#i think when people complain about how fandoms boil down characters to their simplest parts/flanderization

[gamebunny-advance]

OOC? (Again) (Draft)

Sometimes I think about how NJ and 1010 apparently weren't originally written to have any kind of parent-child bond, but since it's basically been adopted as canon, I wonder how that has changed the reading/writing of NJ's character over time.

NSR (the game) is not a subtle work. For better or worse, it is very ham-fisted in how it wants you to feel about the ideas and themes it explores, and 1010 is one of the more blatant examples.

NSR is incredibly cynical about the concept of the boy band. It remarks how the industry basically manufactures its idols for mass consumption, who can then be replaced in an instant with a look-alike among look-alikes. Beneath all their charm, 1010 operates under militaristic conditions, headed by an actual military leader who puts his ideals and serving his company before the well-being of himself and his crew.

None of that is really new commentary. The comparison between boy bands being expendable drones that feed a corrupt system has been around practically since the peak of boy band popularity, but it is nonetheless a key component of 1010/NJ's characterization that I don't see utilized often.

I think some of the nuances of their character is lost from how, unlike most of the other antagonists, 1010 and NJ aren't the cause of their corruption: they're the product. Almost every other boss's conflict is a result of a character flaw:

DJSS's ego causes him to neglect his district and abuse the people around him.

Team Sayu's struggle to cooperate leads to Sayu becoming unstable.

DK West and Zuke's poor communication causes their relationship to deteriorate.

Yinu's brattiness is enabled by Mama, whose overprotectiveness leads to her focusing more on vengeance than actually protecting her daughter.

Eve's wrath causes her to unfairly target Mayday, which at the core is caused by Eve's codependent self-worth.

Meanwhile, 1010's major conflict seems to be based around their shallowness (their "artificiality" if you will). They self-destruct not directly due to B2J, but because they were rejected by their fans after revealing their "true" forms. But it's hard to call that a "character flaw" when they aren't really "characters." In the context of the story, 1010 are closer to props than actually fully realized characters like the rest of the main cast.

In a human or otherwise sapient character, their inability to be of any worth without their looks would be a significant character flaw, but 1010's status as dubiously sapient robots reduces a lot of their agency. 1010 cannot experience character growth because they are incapable of doing anything beyond their programming.

That said, this would mean that any flaws they do have should be reflective of whoever programmed them, which should be Neon J., but Neon J.'s main character flaw is seemingly unrelated to 1010's.

I know that in earlier versions of the script and his character design, Neon J's vanity/low self-esteem was a key part of his character, but it isn't really present in the final product.

In the game, NJ's major flaw appears to be dogma: his dedication to NSR and upholding its ideals are what leads him to be so militaristic, and apparently he has caused many atrocities in the name of NSR due to misguided loyalty to the company. In a way, it mirrors how B2J are disregarding the consequences of their actions in the name of their own ideals.

While he speaks like he is one of the more selfless members of NSR, comments about how "If you mess with my troops, you mess with me!" fail to hold water when NJ doesn't go into the front lines until he pushes his crew literally past their breaking point. Even when he does go on the offensive, all of his attacks involve utilizing the 1010s as weapons.

I dunno, after all that, I just can't read Neon J. as a particularly loving or kind person, and I don't think he was ever meant to be. This isn't to say that I think he's evil or needs to be scorned, it's just that I think people assume he's a lot nicer than he actually is.