User blog:Gumball2/Why I Find Potential Important

In recent, som discussion has come up regarding Leni’s character. More specifically, Weavillain made a blog post where he argued that the show trivializes Leni’s flaws, rendering her a perfectly bland character (I encourage you to read his rendition of it here: . His thoughts deserve more time and attention than my quick summary).

I do not disagree with Weavillain about his findings; in many respects, the show itself props her up as an untouchable angel while her “dumbness” is rarely taken seriously. I also share his frustration at the show for failing to give Leni the screen time and focus to make something of those flaws and really force her to face a challenge. But what I can’t agree with him on is his conclusion and what he and others make of these findings. While Weavillain hopes that the future will change this trend, he lowered Leni’s position in his rankings for the time. I don’t blame him or anyone else that reacted like this in light of these findings. Weavillain is someone I highly admire and respect. His thoughts are very intelligent and I know that he wants nothing but the best for Leni and the show. But even as I absorb these findings and agree with them, I can’t bring myself to touch my character rankings.

I know I’m gonna have people disagree with me about this or think I’m just some dreamer projecting an unreasonable image on a show that wants to crack jokes and tell simple stories. But my view on the characters is affected not by how the show treats them but rather on the potential I believe they can attain.

Now I realize that’s a highly subjective metric by which to judge things on. My vision on a character’s potential is likely different from your’s. But I never claim to be objective when making my character rankings; at the end of the day, it’s about having you understand which ones I like more than others. I know and respect plenty of people that rank Lynn higher than Leni or Lana higher than Luna. We all see things in characters, whether it’s pieces of ourselves or of other characters we like on other shows. It’s such external love for a show’s characters that motivate fanfic writers everyday to envision new scenarios for these characters to be in. And believe me, while most fanfic writers try their best to represent those characters faithfully, portions of it are based on speculation. While my system for ranking the characters is largely based on speculation, the show itself can inform me of what a character’s potential could be.

Take Lola, for instance. When I started watching the show she was ranked tenth or eleventh largely for her bratty behavior. She wasn’t a character I wanted to see more of because I wasn’t convinced any good could come from it. But then she underwent some transformations that shed new light on her character. While she still has a high opinion of herself, she’s become more constructive in helping her fellow siblings see their own strengths. She is learning to realize that beauty can come in all shapes and sizes. She’s also coming to terms with her own weaknesses (such as her reading skills) and realizes that despite her brattiness, her family is still there for her. And from these revelations and displays, I have come to appreciate Lola more as a character. Not only is she more likable, but there are new directions where I can see her character being taken down. Like maybe we can see her getting over a loss at a pageant and not have it be all about getting revenge at the winner. Or maybe with her falling behind in school, she can wonder what would happen if she doesn’t make a career out of winning pageants, forcing her to rely on academics to get a viable career (one that requires a college degree). And it’s from exploring those new angles that have raised her up some spots on my list.

Now what does this have to do with Leni? Well out of all the characters, I see the most being done with Leni. Her predicament of being “dumb” can be taken in so many different directions, ones that are too numerous to get into within this blog. Perhaps it’s because I can relate to her more than any other character that allows me to see these possibilities. But on the other hand, it’s me considering things when ranking what I think of the characters. So because of that, I can use my personal considerations to evaluate characters just so long as I don’t pretend to be an objective critic telling other people they’re wrong.

Based on this whole discussion of potential, some of you may tell me that I can’t reasonably expect a show like this to reach the potential I’m outlining for each character. I understand that some of my ideas are out there and, in the interest of everyone in the community, are left only to the realm of fanfiction. I can live with that if it means that everyone is happy. But what I’m saying about potential is that it ties into why Leni remains my favorite Loud despite the show not taking the time to explore everything about her character.

And my answer is this: that is a fault of the show. While I am disappointed to see Leni’s flaws rarely being taken seriously, what I think separates me and people like Weavillain is that I don’t take it out on the characters themselves when I know that they could be so much more. Rather, I prefer to hold the show itself accountable for not sufficiently grappling with the characters it chooses to deal with. Now that may sound silly, but I’ll try to explain it in terms that make sense.

To some degree, I think this interpretation holds water given the type of medium we’re dealing with. In animation, we have one creator (Chris Savino) that conceives the characters. While his vision of the characters may vary from my own, it also may vary amongst the staff and other writers on the show. When we see individual episodes, we’re catching a glimpse of one or two people’s idea of what the characters are and what role they play in a given plot. But each writer will have different preferences on what stories to tell, what characters to feature, or what tone an episode should hold itself to. Yes, they have general guidelines to follow and yes they have to collaborate with other staff, but the result in any case is a different experience for each episode with a different writer. Each writer has their own idea of what a character’s potential is and, while it certainly isn’t the only part of the function, factors into how the character is presented in a given episode.

While the show can certainly inform and change how I see a character’s potential, I tend not to let destructive or unhelpful information take away from the potential I find in the more constructive and positive experiences. On the whole, I know the show is good and even if an episode is bad, it really is only one in a series of good and alright ones. I don’t let bad episodes ruin my enjoyment of Leni or any other characters so long as I have seen good episodes that assure me that they are human and can be so much more. It’s like a parent with a child. Some days may be rough; the child throws a tantrum, makes a mess, and makes himself just impossible to deal with. But that doesn’t interfere with the parent’s love of that child because they know this isn’t the child’s true nature. They know that even on the bad days, there’s the same child that’s loving, smart, helpful, and willing to make a positive difference in the world around him. And it’s that optimism that drives the parent to continue loving and supporting the child even through the bad times.

And that is why Leni ranks so highly on my list even to this day. I know this argument won’t sway everyone and that is not my end goal. This is just an explanation of how my mind works so that those that disagree with me can understand where I’m coming from. You may call me a wishful thinker or biased-driven, but that’s just how I see things and I’m pretty happy with that. And I’m happy to anyone else that is able to enjoy a character as much as I enjoy Leni for whatever rationale they find compelling.

But enough about me. What do you think of all this? Feel free to comment.