#the protagonist unfortunately became not confident but rude

[quietparanoiac]

"Смотрите, уже пришёл первый зритель!.. Возможно, придут и остальные".

[galemalio]

3 Examples of Racial Bias in Animation Storytelling

It’s not hard to grasp that a white person, while not explicitly or consciously racist in the sense we might usually imagine, is still inherently racially biased because they benefit from and grow up used to white supremacy.” - Scottishwobbly, Tumblr

This is nothing new. This is something POC (People of Color) have been talking about in separate fandoms. Nevertheless, it needs to be acknowledged by those unaware.

This article is not made to say that some of the animations that I will use as examples are bad. But in the hopes that we, as consumers and creators, will do better in the future in handling characters that are POC. 

Most often, racial bias in storytelling is when the narrative treats white or light skin toned characters better than darker skin toned characters. The darker skin toned characters are often POC-coded or actual POC.

White creators often do not notice their racial bias in their storytelling as they benefit from and grow up with white privileges and white supremacy. This can also apply to light-skinned POC who have light skin priviliges. 

Some of us don’t often see it but real people who relate to the characters of color do. Especially when it reflects from their experiences with racial bias, microaggressions, colorism and flat out racism.

So when they speak up, it’s important to listen to them to unlearn the racial bias we may have in ourselves. 

I will be emphasizing “the narrative” for I am criticizing how the story treats its dark-skinned characters and not because I am criticizing the characters themselves.

This article is critiqued by @visibilityofcolor​ as a sensitivity reader once and then additions were made before publishing. If you’re looking for a Black sensitivity reader, you can contact her. 

This article is a 14-minute read at average speed so buckle up. Unless you want to skip to your show mentioned below. External Tumblr Resources will be put in the reblog.

Here are three examples that I was made aware of. 

Example #1: The Narrative Treats the Light-Skinned Character at the Expense of the Dark-Skinned Character

Steven Universe was one of the animations that pushed lgbt+ representation in cartoon media. However, there are narratives here and there that showed racial bias. 

SU creator Rebecca Sugar was raised with "Jewish sensibilities" and both siblings observe the lighting of Hanukkah candles with their parents through Skype.[1] Rebecca Sugar also talked about being non-binary.[2] 

But as a white person, she (and the rest of the SU crew) is not aware of the inherently biased values from growing up and benefiting from white privilege. 

One example is the human zoo. There are people that have spoken up about this such as @jellyfax​​ of Tumblr who pointed out that the Crewniverse mishandled a loaded topic and reinforced a white colonist propaganda where the captive humans of mostly black/brown people are naive, docile and childlike in order to subjugate the people that they colonized. .

What I’m here is how a character of color from the main cast is more obligated to the lighter-skinned character. 

In the episode, Friend Ship, one fan had spoken out about how Garnet, who had been validly angry at Pearl, was compelled by a dangerous situation to forgive Pearl. Garnet is a Black-coded character. While Pearl is a light-skinned character.  

Garnet was mad at Pearl for tricking her into always fusing with her. Then they were trapped in a chamber that was going to crush them. In this situation, they have to fuse in order to save themselves but Garnet refuses to because she was still angry at her. 

In the end, they were forced to talk it out, for Garnet to understand Pearl’s reason for wanting to fuse with her and everything worked out well.

The narrative focused so much on Pearl’s self-worth issues at the expense of Garnet’s right to be angry. 

Yes, it showed that Pearl is trying her best to make up for it but Garnet should have been allowed to work at her own anger at her own pace instead of being obligated to consider Pearl’s feelings over her own. 

I wouldn’t have noticed it until someone had mentioned it. Because it was never my experience. 

But it’s there, continuing the message that it’s okay to put the emotional labor on Black people and disregard their own feelings for the sake of the non-Black people who have hurt them -particularly light-skinned women. 

White Fragility and Being Silenced White Woman Tears

Again, racial bias in animation storytelling is often not intentional because white creators do not experience it due to white privilege. 

Without meaning to, that scene alone shows Garnet as the Angry Black woman trope that is ungrateful and rude to Pearl who then ends up in tears. Without meaning to, Pearl with her light skin, became the tearful white girl trope that had to be sympathized over.

The Angry Black Woman trope is a combination of the worst negative stereotypes of a Black woman: overly aggressive, domineering, emasculating, loud, disagreeable and uppity.[13] 

The Tearful white girl trope comes from the combination of the stereotypes of white women being morally upstanding and delicate and therefore should be protected.[13] 

Which, unfortunately, many white women have taken advantage of.

These two tropes are harmful to WOC (Women of Color) because they experience the "weary weaponizing of white women's tears". This tactic employed by many white women incites sympathy and avoids accountability for their actions, turning the tables to their accuser and forcing their accuser to understand them instead.

(Image by Виктория Бородинова from Pixabay)

In "Weapon of lass destruction: The tears of a white woman", Author Shay described that white tears turns a white woman into the priority of whatever space she's in. "It doesn't matter if you're right, once her tears are activated, you cease to exist." [11] 

White woman tears have gotten Black people beaten and lynched such as Emmett Till. Carolyn Bryant who had accused 14 year old Emmett Till of sexually harassing her in 1955, admitted she lied about those claims years later in 2007.[15]

In Awesomely Luvvie's "About the Weary Weaponizing of White Women Tears", she states that the innocent white woman is a caricature many subconsciously embrace because it hides them from consequences. [10]

In The Guardian’s article, "How White Women Use Strategic Tears to Silence Women of Colour", Ruby Hamad shares her experience:

"Often, when I have attempted to speak to or confront a white woman about something she has said or done that has impacted me adversely, I am met with tearful denials and indignant accusations that I am hurting her. My confidence diminished and second-guessing myself, I either flare up in frustration at not being heard (which only seems to prove her point) or I back down immediately, apologising and consoling the very person causing me harm."[4]

This is not to say that all crying white women are insincere. But as activist Rachel Cargle said:

“I refuse to listen to white women cry about something. When women have come up to me crying, I say, ‘Let me know when you feel a little better, then maybe we can talk.’”[3]

One of the most quoted words in “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.” is this:

“It is white people’s responsibility to be less fragile; people of color don’t need to twist themselves into knots trying to navigate us as painlessly as possible.”[3]  

When white women cry in defense, instead of taking accountability, People of Color are then gaslighted into thinking they’re the bad guy. This is emotional abuse and a manipulation tactic. 

People of Color shouldn’t have to bend backwards to accommodate discomfited white or light-skinned people who have hurt them. 

How She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (SPOP) Did It Right

Despite SPOP having good lgbtq+ representations, there are other biases in the show. Such as Mara, a WOC whose only purpose was to sacrifice herself for the white protagonist. There was also the insensitive joke in their stream regarding Bow’s sibling that perpetuated an Anti-Black stereotype which Noelle Stevenson has apologized for.[14]

But the scene I have encountered where the Black character was validly angry and his feelings were treated well by the narrative, came from SPOP.

Bow, a black character, was validly angry at Glimmer, a lighter skinned character. Glimmer made a lot of bad decisions, one of them was using Adora and their friends as bait, without their knowledge, to lure out and capture Catra.  

Glimmer tearfully apologized in Season 5, Episode 4. Adora readily forgave her. But Bow didn't. 

They faced dangers along the way but the story didn't put them in a dangerous situation where Bow has to forgive Glimmer in order to get out of it. 

This was Glimmer's words of apology:

"Look, I know you're still mad at me. Maybe you'll be mad at me for a really long time. I deserved it. And maybe... maybe we'll never be friends like we used to be. But I'm not going to stop trying to make it better. I made a mistake with the heart of Etheria. I should've listened to you and I'm sorry. You get to be mad. For as long as you need to be. But I'm not going anywhere. And when you're ready, I'll be here."

In short, Bow was allowed to take the time to be mad and not just get over it for someone else’s sake. The story validates his feelings and he was allowed to take his own pace. That is emotional respect the story gave to him.

Example #2: The Narrative Gives Better Endings or Portrayals to Colonizers than Their Victims

Avatar: The Last Airbender has handled dark themes well such as genocide, war, PTSD, disability and redemption with great worldbuilding.

However, I never noticed the racial bias in ATLA until people spoke up of the double standards in ATLA’s treatment of light-skinned colonizers compared to their dark-skinned victims-turned-villains.

The characters in question -Iroh, Azula, Jet and Hama- are all flawed and well-rounded in a believable way. But how the narrative treats them is unequal.

General Iroh is an ex-colonizer who gets to redeem himself and not answer for his past war crimes, living a peaceful life as a tea shop owner. The only reason Iroh changed was when he was personally affected by the negativity of their military subjugation -his son’s death. It wasn’t the harm of the Fire nation ravaging Earth kingdom villages or cities and affecting millions of people that opened his eyes.

Azula, the tyrannical daughter, had closure of her mother's rejection when she was a child and was able to escape imprisonment.

Jet and Hama, victims of colonization who have done bad things, did not get similar conclusions to their stories OR compensation for what they have gone through from the Fire Nation's colonization. 

Jet was given a second chance but was arrested for trying to expose Zuko and Iroh being firebenders -firebenders who were their enemies for conquering their villages. Then he died from the injuries of the person who had brainwashed and mind-controlled him. 

Hama was imprisoned for life. 

Compared to the sins of the light-skinned colonizers, the narrative didn’t give Jet and Hama the development where they could heal from their trauma, receive compensation for what happened to them and really have a chance in life. 

The dark-skinned victims of colonization just became a lesson to the viewers how they shouldn’t hold grudges for being colonized. The end. They have received consequences for their actions but there is no continuation to their stories after that. 

It almost seems like the narrative is saying that because they have harmed colonizers who have no part in their trauma (and in Jet’s case, some Earth kingdom villagers), they are therefore unworthy to be given an actual chance in life. 

While Azula and Iroh, who have actively participated in conquering, colonizing and attacking the Earth Kingdom itself, were.   

Someone once said that if indigenous people have control over Hama’s story, it would have been done differently. But the ATLA crew are white, non-indigenous people who prioritized redeeming colonizers instead.

The narrative has also affected how the ATLA fandom thinks. If most fans are asked who they would want to be redeemed, the popular option would be Azula over Jet or Hama.

Once again, I don’t think the ATLA crew noticed it due to their racial bias. But still, the harm is done and the racially biased message is continued: 

The colonizers and their descendants don’t have to make amends for the colonizers’ crimes. Or if they do, only lightly since it’s in the past (no matter how recent that past is). 

The colonized who rebel will tend to hurt innocent people and then get a grisly end for getting in way over their heads.  

I would venture as far as to say that the narrative may have the  added subconscious desire to quiet their white anxiety on the vengeance of the colonized. As I have learned when writing about Vodou stereotypes and how they have stemmed from the history of white anxiety of Black vengeance, of Black fetishization and of dissolution of the white race through intermarriages.

In @visibilityofcolor’s blog, someone asked:

 “So I saw some of the really heated debates on here and on twitter about how if Iroh and Azula can be portrayed sympathetically despite their actions then characters like Jet and Hama should've been given a chance too. Do you think that the writers understood the implications of only redeeming characters from the colonizer/fascist nation but not giving the characters who suffered because of their fascism a second chance too?”

To which VisibilityOfColor replied:

“No, because at the end of the day, the writers are white. When it comes to stuff like this, it’s no surprise when we see white writers redeem problematic characters before they actually redeem victims of those racist problematic characters. For instance, Dave Filioni, who worked on both avatar and star wars rebels, did the same thing when redeeming agent kallus who was an soldiers in the imperial army and took credit for a genocide. where as victims of the empire were still painted in negative lights. i really don’t think they understand.

They have this ‘be the better person’ view on things, which is what a lot of white people tend to emulate when it comes to people of color standing up to their oppressors. and unfortunately, these are ideas passed on to children, esp minorities. that they should forgive people and communities who hurt them and ‘be the better person’. this is why white ppl don’t need to write narratives for people of color.”

Example #3: The Narrative Favors the Light Skinned Character Than Dark Skinned Character in Similar Situations

I would like to reiterate that racial bias in storytelling is often not intentional. I am not saying the creators and the people who support them are bad people. No.

However, I encourage that once a racial bias is made known in our work, it is our responsibility to change them to stop the perpetuation of its harmful message.

Hazbin Hotel is a popular cartoon with whimsical designs and its concept opens the conversation about redemption. The creator, Vivziepop may not have noticed the racial bias in her cartoon as a white Latina [5] that grew up with and benefits from white privileges, along with the Hazbin crew. 

In the Youtbe video, "Hazbin Hotel - How Art took over Writing", Staxlotl states:

“I understand that there was a lot of time and effort put into this pilot, almost three years worth of effort. But I think most of that time was spent into the art and visuals when it should’ve gone into polishing the writing in the characters.”[6]

Once again, I’m not here to critique the characters but how the narrative treats its dark-skinned characters.

The story treats Charlie, the white-skinned, “Disney-esque” protagonist princess differently from how it treats Vaggie, the dark-skinned, more outspoken and protective Latina girlfriend of Charlie who supports the princess’ cause. 

In its pilot episode, both girls experience humiliation. While Charlie is portrayed by the story as someone the viewers have to feel sorry for...

...Vaggie is portrayed in her humiliation as the butt of the joke for the viewers.

While they both didn’t like what Angel Dust did, Charlie was sympathized over in the narrative as a moment... 

...while Vaggie’s angry but valid callouts were dismissed and ignored as part of the comedy.

While Charlie was someone that needs to be protected in the narrative... 

...Vaggie is left to fend for herself. 

Again, I don’t think the creators noticed the racial bias of their cartoon. However, this racial bias is reflected in the harmful perceptions that dark-skinned women, particularly Black women and Black girls, are more mature, tougher and need less protection at a young age.[7] 

This adultification bias perceives them as challenging authority when they express strong or contrary views and are then given harsher discipline than white girls who misbehave.[8] And this continues when they grow up.

In a 2017 study, Black women and girls aged 12-60 years old confirmed they are treated harsher by their white peers and are accused of being aggressive when they would defend themselves or explain their point of view to authority figures.[8] 

This bias also coincides with the Spicy Latina trope of a brown-skinned, hot-blooded, quick-tempered and passionate woman.

Everyday Feminism described this trope as "Although objects of desire for many, the spicy Latina may have too much personality to handle. So much so that she is often viewed as domineering or emasculating." [16]

Sounds familiar? (Look at Angry Black Woman trope above.)

Why is it that a light-skinned character, Charlie, is allowed to be vulnerable and be sympathized while the dark-skinned Latina character, Vaggie, is mocked, dismissed and expected to tough it out?

Severina Ware had to remind the world in her article that relates to the bias against dark skinned characters:

“Black women are not offered the protection and gentleness of our white counterparts. We are not given permission to be soft and delicate. We are required to exhibit strength and fortitude not only because our lives depend on it, but because so many others depend on us. Black women should not be charged with the responsibility of saving everyone when nobody is here to save us.”[12] 

As @cullenvhenan​ of Tumblr has said in her post:

“if you're a white creator and your brown/black characters are always sassy, reckless, aggressive or cold and your white characters are always soft, demure, shy and introverted you should think about maybe why you did that”

(Image above from Iowa Law Reviews’ “Aggressive Encounters & White Fragility: Deconstructing the Trope of the Angry Black Woman”)

Detecting Your Own Racial Bias

It would be hard. No matter how much you edit and create, you may miss it because it was never your experience. 

So how do we prevent our racial bias from creeping into our creations?

Listen to POC and their feedback.

As @charishjb from Instagram has shared, here is one of the things that we can do (tumblr link here) [9]:

Consider POC voices. Listen to their experiences. Hire sensitivity POC readers. Put multiple POC voices in positions of leadership in creative projects.

Then we can stop the racial bias that perpetuates again and again in the media. I hope for that future.

[alienahellsparkle]

❦ List fandoms of my heart: №3 (the last).

✯ Kuroshitsuji (Dark Butler)

This anime is my guide to the world of anime, my first of all, and the first that I liked. In addition, I have been watching it since I was 13 (omg, how old I am..).

I can say, from it I learned what anime is. It is one of my favorites and one of those that I can revisit (P.S .: And I'm still waiting for the new season or new full-length films, although no one said anything or promised anything about it).

The advantages of this anime are - interesting plots, 19th century setting mixed with the supernatural, soundtracks and a huge number of different characters for every taste. As I can tell, everyone will find their ideal 2D kun or chan here.

I could single out a lot of cool characters, but I'm afraid they could be spoilers too, so I'll just mention a few of my personal favorites.

Sebastian is a demon butler and another protagonist besides Ciel. A jack of all trades, a cool killer and one of the most real handsome men who stole many hearts from the female audience, who is in many similar tops and sometimes even has leading positions. I can say that he was my very first anime - love.

Prince Soma is an Indian prince. I don't know how many fans he has, but I think not as many as Sebastian and Ciel. Actually, Soma is the one who attracted me much more and my love for Sebastian did not last forever. This is because Soma, in addition to being beautiful and Indian (which was important to me as a lover of Bollywood films and music, and also interested in Indian culture), has a sweet and good personality. Three combos!

Madame Red is a bright woman with a difficult fate. I guess there isn't much more to say here (spoilers, spoilers, damn it).

Pluto is a devilish dog. Cutie, charming, with one cool ability and mine another anime-love (those who know this character and his unusual ability - yes - yes, I know it's weird to fall in love with characters like him).

As I said, the soundtracks are wonderful - some of the tunes have some classic notes in them, and also, the opening can be recognized from a thousand and it is easy to remember which anime it belongs to.

Also, there are elements of detective and crime, which also adds its own special shades and makes this anime even more interesting and aesthetically pleasing.

I look forward to continuing with it and begin to show interest in anime of a similar genre and setting in one (I found something similar, for example, as "House of Shadows").

✯ Dame x Prince 

Another anime that became my find and I can watch it many times. I liked it so much that after I found it (in 2018 it was a spring novelty), I watched almost all the episodes in one gulp and only later realized that it ends too quickly, because I could not stop in time.

This anime contains everything that I love about the reverse - harems - beautiful drawing, bright colors, romance, elements of comedy and fantasy, attractive male characters and not a stupid main character who can be respected.

We can say that Ani is one of the few normal owners of a harem, but she can be considered a diamond among them. She is encouraged by her courage and the fact that she is not embarrassed when guys compliment her or try to flirt (I could say more about her, but these will be spoilers).

Despite the fact that here the male characters are clichéd, for example - a kind cutie, handsome womanizer, narcissistic rude and so on, they look cool and interesting to watch, it's a pity that we will never know which of them Ani chose in the end.

In addition, there is one more plus in the form of a good plot, after which it helps some characters to reveal themselves.

Even if many people do not always take girly harem animes well and consider them worthless and empty, just to please teenage girls with cute romance in a colorful wrapper, this anime genre also deserves a place to be. Who knows, maybe soon the reverse - harems will evolve even more, at least there are already some anime-worthy options. Everything has its fans..

In general, this is a good and positive anime that can bring more colors to life. And I still hope for season 2.. 

✯ Nanbaka

When you watch a video on the topic: "Guess the gender of anime characters", you will not think that in this way you will be able to discover a new anime. That's how I found out about Nanbaka, after which I watched the first season in a couple of days.

I associate this anime with the beginning of July 2018 and the dairy drinks Twix, Milky Way and Snickers, which at that time I was finally able to taste.

Nanbaka has several advantages - a cool variety of characters, an element of comedy, and an equally vibrant color scheme. Also, I noticed that all characters have their own special difference - they all have nails painted in a different color and have small fangs.

Despite the fact that there is no romance here and the plot is built around a prison theme, Nanbaka is quite interesting to watch, and in some episodes there are elements of drama and seriousness. However, if the first season is more comical situations, then the second season is a little more serious, at least there are more problems that the heroes solve.

Of the characters, there are not only bisonens and heroes with simple qualities including kindness, cuteness, foolishness, signs of a womanizer, hot temper and severity, but there are also unexpected specimens, such as several LGBTQ characters and even antagonists.

Unfortunately, Nanbaka is not a very popular fandom and most likely there will never be a third season... But this is another solid anime that can be endlessly watched and is one of those that drags on from the first episodes.

✯ Romance Club

This visual novel often came across to me in YouTube recommendations, in the form of walkthroughs and analysis of Easter eggs from it.

At first, I was not very interested in this, and from the video, my first impression was that this is just an incomprehensible game with characters similar to cardboard figures, but for some reason it became very popular and discussed on social networks.

After some time, I still began to watch the walkthroughs and more or less began to understand what the whole highlight of the game is, and after that, I began to play myself, though at the beginning, then, I had only a plan to while away the rest of summer time until autumn, but I didn’t notice how I began to be drawn into the RC and it became not just a game for one time, it became a habit that is difficult to get rid of.

Now, it's not just a bunch of pretty cardboard character figurines and a joke that RC is a mix of films like "50 Shades of Gray" and "Twilight", made for teenage girls.

Romance Club is - characters for every taste, from whites and Europeans, to Hispanics and Asians, both boys and girls. LGBTQ relationships have not been forgotten here either.

Various stories with any setting - vampires + werewolves, pirates, aliens, 19th-18th century, royal setting, movie stars and fame, Scandinavian mythology, ancient Greek mythology, sea and beach setting, detectives and crime, ancient Japan (geisha and samurai) , angels and demons, everyday life and much more, but the creators continue to delight us with new stories to this day, and I think we still have a lot to see.

Beautiful graphics and drawing of characters, cool design of clothes, and also, here you can learn how to beautifully compose texts and sentences (let's say this can be useful for the writing sphere), since some stories contain wonderful descriptions of some scenes and comparisons of concepts (example. "Stars as luminous points," and the like).

But besides romance, other important topics can be revealed here, such as the concept of friendship, a hard life due to many problems, courage and self-confidence, and sometimes even 18+ topics can be touched upon. In addition, some stories have instructive facts, for example, something about the history of Turkey during the Ottoman Empire. 

Romance Club is scientifically enlightening!

Despite the fact that I refused to play games, since they take a lot of time, during which you can do a bunch of other useful things, RC is the only game (besides the Sims) on which I do not regret wasting my time and it is always interesting to watch new stories and how the old ones will end.

(P.S.: 

here is part 1 https://lenahellsparkle.tumblr.com/post/650656683336548352/list-fandoms-of-my-heart-1

part 2 https://lenahellsparkle.tumblr.com/post/655103141583470593/list-fandoms-of-my-heart-2)

[zanybohbot]

HTF x Inbetweeners AU Ideas

Sniffles, Toothy, Cuddles and Lumpy are all 18-19 and they all work at the office as their jobs. Toothy, Cuddles and Lumpy first met each other since elementary and became friends.

Sniffles is the most-logical, smart character out of the 4, he first met Toothy after attending his first job. He also tends to be a smart-ass, which gets their situations even worse, even though he tries to fix them.

Toothy is the oldest character out of the 4 but is also a hot-headed, short-tempered every-man. Toothy has been attracted to his childhood friend Petunia since they were in 3rd grade. Toothy is the most volatile of the group, especially when in discussions with his family, where he frequently over-reacts to gentle goading and even advice. He is sometimes shown to be extremely impulsive and bitter, saying and doing things that cause him great embarrassment. He also gets into a slew of unfortunate situations including being physically and verbally attacked. He is of Ghanaian and Scottish descent. His father is Ghanaian and his mother is American with Scottish roots.

Cuddles, the youngest of the four protagonists, is obsessed with sex, with almost all his comments being on the subject. He frequently lies and exaggerates about his experiences, sexual and otherwise, often making rude comments about girls in general and offering highly questionable "advice" to his friends, and frequently uses words such as "cleavage" and "p*ssy" to describe women's genitalia. Cuddles' only friend who genuinely likes him is Lumpy, mostly because he is naïve enough to believe Cuddles' stories.

Lumpy is the dull-witted and gentle giant of the group. He is also laid back. Due to his gullibility, he is usually the only person who believes Cuddles' stories and often fails to understand the sarcasm in Sniffles' one-liners. He has, along with Cuddles and Toothy, passed his driving test and owns a modified Porsche, but cannot drive it as it does not have an engine. Lumpy is the most sexually experienced of the group. Despite being naive, he is well-meaning and confident compared to the rest of the group. He also has irritable bowel syndrome.

@rabid-cat-infodump, I think this might interest you!

[thebigladjake]

AX3001: Cognitivation - TV Pitch #1: Research - Thomas the Tank Engine and writing for children.

"You got to remember who you’re writing for. You’re not really merely writing for children, you’re writing for the unfortunate people, who've got to read the stories over and over, and over again".

Ever since I’ve heard that quote, it’s always stuck in my mind. Children are not dumb and children can handle content that does not talk down to them. That very reason was why I remained a fan of the classic Thomas the Tank Engine episodes even when I was past the target audience.

The world felt real, the visuals certainly helped to draw me in, but as I got older I learned to appreciate the tales told much more. It wasn’t a nicey nice world, characters were assholes and they were all assholes to each other. Of course, there are nice characters in these stories, but most of the stories is focused on either one or two characters with one of them making an ass of themselves. And that’s exactly what made these stories so good!

Thomas

Thomas starts the whole series as a dick, he’s inexperienced and cheeky. In the first episode, he wakes up Gordon and is a constant nuisance. He brings up some of James’ accidents simply just to annoy him and he even calls Henry fat for having troubles with his build. Thomas isn’t completely rude, he’s only rude to them because they are rude to him. Most of them looked down upon him when he was the only tank engine on the railway. It was only when Edward showed him basic kindness that we see the nicer side of Thomas and that he isn’t just rude and inconsiderate.

Which is accurate to how people are, if someone is unpleasant to you, and especially as a kid, you aren’t exactly going to treat them kindly or want to keep interacting with those people. And again, we see Thomas’ kinder side when he first meets Percy and they have to team up to teach the Big Engines a lesson.

On James’ first day, he suffers a crash and Thomas immediately goes to help an engine that he’s known for only a short time. He’s kind to James when his arc comes around, but he’s not entirely above being cheeky as he brings up one of James’ accidents which immediately sours James’ mood. He never makes fun of his first day because James wasn’t in control and I think that says a lot about Thomas’ character.

Terence the Tractor wasn’t even rude to Thomas, in fact, Thomas actually initiated the rudeness by calling Terence’s wheels ugly. Which Terence responds, “I can go anywhere, I don’t need rails.” Giving Thomas the same rudeness, again, this is relatable because Thomas isn’t really a role model, in that very episode he’s extremely immature and bad which lands him in a whole lot of trouble! Thomas gets punished for his bad behaviour and that’s a good lesson to take away.

Once more, the first time Toby arrives onto the island, he scares a Policeman who was rude to Thomas, so immediately Thomas is accepting of Toby as a friend. He’s a flawed character with a streak of kindness to those who deserve it and that’s what made him a compelling protagonist in Series 1.

Of course, he lightens up over the series and goes through somewhat of a growing up arc. Where he’s selfish in Season 1, in Season 5 he tells James that if he, for once, thought of somebody but himself he’d probably be a much happier engine. 

James

The only splendid red engine on Sodor could definitely give you an ego and that is what James’ biggest flaw may just be. He has a superiority complex and prefers to hang around the Big Engines, Gordon and Henry.

We’re going to look into James’ character in his three/four episode arc as Thomas is rewarded with a branchline and isn’t around the other characters for a few episodes. James is our replacement main character and here we get to see what really makes up James’ character.

James’ very first day on Sodor did not go well, he came off the rails and Thomas had to come to his aid. When James was fixed up and returned to Sodor, he realised he had a lot to learn and is immediately put to the test. This is never explicitly stated, but I feel like such an accident on James’ first day probably really affected his confidence and so he became extremely anxious about messing up in case the Fat Controller would send him away. More on this at the end of James’ segment.

In an attempt to teach James how to handle coaches, he doubleheaders a train with Edward and confidently lets off steam at the station which ends up ruining the Fat Controller’s new top hat. The moment he realises this, he pressures Edward to hurry up so he can get away from this situation and avoid his problem. And he does so without the Fat Controller stopping to tell him off.

Already anxious from making one mistake, James makes another when they arrive at the next station and they both overshoot the platform. Even making this mistake is at the back of his mind because he’s so worried on what the Fat Controller is going to say. The rest of the journey goes well, but when he returns to the shed, he indeed gets what was coming to him. The Fat Controller tells him off and threatens to paint him blue, which James really is not a fan of.

Scrapping his positive mindset, he bangs the coaches into place and ,unlike before, none of the passengers came near him to admire his paintwork. He mumbles about how Gordon doesn’t have to shunt his coaches and he angrily gets to work. He pulls the coaches way too fast and rough for comfort which results in a leak in the brakepipes of the coaches.

Embarrassed about having another accident, James continues with his work and in the next episode, it’s stated that he was left in the shed for a few days for being naughty. The Fat Controller comes to him after sometime and tells James that he has caused several problems for the railway, which James apologises for and as a result, is allowed to come out and pull a goods train. James desperate to come out, accepts it in a heartbeat and is ready to work!

Thomas shunts the train together with James smiling all the while until Thomas brings up the bootlace incident, immediately ruining James mood and he bangs back down onto the trucks angrily. The trucks claim they want a proper engine and not a red monster, to which James simply ignores and gets on with his work. The trucks try their hardest to make him give up, slipping on their breaks and bringing the train to a halt. But, James was determined not to let the trucks beat him.

James carries on until they reach Gordon’s Hill where they struggle to try and pull the heavy trucks up the steep hill. James tells himself the whole time that he can do it, but halfway up the hill a coupling comes loose and the tailend of the train rolls down the hill. Edward comes to the rescue and offers his help to James, which he refuses and continues on alone much to Edward’s support.

James pulls the trucks up the hill and arrives at the station happily, proud of his efforts. However, James is immediately worried when he sees the Fat Controller approaching, thinking he will bring up the accident on the hill. But, no! The Fat Controller was smiling, praising James for his work and how he deserves to keep his red coat.

This last scene is really interesting as James assuming the worst makes me think that there is some insecurity about his character. He wants to make an impression, he’s the only red engine on the railway and stands out the most with his splendid red coat. He wants to show there is more to him than they might have heard and when the other engines bring up his accidents, he gets defensive and would rather forget the weaker aspects of his personality.

Though, the insecurity thing isn’t stated, if I’m able to look at James’ character and get this from it, I think this just goes to show how powerful children’s media can be and how kids may look at this character and feel the struggles he had gone through. Of course, James isn’t without redemption, he like Thomas has a streak of rudeness within him.

When Gordon jams the turntable and has to pull his trains backwards, James laughs at him and after Gordon warns him about turntables remarks that “I’m not as fat as you.” James is then revealed to be too light for the turntable and the wind easily spins him around.

He is unsympathetic towards Henry, claiming that he doesn’t work hard enough and not taking the time to understand his conditions.

When Gordon declares a strike, James joins both Gordon and Henry. Probably doing so as he believed it earned him a place with the Big Engines in the shed. And despite Edward being extremely kind and a mentor figure to James, he sides with Gordon and mocks Edward for wanting to shunt and do the work that the railway requires to function. This is probably where James became the most comfortable as he was among the Big Engines now. He wants to be at the top of the social hierarchy and being with Gordon assures him that he’s at the top of the top.

Toby is a tram engine and is very old fashioned, however the Fat Controller really took a shine to Toby and allowed him to live on his railway. James, however, was extremely rude to him due to him being old fashioned and unlike the rest of the modern (at the time) steam engines around him. Although, Toby didn’t put up with James’ nonsense and knew that bringing up bootlaces was enough to not only annoy James, but shut him up completely. Especially coming from an out of date tram engine.

Once James was fully settled into the island, I feel he became much more comfortable with himself and judgemental to those who didn’t work or try as hard as he did. Showing a gradual change of his character not only makes him more fleshed out, but believable because people do change. We’ve seen both James at his best and James at his worst and I think that’s something we shouldn’t shy away from.

Henry

Henry is one of my favourite examples of the complexities of these characters. He can be paired up with any of the other engines and work well together. He’s shown to be kind, helpful, but has an arrogant streak inside him and also has numerous technical flaws that prevented him from performing optimally at his jobs.

In contrast to James, Henry’s introductory stories actually have him at fault and we are immediately shown his arrogance as he stays inside of the tunnel to avoid the rain, refusing to move since the rain would spoil his lovely green coat. 

After several attempts to get Henry to move, the Fat Controller declared that they shall take away his rails and that he shall remain here forever. He then proceeds to brick up the end on the tunnel which Henry was in and Henry was left there. A bit overkill, don’t you think? I mean I’m sure certain trains had to be re-routed or some just straight up cancelled because of some rude engine blocking the line.

Gordon and Edward would both go past Henry in the tunnel, with Edward always whistling hello while Gordon made fun of Henry’s foolishness. One day, however, Gordon was planning to make fun of Henry once more, but a broken safety valve leaves the train stranded and when Edward comes to move the train, he is too weak to do it alone. Gordon suggests for Henry to try and the Fat Controller agrees. Henry was no longer worried about the rain, he was simply happy to get back to work! However, Henry would soon have problems regarding his health and his work would struggle because of it. 

It’s also worth mentioning that the strike by Gordon which Henry took a part of happened between the events of the previously discussed episode and the episode I’m discussing after this. In which Henry was arrogant due to Gordon’s influence and was equally disrespectful to Edward for just doing his job.

Anyway, after the strike and Henry was able to work again, Henry struggled to do his work. Leaving him to thought of as weak and discarded by the others, specifically James who was especially harsh to him. Most likely due to James having to do Henry’s work as well as his own. Even Thomas is unsympathetic as Henry arrives late due to his own faults, shrugging it off and calling him “fat”. Not even giving Henry an apology. 

Fun Fact: Henry’s problems was based upon the Reverend’s own Henry model that was a troublesome runner that never did run all that well. 

As opposed to Thomas, who reacts by being rude to those who are rude to him, or James, who gets angry at the mention of his bootlace incident, Henry reacts sadly to his faults as it’s something he genuinely can’t control. James tried to make fun of Henry’s tunnel incident, but it doesn’t bother him because that was him being stupid. Henry doesn’t fight back because he can’t. There’s nothing he can say to change their mind, so instead he says nothing.

The drivers and the Fat Controller discuss what to do with Henry, even considering to replace him if he isn’t able to work. The driver suggests Welsh coal and the Fat Controller agrees to order some as Henry must have a fair chance. This turned out to be what Henry needs, with him feeling quite energised and capable to do his work. Showing the Fat Controller and everybody that Henry can indeed do his work and even arriving early to give Thomas a run for his money! Showing kids that you can be flawed and still do well.

Henry has an accident in the next episode which was not his fault, the Fat Controller sends him away to be rebuilt. Upon his return, Gordon was very rude to him and immediately tore down Henry’s happiness. Percy supportively chirps up and telling him that he’s glad Henry is home again.

Henry soon meets up with Edward, happily greeting him, showing us that like Thomas, under certain circumstances Henry can be a really nice engine and is only really influenced when the biggest kid in the playground is on his side. Henry has both his arrogant side and soft side. He can play for multiple teams and still remains true to his character. His changes never seem really out of place, he just needs to surround himself with more positive influences.

Sometimes I’ve heard the dynamics of Thomas described as a playground where the bigger kids are in charge and all hang around together. I think that aspect is really defining of Henry’s character, much how it might affect a real child who may be in a friend group like that.

Percy

Classic series Percy was an amazing character and unfortunately in the later years became more and more flanderised, when Percy was introduced, all the big engines were pushing Edward around and calling him names because he would do the work of what they deemed “Little Engines”. Percy shows up on the scene and immediately puts them to shame, when Henry decides to come out of the shed, before he gets the chance to hiss steam at Edward, Percy wheeshes steam into his face!

Percy was a mischievous character, sometimes a little too much for his own good! He caused his fair share of troubles and was perhaps the most naive of all of the engines since he was bought straight from the workshop. All of the other five engines were bought from separate British railways, so they had some prior experience to working. 

We see this in “Percy Runs Away”, when Percy forgets to whistle for the signalman to change the points for him and it results in bringing Gordon to a stop and Percy jolting backwards in fright! In the second series episode, “Percy and the Signal” he plays off that he knows what a backing signal is to appear smart in front of Gordon and James, who had both made the idea up to get back at Percy. This, of course, comes back to bite him in the ass and he looks like an idiot in front of Gordon. 

Even Thomas and Percy have their faults, in “Thomas, Percy and the Coal” Percy causes an accident that buries Thomas in coal, which makes him laugh uncontrollably much to Thomas’ annoyance. This arc actually spanned several stories in the Railway Series where Thomas and Percy were not friends. These were not actually written by the Reverend himself, but his son, Christopher, the very boy who these stories were made for. 

Of course, Thomas and Percy become friends once more in the end with a rather nice moment of Percy choosing to help Thomas after he suffers a drip from his tank. I wish this would have been adapted, but as it stands Thomas and Percy have their fallings out and is resolved in one episode. Showing the children that it’s normal for best friends to fight and as long as you’re both sorry and recognise your mistakes, you can move on. It’s a good lesson to learn and a relatable one at that because kids do bicker over the most trivial things. Me and my friend Joe had several arguments because I thought Sonic was better than Mario and vice versa for Joe.

Characters must have flaws, no world is perfect and the sooner kids realise it, the better off they’ll be. As a kid, I grew up with Thomas and while other kids moved on, I stuck around because I saw the goodness inside it. It had compelling stories and characters, moments were the good guys aren’t always good guys and the absolutely stunning visuals. It was clear that the makers of the show had passion and they wanted it to be believable. Of course, the kids my age moved on since at the time we were kids, the show airing on TV was not the Thomas I grew up with.

In 2003, the formula changed dramatically. Thomas became very simpler, the visuals were flatter, the personalities became drawn down to a single trait, the dialogue was a lot more plain and the stories where much much simpler. Instead of doing actual jobs and making the railway look like a railway, you’d occasionally get an engine making their way in the opposite direction with no train behind them. Thomas runs around getting ice cream ingredients to make ice cream, Percy shunts around a single flatbed with a carpet tied over the top of it. Instead of writing original stories, just copy Tortoise and the Hare and nobody will notice. And what certainly doesn’t help is Michael Angelis’ narration because he just sounds tired.

Instead of Thomas being a cheeky, little tank engine, he’s obsessed with doing the most important jobs and gets upset when an engine aside from him is chosen to do it.

Instead of being a kind and reliable mentor figure for engines like Thomas and Percy, Edward is old and rickety and useless. His only important roles in these years was being a back engine to push engines up Gordon’s Hill when they got stuck and that’s it. Insulting as this was Awdry’s first character and the one that started it all.

Henry was an arrogant engine with a softer side to those he was willing to show it too, no let’s make him ill again and him having problems becomes his character trait.

I can see why this didn’t leave an impact on kids my age because the stories packed no punch, there are a few nuggets of goodness in this era, but they are few and far between. And this is what infuriates me about children’s media like no other. The whole nicey-nice worlds and I’m so sick of stuff like this, we need grit again, kids want something they can relate too. Give kids something more substantial than this friendly PC nonsense. And at it’s most PC, Thomas is failing and after 24 seasons, Thomas is finally on hiatus because the series is failing. Just including female leads doesn’t make a show better and flawless characters makes shows worse, you shouldn’t go in with the source design to be “girl” or a token something. You should just make characters and that’s why I look at Thomas as a great example of what to do and also what not to do. Because they’ve nailed it before and they can nail it again.

Now, it’s time for me to nail it with my own.