One of the important tasks Ironeye pegged for moving this project toward some sort of actual production is getting on the same page regarding character development in Season 1. So here's a thread for us to identify the major character arc for each character on the team. I'll start with mine:

Karalora: Starts with an irrational grudge against Hikari no Kaze on the grounds that he is intruding upon her Nakama, but ultimately comes to accept him as part of it. The real payoff for this arc comes in Season 2 or later with the Code White Incident, when she goes Mama Bear against Korgmeister, on Hikari's behalf.

Stuff what I do.

OK, so. Cody's series one arc currently consists primarily of the relationship information from How To Write Season 1:

Beyond that, I don't think we have anything planned for him in the first series. It's after the introduction of Korg and Jinxed that he starts to feel increasingly pressurised, and becomes more volatile.

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Matrix: He is silly and comically inept in combat, so nobody really takes him all that seriously. However, he wants to be taken seriously. He doesn't really voice thse grievances, because he doesn't think anyone would take them seriously. He also has a crush on Murky, who is allergic to cats.

I'm about to go to the grocery store, so I can't comment at length, put I do have one things to say: non-zero delta!  ^*

edited 30th May '10 1:00:47 AM by Ironeye

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

In the Beginning (1&2)

In the first few episodes, the viewers get mixed signals from Ironeye. He's fairly clearly Kara's right hand man, handling organization, information, and the like—he's the one who knows what's going on. On the other hand, some scenes in the first episode show that he has a tendency to focus on his own thoughts over the events unfolding around him. When it comes to Hikari, he cheerfully explains to the kid why he (Hikari) wasn't left in the swamp with his throat slit, without any indication that murdering a teenager in cold blood would be a problem for him. On the other hand, he has a few moments where he shows kindness and warmth towards the new member of the team. Adding on to this mess is the scene where he's washing off a vial of what is strongly implied to be hydra blood, with no explanation given. In short, he's a bit of a mystery to the viewers—it's unclear how much he's lost in his own little world, whether or not he's got a moral compass at all, and what the hell he's up to.

Answering Questions...kinda (3&4)

Things get a bit clearer when we get more scenes with him that aren't focused on Hikari or the missions. No, he's not particularly in touch with the events around him, but he is quite capable of focusing on his work. He's probably not a sociopath—he just has a weird sense of humor. The kindness is an act—because most of the team is so hostile to Hikari, he sees an advantage in getting Hikari to trust him. Above all else, he seems to be a seeker of information, always trying to learn more about what's going on.

A New Point of View (5&6)

As the season nears its middle, the audience gets to see a new side of Ironeye, particularly through a private conversation with Kara. Though he has so far come across as a schemer who fakes warmth to serve his own purposes, his insecurity and vulnerability come out when he has some time alone with his boss, in a reveal of his devotion to her. The end of E5 gives Ironeye his first bit of character development: he realizes that his kindness to Hikari isn't an act any more.  ^Aside

^{Are we ever going to have narration/voice overs? If so, E5 would be a good time to have Ironeye give a closing monologue.}

The final bit in this section is Ironeye convincing Kara to lay off Hikari in E6.

Dropping the G-Bomb (7)

The next twist comes when Cody gets pissed off at Ironeye and decides to strike back by telling Hikari that Ironeye is gay. (There had been hints the entire time, but nothing explicit.) Hikari (as per Cody's intention) freaks out a bit, misinterpreting Ironeye's attention as Ironeye trying to get into his pants. This leads to an awkward scene where Hikari can't spit it out, while Ironeye tries to make Hikari feel comfortable saying what's on his mind by putting an arm on his shoulder, pulling him in close, etc...totally not helping, of course. When Hikari finally says what he's thinking, Ironeye explains that he thinks of Hikari more as a younger brother (a slight sorrowful pause here foreshadows the reveal of Ironeye and Kara's past in Season 2). When Hikari in confusion reveals what Cody said, Ironeye confirms that it is the truth (and files away the knowledge of Cody's plot—this comes back in Season 2 as well).

Out of Focus (8&9)

For the next few episodes, Ironeye is Out of Focus, having gotten quite a bit of attention in 5-7.

Matrix Freaks Out (10)

The tenth episode features an infiltration mission—thriller material instead of action. At one point, Ironeye pulls a Fake-Out Make-Out with Matrix so that it doesn't look like they're some place they don't belong for malicious reasons. While the two have Ho Yayed it up before, it's never gone this far, so Matrix has a bit of a freak out. He just then figures out that Ironeye is gay (prompting a Flashback Cut to blindingly obvious hints), screwing up the friendship the two of them have. The friction between the two of them endangers the mission as Ironeye fumbles through an explanation that though Matrix is quite attractive, it's totally not like that.

The Finale (11&12)

The season finale is pretty heavy on plot, but the one bit that is important for character development is that Ironeye and Matrix manage to patch things back up. Also, there are hints that Ironeye and Murky might actually start casually talking to each other.

Relationships Covered

• Kara: Revelations, but not much development
• Matrix: Development (but no revelations—this is pretty much what it looks like on the surface)
• Hikari: Revelations and development
• Murky: Hints at future development
• arks: Nothing of note
• Cody: Hints at future development

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

The first four episodes should be easy for all characters: 1 and 2 set them up as something, 3 and 4 reveal who they really are now that the audience sees them in their routine. It's 5-12 that we have to worry about, though 12 is probably busy enough that it's a non-issue, and 8 is long enough that it's in danger of spilling into 9, so I wouldn't worry too much about that one either.

• Kara: Covered
• Ironeye: Covered
• Cody: Covered
• Matrix: Needs more (I pretty much did 10 and 11 for you, so that leaves 2-7 and 9.)
• Murky: Needs something (anyone want to cover this one?)
• arks: Needs something (go, arks, go!)
• Hikari: Needs something (I'll try talking to him on Vent the next time he shows up.)

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

Episodes 1 & 2

He is a cat. Who meows. And stuff. He is hilariously bad at combat, has a hopeless crush on Murky, and is generally the comic relief of the team, of a Butt-Monkey variety who isn't really taken seriously. He makes friends with Hikari. Kara likes to pet him in Skitty form.

Episodes 3 & 4

He chafes at being the Butt-Monkey who isn't taken seriously. Because cats aren't monkeys. However, it is only shown slightly. Turns to new bestest friend Hikari when not even petting from Kara can comfort the chafing.

Episodes 5 - 9

His chafing will probably show a bit more. Also, in the latter half, his intelligence (that he is hiding because people like cute & playful, not an insecure pedant) will begin to show slightly. Despite his entirely intentional Obfuscating Stupidity, sometimes the urge to correct somebody who's done a big malapropism is just too strong to resist.

Episode 10

Infiltration mission with Ironeye. Fake-Out Make-Out. Ironeye is gay. Matrix freaks out.

Episodes 11 & 12

Patches things up with Ironeye, but things won't be completely the same from now on..

Relationships

Kara: pet
Ironeye: friendship, revelations, and development
Hikari: friendship
Murky: unrequited love fail
Cody: oblivious to dislike
arks: ???

edited 11th May '10 1:43:14 PM by Matrix

arks seems somewhat disconnected from the world. However, he makes up for it by being rather game. He has a somewhat joking relationship with Cody.

Cody and arks' relationship is examined in more detail. They are obviously closer to each other than they are to anyone else in the group. arks still tries to break through Hikari's shell, but while he's made some headway, Hikari is still reticent.

Confidence issues are suggested when arks is put in a situation where he's by himself and something unexpected happens, and instead of charging right in he goes to get help? He asks Murky for fighting lessons as an attempt to connect with her. At least once he is seen getting his ass handed to him by her.

arks has decided on taking up a Mentor role with Hikari. He's trying his hardest to get the boy to start thinking properly about situations, but is having a hard time of it, partly because of his Obfuscating Stupidity and partly because Hikari really is that stupid and doesn't learn very well. He's dropped some of his stupid facade, but still isn't confident enough to reveal his full potential.

edited 11th May '10 10:32:57 PM by arks

Video Game Census. Please contribute.

We really need to figure out how Hikari/Murky, Hikari/arks, and Hikari/Ironeye differ. Though they are quite distinct in how they get started (and therefore in S1), when S2 comes around they will be annoying similar. We need to be setting things up now so that these three relationships don't end up being copies of each other for half of the show.

Anyway, to this end, I have tried to find potentially relevant differences that we can exploit in order to figure out how the relationships will diverge.

• Age Difference
  • Murky: 2 years
  • arks: 4 years
  • Ironeye: 8 years
• Authority within the team
  • Murky and arks: none
  • Ironeye: #2
• Similarity of Circumstances
  • Murky: Been around for four months
  • arks: The most recent "new guy"
  • Ironeye: Founding member
• Amount of apparent personality difference
  • Murky: Opposites
  • arks: Quite similar
  • Ironeye: In-between
• Relationship Baggage:
  • Murky: She didn't like him at first, and was the one to suggest killing him.
  • arks: He scared Hikari away at first with all of his prying questions.
  • Ironeye: The gay thing is currently not an issue for more than an episode (it's more of a setup for Ironeye/Cody action in S2) but we can change that.
• Secrets:
  • Murky: She's warmer and fuzzier than she appears to be.
  • arks: He's smarter and less optimistic than he appears to be.
  • Ironeye: Their relationship was built on lies—lies that became the truth, but still lies at the time.
• Change that the elder partner wishes to effect in Hikari (This is where we really run into problems.)
  • Murky: Make him think more about his actions.
  • arks: Make him think more about his actions.
  • Ironeye: Make him think more about his actions.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

As I am actually alive, I'll try to step up. I won't be able to do much due to other responsibilities...if you want blame the oil spill.

Episodes 1-2 Murky is shown to be a highly capable warrior but also cold and pragmatic.

Episodes 3-4 Murky's goal of finding her family is mentioned, hinting at a softer side. Her cat allergy hinted at.

Midseason Murky comes to accept Hikari and starts to see the team as more of a family. Her talents in the scientific field also come in handy showing she's able to be a backup Smart Guy.

The Finale Character arc wise not much happens. Though apparently there will be hints of future interaction with Ironeye.

People are mirrors. If you smile, a smile will be reflected.

Anyone have any ideas regarding my last post?

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

I think we'll have better luck discussing it on Vent than in here.

Stuff what I do.

Good news: I'll be back on Vent in about five minutes.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

So, the results of the Kara/Ironeye teamup (with help from Matrix):

Murky

Kara came up with the brilliant idea of throwing in some Hikari/Murky UST—after all, the two are only two years apart. The implications of this are as follows.

• The Murky/Hikari relationship is now nothing like Hikari's relationship with anyone else.
• There is now a major point of friction between Hikari and Matrix, who have an otherwise rather friendly relationship. Of course the two most juvenile guys let a girl get between them.
• Cody has another reason to hate Hikari—there's no way he can let a lesser person succeed where he did not.

Additionally, we think that we should cut the Murky/Fawriel relationship as already mentioned in one of the other threads, since it didn't have much of a purpose aside from giving the characters a Happily Ever After after a few seasons of Unfortunate Implications. In particular, the relationship implied that all Murky needed to open up was the love of a good man. *shudder* So, the change:

• Early in Season 2, Murky and Fawriel develop a strong friendship, causing Murky to open up a bit.
• This increased openness allows Murky to be a bit more forward about her feelings towards Hikari, moving their relationship from subtext to full UST.
• As a result of Murky's feelings being more open, Cody gets extra pissed off and throws his scheduled S2 tantrum at Matrix, leading to Ironeye chewing out Cody and that relationship falling apart (not that the two of them were particularly close in the first place). ** Matrix is too oblivious to notice Murky's affections toward Hikari, and doesn't pick up on the subtext that's going on until someone explains the Hikari/Cody/Ironeye situation to him. This prompts the Hikari-Matrix high school-style feud.

arks

When reading over existing material, we noticed that there is no in-character reason for Hikari to like arks initially. arks does try to reach out and be friendly to him early in S1, but it fails because he tries to get more out of Hikari about the alternate personality—Hikari doesn't like talking about that, and thus interprets arks' friendliness as a ruse to get information (which it partially is—arks is just a friendly guy). Though arks does try to make Hikari feel comfortable, the bad first impression keeps getting in the way. (The Dramatic Irony here is that Ironeye, who Hikari likes, was trying to be even more manipulative—Hikari just didn't pick up on it.)

Things change between them after arks attempts to give demon-possessed Hikari a Cooldown Hug in a moment of desperation (foreshadowed by Hikari responding quite positively to physical comfort throughout the first two seasons). Note that due to the nature of the Code White incident, the Cooldown Hug doesn't come until late Season 2, leaving strong friction in the arks/Hikari relationship until then.

Side note: With the material we have so far, if arks is trying to pull of Obfuscating Stupidity, he's not doing a very good job at it. In the E1 script, he has two moments where he's at most ditsy, and otherwise comes across as quite sensible (see: him immediately restraining Hikari when Hikari shows up; coming up with the battle plan to defeat the hydra once it becomes wary of the team). Comparing his good sense to everyone else's, he ends up on the sensible side of Matrix, Hikari, and Ironeye, putting him in the middle. Even grouping everyone according to similar levels, we still have Matrix/Hikari, Ironeye/arks, and Cody/Murky/Kara. If he really is supposed to come off as enough of an idiot that he has trouble getting Hikari to act more sensibly without blowing his cover, so to speak, we need to do a better job of it.

Ironeye

We actually didn't touch much here. We do want to focus on this relationship being very much of an older brother/younger brother mentor thing, as the age difference sets this relationship apart from the other two.

edited 28th May '10 4:40:15 AM by Ironeye

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

An addition proposed by Hikari last night: Hikari gets a bit *ahem* excited seeing Murky fight.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

On Cody and Hikari, following a discussion with Ironeye in Vent: while it's certainly in character for Cody to try to make Hikari doubt Ironeye, and it's certainly in character for him to be bothered by UST between Murky and Hikari, I don't think he'd actually snap at Hikari over that, for fear of making himself look immature or otherwise bad (bearing in mind that he has little respect for Hikari, and regards him mostly as some annoying kid).

Here are my thoughts, which Ironeye has not yet approved as such:

I think Cody would more likely "accidentally let slip" some information around Hikari that hurts him in some way, like when he suggests that Ironeye is only pretending to be Hikari's friend.

Cody would then lose his temper with Matrix over something comparatively trivial. Cody's antagonism of Matrix goes back a long way, mainly because he hates that Matrix keeps forgetting he's there, which infuriates Cody (even though Matrix can't really help it, because of Cody's power). So he tries to get Matrix's attention by picking on him.

But of course, the more he picks on Matrix, the more Matrix avoids him, the more Matrix avoids Cody, the more he forgets about him, and the more Matrix forgets about Cody, the more Cody acts like a dick towards him, and so on, with Cody hating Matrix more and more.

So in Season 2, when Cody's abilities are being neglected by Korg in favour of Jinxed, and you couple that with his resentment of Hikari, he's essentially a ticking bomb, and Matrix has a knack for angering Cody without even meaning to. Result: Cody takes all his pent-up anger out yelling at Matrix, and Ironeye chews Cody out over that.

By the end of Season 2, Matrix is probably no longer able to forget that Cody exists, but he hates him so much that he wants nothing to do with him.

Thoughts?

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Seems good to me.

Video Game Census. Please contribute.