about ur last post.. i’m ngl my sbg hot take is that the most of the main characters and their (implied) canon ships are based off of incredibly cliche tropes..
aiden being the happy character that’s actually really depressed, logan being the stereotypical nerd who gets picked on, tyler + taylor being polar opposite twins, ashlyn being the cool loner mc, etc.
ashlyn x aiden (grumpy x sunshine)
ben x taylor (nice girl x shy boy)
I think the characters definitely are and can continue to be complex as the story progresses but their surface level personalities are very predictable?? (idk if i worded that right)
anyways i hope u have a good day/night!! 😋
I agree with that to an extent, yea!
I really enjoy when a story will introduce a common trope you’re familiar with just to subvert your expectations or take it to the extreme. My FAVORITE example of this is a character named Mikado from Durarara as well as the show Saiki K.
While there’s nothing wrong with using character tropes for your characters especially when you have a larger cast, I expect writers to do more with the character to keep things fresh which I think Red does relatively well.
Aiden is the rich kid trope, not just “the eccentric one.” He likes thrills because he grew up in an isolated environment that was constantly changing. In the beginning of the webtoon, I thought Aiden was going to be a troubled kid with an edgy past. I really disliked how quickly he became attached to Ashlyn, but with the added context of “oh, he doesn’t have relationship experience and might be confusing platonic emotions with romantic ones” is much more interesting than “he just showed up at her house because he likes her.”
Ben is a gentle giant with anger issues which I think is fairly common(?) but the reoccurring theme of being failed by the authority figures around him adds an interesting layer to his character. His anger is understandable because he has a lot of built up resentment and a strong sense of justice. If you’re confused by what I mean, they call this out a few times in the webtoon I SWEAR I’m not making this up.
Tyler is a jock who doesn’t enjoy the sport he plays. He used to, but I believe after his father’s passing he lost all interest in baseball. I hope Red includes this in the webtoon, but on her Instagram story she revealed that his true passion is cosmetology. The duality between something stereotypically masculine and stereotypically feminine is what I really enjoy about his character. Unlike most jocks in media, he isn’t still playing the sport because of toxic masculinity or anything like that, he’s doing it for a scholarship. He is a protective older brother which is also a common trope but due to his father’s passing and mothers mental health, he had to mature to take care of himself and his sister.
So yes, while Sbg uses a lot of cliche character tropes, I do think she expands on them well and has made them a lot more complex!
I’d say as of now, Logan and Taylor suffer the most from their character trope and there’s not a lot else added to their characters that make them particularly interesting TO ME!! which is elaborate on but this post is long enough
