>> Coulson doesn't seem to have formed connections with other people in the marines or in training. <<
He has a few, but not many. He's tending to think of his peers en masse. He does have a mentor.
>> He wasn't socially isolated in high school despite important responsibilities and time pressures, why doesn't he have good friends here or in training. <<
Go back and look at the school days again. He's not socially isolated, he knows people, there's a mention of him having friends ... but none of them come onstage as close friends.
The fact that Coulson doesn't have a lot of strong ties in the Marines is part of what makes it possible for him to shift over to SHIELD per canon.
Coulson in canon doesn't have many close connections either -- Nick Fury, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova. Pepper Potts and the cellist may also count. It took a long time for him to warm up to Tony Stark, and the initial meeting with Steve Rogers was painfully awkward. Deriving back from that is what got me this pattern for his younger days.
Remember that Phil grew up focused primarily on his family. His closest outside ties were with adults -- which is actually common for gifted kids, they relate better to mature personalities. So later in life, Phil isn't really looking to collect a large herd of friends. He's looking for a much smaller family-of-choice. And that's a big part of why he sticks by Nick even when Nick has his head up his ass: not wanting to bail on family just because the guy is having serious problems.
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dancing_serpent
Well...
Date: 2014-07-30 06:34 pm (UTC)He has a few, but not many. He's tending to think of his peers en masse. He does have a mentor.
>> He wasn't socially isolated in high school despite important responsibilities and time pressures, why doesn't he have good friends here or in training. <<
Go back and look at the school days again. He's not socially isolated, he knows people, there's a mention of him having friends ... but none of them come onstage as close friends.
The fact that Coulson doesn't have a lot of strong ties in the Marines is part of what makes it possible for him to shift over to SHIELD per canon.
Coulson in canon doesn't have many close connections either -- Nick Fury, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova. Pepper Potts and the cellist may also count. It took a long time for him to warm up to Tony Stark, and the initial meeting with Steve Rogers was painfully awkward. Deriving back from that is what got me this pattern for his younger days.
Remember that Phil grew up focused primarily on his family. His closest outside ties were with adults -- which is actually common for gifted kids, they relate better to mature personalities. So later in life, Phil isn't really looking to collect a large herd of friends. He's looking for a much smaller family-of-choice. And that's a big part of why he sticks by Nick even when Nick has his head up his ass: not wanting to bail on family just because the guy is having serious problems.