And with that, the methylphenidate family is finally complete!
Ritalin’s younger twin brother (D-isomer), Focalin! Developed much later than Ritalin himself. Given Focalin is far more potent than Ritalin, I’d imagine it’s one of those “my younger sibling can beat me up now and that pisses me off” situations with them. He’s got a sleeper-build thing going on, tho his arms are larger than Ritalins. Ritalin may have gotten the tennis player body, but Focalin can overpower him pretty easily (everywhere except the tennis court, where Ritalin kicks his ass).
Personality wise, he’s more similar to Concerta, much to Ritalins chagrin. Ritalin got his hyperactive clone handed to him in the late 90s/2000s, and then his hyperactive twin the next year. Poor guy couldn’t catch a break. Focalin definitely mirrored some of Ritalins mannerisms tho, as he looked up to him greatly. He keeps his fur well-kept (as much as he can) and makes strong efforts to practice the same quieter maturity that Ritalin does, although it doesn’t seem to suit him as well as it does his brother.
Despite being a clone of his twin brother, Focalin considers Concerta his sister, just like Ritalin does. It’s like having another twin basically. They refer to themselves as triplets, even if Ritalin tends to harp on the specifics of “extended release formulation” and “enantiomers and isomers.”
Ritalin essentially raised these two extensions of himself. He was a fully matured adult when they came into his life, having spent the previous 60 or so years mostly alone. Ritalin was quiet and withdrawn, throwing himself into his work before anything else. He spent far more time in his own head than expressing his thoughts and emotions outwardly, so when these two came along, it was like looking in one of those weird circus mirrors. Two versions of yourself that are technically you, but not quite. I’d like to explore that more later.
Focalin is a ‘best of both worlds’ situation. Applying the same ideas from my previous post, with Ritalin’s personality being based off traits of inattentive ADHD and Concerta’s personality being based off traits of hyperactive ADHD, Focalin takes inspiration from both; combined type. I actually based his personality on my own experiences with ADHD, specifically how I am while on my meds vs off of them (I take Ritalin lol). With combined type ADHD myself, the Ritalin is calming. It quiets some of the noise, the yelling, the singing, the urge to move and keep moving, while also making it so that I can start and finish my tasks without getting distracted by anything and everything out the window or simply forgetting what I’m doing. Once the meds wear off, I get spacey, hyper, and impulsive. The noise that usually stays confined to my own head starts leaking out of my mouth. Anything I pick up and put down disappears. I get confused and frustrated at that point. I’d imagine Focalin gets a combination of these traits. He can lock in when necessary, but has a tendency to forget things and misplace stuff, much like Ritalin. If something excites him, he can do it for hours, with seemingly endless amounts of energy, enough that calming down can seem impossible, much like Concerta.
These three intrigue me, and I’m glad I’ve finally got designs for the three of them, even if the designs are all pretty similar (that’s intentional obviously but still). I do wish there was more info out there about Concerta and Focalin. Given they’re technically the same drug, Concertas history gets tacked on at the end of Ritalins, and Focalin doesn’t have much either. I’ve been spoiled by the absolute circus that was and is SSRI lore lol.
