ISFP: Kira Nerys, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”

ISFP – the Composer, the Seeker, the Virtuoso

The leaders of Trek’s two previous incarnations were mostly Thinkers. Both shows could be campy and fun, but also intensely cerebral. So it figures that for the “dark, moody” version of Star Trek, we’d get a pair of commanding officers who are driven by Introverted Feeling.

Sisko and Kira don’t start off as best friends. Their Fi needs time to check the other out and make sure they measure up to their deeply held values and goals. In time, they see the same thing in each other—a very passionate, individualistic, sometimes emotionally broken leader with fierce inner moral codes fighting against a universe that wants to control them.

Dominant Function: (Fi) Introverted Feeling, “The Deep Well”

To say that Major Kira Nerys is uncompromising in her values would be like saying Superman is kinda good at lifting heavy stuff. Kira leads with a strong inner moral compass, forged from her years fighting for the Resistance against the Cardassian Occupation of her homeworld. Everything she does, every choice, every step, is to fight for the cause of her people. She acts only on what she believes is right.

While Sisko goes through his emotional healing in the first episode, Kira’s takes the entire series. She’s broken and raw after a childhood spent fighting as a terrorist to free her people, and her only reaction to most situations is anger. She’s quite certain that the Bajoran government only assigned her to DS9 to get her off the planet and out of their hair.

ISTP: K’Ehleyr, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

ISTP – the Operator, the Mechanic, the Crafter

Trivia time! Suzie Plakson showed up a few episodes before K’Ehleyr’s first appearance as the Vulcan Dr. Selar, another wry and logical character the writers considered pairing Worf with romantically. As it turned out, Dr. Selar never appeared again, and K’Ehleyr, with her sultry grin and 1940’s rom-com-style repartee, only got two episodes. And then we and Worf were left with Alexander.

As The A.V. Club blogger Zach Handlen said, the only upside to losing K’Ehleyr so soon is that I don’t have to keep typing her name.

Dominant Function: (Ti) Introverted Thinking, “The Laboratory”

Like another ISTP character who has a shaky relationship with her people’s culture, K’Ehleyr isn’t too fond of doing things the Klingon way. Even though she works as an ambassador between the Empire and the Federation, she keeps an intellectual distance between herself and Klingon traditions. Part of that is the fact that she’s half-Human, and the other part is that she’s an Introverted Thinker not prone to following the crowd. She has an extensive knowledge of Klingon culture and rituals that she can call upon to do her job, even the older forms, but she’s critical of the more emotionally showy stuff.

She also has a Thinker’s remove from her own emotions. She’ll give a wry or sarcastic reply to the situation before acknowledging how she feels—and admits that it’s her Human mother’s sense of humor that’s gotten her into trouble often. She doesn’t hesitate to tell Worf that she’d like to renew their relationship, but she’s immediately cracking jokes after they make love, which makes the ISFJ Worf feel insulted.

ISTP: Ro Laren, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

ISTP – the Operator, the Mechanic, the Crafter

With Yar long gone, TNG found itself in need of a female character with some attitude. So, Ensign Ro showed up in an episode named after her to spice things up a little. While everyone else on the Enterprise spent their day trying to be nice to each other, Ro walked on with a stubborn streak and a chip on her shoulder—and a traumatic backstory that would set up a whole other chapter of Star Trek.

Dominant Function: (Ti) Introverted Thinking, “The Laboratory”

Ro follows her own personal logic, getting things done by her own methods. This frequently puts her at odds with Starfleet’s established authority structure, and with Te-users like Riker and Picard. It’s never spelled out exactly what happened to land her in prison, but it had something to do with her refusal to obey orders, resulting in the deaths of eight crewmates. Picard remarks that she would have made lieutenant commander by now were it not for that incident.

She has sharp critical thinking skills, and argues for efficient, no-nonsense solutions. When the Enterprise suffers a disaster, she advocates separating the saucer section to preserve whatever survivors they can before the engines blow. Troi, who’s been left in command, applies an Fe-user’s decision-making process and wants to keep the whole crew alive if possible. Ro’s approach is more “the needs of the many,” viewing survival in numbers and not letting emotion for those they can’t save get in the way.

ISTP: Harvey Bullock, “Batman: The Animated Series”

ISTP – the Operator, the Mechanic, the Crafter

I don’t know why I always find cranky characters to be so loveable. Detective Harvey Bullock sometimes comes off as a stereotyped comic relief, and sometimes as a grouchy thorn in the side of Commissioner Gordon and Batman. Sometimes though, despite his aggravation, he proves himself an invaluable—if uncouth—ally in the fight against Gotham’s scumbags.

Dominant Function: (Ti) Introverted Thinking, “The Laboratory”

Bullock’s got his own thing going on. He’s an effective cop, but he likes to investigate his own way and run things according to his own rules. He gets hung up on the letter of the law, and clashes frequently with Commissioner Gordon, a Te-user who wants him to do things by the book. He goes over Gordon’s head to establish a special task force to take out Batman when he believes he’s guilty of the Man-Bat’s crimes.

His unorthodox methods end up working against him when Killer Croc tries to frame him for murder and extortion. Though he’s innocent, everyone’s worried that Bullock could have done those things, given his headstrong, stubborn attitude towards authority. When he and a couple other cops are brought in for interrogation after a bust gone wrong, Bullock tells his own version of the story to make himself look good.

ISFP: Clayface, “Batman: The Animated Series”

ISFP – the Composer, the Seeker, the Virtuoso

(aka: Matt Hagen)

I really dug Clayface as a kid simply because of the fantastic possibilities that being a shape-shifter offered (this was also around the time of Terminator 2 and Deep Space Nine, which both offered similar gooey shape-changers). He’s probably the villain I’d have the most fun being because of those powers, and certainly the one I imagined myself as the most often, but unfortunately, he’s a really sad guy. Maybe one of Batman’s most tragic tales—a man who loses himself and literally goes to pieces.

I have to credit the writer at The Animated Batman for his insight into the psychology of Clayface that informed my thoughts as I wrote this profile.

Dominant Function: (Fi) Introverted Feeling, “The Deep Well”

Anything bad you’ve ever wanted to say about us Fi-doms you can say about Matt Hagen—self-absorbed, vain, selfish, and run by the whim of his damaged emotions.

From the start, he’s lost in own grief and anger over being disfigured in a car accident. Even after he latches on to a miracle cure in order to continue his acting career, he continues to fume bitterly over what he’s lost, unable to get over it. He just wants to be left alone to stew in his own emotional cesspool.

He denies any attempt to comfort or help him, abusing those who care about him while feeding on their patience and generosity—from his buddy Teddy, to his girlfriend Stella, even Batman.

He once had an identity as a handsome movie star, but after he loses that, Clayface doesn’t know who he is. “I’m not an actor anymore! I’m not even a man,” he says. He rages at Stella for watching his old movies because he doesn’t want to reminded of who he used to be.

ISTP: Killer Croc, “Batman: The Animated Series”

ISTP – The Operator, The Mechanic, The Crafter

(aka: Morgan/Waylon Jones)

Killer Croc doesn’t at first seem to fit in on B:TAS. He’s on the more sci-fi end of the villain spectrum, being a half-human/half-croc mutant, and those don’t always fare too well on the show. His biggest threat to Batman is mainly physical, and he’s often played for dumb laughs.

Take a look at his small handful of episodes though, and they turn out to be some of the show’s quietly strongest stories. Croc himself turns out to be a smart guy with a lot of pathos simmering inside his scaly heart. The very fact that he’s a loner who doesn’t fit in to the usual crowd of Batman’s Rogues Gallery is exactly what makes him work.

Dominant Function: (Ti) Introverted Thinking, “The Laboratory”

Croc’s wily and cunning, and excels in solitary criminal pursuits. He’s an adaptable problem-solver and devious schemer who pulls off some of the better prisoner escapes on the show. Like he tells Detective Bullock, the guards never think to check the sewers.

In episodes where he’s not the featured villain, Croc usually plays as the comic relief, since his own logic rattling around in his brain doesn’t track with everyone else’s. He’s blunt and single-minded, which can mask his ruthless cleverness. He wards off any warmth and compliments with dry, cutting remarks.

ISTP: Catwoman, “Batman: The Animated Series”

ISTP – the Operator, the Mechanic, the Crafter

(aka: Selina Kyle)

Like Penguin, Catwoman didn’t get an origin story on BTAS, because Batman Returns had just come out. Also like Penguin, she got a ton of lousy episodes. It wasn’t her fault—the character was always strongly defined, she just ended up in poorly written scripts with shoddy animation.

Fortunately, Catwoman’s personality is defiant enough that she still rises to the occasion in her couple of good episodes. I do wish we had a lot more of her on the show, but let’s celebrate what we have with this profile of Batman’s most notorious femme fatale.

Dominant Function: (Ti) Introverted Thinking, “The Laboratory”

Selina requires the freedom to pursue her own objectives, which are mostly cat burglaries of shiny objects that catch her eye. Her capers are quick and carefully crafted. She gets in and gets out, nice and efficient and quiet-like (unless her cat Isis makes a noise—pro-tip: housepets do not make effective supervillain sidekicks).

I sometimes dub the Introverted functions “Independent” (the Extraverted functions I think of as “Egalitarian”; more on that later). It helps me identify the functions at work in a different way than thinking of Introverted/Extraverted does. Catwoman isn’t an Introvert because she likes staying in at night with a good book, but because she likes to do things alone. She’s an Independent Thinker with an inner logic and goals all her own.

ISTP: Hikaru Sulu, “Star Trek: The Original Series”

ISTP – the Operator, the Mechanic, the Crafter

Like his fellow bridge buddy Uhura, Sulu almost went the whole franchise without getting a first name. Then, lo and behold, in the final movie he was sitting in the captain’s chair of his own ship, recording a log entry. Sulu’s arc is a wonderful example of a healthy, eager young ISTP growing into a role of greater responsibility and destiny.

Dominant Function: (Ti) Introverted Thinking, “The Laboratory”

Sulu’s active mind takes up multiple interests, including xenobotany (“The Man Trap”), astrophysics (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”), and antique weaponry. His early turns in command of the ship show thoughtful decision-making, analyzing his choices—for instance, to warp away or to just leave orbit and hang around nearby (“Arena”). He provides helpful analysis on the bridge on several occasions, and coldly dismantles the irrational strategies of an angry, bigoted officer when they’re facing down a cloaked Romulan ship (“Balance of Terror”).

He has a terse reply to a large security officer who dares go toe-to-toe with him, and even when he’s left stranded on a planet freezing to death, he cracks wise about it.

Sulu’s Ti focuses his Se-aux instincts into precise piloting work, making him an excellent helmsman. He’s always the one on the bridge calling out how many seconds or kilometers they have till impact with the dangerous-space-object-of-the-week. He’s one of 20 officers selected to remain on the ship for war games during the M-5 computer trials (“The Ultimate Computer”).

When the crew returns to the Genesis Planet to retrieve their friend Spock, Sulu helps Kirk analyze sensor info, determining that a cloaked Klingon ship is waiting for them (ST:III). After they capture said Klingon ship, Sulu has to figure out how to fly the thing, eventually bringing it to a careful landing on Vulcan. In the next movie, after travelling 200 years into the past, Sulu sits himself down in the cockpit of a Huey helicopter and gets that in the air, too (ST:IV).

ISTP: Jayne Cobb, “Firefly”

The Operator, The Mechanic, The Crafter

I know, I know. How is Jayne Cobb, the Serenity’s loveable dimwit, a Thinker type? Much less a dominant Thinker type. Maybe a Sensor with his Thinking function a little lower in the stack, but not a Ti-dom, right?

First, being a Thinker type doesn’t make you a genius. That’s not how the types work. Just like being a Feeler doesn’t automatically make you a nice person (see: Regina George, Khan Noonien Singh, etc). None of us lives up to the ideals of our type, much less the stereotypes.

Second, Jayne’s got his own train of thought going on, it’s just that none of us are along for the ride. He’s not book-smart, but he is wily. That’s a big part of why Mal keeps him around.

Dominant Function: (Ti) Introverted Thinking, “Analyze the Experience”

Jayne’s always working on his angle. He sizes up every situation and every relationship to see how he can make it work for him (“Nuthin’ into nuthin’, carry the nuthin’…”). He joins up with Mal in the first place when he sees that the math works out better for him than with his current gig.

Jayne’s terse and to the point, not much for talk that doesn’t get him somewhere. “I’m no good with words,” he says. “I don’t use ‘em much myself.” And when he sees no point in saying anything, not even an Alliance interrogator can get Jayne to talk.

He has his own style of wit, too. He tricks Simon into wearing a full pressure-suit to board the ghost ship, just to see him look stupid. Later, he admits the doctor’s plan to break into a hospital on Ariel is a good one, though it doesn’t mean he likes him any better.

Jayne has a really annoying habit of being right from time to time, in the most bluntly logical way. He constantly criticizes Mal’s decisions, especially harboring Simon and River, forcing the captain to justify his orders. He questions why Mal brings the girl back on board at all after she wigs out in the bar at Maidenhead. He’s the first to come up with a theory as to what happened to the ghost ship they run across in “Bushwhacked,” and it makes sense until they find the Reavers did it.

Jayne doesn’t just dislike the Reavers—anyone in their right mind would be terrified of space cannibals—he doesn’t understand them: “Ain’t logical…Eating people alive? Where’s that get fun?”

ISFP: Violet Parr, “The Incredibles”

The Composer, The Seeker, The Virtuoso

Confession time. Violet’s one of the characters I put on my INFP poster, the one that first inspired me to start researching MBTI and studying character types. She was on a list on some website, and I took its word for it.

I know INFPs and ISFPs sound like they’d be similar, but there’s a lot of differences between us. It’s mostly the difference between Extraverted Sensing (Se) and Extraverted Intuition (Ne). Violet’s not so much a person who needs to open herself to life’s possibilities, but to her own capabilities. She spends most of her life hiding until she breaks out of her shell—or her force field, in this case—and trusts her powers.

Dominant Function, (Fi) Introverted Feeling: “Evaluate the Experience”

Violet wants to be true to herself, but she’s also scared of who she is. She uses her invisibility to hide from the world, and her force fields to protect herself (sure, the symbolism’s not subtle, but it works). She’d like to be normal like everyone else, but she knows that can never happen.

Violet’s sensitive to disharmony in her home, and isn’t easily fooled by her parents’ excuses that they’re “just having a discussion.” She’s also sensitive about her feelings, and wants to keep her crush on classmate Tony Rydinger to herself. When her obnoxious little brother pushes her buttons, she explodes on him.

Violet feels ashamed at her initial failure when they’re attacked in the plane. She stumbles over an apology to her mom, but when Helen assures her that she has more power than she knows, it awakens a tiny spark of confidence in her. Once she gains mastery over her powers and faces down a killer robot with her family, Violet decides she likes being special after all.

She’s still that girl who rolls her eyes at the idea of cheerleaders, but she’s okay with that now.