paranoid belief that every single move he makes is being closely watched by super judgey people, so he does whatever he can to avoid embarrassment and public humiliation. And because he isn't getting any younger he is also pretty self-conscious about his age. As such he hates being called old and told to do stereotypical old people things.
Another thing he hates is change. He doesn't always handle any sort of major change in his life very well. One trait that remains consistent is his stubborn pride. He absolutely hates it whenever told that he cannot do something and as such he is always determined to prove that person wrong.
History:
Though few knew it, Lightning came from very humble beginnings and was born under a very different name, Montgomery or just Monty for short. It wasn't until much later that he earned the nickname, Lightning. Born to avid racing fans, it was only natural for Montgomery to take the path he took. Ever since his parents took him to his very first race as a little car, Monty was hooked on racing. From that very moment he knew, he just knew what he wanted to do for a living. He wanted to become a famous race car. His parents didn't take him seriously at first, but humored him anyway by taking him to see more races. But Monty was serious and he was determined to prove that to his practical parents just how serious he really was in pursuing his dreams of becoming a world famous race car and making it big some day. So naturally he did everything he could think of to practice and work towards his goal to better improve his chances. He would spend most of his free time off training somewhere and running laps. Meanwhile, his parents remained largely supportive of his dreams and ambitions even though they weren't always sure that their son would make it. To show their support they would take Montgomery to watch as many races as they could bring him to making him very happy. Other times, he would sneak into the racing stands to catch a peek of the famous race cars. Sometimes he got caught while other times he didn't. When caught the security cars would simply shoo him away upon discovering he didn't even have a ticket to be there.
As a teenager, Monty became a lot bolder in his efforts to learn as much about racing as he can. As soon as he was able he joined the Fast Track Racing Academy to study and learn how to become a professional racer. Like his fellow students he had dreams of winning a pro circuits sponsorship. While there he met and befriended, Carl, the academy's top student and they hit it off pretty quickly. They did everything together! They raced, studied, shared strategies, and dreamed of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, only the top five students at the academy would earn a sponsorship deal prompting the duo to come up with an air tight strategy to secure two of those spots. So it should really come to no surprise to anyone that the academy's final competition was fierce since everybody was competing against one another for one of those five spots and no car wanted to win more than Monty and Carl. Despite being ready and prepared, Monty accidentally overslept and woke up mere minutes before the big race. After finally waking up, his best friend, Carl claimed that Monty's rear left wheel was loose and had a pittie fix it by tightening up the lug nuts. But as it turns out that was sadly a lie. Instead of having the pittie tighten the lug nuts Carl had him loosen them costing Monty one of the top spots. In the end, Carl won a sponsorship while Monty got nothing except for the belief that he cannot count one anyone but himself.
After a two week break, Monty returned to the racing academy where he worked alone promising himself to never trust anybody else ever again. He shocked everybody by breaking the school's all time record. His fellow racers complimented him telling him he was as fast as lightning and ever since then the nickname just sort of stuck and eventually people just stopped calling him Montgomery. But sadly thanks to his own former best friend's betrayal Lightning refused to let anybody else in nor did he want any friends. So whenever somebody tried to be his friend, Lightning pushed that person away and backed off. All thanks to Carl's betrayal, Lightning truly believed that he could make it all the way into a Piston Cup race all on his own without help from anyone because he did not think he could trust anybody but himself. Eventually, he caught the attention of an amateur racing team who scouted him during his school races. On the day of graduation he was approached by one of the coaches who offered him a spot on his team and although he would not be a sponsored car he could still earn a sponsorship later. Seeing this as his best opportunity to get him into some real races, Lightning accepted the offer. Sadly, he received a rather cold reception from his fellow racers on the team who initially didn't take a liking to him because they greatly underestimated him for simply being the new guy. They assigned him with the number, 95. Also apparently the car who wore the number 95 before him never won any races and even died during a race. However, Lightning proved his teammates wrong about him by beating a better well known team in a race by two laps ending his team's fifteen year losing streak.
An hour after winning the race Lightning received a call from a talent scout named, Harv who informed Lightning he had a sponsor in mind for Lightning. The sponsor was a small time company called, Smell Swell who was in the Piston Cup, a race that Lightning had dreamed about entering all his life. Harv informed him of the good news that he was one of the young racers to keep an eye out for. In his excitement, Lightning shouted what will soon become his popular catchphrase, "Kachow!" Unfortunately, Lightning quickly came to realize that Smell Swell was unbelieveably broke; which meant they could only afford poor working equipment as well hire unreliable employees and sadly that included Lightning's hauler, Snyder. The guy was so incompetent and unreliable that he routinely got lost on the way to McQueen's races and as such he would always get McQueen there late. This caused Lightning to become infamously known as a strong starter, but a weak finisher due to sleep deprivation from staying up all night helping Snyder out with the directions. After another middle of the pack finish, Harv called to inform him that his sponsors aren't too happy with his performance.
Mack then arrived at the Smell Swell tent only too happy to finally have his chance to meet McQueen whom he is a big fan of. Soon after, Lightning was fired from his sponsor in favor of another race car they just hired and Mack having overheard Lightning being fired offered to take him to meet a couple of friends of his looking for a race car to sponsor. As it turned out Rusty and Dusty of the company, Rusteze were the friends Mack was telling Lightning about. After meeting Lightning, the two business cars inform him that they want to hire him and that they already worked everything out with his agent, Harv. After accepting to be their racer, Lighting asked them if he could design his paint job and they told him he could and so he did! He came up with the golden bolt with his sponsor name, Rusteze painted after it.
After winning himself enough races to qualify to race in the Piston Cup race, the very one he had been dreaming of winning all his life, Lightning started to gain a lot of attention from the media and racing fans alike. Successful, Lightning truly felt he could do anything he puts his mind to. Unfortunately for everybody around him, Lightning's success gave him a big ego and made him something of a braggart. Blinded by his newfound success, Lightning did not think very clearly; which led him to believe himself invincible and infallible.
The rookie racer raced for the coveted Piston Cup trophy, the ultimate status symbol for any serious racer only to end up tying with two other cars for first place: Chick Hicks, an opponent he has an intense rivalry with and Strip Weathers aka The King whom he has a lot of respect for. Truth was Lightning probably would have won the race had he not refused new tires every time since that decision caused his back tires to blow out. Desiring to beat Chick to LA, Lightning made the mistake of ordering Mack to drive all night with disastrous results. Mack's sleepiness causes Lightning to accidentally roll out of his truck and into the middle of the road.
In his panic upon being jolted awake from the incoming traffic, Lightning ended up getting lost in the tiny town of Radiator Springs and he accidentally tore up part of the town's road in the process upsetting everyone. The town's sheriff arrested him and took him to the impound lot to await trial. In the end the town's judge, Doc Hudson sentenced Lightning to community service to fix the road.
Initially, Lightning had a rough time and doesn't get along very well with the town's residents. He even attempts to escape when Mater makes the mistake of removing his parking boot before hooking him up to the road paving machine, Bessie. Lightning took advantage of Mater's oversight and drove off at full speed. However, he didn't get very far due to running out of gas due to the sheriff emptying it while he was still knocked out at the impound. Lightning was in such a hurry to get out of there and make it in time to the big race that he pulled Bessie at full speed resulting in the road becoming bumpy and uneven and not to mention ugly. Naturally nobody was very happy with Lightning's poor work. Doc reminds Lightning that the deal was he fix the road right not make it worse. Doc then challenged the cocky race car to a race to which Lightning readily accepted. The wager was if Lightning wins, Doc will fix the road and Lightning will be free to go, but if Doc wins then Lightning would have to start all over and fix the road the right way. Unfortunately for Lightning he failed to make a hard left turn and wound up crashing into a cactus patch just as Doc predicted he would. So Lightning had to go back to trying to fix the road the right way.
Eventually, Lightning warmed up to and even befriended the town's residents especially Mater and Sally. In fact, the only resident that still had issues with him was Doc Hudson. The rookie race car soon discovered Doc's secret after poking around in his garage; that he was once the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, a famous race car that suffered from a terrible crash back in the day. Doc found him in there and shooed him out while scolding him for nosing around his garage. Now all excited, Lightning yearned to learn from Doc only for Doc to remind him he already tried to give him some tips. In his excitement, Lightning raced off to Flo's and tries to tell everybody Doc's true identity only to not be believed by anybody. Instead they all tease him for thinking Doc a famous race car. Sally then unexpectedly filled up Lightning's gas tank and offered to take him for a drive. For a few moments, Lightning considered escaping, but decided to follow Sally instead.
Lightning admired the breathtaking landscape of the drive. They then stop at the Wheel Well Motel; which had been closed for years. Sally then told a curious Lightning her story of how she, a lawyer round up in the middle of Radiator Springs. She then goes on to explain the small town's history and how it eventually became forgotten over time thanks to the highway being built. Feeling bad, Lightning told Sally that he too wishes he could have seen the tiny town back in its hay day.
Upon their return to town they saw several tractors stampeding and Lightning chased after one of them. While chasing it he caught Doc pulling off the difficult turn using drifting, the one move Lightning had been wanting to learn for years now. Impressed with Doc's skills, Lightning without really thinking approached him and tried to compliment him on his drifting skills. Annoyed, Doc drove away and a confused Lightning chased after him. Lightning caught up to Doc at his old garage and tried to confront him about why he quit racing. Doc informed him that he never wanted to quit. That the racing world quit on him after his big crash. He claimed there was a lot left in him, but nobody gave him the chance to prove it and instead just replaced him with the next rookie waiting in line. This made Lightning feel bad, but he assured Doc that he wasn't like the other race cars. Doc questioned him when the last time was he was selfless was and Lightning realized that Doc was right as he couldn't come up with an answer. However, Lightning was quick to point out that Doc wasn't no better than him keeping his past a safely, guarded secret from his friends. Angry, Doc told Lightning to just hurry up and finish the road so he can leave.
Lightning did exactly that. He worked the rest of the day and all night on the road until he at last finished it. Not only that but he decided to stay a little bit longer to help out the town some more by buying their wares and by helping them fix up the Cozy Cone Motel as a surprise to Sally. Everybody was so happy except for Doc. They celebrated by enjoying the newly fixed road.
However, not long afterwards Mack and the paparazzi arrive to take Lightning to the big race. Lightning had mixed feelings about their timely arrival. On the one hand, he was happy that he will make it to the race on time, but on the other he will miss his new friends and he has really taken a liking to Sally. Still he ended up going with them after bidding Sally farewell. After they leave, Sally and the other residents discover it was Doc that called the paparazzi to come get Lightning claiming it was better for everyone.
At the big race, Lightning was distracted and wasn't entirely into it due to his mind taking him back to Radiator Springs and his new friends. Luckily, much to Lightning's surprise and happiness Doc and most of the residents including Mater arrived to cheer him on and Doc took over as Lightning's new crew chief. Doc gave Lightning all sorts of pointers and advice throughout the race greatly improving Lightning's chances at winning.
Unfortunately Chick Hicks caused Dinoco's King to crash during the last leg of the race. Lightning saw this and decided to sacrifice winning the Piston Cup to Chick in order to help the now badly wrecked King cross the finish line giving him a respectable end to his racing career and retire with dignity. Lightning did this because he didn't want what happened to Doc to happen to the King. Despite technically winning the race, Chick got booed off the stage for cheating while Lightning and the King were cheered for their good sportsmanship. Admiring Lightning's performance in the race and his good sportsmanship, Tex Dinoco offered him the Dinoco sponsorship instead of Chick. While only all too grateful, Lightning turned him down gently saying he still has his old sponsors and wants to stick with them. Tex respected his decision and offered to do him a favor instead. Remembering the promise he had made previously to Mater, Lightning asked Tex if he could give his new best friend, Mater a ride in a helicopter.
Lightning then decided to establish his racing headquarters in Radiator Springs attracting enough attention to it that the town got back on the map. Doc having now taken a liking to him becomes his new trainer and teaches him some new racing tricks.
Five years go by and Lightning just returned home to Radiator Springs from a long season of racing resulting in him winning his fourth Piston Cup. He is now a pretty famous celebrity and at the top of his game. Everybody was so happy to see him again especially Mater and Sally and they congratulated him on his big win. Doc sadly passed away just a year or so ago and to commemorate his memory Lightning had the Piston Cup trophy renamed the Hudson Hornet memorial Piston Cup. Lightning also had a small memorial for Doc overlooking Willy's Butte where he and Lightning often raced each other and trained. Doc really meant a lot to Lightning.
To celebrate his latest victory, Lightning took Sally on a date. They were soon interrupted by Mater who feeling all left out visited them at the restaurant by pretending to be their waiter. Lightning then overheard Mater talking on the phone and being insulted by famous Italian racer, Francesco. Lightning was quick to defend his friend and was invited to join the World Grand Prix race by Miles Axlerod, the race's host and the billionaire behind Allinol, an alternative energy source he discovered while lost in a jungle to which this time Lightning readily accepts. Sally also convinced Lightning to bring Mater along and wanting to make both of his friends happy he agreed while thinking, 'what's the worst that can happen?'
Once they arrived in Tokyo the duo go off sight seeing. They did all sorts of things together and had fun. Afterwards, Lightning and Mater went to meet with the other race cars at Miles' party. While chatting it up with some fellow race cars, Lightning noticed Mater doing embarrassing things and tried to advise him to try to act differently. Mater is then quick to introduce Lightning and Francesco to each other much to Lightning's annoyance since he couldn't stand Francesco. Later when Lightning was chatting with Miles about the upcoming race, Mater embarrassed himself and Lightning by drinking from the decorative indoor fountain and then he seemingly leaked oil all over the stage. But little did anyone know at the time, that wasn't really the case. It wasn't really Mater that leaked the oil, but a devious Miles, but this wouldn't be proven until later. Still, Lightning felt humiliated and told Mater to go clean himself up. Little did Lightning know that just by doing that changed everything! He had no idea that a group of fiendish criminal lemon cars devised a plot to sabotage the races and Allinol nor did he know that race cars such himself were their primary targets. And what's more he had no idea that Mater has been mistaken for a spy by a couple of secret agents and criminals since all this had taken place while Mater was in the bathroom.
The next day the very first race of the World Grand Prix had begun with Lightning and the other racers in the first race completely oblivious to the danger they were in. During the first race Mater accidentally messes Lightning up when he starts talking to Holly, one of the secret agents on the radio causing a very frustrated Lightning to lose the race to his rival. Also three race cars crash during the race and Allinol is the primary suspect. Wondering what's going on Lightning confronts Mater about this and then without really thinking yells at Mater for screwing him up berating him in the process. This of course makes Mater feel all guilty and sad for having let down his friend. Lightning of course had no idea the things Mater said over his radio actually happened and just thought his friend's wild imagination got the better of him.
The very next day at their hotel room, Lightning discovered Mater's goodbye note and begins to feel guilty for Mater's sudden departure stating that he didn't really want Mater to leave. Little did Lightning and his other friends realize that Mater never actually made it back home and that instead he's gotten himself mixed up in espionage. Later on in Italy, Lightning and his team come across Luigi and Guido's hometown and the whole town celebrates their return. Luigi's uncle and aunt discuss friendship with Lightning reassuring him that arguing among friends was normal and that Lightning needs to learn to allow Mater to just be himself.
Allinol's safety is once again brought into question by everyone. Much to Lightning's surprise the rest of his friends arrived to cheer him on and support him, but they see he is sad and Fillmore assures him that his fuel is safe. Lightning informs his friends that he misses Mater and is worried about him causing Francesco to openly mock him for his sadness. Lightning does, however, manage to get some revenge by beating Francesco in the second race of the Grand Prix, but his celebration is short lived as he and Francesco noticed on the big screen that all the other race cars have crashed. As a result Axelrod maintains the race in London will go on, but without Allinol and only with gasoline. When asked by reporters Lightning declares he will still use Allinol in the final race unknowingly angering the criminal lemon cars as a result.
During the media frenzy, Lightning thinks he sees Mater calling out to him from the crowds but is distracted by the press and by another tow truck congratulating him on his big win in a very strange manner. However, as he doesn't know the tow truck he didn't think much about it and just drove away. He then gets encouraged by Sally and Axlerod to continue the race. But before he does he found a panicked Mater warning him to keep away, but Lightning unaware that Mater had a literal bomb on him stubbornly refused and chased after him. In a desperate bid to get away, Mater much to Lightning's shock activated a pair of rockets and the two sped away. Luckily, they get out of range from the hidden EMP ray gun, but were still in danger from the bomb and the lemon cars. Thankfully, the secret agent cars found Lightning and Mater and do their best to explain the situation to the both of them. And as they were surrounded by the vindictive lemon cars, Lightning learned the horrifying truth that villainous cars were trying to kill him with a ray gun and now with a bomb planted on Mater all because of his continual use of Allinol in the race. Thankfully, the criminals were defeated by the timely arrival of Lightning's other friends.
However, there was still the little matter of the bomb to deal with. After the captured Professor's voice fails to deactivate the bomb, Guido failed to remove the bomb from Mater. It was at that moment that the identity of the mastermind behind all this donned on Mater, but Mater worried nobody will believe him. Lightning fully apologized to Mater for how he acted before and told him that if he for sure knows the car's identity that he should at least try to expose the mastermind. The two friends then speed off to Buckingham Palace where Mater confronted Axlerod fingering him as the one behind the dastardly plot of sabotaging the races and using Allinol to cause the race cars to crash. In a last minute effort to save his reputation, Axlerod attempted to convince everyone that Mater is a delusional idiot, but in the end he was forced to use his voice to deactivate the bomb to prevent it from exploding on him.
Naturally, Axlerod was arrested for his crimes while Mater was rewarded for his bravery and heroism by being knighted by the Queen of England. Lightning couldn't be prouder of his best friend declaring that he is definitely coming to all his races from now on. Once back home in Radiator Springs, Holley and Finn arrived to visit and it is revealed by Sarge that the reason behind Lightning's survival from the dangerous EMP attack was due to him secretly switching out the Allinol fuel for Fillmore's more organic fuel. Lightning then invited all of the World Grand Prix racers to finish the big race at Radiator Springs to see once and for all who the fastest car really is. During the race Lightning and Francesco are on much friendlier terms as they battle for the lead. Mater then joins in with his rockets given by the spy cars while the spy cars leave for their next mission.
About five more years pass and Lightning and his racing buddies are a bit older now but don't notice it. This all starts to change, however, when Jackson Storm suddenly showed up in a race and beats Lightning and the other vet cars. The racing season continued and even more next gen cars entered the race and began winning them causing many vet racers to either quit or be replaced by the next gens when the vets fail to win anymore races. Lightning also found himself struggling to keep up with Jackson Storm. Sadly, after being once again mocked and passed by Storm, Lightning pushed himself too hard in an attempt to get faster and crashes pretty badly.
Four months later after he's all patched up he's safely back home in Doc's old garage. Apparently, he's been sitting in there hiding out for a real long time. He was just in there watching old video footage of Doc's fatal career ending crash when Sally entered the garage convincing him that it is high time for him to leave the garage and to try again. Lightning called up his old Rusteze sponsors to let them and his friends know that he wants to keep on racing. They are happy that Lightning still has confidence even after his crash and invite him up to their new racing center that they managed to buy. After arriving there he is surprised to learn that Dusty and Rusty were only able to make the purchase after selling Rusteze to Sterling, a billionaire and Rusteze's new owner. Sterling claims he is a big fan of Lightning and his racing career and hopes to bring Lightning back on top thinking it will make for a great, newsworthy story. Sterling gives Lightning a new racing suit and shows off the racing center's equipment and technology.
Lightning is then introduced to his new trainer, Cruz Ramirez who also turns out to be a pretty big fan of Lightning's and is super enthusiastic and quirky. She is known throughout the facility as a maestro of Motivation and as such uses motivational tactics on the race cars she trains. Unfortunately, Lightning is easily frustrated and annoyed by Cruz's 'old man' training and demands that she let him try out the racing simulator even though he is not ready. Predictably, he doesn't do well at all on the simulator since he doesn't understand how it works at all and even ends up crashing into the simulator itself causing a blackout all throughout the facility. Because of this Sterling calls him into his office for a little chat where he shows off some merchandise with Lightning's face on it. Naturally while very flattered, Lightning is very confused by all this and Sterling informs him that because he destroyed the simulator and due to his less than stellar performance he's not going to race him and that he's going to retire him early promising to make him rich through merchandise sells. Upset because he is not ready to give up racing, Lightning managed to convince Sterling to give him one last chance promising that if he loses the next race he will retire and help Sterling sell merchandise willingly.
The next day Lightning and Cruz are out on the beach training. Unfortunately, this doesn't go nearly as well as Lightning hoped because as it turns out Cruz had trouble driving on sand and had never actually trained cars outside before. This revelation annoyed Lightning, but still he was determined to get his speeds up. Frustratingly, Lightning only ended up wasting the entire day teaching Cruz to drive on sand since she had to drive near him to record his speed and by the time she did manage to catch his speed the day was already gone and he hadn't gotten any faster.
Seeking out more inspiration, they go to a dirt track in disguise with Lightning mistaking it for a regular race but it actually turns out to be a demolition derby. Lightning spent most of the time trying to teach Cruz how to turn properly on dirt and protect her from getting creamed by Miss Fritter and the other demolition cars. In the end, the two barely got out in one piece and sadly at the end Lightning's disguise got washed off and he is humiliated on national television. As a result Lightning got mad and blamed Cruz for this setback. Following this, Cruz then told him that she dreamed of being a real racer since she was a little car and that he was her main idol growing up. Lightning is touched by her words much like how he was touched when Mater chose him to be his best friend. Still, he felt really bad for upsetting Cruz and is determined to make it up to her.
That night while Mack was sleeping, Lightning watched T.V and learned of Jackson's new top speed record and called Mater for advice who suggests in his own way that Lightning should seek out Smokey, Doc's old teacher for help. Feeling hopeful, Lightning found Cruz and apologized to her and offered her to accompany him to train with Smokey. They soon found Smokey and he introduced them to some of his old racing buddies. The two then asked them for help and advice. The old retired race cars agreed to train the duo and they taught them various ways they can outsmart Storm. They explained drafting and worked on their reflexes.
The group then drove off racing through the forest at night with only the moon to guide them. While racing through the wood, the race car soon found himself in completely different surroundings populated by strange looking creatures. He didn't realize he was now in a magical amusement park called, Disney World and that its strange populace were called, humans.
Ambitions:
Trying to find a way back home to Radiator Springs
Continuing to be an adrenaline junkie
Racing whoever and whatever he can at any time any place
Possibly passing down his racing knowledge to other racers and even training them if they are honorable
Strengths & abilities:
Super Speed (His top speed is 200 MPH)
High Durability
Can drift race really well (thanks to Doc Hudson)
Can drive backwards (thanks to Mater)
Charismatic and Charming
Has High Self-Esteem
Has a lot of drive
Has an insane amount of racing knowledge and experience.
Even though he is not a mechanic he is still a car and as such has basic car repair knowledge.
Has a working GPS; which helps him find his way around.
Can see in the dark now that he has real working headlights.
Flaws:
Super Competitive
A Major Show-off
Is sometimes Reckless
Overconfident and cocky
Overly Ambitious
A Perfectionist
Prideful
Impatient
Short Tempered
Insanely Stubborn
Extremely Self-conscious
Has some serious trust issues
Doesn't handle embarrassment and public humiliation very well
Likes:
Racing, competitions, winning, training, his friends, fans, having fun, jokes, harmless pranks, his lucky stickers, getting his tires dirty, Rusteze, Radiator Springs, hanging out with Mater and Sally, good sportsmanship, fellow racers, traveling, and exploring.
Dislikes:
Crashing, losing, failure, being mocked, his friends being mocked, whenever not taken seriously, his catchphrase being stolen and used by rival racers, dangerous situations, Mater embarrassing him, making mistakes, public humiliation, wasting time, Sterling threatening to retire him, being called old, being slower than when he was younger, poor sportsmanship, cheaters, Chick Hicks, and Jackson Storm.
Fears:
Being forced to retire from racing before he's ready.
Becoming too slow to race anyone.
Anything to add?:
His name prior to becoming famous used to be Montgomery McQueen or Monty for short.
Before Rusteze, Lightning used to race for Smell Swell.
Before Mack, Lightning had an incompetent and unreliable hauler named, Snyder who frequently got lost.
Lightning used to have a best friend before Mater that ultimately betrayed him called, Carl.
RP SAMPLE:
See Darkwing Duck
IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A CHARACTER WITH US, NO SAMPLE IS NEEDED; INSTEAD, PUT "SEE ____"