You can't roller stake in a buffalo herd

Character Analysis: Iroh

So, in case it hasn’t been glaringly obvious, I’m on a bit of an Avatar kick right now. Between rewatching the original and then the new Korra episodes every week, lots of feelings. And the characters in this universe are so well written and diverse, it just makes me want to gush.

So this time I want to talk about Iroh. I was thinking about this after seeing some posts about people misconstruing curiosity and questions about Asami’s back-story and what will be going on with her character as hate. My concern about all that is that, why do people think just because someone’s wondering about what a character might be hiding, why does that have to equate to hate? Just because there’s a chance she might be a villain, why does that mean we’d hate her? Didn’t we like Azula and Zhao? Didn’t Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee also start off as villains?

Anyway, that’s what’s led me to want to talk about Iroh. Because he starts off as a villain too. Sure, Iroh is extremely likeable throughout the whole series, but he’s still Fire Nation royalty, still there on that boat with Prince Zuko trying to capture the Avatar. So let’s talk about that for a few minutes here.

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Character Analysis: Parents of Avatar

So can I just go on for a few minutes about all the parents in Avatar? Because they’re all so amazingly different. Absolutely no one is recycled. You really can’t look at any of them and say “Oh, X is almost exactly like Y.”

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Guys. The Lorax. Or, that one time I had all the Once-ler feelings.

So, I saw the Lorax yesterday, and I liked it. Or, to be more accurate, I really liked the Once-ler. Definitely having some Once-ler related feelings now. So settle in for a rambling about it. I guess this also sort of counts as a character analysis post.

Ed Helms, I think, did a great job. I like him anyway, and he made the Once-ler a likeable guy, all goofy and sweet. He starts out as just this normal guy. He’s got dreams and ambitions, and he’s going out into the world to see them through. He’s got a family that doesn’t believe in him, that ridicules him, but he’s not letting it keep him down. He’s just like any of us at this point. He goes out there, and he finds the Truffula tree valley, and he sets up shop, throwing his stuff around fairly carelessly. He chops down a tree without thinking anything of it. And that’s no different from any of us. When we go out into nature, how many of us take care to make sure to not bend a single blade of grass? We all live in a world where, in our day to day lives, we’re surrounded by things that come from chopped trees. No big deal.

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Character Analysis: Loki

Thor and Loki. Can I just go on forever about these two? I’ve got a lot of feelings, mostly for Loki. Loki is one of the most amazing, sympathetic villains I’ve ever seen, and I absolutely love the direction they took his character in the movie. Hiddles. God, you nailed it, son.

But let’s get into this. We start off the movie with Thor’s coronation. The deleted scenes I think really should have been included in the main body of the movie. They really help to expand on the characters. Before his coronation, we see Thor showing a moment of doubt, or at the very least nervousness. He’s worried about how he will be perceived in his succession of Odin. Thor is this extremely arrogant and confident man, so for him to show this moment is a big deal. And it’s Loki who is there to reassure him. Loki has this reputation as a liar, but he is so sincere with Thor here. He says flat out that there are times that he’s jealous, but Thor should never, ever doubt Loki’s love. I think this entire plot of Loki’s started because of that, because of his love for his brother.

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Character Analysis: Bones, Kirk, and Spock

Character analysis! Haven’t done this in a while. So let’s jump right on into Star Trek XI, specifically Jim and his relationships with both Spock and Bones. Two things first off. In the reboot universe, I ship Jim and Bones. So that will be discussed here. Second, I’m not getting into anything from the original series here. I have only seen two, maybe three, episodes all the way through. Granted, I think Kirk and Spock make more sense in that universe. So, onto the discussion.

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Character Analysis: Avatar: The Last Airbender

OK, time for another installment of Character Analysis Theater. Today we’ll be diving into Avatar: The Last Airbender. So settle in, kids, this is going to be a long one.

When Avatar came out, my youngest brother was still little enough that he was watching cartoons in the mornings while he ate breakfast. So, walking in and out of the kitchen, I’d catch glimpses of the show, but since it looked like an anime, I had no interest whatsoever (at about sixteen I finally cut myself off from the anime world, and I feel a lot awkward any time an old fandom peeks it’s head up, idk why). It was a few years later, after the finale had been aired that I finally decided to give the show a chance. I think I had been seeing some really fantastic art for it on DA, which was a big factor in the decision. So I watched it and found that it was an amazing show with amazing story and character development and art and just everything.

Now, I’m going to say first off that if I had had my way, the show would have ended with these pairings: Zuko/Katara, Aang/Toph, and Sokka/Yue. Now, that isn’t to say that I don’t like any characters or pairing not mentioned or that I think anyone who prefers those canon pairings is wrong. Not at all. These are just my personal preferences, to be discussed in more detail to come.

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Character Analysis: The Formans

For today’s installment of Character Analysis Theater, I’d like to present the tale of Kitty and Red Forman from That 70s Show.

OK, I have feelings and opinions on this couple (but I will do my best to not overload with that). A big reason for that is because a lot of my friends have compared my dad to Red, and there is definitely a big old hunk of truth in there. But more on that in a minute. Let’s start off with the basics. We’ve got Kitty and Red, who are a bit of an older couple as compared to some other parents in the show. Because they’re from an older generation, they’ve got different values from the other adults. We’ve got Red, who is a typical ball-busting dad, and Kitty, who is a typical overly-doting mother.

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Character Analysis: Magneto and Family

Time for more character analysis! Today I want to get into the Magneto family from X-Men, specifically the X-Men: Evolution incarnation. As I’ve stated before in other rambling posts, I don’t actually read comics. I had a few as a kid, but since they cost money and weren’t already right there in the house like cartoons, my parents didn’t buy them for me much. So, I grew up mostly on the cartoons of any given franchise. And I liked the Evo cartoon. It was corny a lot of the time, sure, but I thought it was an interesting take.

Magneto is probably my favorite character of all the X-Men. I really like villains. I don’t always prefer them to the good guys, but I’m definitely always intrigued by them (I could fill books talking about the villains in Harry Potter or Batman). Magneto is particularly fascinating to me because the more you learn of his background, the more you see where he’s coming from and sympathize with him. I mean, this poor man has been through hell. He’s a victim of the Holocaust, persecuted for no reason other than blind hatred of his religion and race. He’s persecuted and hunted just because he’s different from those in power. Then, when he discovers his mutant abilities, he knows it’s going to happen again. He knows the lows that humanity will sink to, because he was there for it. He’s seen firsthand.

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Character Analysis: Harry/Ginny

Today’s installment of In-Depth Character Analysis, or, Lauren Rambles About Fictional People, will center on the pairing of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley.

I don’t get it. I don’t get this pairing. I accept that it’s canon and everything, but I just never really got it. I don’t see the chemistry, and it always felt as though it came out of nowhere.

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Character Analysis: Padme Amidala

Every once and a while, I sit around thinking about various fictional characters and considering my options of them and their motives because I am a dork. I’ve had some pretty decent monologues with myself, and I figured it might be fun to start writing them down. I don’t know how often I’ll do this, but if anyone has a character they’d like to read opinions about (if I have them), feel free to request.

Let’s start today with Padme Amidala from the Star War prequels. Yeah, I know, those movies sucked. There’s no debating that. Each of them had only very few redeeming qualities (which weren’t actually enough to make up for the movies as a whole). Anyway, the reason I’m doing Padme is because I recently read a Cracked Article about Hollywood’s 5 Saddest Attempts at Feminism. Padme is number 4 on the list.

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