Oh, and Miko is Japanese. Which needs mentioning, because, unless they were in the act of SAYING it, I don't believe it.
How does someone prove that they're Japanese, and why should they have to? If a character is Japanese, the character is Japanese.
She's female, scrawny, rich, 'Japanese,' and serves only to get the other two humans in trouble so that there can be interactions with giant alien robots.
So "female" and "Japanese" belong on a list of why you find a character annoying? Seriously?
I don't particularly like HOW you called me out on this, but I can see where what I was saying sounds not like what I wanted to say at all, so I am glad that you DID call me out on this, and I'll go fix it up above.
My intention was less to say that "she is annoying because she's a girl and Japanese" and more to say that "WHY is the only girl and the only Japanese person in this show crazy and useless?" The fact that she's female is important to note because I really hate the use of the 'token chick' stereotype that she's permeating, where she keeps needing rescue because she keeps doing stupid stuff.
The fact that she's Japanese....I don't even know. I don't know why they keep bringing it up over and over again, because I have no idea what bearing it has on her character, and it makes me uncomfortable that they'd assign a race to someone just to have her be pointless and annoying. She'd be just as pointless and annoying if she wasn't Japanese, so why is it important that she is? That's what I want to know.
But being Japanese isn't some kind of special character trait that needs explanation or something exceptional. It's just a character trait. To assume that there needs to be a reason for her to be Japanese assumes that the default is white and to deviate from that requires explanation.
I can see what you're saying, but why should it matter what ethnicity a person is? JAck could be of a Latino persuasion, and it wouldn't change the fact that he's sensible and pretty standard for a 16 year old. The humans have no particular defining appearances, so going so far as to make multiple mentions of it when the character otherwise has only negative features is just associating the negative features to the character, who is constantly being referred to as Japanese. THAT is what I don't like.
Other people don't see those features as negative, though. She's not a villain or someone despicable, and the traits you described aren't some sort of stereotype; she's just someone you happen to find annoying. The children this show is aimed at might feel (and probably will feel) differently. She has realistic flaws that may or may not change over the course of the series; it's not as though she's been hanging around for three seasons never developing.
This is true, and you're bringing up good points. I cannot feasibly see how Hasbro is going to redeem her without taking a 360, but...it's also just my point of view, and that's something I need to keep in mind. I really don't like them putting what feels like a Mary Sue on screen, and I don't think I'm going to ever like her, but I don't hate her because she's Japanese--I hate her because she's put everyone in danger multiple times, and as a female character in a transformers show, I really WANT to be rooting for her (not constantly going WTF).
Transformers has had some really strong characters who also happened to be girls--they had them back in the 80s, and have had them all the way until now. I feel really let down by Hasbro that they'd do this...and it does make me not want to watch the show if she's going to continue the behavior that was shown to us in the Pilot.
Well, she sounds like a realistic teenager to me, where maybe the others aren't so much. If she's annoying and overexcitable and makes stupid decisions, that's realistic to me. Yeah, it can be really grating, but I wouldn't judge her so quickly; there are a lot of good characters out there who started off realistically grating and then turned around and matured because of what happens to them. Luke Skywalker is a good example; he's extremely immature when you first see him, and then he grows. I mean, that's really up to the writers.
*nodding* I really appreciate it when a show does this, and does this well. She's...not particularly a *normal* teenager, but I could see her being an over-excitable one.
I have problems with the 'OMG GIANT ROBOTS LETS FOLLOW THEM INTO BATTLE WHEN THEY'VE EXPRESSLY TOLD US TO STAY PUT.' And, yeah, I could see her doing this once, because...hell. I'd probably do it at least once. But she does it upwards of 3 times, and that's where it stretches my belief. That's where she goes from 'excitable' to 'reckless.' I definitely want Hasbro to make her into a realistic and redeemable character by the end of all this, but I don't know how many times I'm willing to see her slam her head into a wall before she notices it hurts. It's uncomfortable to watch.
I can see that. It can get to a point where character traits become overwrought and the writing gets bad. You'd think after one near-death scare, you'd rethink your strategy next time, and that sounds like lazy writing to me. Hopefully they'll wake up and if she's going to be a recurring character have her learn some lessons.
*nodding* That is something I can definitely agree with.
I mean, I attacked Miko a lot, but I'm equally upset at Hasbro for Raf--for spending five episodes with no one noticing that a 12 year old out-hacking thousand-year old aliens is a little bit out of the ordinary. It just feels like they've got good writers, but no editors to say: 'Um. Hey. Guys. This doesn't make sense. At least have someone notice that this is unusual?'
I guess there comes a point where you just have to chalk it up to how shows for children often are. Kids want to see kids who are exceptional, and you kind of have to make character traits over the top for them to really take hold. But there are better and worse ways to do it, definitely.
I think what Sae was trying to get at here is not that she's annoying because she *is* Japanese; she's annoying because she comes off like a generic fan-character, and that clashes with some of the other very subtle and very intricate characters we are seeing thus far. Not only is she proving to be disconnected to anyone older than a kid (and this series *is* being hyped and directed at the adult TF fans just as much, so yes, the writers should be paying attention to that) we feel her persona is not well researched and not well defined, that she is just being "otaku-y" because it is trendy. She's annoying because she is selfish and endangers people repeatedly and for reasons unknown - these are not unusual traits necessarily for kids in TF shows but her whole character equation is not coming off in a digestible form, plus the audience is being beat over the head that she is from another country, when no human (or alien) in any of the other series' has ever had that treatment
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(Oh...and since I'm using the Prowl account)cyberninjabotDecember 6 2010, 00:25:16 UTC
Addendum: Sometimes throwing in some random pseudo-Japanese stuff is just fun and whimsical in the scope of the story. Ninja and samurai are "cool" even if it isn't historically accurate for giant alien robots to exhibit those traits - so that's why we have Prowl and Yoketron, et al. Oh, and Nightbird! (Oh, and then there's Drift, too, but the TF fandom jury is still out on him.)
Again, I think it's when you start labeling normal humans, that's when you have to be careful. When you are defining them by features awkwardly presented, that is when the character designers need to think about the "why" behind that.
The problem isn't that Miko's Japanese, it's that she doesn't make any sense. They're making a HUGE DEAL about the fact that she's ethnically and, presumably culturally Japanese. She was raised in Japan. She's an exchange student. And yet she...acts like nothing more than a stupid American teenager?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that there's ONLY ONE WAY A JAPANESE GIRL IN A CARTOON COULD ACT OMG!!1!1, because that would be just as terrible as saying she should be white just because. But the way they portray her is just... insulting. They make a big deal about the fact that she was born in Japan and has Japanese parents that live in Japan, and yet she doesn't act like it at all. If they wanted a stupid American teenager, they could have just made her Japanese-American. Instead, they leave us with this character who doesn't make sense-- and is obnoxious as all hell to boot.
...Have you ever met any teenagers from Japan, or anywhere outside the United States? If you think she acts like an American teenager, she's probably a great portrayal of a teenager from damn near any country. Teenagers are annoying, and I'm not sure how you think Japanese teenagers are supposed to act that's totally different from how American teenagers act, because in real life they have a whole hell of a lot in common, except that Japanese teenagers might be annoying little shits over AKB48 instead of the Jonas Brothers.
How does someone prove that they're Japanese, and why should they have to? If a character is Japanese, the character is Japanese.
She's female, scrawny, rich, 'Japanese,' and serves only to get the other two humans in trouble so that there can be interactions with giant alien robots.
So "female" and "Japanese" belong on a list of why you find a character annoying? Seriously?
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My intention was less to say that "she is annoying because she's a girl and Japanese" and more to say that "WHY is the only girl and the only Japanese person in this show crazy and useless?" The fact that she's female is important to note because I really hate the use of the 'token chick' stereotype that she's permeating, where she keeps needing rescue because she keeps doing stupid stuff.
The fact that she's Japanese....I don't even know. I don't know why they keep bringing it up over and over again, because I have no idea what bearing it has on her character, and it makes me uncomfortable that they'd assign a race to someone just to have her be pointless and annoying. She'd be just as pointless and annoying if she wasn't Japanese, so why is it important that she is? That's what I want to know.
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Transformers has had some really strong characters who also happened to be girls--they had them back in the 80s, and have had them all the way until now. I feel really let down by Hasbro that they'd do this...and it does make me not want to watch the show if she's going to continue the behavior that was shown to us in the Pilot.
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I have problems with the 'OMG GIANT ROBOTS LETS FOLLOW THEM INTO BATTLE WHEN THEY'VE EXPRESSLY TOLD US TO STAY PUT.' And, yeah, I could see her doing this once, because...hell. I'd probably do it at least once. But she does it upwards of 3 times, and that's where it stretches my belief. That's where she goes from 'excitable' to 'reckless.' I definitely want Hasbro to make her into a realistic and redeemable character by the end of all this, but I don't know how many times I'm willing to see her slam her head into a wall before she notices it hurts. It's uncomfortable to watch.
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I mean, I attacked Miko a lot, but I'm equally upset at Hasbro for Raf--for spending five episodes with no one noticing that a 12 year old out-hacking thousand-year old aliens is a little bit out of the ordinary. It just feels like they've got good writers, but no editors to say: 'Um. Hey. Guys. This doesn't make sense. At least have someone notice that this is unusual?'
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Again, I think it's when you start labeling normal humans, that's when you have to be careful. When you are defining them by features awkwardly presented, that is when the character designers need to think about the "why" behind that.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that there's ONLY ONE WAY A JAPANESE GIRL IN A CARTOON COULD ACT OMG!!1!1, because that would be just as terrible as saying she should be white just because. But the way they portray her is just... insulting. They make a big deal about the fact that she was born in Japan and has Japanese parents that live in Japan, and yet she doesn't act like it at all. If they wanted a stupid American teenager, they could have just made her Japanese-American. Instead, they leave us with this character who doesn't make sense-- and is obnoxious as all hell to boot.
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