What is your favorite non-romantic dynamic between characters in your comic?

[dglisson]

Hey everyone! As the title states, I'm curious about inter-character dynamics in your comic that are not of the romantic type. I got nothing against romance, but I've found sometimes the non-romantic relationships can yield the best moments in stories.

I'll start off, in my comic my two main characters in Beast Bait, Manny Marcado and Agent Vanski, are most accurately described as foils for each other--she's tough, take no prisoners type, and he's very capable and closed-mouthed. She ends up taking her frustrations out on him a lot, and he just sort of stoically bears the brunt of it which ends up with what can be very funny moments.

So anyway, your turn! Care to share with examples of your own?

[Michelle]

I love a story with good inter-character dynamics! I'm always really excited when people say they enjoy the interaction between my two main characters. :> Midori and Grey of Centralia are very polar in personality, but in a way that they level each other out and develop different aspects of one another's character.

Right now in the story they're still mostly strangers, so their personalities are conflicting-- one's bubbly and naive, the other sarcastic and closed off, and it makes for some humorous misunderstandings. But as the story progresses so does their personalities. They don't do a 180 in personality, but they come to complement each other well and open up more. Hopefully the development will be rewarding for readers! :>

[sorrelma]

i'm a sucker for good platonic/familial relationships ok
i think that's the entire reason i wrote my comic tbh?
my two main characters are a stubborn preteen and a grumpy anti-hero type lady. they end up traveling together and they argue a lot but they both really care about each other

[glennsong]

In my story, Kamiko (an immortal deity) ends up meeting her former younger mortal self, Natsumi and her younger sister Hana. Kamiko doesn't much like her younger, mortal self, Natsumi, because Natsumi reminds her how she was like at that age. I like some of the moments where she knows how to manipulate herself or when she's annoyed with her mortal self.

There's also the relationship with Hana. Being the smart one, she's able to piece together that Kamiko is Natsumi's future, and she realizes something happens -- probably terrible, and so she wants to help her.

There's also Kamiko and her relationship to the story's other characters Jade the Rabbit -- who dislikes her because she's a reckless deity, and Kamiko's friendship with Chang'e who she's trying to save.

[zetina]

agh i love familial bonds a lot and close friendships and EVERYTHING!!! not much peeves me more than seeing all these varied relationships get boiled down to "who's the top and who's the bottom when they bone".

it's still just the intro of Suck it!! but the dynamic between the main characters Kay and "Red" (going by Lamar in ch1) is already showing. Kay is very loud and energetic, she's pushy and stubborn, and also reckless. Meanwhile Red-- Well... Red just doesn't give a rat's ass haha~ So a lot of time she's doing all she can to "crack his shell" and get him to emote, while Red remains indifferent for most of it (he trolls her too sometimes, not always unintentionally lol). So yeah it's that typical "warm&cold" combo. Their relationship develops and changes over time, hopefully in a satisfying and entertaining way :")

Although Tak is romantically interested in Kay, for now their relationship is that of BFFs. Him and Kay's other BFF are both always worrying about her and also fight over "custody" |D That hasn't shown up but it should be amusing.

[Thesleepypencil]

I'm INSANELY in love with Friendships and homemade families, and platonic love. It's so important and every story i write will have it in it.

In Lalita at the end of the universe The story is largely about Lalita and revolves around the development of and her relationship with the alien Ablu. But I hold the friendships she creates with the other alien's as important. My FAVOURITES being her relationship with Captain the robot, because the captain is bossy and bratty and as Lalita gets more comfortable with her she challenges Captain and plays off of captain and messes with her a little. And the captain grows to adore Lalita.

The other one being between Lalita and Captain Nookat. (current "antagonist") there is a bunch of spoilery stuff tho so i really can delve into the future of their relationship.

And this isn't even my friendship is the best comic story.

I have a fairy tale story where platonic love saves the day almost every time. Especially at the very end. In this one there are 8 main characters. and all of them are best friends and have so much love for each other it's great!

because friendship <3

[Strontium]

Everyone but one main character in my comic Heroes of Thantopolis is aromantic and asexual so all the cool relationships are platonic in nature, and, I love all of them.

But probably my favorite is Cyrus and Helene's because it changes the most over the course of the comic. Helene's the queen of the city and an immortal goddess who is no way qualified to raise such a sensitive and sweet kid like Cyrus. At first, she sees him more as an asset than a person, but by the end of chapter four she's starting to feel a growing attachment to him. Cyrus, meanwhile, is initially frustrated with Helene ordering him around like she's his mom, but his anxieties about his forgotten family are starting to make him depend more and more on Helene as a maternal figure.

That's going to change as the story goes on... Hueheuehe....

[J.Lovelace]

My fav trope is when both characters come from two different worlds/environment, so that when they meet and become friends, they have to learn from each other about their cultures. It's really fun to see them having some accidents with miscommunication or wondering over the other person's quirks, that are completely normal to them.

In I'm Mortal, Morty is a reaper and Lance is a human. Morty pretends to be a human too, so that Lance won't get scared of him and run away. So he lies about his origins and identity. He has some understanding of the human world, but not entirely, so sometimes he doesn't know how to react or what to say so that Lance won't notice he's a reaper. It makes for a lot of WTF moments for Lance XD

In Irie (not posted on Tapastic), Io lives on Earth, and Zotopi is a resident of one of the 3 moons around Earth (sci-fi fantasy alternative Earth). When Zotopi arrives on Earth, he doesn't even know the language, and Io is afraid of him too, but after clearing the fact that Zotopi is a friendly alien, they become friends and have a lot to learn about each other, especially since they're not only from different cultures but their status too - Io's a scavenger that looks for loot in old destroyed temples, while Zotopi is an alien prince fighting for the throne of the kingdom.

Something similar happens in Bronze West (not posted on Tapastic) where the two friends Hanzam and Nuvoa are traveling the world, only that they do it separately and tend to bump into each other in random cities/places they visit. Hanzam is an aristocrat and Nuvoa is sort of a shaman.

In Skies aren't blue (the comic barely starts at this point) with the help of an high-tech facility, Jun creates an artificial human (homunculus), and he pretends to be the homunculus' "father" and he teaches it how the world works, what's good and what's wrong, how to be a real human. They have a healthy "father-son" relationship which is very adorable XD

I could go on forever, but yeah, I love that kind of thing when the characters are different in almost everything and need to learn from each other.

[phen]

Oh man, it's really interesting seeing so many takes on the relationship dynamics you guys are working into your comics! Familial/platonic bonds seem to be increasingly popular, I'm really excited to see these start hitting mainstream more often.

I have a couple of family dynamics in There's No Such Thing as Jason -- I.T.. They're a little complex and varied with respect to how the influence of growing up under pressure with siblings can build perspective and decision-making once on one's own. I've only really introduced one, the Centrall brothers, Jason (main character) and Tyle. It's not a healthy relationship.

My favourite, OF COURSE, is the romantic, I'm not gonna lie (but the best is saved for the final chapters, ohoh). Still, I do find an awesome outlet in writing and drawing the wicked obsession between the main characters! Not romantic in any way, shape, or form but pretty dangerous in intensity. Ultimately I'm coming in at a negative angle for relationships, not rooting for the friendship in this comic, haha~ The dynamic itself is way, way consuming, though, and it's something I've put a massive amount of personal experience and energy into through the years.

[AnnaLandin]

The entire structure of Grassblades revolves around Masahiro and Akane's growing parent-child relationship, because I'm a sucker for the big-and-scary-takes-care-of-small-and-cute dynamic and found families.

Masahiro is not exactly well equipped for the unexpected role he finds himself in - in all honesty, he tries to leave her in orphanages with people who actually LIKE children - but Akane refuses to let him, so he has to make do. He's awkward and grumpy about it (because how do feelings other than anger work, anyway?), and he's not gonna win any dad of the year awards EVER, but he makes do. His parenting is very much about non-interference - if she isn't crying, he mostly just leaves her to do her own thing - but it's working out okay so far.

Akane, on her part, seems to have made up her mind that wherever Masahiro is going, so is she. So what if he freaks out and glows blue and fights people a lot - he saved her from scary bandits; she's sticking with him from now on.

[mariusthered]

Talesfromswipecity has lots of non- romantic dynamics, (although some i cannot talk about just yet without spoilers.)

however I can talk about the relationships between some of the characters.

Cassie vs Sandra Finn: this dynamic is the classic mother vs daughter. it's not that Cassie has no love for her mother, or that she is just a daddy's girl. But mostly the problem between the two is Moms job as a city Councillor seeming more important to Sandra than her own daughter. As a result Cassie retaliates by showing behavior unbecoming of the family name and Sandra's temper and strict parenting ideas often lead to new problems. it's no wonder dad likes to work away!

Jane Jones Vs Liza Jones: the other mom / daughter dynamic that I have story lines about only if you care to take a read of my comic from season two you will see this family has had quite the roller coaster trip. Jane spent a while hating her mom believing she was the reason for the divorce of her parents. Jane has done some bad things to get back at her mom (including blackmail, a false kidnapping plot to get a teacher arrested and finally trying to break her mothers heart) but all that aside Jane finally knows the evil truth about dad and we move on to see if Jane and mom can work things out?

and my final dynamic to mention Zoe vs Claire Williams: this is something only hinted on so far but it's the classic sibling rivalry, big sister five years older got all the attention till baby sister came along and stole mom and dads love. and to add to this Zoe can also sing and play music giving her even more attention. I hope to show much more of this down the line as it has lots of possibility for story lines.

[sorrelma]

i love the "big-and-scary-takes-care-of-small-and-cute" dynamic(my own comic is guilty of this ahha) and honestly grassblades is the example i always think of when it comes to mind <3

[niinasalmelin]

In Numb all dynamics are non-romantic. The reason behind that is that I find myself usually saddened by so many stories, where ROMANCE beats all other forms of love and it's the most important and greatest thing ever. Sometimes it feels like there can't be a story without it.

Also, I don't really understand romantic feelings that well and just flat out suck at writing romances. Originally there was supposed to be romantic feelings between some characters in the comic, but it didn't feel right and once I left them out, characters came alive.

[shazzbaa]

Ahhh this is an awesome topic!! Character dynamics are my absolute favourite thing * u *

For my favourite dynamic I'm going to have to pick two of the main characters, Severian and Jonan:

Sev is a not too bright, impulsive, enthusiastic shapechanger who's subtle as a brick; Jonan is an intensely serious, irritable, much more intelligent necromancer who has recently lost the ability to speak, a development he would like everyone to keep to themselves, please. Somehow they have to figure out how to get along! I'm, uh, I'm sure they'll be the best of, friends,,,

[dglisson]

@shazzbaa I love these examples!! This is classic comedy of the sort I'm aiming for in my comic Thanks for sharing these!

[sarrowsmith10]

My comic Goblins of Razard: My favorite relationship is between our character Reign and "the crow." The crow causes lots of trouble in the story, but has a soft spot for Reign. Their interactions are rather priceless.

*edit: I figured it out how to put pics in forum posts... XD

[Sanz]

The main villain in Los Esmeraldas...well main Character has several different forms of interactions with her crew members. the best part I think is it shows a different side of her then what the rest of the world sees, especially with media, "evil terrorist is the spawn of pure hatred in the galaxy!" hahahaha. Sure she's hostel, angry, and little crazy and mean sometimes BUT she has a soft spot under all that cement, a type of honor and nobility. and it shows she has a some deep seeded issues, that she's coping with through these interactions with others.

[jiho]

I just love the dynamic between;

One with unrealistic dreams. / One with realistic goals.

Example would be Brad Pitt & Philip Seymour Hoffman in Money ball.

[Zanreo]

aww yes close friendships
Well, I haven't gotten to SHOW a lot of it yet but I kinda like Capcom and Namco's friendship, they're the kind of friends who fight each other just for fun and I just find that pretty fun x3
and Namco and Atari's past friendship is really cute :3

[dracoplato]

I was going to say Damon and Lyall for my comic Zenchav but I'm being told they're not non-romantic by some of my readers via skype XD So they don't count, oop. I guess it's a POV thing.

So I'm going to say Erik and Naples from my other comic Soul Hymn instead, lol. Goat boy with a talking flying squirrel that acts like an overbearing mother, can't get more non romantic than that.