Those two have never watched the Monster Squad (it’s an 80s film, but still, it was definitely on cable regularly at the time). The coolest kid in that film’s establishing character moment is when he stops two bullies, just like them, from picking on a friend of his by making them eat the candy bar they just slapped out of his friend’s hand, to their humiliation by everyone around them.
@Dollars to Donuts – I wouldn’t really be too bothered by Vince’s lack of a personality if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s a frequently recurring character in the comic. Steve’s parents barely appear in the comic, so that’s why their lack of personalities aren’t a huge deal to me.
And I never even said that he needs some tragic backstory or well-developed motivation. All I said was that I wish he wasn’t just reduced to a mouthpiece for race-relations.
Honestly, I don’t see why everyone’s complaining. I mean, not every single ancillary character needs a tragic backstory or a well-developed motivation. I don’t mind that Vince is written so one-dimensionally cuz Eric and Kendra aren’t. Same kinda deal regarding Steve’s parents: do they really need lengthy, complex character arcs? They’re Steve’s parents, that’s it. I can barely remember Don’s name, let alone care enough about him as a character as to wish for more appearances. I, for one, think Vince is a serviceable enough character for now. Let JB decide if he wants to develop Vince further down the road.
@TheJayster49: I agree with you about Vince’s character development, and Eric REALLY needs to learn how to stand up by himself. Most of the characters are getting a good character development, but Vince and Eric are among the fellow ones who are getting to little development. I want to think @jbwarner86 does plans to develop more of them, but is saving it in order to give us the big surprise.
As for the strip, Andrew forgot to things about him and Ryan getting humiliated by Eric and Jenny: First, it was Jenny who did all the job by herself. She was the one who pantsed them as well as being the one who unplugged the Mortal Kombat arcade. And second, he forgot to mention the time they talked about the Batman Animated Series and they were hit by some jumping rope… by Jenny herself.
Now that I remember, I mentioned some strips back about the (almost) lack of kid characters among the cast as most, if not all of them, are composed of teenagers and adults. Sure, we had Tina’s classroom with her students; she had Jacob as one of them. But after he left with his father, we only had Eric, Jenny, Andrew and Ryan. Maybe we get another kid character in the series, or maybe not…
As for Andrew and Ryan, looks like Vince did scare them because finding out the gun was fake. I look deeply at them in this strip and it seems they have developed some PTSD, but the final panel humorously reminds me of how Kevin tried to win Amber’s heart before they officially became a couple (take that Fresh Prince parody for example). Too bad that girl will not become a recurrent character (or will she…?).
Being completely truthful here, for a two-week arc, I found this storyline to be very average. Like, it wasn’t bad, but I do have at least two major criticisms:
One, the fact that this Vince-centric storyline yet again was kickstarted by themes of race (in this case, Andrew and Ryan taking up the gangster lifestyle). I am going to be blunt and say that it’s getting annoying that whenever Vince appears in the comic, it’s usually because of something related to black culture. I understand these are supposed to be in reference to real-life race relations that occurred during the 90s, but it’s starting to make Vince come across more like a walking author filibuster rather than a genuine character. Not helping at all is that Vince never really had much of a personality to begin with; his character can be summed up as “stereotypically jive-talking black teen who acts like a gangster and is openly proud of his race” and nothing else beyond that.
Secondly, and though I knew it wouldn’t happen, I was honestly hoping Eric could try and land at least ONE punch on one of those brats. One thing I’m starting to notice is how Eric has to rely on other people to get him out of jams; I understand it’s supposed to emphasize that Eric finds strength in the bonds he has with friends and family, but I think it gives off the feeling that he can’t really help himself independently. Granted, as I’ve said in previous comments, it’s an improvement over the original where he was pretty much just a hopeless crybaby, but still.
That said, while a LOT more could’ve been done, I’m still glad this storyline finally gave us a little more of Vince’s character, showing that he genuinely cares about Eric even if his ways of expressing it relies too much on gangsta pride. I sincerely hope we’ll get to see more of it in the future, because Vince is in desperate need of expansion for his character.
Well, sometimes the only way to self-improve is to be torn down and start over from scratch.
Those two have never watched the Monster Squad (it’s an 80s film, but still, it was definitely on cable regularly at the time). The coolest kid in that film’s establishing character moment is when he stops two bullies, just like them, from picking on a friend of his by making them eat the candy bar they just slapped out of his friend’s hand, to their humiliation by everyone around them.
They need to watch more 80s films.
@Dollars to Donuts – I wouldn’t really be too bothered by Vince’s lack of a personality if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s a frequently recurring character in the comic. Steve’s parents barely appear in the comic, so that’s why their lack of personalities aren’t a huge deal to me.
And I never even said that he needs some tragic backstory or well-developed motivation. All I said was that I wish he wasn’t just reduced to a mouthpiece for race-relations.
I’ll take a nice loser over a cool brat any day.
Huh, for some reason my pfp on my comment didn’t load…
Honestly, I don’t see why everyone’s complaining. I mean, not every single ancillary character needs a tragic backstory or a well-developed motivation. I don’t mind that Vince is written so one-dimensionally cuz Eric and Kendra aren’t. Same kinda deal regarding Steve’s parents: do they really need lengthy, complex character arcs? They’re Steve’s parents, that’s it. I can barely remember Don’s name, let alone care enough about him as a character as to wish for more appearances. I, for one, think Vince is a serviceable enough character for now. Let JB decide if he wants to develop Vince further down the road.
Andrew and Ryan are reminding me of two characters from the novel Twelve, who also were talking and acting black.
Kid, go find a dictionary and look up the word “narcissism”. With luck, something will go click in that pre-teen brain of yours.
*TWO things. My mistake.
@TheJayster49: I agree with you about Vince’s character development, and Eric REALLY needs to learn how to stand up by himself. Most of the characters are getting a good character development, but Vince and Eric are among the fellow ones who are getting to little development. I want to think @jbwarner86 does plans to develop more of them, but is saving it in order to give us the big surprise.
As for the strip, Andrew forgot to things about him and Ryan getting humiliated by Eric and Jenny: First, it was Jenny who did all the job by herself. She was the one who pantsed them as well as being the one who unplugged the Mortal Kombat arcade. And second, he forgot to mention the time they talked about the Batman Animated Series and they were hit by some jumping rope… by Jenny herself.
Now that I remember, I mentioned some strips back about the (almost) lack of kid characters among the cast as most, if not all of them, are composed of teenagers and adults. Sure, we had Tina’s classroom with her students; she had Jacob as one of them. But after he left with his father, we only had Eric, Jenny, Andrew and Ryan. Maybe we get another kid character in the series, or maybe not…
As for Andrew and Ryan, looks like Vince did scare them because finding out the gun was fake. I look deeply at them in this strip and it seems they have developed some PTSD, but the final panel humorously reminds me of how Kevin tried to win Amber’s heart before they officially became a couple (take that Fresh Prince parody for example). Too bad that girl will not become a recurrent character (or will she…?).
Looks like these two are going through an identity crisis.
It’s all downhill from here, you little pieces of goat shit!
Andrew and Ryan, what you are experiencing is called a reality check.
Might as well face it, Andrew and Ryan. Your so-called “coolness” has come to one hell of a screeching halt… before crashing and burning!
Being completely truthful here, for a two-week arc, I found this storyline to be very average. Like, it wasn’t bad, but I do have at least two major criticisms:
One, the fact that this Vince-centric storyline yet again was kickstarted by themes of race (in this case, Andrew and Ryan taking up the gangster lifestyle). I am going to be blunt and say that it’s getting annoying that whenever Vince appears in the comic, it’s usually because of something related to black culture. I understand these are supposed to be in reference to real-life race relations that occurred during the 90s, but it’s starting to make Vince come across more like a walking author filibuster rather than a genuine character. Not helping at all is that Vince never really had much of a personality to begin with; his character can be summed up as “stereotypically jive-talking black teen who acts like a gangster and is openly proud of his race” and nothing else beyond that.
Secondly, and though I knew it wouldn’t happen, I was honestly hoping Eric could try and land at least ONE punch on one of those brats. One thing I’m starting to notice is how Eric has to rely on other people to get him out of jams; I understand it’s supposed to emphasize that Eric finds strength in the bonds he has with friends and family, but I think it gives off the feeling that he can’t really help himself independently. Granted, as I’ve said in previous comments, it’s an improvement over the original where he was pretty much just a hopeless crybaby, but still.
That said, while a LOT more could’ve been done, I’m still glad this storyline finally gave us a little more of Vince’s character, showing that he genuinely cares about Eric even if his ways of expressing it relies too much on gangsta pride. I sincerely hope we’ll get to see more of it in the future, because Vince is in desperate need of expansion for his character.