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hersweetrevenge · 1 year

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some new thoughts re: dane.

okay so based on the scene where he contemplates his second place sporting trophies and the girl he has a crush on(?) who won't talk to him, it feels like dane might be using his place in varsity to survive socially. he's willing to be second best, so long as he isn't at the bottom.

we already know that dane can be awkward, and misses certain social cues, but being a jock cancels out some of the consequences of that.

and he definitely clings to mark for some sort of social security; mark is the most popular guy in school (apparently), there's no way anyone is going to mess with dane if he's mark's best friend, right? and when they change schools, he's sat on his own at lunch when mark joins the new varsity team, as though he doesn't have any other friends that choose to hang out with him.

but back to the scene in question. there are so many details in the background that no one is supposed to see, but must have been put there for a reason, right?:

dane's bedroom and is pretty big, he has a double bed and two nightstands. there's even a balcony with sliding doors. clearly his parents are rich.

he's wistfully(?) stood on the balconey, looking out at the street, before he goes to sleep. not doing anything other than just thinking about things, i guess?

a lot of sporting trophies/equipment/memorabilia. like, a lot. includes football, baseball, basketball. he clearly plays more than just basketball, even if that is the school's primary team? some of it looks expensive too, like a framed jersey and a baseball + basketball in perspex displays.

amongst the sports stuff, there's a poster for skateboarding (which is the main character's hobby too).

on the desk it looks like there are text books stacked up, and a few left open. beneath the desk is a trash can over flowing with scrunched up paper (or tissues, depending on what they were going for, i guess 👀)

facing the bed is a tv, with at least one game console set up.

and there's a comic book open on his nightstand that he's clearly put down in the middle of reading.

so firstly, the huge house and extensive collection of sporting paraphernalia gives me the impression that dane's parents are loaded. this is completely my hc, but with no canon information to work from, i'm gonna say that his parents are a bit emotionally absent. they don't care what dane does, so long as he keeps out of trouble. they go out of town a lot, leaning dane to his own devices with his video games and team practice. this is partly why he puts so much emotional investment in his friendship with mark. when he doesn't get a lot of attention at home, he's going to cling desperately to his popularity (by association) at school.

secondly, dane's room suggests he has slightly more geekish interests than he might ever let on. he might not be book smart, but he's clearly passionate about sports (participating and collecting) and has other interests. especially with the comic book on the nightstand. it's a tiny detail, but i love it. i love knowing that he keeps it next to his bed, that he's going to come back to it.

once again, i don't really know where i'm going with this, other than dane having these little character details that, if only they'd have given him more screen time, could have been worked with to figure out why his character is the way he is.

#rohan campbell #daneposting #ugh why am i so invested in dane #he's so nothing #but i know he could be everything #i'm going to make him a star

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hersweetrevenge · 1 year

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okay so not to d*sneypost on main, but i watched the episodes of mech-x4 that rohan is in and his character is so strangely written that i have to talk about it. dane definitely suffers from filler character syndrome, but the writers can't seem to figure out which note he's supposed to be playing.

dane is presented as the typical dumb jock character. he's best friends with mark, the main character's older brother. he pulls pranks on unsuspecting freshmen and intimidates the more geeky students. the characters around him admit that he is a jerk, and being mean is apparently his thing.

but then he's also the butt of the joke, almost as often as he is the one making the jokes. he's made fun of for being clingy and stupid and slow. he isn't as popular as mark, and survives socially by sticking close to him.

leading off of that though, we then get these really weird moments where we are given some weirdly specific details about dane's character that could lead to some development or growth (but never do because he is a bit player):

dane is made fun of by the smarter characters, they say he'll end up being fired from a minimum wage job for messing up an order and he won't be able to buy christmas presents for his kids (and we don't have time to unpack how yikes all of that is). he gets genuinely defensive about it, "i will so be able to provide for my family".

he looks at all of his sporting trophies where he came second place (and mark came first). he seems pretty okay about it, and his admiration and/or feelings for mark is toyed with as a punch line a few times.

he talks about the girl who lives across the street who he acknowledges wants nothing to do with him. he says this to himself, there is no one else around to hear him.

dane and mark are teasing the main characters about a local urban legend and dane runs with it a bit too long and is told so. he gets embarrassed and walks away.

after scaring some freshmen in the woods at a camp out, dane gets lost and sprains his ankles. thinking he might die, he asks the main character to tell mark how awesome he thinks he is.

again, when he thinks he might die via giant robot, he says he's sticking with the main characters for safety (because "the robot" said they're cool).

when trying to help the main characters (for the somewhat selfish reason of his own self preservation), they lock him in the drama room so he doesn't get in the way. they forget about him and he isn't let out for (implied) hours.

there's multiple (two) times where dane makes a joke and no one laughs, but then mark repeats it and gets laugh (maybe on dane's behalf? maybe stealing his thunder? not made super clear)

when the main characters think they'll have to move away, mark is reassuring someone over the phone that they'll stay in touch. his brother asks if that was mark's girlfriend, and mark informs him that it was dane.

when mark quits the basketball team (which dane never made in the first place) dane is elated, "i knew you wouldn't leave me behind".

all of these moment's are played for laughs, of course, because dane is the comic relief. but he's also supposed to be a mean, intimidating jock. but he's also meant to be seen as a little bit pathetic.

all these moments could really have been worked with to make dane a more rounded character, maybe even a secondary character.

or maybe i'm just reading too much into it, and all of these traits makes sense, even on a superficial level. dumb jock who would actually be a loser if it weren't for varsity?

i can't quite remember where i was going with this, but i think it's a shame we didn't see more of dane. they accidently wrote an interesting character and didn't even realise it.

#rohan campbell #daneposting #dane is a filler character #literally the stock best friend character #he's in like less than a quarter of the episodes #but he's an odd critter. and i want to study him.#defo not tagging the show because its a kids show. the tweenies can have their goofy sci fi (affectionate)

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hersweetrevenge · 1 year

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the daneposting continues. if they won't give this character meaningful relationship dynamics, then i'm going to.

as mentioned in past daneposts, dane and mark's friendship has very strong implications of some unrequited feelings. obviously it's played for comic relief, like all mid-2010's media does because of course it is an absurd and hilarious suggestion that it is a crush that is being teased between these two boys (what if we kissed... during a kaiju invasion... and we were both boys -- haha jk... unless ??)

but, the point is, dane clearly deeply admires mark, and whether that is manifesting as a crush or a squish, it has so much potential.

when he thinks he might die in the woods, dane makes mark's brother promise to tell mark how great he thinks he is

when mark might be moving away, he has to reassure dane that they will stay in touch. someone asks if mark is talking to his girlfriend, but he admits it was dane. no one is surprised.

after not making the basketball team at their new school, dane is resigned to sitting alone at lunch. he's not shown with any of his other "friends" from the old varsity team.

"i knew you wouldn't leave me behind" dane says, when he thinks mark quits the basketball team for him.

dane has very few core and consistent character traits, but his almost sad devotion to mark is probably his main one. of course narratively he is just the stock best friend character, who's sole job is to be a hype man, but i think it's interesting the way this is pretty much acknowledged in-universe. mark knows dane can be a jerk, saying it is "his thing", but he never stops dane hanging out with him for it. he's constantly vying for mark's attention and friendship.

on the flip side though, dane basically confirms having a crush on his neighbour, but he's already been shot down about it because she "doesn't want anything to do with [him]". it's weird how genuinely downhearted he sounds about it, if somewhat resigned, and it subverts the jock-getting-the-girl trope, when the girl apparently doesn't want him at all.

basically what i'm saying is that dane cares a lot about being close to mark, and everyone in-universe knows it.

there's so much potential for dane if they had just developed his relationships and why he had those relationships. following my previously decided hc (rich yet absent parents), i can see dane searching for the attention he doesn't get at home elsewhere. he attention seeks by being an asshole, by throwing parties and by desiring mark's friendship. mark is established as the coolest guy in school, and dane presumably feels better about himself that such a great guy would be his friend, right? even though mark tells other people that dane is a jerk, he never says it to his face or ever really shows any disdain towards him.

i'd argue that maybe he doesn't care so much about his crush on the girl because his friendship with mark is more meaningful to him.

#rohan campbell #daneposting #i'll make him a star

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