ESFP: Lwaxana Troi, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

ESFP – the Performer, the Activator, the Challenger

Majel Barrett’s first character on Star Trek was the icy cold Number One, the executive officer in the original pilot. Lwaxana Troi, aka: “The Auntie Mame of the Galaxy,” could not be further removed from that role. At once a welcome spark of life in the pastel corridors of the Enterprise-D, and a controversially disruptive figure, she pulls everyone around her into her own eccentric orbit.

(I’ll be referencing “Half a Life” quite a bit for this profile, since it’s one of the all-time heartbreakingly great episodes of TNG, and the one you should watch if other Lwaxana episodes make you crazy.)

Dominant Function: (Se) Extraverted Sensing, “The Kitchens”

Lwaxana pursues life with gusto. Her energy, her gigantic hair, her endless supply of sparkly dresses, her insatiable appetite for…pleasure, all dominate whatever crowd she’s a part of. She speaks her mind, and speaks other people’s minds as well—unlike her half-Betazoid daughter Deanna, who receives only vague impressions of emotions, Lwaxana can read exactly what people are thinking, and comments on it out loud.

Especially if she’s picking up a man’s lusty thoughts about her.

On one of her exasperating visits to the Enterprise, she comes looking for a husband, and whatever available man happens to be in the room with her becomes her next choice. She’s practically planning the honeymoon with Riker before Troi can pull her away. At the end of the visit, after all the bluster and fluster she’s caused, Lwaxana casually points out that a pair of ambassadors on board are assassins, solving the problem just like that.

ESFP: William T. Riker, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

ESFP – the Performer, the Activator, the Challenger

When Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted with a middle-aged, bald captain, the creators stuck a Kirk-like young cad in the seat next to him, just in case. Riker’s charm and energy liven up the bridge and any other room he’s in, and he’s the guy that makes-it-so when the Captain gives out orders. He’s pretty good in the command chair himself, although he needs some time to figure that out.

Dominant Function: (Se) Extraverted Sensing, “The Kitchens”

Commander Riker likes to be out in front—at poker, at romance, and at life. He’s equal parts easygoing and intense, depending on what the situation calls for, and he never just sits in a chair when he can straddle it. Data calculates that Riker uses traditional tactics less than 21% of the time.

And of course, he loves poker—the game of risk and bets is right up Will’s alley, and he usually cleans up. He plays a mean trombone—although he can never quite get the solo in “Nightbird” right. He likes to cook with real ingredients—although he’s not actually very good at it.

Riker works as hard as he plays. When he gets the cultural exchange assignment aboard a Klingon ship, he throws himself completely into the role, digging into Klingon food and learning how to hold his own against the aggressive egos of his new shipmates. He manages to fight his way into everyone’s respect, and he unseats the captain in a moment of crisis in order to take control and save the ship.

HV-MBTI Remix: Harley Quinn

Typing is hard, and sometimes we MBTI bloggers get characters wrong.

Okay, a lot of times.

Introducing the Heroes & Villains Re-Mix: a feature that will pop up whenever I need to re-type a character. I’ve got a bunch of them on the way—particularly this fall when I revisit Star Trek—but I’m going to start off today with one character I just recently covered.

Harley Quinn, ENFP ESFP

Back at the start of this blog, I created a chart that I’m mostly embarrassed by, typing the Batman villains into the 16 types. I actually got several of them right, including Harley Quinn as an ESFP. However, by the time I started writing the profiles for this series, I had somehow convinced myself she was ENFP.

First off, I felt like she was idealizing the Joker with unhealthy dominant Ne (as an INFP, I do the same with my Ne-aux, so I think I over-diagnose this one). I think it mostly had to do with her inferior function, though. In “Mad Love,” she flashes back and considers her life and the choices she made to land her where she was, and I figured that was an inferior Si grip.

As I’ve studied some other Se-dom characters, though, I understand now that Ni is perfectly capable of doing the same things—both the unhealthy idealizing and the healthy reflection. Si tends to reflect on past choices, and Ni tends to focus on a plan for the future, but both can help an out-of-whack dominant Perceiving function by giving the user a sense of realistic consequences to their actions. And Harley’s about as out-of-whack as they come.

ESFP: Uncle Fester, “The Addams Family” (TV)

The Performer, The Activator, The Challenger

Actor Jackie Coogan started his career as the doe-eyed kid sidekick in one of Charlie Chaplin’s most famous films The Kid, and became the highest paid child actor in Hollywood. Because of him, the Coogan Act was passed, which protected child actors’ earnings from being squandered by their parents. He survived a car crash that killed his father and friends, probably joined a mob that lynched a child kidnapper, raised over $1 million for Armenian refugees, and met the Pope because of it. Then he grew up, married Betty Grable for a few years, served in the Army, transferred to the Air Force, and fought in WWII.

Finally, he became famous for something by playing Uncle Fester on TV.

This has nothing to do with MBTI. I’m just kind of geeking out at how awesome old-timey actors used to be.

Dominant Function: (Se) Extraverted Sensing, “Experience the Experience”

Fester’s so full of energy he can illuminate lightbulbs and power a radio. Like his Se-dom nephew Gomez, he stretches out on the rack to relax, takes naps on beds of nails, and fights a headache by squeezing his head in a clamp. He owns a cannon named “Old Reliable” and a blunderbuss named “Genevieve,” both of which he wields eagerly. He’s bored with routine, and jumps aboard the family’s plans to go to the moon for their next vacation instead of a picnic.

Fester’s appetite is strange even for an Addams—he snacks on tongue depressors and cactus leaves. Maybe it’s all about the texture.

When a beatnik (ask your parents) drops in on the Addams home, Fester ends up befriending the young rogue. The kid leaves him a motorcycle, which Fester immediately crashes. Not one to stay down long, Fester crashes the motorcycle often for fun (it’s actually the same footage recycled for every episode).

And when he’s jilted by his pen-pal romance, Fester quickly gets over it by taking up horseback riding.

ESFP: Marty McFly, “Back To The Future”

The Performer, The Challenger, The Activator

For all the different eras and timelines Marty visits across three movies, his entire adventure takes barely more than two weeks of his own subjective time. One day in 1985, a week in 1955, a day in 2015, a nightmarish day in 1985, a day trip back to 1955, and five days in 1885, before returning to his own, original time. Marty survives all this by staying on the move and improvising in the moment, never giving up or slowing down when the obstacles pile up and time gets tight.

Dominant Function: (Se) Extraverted Sensing, “Experience the Experience”

Marty plays his music loud, rides his skateboard fast, lusts after a new truck, and plans secret getaways with his girlfriend. He sleeps in his clothes and doesn’t respond well to discipline—he earns his fourth tardy at the beginning of the first movie—and he apparently set the living room rug on fire when he was eight years old. He’s friends with a wacky old man who’s dismissed by everyone else, and he’s willing to get up at one in the morning to go meet Doc Brown for an unexplained experiment.

Marty’s nemesis through his adventures is Biff Tannen, a fellow Se-dom (ESTP, to be exact) who dominates everyone he meets. Everyone except for Marty, who constantly finds himself staring up at Biff’s square jaw because he can’t let the bully go unchallenged. Fueled by his stubborn Fi, Marty jumps into confrontations with Biff and then figures it out from there, outwitting and outrunning him time after time.

Marty’s one big impetuous mistake is buying a Sports Almanac from the future that he hopes to take back with him to earn some cash on the side. It’s his Se at its most opportunistic—its most Biff-like, really—and it kick starts the problems of the second half of the series. Marty’s biggest lesson over his two time-traveling weeks, then, is in not letting his impulsive actions get the better of him.

ESFP: Nyota Uhura, “Star Trek: The Original Series”

The Performer, The Activator, The Challenger

Uhura’s first name was never given throughout the entire original series and movies. According to actress Nichelle Nichols, a writer suggested the name Nyota—meaning “Star” in Swahili—and she loved it. Still, it wasn’t until the 2009 reboot that the name was finally confirmed.

“Uhura” itself is a variant on the Swahili word for “Freedom.” So our brave Communications Officer is actually named “Star Freedom.” That might have made a good title for the show.

Dominant Function: (Se) Extraverted Sensing, “Experience the Experience”

Uhura’s an active and outgoing woman, and works a job that requires alertness and readiness. She entertains the crew in her off hours with her singing, cheering them up when they’re down (“The Conscience of the King”). When her captain vanishes from the bridge, Uhura’s the first to notice, and reacts with a piercing scream (“Arena”). When he returns to duty after surviving a stabbing, Uhura literally reaches out, attempting to take Kirk’s hand in welcome (“Journey to Babel”).

When she gets a little stir-crazy at her post, Uhura strikes up a flirty conversation with her reserved commanding officer, Spock, trying to provoke a response from him (“The Man Trap”). She gets away with poking fun at the Vulcan, singing him a song she makes up on the fly, while he himself provides the accompaniment (“Charlie X”). She leaps to her feet when he re-appears on the Enterprise years later (ST:TMP).

Uhura keeps her quarters luxurious and comfortable, and wears attractive, tasteful jewelry on duty. She’s immediately attracted to the furry, cooing Tribbles, and brings them aboard to share with the others (“The Trouble With Tribbles”). She sings to herself while she works (“The Changeling”), and sometimes reacts visibly and physically to situations—turning away from the sight of a tortured crewman in the mirror universe, or racing through the corridors to tell someone that she’s seen the missing Captain Kirk (“The Tholian Web”).

ESFP: Hoban “Wash” Washburne, “Firefly”

The Performer, The Activator, The Challenger

For the record, Alan Tudyk is taller than Gina Torres (by an inch-and-a-half, according to IMDb). Usually, he plays big guys (like the serial killer Alpha in Joss Whedon’s later show Dollhouse, where he’s super ripped, or Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball). He argues this vehemently in the commentary for “War Stories,” since his character Wash comes off looking like such a weenie compared to his warrior wife.

And yet, he needn’t have worried, because everybody loves Wash. Kaylee may be the heart and soul of the Serenity, but Wash is its sense of humor and fun. Figures these two ESFPs would be the most colorful bright spots on a ship way out in the black.

Dominant Function: Extraverted Sensing (Se), “Experience the Experience”

Wash is a natural pilot, and a daring one. In high-pressure flying situations, he oscillates between panicked high-energy and a strange Zen-like, calm focus. Although he seems like a weirdo when Mal and Zoë interview him for the job, Mal points out that he’s got a recommendations list as long as his arm, and a whole slew of other captains who want to hire him.

Wash lives with his own special flair and zest for life. Hawaiian shirts and toy dinosaurs are among his signature possessions, as well as a distinctive mustache that he thankfully had the decency to shave off some years ago. Unlike his wife Zoë, he very much wants to explore the core planet Ariel and enjoy all the finest it has to offer.

Wash shows constant surprise at the caliber of woman he married. He eagerly describes all her best parts to an Alliance officer interrogating him: “Have you ever been with a warrior woman?” We never learn how or why they ended up getting married, but Wash’s extraverted energy seems to put the normally stoic Zoë at ease, bringing out her romantic, playful side.

ESFP: Kaywinnet Lee Frye, “Firefly”

The Performer, The Activator, The Challenger

I really need my car to keep working just a little bit longer until I one day have a job where I can afford a new one, and I sure do wish I had Kaylee to help me out. Some sci-fi shows have their “miracle workers” to keep their cutting-edge starships sailing, but Kaylee rolls up her sleeves and makes things work that shouldn’t. That includes people and well as machines.

Dominant Function: (Se) Extraverted Sensing, “Experience the Experience”

Kaylee’s just happy to be here, no matter where here is.

She joined Serenity on a whim, when the Captain presented the opportunity—on the day he discovered her getting it on energetically with his original mechanic. She loves all the new places and people she gets to discover in her travels. She’s thrilled by the many-layered dress she finds in a store window, even more so when she gets to wear it to a ball, where she heads right for the buffets.

And does she ever love strawberries.

She takes an instant liking to most people, and doesn’t judge much, just accepting them as they come. It’s this quality that makes her a favorite among the crew. She makes friends with River when no-one else can (or is afraid to), earns affection from the Captain that he would never show to anyone else, and even inspires concern in tough old Jayne, who camps outside the infirmary when she gets shot.

It’s no wonder the straight-laced Simon falls for her, even if he takes a long time to admit it.

Kaylee has a natural knack for engines, an instinct for working with mechanical things. She knows how things work and how to put them together for the best results—and to keep them going with what little resources she’s got. She doesn’t mind getting into the works and getting dirty. She’s not always perfectly put together, because she’s always enjoying the moment, whatever work or activity she’s found.

ESFP: Dash Parr, “The Incredibles”

The Performer, The Activator, The Challenger

This profile will be quick, like Dash. He’s a little boy, and he doesn’t experience as big a character change as his sister, so we don’t get to see all functions up and running yet. He’s a super obvious Extraverted Sensor, though, so I’ll cut right to chase.

Dominant Function, (Se) Extraverted Sensing: “Experience the Experience”

Even if Dash didn’t have a super-speed power, he’d still be a bundle of energy. He loves his crazy family, he loves being in motion, and he loves mischief. He loves seeing Frozone turn his spit into an icicle in mid-air, he loves pestering his sister to her breaking point, and he envies his baby brother’s toilet-free life.

Dash discovers the full extent of his powers through pure instinct. His mom told him to run as fast as he can, and he does. To his delight, he finds he can beat up bad guys, dodge bullets, and run on water. Every moment brings wonderful new surprises, and he enjoys it to the fullest.

He’s the most upbeat of the family, and his impetuous joy at his own capabilities serves as a contrast to their caution.

The Oscars MBTI: Riggan Thomson, ESFP, “Birdman”

2014 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actor, Michael Keaton

ESFP, the Performer, the Activator, the Challenger

Any study I write of a character is necessarily going to go from beginning to end of their story, but in this case I want to make sure I give an explicit SPOILER WARNING for Birdman: or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance. Go see this movie first before you read this. It’s just less than two hours, and moves forward with such intensity that it feels like barely an hour.

Dominant Function: Extraverted Sensing (Se), “Experience the Experience”

Riggan lives to perform, and needs to be out there on stage or in front of the camera doing something.

In his early years, Riggan played Birdman, a superhero in a series of blockbuster movies. Birdman offered an exciting, profitable opportunity at the time, and Riggan jumped on it, riding its success for years to become a world-famous movie star.

In his later years, Riggan is looking again for some level of celebrity and attention, to recreate his success. He wants to present an unforgettable experience to his audience, but this time through the spectacle and challenge of live theater.

When his first male co-star doesn’t work out, Riggan jumps at the chance to cast a big name stage actor who happens to be the boyfriend of one of the actresses in the show. Mike Shiner takes the job and immediately pushes Riggan’s buttons. The two share an emotional, improvised rehearsal scene that brings out new discoveries in their performances, and Riggan gets keyed-up and delighted by the stimulation. Their relationship grows tense as Shiner repeatedly steals the spotlight and the headlines, until Riggan tackles him backstage and punches him in the face.