In his debut in Diner Dash 2, Colin was given a unique noise mechanic. Unlike the Family, he's always noisy due to all the yakking he does on his cellphone, causing noise disturbance every 5 seconds. This disturbs other customers, especially Bernie the Bookworm. This mechanic continues to appear in future titles, shared with other customers such as the Teenagers.
In the Cooking Dash series, the player may have an easier time dealing with him since his noise is set on a more loose timer. So if the player were to serve Colin and check him out quickly, they can prevent his noisy chatter. However a small precaution should be taken: if Colin's served whilst chattering, he will simply continue doing so once he's done eating/drinking, hence causing double noise disturbance. This can be a little annoying depending on which customers are currently sat by Colin. During Endless Shift, his noise frequency can range from every 5 seconds to a grueling every 2 seconds. It is highly possible that he will cost the player a customer if they're not careful.
In Parking Dash, Colin does not directly cause noise disturbance himself; his car does. Colin's convertible has an oversensitive alarm and may set off when parked. This alarm will annoy customers waiting in the lot, so Karma has to "covertly" kick the car to shut it off.
In DinerTown Detective Agency, he appears as both an informant and suspect for multiple cases.
In DinerTown Tycoon, he made an appearance in Bistro Bay and his preferred ingredients are fresh cream, golden potatoes and baby spinach.
In the first Avenue Flo, Flo must have her permit signed by Colin. However he's too busy with his phone to notice her. Flo figures out a way to get his attention: by calling his phone. After finally acknowledging Flo, he asks for her permit, but a problem arises as he's unable to find his orange pen needed to sign the permit. It turns out he had dropped it on the floor by his desk, which Flo retrieves for him. Oblivious, Colin "finds" his pen right in front of him and signs the permit, then sends Flo off to Mr. Big's secretary.
He was also rumored to be Vicky Big's ex, as said by Cassie, suspecting him of sabotaging the wedding. However, it is never confirmed if this rumor was true or false.
Then in Avenue Flo Special Delivery, Colin appears in the DinerTown Library after Flo retrieves the mini cookbook from the backroom. He is talking loudly on the phone, which is one of the obstacles obstructing Bernie's ability to speed-read. Flo can use the cheap phone plan pamphlet given to her by Barb to distract Colin. Ironically, if the player clicks on him while he's reading, Flo comments on how it's " the longest she's seen Colin not talking", to which Colin responds "Shhhh! I'm trying to read this!"
In Hotel Dash Suite Success, Colin appears in Stark Suites. He can be difficult to deal with at first, since he is impatient and causes noise in the halls. As well as this, he not only asks for towels for the gym (which equals double the laundry), but he will also request extra pillows for comfy slumber.
In Soap Opera Dash, Colin appears as one of the unlockable actors for "As The Burger Turns".
In Garden Dash, Colin is shown as Barb's neighboring co-worker, working in a nearby cubicle. He comes up during the final stages on the rooftop to relax while supporting Barb. He orders red peppers which resemble his personality; they require a conversation from Barb if they are to grow successfully.
Appearance[]
CD Deluxe, based around his AF SD appearance
He has spiky hair that can be any of the colors matching his suit. Typically though, in most games, he has blond hair. He is rarely seen without his cell phone and smart suit. Though the tie is black in most games, he receives a striped tie in the Cooking Dash series (sometimes it is hard to see, though this was fixed in the Deluxe version). In Flo on the Go, he appears wearing a palm tree shirt with shorts. In other games like Avenue Flo and Soap Opera Dash, he is shown wearing a casual pink shirt and blue jeans.
In most installments, Colin is shown with simple black pupils. However in Cooking Dash and DinerTown Detective Agency he's shown to possess blue eyes. There's a small occurrence where his eyes appear brown in his concept art for Cooking Dash 3 (refer to gallery), however his final in-game model depicts him with blue eyes. As well as this, Colin appears quite different in his teen years sporting a pink mohawk, a black leather jacket, blue jeans with tears at the knees, and black leather shoes. He carried around a boombox during this time, blasting music (presumably punk rock) from its speakers.
Personality[]
Colin is very impatient and annoys other customers with his constant noise from talking on his cellphone. He tips highly and is in this way similar to Barb the Businesswoman (they both work at Big Corp). They are quick to order and eat.
Colin is rather inconsiderate and never realizes his phone conversations would disturb others. He can be quite oblivious of his surroundings due to this matter. Besides this he's usually shown with a laid-back look on his face when he's content and can come across as a suave businessman when he's not wrapped up in his phone. The later games even show him giving a sort of salute to the player whenever he's left idle (e.g. Cooking Dash 1 and 2; Garden Dash).
Trivia[]
In the Avenue Flo series, he is voiced by Brian R. Davis[1].
His name can come across as the pun, "Callin' the Cellphone Addict" or "Call in Cellphone".
In Cooking Dash 3: Thrills and Spills, though he's usually called a "Punk Rocker" by Flo, the game gives him the title "Colin the Cacophonous", emphasizing the supposed terrible noises that emit from his boombox. This also keeps the alliteration in check.
Colin idle with full patience (Cooking Dash Deluxe)
Oddly, in Cooking Dash Deluxe, Colin will always be standing in his impatient pose regardless if he's at full patience. He'll still salute the player, though he'll immediately cut into his impatient stance afterwards.
Furthermore, his expression for when he is at his limit (one heart) was also altered. In the original, his face would express a mixture of disbelief and anger. Now in the Deluxe version he appears more genuinely angry, as shown here.
In most expert levels for games such as Flo on the Go and HomeTown Hero, Colin is usually grouped up with Barb, Bernie (ironically), Duncan, and on rare occasions Jo and Rosie. However Barb is the only female ever paired in a duo with Colin in these levels.
It's revealed in DinerTown Detective Agency that he enjoys ringtones with jangly sounds. It's also revealed that he enjoys eating a lot of food, especially crunchy foods and sandwiches. Later he wishes to become stronger, however he dislikes diet food since it doesn't "satisfy him".
Colin makes a brief appearance with silver hair in Diaper Dash. He's shown in the comic for the third daycare stage selling a double lot house to Wilson.
Originally Colin possessed brown hair starting with Parking Dash, which came out in 2008. His current blond hair became a permanent trait of his starting with DinerTown Detective Agency in 2009.
There are inconsistent moments in Garden Dash where Colin is shown with brown hair again in the story comics (refer to gallery). Also, there is a point in time where he's given the voice of a female when he asks Barb about the reports. Though the speech bubble points to him, it's possible it was meant to point to the female co-worker beside him. Alternatively, it could be that the original voice actor who provides the voice for Colin was not present during the time.
When looking into the game files for the early Dash games (e.g. Restaurant Rescue, Flo on the Go), he is the only character (along with the Jogger and Teens) who does not have an animation for chastising noise-makers. This makes sense since he's always distracted by his phone.
3 Colins freezing up. (Hotel Dash)
There appears to be a strange glitch/oversight with Colin's sprites in Hotel Dash Suite Success. Whenever he transitions into his impatient and last stand poses, he will freeze up for a few seconds before getting into said pose. This freezing seems to break after Colin enters his noise-making phase. This also happens with his walking animation, which will freeze up when reaching a destination such as the elevator and his current hotel room.
Additionally, though Colin is not officially introduced until Level 28 of Stark Suites, multiple groups of him appear one level prior.
Soap Opera Dash could be considered the only time Colin does not cause noise disturbance with his cellphone (or car) during gameplay. Matter of fact, Colin's cellphone is completely absent, which is quite a rare occurance. The only other instance he's seen without a cellphone is in his cameo of Diaper Dash. Cooking Dash 3 counts as him without a cellphone, though he continues to disturb others with his noisy boombox.
