Phineas Mason / Tinkerer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
intelinside) wrote2021-04-01 02:24 am
intelinside) wrote2021-04-01 02:24 am
Entry tags:
Expanded History, Personality, Skills, Etc.
World Information:
The world of Spectacular Spider-Man is nearly indistinguishable from our own. At the end of canon it's spring of 2009, so Barack Obama has just become the U.S. president and everyone's still either using or refusing to use Windows Vista. Some of the biggest differences seem to be a lack of superhero media (as Peter Parker doesn't even seem to have fictional characters to look to for inspiration) and the fact that, while technological and scientific advancements of the world overall are at the same level as real life, a few individuals are much further advanced than anything that exists today.
There are also a few small differences, namely the fact that for several recent years most of the organized crime in New York City was controlled by one single individual, a mysterious figure referred to only as the Big Man, and the recent discovery in November 2008 of a (supposedly) very basic and non-sentient form of alien life.
But the biggest difference of all is, of course, the existence of superheroes and supervillains! Or, rather, the very early existence. And it's only one superhero, NYC's very own Spider-Man, while even non-supervillain criminals seem to be flirting with the idea -- at least, the ones that rank above petty thug. Every crime lord and specialty criminal seems to have a code name and some strange abilities, and/or is starting to work with supervillains or even commission new ones in order to keep up... Which the Tinkerer is happy to help with.
Personal History:
(Anything extrapolating from canon but not 100% canonical will be italicized. Italicized dates are inexact but as close as possible.)
Pre-Canon: Phineas Mason meets Chameleon at least 3-4 years before the events of canon, maybe even more. He leaves his legal job and starts working with Chameleon as a criminal, making advanced tech and sometimes playing small roles out in the field. At some point, at least a year or two pre-canon, Phineas is introduced to Quentin Beck as they both wind up necessary to help Chameleon do a job. The three work so well together that, while they all do their own thing occasionally, they start working together often. By the events of canon they've reached a point where they basically never pass up the chance to do so.
October 31, 2008 (The Uncertainty Principle): Chameleon infiltrates Oscorp disguised as Norman Osborn and uses a flash drive that Phineas designed to download Oscorp company secrets.
In-Between: Chameleon and co. are hired by an unnamed "General" to steal the sludge-like and believed-to-be-non-sentient alien lifeform that was discovered on the space shuttle on Halloween night. They make their preparations, though what Phineas put together for the occasion is unclear -- potentially the fake prosthetic for Chameleon's disguise?
November 17-19, 2008 (Persona): After Chameleon's attempt at impersonating Dr. Curt Connors to steal "the alien life form" for an unnamed military general fails, Phineas Mason is there playing cards with Quentin Beck in the boarded-up old hair salon Phineas legally owns that they're using as their hideout when they get news that they aren't going to get paid for this one. Chameleon's gotten the idea to impersonate Spider-Man, however, framing him as a criminal and reaping the benefits, and enlists "all [Phineas's] mechanical ability."
Phineas works with Beck to make Chameleon not only a Spider-Man disguise, but one that can imitate many of Spider-Man's powers, though he's given less than 12 hours to work and so the results are definitely not what he's fully capable of.
The next day, Phineas is there alongside Beck "being held hostage" as Chameleon robs a bank disguised as Spider-Man. Phineas surreptitiously slips on a pair of high-tech goggles over his glasses that allow him to take pictures of the robbery and anonymously email them to J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle.
Later that evening, the mayor is throwing a fancy re-election party on her yacht to solicit support for the upcoming election. Phineas and Beck sneak on board as a crewman and a waiter respectively, while Chameleon first gets on board by pretending to be Norman Osborn, then sneaks away to change into the Spider-Man disguise instead. Phineas waits outside, and when things go south and Chameleon and Beck run out with the loot, uses his watch to remote-control a waiting speedboat over to them. When Spider-Man shows up, he throws a frisbee-like drone, of sorts, that homes in on Spider-Man and starts firing a laser weapon, though Spider-Man quickly destroys it.
Black Cat grabs Phineas and Beck before they can jump into the getaway boat; Beck drops a smoke-bomb to attempt escape, but she promptly knocks them both out. All three are arrested and put in the back of a police van, but Chameleon escapes disguised as one of the cops before the van can even leave the harbor, to Phineas's apparent satisfaction.
In-Between: Given that "the perps [Spider-Man] nabs almost always walk" ("Survival of the Fittest")... With Chameleon gone, a bunch of confused witnesses, and Spider-Man not exactly able to take the stand himself, no charges against Phineas Mason or Quentin Beck stick. They don't go to trial at all.
Not too long after November 24th, someone calling themself the Master Planner contacts Phineas and Beck and commissions a supervillain to steal various technology and parts. Intrigued by the idea, Beck designs Mysterio and Phineas helps make the costume, not to mention all of the large amount of advanced technology that Mysterio will use to pretend to have magic powers. He also makes a bunch of androids to dress up in the Mysterio costume, and assumes that Beck will use SFX to make the androids look like some random person for misdirection purposes.
While working all of this, Phineas starts toying with the idea of calling himself the Tinkerer and getting more involved with selling his inventions to whoever's willing to pay for them. It's a very involved, tricky, fun, and rewarding project!
December 5-6, 2008 (Blueprints): Mysterio finally goes through with the plan, using the vast amounts of advanced tech that Tinkerer made to fake having magic powers and confound any attempts to keep them from stealing the technology the Master Planner wants! Until Spider-Man shows up and eventually follows Mysterio back to the prop house that is their base, another piece of property that Phineas legally owns. While Spider-Man fights Mystero, Phineas controls several things in the background during the battle, such as the giant teddy bear robot, the swinging ax, and the blow darts.
In the end, though, Mysterio winds up defeated. Spider-Man webs the supervillain up and leaves before the police arrive, and Phineas takes the opportunity to extract Beck from the webbing and put an android in there instead.
After the android decoy is arrested and the police leave, Phineas assures the real Beck that they're gone. He chews Beck out a little for "[making] your android look just like you!" and is exasperated at their dramatic reasoning that no one else should be allowed to take credit for the role of Mysterio. He then contacts the Master Planner to let them know that the police had come and gone without finding any of the technology that Mysterio had stolen, and that it's all still in their possession.
In-Between: Tinkerer continues working with the Master Planner, legally purchasing the building that the Master Planner hires construction workers to build an attached secret underwater lair. He begins some of the work at putting the technology together, but doesn't work on the bulk of it just yet. He also hacks into basically every camera in New York City to keep an eye on Spider-Man's movements for the Master Planner.
At some point in here, the Master Planner reveals to Tinkerer that he is Doctor Octopus! Beck may or may not have found out as well around this time, either through Otto themself or through Phineas.
December 23-24, 2008 (Reinforcement): Tinkerer is keeping an eye on the cameras outside the Big Sky Billiard Room when Spider-Man finally gets a little info out of Patch and finds out that Mysterio's employer is called the Master Planner. He immediately alerts Master Planner that "Spider-Man's closing in," and is told to proceed in breaking Vulture, Sandman, and Rhino out of Ryker's, breaking Doctor Octopus and Electro out of Ravencroft, and contacting Mysterio and Kraven.
Tinkerer proceeds to somehow get a hologram of Adrian Toomes into the cell that Vulture and Mysterio share, as well as loosening the head from the Beck android so that it falls off when the guard touches it! And actually breaks the three out of Ryker's via drones smuggled in inside the Beck android that had been arrested weeks ago -- he and the Master Planner had planned ahead. He tells Kraven to go and liberate Doctor Octopus and Electro, though Doctor Octopus has seemingly regressed back to the meek and terrified Otto Octavius and refuses to go with them.
(Sometime during the 24th and/or 25th, Tinkerer and Vulture work together to assemble the stolen technology and create a system where Doctor Octopus's brain can wirelessly connect to every single computer and camera in New York City.)
He leads Kraven and Electro into the main room of the Master Planner's secret lair, where everyone else is already gathered, and does the introductions just to make things official, even though he knows most of them know one another already. He then kinda low-key-dramatically introduces them to their "host and benefactor," the Master Planner, who shows up only as a dark silhouette on the large computer screen at the front of the room. The Master Planner expresses regret that Doctor Octopus refused to join them, since they now cannot be the Sinister Seven; when Rhino asks if Tinkerer doesn't make seven, Mysterio assures that he's "strictly tech support" and "useless in a fight." They proceed to make a plan, or rather listen to the Master Planner's plan, on how to take out Spider-Man.
When facing down Spider-Man, Mysterio uses even more tech made by Tinkerer, including a flying, fire-breathing Chinese-style robot dragon and an exploding android.
When the plan fails, Tinkerer extracts all of the Sinister Six from where they're restrained... or, as he says, "nearly" all.
December 25-31, 2008 (Reinforcement & Shear Strength): Tinkerer sends Doctor Octopus's metal arms to Ravencroft to "forcibly retrieve" Otto Octavius. He's there with Vulture and Electro when the Master Planner arrives and is revealed to be Doctor Octopus, and has obviously been in on it for a while now! Ock explains why the subterfuge was necessary, then asks if they're ready to begin; Tinkerer affirms with some real Mad Scientist Mischief energy that all they have left to do are "calibrations and testing" -- something that he, Vulture, Electro, and maybe Doctor Octopus themself work together on.
Tinkerer keeps an eye on the wireless server while Doctor Octopus mentally hacks into a remote detonation system in order to try to bring down a building on Norman Osborn. He's dissatisfied with fluctuations that he noticed and asks Electro for more power in reserve, and Ock soothes him, assuring that he and Vulture did "a commendable job."
Ock can't hack into the isolated system that holds the global portal codes at Homeland Security, though, and sends Electro and Vulture out to kidnap Gwen Stacy, giving the Master Planner leverage against her father, Police Captain George Stacy. Tinkerer is sent out with them as the getaway driver.
While the kidnapping itself goes off without a hitch, the getaway unfortunately goes very wrong. As soon as Ock alerts them that they're being followed by Spider-Man, Electro starts blasting at him out the window, making it impossible to ditch him as Tinkerer had been planning. Electro loses track of him after some explosions obscure visibility, and Spider-Man promptly kicks his way in through the windshield, giving Tinkerer pretty visibly bad whiplash and causing the entire van to skid out, do a nearly complete roll, and crash into a building.
Electro escapes; unfortunately, Tinkerer does not. Spider-Man yanks him up to the roof of the building and proceeds to threaten him into telling him where Gwen is being taken. When that doesn't initially work, Tinkerer calling his bluff that he'd "do anything rash," Spider-Man throws him off the building and lets him fall a pretty long way before catching him by one leg, smacking his head into the side of the building. Tinkerer says he "knew [he] wouldn't really let [him] fall," and Spider-Man drops him again, catching him by both legs that time and all but saying that if he gets a third strike he's dead. Tinkerer, who's lost his glasses to the street below by that point, is terrified enough that he tells Spider-Man where the base is and exactly how to get inside.
In-Between: Mysterio uses one of the flying "lightning" platforms to rescue Tinkerer from where Spider-Man left him hanging halfway up the building before he can be arrested. Tinkerer is shaken and takes a little bit of time off to recuperate. At some point in late January/early February, he is contacted and commissioned by Tombstone, the Big Man of Crime in New York City.
February 7, 2009 (Probable Cause): Tinkerer oversees sparring practice (and product testing) in a warehouse; he's revealed to have made skill enhancement suits for Fancy Dan and Ox, the two Enforcers who didn't have supervillain costumes and powers already. Fancy Dan, as Ricochet, now has a suit that lets him use kinetic energy to absolutely pinball around, complimenting his already acrobatic and martial arts heavy fighting style; Ox, who is uninterested in using any other name when Tinkerer asks, has a suit that boosts his already immense strength and ability to take hits as well as upping his speed a bit. Tombstone has been watching, and makes it clear that he fully approves of the results. (Though the Enforcers wind up arrested two nights later.)
After: Tombstone makes it clear that he may have more work for Tinkerer in the future. Phineas gives Beck controls built into Mysterio's gauntlets capable of shutting down/locking up Ricochet and Ox's suits, just in case. He lets Doctor Octopus know that he is available again for further projects and works on getting his name out there more and expanding his potential customer base. The Spectacular Spider-Man ends, in-universe, on March 22, 2009.
Personality:
CHAMELEON: Mason, I'll need all your mechanical ability.
When we first meet Phineas Mason, he presents a somewhat different picture than we'll get from him later. He's a quiet, efficient professional -- he never talks onscreen in that first episode, in fact, mostly because they didn't cast a voice actor for him until the second season -- working closely with Chameleon and Quentin Beck, and it comes across as if they've been working together for some time. He's Chameleon's inventor and trusted accomplice; he goes out into the field to play roles fairly regularly, though he draws less attention to himself and plays a bit less of an active role than Beck does. It's a risky job, but he doesn't seem to like when things go wrong, and while he thinks quickly when faced with Spider-Man and slows him down with some tech, when he and Beck are grabbed by Black Cat he is utterly useless (and seems like he'd really rather not be in that situation). So what's really obvious about him from his sole episode in the first season is that he's a team player who's good at working in a group and doesn't mind a bit of risk but isn't great at contributing on the scene when things really start going wrong.
PHINEAS MASON: Heheheh. They're gone. But you're a fool! Why make your android look just like you? You could've made it look like anyone!
QUENTIN BECK: What, and let anyone take credit for the role of Mysterio?
PHINEAS MASON: Actors.
When Phineas reappears in the second season, with a voice actor this time, we get to see more of his personality. For one thing, he's revealed to still be working with Quentin Beck, after Chameleon's escape and disappearance, and both of them are now working for someone calling himself the Master Planner. He's still inclined towards working in a group; it's also implied that he'd been talking to the cops before they left with the Beck android, which would mean he probably legally owns that prop house and also that he did a pretty good job at acting in front of the cops and pretending to just be a civilian. Guy has a cool head when things aren't hitting the fan or he feels like things are mostly under his control still. This also hints that he can come across as personable, and that he may well know how to use the law to his advantage and maybe even enjoys keeping it on his side as long as possible and taking advantage of it.
He also switches to scolding Beck pretty quickly for what he sees as unnecessary carelessness/showboating, and all but rolls his eyes at their dramatic reasoning for wanting to claim "the role of Mysterio." Later episodes show that despite that, Phineas is far from immune to theatrics himself, obviously enjoying himself when he introduces the Sinister Six to "our host and benefactor, the Master Planner," and slowly becoming even more theatrical, so that when Doctor Octopus shows up, Phineas says things like "Welcome to your lair, 'Master Planner'," and seems to enjoy playing full-on mad scientist with lines such as "All that remains is calibration. And testing." Complete with steepled fingers and a wicked grin. (No joke.) But then, it's pretty obvious that Phineas has to have some drama in his blood, or he wouldn't be working so closely with actors and showy supervillains in the first place.
RHINO: What about this guy?
MYSTERIO: Strictly technical support. Trust me, he is useless in a fight.
It's not just his not-entirely-admitted-to enjoyment of drama; Phineas Mason is a tiny bit of an adrenaline junkie, and he might not fully admit to that either. On the one hand, he seems to get a bit of a rush from being in situations of controlled danger, and sometimes even when the situation is out of his control. ("Or else what, boy scout? We both know the hero won't do anything rash." That pupil constriction, man.) On the other, usually when the situation gets out of his control he looks like he's maybe rethinking all of his recent life choices. He is pretty much useless in a fight, but he's not 100% willing to walk the straight-and-narrow or even stay totally behind the scenes at all times, even if that would be a lot safer and his skill set is mostly geared toward that sort of thing anyway.
That said, he usually is doing a lot of work behind the curtain, not just creating things for others to use out in the field but also operating tech from a distance, keeping an eye on surveillance, communicating over headset, and even being in charge of extractions for the Sinister Six long-distance once. He's a strange mix of caution and taking somewhat unnecessary risks, not being suited to real danger and being aware of it and also flirting with it in small, controlled doses... or at least doses that he seems to hope will be small and controlled.
PHINEAS MASON: I didn't like the power fluctuations. I want more in reserve.
ELECTRO: Workin' on it.
OTTO OCTAVIUS: Minor problem, Phineas. You and Adrian have done a commendable job assembling the technology Mysterio stole for us.
In "Shear Strength," it's shown that Phineas doesn't just prefer to work in groups, but can also get close very quickly to the people he's working with. The episode starts on December 25th, and he's obviously known for a little while that the Master Planner was really Doctor Octopus -- and was possibly the very first person to find out. If the Master Planner first contacted him and Quentin Beck after Doctor Octopus was rearrested and sent to Ravencroft Asylum, which seems to be the most likely case, it would have been less than a month between Phineas coming to work for the Master Planner and Otto coming to trust him enough to let him in on the secret. According to series creator Greg Weisman, the characters with Doctor Octopus in "Shear Strength" are basically Ock's inner circle, the people they trusts most and the only ones they currently wants to reveal their identity as the Master Planner to: Tinkerer, Vulture, and Electro. Given that Electro is vocally devoted to and practically worships "the Doc," and Adrian Toomes has been Otto Octavius's good friend for at least a few years before the start of canon, the fondness and loyalty implied in Tinkerer's case is almost surprising even if it's also very understated.
Phineas's perfectionism also first noticeably rears its head in this episode, which makes the fact that he worked with Adrian on this particular project interesting. He's also shown to be calm when acting as the getaway driver for Electro, right up until she starts blasting electricity at Spider-Man out the window; when Ock contacts them to let them know that they're being followed by Spider-Man, Phineas's immediate response is a confident, "Not a problem. We'll ditch him," once again showing that he doesn't really get freaked out until things start to totally get away from him. He's also surprisingly gutsy, keeping things together until Spider-Man bursts in through the getaway van's windshield, and then even after a drastic crash and being yanked up an incredibly tall building and threatened for information, he only crumbles and agrees to tell Spider-Man what he wants to do after being tossed off the building twice.
I also feel the need to talk about his moral compass here. Because it's... interesting. I wouldn't call him amoral, and he doesn't hurt people directly. Even the crimes he's involved in are bloodless ones. (Including the abduction of sixteen-year-old Gwen Stacy, oddly enough. Even the Enforcers didn't really threaten anyone but Spider-Man in the episode where he built Ricochet and Ox's suits, despite being Tombstone's, well, mob enforcers.) But he's still willing to make some dangerous tech for a bunch of different criminals, including some seriously dangerous ones, and he's willing to get out there and help frame others for crimes, help steal things, help criminals escape the scene of the crime, and outright act as the getaway driver for robberies and abduction cases.
While he might not be inclined to start trouble all on his own, it's far from impossible that he'll lend a hand to someone who's going to make trouble, is what I'm saying. But then, he may well lend a hand to people who are just doing their own thing neutrally, too, or even to "good guys." Whatever other reasons he has to be into crime, he's not actually in it to hurt people.
TINKERER: You see? My skill enhancement suits work perfectly. And a slight adjustment to your kinetic energy regulator will put even more 'ric' in your 'ochet'.
Phineas is well aware of his own skills in a way that isn't arrogant or egotistical. He's just willing to acknowledge that he's an expert and his work is brilliant. No false modesty. He also seems to appreciate the people who can also acknowledge that he does brilliant work and who themselves appreciate what he does and can do for them. He's a professional and fully capable of treating the contracts he takes as a business, as he's willing to work with someone who even at the time is not on great terms with the Sinister Six -- and is on good enough terms with Tombstone despite Tombstone considering the Six to be nuisances at best. And while he knows he's maybe the best at what he does (at least in his own world), he is also a bit of a perfectionist -- even when outright saying his inventions "work perfectly," he still can't keep himself from stepping in and making slight adjustments right then and there, while Fancy Dan is actively wearing the Ricochet suit in question.
Finally? He's a goddamn dork. It's not just his mild "theatrical supervillain/mad scientist" moments, sometimes he'll just come out with stuff like the above that isn't actually a joke or a pun, it isn't even remotely wordplay, it's just awful.
Key themes:
• Risk/Caution Balance: On the one hand, Phineas isn't good in a fight and he knows it. He doesn't seem to like situations that are too high-stress or out of his control; while he threw a laser-shooting disc weapon at Spider-Man once, he doesn't really seem to do fighting otherwise, and he often prefers to stand back and create things and/or operate them at a distance instead, keeping an eye on cameras and in touch via headset, sending inventions out to perform extractions... as Mysterio put it, "technical support." When really start to go wrong he really does not seem to enjoy it.
On the other hand... Phineas is more of a risk-taker than he might admit. He seems to enjoy the rush at least a little; when Spider-Man was threatening him he seemed kind of hyped up until Spidey actually dropped him off the building, he went out into the field multiple times playing roles when working with Chameleon, he acted as the Sinister Six's getaway driver and was confident enough that he could ditch Spider-Man that he may have been Chameleon's driver before on some occasions too. Plus there's the fact that he seems to be a career criminal just for the fun of it in the first place. He's also willing to take jobs from dangerous people who aren't happy with the group he's affiliated with.
Basically? Guy seems to be trying to balance being something of an adrenaline junkie with not being suited or inclined to actually dangerous situations. He's not always great at striking that balance.
• Professional Pride: Tinkerer is a genius inventor and he's a professional to boot. He can make things that no one else can, work with others incredibly well, incorporate and riff off of other people's inventions, and build a ton of things to spec. He knows he's good and he isn't arrogant about it; he's actually very exacting in his work and even a bit of a perfectionist, making small adjustments even after a project is pretty much completely done and would be perfectly acceptable to other people just the way it is.
He's also willing to make things for basically anyone who can make it worth his while, and is especially seen to work with or take commissions from the people who seem to value his abilities and give positive feedback. Even going out in the field from time to time may be in part due to wanting to see a project through: If Doctor Octopus wants him to put together advanced computer and routing systems and then needs to kidnap a teenager to use it to its full potential, then maybe Phineas needs to be a getaway driver to help out with that, and if Chameleon is going to have him make a fake Spider-Man suit to rob a bank in, Phineas will be there to take pictures and help with the frame-job.
Finally... He does his job, inventing these things for criminals, because it's what he wants to be doing. There really can't be any other reason; with the things he invents he could make a lot of money legally, and there are much safer jobs. He's good at his work, this specific work, because he loves it.
• Loyalty: Phineas could easily be a loner, working by himself in a lab or warehouse and just taking commissions from people with money to burn. He's not, though. He's quietly tied to several other characters and loyal enough to keep working with them and going back to them, even if there isn't really anything in it for him that he couldn't get elsewhere.
He works incredibly well with Chameleon and they (and Quentin Beck) seem to have been working together for at least a little while before they appear in canon, and they work together well and are familiar with one another. Mysterio's entire shtick and power-set depends on advanced technology that's indistinguishable from magic -- technology that Mysterio blatantly gets from the Tinkerer, and it goes unsaid that this will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future. Maybe a month after first being contacted by the Master Planner, Phineas becomes so trusted by Otto Octavius that he's the very first person to find out that the Master Planner is Doctor Octopus and becomes one of the very few members of Otto's most trusted inner circle. Phineas backs these people up from a distance and is willing to go out into the field for them.
He may be an auxiliary member of the Sinister Six, not officially counted as one of their number, but his willingness to accept a commission from Tombstone when Tombstone considers the Sinister Six to be nuisances at best should not be mistaken for disloyalty. (Also, as mentioned above? He seems to be most loyal to and work best with the people who most appreciate his skills and what he contributes, and just with the people he gets on well and "clicks" with in general.)
Main Motivation:
Honestly? His own personal enjoyment. This isn't as bad as it sounds; it doesn't just encompass the fact that he's a career criminal almost entirely because he enjoys it, but also the little things like how he's loyal to the people he clicks best with, too. This also leads him to do things that aren't necessarily in his best interest if something calls to him to do things that way. Usually his sub-motivation is actually one of his key themes: either "I like this person a lot," "I'm good at this thing and enjoy doing it," or adrenaline.
Skills:
• Inventive Brilliance: Phineas is kind of a genius and it takes the form of him being incredibly good with technology.
Like, ridiculously good. For all that he had less than 10 minutes of screentime, he was able to make a lot of advanced tech: a playing card drone, picture-taking goggles, a watch that allows him to remote-control a speedboat, a flying laser-shooting disc that seems to lock onto moving heat signatures, boots that allow the wearer to jump very high and absorb the shock of a fall, gauntlets that can remote control a ton of other tech, flying lightning machines, hologram projectors with incredibly realistic holograms (mostly dragons but also a tiger and specific humans), a giant killer robot teddy bear, tikis that shoot darts, a flying robot with a holographic dragon disguise that can breathe fire, remote-operated transport things that can drill through solid and even frozen ground, a computer with many monitors that could hack into every single security camera in New York City, androids that are so convincing that they can get sent to a high security prison for several months at a time, multiple times, without anyone noticing they're androids, and various suits that basically confer superpowers. With Vulture's help, he was also able to put together a wireless server that allowed Doctor Octopus to hack into every camera and computer in New York City using his own mind and that also routed the signals to keep them from being too overwhelming.
• Acting Ability: While he's much more limited in this sense than Chameleon or Quentin Beck, Phineas has gone out in the field before for their jobs and is far from incapable of putting on a decent act. He has canonically pretended to be a hostage at a bank robbery and a crewman for the mayor's yacht. I'm pretty sure he was also bluffing like hell himself when he called Spider-Man's bluff in "Shear Strength," and that he put on a good "totally innocent legal property owner" act for the police when they came to the prop house to arrest Quentin Beck('s android) in "Blueprints." And he's pretty personable, which leads to...
• Professional Connections: Now, admittedly, this is a lot more useful in his canon universe. Phineas Mason has worked with Chameleon, Mysterio, Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Electro, Kraven, Sandman, and Rhino, and he's also made things for Tombstone, Shocker, Ricochet, and Ox besides. In AUs and crossovers he may or may not have any of those connections, of course. But this is also to show that he's pretty good at finding contract work and forming professional connections. His inventions are worth every penny and he's good at convincing people of that! He also seems to be on at least reasonably good terms with everyone he's ever worked with or for as well as them always being satisfied with his work.
The world of Spectacular Spider-Man is nearly indistinguishable from our own. At the end of canon it's spring of 2009, so Barack Obama has just become the U.S. president and everyone's still either using or refusing to use Windows Vista. Some of the biggest differences seem to be a lack of superhero media (as Peter Parker doesn't even seem to have fictional characters to look to for inspiration) and the fact that, while technological and scientific advancements of the world overall are at the same level as real life, a few individuals are much further advanced than anything that exists today.
There are also a few small differences, namely the fact that for several recent years most of the organized crime in New York City was controlled by one single individual, a mysterious figure referred to only as the Big Man, and the recent discovery in November 2008 of a (supposedly) very basic and non-sentient form of alien life.
But the biggest difference of all is, of course, the existence of superheroes and supervillains! Or, rather, the very early existence. And it's only one superhero, NYC's very own Spider-Man, while even non-supervillain criminals seem to be flirting with the idea -- at least, the ones that rank above petty thug. Every crime lord and specialty criminal seems to have a code name and some strange abilities, and/or is starting to work with supervillains or even commission new ones in order to keep up... Which the Tinkerer is happy to help with.
Personal History:
(Anything extrapolating from canon but not 100% canonical will be italicized. Italicized dates are inexact but as close as possible.)
Pre-Canon: Phineas Mason meets Chameleon at least 3-4 years before the events of canon, maybe even more. He leaves his legal job and starts working with Chameleon as a criminal, making advanced tech and sometimes playing small roles out in the field. At some point, at least a year or two pre-canon, Phineas is introduced to Quentin Beck as they both wind up necessary to help Chameleon do a job. The three work so well together that, while they all do their own thing occasionally, they start working together often. By the events of canon they've reached a point where they basically never pass up the chance to do so.
October 31, 2008 (The Uncertainty Principle): Chameleon infiltrates Oscorp disguised as Norman Osborn and uses a flash drive that Phineas designed to download Oscorp company secrets.
In-Between: Chameleon and co. are hired by an unnamed "General" to steal the sludge-like and believed-to-be-non-sentient alien lifeform that was discovered on the space shuttle on Halloween night. They make their preparations, though what Phineas put together for the occasion is unclear -- potentially the fake prosthetic for Chameleon's disguise?
November 17-19, 2008 (Persona): After Chameleon's attempt at impersonating Dr. Curt Connors to steal "the alien life form" for an unnamed military general fails, Phineas Mason is there playing cards with Quentin Beck in the boarded-up old hair salon Phineas legally owns that they're using as their hideout when they get news that they aren't going to get paid for this one. Chameleon's gotten the idea to impersonate Spider-Man, however, framing him as a criminal and reaping the benefits, and enlists "all [Phineas's] mechanical ability."
Phineas works with Beck to make Chameleon not only a Spider-Man disguise, but one that can imitate many of Spider-Man's powers, though he's given less than 12 hours to work and so the results are definitely not what he's fully capable of.
The next day, Phineas is there alongside Beck "being held hostage" as Chameleon robs a bank disguised as Spider-Man. Phineas surreptitiously slips on a pair of high-tech goggles over his glasses that allow him to take pictures of the robbery and anonymously email them to J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle.
Later that evening, the mayor is throwing a fancy re-election party on her yacht to solicit support for the upcoming election. Phineas and Beck sneak on board as a crewman and a waiter respectively, while Chameleon first gets on board by pretending to be Norman Osborn, then sneaks away to change into the Spider-Man disguise instead. Phineas waits outside, and when things go south and Chameleon and Beck run out with the loot, uses his watch to remote-control a waiting speedboat over to them. When Spider-Man shows up, he throws a frisbee-like drone, of sorts, that homes in on Spider-Man and starts firing a laser weapon, though Spider-Man quickly destroys it.
Black Cat grabs Phineas and Beck before they can jump into the getaway boat; Beck drops a smoke-bomb to attempt escape, but she promptly knocks them both out. All three are arrested and put in the back of a police van, but Chameleon escapes disguised as one of the cops before the van can even leave the harbor, to Phineas's apparent satisfaction.
In-Between: Given that "the perps [Spider-Man] nabs almost always walk" ("Survival of the Fittest")... With Chameleon gone, a bunch of confused witnesses, and Spider-Man not exactly able to take the stand himself, no charges against Phineas Mason or Quentin Beck stick. They don't go to trial at all.
Not too long after November 24th, someone calling themself the Master Planner contacts Phineas and Beck and commissions a supervillain to steal various technology and parts. Intrigued by the idea, Beck designs Mysterio and Phineas helps make the costume, not to mention all of the large amount of advanced technology that Mysterio will use to pretend to have magic powers. He also makes a bunch of androids to dress up in the Mysterio costume, and assumes that Beck will use SFX to make the androids look like some random person for misdirection purposes.
While working all of this, Phineas starts toying with the idea of calling himself the Tinkerer and getting more involved with selling his inventions to whoever's willing to pay for them. It's a very involved, tricky, fun, and rewarding project!
December 5-6, 2008 (Blueprints): Mysterio finally goes through with the plan, using the vast amounts of advanced tech that Tinkerer made to fake having magic powers and confound any attempts to keep them from stealing the technology the Master Planner wants! Until Spider-Man shows up and eventually follows Mysterio back to the prop house that is their base, another piece of property that Phineas legally owns. While Spider-Man fights Mystero, Phineas controls several things in the background during the battle, such as the giant teddy bear robot, the swinging ax, and the blow darts.
In the end, though, Mysterio winds up defeated. Spider-Man webs the supervillain up and leaves before the police arrive, and Phineas takes the opportunity to extract Beck from the webbing and put an android in there instead.
After the android decoy is arrested and the police leave, Phineas assures the real Beck that they're gone. He chews Beck out a little for "[making] your android look just like you!" and is exasperated at their dramatic reasoning that no one else should be allowed to take credit for the role of Mysterio. He then contacts the Master Planner to let them know that the police had come and gone without finding any of the technology that Mysterio had stolen, and that it's all still in their possession.
In-Between: Tinkerer continues working with the Master Planner, legally purchasing the building that the Master Planner hires construction workers to build an attached secret underwater lair. He begins some of the work at putting the technology together, but doesn't work on the bulk of it just yet. He also hacks into basically every camera in New York City to keep an eye on Spider-Man's movements for the Master Planner.
At some point in here, the Master Planner reveals to Tinkerer that he is Doctor Octopus! Beck may or may not have found out as well around this time, either through Otto themself or through Phineas.
December 23-24, 2008 (Reinforcement): Tinkerer is keeping an eye on the cameras outside the Big Sky Billiard Room when Spider-Man finally gets a little info out of Patch and finds out that Mysterio's employer is called the Master Planner. He immediately alerts Master Planner that "Spider-Man's closing in," and is told to proceed in breaking Vulture, Sandman, and Rhino out of Ryker's, breaking Doctor Octopus and Electro out of Ravencroft, and contacting Mysterio and Kraven.
Tinkerer proceeds to somehow get a hologram of Adrian Toomes into the cell that Vulture and Mysterio share, as well as loosening the head from the Beck android so that it falls off when the guard touches it! And actually breaks the three out of Ryker's via drones smuggled in inside the Beck android that had been arrested weeks ago -- he and the Master Planner had planned ahead. He tells Kraven to go and liberate Doctor Octopus and Electro, though Doctor Octopus has seemingly regressed back to the meek and terrified Otto Octavius and refuses to go with them.
(Sometime during the 24th and/or 25th, Tinkerer and Vulture work together to assemble the stolen technology and create a system where Doctor Octopus's brain can wirelessly connect to every single computer and camera in New York City.)
He leads Kraven and Electro into the main room of the Master Planner's secret lair, where everyone else is already gathered, and does the introductions just to make things official, even though he knows most of them know one another already. He then kinda low-key-dramatically introduces them to their "host and benefactor," the Master Planner, who shows up only as a dark silhouette on the large computer screen at the front of the room. The Master Planner expresses regret that Doctor Octopus refused to join them, since they now cannot be the Sinister Seven; when Rhino asks if Tinkerer doesn't make seven, Mysterio assures that he's "strictly tech support" and "useless in a fight." They proceed to make a plan, or rather listen to the Master Planner's plan, on how to take out Spider-Man.
When facing down Spider-Man, Mysterio uses even more tech made by Tinkerer, including a flying, fire-breathing Chinese-style robot dragon and an exploding android.
When the plan fails, Tinkerer extracts all of the Sinister Six from where they're restrained... or, as he says, "nearly" all.
December 25-31, 2008 (Reinforcement & Shear Strength): Tinkerer sends Doctor Octopus's metal arms to Ravencroft to "forcibly retrieve" Otto Octavius. He's there with Vulture and Electro when the Master Planner arrives and is revealed to be Doctor Octopus, and has obviously been in on it for a while now! Ock explains why the subterfuge was necessary, then asks if they're ready to begin; Tinkerer affirms with some real Mad Scientist Mischief energy that all they have left to do are "calibrations and testing" -- something that he, Vulture, Electro, and maybe Doctor Octopus themself work together on.
Tinkerer keeps an eye on the wireless server while Doctor Octopus mentally hacks into a remote detonation system in order to try to bring down a building on Norman Osborn. He's dissatisfied with fluctuations that he noticed and asks Electro for more power in reserve, and Ock soothes him, assuring that he and Vulture did "a commendable job."
Ock can't hack into the isolated system that holds the global portal codes at Homeland Security, though, and sends Electro and Vulture out to kidnap Gwen Stacy, giving the Master Planner leverage against her father, Police Captain George Stacy. Tinkerer is sent out with them as the getaway driver.
While the kidnapping itself goes off without a hitch, the getaway unfortunately goes very wrong. As soon as Ock alerts them that they're being followed by Spider-Man, Electro starts blasting at him out the window, making it impossible to ditch him as Tinkerer had been planning. Electro loses track of him after some explosions obscure visibility, and Spider-Man promptly kicks his way in through the windshield, giving Tinkerer pretty visibly bad whiplash and causing the entire van to skid out, do a nearly complete roll, and crash into a building.
Electro escapes; unfortunately, Tinkerer does not. Spider-Man yanks him up to the roof of the building and proceeds to threaten him into telling him where Gwen is being taken. When that doesn't initially work, Tinkerer calling his bluff that he'd "do anything rash," Spider-Man throws him off the building and lets him fall a pretty long way before catching him by one leg, smacking his head into the side of the building. Tinkerer says he "knew [he] wouldn't really let [him] fall," and Spider-Man drops him again, catching him by both legs that time and all but saying that if he gets a third strike he's dead. Tinkerer, who's lost his glasses to the street below by that point, is terrified enough that he tells Spider-Man where the base is and exactly how to get inside.
In-Between: Mysterio uses one of the flying "lightning" platforms to rescue Tinkerer from where Spider-Man left him hanging halfway up the building before he can be arrested. Tinkerer is shaken and takes a little bit of time off to recuperate. At some point in late January/early February, he is contacted and commissioned by Tombstone, the Big Man of Crime in New York City.
February 7, 2009 (Probable Cause): Tinkerer oversees sparring practice (and product testing) in a warehouse; he's revealed to have made skill enhancement suits for Fancy Dan and Ox, the two Enforcers who didn't have supervillain costumes and powers already. Fancy Dan, as Ricochet, now has a suit that lets him use kinetic energy to absolutely pinball around, complimenting his already acrobatic and martial arts heavy fighting style; Ox, who is uninterested in using any other name when Tinkerer asks, has a suit that boosts his already immense strength and ability to take hits as well as upping his speed a bit. Tombstone has been watching, and makes it clear that he fully approves of the results. (Though the Enforcers wind up arrested two nights later.)
After: Tombstone makes it clear that he may have more work for Tinkerer in the future. Phineas gives Beck controls built into Mysterio's gauntlets capable of shutting down/locking up Ricochet and Ox's suits, just in case. He lets Doctor Octopus know that he is available again for further projects and works on getting his name out there more and expanding his potential customer base. The Spectacular Spider-Man ends, in-universe, on March 22, 2009.
Personality:
CHAMELEON: Mason, I'll need all your mechanical ability.
When we first meet Phineas Mason, he presents a somewhat different picture than we'll get from him later. He's a quiet, efficient professional -- he never talks onscreen in that first episode, in fact, mostly because they didn't cast a voice actor for him until the second season -- working closely with Chameleon and Quentin Beck, and it comes across as if they've been working together for some time. He's Chameleon's inventor and trusted accomplice; he goes out into the field to play roles fairly regularly, though he draws less attention to himself and plays a bit less of an active role than Beck does. It's a risky job, but he doesn't seem to like when things go wrong, and while he thinks quickly when faced with Spider-Man and slows him down with some tech, when he and Beck are grabbed by Black Cat he is utterly useless (and seems like he'd really rather not be in that situation). So what's really obvious about him from his sole episode in the first season is that he's a team player who's good at working in a group and doesn't mind a bit of risk but isn't great at contributing on the scene when things really start going wrong.
PHINEAS MASON: Heheheh. They're gone. But you're a fool! Why make your android look just like you? You could've made it look like anyone!
QUENTIN BECK: What, and let anyone take credit for the role of Mysterio?
PHINEAS MASON: Actors.
When Phineas reappears in the second season, with a voice actor this time, we get to see more of his personality. For one thing, he's revealed to still be working with Quentin Beck, after Chameleon's escape and disappearance, and both of them are now working for someone calling himself the Master Planner. He's still inclined towards working in a group; it's also implied that he'd been talking to the cops before they left with the Beck android, which would mean he probably legally owns that prop house and also that he did a pretty good job at acting in front of the cops and pretending to just be a civilian. Guy has a cool head when things aren't hitting the fan or he feels like things are mostly under his control still. This also hints that he can come across as personable, and that he may well know how to use the law to his advantage and maybe even enjoys keeping it on his side as long as possible and taking advantage of it.
He also switches to scolding Beck pretty quickly for what he sees as unnecessary carelessness/showboating, and all but rolls his eyes at their dramatic reasoning for wanting to claim "the role of Mysterio." Later episodes show that despite that, Phineas is far from immune to theatrics himself, obviously enjoying himself when he introduces the Sinister Six to "our host and benefactor, the Master Planner," and slowly becoming even more theatrical, so that when Doctor Octopus shows up, Phineas says things like "Welcome to your lair, 'Master Planner'," and seems to enjoy playing full-on mad scientist with lines such as "All that remains is calibration. And testing." Complete with steepled fingers and a wicked grin. (No joke.) But then, it's pretty obvious that Phineas has to have some drama in his blood, or he wouldn't be working so closely with actors and showy supervillains in the first place.
RHINO: What about this guy?
MYSTERIO: Strictly technical support. Trust me, he is useless in a fight.
It's not just his not-entirely-admitted-to enjoyment of drama; Phineas Mason is a tiny bit of an adrenaline junkie, and he might not fully admit to that either. On the one hand, he seems to get a bit of a rush from being in situations of controlled danger, and sometimes even when the situation is out of his control. ("Or else what, boy scout? We both know the hero won't do anything rash." That pupil constriction, man.) On the other, usually when the situation gets out of his control he looks like he's maybe rethinking all of his recent life choices. He is pretty much useless in a fight, but he's not 100% willing to walk the straight-and-narrow or even stay totally behind the scenes at all times, even if that would be a lot safer and his skill set is mostly geared toward that sort of thing anyway.
That said, he usually is doing a lot of work behind the curtain, not just creating things for others to use out in the field but also operating tech from a distance, keeping an eye on surveillance, communicating over headset, and even being in charge of extractions for the Sinister Six long-distance once. He's a strange mix of caution and taking somewhat unnecessary risks, not being suited to real danger and being aware of it and also flirting with it in small, controlled doses... or at least doses that he seems to hope will be small and controlled.
PHINEAS MASON: I didn't like the power fluctuations. I want more in reserve.
ELECTRO: Workin' on it.
OTTO OCTAVIUS: Minor problem, Phineas. You and Adrian have done a commendable job assembling the technology Mysterio stole for us.
In "Shear Strength," it's shown that Phineas doesn't just prefer to work in groups, but can also get close very quickly to the people he's working with. The episode starts on December 25th, and he's obviously known for a little while that the Master Planner was really Doctor Octopus -- and was possibly the very first person to find out. If the Master Planner first contacted him and Quentin Beck after Doctor Octopus was rearrested and sent to Ravencroft Asylum, which seems to be the most likely case, it would have been less than a month between Phineas coming to work for the Master Planner and Otto coming to trust him enough to let him in on the secret. According to series creator Greg Weisman, the characters with Doctor Octopus in "Shear Strength" are basically Ock's inner circle, the people they trusts most and the only ones they currently wants to reveal their identity as the Master Planner to: Tinkerer, Vulture, and Electro. Given that Electro is vocally devoted to and practically worships "the Doc," and Adrian Toomes has been Otto Octavius's good friend for at least a few years before the start of canon, the fondness and loyalty implied in Tinkerer's case is almost surprising even if it's also very understated.
Phineas's perfectionism also first noticeably rears its head in this episode, which makes the fact that he worked with Adrian on this particular project interesting. He's also shown to be calm when acting as the getaway driver for Electro, right up until she starts blasting electricity at Spider-Man out the window; when Ock contacts them to let them know that they're being followed by Spider-Man, Phineas's immediate response is a confident, "Not a problem. We'll ditch him," once again showing that he doesn't really get freaked out until things start to totally get away from him. He's also surprisingly gutsy, keeping things together until Spider-Man bursts in through the getaway van's windshield, and then even after a drastic crash and being yanked up an incredibly tall building and threatened for information, he only crumbles and agrees to tell Spider-Man what he wants to do after being tossed off the building twice.
I also feel the need to talk about his moral compass here. Because it's... interesting. I wouldn't call him amoral, and he doesn't hurt people directly. Even the crimes he's involved in are bloodless ones. (Including the abduction of sixteen-year-old Gwen Stacy, oddly enough. Even the Enforcers didn't really threaten anyone but Spider-Man in the episode where he built Ricochet and Ox's suits, despite being Tombstone's, well, mob enforcers.) But he's still willing to make some dangerous tech for a bunch of different criminals, including some seriously dangerous ones, and he's willing to get out there and help frame others for crimes, help steal things, help criminals escape the scene of the crime, and outright act as the getaway driver for robberies and abduction cases.
While he might not be inclined to start trouble all on his own, it's far from impossible that he'll lend a hand to someone who's going to make trouble, is what I'm saying. But then, he may well lend a hand to people who are just doing their own thing neutrally, too, or even to "good guys." Whatever other reasons he has to be into crime, he's not actually in it to hurt people.
TINKERER: You see? My skill enhancement suits work perfectly. And a slight adjustment to your kinetic energy regulator will put even more 'ric' in your 'ochet'.
Phineas is well aware of his own skills in a way that isn't arrogant or egotistical. He's just willing to acknowledge that he's an expert and his work is brilliant. No false modesty. He also seems to appreciate the people who can also acknowledge that he does brilliant work and who themselves appreciate what he does and can do for them. He's a professional and fully capable of treating the contracts he takes as a business, as he's willing to work with someone who even at the time is not on great terms with the Sinister Six -- and is on good enough terms with Tombstone despite Tombstone considering the Six to be nuisances at best. And while he knows he's maybe the best at what he does (at least in his own world), he is also a bit of a perfectionist -- even when outright saying his inventions "work perfectly," he still can't keep himself from stepping in and making slight adjustments right then and there, while Fancy Dan is actively wearing the Ricochet suit in question.
Finally? He's a goddamn dork. It's not just his mild "theatrical supervillain/mad scientist" moments, sometimes he'll just come out with stuff like the above that isn't actually a joke or a pun, it isn't even remotely wordplay, it's just awful.
Key themes:
• Risk/Caution Balance: On the one hand, Phineas isn't good in a fight and he knows it. He doesn't seem to like situations that are too high-stress or out of his control; while he threw a laser-shooting disc weapon at Spider-Man once, he doesn't really seem to do fighting otherwise, and he often prefers to stand back and create things and/or operate them at a distance instead, keeping an eye on cameras and in touch via headset, sending inventions out to perform extractions... as Mysterio put it, "technical support." When really start to go wrong he really does not seem to enjoy it.
On the other hand... Phineas is more of a risk-taker than he might admit. He seems to enjoy the rush at least a little; when Spider-Man was threatening him he seemed kind of hyped up until Spidey actually dropped him off the building, he went out into the field multiple times playing roles when working with Chameleon, he acted as the Sinister Six's getaway driver and was confident enough that he could ditch Spider-Man that he may have been Chameleon's driver before on some occasions too. Plus there's the fact that he seems to be a career criminal just for the fun of it in the first place. He's also willing to take jobs from dangerous people who aren't happy with the group he's affiliated with.
Basically? Guy seems to be trying to balance being something of an adrenaline junkie with not being suited or inclined to actually dangerous situations. He's not always great at striking that balance.
• Professional Pride: Tinkerer is a genius inventor and he's a professional to boot. He can make things that no one else can, work with others incredibly well, incorporate and riff off of other people's inventions, and build a ton of things to spec. He knows he's good and he isn't arrogant about it; he's actually very exacting in his work and even a bit of a perfectionist, making small adjustments even after a project is pretty much completely done and would be perfectly acceptable to other people just the way it is.
He's also willing to make things for basically anyone who can make it worth his while, and is especially seen to work with or take commissions from the people who seem to value his abilities and give positive feedback. Even going out in the field from time to time may be in part due to wanting to see a project through: If Doctor Octopus wants him to put together advanced computer and routing systems and then needs to kidnap a teenager to use it to its full potential, then maybe Phineas needs to be a getaway driver to help out with that, and if Chameleon is going to have him make a fake Spider-Man suit to rob a bank in, Phineas will be there to take pictures and help with the frame-job.
Finally... He does his job, inventing these things for criminals, because it's what he wants to be doing. There really can't be any other reason; with the things he invents he could make a lot of money legally, and there are much safer jobs. He's good at his work, this specific work, because he loves it.
• Loyalty: Phineas could easily be a loner, working by himself in a lab or warehouse and just taking commissions from people with money to burn. He's not, though. He's quietly tied to several other characters and loyal enough to keep working with them and going back to them, even if there isn't really anything in it for him that he couldn't get elsewhere.
He works incredibly well with Chameleon and they (and Quentin Beck) seem to have been working together for at least a little while before they appear in canon, and they work together well and are familiar with one another. Mysterio's entire shtick and power-set depends on advanced technology that's indistinguishable from magic -- technology that Mysterio blatantly gets from the Tinkerer, and it goes unsaid that this will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future. Maybe a month after first being contacted by the Master Planner, Phineas becomes so trusted by Otto Octavius that he's the very first person to find out that the Master Planner is Doctor Octopus and becomes one of the very few members of Otto's most trusted inner circle. Phineas backs these people up from a distance and is willing to go out into the field for them.
He may be an auxiliary member of the Sinister Six, not officially counted as one of their number, but his willingness to accept a commission from Tombstone when Tombstone considers the Sinister Six to be nuisances at best should not be mistaken for disloyalty. (Also, as mentioned above? He seems to be most loyal to and work best with the people who most appreciate his skills and what he contributes, and just with the people he gets on well and "clicks" with in general.)
Main Motivation:
Honestly? His own personal enjoyment. This isn't as bad as it sounds; it doesn't just encompass the fact that he's a career criminal almost entirely because he enjoys it, but also the little things like how he's loyal to the people he clicks best with, too. This also leads him to do things that aren't necessarily in his best interest if something calls to him to do things that way. Usually his sub-motivation is actually one of his key themes: either "I like this person a lot," "I'm good at this thing and enjoy doing it," or adrenaline.
Skills:
• Inventive Brilliance: Phineas is kind of a genius and it takes the form of him being incredibly good with technology.
Like, ridiculously good. For all that he had less than 10 minutes of screentime, he was able to make a lot of advanced tech: a playing card drone, picture-taking goggles, a watch that allows him to remote-control a speedboat, a flying laser-shooting disc that seems to lock onto moving heat signatures, boots that allow the wearer to jump very high and absorb the shock of a fall, gauntlets that can remote control a ton of other tech, flying lightning machines, hologram projectors with incredibly realistic holograms (mostly dragons but also a tiger and specific humans), a giant killer robot teddy bear, tikis that shoot darts, a flying robot with a holographic dragon disguise that can breathe fire, remote-operated transport things that can drill through solid and even frozen ground, a computer with many monitors that could hack into every single security camera in New York City, androids that are so convincing that they can get sent to a high security prison for several months at a time, multiple times, without anyone noticing they're androids, and various suits that basically confer superpowers. With Vulture's help, he was also able to put together a wireless server that allowed Doctor Octopus to hack into every camera and computer in New York City using his own mind and that also routed the signals to keep them from being too overwhelming.
• Acting Ability: While he's much more limited in this sense than Chameleon or Quentin Beck, Phineas has gone out in the field before for their jobs and is far from incapable of putting on a decent act. He has canonically pretended to be a hostage at a bank robbery and a crewman for the mayor's yacht. I'm pretty sure he was also bluffing like hell himself when he called Spider-Man's bluff in "Shear Strength," and that he put on a good "totally innocent legal property owner" act for the police when they came to the prop house to arrest Quentin Beck('s android) in "Blueprints." And he's pretty personable, which leads to...
• Professional Connections: Now, admittedly, this is a lot more useful in his canon universe. Phineas Mason has worked with Chameleon, Mysterio, Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Electro, Kraven, Sandman, and Rhino, and he's also made things for Tombstone, Shocker, Ricochet, and Ox besides. In AUs and crossovers he may or may not have any of those connections, of course. But this is also to show that he's pretty good at finding contract work and forming professional connections. His inventions are worth every penny and he's good at convincing people of that! He also seems to be on at least reasonably good terms with everyone he's ever worked with or for as well as them always being satisfied with his work.