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Boy Scouts
sumthindarkside
Posts: 27 Arc User
I've been thinking about this topic for a while.
I know I've created lots of toons that are more Boy Scout alignment or attitude. And I know whenever table top role playing opportunities roll around, I tend to play more lawful aligned. So it may be strange for me to ask this...
What makes a boy scout a boy scout? What makes them stand out as icons? How is it that people like Captain America and Superman be the icons that they are?
How do we write them, in a way that doesn't make them carbon copies of each other? How do they stand out over each other? What makes them tick, both in character, and written down?
I seem to want to write them, but it feels sometimes a bit too 2 dimensional at times.
So I ask the community... What is a Boy Scout?
I know I've created lots of toons that are more Boy Scout alignment or attitude. And I know whenever table top role playing opportunities roll around, I tend to play more lawful aligned. So it may be strange for me to ask this...
What makes a boy scout a boy scout? What makes them stand out as icons? How is it that people like Captain America and Superman be the icons that they are?
How do we write them, in a way that doesn't make them carbon copies of each other? How do they stand out over each other? What makes them tick, both in character, and written down?
I seem to want to write them, but it feels sometimes a bit too 2 dimensional at times.
So I ask the community... What is a Boy Scout?
Post edited by sumthindarkside on
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It's about Wisdom, conviction, and willpower,,
The wisdom to know what is right, the conviction to do it, the willpower to continue in the face of adversity or even popular [wrong but popular] opinion.
The very reason these types of characters become icons of virtue is because they embody the kind of ideals we all would aspire to, would secretly wish to achieve, were we only better people than we are, since we are after all, only normal human beings.
Captain America once told Spider-man, "When the world tells you that you are wrong, when you know you are right, it is your job, your duty to stand in the middle of that rushing tide and face them down, and tell them, 'No, you're wrong.'"
More succinctly, a "Boy Scout" is a truly good person, not due to any power they may or may not possess, but simply because they do what is right to the best of their ability, every time. Because you can count on them to do their best every time, no matter the odds arrayed against them.
People who find "Boy Scouts" insufferable or inhumanly moral, are invariably jaded people who have given up on ever getting close to being the best person that they can be, so instead often try to tear down what they can't achieve in order to help themselves feel better about themselves.
Or they were members of the Freedom Phalanx who thought that Marcus Cole, for all the Boy Scout attributes he had, was an insufferable prick about it. That's how Jack Emmert gave Statesman a twist: Poor people skills. (I guess that's why I liked the tone of CoH better than CO. I always expected the writers to have Justin snap and sock Marcus right in the mouth one day. The Champions probably never disagree on pizza toppings.)
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world... No, you move."
-- Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man, #537
"On Olympus, we measure Wisdom against Athena, Speed against Hermes, Power against Zeus. But we measure Courage... against Captain America."
-- Hercules, Captain America, #444
"Well, hopefully they're not cheering for war. And hopefully they're not cheering for, necessarily, America. Hopefully, they're cheering for a way of life that Steve embodies. I think Steve Rogers is about doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do."
-- Chris Evans, on Captain America's fandom.
Iamrune: That really helps. I see what you mean. Hence why Steve's behaviour during the Civil War. And that really helps with what I'm trying to figure out.
sistersilicon: Although I simply touched CoH, I get what you mean. Give them a flaw, but sometimes if they come across as too preachy, then they may lose their luster. Important to consider.
chaoswolf820: Those are good lines. Although my friend in this endeavor is pushing forward his boyscout, this character just feels empty in my heart. It feels dull, and easily overlooked, for being a pseudo Superman-meets-Onizuka. His support cast seems to have more life than him... He just doesn't feel right to be the icon of the world. These quotes show how a boyscout should be looked upon... But this character just feels forced.
My Gut is telling me theres something that I'm gonna find that's going to blow this character away. (I have one that I may have an instinct for... but I'm not completely sure.) Thanks guys... But I'm not going to stop here. If any more have any suggestions, then I'm open to them.
/wipes tear from eye
There is a no hard line between Captain America and US Agent but we would never mistake the two and we would never call Walker a boy scout. The real difference is the intangible qualities, Rogers is the ideal and Walker is the soldier.
Anyway I hope you succeed, I would rather see another "semi-popular hero" than another slew of ridiculously popular, nondescript, barely costumed hero teams.
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