I always found Azula's characterization in the beach episode of ATLA to be very revealing about who she was deep down. As the episode goes on, the viewer starts to realize that there is no 'downtime Azula'. She doesn't know how to relate to people, doesn't know how to relax, is secretly lonely, and feels unloved and unvalued for anything other than her achievements. It sets up her later breakdown when she gets everything she ever wanted but ends up still feeling alone and unloved because she pushed away her friends to get there and her father never viewed her as more than a useful tool.
I just realized that's why the beach episode has Aang & the gang shown to also be experiencing downtime as well: it's a point of contrast. Compared to Team Avatar, she can't let herself relax because relaxation means a missed chance to prove herself in dominating over others. She can't reflect on who she is in quiet moments, because that would imply doubt in her persona & what she wants, and she must be perfect, so doubt cannot be a possibility. She pities Zuko for experiencing that kind of doubt in the campfire scene, when she's arguably more deserving of that pity for not letting herself be vulnerable & interrogating whether or not she really wants this life, effectively trapping herself in a prison of her own making.
It's been a while since I watched the show but I did really like how Azula was written throughout the show. At first is showed Zuko being jealous of his sister for her power and relationship with their father but as the show goes on it shows a change in their position with Azula only knowing how to keep her friends through power and manipulation which is what the fire lord taught them meanwhile Zuko learns that power isn't everything cumulating in the final battle where Zuko doesn't defeat her through his abilities but through working in a team.
It's also very amusing that that episode was made into a beach episode most likely in retaliation to the "beach episode" trope in anime, which often just serves as a filler/fanservice episode. They made what would've been a filler episode for most shows into one of the best episodes in the series.
I love The Beach, and it's a shame how under appreciated it is. I've seen many people call it filler, but it plays such an important role in informing the audience of the mental states and motivations of the Fire Nation quartet. Their actions going forward simply would not have had as much impact without the insight provided by that episode.
One Tolkien downtime scene that I will never forget is the “po-tay-toes” scene in the book. It’s normal to see a protagonist’s downtime, but villain downtime is rarely glimpsed, and a protagonist and villain having downtime TOGETHER is nigh unthinkable. So Sam and Gollum lightly bickering while gathering ingredients to make a stew and debating the merits of cooking your food is refreshing, and bafflingly mundane. For a second, you can almost see the semi-normal guy Gollum used to be, and you can see how Sam’s heart-wrenching care for Frodo can be expressed outside of life-or-death circumstances. Sometimes caring about Frodo means fighting a giant spider, and sometimes it means making him a bowl of hot soup when he’s sick to surprise him when he wakes up.
tolkien just let you chew on down time scenes. without those sparks of humanity that those offered, the desperation of the quest would have been lesser
As a chef, I found this scene was the most valuable in solidifying Gollums character arc from normal hobbit like being to horrid little monster. To someone dedicated to cooking and gastronomy, nothing is more barbaric than viewing food as mere fuel to be consumed raw and unimproved. It's inhuman.
The downtime in the LotR is like when you're still in bed in the morning and you have things that you need to do so you need to get up, but it's so warm and comfortable where you are and you don't have an alarm set or anything.
That episode is the perfect balance of fun, fluffy nonsense with the characters, and gut wrenching personal tragedy. It lets us see into our characters in ways you’d never see in plot time, where Toph could never get a chance to embrace her femininity, and Zuko could never get a date (with the exception of in Zuko Alone, which is also an example of downtime used well). Aang and Sokka’s stories are more par for the course for their characters, and Momo’s is sweet, but not especially insightful. Iroh’s though, we all know what that one does
We're rewatching Avatar and Tales of Ba Sing Se is the next episode! We'll probably watch it tonight! But there's something equally important in that filler episode -- it comes just before the most devastating episode of the whole show, Appa's Lost Days. We need that moment of freedom and joy from Tales of Ba Sing Se to hold our hands as we embark on watching the toughest episode of them all.
I congratulate Red for finally convincing me to check out Squid Game with this video. The fact that it's not just "game shows are evil," (which they are) but "you can leave at any time, but back to what life?" is honestly pretty compelling and I'm sad I haven't seen anyone explain the anti-capitalism of the show so succinctly before.
Try watching the video on this topic by Xiran Jay Zhao (after you've finished the show), they explain it in even more detail, even though they are Chinese, not Korean. Especially the parallels between the reason the MCs mental health is so bad and a real and well-known incident in Korea's recent history
The squid game is really cool and does a really good job of not only making it clear the players can but won't leave but also that after winning you have nothing. All thought there's a subplot in the last couple of episodes I just don't think you needed
I really didnt care for it overall, but especially the ending. Feel pretty over hyped, even if it has some interesting concepts like the one brought up here. Hope you find more enjoyment with it than me though!
I have avoided Squidgame for lots of reasons, but I'm legitimately angry that nobody thought to tell me that it has that fundamental difference. Lots of people say "oh, it's good," which is the same thing I hear about every popular content that inevitably disappoints me. Might watch now.
@@feathero3 I think the issue is a lot of viewers missed the point of the story and ironically became the in-universe viewers. Like some Hunger Games enjoyers. So that makes me frustrated with the show. The show is good at what it sets out to do, but I dislike people missing the point. It's meant to be very uncomfortable viewing.
I once read a manga about four characters working in a cafe. One bonus story was downtime, just one page divided into four panels showing what each character does from dawn till 8am when the cafe opens. The preppy guy jogs for two hours with his old coach. The more mature girl goes through her morning beauty routine. The younger girl on social and crushing on random guys. The cafe owner however sleeps right up until opening time, because his character in the manga actually has nothing outside this little world he built for himself. instead of sad it shows all the other characters running in to fill up the cafe and it ends with a little smile.
@lokmanofwar6998 Sorry guys, I don't remember. It was a super cute one about running a cafe in tokyo with hints about the owner's "dark past" but that's all I remember
My current character spent a large portion of his recently gifted downtime taking care of his mom, I feel like there are plans brewing in my DM's mind to hurt her
@bjwessels you have to give them some things to do. Are there taverns in the area? Maybe a carnival is in town or some weird bookstore that sells werewolf smut?
Another thing it’s good for is building character relationships. You might wonder why Character A sacrificed themselves for Character B, but all this downtime showed that they really are genuine friends rather than just allies because of the plot
Yes, its so important to show why they are close sometimes characters are just friends because the writers need all the main characters in one room so you aren't constantly jumping to different scenes.
Some of my favorite downtime in anime takes place during the Dark Tournament arc in Yu Yu Hakusho. Seeing the cast interact outside of immediate life-and-death situations is nice and really helps to show their humanity, burgeoning or already existing (*coughs while side-eyeing Hiei and Kuwabara*), while also expanding upon other plot elements as well, such as the previous relationship between the arc's main villain and Yusuke's teacher Genkai. It may be an old series, but it's honestly a great watch or read when it comes to character writing. That said, that much is clear to many general anime fans since most recognize Togashi(the author/mangaka)'s following work: Hunter x Hunter.
I was almost expecting a mention to something that a fair few people have forgotten from Dragon Ball. One of the training tenets of the Turtle School is "rest hard." It's part of the training regimen to take breaks, but because the action is such a big part of Dragon Ball the franchise, a lot of people forget that the heroes should rest between big encounters.
That actually puts in a lot more context for the Cell Saga episode where Goku and Gohan get out of the Time Chamber and Goku insists on just chillin for like 2 days
Yup. Also, timeskips. Dragon Ball was Tournament, RR Army, 3-year break, Tournament, Piccolo, 3-year break, Tournament, 5-year break, Saiyans, Frieza, a couple years break, Trunks showing up, 3-years training, Cell, 7-year break, Buu, 10-year break, Story End. Each arc was, unless otherwise stated, about a week start-to-finish with years in between encounters.
And really sad that it IS real, huh? How many times have you not done something, not planned something, because you didn't know if you'd have the money to do it?
@@metrux321 It's not sad. It is what life has always been. Before "I need money" it was "I need shelter" "I need water" "I need food." The only difference is now instead of finding the water, hunting/growing the food and building the shelter, we pay others to do it for us. Staying alive has always been a task that requires work in and of itself. I don't understand why people suddenly think it's bad and immoral, when it is a natural and constant requisite across not just humanity, but all life as a whole.
@@Driftingsiax I... Never said immoral. But what you're saying is "it shouldn't be better, because it's natural/tradition", and that I'll heavilly be against. Just because things have "always been like that" doesn't mean we shouldn't change it. Nowadays we COULD have all of that, for a big percentage of human population, without having to constantly worry about survival, but we don't have a system that would work for it, and we'll always have people who'd rather have it flawed if it's to their personal benefits. So it probably will never happen, and yet, it doesn't mean we can't want for it. I mean, do you ever believe magic will be real? But we can't help wanting it. The difference is that one is within the realm of possibility, jsut really really improbable, and we don't have a path towards it yet. While the other is fantasy, with all it's good and bad.
@@Driftingsiaxjust because something has always been that way doesn’t mean it should remain that way. For most of human history, the production of commodities and necessities were both in very short supply. Then came the Industrial Revolution and the invention of Haber-Bosch process and suddenly we were in no short supply of such things. We could live in a society where the necessities of life are a right rather than a privilege. We aren’t and some of us think that that’s dumb.
Love the Dungeon Meshi clips at the end, i think too many people forget that you need to take care of yourself before you can really take care of others and this Show showes that in the best way with Shuro and Senshi
Gonna throw Chilchuck in as an underrated character upholding the theme of self-care. He has boundaries based on what he’s capable of and what he’s willing to do (though he’ll cross them if it ever becomes important enough) and he also recognizes when it’s a good time to step back and regroup.
I adore everything about that scene. The kindness of it is palpable, even when Senshi is being a little intimidating. The kindness is also fearless, extended to an apparent enemy, and after to a stranger under threat. And as funny as the show is, and as dark as it can get, that kindness permeates the whole story. It's exquisite.
A show I think that really benefited from down time is amphibia. Pretty much the whole first season is just slice of life adventures that get you attached to the world and characters. When you finally get to the end the theme of moving on and accepting change hits a lot harder.
Yes, someone gets it! I've heard people wanting to skip season 1 because it's "all filler." That implies it's not important and gets in the way of the plot when it IS the plot. Amphibia is an episodic, slice-of-life dramedy that supposed to get you invested in the characters and setting. Addendum: I hope Red finally gets around to watching Amphibia so that she can talk about it and the Owl House as the main examples for the 'Found Family' trope talk video.
Gravity Falls does that as well to a similar extent, the first season is mostly just building the characters while throwing in small pieces of the plot, so when the big reveals come in S2, you have a big reason to care for said characters and what they are going through.
@@foldabotZ What’s funny is how if some of shows skipped filler episodes, they’d remove context for later. This is due to how they can feel like episodic shenanigans in the moment but retroactively carry more weight. Take… Amphibia for instance. Domino 2? She returns to help with the coming army. Tritonio? Kicks off Anne’s swordsmanship and returns to lead the newts against Andrias. The mushroom hive-mind? Not only does he return for the finale but Andrias utilizes his kind to control the wildlife for his army. Mr. X? Seems like a diversion but he factors into the finale with Earth being armed enough to help Anne. These are what I often call “Filler until proven otherwise.” Until the show progresses without any callbacks to even a moment in that one episode, it is filler. That said, I do have to ask… so what? I’ve often seen advocates for shows to have more filler. Specifically, to have more episodes that are self-contained and are character focused first. Many feel like made-for-streaming series take too much advantage of not fretting about missing an episode. I too miss when you had more episodes like DBZ’s driving episode as a calm before the storm. Now there are still fun filler episodes but where the “filler” aspect is done away with. While the episode might stand on it’s own in terms of its individual storyline, it has elements that will explicitly be set up for the future. So it’s not lost but packaged differently. There are even stealth filler episodes where act one and two feel like their own thing before something entirely new comes in like a bolt from the blue. Said new thing might be for that one episode at first but will return in the finale.
That's also one of the reasons why True Colors was such an utter gut-punch. All the bonding and character development in the first two seasons was all just because Marcy couldn't accept that the closest things she had to friends were not going to be a part of her life anymore. When she says, "I gave you this, I gave you everything!" she basically wants them to thank her for giving them, or at least Anne, this chance to grow into better people. She gave her those slice-of-life adventures, she gave her the chance to explore this world & make friends, she gave her chances to reflect & develop, so how come she still wants to leave? It's kind of brilliant how the very framework of the show turns into something slightly more insidious yet also sad, and it's a shame imo that they didn't really expand on those negatives emotions on Marcy's part in the third season. It would've been pretty interesting to see possessed Marcy be at least partly driven by her anger at how her friends treated her before & at their seeming refusal to be grateful for what she did for them, instead of just "she's not home right now."
In defense of leaving out "The Scouring of the Shire" from the films: 1). Pacing wise, the ending was already long enough, and having an extra twenty minutes of additional emotional rollercoastering after defeating Sauron would have been a bit much to ask even for the most diehard fans. 2). I think the endings we got were based a lot on each person's experiences. Tolkien was writing as someone who had witnessed the bombing of London during WWII and would have empathized with soldiers coming home from a devastating war only to see their own homes also devastated. Meanwhile, Peter Jackson might have been influenced by stories of soldiers from the Vietnam War, who would have gone through horrible life altering situations in battle only to come back to a home untoched by those horrors and that they no longer quite fit into like before because of how much they had changed. So for me personally, that change while unfortunate is still rather low on my list of problems with the Jackson film adaptations.
I personally prefer that the films left out the Scouring. It served to really accentuate the idea that the core 4 Hobbits were fundamentally changed by their experiences and that no one else in the Shire could relate.
One thing that I feel gets lost about the Scouring of the Shire is the tone: Sharky isn't a threat, and his ruffians are nothing compared to Sauron's orcs. The main "problem" is solved in less than a week. What's left is work, but it's not a threat. And work isn't evil - even as you enjoy the downtime.
The switch to the streaming model and deciding that “No we only need 8 episodes an hour long because we’re Prestige TV” has been devastating GIVE ME MY FILLER EPISODES BACK! You could never get an Ember Island Players these days
as a Brit, I always find it mildly amusing seeing (mostly) Americans complaining about how short Prestige TV series have become whilst giving episode counts that are at or above average over here
For every boring filler episode, there's an episode where Goku and Piccolo learn to get driver licenses and it's peak. Slice of Life shows/animes tend to be low-stakes and chill if you're looking for that sorta mood.
Yep. Filler episodes are enormously helpful for world and character building, not just downtime to get to know characters, but to test new ideas/characters, plant story seeds to pay off later, show Chekov Guns, and just make the world feel "more". My favorite examples come from Supernatural. The first is where Cowley uses the books about the boys to find people they saved in "filler" episodes and kill them. It was an absolutely devastating moment that struck at the very core of who Sam and Dean were made possible by "filler". The other is the episode "Baby". Most of the first act is downtime, just the boys being brothers riding in the Impala. But it's also this really cool experiment because everything is shot from the Impala's perspective. The only connection the episode has to the larger plot was that the MotW was spooked by the big bad just existing.
@@amiscellaneoushuman3516 america used to mean something, we’d make a shitty show, give it 23 episodes a season, 45 minutes and episode and then 15 seasons
The third Men In Black movie had one scene where young K basically forces J to put the plot on hold so they could get some pie, and the whole point of the scene, and the lesson K was trying to teach J, was that we sometimes need downtime to disconnect so we can examine the problems we encounter from a different state of mind, giving us the chance to potentially see solutions that we were previously too anxious and stressed out to notice.
Thinking of "Hereville: How Mirka Caught A Fish," where Mirka's mom insists (at very high emotional cost) Mirka keep shabbat with her instead of rescuing her own daughter. It turns out to be the point. It's HARD to relax. But you need it to figure out how to rescue someone, to buy time, to answer questions, and keep away the looming threat that will end when the protective magic of shabbos ends.
Ned's Declassified had a similar premise where the show did an episode about the benefits of daydreaming. The mean science teacher decides to punish the class for goofing off/daydreaming by keeping them in class and missing lunch (with the added stakes that it's pizza day) unless one of the students could solve his riddle. Ned daydreams he and his friends are secret agents fighting the science teacher as the villain (alongside cameos of Cosmo and Wanda from Fairly OddParents) and Ned stumbles upon the answer in his fantasy: spiders. The episode concludes that daydreaming gives the mind a chance to unwind and may even help you process some things.
Another thing downtime is useful for is showing the impact of the plot on the protagonists life and the wider world. Skullduggery Pleasant does this brilliantly, with the scattered moments of downtime, mostly family time but sometimes other quiet moments like sitting on the beach or getting a coffee, steadily get more warped by the uptime elements of the story as the series progresses, letting us see how much the main character's life has been changed for the worse. And it really doubles the impact of the temporary reduction in tension when the characters try to take some downtime, but the plot steps back in and says "you cannot rest now, there are monsters nearby."
I remember people saying the school festival in My Hero was a waste of time. As if these kids don't deserve to have some fun after all the shit they go through
Some people especially when it comes to Shonen, seem to want their series to just be nothing but action and high stakes and anything that’s not all about that sucks.
I stopped watching MHA a little while after that arc, but I did find it funny how your point is well illustrated by the fact that Midoriya so greatly overreacts to Gentle Criminal’s presence. Meeting him with anger deserving of a severe threat because that’s pretty much every villain fight he’s had up to that point. He absolutely deserved the downtime.
There’s a difference between what people want to see and what people want their favourite characters to experience So maybe it’s not that people dislike them experiencing good stuff, they just aren’t that interested in knowing all the details of the festival, compared to like seeing them grow through the semester and experience good moments in a less condensed time period
I have always loved Downtime, and it took me a while to realise why I loved Freiren a lot, it was pretty much a story where the Downtime is the main focus, while the plot is like secondary focus.
@@amam-hv2xr I recall an excellent one-sentence summary of Frieren as “a deceptively old lady’s nostalgic road trip with the family where some of the best fantasy of the last twenty years happens, occasionally.”
Frieren and Delicious in Dungeon are probably my two favorite anime ever, and I think what connects with me so strongly for each of them is how central the value of downtime with loved ones is to your life and your being is to the stories being told and the storytelling itself.
That's what I loved about the manga, until they started that weird magic tournament arc, which was such a shift that I dropped it. Does it get back to the good stuff?
@user-zl9vh2xr6b But they still kept a huge amount of focus on the small moments, even during the exam arc. There's so much time dedicated to the quite moments getting to know each other, planning, and having meals between tests. And the third test is... well, if you haven't finished the arc, I won't say any more.
The way you describe Sauron's evil as a slow poisoning that nothing is safe from, even though there might be weeks or years without an incident, reminds me to a certain natural reconfiguration of our planet that is being brought about by humans.
That's because spoiler alert, Tolkien wanted to highlight how Sauron isn't exactly this 'one bad guy' the heroes needed to overcome. It might seem like that during the first read...but Sauron's evil is more all-encompassing, corrupt of the Humanity type of evil. Sauron is the whimsical paint Tolkien used over actual evil of Humanity just not giving a f...
I think a great example of how downtime can characterize your characters is in kingdom hearts 358/2 days. Where Roxas, our main character, has his first day off. And since his entire life up to that point has been work, the only thing he can think of is “guess I’ll eat ice cream”
That game's narrative is basically built around downtime and I love it so much. All the cool action and gameplay are framed as just Roxas's 9-5, and everything IMPORTANT is what happens after, hanging out with his friends and figuring out who he is.
@ exactly! Days is a tragedy build upon the backbone of downtime, and that’s what makes it so great. We slowly see the downtime fall apart as our main characters drift away from each other because of their shitty boss
@@Sunboi_Paladin It also helps reframe the importance of Roxas' "Summer Vacation" at the beginning of KH2, giving more impact to how his life might have gone if he wasn't discovered by Xemnas in the first place, and just another thing the organization stole from him
I loved that one... Roxas was only "days" old. (Probably a few weeks in) His response; "What's my job?" Axel: "What's your... Roxas; you're missing the point."
One thing I’m surprised you didn’t touch on is that, aside from the utility of downtime to delve into characters’ personalities and explore who they are outside of the plot, sometimes it’s just nice for the audience to see the characters catch a break once in a while. Nonstop peril and conflict and tribulation gets exhausting; characters might not technically need a break from it but audiences do. The trick is working in just enough moments of well-earned respite for the characters that audiences can recover and reset before the next adventure, but not so much that they get bored waiting for the plot to start up again.
This is something Jujutsu Kaisen fumbled hard. Like I'm pretty sure the main cast goes through 7 straight story arcs without even getting a nap and it makes the whole cast feel hollow.
@SirAsdf as far as I'm aware, the moment the Shibuya Incident starts, the cast gets 0 downtime from there until the epilogue chapters at the very end. There's a month long timeskip that's only ever used in flashbacks to explain what the current plan is, not once for any character interaction that isn't "here's how we beat Sukuna"
9:00 this is why I hate the current schedule of things. There's barely any room for shows to have filler or downtime anymore. Like Owl House said they'd show all that downtime IF THEY HAD TIME.
What I see is them glomming superfluous adventures like tumors onto the core of what could be a compelling story. The action bits are the filler now, and it undermines the importance of action when it happens. Shows and films aren't made to be experienced anymore, but consumed.
I think the problem is how few shows seem to take it easy for at least the first season. Like okay, ten episodes per season. But going the route of, say, Gravity Falls, you’d start with a light plot to set up the characters before really kicking things into high gear next season. Hell, it’s a reason why I Stan Miraculous. Often because what seemed like downtime in Season 1 turns out to be seeds that sprout big.
@@matt0044The problem is that because so many shows get cancelled for bullshit reasons, shows are incentivized to make things as flashy and intense as possible in order to try to get as much attention and as large an audience as possible as soon as possible in the hopes of trying to make it less likely that they’ll get canceled.
Okay, my childhood favorite show was teen titans. Rewatching it as an adult, I was struck by how almost every single episode has a goofy scene at the beginning AND end which I have affectionately called “pizza time,” in which the characters just act like kids. The jokes aren’t that funny to an older audience, the bits are wacky and occasionally boring, but I *love* them, and I can see why I especially loved them as a kid. It’s basically a sitcom and it gets you invested in the characters as people. But most importantly, each goofy scene sets up the emotional core of the story once things get serious, and it re-anchors your expectations in the realm of friend drama, which makes the real high stakes, plot heavy fights feel more serious. But above all of that, the plot just falls apart without it, not only because you would miss vital information, but also because you would miss the ways the characters take home their troubles in battle. You see how it turns into fights and inside jokes and secrets and betrayals and insecurities and dreams and growth. It’s well balanced for exactly what it’s going for. I kinda miss pizza time!
One thing I wish this video went into are things like Spiderman 2 where "downtime" shows how much the character has changed since the inciting incident, or post-finale episodes like Steven Universe future where it shows how difficult re-adjusting is because the big bad is defeated, but since that was THE THING the characters did for so long, they had forgotten how to live and thrive without that cloud hanging over them.
I saw a couple comments mentioning ATLA, but no one talks about the great episode that is Zuko alone, where he journeyed out on his own to an earth kingdom village and gets to experience what life would be like if he wasn’t consumed with fighting in the war and capturing Aang. He bonds with the people including a little boy. But when bandits attack he’s forced to reveal who he really is and the villagers reject him, symbolizing that if Zuko doesn’t let go of what he wants, the life he needs will be taken away from him. It’s such a great episode, I love it!
Admittedly, I never watched Squid Game that much. It did just seem like another generic death game that just so happened to be popular. But when you described the "Hell" episode... Damn. Now, on a separate note, when I did give a few looks, I just took it as "desperate people getting exploited for entertainment." When I saw the actual squid game challenge show, that general message is what caused me to turn it off after the second episode. The mental breakdown in the cookie challenge in particular was horrifying in my eyes, and even the first moral test where people were basically putting a pricetag on their fellow human beings. To make matters worse, it showed people saying that they were trying to play the game EXPLICITLY to escape their shitty lives. And it's actually what finally got me to put into words why I've always hated reality shows. I used to just say "It all feels fake and gives me the ick", but now I finally have the perspective I need to vocalize it. We're watching desperate people, and we're doing it because we find their struggles endearing. But these reality shows are taking tragedies playing out in real time, and letting us watch it behind a TV screen. These people are getting humiliated for our viewing pleasure, but they're forced to do it because they have no other choice. When Mr Beast did his own Squid Game, I should have taken notice that he was doing the same thing the show warned against, just in a less brutal fashion. But because I didn't watch the original show, I was dismissive of it all. He never highlighted their IRL struggles, so the message went straight over my head. But when he did highlight these people in dire circumstances (for instance, his eyesight video), having them be waved away with his "generosity", I had the ick again. I felt the same way about those videos as I did about reality TV, but I couldn't put it into words. He was recording desperate people for our viewing pleasure, and fixing it to give us a "satisfying ending." In hindsight, the recent allegations make a lot of sense. But it just wasn't as obvious until he was later in his career.
I always love to see the scenario of “character who’s done nothing but look out for others, their own needs and wants be damned, has to figure out what to do when they finally get to just have a f*cking rest”. Kaladin from The Stormlight Archive comes to mind.
Reminds me of how Terry and Bruce's dynamic ended in Batman Beyond/Justice League Unlimited. Bruce committed everything to the mission, and ended up distancing himself away from everyone. Terry learned he could compromise, propose to his girl, and still be Batman. No need to throw away his personal life.
Kaladin, Kendal, and Link BotW are a trifecta of... something to me. Not sure what. Edit: long-haired, traumatized, blue-coded young men with glowing magic swords and a notable willingness to sacrifice themselves for their friends? Maybe? Edit 2: Kendal and Link also have the "destroyed past that isn't quite mine" thing, Link and Kaladin are both talented farming-village soldiers among royalty, and Kendal and Kaladin both have zero idea what to do with downtime. Maybe. Edit 3: I now have an enormous venn diagram. Kaladin and Kendal were both nearly killed by intelligent storms. Link and Kaladin are both Knights of legend chosen by a sword who is actually a Glowing Woman. Help
Downtime is quite literally where character "lives." It's how a character lives, and how they interact with people when the world isn't at stake. It's whether or not they sleep in when they can afford to, or what kind of hobbies or interests they have outside of being a badass. Personally, I feel like having the opportunity to see "who" a character is when they're off-the-clock so to speak, gives a deeper insight than a ultimatum with lives on the lines. And that's why I love those moments.
Downtime is part of the story because characterization is itself a form of storytelling, and downtime teaches you a lot about characters. The part that really jumped out at me here was highlighting those characters that can't relax, like Batman or Zuko
I think one of the best examples of how to use downtime in media that I've ever seen is, honestly, One Piece. The thing about the main cast of one piece, the main crew, is that they're friends. They're a found family, again one of the best I've seen in any media. And we're not just told this, we're *shown* it. Constantly. It's not just Big Friendship Moments like battles or rescue missions or giant heartfelt speeches, though we do get those of course. We consistently get to see how the crew interacts in their downtime. The sea is vast, after all, and sailing from island to island takes a long time. We get to see the crew just... Hanging out. Being friends. Genuinely enjoying each other's company because they just *like* each other. And all these moments of downtime expertly serve to increase the emotional impact of the Big Moments while also reinforcing the themes of the entire story. I think one of the best examples of this comes from an arc relatively early on. The crew has just entered the most dangerous sea in the world and has, through Shenanigans, ended up on a VERY time sensitive mission to help a princess prevent a coup by an incredibly strong individual and also stop a civil war from tearing her country apart and killing millions of her citizens. Our scene happens the morning after they set out. The princess, Vivi, emerges on deck to find most of the crew... Relaxing. Some of the boys are playing a silly game on deck, one of them is napping, the chef is making Fun Fancy Drinks for everyone, and only the navigator seems to be putting any effort into keeping them on track. And Vivi is in shock! They're being pursued by a dangerous criminal organization, they're navigating one of the most dangerous seas in the world, and there are millions of lives at stake! How can they possibly relax??? And the navigator just replies that, well. This is just how their crew is. She tells Vivi to have faith in their Capitan and crew, and reminds her that it'll take time to reach their destination. She hands the princess a fun drink, and eventually, Vivi joins in on the silly game, allowing herself to relax a bit for the first time is a while. Here's the trick. This scene is a microcosm of how downtime is used in this story. By joining in with the crew's silly little activities, Vivi strengthens her bond with the crew. By letting go of her worries for the time being, by letting herself actually engage in that downtime as she wishes instead of how she feels expected to react given the circumstances, she learns to value freedom. Of course there are many other moments besides this that contribute to her character arc, but this moment is the first one where she relaxes enough to engage with those around her. One Piece is full of moments like this. Silly games, good food, meals and feasts and parties, fishing, dancing and singing, playing pranks, sparring, tinkering and exploring new places and a million other things. This is a crew that will do anything for each other. They will stop a coup, overthrow a government, go to war with the world. They will climb cliffs, bare knuckled in the snow with their crewmate slung over their back for the chance of a doctor. They would burn the world for each other, and they would save it. And as an audience, we know exactly *why*. We're shown, over and over, exactly why these people care about each other, and how much they just plain like being together, and above all, how much they love being free to be themselves, together. There are many other factors at play, to do with tragic backstories and big dramatic moments, but these little moments of downtime keep the friendship of the main crew fresh and reinforced for the audience... Despite One Piece's length. To put it another way; Later, this crew will save Vivi's country. Later, this Capitan will make miracles happen for the sake of his friends. Later, Vivi will take the freedom and everything she learned from this crew and she will face the fascist world government head on, and she will fight for change on a scale she never could have dreamed before. But for now, in this moment of downtime, she plays a silly little game.
Your point is well supported and argued. I’m trying to think of why I never felt that way trying to watch any of the OnePiece I saw… probably just the art and sound, being all so busy and loud that I didn’t get the sense of anything being “downtime”. Which probably goes to show that you still need other elements to make downtime feel that way to the audience.
@phastinemoon definitely. It's also likely down to a difference between anime and manga - the anime cuts out a decent amount of the downtime/little moments... Though I also stopped watching the anime around Skypiea and switch to purely the manga, so I can't say that 100% for sure 😅 Also, I will say that much of what I talked about is something of a cumulative effect. A lot of the downtime is seen in a few scenes like that which I mentioned, or occasional montages or single panels. Heck, a bunch of it is just *implied* by the chapter cover art, which often shows the crew hanging out on random adventures of dubious canonicity. But the little moments *are* there, and they really do add to the story, especially as things grow more and more complicated over the years.
I am also, admittedly, a bit of a victim of Fandom Brain. The hyperfixation goggles can make you see stuff with rose tinted glasses, and will have you grabbing a shovel to search for hidden depth even when something isn't that deep 😅😅😅
yes, and now it's 1000+ chapters long, it's been 25 years and it's still not done, one piece fans have gone to their graves never knowing how it will end at some point, you gotta know when to fucking stop
I think one of Usopp's speeches in the Arlong Park arc sums it up. He talks about how the crew can laugh so hard their stomachs hurt and he wants to be able to laugh like that with them too - but he can only do that if he steps up and fights.
Downtime is incredibly important both in real life and in fiction! I hope to use it well in my own work. Also, you have no idea how cathartic it was for me to hear you throw shade at the people who made Squid-Game-like game shows when that got really popular. I always felt like they all missed the point of what the show was about, but couldn't articulate why I felt that way.
I just finished binging Knuckles, which is about the warrior echidna finding out what they should do with downtime, getting told a purpose, and trying to stop a plot from interrupting Knuckles' downtime, which is someone else's plot.
Something that speaks to the power of Downtime as a narrative device is that in Endwalker, the Final Fantasy XIV expansion that wraps up it's 10 year storyline, my favorite scenes weren't the action, nor the high drama, powerful as those were. It was the two occasions your character sits down and has a meal with the other main party members. No dramatic interruptions, no last minute love confessions, just a conversation and an amiable montage of you and your friends chatting around the table.
_Star Trek_ provides an excellent example of the importance of downtime. I strongly believe that the primary reason why people who loved _Deep Space Nine_ and hated _Discovery_ feel that way was because the streaming-era 13-eps/season production didn't have room for "filler" stories that gave the propagonists enforced downtime, even in the middle of galaxy-spanning crises: your "Take Me Out to the Holosuite," "It's Only a Paper Moon" or even "Move Along Home."
I also feel that it’s because episodic shows are eschewed by studio heads because of binge watching. Whether or not the streaming service dumps a season all at once or weekly, there’s vibe that because streaming lets you revisit the previous episode, something like making every episode standalone seems like a waste of the platform.
Exactly. What made DS9 arguably the best Star Trek series was it's great balance between arcs and episodic storytelling. The status quo was always evolving, so you can take any episode and tell roughly were on the timeline it fits. But the episodes' stories are self contained enough that, aside from the occasional two-parter, you can watch a random episode and still get a satisfactory experience. And the series was long enough to let us really get to know the characters. Even discounting the mutineer main character, the mirror universe captain, and the tonal shift from previous series, Discovery only told one story for each of it's seasons. It didn't give the characters room to breath, and if you didn't like the season's story then you're out of luck. Every Star Trek series has it's duds, it's no big deal. Unless that dud makes up the entirety of your runtime.
@@RealityOverwritten "Magic" and "Lethe" before it were a wonderful bottle episodes that dramatically built on the show's characters. Season 1 was also the longest of the bunch at 15 episodes.
I had a lot of downtime on Tatooine and to be honest, I really liked it. Sure I was in exile, but I did get a chance to become even stronger in the Force!
The episode of Hunter x Hunter where Gon and Killua just play around Gon’s home island is one of the most blessed fillers in all of shonen and I WANT THESE KINDS OF EPISODES BACK!
I’d love to learn a little more about downtime and how to write it. So far the only downtime I have in my writing is just “we sit around a campfire and talk about ourselves.”
A way to do a arc that comes to mind is to tie It to a timed plot point Let's say for example your MC is some kind of politically important person in a fantasy story, you could have them travel to another kingdom to discuss important political stuff that's relevant to the plot, but that thing is not something that's gonna be resolved in a day, so you have your characters essentially taking a vacation mid story, and you can even use the wait itself as a characterization opportunity If you want to by highlighting how they react to It: some characters may get really anxious, others don't care, some are thankful for the break etc etc
@@Necro-xy5ejthat is a good idea. My story at the moment doesn’t deal too much with political stuff. But I do have a character commenting how one of the primary religions of the area of the world the live in is trying to take more political control in a nation that already has a close connection to the religion. I plan to discuss it further in later stories but I have the character comment on how she doesn’t like the route it’s going despite being a member of that religion.
Could also swap through character importance per arc. While one or two characters have the focus for that arc, anytime you cut to the others they could be taking it more easy
This is very much why I LOVE Dungeon Meshi. The whole story is about how if you never give yourself downtime, you won't have the energy to do what REALLY matters. We see this with Shuro, who works himself (and his party) to the bone to accomplish a goal, but thats precisely the reason why he (and Laios' party at the beginning) failed.
"Get The Ring to Mordor, complete the Five Year Mission, defeat the Decepticons..." And at the center of that Venn Diagram you get Galvatron's movie voice actor singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.
7:00 My favorite ever subversion of this is Ace Combat 7. There's this one character whose sole and only character trait is he has a son he can't wait to get back to, and who he plans to regale with all of his war stories. The guy never gets hurt, and presumably goes home after the credits roll to his family. Absolute class.
There's actually a character in ace combat 3 that talks about the stories of legendary aces that his father tells him I think its somewhat implied that the AC3 guy is the son. I personally think he is.
What I loved the most about the first LOTR book is the switching between downtime and action/anxiety, especially in the first half. Frodo, Sam and Pippin set out from Hobbington -> they get chased by a Nazghul, they meet elves -> get chased some more, they stay at farmer Maggot's -> they sneakely take the ferry to reach Crickhollow, they wander through the Old Forest -> they get saved by Tom Bombadil and stay at his home and so on. I dunno but these moments of peace, coziness and kindness they are shown by the elves, Maggot, Tom and Goldberry shine so much brighter because they give wholesome reprieve amdist all the danger around them. I friggin love them describing sitting on slabs of tree trunks with the elves, eating mushrooms and ham with the Maggot family or how they slept and dreamed at Tom Bombadil's despite it not advancing the story one bit! ☺
Nothing I hate quite as much as how people have completely lost the actual definition of the word 'filler' (original content made for padding bc source material ran out) and now use it as a catch all for like. Everything and anything whose main purpose isn't 'plot'. DOWNTIME IS IMPORTANT. STORIES ARE MORE THAN THE DESTINATION!! ITS ABOUT THE PATH YOU TOOK TO GET THERE AND THE SIGHTS YOU SAW ALONG THE WAY 😭😭😭 Character building is themes IS story, even if it's not 'plot'. Stories are more than plot on wheels!!!!!
don't be daft. a good writer can integrate one into the other. you can build a world and a character at the same time as you are progressing the story, it's called being concise and being good at writing brevity is the soul of wit, don't waste my time with pointless shenanigans
As a DM, one of my favorite things this year was when we had 3-4 months of downtime sessions. It was great character-led stuff. Plus, it was a calm before the storm for the biggest and darkest arc in the campaign so far.
For me, the other great downtime ep in ATLA is the Fire Nation's play about the Avatar. The worldbuilding there is *wonderful.* I love how it implies a full world where Team Avatar's actions have reverberating consequences, both the good and the bad. (After all, one source of the play is the Cabbage Guy!) The entire episode makes the larger world feel so alive. Also, I just adore Toph laughing her head off throughout the production. That's the spirit!
I also like that because it is explicitly propaganda for the fire nation, there is an excuse to present fandom thought which naturally distorts events, like excluding The Great Divide, playing up Zuko/Katara and downplaying Katara/Aang, and generally turning the protagonists into one-dimensional caricatures. And yet because it is propaganda, the real point is to hype everybody for Ozai’s eventual victory.
You could say that the stoic badass training in the background is his downtime, but then you'd have to reckon with the likely deeply traumatic reasons why he feels more relaxed when he's actively preparing for the worst case scenario.
Remember when Aku ordered a pizza? Even shape shifting masters of evil and darkness need to take a break once in a while from the plot. Edit: It turns out, as I have been corrected in the replies, Aku wasn't ordering pizza.
Except he wasn't ordering a pizza, it turns out to be a subversion of the trope when it's revealed that he was actually hiring a henchman to kill Samurai Jack.
Basically one of my favorite tropes. I also think that even in a crapstack world and a downer cynic story benefits from having this. This helps because it makes a bigger amplitude of emotions and more mood whiplash
Just wrote a research paper on the idea of "leisure" in academics as well, where theoretical research in particular basically *requires* time spent away from the day to day grind, and engaging in academic stimuli that interests you naturally, rather than ridiculous deadlines and exams
Honestly, I often love the downtime sections of stories more than the main plot. It lets us see people when they aren't constantly fighting others, which is great.
I think this is why I miss chill filler and episodes so much. It gives the characters a break from the plot to just relax, have some fun, and do dumb stuff that they don’t normally get to when the stakes are so high. It’s also a good time to have characters connect with each other and talk/think about how they’re feeling since the breakneck speed of the plot wouldn’t have room for it.
Y’all really hit me with this as soon as both of my D&D campaigns went on pause for exams/winter break and my characters both got about a week of downtime, this feels targeted lol
Downtime is SO important for characterization. What does a character do when they can they can do what they want? Do they relax, pursue their hobbies, train, bond with other characters, brood, try and continue the plot without the other characters.... It really shows us who the characters are as people. A good story be it a book, a show, a movie, a video game or a TTRPG needs these moments for the audience, reader, or player or players to connect with the characters.
One of my fave downtime scenes is the schwarma bit at the end of avengers. Mainly because when i am having a Day i also want to be filled with local greasy food that is too delicious to be good for me, and then pass out
This concept of downtime is one of my favorite things about the inversion that is Frieren. A traditional fantasy in many respects except for a few key characteristics. It plays directly with the concept of time/pace as well as flips this concept of downtime. The big bad is gone. The final, world-ending conflict resolved. We don’t start our hero’s journey with a village burning down and protagonist being forced on a journey. It starts with our protagonist beating the bad. The story then moves to after. To only about the downtime. About retracing steps, slowly pondering, and learning about heroism, doing good, and what really is important.
Few things bring me greater joy than listening to red go on a tangent on how terrible the reality of our society is while the most cheerful whimsical music that has ever graced my ears plays in the background. Keep up the good work!
8:09 Very happy to see Twilight Princess mentioned-I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the slow start to the game, but I’ve always loved it for giving you time to fall in love with the world and characters that you will later need to save.
Steven Universe Future is entirely the backloaded downtime from tbe base series where Steven deals with the fact that he's basically been under the pressure of a constant war for years of his childhood.
honestly i was expecting Red to mention Persona somewhere but it never came. they're an absolute must-play if the goal is to show the importance of downtime, since Persona tightly weaves it into the gameplay in a way that clearly and pretty literally makes it so strenghtening your heart by just hanging out with your friends and living normal lives is incredibly important in order to then go onto Doing Plot Things in the best mental condition - very fitting lesson since it's a game where everything happens in the human mind
@@friendbreakfastI don’t think Red’s played any Persona games because they’re a massive time commitment. Which sucks, because they have Avatar levels of having an example for almost any trope.
it might also be one of the reasons "the answer" is still one of the worst slogs to get through. anything that isn't story beats or boss fights are just dungeon crawling.
Hell, I end up preferring the downtime over the dungeon crawling in 3-5. I’d rather check in on my friends and see where their stories are going than grind.
The only criticism I have of how the series handles it is that P4 crammed too much of its main plot into the beginning and the end, leaving the middle to feel dominated by the downtime. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the downtime and getting to feel like I had become a part of the Investigation Team. I even like the Hot Springs scene, as it felt like a fun subversion of the typical anime tropes with that premise. But it would’ve been better if more clues to the main mystery had been sprinkled throughout the story rather than showing up almost exclusively at the end. I also feel like Vanilla P5 could’ve used a couple more group sessions with the Phantom Thieves, but Royal and Strikers helped pick up the slack there.
With regards to downtime for villains, I really appreciated that one scene in Django Unchained where you see that gang of overseers / brutes just chilling out for a bit. It's only like 15, 20 seconds, but it does mountains in characterizing horrendously evil people.
I love Trope Talk. And I'm also extremely butt-hurt about the films not having the Scouring of the Shire. Also, props for mentioning the "Torment Nexus" meme lol.
(Part 2) As a result, Tolkien showed the inability to return to the previous status quo by externalizing the character change into the destruction of the Shire. Jackson showed the inability to return to the previous status quo by leaving the Shire so untouched that the hobbits no longer belong in their own homes, and have to work on being OK with that.
Downtime is a great way to create character. It's why I love Age of Ultron's afterparty scene, as it provides the characters humanity outside the plot. The whole game of trying to lift Thor's hammer didn't need to happen, but it works because it allows these people who once disliked each other to bond. Or Mass Effect 3's Citadel DLC, which is like "The Galaxy is being wiped out by the Reapers, one or two species are extinct...Fuck it, let's get drunk and dance!"
The Citadel DLC was totally worth it because it was the last time we would get to see those characters, and the only time they were all together. Also drunk Grunt was amazing.
Xenoblade 3 is a game with an incredibly interesting relationship with downtime. The position the heroes start in is a bit of a twist, as instead of what you mentioned they exit a world without downtime to enter one with, and struggle with the responsibility of having time.
I love the downtime trope. It's a good break from all of the action and shenanigans. It gives me a weird fuzzy feeling, like I want to join the characters in taking a break.
I think the Sonic IDW comics are pretty good about this actually. We see Sonic and friends doing all manner of stuff other then reacting to whatever the current villain is up to. Tangle biking or jogging or being bored at the lack of adventure when the villains were all busy also having downtime, Sonic and Tails just playing some video games together, some of our heroes going on a camping trip, etc.
It’s weirdly funny timing that this video has come out at a time when I have to take a lot of downtime due to recovering from pneumonia. Thanks for making my downtime more fun!
Young Justice used this greatly in the episode "Downtime" (eh). Up to that point, we barely saw The Team out of costume, so it provided a good look at their lives outside of heroism. Kaldur did have an action-heavy plot, but it placed him in the context of his homeland, rather than the usual missions, and it helped his commitment to the latter.
Ok this video REALLY helped me in my own book I'm writing. For context: the story starts with the main character being on a tight deadline, yet being pushed by her loved ones to take the rest she needs, and actively rejecting that because due to the circumstances that caused her to be on such a tight deadline in the first place, she isn't able to get herself to take the downtime she needs, and insists on going right to the plot with as little delay as possible. It's a fun subversion to write but very challenging, and this video helped me get a better understanding of what I'm subverting in the first place, and gave me inspiration on how to write in a way that works for the story I'm trying to tell. Thank you!!
Part of the magic that makes Deep Rock Galactic so fantastic is the fact that the "menu screen" in that game is just downtime for the player character, which lets us get to know them outside of the context of mortal peril the rest of the game is built around.
Hey so- I just went thru a few years where I had NO downtime. You really hit on that condition and the "Luxury of Existing". People I know who are stable still just think i was "working alot", but It was All or Nothing. I had to become Force- the force needed to resist that Storm. Its not something I can talk to people about. I have to relearn how to relax- But hearing this felt good: Thanks
I think an excellent demonstration of that is the "Citadel" DLC in Mass Effect 3. It somehow become a fan-favorite, despite being a DLC (which everyone rightfully hates) and serving nearly no purpose in the over-arching story. However you get to relax, spend time with your teammates, see them banther one-another, or what they like to do when they have time for it. In a video-game in which the biggest draw was its companion caracters, this showed the increadible power of downtime in a caracter-based story.
I see Red's not taking much downtime with these trope talks. x3 In all seriousness, the topic of Squid Game felt super depressing. Being forced to work, especially when it's a job you hate is super exhausting. Time of posting, I have two jobs with one of them increasingly frustrating that I want to drop yet I doubt I'll be able to pay rent if I do despite how little it pays, and the fact they're both part-time means I get limited hours and limited money. The other job I enjoy a lot, but it still feels like I can't enjoy myself as much as I'd want to. Thank god for conventions where I can take a few days off and unwind while doing something I legitimately love and spend time with friends. And because I volunteer (which admittedly is still work but still) I don't have to pay for entry. Cons feel like my ultimate downtime, where I can relax and enjoy myself. Also, gotta say my favorite form of downtime in media is the Heart-to-heart moments from the Xenoblade franchise, where the crew can just chat with each other and have a bit more revelatory dialogue without having to worry about the next objective.
@zer0w0lf94 It's very akin to that. Overall very enjoyable as we get to see new depths to characters we don't see a lot of in the main story. Highlights for me are always the Nopon characters. You really get to find out there's more layers to these furry potatoes. Especially everyone's number 1 Dad Riki.
This is why I love roleplay, you have significantly more time for downtime than most other forms of fiction. It makes the bonds between characters so rich
I always found Azula's characterization in the beach episode of ATLA to be very revealing about who she was deep down. As the episode goes on, the viewer starts to realize that there is no 'downtime Azula'. She doesn't know how to relate to people, doesn't know how to relax, is secretly lonely, and feels unloved and unvalued for anything other than her achievements. It sets up her later breakdown when she gets everything she ever wanted but ends up still feeling alone and unloved because she pushed away her friends to get there and her father never viewed her as more than a useful tool.
I just realized that's why the beach episode has Aang & the gang shown to also be experiencing downtime as well: it's a point of contrast. Compared to Team Avatar, she can't let herself relax because relaxation means a missed chance to prove herself in dominating over others. She can't reflect on who she is in quiet moments, because that would imply doubt in her persona & what she wants, and she must be perfect, so doubt cannot be a possibility. She pities Zuko for experiencing that kind of doubt in the campfire scene, when she's arguably more deserving of that pity for not letting herself be vulnerable & interrogating whether or not she really wants this life, effectively trapping herself in a prison of her own making.
It's been a while since I watched the show but I did really like how Azula was written throughout the show. At first is showed Zuko being jealous of his sister for her power and relationship with their father but as the show goes on it shows a change in their position with Azula only knowing how to keep her friends through power and manipulation which is what the fire lord taught them meanwhile Zuko learns that power isn't everything cumulating in the final battle where Zuko doesn't defeat her through his abilities but through working in a team.
Check your bingo cards, people.
It's also very amusing that that episode was made into a beach episode most likely in retaliation to the "beach episode" trope in anime, which often just serves as a filler/fanservice episode.
They made what would've been a filler episode for most shows into one of the best episodes in the series.
I love The Beach, and it's a shame how under appreciated it is. I've seen many people call it filler, but it plays such an important role in informing the audience of the mental states and motivations of the Fire Nation quartet. Their actions going forward simply would not have had as much impact without the insight provided by that episode.
One Tolkien downtime scene that I will never forget is the “po-tay-toes” scene in the book. It’s normal to see a protagonist’s downtime, but villain downtime is rarely glimpsed, and a protagonist and villain having downtime TOGETHER is nigh unthinkable. So Sam and Gollum lightly bickering while gathering ingredients to make a stew and debating the merits of cooking your food is refreshing, and bafflingly mundane. For a second, you can almost see the semi-normal guy Gollum used to be, and you can see how Sam’s heart-wrenching care for Frodo can be expressed outside of life-or-death circumstances. Sometimes caring about Frodo means fighting a giant spider, and sometimes it means making him a bowl of hot soup when he’s sick to surprise him when he wakes up.
They never did eat that soup.
@@XzoahX Actually, they did in the book and not in the film.
tolkien just let you chew on down time scenes. without those sparks of humanity that those offered, the desperation of the quest would have been lesser
Some of the best moments in the books are small character interactions like this one
As a chef, I found this scene was the most valuable in solidifying Gollums character arc from normal hobbit like being to horrid little monster. To someone dedicated to cooking and gastronomy, nothing is more barbaric than viewing food as mere fuel to be consumed raw and unimproved. It's inhuman.
The downtime in the LotR is like when you're still in bed in the morning and you have things that you need to do so you need to get up, but it's so warm and comfortable where you are and you don't have an alarm set or anything.
I'm literally living that reality while watching this video and writing this comment. Such a good description of LOTR downtime.
Tales of Ba Sing Se alone proves a filler episode of nothing but down time can be peak fiction
* Little Soldier Boy playing in my head without me wishing to *
That episode is stright up downtime episode that somehow make us switch up from laughing to crying
@@johannageisel5390 * very much against my wishes *
That episode is the perfect balance of fun, fluffy nonsense with the characters, and gut wrenching personal tragedy. It lets us see into our characters in ways you’d never see in plot time, where Toph could never get a chance to embrace her femininity, and Zuko could never get a date (with the exception of in Zuko Alone, which is also an example of downtime used well). Aang and Sokka’s stories are more par for the course for their characters, and Momo’s is sweet, but not especially insightful. Iroh’s though, we all know what that one does
We're rewatching Avatar and Tales of Ba Sing Se is the next episode! We'll probably watch it tonight! But there's something equally important in that filler episode -- it comes just before the most devastating episode of the whole show, Appa's Lost Days. We need that moment of freedom and joy from Tales of Ba Sing Se to hold our hands as we embark on watching the toughest episode of them all.
This video seems like a great use for my downtime.
This video seems like a great way to spend my exam studying time 😲
@Tail_sez this says a lot about your character motivations
I'm saving it for my downtime too!
Agreed
Indeed
I'm not procrastinating my studies, I'm just having some downtime so the conclusion of my character arc feels more meaningful.
😂😂😂 Lol, I love this perspective!
Yup, you should put that on a tshirt lol
Interesting perspective however i don't think you want your character arc to conclude with a bad grade.
@@justiceiria869 maybe their character arc is learning how to properly plan their downtime after the bad grade
Can’t wait for the climax where we finally get the motivation to do our work in a quick 2 minute montage 😎
I congratulate Red for finally convincing me to check out Squid Game with this video. The fact that it's not just "game shows are evil," (which they are) but "you can leave at any time, but back to what life?" is honestly pretty compelling and I'm sad I haven't seen anyone explain the anti-capitalism of the show so succinctly before.
Try watching the video on this topic by Xiran Jay Zhao (after you've finished the show), they explain it in even more detail, even though they are Chinese, not Korean. Especially the parallels between the reason the MCs mental health is so bad and a real and well-known incident in Korea's recent history
The squid game is really cool and does a really good job of not only making it clear the players can but won't leave but also that after winning you have nothing. All thought there's a subplot in the last couple of episodes I just don't think you needed
I really didnt care for it overall, but especially the ending. Feel pretty over hyped, even if it has some interesting concepts like the one brought up here.
Hope you find more enjoyment with it than me though!
I have avoided Squidgame for lots of reasons, but I'm legitimately angry that nobody thought to tell me that it has that fundamental difference. Lots of people say "oh, it's good," which is the same thing I hear about every popular content that inevitably disappoints me. Might watch now.
@@feathero3 I think the issue is a lot of viewers missed the point of the story and ironically became the in-universe viewers. Like some Hunger Games enjoyers. So that makes me frustrated with the show. The show is good at what it sets out to do, but I dislike people missing the point. It's meant to be very uncomfortable viewing.
I once read a manga about four characters working in a cafe. One bonus story was downtime, just one page divided into four panels showing what each character does from dawn till 8am when the cafe opens.
The preppy guy jogs for two hours with his old coach.
The more mature girl goes through her morning beauty routine.
The younger girl on social and crushing on random guys.
The cafe owner however sleeps right up until opening time, because his character in the manga actually has nothing outside this little world he built for himself. instead of sad it shows all the other characters running in to fill up the cafe and it ends with a little smile.
Bro,whats the name of the manga
DROP THE NAME OF THE MANGA NOW
That sounds like an awesome series to read. Do you remember the name of the manga?
I would love to check it out.
@lokmanofwar6998 Sorry guys, I don't remember. It was a super cute one about running a cafe in tokyo with hints about the owner's "dark past" but that's all I remember
i swear to god if this is somehow about tokyo ghoul
Love downtime. As a DM it’s one of my favourite tools. Get those players to have their antics and roleplay moments to grow their characters
Love long downtime. In my current campaign the player's characters had kids, started cults, built fortresses, and fought wars. It's been great.
I’ve struggled with it as a dm cus my players were all newbies and weren’t sure what to do with themselves 😂
Gotta get my players to figure out how to engage in it. Last time I tried it they just went, we go to work... Was very sad.
My current character spent a large portion of his recently gifted downtime taking care of his mom, I feel like there are plans brewing in my DM's mind to hurt her
@bjwessels you have to give them some things to do. Are there taverns in the area? Maybe a carnival is in town or some weird bookstore that sells werewolf smut?
Another thing it’s good for is building character relationships. You might wonder why Character A sacrificed themselves for Character B, but all this downtime showed that they really are genuine friends rather than just allies because of the plot
Yes, its so important to show why they are close sometimes characters are just friends because the writers need all the main characters in one room so you aren't constantly jumping to different scenes.
Some of my favorite downtime in anime takes place during the Dark Tournament arc in Yu Yu Hakusho. Seeing the cast interact outside of immediate life-and-death situations is nice and really helps to show their humanity, burgeoning or already existing (*coughs while side-eyeing Hiei and Kuwabara*), while also expanding upon other plot elements as well, such as the previous relationship between the arc's main villain and Yusuke's teacher Genkai. It may be an old series, but it's honestly a great watch or read when it comes to character writing. That said, that much is clear to many general anime fans since most recognize Togashi(the author/mangaka)'s following work: Hunter x Hunter.
I was almost expecting a mention to something that a fair few people have forgotten from Dragon Ball. One of the training tenets of the Turtle School is "rest hard." It's part of the training regimen to take breaks, but because the action is such a big part of Dragon Ball the franchise, a lot of people forget that the heroes should rest between big encounters.
That actually puts in a lot more context for the Cell Saga episode where Goku and Gohan get out of the Time Chamber and Goku insists on just chillin for like 2 days
@@How_Many_Monkeys3 days resting, 3 days training, 3 days resting, Cell Games.
"Work hard, Study well and eat and sleep plenty… that’s the turtle hermit way to learn!”
"Work hard, Play hard, Rest hard. That is the turtle school way!"
On the other side of the spectrum.
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
Yup. Also, timeskips. Dragon Ball was Tournament, RR Army, 3-year break, Tournament, Piccolo, 3-year break, Tournament, 5-year break, Saiyans, Frieza, a couple years break, Trunks showing up, 3-years training, Cell, 7-year break, Buu, 10-year break, Story End. Each arc was, unless otherwise stated, about a week start-to-finish with years in between encounters.
“I NEED MONEY OR I AM GOING TO DIE” genuinely, like, such a mood. Idk it’s profound in how gut-punchingly simple and real it is
And really sad that it IS real, huh? How many times have you not done something, not planned something, because you didn't know if you'd have the money to do it?
My poor butt who took student loans for University.
@@metrux321 It's not sad. It is what life has always been. Before "I need money" it was "I need shelter" "I need water" "I need food." The only difference is now instead of finding the water, hunting/growing the food and building the shelter, we pay others to do it for us. Staying alive has always been a task that requires work in and of itself. I don't understand why people suddenly think it's bad and immoral, when it is a natural and constant requisite across not just humanity, but all life as a whole.
@@Driftingsiax I... Never said immoral. But what you're saying is "it shouldn't be better, because it's natural/tradition", and that I'll heavilly be against. Just because things have "always been like that" doesn't mean we shouldn't change it. Nowadays we COULD have all of that, for a big percentage of human population, without having to constantly worry about survival, but we don't have a system that would work for it, and we'll always have people who'd rather have it flawed if it's to their personal benefits. So it probably will never happen, and yet, it doesn't mean we can't want for it. I mean, do you ever believe magic will be real? But we can't help wanting it. The difference is that one is within the realm of possibility, jsut really really improbable, and we don't have a path towards it yet. While the other is fantasy, with all it's good and bad.
@@Driftingsiaxjust because something has always been that way doesn’t mean it should remain that way. For most of human history, the production of commodities and necessities were both in very short supply. Then came the Industrial Revolution and the invention of Haber-Bosch process and suddenly we were in no short supply of such things.
We could live in a society where the necessities of life are a right rather than a privilege. We aren’t and some of us think that that’s dumb.
Love the Dungeon Meshi clips at the end, i think too many people forget that you need to take care of yourself before you can really take care of others and this Show showes that in the best way with Shuro and Senshi
Gonna throw Chilchuck in as an underrated character upholding the theme of self-care. He has boundaries based on what he’s capable of and what he’s willing to do (though he’ll cross them if it ever becomes important enough) and he also recognizes when it’s a good time to step back and regroup.
I adore everything about that scene. The kindness of it is palpable, even when Senshi is being a little intimidating. The kindness is also fearless, extended to an apparent enemy, and after to a stranger under threat. And as funny as the show is, and as dark as it can get, that kindness permeates the whole story. It's exquisite.
A show I think that really benefited from down time is amphibia. Pretty much the whole first season is just slice of life adventures that get you attached to the world and characters. When you finally get to the end the theme of moving on and accepting change hits a lot harder.
Yes, someone gets it! I've heard people wanting to skip season 1 because it's "all filler." That implies it's not important and gets in the way of the plot when it IS the plot. Amphibia is an episodic, slice-of-life dramedy that supposed to get you invested in the characters and setting.
Addendum: I hope Red finally gets around to watching Amphibia so that she can talk about it and the Owl House as the main examples for the 'Found Family' trope talk video.
And why people wanted the owl house to have season 3 for the characters to have a chance for downtime on earth.
Gravity Falls does that as well to a similar extent, the first season is mostly just building the characters while throwing in small pieces of the plot, so when the big reveals come in S2, you have a big reason to care for said characters and what they are going through.
@@foldabotZ What’s funny is how if some of shows skipped filler episodes, they’d remove context for later. This is due to how they can feel like episodic shenanigans in the moment but retroactively carry more weight. Take… Amphibia for instance.
Domino 2? She returns to help with the coming army.
Tritonio? Kicks off Anne’s swordsmanship and returns to lead the newts against Andrias.
The mushroom hive-mind? Not only does he return for the finale but Andrias utilizes his kind to control the wildlife for his army.
Mr. X? Seems like a diversion but he factors into the finale with Earth being armed enough to help Anne.
These are what I often call “Filler until proven otherwise.” Until the show progresses without any callbacks to even a moment in that one episode, it is filler. That said, I do have to ask… so what?
I’ve often seen advocates for shows to have more filler. Specifically, to have more episodes that are self-contained and are character focused first. Many feel like made-for-streaming series take too much advantage of not fretting about missing an episode. I too miss when you had more episodes like DBZ’s driving episode as a calm before the storm.
Now there are still fun filler episodes but where the “filler” aspect is done away with. While the episode might stand on it’s own in terms of its individual storyline, it has elements that will explicitly be set up for the future.
So it’s not lost but packaged differently. There are even stealth filler episodes where act one and two feel like their own thing before something entirely new comes in like a bolt from the blue. Said new thing might be for that one episode at first but will return in the finale.
That's also one of the reasons why True Colors was such an utter gut-punch. All the bonding and character development in the first two seasons was all just because Marcy couldn't accept that the closest things she had to friends were not going to be a part of her life anymore. When she says, "I gave you this, I gave you everything!" she basically wants them to thank her for giving them, or at least Anne, this chance to grow into better people. She gave her those slice-of-life adventures, she gave her the chance to explore this world & make friends, she gave her chances to reflect & develop, so how come she still wants to leave? It's kind of brilliant how the very framework of the show turns into something slightly more insidious yet also sad, and it's a shame imo that they didn't really expand on those negatives emotions on Marcy's part in the third season. It would've been pretty interesting to see possessed Marcy be at least partly driven by her anger at how her friends treated her before & at their seeming refusal to be grateful for what she did for them, instead of just "she's not home right now."
In defense of leaving out "The Scouring of the Shire" from the films:
1). Pacing wise, the ending was already long enough, and having an extra twenty minutes of additional emotional rollercoastering after defeating Sauron would have been a bit much to ask even for the most diehard fans.
2). I think the endings we got were based a lot on each person's experiences. Tolkien was writing as someone who had witnessed the bombing of London during WWII and would have empathized with soldiers coming home from a devastating war only to see their own homes also devastated. Meanwhile, Peter Jackson might have been influenced by stories of soldiers from the Vietnam War, who would have gone through horrible life altering situations in battle only to come back to a home untoched by those horrors and that they no longer quite fit into like before because of how much they had changed.
So for me personally, that change while unfortunate is still rather low on my list of problems with the Jackson film adaptations.
I personally prefer that the films left out the Scouring. It served to really accentuate the idea that the core 4 Hobbits were fundamentally changed by their experiences and that no one else in the Shire could relate.
Whole “Quiet on the Western Front” vibe of a soldier not fitting in a peaceful life.
Personally I'm just glad it was left out because good god they went through enough already, let them have their peaceful home back
One thing that I feel gets lost about the Scouring of the Shire is the tone: Sharky isn't a threat, and his ruffians are nothing compared to Sauron's orcs. The main "problem" is solved in less than a week.
What's left is work, but it's not a threat. And work isn't evil - even as you enjoy the downtime.
And truthfully, both those takes on the impact of war have merit.
The switch to the streaming model and deciding that “No we only need 8 episodes an hour long because we’re Prestige TV” has been devastating
GIVE ME MY FILLER EPISODES BACK! You could never get an Ember Island Players these days
as a Brit, I always find it mildly amusing seeing (mostly) Americans complaining about how short Prestige TV series have become whilst giving episode counts that are at or above average over here
For every boring filler episode, there's an episode where Goku and Piccolo learn to get driver licenses and it's peak.
Slice of Life shows/animes tend to be low-stakes and chill if you're looking for that sorta mood.
Some of our most long running and beloved shows having 18 episodes total, over several seasons and specials.
Yep. Filler episodes are enormously helpful for world and character building, not just downtime to get to know characters, but to test new ideas/characters, plant story seeds to pay off later, show Chekov Guns, and just make the world feel "more".
My favorite examples come from Supernatural. The first is where Cowley uses the books about the boys to find people they saved in "filler" episodes and kill them. It was an absolutely devastating moment that struck at the very core of who Sam and Dean were made possible by "filler".
The other is the episode "Baby". Most of the first act is downtime, just the boys being brothers riding in the Impala. But it's also this really cool experiment because everything is shot from the Impala's perspective. The only connection the episode has to the larger plot was that the MotW was spooked by the big bad just existing.
@@amiscellaneoushuman3516 america used to mean something, we’d make a shitty show, give it 23 episodes a season, 45 minutes and episode and then 15 seasons
The third Men In Black movie had one scene where young K basically forces J to put the plot on hold so they could get some pie, and the whole point of the scene, and the lesson K was trying to teach J, was that we sometimes need downtime to disconnect so we can examine the problems we encounter from a different state of mind, giving us the chance to potentially see solutions that we were previously too anxious and stressed out to notice.
Thinking of "Hereville: How Mirka Caught A Fish," where Mirka's mom insists (at very high emotional cost) Mirka keep shabbat with her instead of rescuing her own daughter. It turns out to be the point. It's HARD to relax. But you need it to figure out how to rescue someone, to buy time, to answer questions, and keep away the looming threat that will end when the protective magic of shabbos ends.
Ned's Declassified had a similar premise where the show did an episode about the benefits of daydreaming. The mean science teacher decides to punish the class for goofing off/daydreaming by keeping them in class and missing lunch (with the added stakes that it's pizza day) unless one of the students could solve his riddle. Ned daydreams he and his friends are secret agents fighting the science teacher as the villain (alongside cameos of Cosmo and Wanda from Fairly OddParents) and Ned stumbles upon the answer in his fantasy: spiders. The episode concludes that daydreaming gives the mind a chance to unwind and may even help you process some things.
Another thing downtime is useful for is showing the impact of the plot on the protagonists life and the wider world. Skullduggery Pleasant does this brilliantly, with the scattered moments of downtime, mostly family time but sometimes other quiet moments like sitting on the beach or getting a coffee, steadily get more warped by the uptime elements of the story as the series progresses, letting us see how much the main character's life has been changed for the worse.
And it really doubles the impact of the temporary reduction in tension when the characters try to take some downtime, but the plot steps back in and says "you cannot rest now, there are monsters nearby."
Man, I gotta reread those books again, another contender for "What if Harry Potter but good."
Man I need to reread skullduggery pleasant
Those books are so underrated, especially in the US!
Never heard of "uptime." I may keep that word
I remember people saying the school festival in My Hero was a waste of time. As if these kids don't deserve to have some fun after all the shit they go through
Some people especially when it comes to Shonen, seem to want their series to just be nothing but action and high stakes and anything that’s not all about that sucks.
my favorite parts of MHA are the downtime and world building, people like that always made no sense to me
I stopped watching MHA a little while after that arc, but I did find it funny how your point is well illustrated by the fact that Midoriya so greatly overreacts to Gentle Criminal’s presence. Meeting him with anger deserving of a severe threat because that’s pretty much every villain fight he’s had up to that point. He absolutely deserved the downtime.
There’s a difference between what people want to see and what people want their favourite characters to experience
So maybe it’s not that people dislike them experiencing good stuff, they just aren’t that interested in knowing all the details of the festival, compared to like seeing them grow through the semester and experience good moments in a less condensed time period
Honestly, that was one of my favorite arcs.
Frieren is the embodiment of this episode, and a master class work IMO.
I have always loved Downtime, and it took me a while to realise why I loved Freiren a lot, it was pretty much a story where the Downtime is the main focus, while the plot is like secondary focus.
@@amam-hv2xr I recall an excellent one-sentence summary of Frieren as “a deceptively old lady’s nostalgic road trip with the family where some of the best fantasy of the last twenty years happens, occasionally.”
Frieren and Delicious in Dungeon are probably my two favorite anime ever, and I think what connects with me so strongly for each of them is how central the value of downtime with loved ones is to your life and your being is to the stories being told and the storytelling itself.
That's what I loved about the manga, until they started that weird magic tournament arc, which was such a shift that I dropped it. Does it get back to the good stuff?
@user-zl9vh2xr6b But they still kept a huge amount of focus on the small moments, even during the exam arc. There's so much time dedicated to the quite moments getting to know each other, planning, and having meals between tests. And the third test is... well, if you haven't finished the arc, I won't say any more.
The way you describe Sauron's evil as a slow poisoning that nothing is safe from, even though there might be weeks or years without an incident, reminds me to a certain natural reconfiguration of our planet that is being brought about by humans.
My thoughts exactly!
Yup
Almost as if that was intentional, and why Red pointed it out.
Nature was also a gaint theme of Tolkien as well
That's because spoiler alert, Tolkien wanted to highlight how Sauron isn't exactly this 'one bad guy' the heroes needed to overcome. It might seem like that during the first read...but Sauron's evil is more all-encompassing, corrupt of the Humanity type of evil. Sauron is the whimsical paint Tolkien used over actual evil of Humanity just not giving a f...
Frequency with which Castle in the Sky shows up in trope talks warms my heart. Truly an underrated movie, compared to later Miyazaki's blockbusters
I think a great example of how downtime can characterize your characters is in kingdom hearts 358/2 days. Where Roxas, our main character, has his first day off. And since his entire life up to that point has been work, the only thing he can think of is “guess I’ll eat ice cream”
That game's narrative is basically built around downtime and I love it so much. All the cool action and gameplay are framed as just Roxas's 9-5, and everything IMPORTANT is what happens after, hanging out with his friends and figuring out who he is.
@ exactly! Days is a tragedy build upon the backbone of downtime, and that’s what makes it so great. We slowly see the downtime fall apart as our main characters drift away from each other because of their shitty boss
@@Sunboi_Paladin It also helps reframe the importance of Roxas' "Summer Vacation" at the beginning of KH2, giving more impact to how his life might have gone if he wasn't discovered by Xemnas in the first place, and just another thing the organization stole from him
I loved that one... Roxas was only "days" old. (Probably a few weeks in)
His response;
"What's my job?"
Axel: "What's your... Roxas; you're missing the point."
@ I love the snark in that game, especially axel’s. Just the comedy being making fun of your coworkers after work is so real
One thing I’m surprised you didn’t touch on is that, aside from the utility of downtime to delve into characters’ personalities and explore who they are outside of the plot, sometimes it’s just nice for the audience to see the characters catch a break once in a while. Nonstop peril and conflict and tribulation gets exhausting; characters might not technically need a break from it but audiences do. The trick is working in just enough moments of well-earned respite for the characters that audiences can recover and reset before the next adventure, but not so much that they get bored waiting for the plot to start up again.
This is something Jujutsu Kaisen fumbled hard. Like I'm pretty sure the main cast goes through 7 straight story arcs without even getting a nap and it makes the whole cast feel hollow.
@@SirAsdfThank you. I said the exact same shit, and have been screaming about it for over 2 years now.
@SirAsdf as far as I'm aware, the moment the Shibuya Incident starts, the cast gets 0 downtime from there until the epilogue chapters at the very end. There's a month long timeskip that's only ever used in flashbacks to explain what the current plan is, not once for any character interaction that isn't "here's how we beat Sukuna"
@@Bighomie39 The Culling Game feels like an attempt at slowing the tempo that Gege got bored of and hurried along.
Watching the world look at Squid Game and go "lets do that but not fictional" was truly an ouch moment.
Takeshi's castle and similars, it's an old concept
To be fair, dangling money in front of people to make them demean themselves for entertainment was basically mr beast's whole thing already
South Korea is really that bad, isn't it?
@@laurah3968 you're describing what a game show is
@@meganegan5992 many western countries are, like USA or UK etc.
9:00 this is why I hate the current schedule of things. There's barely any room for shows to have filler or downtime anymore. Like Owl House said they'd show all that downtime IF THEY HAD TIME.
"Maybe if we had time for 20 more adventures but we don't." -Luz
What I see is them glomming superfluous adventures like tumors onto the core of what could be a compelling story. The action bits are the filler now, and it undermines the importance of action when it happens. Shows and films aren't made to be experienced anymore, but consumed.
@@Maswartz226 Honestly every modern cartoon is trying so hard to he the next gravity falls, its exhausting
I think the problem is how few shows seem to take it easy for at least the first season.
Like okay, ten episodes per season. But going the route of, say, Gravity Falls, you’d start with a light plot to set up the characters before really kicking things into high gear next season.
Hell, it’s a reason why I Stan Miraculous. Often because what seemed like downtime in Season 1 turns out to be seeds that sprout big.
@@matt0044The problem is that because so many shows get cancelled for bullshit reasons, shows are incentivized to make things as flashy and intense as possible in order to try to get as much attention and as large an audience as possible as soon as possible in the hopes of trying to make it less likely that they’ll get canceled.
Okay, my childhood favorite show was teen titans. Rewatching it as an adult, I was struck by how almost every single episode has a goofy scene at the beginning AND end which I have affectionately called “pizza time,” in which the characters just act like kids. The jokes aren’t that funny to an older audience, the bits are wacky and occasionally boring, but I *love* them, and I can see why I especially loved them as a kid. It’s basically a sitcom and it gets you invested in the characters as people. But most importantly, each goofy scene sets up the emotional core of the story once things get serious, and it re-anchors your expectations in the realm of friend drama, which makes the real high stakes, plot heavy fights feel more serious. But above all of that, the plot just falls apart without it, not only because you would miss vital information, but also because you would miss the ways the characters take home their troubles in battle. You see how it turns into fights and inside jokes and secrets and betrayals and insecurities and dreams and growth. It’s well balanced for exactly what it’s going for. I kinda miss pizza time!
One thing I wish this video went into are things like Spiderman 2 where "downtime" shows how much the character has changed since the inciting incident, or post-finale episodes like Steven Universe future where it shows how difficult re-adjusting is because the big bad is defeated, but since that was THE THING the characters did for so long, they had forgotten how to live and thrive without that cloud hanging over them.
I saw a couple comments mentioning ATLA, but no one talks about the great episode that is Zuko alone, where he journeyed out on his own to an earth kingdom village and gets to experience what life would be like if he wasn’t consumed with fighting in the war and capturing Aang. He bonds with the people including a little boy. But when bandits attack he’s forced to reveal who he really is and the villagers reject him, symbolizing that if Zuko doesn’t let go of what he wants, the life he needs will be taken away from him. It’s such a great episode, I love it!
Admittedly, I never watched Squid Game that much. It did just seem like another generic death game that just so happened to be popular. But when you described the "Hell" episode... Damn.
Now, on a separate note, when I did give a few looks, I just took it as "desperate people getting exploited for entertainment." When I saw the actual squid game challenge show, that general message is what caused me to turn it off after the second episode. The mental breakdown in the cookie challenge in particular was horrifying in my eyes, and even the first moral test where people were basically putting a pricetag on their fellow human beings. To make matters worse, it showed people saying that they were trying to play the game EXPLICITLY to escape their shitty lives. And it's actually what finally got me to put into words why I've always hated reality shows. I used to just say "It all feels fake and gives me the ick", but now I finally have the perspective I need to vocalize it.
We're watching desperate people, and we're doing it because we find their struggles endearing. But these reality shows are taking tragedies playing out in real time, and letting us watch it behind a TV screen. These people are getting humiliated for our viewing pleasure, but they're forced to do it because they have no other choice.
When Mr Beast did his own Squid Game, I should have taken notice that he was doing the same thing the show warned against, just in a less brutal fashion. But because I didn't watch the original show, I was dismissive of it all. He never highlighted their IRL struggles, so the message went straight over my head. But when he did highlight these people in dire circumstances (for instance, his eyesight video), having them be waved away with his "generosity", I had the ick again. I felt the same way about those videos as I did about reality TV, but I couldn't put it into words. He was recording desperate people for our viewing pleasure, and fixing it to give us a "satisfying ending." In hindsight, the recent allegations make a lot of sense. But it just wasn't as obvious until he was later in his career.
Yep. "Dance for me, Peasant, and if I like your dance well enough, I will give you this loaf of bread for your starving family"
I always love to see the scenario of “character who’s done nothing but look out for others, their own needs and wants be damned, has to figure out what to do when they finally get to just have a f*cking rest”.
Kaladin from The Stormlight Archive comes to mind.
Reminds me of how Terry and Bruce's dynamic ended in Batman Beyond/Justice League Unlimited.
Bruce committed everything to the mission, and ended up distancing himself away from everyone. Terry learned he could compromise, propose to his girl, and still be Batman. No need to throw away his personal life.
For me, it’s Kendal from Aurora.
And Adora from the most recent She-Ra
Kaladin, Kendal, and Link BotW are a trifecta of... something to me. Not sure what.
Edit: long-haired, traumatized, blue-coded young men with glowing magic swords and a notable willingness to sacrifice themselves for their friends? Maybe?
Edit 2: Kendal and Link also have the "destroyed past that isn't quite mine" thing, Link and Kaladin are both talented farming-village soldiers among royalty, and Kendal and Kaladin both have zero idea what to do with downtime. Maybe.
Edit 3: I now have an enormous venn diagram. Kaladin and Kendal were both nearly killed by intelligent storms. Link and Kaladin are both Knights of legend chosen by a sword who is actually a Glowing Woman. Help
@@zer0w0lf94 exactly what i was thinking!
Downtime is quite literally where character "lives."
It's how a character lives, and how they interact with people when the world isn't at stake. It's whether or not they sleep in when they can afford to, or what kind of hobbies or interests they have outside of being a badass. Personally, I feel like having the opportunity to see "who" a character is when they're off-the-clock so to speak, gives a deeper insight than a ultimatum with lives on the lines.
And that's why I love those moments.
Downtime is part of the story because characterization is itself a form of storytelling, and downtime teaches you a lot about characters. The part that really jumped out at me here was highlighting those characters that can't relax, like Batman or Zuko
I think one of the best examples of how to use downtime in media that I've ever seen is, honestly, One Piece.
The thing about the main cast of one piece, the main crew, is that they're friends. They're a found family, again one of the best I've seen in any media. And we're not just told this, we're *shown* it. Constantly.
It's not just Big Friendship Moments like battles or rescue missions or giant heartfelt speeches, though we do get those of course.
We consistently get to see how the crew interacts in their downtime. The sea is vast, after all, and sailing from island to island takes a long time. We get to see the crew just... Hanging out. Being friends. Genuinely enjoying each other's company because they just *like* each other.
And all these moments of downtime expertly serve to increase the emotional impact of the Big Moments while also reinforcing the themes of the entire story.
I think one of the best examples of this comes from an arc relatively early on. The crew has just entered the most dangerous sea in the world and has, through Shenanigans, ended up on a VERY time sensitive mission to help a princess prevent a coup by an incredibly strong individual and also stop a civil war from tearing her country apart and killing millions of her citizens.
Our scene happens the morning after they set out. The princess, Vivi, emerges on deck to find most of the crew... Relaxing. Some of the boys are playing a silly game on deck, one of them is napping, the chef is making Fun Fancy Drinks for everyone, and only the navigator seems to be putting any effort into keeping them on track. And Vivi is in shock! They're being pursued by a dangerous criminal organization, they're navigating one of the most dangerous seas in the world, and there are millions of lives at stake! How can they possibly relax???
And the navigator just replies that, well. This is just how their crew is. She tells Vivi to have faith in their Capitan and crew, and reminds her that it'll take time to reach their destination. She hands the princess a fun drink, and eventually, Vivi joins in on the silly game, allowing herself to relax a bit for the first time is a while.
Here's the trick.
This scene is a microcosm of how downtime is used in this story. By joining in with the crew's silly little activities, Vivi strengthens her bond with the crew. By letting go of her worries for the time being, by letting herself actually engage in that downtime as she wishes instead of how she feels expected to react given the circumstances, she learns to value freedom. Of course there are many other moments besides this that contribute to her character arc, but this moment is the first one where she relaxes enough to engage with those around her.
One Piece is full of moments like this. Silly games, good food, meals and feasts and parties, fishing, dancing and singing, playing pranks, sparring, tinkering and exploring new places and a million other things.
This is a crew that will do anything for each other. They will stop a coup, overthrow a government, go to war with the world. They will climb cliffs, bare knuckled in the snow with their crewmate slung over their back for the chance of a doctor. They would burn the world for each other, and they would save it.
And as an audience, we know exactly *why*. We're shown, over and over, exactly why these people care about each other, and how much they just plain like being together, and above all, how much they love being free to be themselves, together.
There are many other factors at play, to do with tragic backstories and big dramatic moments, but these little moments of downtime keep the friendship of the main crew fresh and reinforced for the audience... Despite One Piece's length.
To put it another way;
Later, this crew will save Vivi's country. Later, this Capitan will make miracles happen for the sake of his friends. Later, Vivi will take the freedom and everything she learned from this crew and she will face the fascist world government head on, and she will fight for change on a scale she never could have dreamed before.
But for now, in this moment of downtime, she plays a silly little game.
Your point is well supported and argued.
I’m trying to think of why I never felt that way trying to watch any of the OnePiece I saw… probably just the art and sound, being all so busy and loud that I didn’t get the sense of anything being “downtime”.
Which probably goes to show that you still need other elements to make downtime feel that way to the audience.
@phastinemoon definitely. It's also likely down to a difference between anime and manga - the anime cuts out a decent amount of the downtime/little moments... Though I also stopped watching the anime around Skypiea and switch to purely the manga, so I can't say that 100% for sure 😅
Also, I will say that much of what I talked about is something of a cumulative effect. A lot of the downtime is seen in a few scenes like that which I mentioned, or occasional montages or single panels. Heck, a bunch of it is just *implied* by the chapter cover art, which often shows the crew hanging out on random adventures of dubious canonicity.
But the little moments *are* there, and they really do add to the story, especially as things grow more and more complicated over the years.
I am also, admittedly, a bit of a victim of Fandom Brain. The hyperfixation goggles can make you see stuff with rose tinted glasses, and will have you grabbing a shovel to search for hidden depth even when something isn't that deep 😅😅😅
yes, and now it's 1000+ chapters long, it's been 25 years and it's still not done, one piece fans have gone to their graves never knowing how it will end
at some point, you gotta know when to fucking stop
I think one of Usopp's speeches in the Arlong Park arc sums it up. He talks about how the crew can laugh so hard their stomachs hurt and he wants to be able to laugh like that with them too - but he can only do that if he steps up and fights.
Without breaks, I'd go insane and miss out on OSP videos
Downtime is incredibly important both in real life and in fiction! I hope to use it well in my own work.
Also, you have no idea how cathartic it was for me to hear you throw shade at the people who made Squid-Game-like game shows when that got really popular. I always felt like they all missed the point of what the show was about, but couldn't articulate why I felt that way.
Okay, I love how the image you picked to represent 2021 was the boat stuck in the Suez Canal. XD
According to the OSPod Red put it there herself lol
@@bananabuttersomethinThis hilariously sounds like Red put that boat in the Suez Canal
I just finished binging Knuckles, which is about the warrior echidna finding out what they should do with downtime, getting told a purpose, and trying to stop a plot from interrupting Knuckles' downtime, which is someone else's plot.
Something that speaks to the power of Downtime as a narrative device is that in Endwalker, the Final Fantasy XIV expansion that wraps up it's 10 year storyline, my favorite scenes weren't the action, nor the high drama, powerful as those were. It was the two occasions your character sits down and has a meal with the other main party members. No dramatic interruptions, no last minute love confessions, just a conversation and an amiable montage of you and your friends chatting around the table.
At least one of those scenes only existed to give the artists an excuse to show off their burger rendering
_Star Trek_ provides an excellent example of the importance of downtime. I strongly believe that the primary reason why people who loved _Deep Space Nine_ and hated _Discovery_ feel that way was because the streaming-era 13-eps/season production didn't have room for "filler" stories that gave the propagonists enforced downtime, even in the middle of galaxy-spanning crises: your "Take Me Out to the Holosuite," "It's Only a Paper Moon" or even "Move Along Home."
I also feel that it’s because episodic shows are eschewed by studio heads because of binge watching. Whether or not the streaming service dumps a season all at once or weekly, there’s vibe that because streaming lets you revisit the previous episode, something like making every episode standalone seems like a waste of the platform.
Exactly. What made DS9 arguably the best Star Trek series was it's great balance between arcs and episodic storytelling. The status quo was always evolving, so you can take any episode and tell roughly were on the timeline it fits. But the episodes' stories are self contained enough that, aside from the occasional two-parter, you can watch a random episode and still get a satisfactory experience. And the series was long enough to let us really get to know the characters.
Even discounting the mutineer main character, the mirror universe captain, and the tonal shift from previous series, Discovery only told one story for each of it's seasons.
It didn't give the characters room to breath, and if you didn't like the season's story then you're out of luck. Every Star Trek series has it's duds, it's no big deal. Unless that dud makes up the entirety of your runtime.
From what I saw of Discovery (I think like the first season and half of the second season) that was 99% of what I didn't like about it.
Discovery Season 1 had one (imo) filler episode (Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad), and in my opinion, it is the best episode of the entire series.
@@RealityOverwritten "Magic" and "Lethe" before it were a wonderful bottle episodes that dramatically built on the show's characters. Season 1 was also the longest of the bunch at 15 episodes.
I had a lot of downtime on Tatooine and to be honest, I really liked it. Sure I was in exile, but I did get a chance to become even stronger in the Force!
That was when you learned how to become a Force Ghost, wasn’t it? How is Qui-Gon doing anyway?
The episode of Hunter x Hunter where Gon and Killua just play around Gon’s home island is one of the most blessed fillers in all of shonen and I WANT THESE KINDS OF EPISODES BACK!
I’d love to learn a little more about downtime and how to write it. So far the only downtime I have in my writing is just “we sit around a campfire and talk about ourselves.”
A way to do a arc that comes to mind is to tie It to a timed plot point
Let's say for example your MC is some kind of politically important person in a fantasy story, you could have them travel to another kingdom to discuss important political stuff that's relevant to the plot, but that thing is not something that's gonna be resolved in a day, so you have your characters essentially taking a vacation mid story, and you can even use the wait itself as a characterization opportunity If you want to by highlighting how they react to It: some characters may get really anxious, others don't care, some are thankful for the break etc etc
@@Necro-xy5ejthat is a good idea. My story at the moment doesn’t deal too much with political stuff. But I do have a character commenting how one of the primary religions of the area of the world the live in is trying to take more political control in a nation that already has a close connection to the religion. I plan to discuss it further in later stories but I have the character comment on how she doesn’t like the route it’s going despite being a member of that religion.
Contrive a reason to have your characters participate in some sort of contest
Could also swap through character importance per arc. While one or two characters have the focus for that arc, anytime you cut to the others they could be taking it more easy
@@floricel_112That backfires exactly when it feels contrived.
This is very much why I LOVE Dungeon Meshi. The whole story is about how if you never give yourself downtime, you won't have the energy to do what REALLY matters. We see this with Shuro, who works himself (and his party) to the bone to accomplish a goal, but thats precisely the reason why he (and Laios' party at the beginning) failed.
Watching this trope talk is my downtime
the shade thrown at the IRL squidgame iterations is bringing me _incredible_ life and joy in these hellish times
"Get The Ring to Mordor, complete the Five Year Mission, defeat the Decepticons..." And at the center of that Venn Diagram you get Galvatron's movie voice actor singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.
I would love to hear that.
@@joesplace2960 I mean, he did.
7:00
My favorite ever subversion of this is Ace Combat 7. There's this one character whose sole and only character trait is he has a son he can't wait to get back to, and who he plans to regale with all of his war stories.
The guy never gets hurt, and presumably goes home after the credits roll to his family. Absolute class.
There's actually a character in ace combat 3 that talks about the stories of legendary aces that his father tells him I think its somewhat implied that the AC3 guy is the son. I personally think he is.
What I loved the most about the first LOTR book is the switching between downtime and action/anxiety, especially in the first half.
Frodo, Sam and Pippin set out from Hobbington -> they get chased by a Nazghul, they meet elves -> get chased some more, they stay at farmer Maggot's -> they sneakely take the ferry to reach Crickhollow, they wander through the Old Forest -> they get saved by Tom Bombadil and stay at his home and so on.
I dunno but these moments of peace, coziness and kindness they are shown by the elves, Maggot, Tom and Goldberry shine so much brighter because they give wholesome reprieve amdist all the danger around them. I friggin love them describing sitting on slabs of tree trunks with the elves, eating mushrooms and ham with the Maggot family or how they slept and dreamed at Tom Bombadil's despite it not advancing the story one bit! ☺
Yeah that's genuine writing advice I've heard-- alternating tension and relief-- for precisely the reason you've described
Nothing I hate quite as much as how people have completely lost the actual definition of the word 'filler' (original content made for padding bc source material ran out) and now use it as a catch all for like. Everything and anything whose main purpose isn't 'plot'. DOWNTIME IS IMPORTANT. STORIES ARE MORE THAN THE DESTINATION!! ITS ABOUT THE PATH YOU TOOK TO GET THERE AND THE SIGHTS YOU SAW ALONG THE WAY 😭😭😭 Character building is themes IS story, even if it's not 'plot'. Stories are more than plot on wheels!!!!!
Those people would NOT be able to handle character stories with no real plot to speak of.
don't be daft. a good writer can integrate one into the other. you can build a world and a character at the same time as you are progressing the story, it's called being concise and being good at writing
brevity is the soul of wit, don't waste my time with pointless shenanigans
As a DM, one of my favorite things this year was when we had 3-4 months of downtime sessions. It was great character-led stuff. Plus, it was a calm before the storm for the biggest and darkest arc in the campaign so far.
For me, the other great downtime ep in ATLA is the Fire Nation's play about the Avatar. The worldbuilding there is *wonderful.* I love how it implies a full world where Team Avatar's actions have reverberating consequences, both the good and the bad. (After all, one source of the play is the Cabbage Guy!) The entire episode makes the larger world feel so alive.
Also, I just adore Toph laughing her head off throughout the production. That's the spirit!
I also like that because it is explicitly propaganda for the fire nation, there is an excuse to present fandom thought which naturally distorts events, like excluding The Great Divide, playing up Zuko/Katara and downplaying Katara/Aang, and generally turning the protagonists into one-dimensional caricatures. And yet because it is propaganda, the real point is to hype everybody for Ozai’s eventual victory.
@@iantaakalla8180 Yeah, definitely. It's just a great in-universe cultural artifact all around. I wish more shows/games/etc would do things like that.
A video about downtime is just what I needed right now to take a break from studying
Dunmeshi thumbnail let's GOOOOOOOOO
*Checks watch*...... "Yeah, I got (down) time"
You could say that the stoic badass training in the background is his downtime, but then you'd have to reckon with the likely deeply traumatic reasons why he feels more relaxed when he's actively preparing for the worst case scenario.
Remember when Aku ordered a pizza? Even shape shifting masters of evil and darkness need to take a break once in a while from the plot.
Edit: It turns out, as I have been corrected in the replies, Aku wasn't ordering pizza.
"EXTRA THICK!"
...he wasn't ordering a pizza
Except he wasn't ordering a pizza, it turns out to be a subversion of the trope when it's revealed that he was actually hiring a henchman to kill Samurai Jack.
@@imveryangryitsnotbutter my mistake, I didn't know that before.
16:44 the fact this went up just 1 hour before the Beast Games trailer is hilarious
Basically one of my favorite tropes. I also think that even in a crapstack world and a downer cynic story benefits from having this. This helps because it makes a bigger amplitude of emotions and more mood whiplash
It's why horror games have safe rooms and Soulslikes have bonfire-equivalents.
*Fun fact:* In the book, Frodo and Company spent 3 days at Tom Bombadill's house. I wouldn't blame them if they decided to stay there forever
Having to endure a "wife guy" of Bombadil's magnitude surely gets old quick
Hell yeah! 100th Trope Talk, congrats!
Checked the playlist just to be sure. This one’s Number 99.
@zer0w0lf94 it's not, there are some that weren't added and some unlisted ones
Just wrote a research paper on the idea of "leisure" in academics as well, where theoretical research in particular basically *requires* time spent away from the day to day grind, and engaging in academic stimuli that interests you naturally, rather than ridiculous deadlines and exams
A video about downtime is just what I needed so I can procrastinate writing
Honestly, I often love the downtime sections of stories more than the main plot. It lets us see people when they aren't constantly fighting others, which is great.
It's crazy Af that Gandalf took 17 years to discover the One Ring's nature, not to mention that Pippin was literaly a kid at the beginning of the book
I think this is why I miss chill filler and episodes so much. It gives the characters a break from the plot to just relax, have some fun, and do dumb stuff that they don’t normally get to when the stakes are so high. It’s also a good time to have characters connect with each other and talk/think about how they’re feeling since the breakneck speed of the plot wouldn’t have room for it.
Y’all really hit me with this as soon as both of my D&D campaigns went on pause for exams/winter break and my characters both got about a week of downtime, this feels targeted lol
X-men downtime is some of my favourite content. Seeing mutants just existing, either in the conics or the shows/movies, was always so interesting
This is why i hate that so many shows now have no filler episodes because, to me, downtime is such an important part of making characters feel human.
Downtime is SO important for characterization. What does a character do when they can they can do what they want? Do they relax, pursue their hobbies, train, bond with other characters, brood, try and continue the plot without the other characters.... It really shows us who the characters are as people. A good story be it a book, a show, a movie, a video game or a TTRPG needs these moments for the audience, reader, or player or players to connect with the characters.
Red calling out MrBeast wasn’t in my bingo card 😂
One of my fave downtime scenes is the schwarma bit at the end of avengers. Mainly because when i am having a Day i also want to be filled with local greasy food that is too delicious to be good for me, and then pass out
This concept of downtime is one of my favorite things about the inversion that is Frieren. A traditional fantasy in many respects except for a few key characteristics. It plays directly with the concept of time/pace as well as flips this concept of downtime. The big bad is gone. The final, world-ending conflict resolved. We don’t start our hero’s journey with a village burning down and protagonist being forced on a journey. It starts with our protagonist beating the bad. The story then moves to after. To only about the downtime. About retracing steps, slowly pondering, and learning about heroism, doing good, and what really is important.
Few things bring me greater joy than listening to red go on a tangent on how terrible the reality of our society is while the most cheerful whimsical music that has ever graced my ears plays in the background. Keep up the good work!
Finished my exams today and seeing a notification for OSP made my day :D
Congrats! Hope your exams went well
Congratulations.
Congrats, and enjoy your downtime!
8:09 Very happy to see Twilight Princess mentioned-I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the slow start to the game, but I’ve always loved it for giving you time to fall in love with the world and characters that you will later need to save.
Steven Universe Future is entirely the backloaded downtime from tbe base series where Steven deals with the fact that he's basically been under the pressure of a constant war for years of his childhood.
There is some irony in me seeing this video the day before an important exam i need to study for tomorrow
The Persona games are all really good at this, but P5 Strikers in particular has a story that’s like 40% downtime and it’s awesome.
honestly i was expecting Red to mention Persona somewhere but it never came. they're an absolute must-play if the goal is to show the importance of downtime, since Persona tightly weaves it into the gameplay in a way that clearly and pretty literally makes it so strenghtening your heart by just hanging out with your friends and living normal lives is incredibly important in order to then go onto Doing Plot Things in the best mental condition - very fitting lesson since it's a game where everything happens in the human mind
@@friendbreakfastI don’t think Red’s played any Persona games because they’re a massive time commitment. Which sucks, because they have Avatar levels of having an example for almost any trope.
it might also be one of the reasons "the answer" is still one of the worst slogs to get through. anything that isn't story beats or boss fights are just dungeon crawling.
Hell, I end up preferring the downtime over the dungeon crawling in 3-5. I’d rather check in on my friends and see where their stories are going than grind.
The only criticism I have of how the series handles it is that P4 crammed too much of its main plot into the beginning and the end, leaving the middle to feel dominated by the downtime.
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the downtime and getting to feel like I had become a part of the Investigation Team. I even like the Hot Springs scene, as it felt like a fun subversion of the typical anime tropes with that premise. But it would’ve been better if more clues to the main mystery had been sprinkled throughout the story rather than showing up almost exclusively at the end.
I also feel like Vanilla P5 could’ve used a couple more group sessions with the Phantom Thieves, but Royal and Strikers helped pick up the slack there.
With regards to downtime for villains, I really appreciated that one scene in Django Unchained where you see that gang of overseers / brutes just chilling out for a bit. It's only like 15, 20 seconds, but it does mountains in characterizing horrendously evil people.
Oh MAN, the Torment Nexus reference, bravo. I enjoy all your stuff, but this one really hit me, for a variety of reasons.
I love Trope Talk. And I'm also extremely butt-hurt about the films not having the Scouring of the Shire. Also, props for mentioning the "Torment Nexus" meme lol.
(Part 1) J. R. R. Tolkien wrote that part based on his experiences in both world wars, and Peter Jackson made the movies based off the Vietnam War.
(Part 2) As a result, Tolkien showed the inability to return to the previous status quo by externalizing the character change into the destruction of the Shire. Jackson showed the inability to return to the previous status quo by leaving the Shire so untouched that the hobbits no longer belong in their own homes, and have to work on being OK with that.
(Part 3) The Scouring of the Shire is phenomenal writing, but that doesn't mean Jackson's vision isn't also poignant in its own way.
Yeah, the Scouring of the Shire was a pretty good moment in the books, I’m sad they weren’t able to adapt it.
Some of my favorite parts of LOTR are where the Fellowship are just chilling after a battle, smoking pipewood and swapping stories
Thank you! Y’all always here to entertain and educate. I swear I get new creative ideas with every video.
Downtime is a great way to create character. It's why I love Age of Ultron's afterparty scene, as it provides the characters humanity outside the plot. The whole game of trying to lift Thor's hammer didn't need to happen, but it works because it allows these people who once disliked each other to bond.
Or Mass Effect 3's Citadel DLC, which is like "The Galaxy is being wiped out by the Reapers, one or two species are extinct...Fuck it, let's get drunk and dance!"
The Citadel DLC was totally worth it because it was the last time we would get to see those characters, and the only time they were all together.
Also drunk Grunt was amazing.
I'm still sad Hanar can't wear sweaters. 😢 😂
Xenoblade 3 is a game with an incredibly interesting relationship with downtime. The position the heroes start in is a bit of a twist, as instead of what you mentioned they exit a world without downtime to enter one with, and struggle with the responsibility of having time.
I love the downtime trope. It's a good break from all of the action and shenanigans. It gives me a weird fuzzy feeling, like I want to join the characters in taking a break.
Love when Trope Talks lead into one another (Time Loops to here, Lampshading to Bathos, etc.) 😊
I think the Sonic IDW comics are pretty good about this actually. We see Sonic and friends doing all manner of stuff other then reacting to whatever the current villain is up to. Tangle biking or jogging or being bored at the lack of adventure when the villains were all busy also having downtime, Sonic and Tails just playing some video games together, some of our heroes going on a camping trip, etc.
It’s weirdly funny timing that this video has come out at a time when I have to take a lot of downtime due to recovering from pneumonia. Thanks for making my downtime more fun!
I love that you used Delicious in Dungeon, Lord of the Rings, Mask of the Phantasm, and Avatar the Last Airbender season 3 for this explanation.
Young Justice used this greatly in the episode "Downtime" (eh). Up to that point, we barely saw The Team out of costume, so it provided a good look at their lives outside of heroism. Kaldur did have an action-heavy plot, but it placed him in the context of his homeland, rather than the usual missions, and it helped his commitment to the latter.
Ok this video REALLY helped me in my own book I'm writing.
For context: the story starts with the main character being on a tight deadline, yet being pushed by her loved ones to take the rest she needs, and actively rejecting that because due to the circumstances that caused her to be on such a tight deadline in the first place, she isn't able to get herself to take the downtime she needs, and insists on going right to the plot with as little delay as possible.
It's a fun subversion to write but very challenging, and this video helped me get a better understanding of what I'm subverting in the first place, and gave me inspiration on how to write in a way that works for the story I'm trying to tell. Thank you!!
Part of the magic that makes Deep Rock Galactic so fantastic is the fact that the "menu screen" in that game is just downtime for the player character, which lets us get to know them outside of the context of mortal peril the rest of the game is built around.
What a timely topic for the season.
Hey so- I just went thru a few years where I had NO downtime. You really hit on that condition and the "Luxury of Existing". People I know who are stable still just think i was "working alot", but It was All or Nothing. I had to become Force- the force needed to resist that Storm. Its not something I can talk to people about. I have to relearn how to relax- But hearing this felt good: Thanks
What goes uptime must come downtime.
I think an excellent demonstration of that is the "Citadel" DLC in Mass Effect 3. It somehow become a fan-favorite, despite being a DLC (which everyone rightfully hates) and serving nearly no purpose in the over-arching story.
However you get to relax, spend time with your teammates, see them banther one-another, or what they like to do when they have time for it. In a video-game in which the biggest draw was its companion caracters, this showed the increadible power of downtime in a caracter-based story.
I see Red's not taking much downtime with these trope talks. x3
In all seriousness, the topic of Squid Game felt super depressing. Being forced to work, especially when it's a job you hate is super exhausting. Time of posting, I have two jobs with one of them increasingly frustrating that I want to drop yet I doubt I'll be able to pay rent if I do despite how little it pays, and the fact they're both part-time means I get limited hours and limited money. The other job I enjoy a lot, but it still feels like I can't enjoy myself as much as I'd want to.
Thank god for conventions where I can take a few days off and unwind while doing something I legitimately love and spend time with friends. And because I volunteer (which admittedly is still work but still) I don't have to pay for entry. Cons feel like my ultimate downtime, where I can relax and enjoy myself.
Also, gotta say my favorite form of downtime in media is the Heart-to-heart moments from the Xenoblade franchise, where the crew can just chat with each other and have a bit more revelatory dialogue without having to worry about the next objective.
That part about the Xenoblade Heart-to-Hearts made me think of the Supports from the Fire Emblem franchise.
@zer0w0lf94 It's very akin to that. Overall very enjoyable as we get to see new depths to characters we don't see a lot of in the main story.
Highlights for me are always the Nopon characters. You really get to find out there's more layers to these furry potatoes. Especially everyone's number 1 Dad Riki.
This is why I love roleplay, you have significantly more time for downtime than most other forms of fiction. It makes the bonds between characters so rich