Wobbler

Wobbler
Name	Stephen Johnson
Race
Age	ca. 13
Occupation	hacks software, melts hardware
Physical appearance	fat
Residence	Blackbury
Death
Parents
Relatives
Children
Marital Status
Appearances
Books	Johnny Maxwell series
Cameos

"Wobbler" Johnson is Johnny Maxwell's best friend. his nickname alludes to the fact that he is so fat that he wobbles whenever he runs or walks. At school he is permanently excused from Physical Education at the request of the teacher.

Like Johnny, Yo-Less and Bigmac, Wobbler is a misfit and "Not much good at being not much good". What Wobbler is particularly not much good at is computers. He wants to be a nerd genius and out-Bill-Gates Bill Gates, but for the moment he'd settle for not causing computers to smell of burning plastic whenever he touches them. Real nerds won't let him join the nerd set.

In keeping with TP's proud tradition of not being a slave to consistency, Wobbler's level of not-much-goodness has changed over the course of the books. In Only You Can Save Mankind Wobbler was pretty good with computers, at least as far as game-piracy went (although his claim to have nearly started World War III as in War games was probably just teenage bragging). In the later books, however, his skill with computers is limited to the "fiddle with it till something happens" level.

In Johnny and the Bomb, Wobbler is accidentally marooned in the past, leading to the creation of a new leg of the Trousers of Time in which he grows up to be a fast-food magnate, venture capitalist and ultimately the richest man in the world. In this leg of the temporal britches, he is called Sir John and is a fat old man whose face appears on fast food cartons (no resemblance to "Colonel" Harlan Sanders intended, honest guv). Unless we're supposed to believe that he's called john Johnson we may assume he has assumed a false name. He did seem to wish to remember his old nickname, however, as the "Big Mac" of his empire was called the "Big Wobbler" and the advertising clown was called, to Kirsty's frank disbelief, Willy Wobbler. Actually I can't believe there was ever an age innocent enough for anyone to get away with that one, either.

For some reason the TV adaptation changed the story so that it was Johnny, not Wobbler who accidentally caused the death of his own ancestor in the past.