Manic Pixie Dream Girl Bobby Brackenreid.

Played by : Gage Munroe, Jayden Greig, Aiden Bushley, Daniel Fleming, Christopher Jones

Robert “Bobby” Brackenreid is the youngest son of Thomas and Margaret Brackenreid, and the younger brother of John Brackenreid and younger half-brother of Nomi Johnston. As of Season 19, he is currently serving time in the Don Jail for the (most likely first degree) manslaughter of Gerard Lacroix.

BIOGRAPHY

Bobby was born to Thomas and Margaret Brackenreid circa 1890. His father was a policeman and his mother stayed at home to look after him and his brother John, who was older than him by three years.

His childhood was not uneventful. In "Rich Boy, Poor Boy" [03x04], Bobby was kidnapped while playing pirates in the park with his friend Robert Stanton. His father himself, along with the rest of Station House No. 4, was on the case to find him, eventually learning out that his kidnappers, Molly and Pete Morgan, did not mean to take him at all; they instead wanted his playmate Robert, who was Molly's biological son whom she gave up when going to prison. Eventually, Bobby was safely returned home. When he was a little older ("The Devil Wears Whalebone" [08x12]), he got into a fight with another boy, Simon Brooks, over a penny they found on the ground. Constable George Crabtree and Inspector Brackenreid later had a boxing ring constructed to have them fight again, but Bobby and Simon ended up making up and becoming friends before they could.

BRACKENREID : It's all my fault. I allowed Margaret to make [John] soft.
OGDEN : Is your other son soft?
BRACKENREID : Bobby? No. He's rough and tumble, just like his old man.

07x08 "Republic of Murdoch"

When Bobby was around 16, his father learned that he had a daughter with another woman before he had met their mother ("Secrets and Lies" [12x09]). Sarah Johnston had discovered that she was pregnant and did not want Thomas to be "held back" by a Black child. Margaret learned of this illegitimate daughter and, angry at how secretive he had acted, she separated from Thomas, originally kicking him out, but when he returned, she took Bobby to live with her with her sister in Niagara Falls. In “Darkness Before Dawn - Part One” [12x17] it was revealed that he was sent to Wickford Academy, an all-boys boarding school in Hamilton, for behavioural issues. John's injury brought their parents back together ("Darkness Before Dawn - Part Two" [12x18]), but Bobby remained in Hamilton.

It was at Wickford Academy that Bobby met his friends Leo Rawlins and Stitch. According to the bartender of the Sword and Sheath Tavern Stubbs, they acted as if they ran the place, much to the chagrin of the local boys who did not go to their school. Bobby especially built a reputation as a bully and a threat, even to his own friends. He and one local, Gerard Lacroix, especially despised each other.

STITCH : If Brackenreid didn't like you, you knew it.

14x02 "Rough and Tumble"

It all came to a head when Bobby killed Gerard in a fight in the alleyway behind the Sword and Sheath. According to Bobby, he had not expected to kill him, but his head had struck a rock. Years later, in "Clean Hands" [16x06], Bobby confessed to have wanted to kill Gerard in the moment. Gerard's death was witnessed by Stitch, as well as Pascal Sefert, another local boy who had attended the school for a time. Bobby threatened that if they were to tell anyone, he would kill them too, then ran away.

News of his crime and escape quickly reached Inspector Brackenreid, who set off to investigate what happened and find his son. He didn't need to look for long - soon enough, Bobby arrived at home, receiving a warm welcome from his mother Margaret. There, he learned about and met his half-sister Nomi for the first time. He insisted to his parents that he had done nothing wrong, but upon investigating further and finding evidence implying his guilt, Thomas returned to turn him in, prompting Bobby to run for the Don River where they used to fish. Thomas then convinced him to turn himself in.

After spending months in prison, Bobby was attacked by another inmate, Christopher Appleby, whom he killed in self defense ("Everything is Broken Part 2" [14x10]). He then ran off again. He was on the run for a year, spending some time in Winnipeg ("Manhunt" [15x03]) before being found in Windsor working at an auto shop for a man named Roger Shipley. Margaret was the one who went looking for him, but man helping her find him turned out to be Charles Appleby, the father of the man Bobby had killed who tried to shoot Bobby to avenge his son. Margaret took a bullet for him, and she and Thomas finally persuaded him to come home.

In "Clean Hands" [16x06], Bobby revealed to his parents that in prison, he converted to Catholicism, a development accepted by his mother but not his father, who was Protestant and did not want his son to be Catholic. As of "Diamonds in the Sand" [19x02], he is nearing the end of his sentence and awaiting release.

THE APPEAL

HEADCANONS

she/they | transfem - genderqueer - bisexual - possibly demiromantic

How I deal with Bobby's gender varies by the context. In canon context, she's a cross-dresser, a boy who's a girl who's not quite a man or a woman. I haven't yet exactly decided where exactly I'm going with it all, but I've been playing around with the idea of identity changes and draft dodging (World War 1 starts distressingly soon) and how it ties in with how violence and gender roles made her what she is. In modern AUs, they're nonbinary as well as transfem, though usually I think they ID as binary trans for a bit before coming out as NB.

Before I settled with my current iteration, I used to play around with genderfluid/agender any pronouns bobby, much closer to my own identity and presentation.

Fun fact : She was raised on classic Broadway, courtesy of her dad. She never took to it like her brother did, but she's still fond of it, and her favourite musical is Sweeney Todd.

In most modern AUs, I don’t actually imagine Bobby as having killed Gerard. It says something about us, to want to ignore and forget about the harsher realities of canon for something easier to digest.