Luke Benson

Lucas "Luke" Benson, originally Lucas "Luke" Bennett, is the main character of the three pilot episodes of Leaf City, along side Gary Bennett. Luke first appeared in the first pilot episode "Power Mad", was intended to be one of the main characters of the series, along with Gary, who would've been his brother. However, he was replaced with Alex Bridges as the main character of the official series.

Luke would not be forgotten, as a picture of him is on the walls in Alex and Gary's house and was directly and indirectly mentioned, before making his first appearance in the main series, now as "Luke Benson", in Season 4, portrayed as Gary's close friend.

Pilots
In his first appearance in "Power Mad", he and Gary are in the living room playing video games, when they get a call from their friends Sonny and Takeshi, when suddenly, a massive power outage takes place and everybody becomes unsafe.

As their parents are not yet home, they decide to go in the basement and hide, but before they can, they get a knock at the door. Luke foolishly goes to open it, but is stopped by Gary, who suggest they hide. Luke notices that their game system is now missing, as well as other things in the house. Investigating, Luke encounters Nelson, who tries to hide around the house and escapes outside when Luke and Gary corner him. When Nelson falls in a sewer hole, Gary agrees with Luke's decision not to help.

In the second pilot, "Club Gary", Luke's friend Richard points out Gary's recently odd behavior, and Luke tells him that it's nothing. When Gary makes up a ridiculous excuse to get out of the house, Luke becomes suspicious and secretly follows. After going to the mall for undercover clothes, Luke arrives at Gary's hangout spot and stops when Gary stops.

He witnesses Gary talking with a person on the other side of the door and is let into a building Luke describes looking "very sketchy". Luke enters and after walking in on somebody in the bathroom before finding another door, he finds a big night club full with people who look exactly like Gary. He finds Gary who explains everything and agrees to leave with Luke, but are stopped by a mysterious man, who sends the Gary look-alikes after them. After fighting them off, the cops arrive for Luke, who is revealed to have stolen the clothes from the mall, Luke and Gary escape as the building begins to collapse.

In the third pilot, "Eyeless", Luke and Gary are playing a video game, when Richard arrives at their house with a new gadget. Richard barges into Luke and Gary's room, breaking their concentration and costing them their game. Gary complains to Richard, when he shows them his new gadget, making them awe in wonder. Luke grabs the cube and starts to mess around with it, activating it and tossing it at their TV, which opens a portal that sucks the three of them in.

Now in a new virtual world, Luke, Gary, and Richard begin to look for a house before nightfall. Finding a clean and furnished house, they eat and try to get some sleep, when Luke notices something at the window. Gary dismisses it but Luke becomes certain that there was something there upon realizing that Richard has gone missing. Luke and Gary look outside and find "Richard", who now lacks pupils. After Gary and Luke discuss "Richard", "Richard" looks at a full moon and briefly gains red pupils, attacking Luke and Gary. After several attempts to evade and capture "Richard", now nicknamed "Mr. Eyeless", the sun rises, obliterating Mr. Eyeless and restoring peace, with Richard emerging from the woods.

Season 4
Luke returns in the episode "The Forgotten". Here, his name is Luke Benson, and is Gary's close friend from the past, rather than his brother. Luke returns to Leaf City and visits Alex and Gary's town, introducing himself to Alex, and winning over most of Alex and Gary's friends. Luke takes the gang out to a picnic right next to the Forrest of Doom (which is right next to the Tower of Terror), but Gary and the others disappear, leaving Luke and Alex alone. The two venture into the woods and after a crazy series of events, the two make amends and work together and finally make it out the Forrest of Doom, on the brink of insanity and find their friends eating like nothing happened.

Appearance
In the pilots, Luke wore a red plaid jacket with a white shirt underneath, bearing black skinny jeans and black shoes. In the main series, he wears a blue hoodie with rolled up sleeves and a long sleeved white shirt underneath. Luke's facial features stay the same throughout his appearances: black eyes, and brown hair.

Personality
Luke is good-hearted and means well, but is sometimes a vain and very imaginative person, and can get caught up in himself, as seen in "The Forgotten", and claims to not be very bright. Despite his mediocre academic performance, he can be surprisingly brilliant when it comes to formulating all sorts of mischievous schemes. Such a side may also suggest Luke is smarter than he lets on, as hinted by his expansive vocabulary, cooking skills, and strategic video game skills as well.

Luke is also pretty optimistic. In general, Luke is very protective of his loved ones. On multiple occasions, he's quick to go into a sort of "over-protective" mode whenever he thinks his siblings are in danger. This is seen in Gary's case, as seen in "Club Gary," in which he was concerned about Gary and tried to get him out of a potentially dangerous club, or in "The Forgotten", when he was worried about his friends.

Luke has a very sarcastic nature. He's quick to diffuse all sorts of quips towards others, ranging from fairly harmless to sometimes blunt and rude. Luke also has a fairly massive ego, which seems to be a fault of his. When it's not tamed properly, his ego can drive him to do some pretty jerky things.