Spike #2: How Spike Came to Us

Spike the Genius is a throwback to another era, when the Company was run by Giants mean and brilliant, whimsical and brutal. A scary time, because these Giants were larger than life (ask their many ex-wives), made BIG mistakes sometimes, certainly ran things according to their personalities instead of business school management logic. And, somehow, they also inspired loyalty, since dozens have stayed with them from the beginning: maybe from fear, maybe from friendship (can you be "friends" with a Giant?), maybe from masochistic pleasure at being constantly on the edge.

Oh, and the Giants made money for everybody and kept everything going for 40 years, so that may have something to do with it, too.

Oh, and judging from the photos and videos from back then, they had a lot of fun in the middle of all the Sturm und Drang.

And, somewhere about a decade ago, the Giants realized they Don't Know Everything about certain new geographies they wanted to explore, so they sought out a Faithful Guide --

And failed a lot of times.

Till they found Spike.

Not a bad fit, actually: the Giants' giant ambitions were actually less than Spike's talent could deliver - but the Giants' tolerance for personalities where fits and starts and emotion-releasing rants jibe perfectly with Spike's less-than-cubicle-fitting profile.

The Royal Us had found a Genius; Spike had found a Patron.

For 6 or 7 years there was harmony (well, as much harmony as ever could be found with that set of characters) as Spike and the Giants created New Things.