Fan Characters

[Gooey98]

I think they need a Mexican family. Maybe one who is struggling with money problems. And Whit helping out!

The Parkers are half Mexican... I think that shows more authenticity than a completely Mexican family, especially one that fits the stereotype of poor...

^I agree with this.

[Ameraka]

How about a Middle Eastern family.

[The Old Judge]

As in, radical Islam portrayed in Odyssey, or perhaps a fleeing Christian Arab family, such as those from Mosul, that have come to seek asylum in the US?

[TigerShadow]

Or maybe one of entirely U.S. origin, since those do exist.

I think they need a Mexican family. Maybe one who is struggling with money problems. And Whit helping out!

The Parkers are half Mexican... I think that shows more authenticity than a completely Mexican family, especially one that fits the stereotype of poor...

Agreed, especially since we already had a family (in fact, I think we've had multiple families) dealing with financial instabilities. Besides, to show a Mexican family dealing with monetary strife would be a stereotype in itself that they really don't need to be promoting. =/

[Doll]

Or maybe one of entirely U.S. origin, since those do exist.

Wait, WHAT?

It'd also be fun to have a family of many different countries of origin, way back. Maybe they could say phrases in other languages just for fun.. like my mother does. xD

[truAIOfan]

Or maybe one of entirely U.S. origin, since those do exist.

Yes, I agree!

[Audrey]

I just want characters who can /like/ things and not have those things considered idols.
For example, someone who loves, loves music. S/he keeps up with all of the latest bands, has a huge collection of records, blogs about music, etc, etc. And let me clarify: Not. Gospel. Music. Not. Christian. Music. But not explicit music, either. Just...MUSIC.

I am sick of Odyssey refusing to portray real people, real Christians. The majority of the characters are cookie cutter Christians in their faith, looks, and actions. I want a punk guy/girl, with piercings, tattoos, and dresses in mostly black, but is at church every Sunday and not mocked relentlessly for their life choices. I want someone who loves to read, but not Shakespeare; someone who is always looking for thriller novels, who isn't told that their choices in reading is Satanic. Girls who love fashion, but aren't portrayed as a total ditz for pursuing something they enjoy. (*cough*Olivia*cough* Every time Olivia is like, "Yeah, I totally love the mall and clothes!", but then seems super smart around everyone else, I want to puke.) I want people who just /like/ things, and aren't criticized for them because they're not the perfect Christian activities. Not everyone does charity work on the weekends, people.

I want characters who aren't not-so-subtly mocked for their life choices.

[TigerShadow]

I just want characters who can /like/ things and not have those things considered idols.
For example, someone who loves, loves music. S/he keeps up with all of the latest bands, has a huge collection of records, blogs about music, etc, etc. And let me clarify: Not. Gospel. Music. Not. Christian. Music. But not explicit music, either. Just...MUSIC.

I am sick of Odyssey refusing to portray real people, real Christians. The majority of the characters are cookie cutter Christians in their faith, looks, and actions. I want a punk guy/girl, with piercings, tattoos, and dresses in mostly black, but is at church every Sunday and not mocked relentlessly for their life choices. I want someone who loves to read, but not Shakespeare; someone who is always looking for thriller novels, who isn't told that their choices in reading is Satanic. Girls who love fashion, but aren't portrayed as a total ditz for pursuing something they enjoy. (*cough*Olivia*cough* Every time Olivia is like, "Yeah, I totally love the mall and clothes!", but then seems super smart around everyone else, I want to puke.) I want people who just /like/ things, and aren't criticized for them because they're not the perfect Christian activities. Not everyone does charity work on the weekends, people.

I want characters who aren't not-so-subtly mocked for their life choices.

LET ME LOVE YOU.

They probably wouldn't go for the punk rocker one, but I definitely want to see an AIO character who enjoys things that aren't right and sweet and perfect. I would argue that by the end of the show, personality-wise Mandy is a perfect deconstruction of the Nice Christian Girl, considering the ways in which the show spotlighted her flaws during her parents' separation; however, as far as hobbies and interests are concerned, they really need some characters who aren't interested in the vague umbrellas that are "reading", "sports", or "science". What specific things do these characters like? (This is where my headcanons come in, which makes me like the characters more in my head, but you really shouldn't be driving your characters forward by headcanons.)

[Ashley]

I just want characters who can /like/ things and not have those things considered idols.
For example, someone who loves, loves music. S/he keeps up with all of the latest bands, has a huge collection of records, blogs about music, etc, etc. And let me clarify: Not. Gospel. Music. Not. Christian. Music. But not explicit music, either. Just...MUSIC.

I am sick of Odyssey refusing to portray real people, real Christians. The majority of the characters are cookie cutter Christians in their faith, looks, and actions. I want a punk guy/girl, with piercings, tattoos, and dresses in mostly black, but is at church every Sunday and not mocked relentlessly for their life choices. I want someone who loves to read, but not Shakespeare; someone who is always looking for thriller novels, who isn't told that their choices in reading is Satanic. Girls who love fashion, but aren't portrayed as a total ditz for pursuing something they enjoy. (*cough*Olivia*cough* Every time Olivia is like, "Yeah, I totally love the mall and clothes!", but then seems super smart around everyone else, I want to puke.) I want people who just /like/ things, and aren't criticized for them because they're not the perfect Christian activities. Not everyone does charity work on the weekends, people.

I want characters who aren't not-so-subtly mocked for their life choices.

AUD I'M CRYING THIS IS PERFECTION.

I'd like a character to be like Osgood from Doctor Who. The nerd girl who has asthma. I think she is like a lot of fans, including me xD

[SirWhit]

I just want characters who can /like/ things and not have those things considered idols.
For example, someone who loves, loves music. S/he keeps up with all of the latest bands, has a huge collection of records, blogs about music, etc, etc. And let me clarify: Not. Gospel. Music. Not. Christian. Music. But not explicit music, either. Just...MUSIC.

I am sick of Odyssey refusing to portray real people, real Christians. The majority of the characters are cookie cutter Christians in their faith, looks, and actions. I want a punk guy/girl, with piercings, tattoos, and dresses in mostly black, but is at church every Sunday and not mocked relentlessly for their life choices. I want someone who loves to read, but not Shakespeare; someone who is always looking for thriller novels, who isn't told that their choices in reading is Satanic. Girls who love fashion, but aren't portrayed as a total ditz for pursuing something they enjoy. (*cough*Olivia*cough* Every time Olivia is like, "Yeah, I totally love the mall and clothes!", but then seems super smart around everyone else, I want to puke.) I want people who just /like/ things, and aren't criticized for them because they're not the perfect Christian activities. Not everyone does charity work on the weekends, people.

I want characters who aren't not-so-subtly mocked for their life choices.

*likes the post*

[truAIOfan]

This is why I like Buck and Jules. They are different from the other characters. They don't really know how to live life according to the Bible, and this gives them a different view of the world.

I would like to see a person who can be good friends with Jay, and could really turn him in the right direction. The same way with Buck. I think he needs a good friend, too.

[Audrey]

*takes a bow* Thank you, thank you. xD

@truAIOfan: I do like Jules, simply because she is different from any kid character they've featured. Well, she was; Connie's slowly turning her into an Odyssey kid. xD Same with Buck.

[ArnoldtheRubberDucky]

I just want characters who can /like/ things and not have those things considered idols.
For example, someone who loves, loves music. S/he keeps up with all of the latest bands, has a huge collection of records, blogs about music, etc, etc. And let me clarify: Not. Gospel. Music. Not. Christian. Music. But not explicit music, either. Just...MUSIC.

I am sick of Odyssey refusing to portray real people, real Christians. The majority of the characters are cookie cutter Christians in their faith, looks, and actions. I want a punk guy/girl, with piercings, tattoos, and dresses in mostly black, but is at church every Sunday and not mocked relentlessly for their life choices. I want someone who loves to read, but not Shakespeare; someone who is always looking for thriller novels, who isn't told that their choices in reading is Satanic. Girls who love fashion, but aren't portrayed as a total ditz for pursuing something they enjoy. (*cough*Olivia*cough* Every time Olivia is like, "Yeah, I totally love the mall and clothes!", but then seems super smart around everyone else, I want to puke.) I want people who just /like/ things, and aren't criticized for them because they're not the perfect Christian activities. Not everyone does charity work on the weekends, people.

I want characters who aren't not-so-subtly mocked for their life choices.

Agreed. AIO needs a happy medium between "perfect" kids and "bully" kids (because believe it or not, the real world isn't divided into faultless Christians and sadistic non-Christians).

[Gooey98]

I still don't feel like Jules or Buck match with what you're looking for. They are great characters, but neither of them are Christians at this point. So we still don't have Christian kids who don't fit into the mold.

[The Old Judge]

So, are we all in agreement that Focus needs to get up with the times and portray modern Chrostians as they really are, people with no standards who do not care what other people think about them nor even in some cases what the God they claim to serve does? All in favor, let it be known by saying, "I."

[TigerShadow]

That's not what anyone was asking for. All we really want is more Christian child characters who are given depth in their hobbies and interests beyond "I like to play music" or "I'm into science". What we want are Christians who do not necessarily wear perfect "wholesome" clothing or only listen to perfect "Christian" music. We're asking for more Christians who actually act like most Christians (and yes, I am speaking of born-again believers who are actually living out their faith and not just paying lip service to it) instead of like the people that those Christians envy because they seem so good at everything all the time. We want more Christian children/teenagers who are willing to engage with and understand their surrounding culture beyond surface traits who aren't considered to be "weird" (I'm pretty sure there are Christian Potterheads/Whovians/Trekkies/music geeks/bookworms out there, and more than you'd think).

To couch this desire as "we want the most worldly Christian ever who pays lip service to Jesus while worshipping at the altar of their self-interests because it makes us feel better about ourselves" is disingenuous and insulting. You would come across less presumptuously to ask us what we mean by what Arnold so aptly described as the middle ground between amoral secularists and perfect holy Christians, rather than assuming that we advocate for standards to be removed entirely. I think you mean well to call our views into question and to suggest that perhaps we are looking for a character onto whom we may project our pet sins as a means of justifying a refusal to deal with them, but your post instead comes across as holier-than-thou in its assumption of the false dichotomy that you are either a Model Christian™ or you can't possibly have any moral standards.

[Gooey98]

Yeah...I don't think we're "all in agreement" here anyway. I mean, it's not like their gonna say "did you hear about Emily? She's really into thrillers!" [Argument removed because I realized it was pretty lame]
Also:

I want a punk guy/girl, with piercings, tattoos, and dresses in mostly black, but is at church every Sunday and not mocked relentlessly for their life choices.

I honestly don't really understand that. Piercings and tattoos? An 8-12 year-old?who ever heard of a 12-year-old with tattoos? That's just weird.
Could it be that what you're really looking for is an AIO for teenagers? That concept actually has been brought up in the past, but for whatever reason, (funds, for example), Focus felt like they couldnt justify putting effort into it that point in time.

[TigerShadow]

What that concept might be good for as far as the target audience is concerned is if you had a teenager/young adult character who looked like that and the kids learned from how this person looks and how they act that it's wrong to judge people's moral alignment based solely on how they look—just because someone looks like a hardcore liberal atheist doesn't mean that they are one.

[Blitz]

The concepts your bringing around are more so for ages beyond 8-12. AIO focuses on issues that deal with that age. I find few people that age that deal with being punk etc.
Also what you look like reflects what is inside of you. People say you shouldn't judge what is on the outside, but I disagree. What is on the outside always reflects the ideas of one's lifestyle. What is there driving force. Whether to fit in, disregard authority, etc. Odyssey has used kids like that before such as in the case of Erica and Jules actually.
I also think if they overuse this kind of kid too much; Odessey will lose focus. Odyssey deals with a lot of issues. If you throw too many of those character in, in my opinion, changing them will be extremely long processes therefore you get continuous sagas.

[TigerShadow]

Yes, what you look like can be a reflection of what your personality is like or what your interests are, but do you seriously think that just because a person has tattooes or dyes his or her hair odd colors that he or she is a rebellious punk who hates the church? =/ That's the attitude that such a character would help to correct, that just because someone doesn't fit in to typical conventions means that he or she is undesirable or scary.

And we aren't asking for a child character who is rebellious. We're asking for a child character who is a Christian and yet doesn't instantly learn a lesson whenever they're given an applicable Scripture. We're asking for a Christian child character who consistently struggles with a certain issue, like pride or anger or a sour attitude, to show that transformation is an ongoing daily process. Yes, it's been done, but too often the typical story relates a one-time learning experience; while AIO is a teaching tool, it is also a work of art, and should be viewed and critiqued as such.

And the "punk" thing isn't all we've brought up—in fact, Audrey is the one who was all for it; people are just picking that one thing out from everything else that this discussion has either suggested or implied. We, on the whole, just want child characters with unique interests. The idea that such a character would not be at all relatable to an eight-year-old is laughable; when I was eight, I would have loved a character who had a unique interest that they really enjoyed without being portrayed as problematic.