Conventional Wisdom: on the matter of supporting characters (Patreon)

I had to move a lot of stuff around a few weeks ago (right before Otakon, isn't that always the way?) and that included several large piles of sketches and concept art.  In the midst of all those doodles, I discovered an interesting relic that I'd totally forgotten about.  Did you know that The Three Cameo Kids were going to Evil Rivals at one point?

Well, "Evil Rival" might be  putting it a bit strong, but there was a point where I contemplated giving them sort of a polar opposite.  If The Kids represent all the enthusiastic, wide-eyed innocence that is good about fandom, then THESE kids would be... the rest.  They would be the obnoxious embodiment of everything terrible about modern day anime and geek culture.  The ironic snarker who communicates entirely in dank memes.  The cosplayer who spreads drama with ever breath.  The Serious Business fan who violently defends opinions without actually researching them.  (from left to right in that order, by the way)  You know the ones I'm talking about.

...and that's part of the problem, right there.  I generally try to keep Conventional Wisdom a fun, happy comic that talks about fun happy things.  When it DOES get negative, that negativity is usually directed at soulless, impersonal concepts (like traffic or the weather) or at generalized targets so broad that it'd be impossible for anyone to take the jab personally.  But I couldn't think of a way to do that with these characters.  Their quirks are so specific (in fact, they actually have more distinct identities that the ORIGINAL Three Kids) that any joke involving them would feel like it was at the expense of real, actual people.  That's just too mean spirited for what I want this comic to be.

Plus, there already IS a kind of Evil Counterpart to The Kids: Ted!  I already use Ted sparingly for the same tonal reasons I mentioned above, but when I do, I don't feel as bad about it.  I guess it's because Ted's an older character, so mocking him doesn't have the same "Kids These Days!" feel that mocking a younger character would.  Also, as an increasingly aged, increasingly hairy, nowhere-near-as-skinny-as-I-used-to-be dude myself, mocking Ted somehow feels more earned than mocking children.

Still, though, rediscovering this idea has got me thinking about the potential benefits of having more non-mascot recurring characters.  I mean, beyond the Real People who show up on a regular basis.  Having a recurring Con Staffer or Voice Actor character to use when a caricature of a real person is appropriate could be kinda useful, and having more characters I could possibly exploit for merchandising is always a good thing.

...then again, maybe I've just been reading too much UnCONventional lately.

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