Characters who are very Similar

[Angelica]

I agree with the Matt/Aden comparisons - it is why I love them both. Although, as mentioned before Matt is a tamer version of Aden - less damaged goods/messed up background and I don't think Matt was ever truly a bad boy even at the beginning. They both had compelling story arcs and characterisations. They both are drawn to strong women (whose characterisations suffered less than women that the Braxtons/Ash dated). And both played very charismatic actors who seem to have chemistry with whomever they interact them.

TheCharlie/Kat similarities are obvious - although Kat is an even more wooden character than Charlie. It was boring watching the dodgy cop thing the first time - by the time Charlie died, it was hard to care except for Ruby's sake. Similarly, I started off indifferent to Kat but her ridiculous relationship with Ash and her crappy police skills means I am growing to dislike her. 

And Ash had basically become the new Brax making stupid decisions after another, supposedly due to well meaning intentions but with seemingly no ability to learn from their mistakes. 

[CaptainTed84]

1 hour ago, j.laur5 said:

Charlie was just fun character to watch as she took her job so seriously at first!.

Charlie was an awesome character. It's funny because I was only quite young when the Bucktons came into it, but when I first saw Charlie and Ruby together I instantly thought Charlie was the mother and was shocked she was her "sister". I remember a year later we found out she was the mother all along and I remembered going "I so called that from the start" lol. 

5 minutes ago, Angelica said:

I agree with the Matt/Aden comparisons - it is why I love them both. Although, as mentioned before Matt is a tamer version of Aden - less damaged goods/messed up background and I don't think Matt was ever truly a bad boy even at the beginning. They both had compelling story arcs and characterisations. They both are drawn to strong women (whose characterisations suffered less than women that the Braxtons/Ash dated). And both played very charismatic actors who seem to have chemistry with whomever they interact them.

TheCharlie/Kat similarities are obvious - although Kat is an even more wooden character than Charlie. It was boring watching the dodgy cop thing the first time - by the time Charlie died, it was hard to care except for Ruby's sake. Similarly, I started off indifferent to Kat but her ridiculous relationship with Ash and her crappy police skills means I am growing to dislike her. 

And Ash had basically become the new Brax making stupid decisions after another, supposedly due to well meaning intentions but with seemingly no ability to learn from their mistakes. 

Yeah definitely, Matt is my favourite current character because of that. I also was a fan of Aden too, not a huge one because I liked a lot of characters more in his era but I definitely liked Aden.

I think Ash came into the show purely because Brax decided to leave, if it wasn't for him then Brax would have never gone out to find Dean Sanderson and later get framed and jailed for murdering him. Unfortunately his link to Ash caused it all really. But I'm not mad about it because in the end Brax had the happy ending that he deserved. And I really like Ash, he has become one of my favourites. I find him really funny and cool, i hope he sticks around for a while, hopefully as long as Brax did.

[jodlebirger]

Having two male characters liking sport, don't make them similar. We need more similarities for example with their backgrounds and their and the actors personality and charachter development to make them similiar. 

I have seen a lot of comments about Matt being identical to Aden...And it's like their journey didn't matter and that is a shame. They had alcoholic fathers and had some behaving problems, but how the storylines were written made them totally different. For example for Adens case there were a struggle to become better, but Matt changed over the night, and we didn't really see him behave really badly either - not other than people were mentioning that he was from Mangrove River.. Aden had more personality, Matt has being changed to fit the storylines. 

Kat and Charlie - hm... Even if I think Charlie was a crappy character because of the direction she took, she was better written than Kat, more intense and had more interesting things with her... With Kat it is only the boyfriends storylines, but at least Charlie had a sister/daughter, a father and a stephmother. I think Kat started better though. But what makes them similar is that they were dark haired policewomen, they look quite identical. And it is no doubt for me, that they have tried to make Kat the new Charlie,  but they haven't succeeded at all. At least Charlie had a personality. 

Tony and Brax really aren't like each other at all! Then I would have compared Tony to earlier characters and family fathers like Joel Nash and Rhys Sutherland. But I always felt that Tony was a pale copy of these two... And Beth was a lot like Natalie and Shelley. But if Tony or Beth had been on today they would have been  strong characters.. Such things show how the writing has changed. The show is in need for male and female characters like that, characters that are (almost) like "normal" fathers and mothers. 

But I don't think that the problem is characters which has some similarities with characters in the past, with the same "function" and role, when their development and backstory is a bit different from each other. But I think that the Braxtons characters were way too identical, why on earth bring in three, and later four brothers with almost the same personality. And I think it would be the same with the Morgans and their crappy backstory. It would have been better if these adult characters weren't siblings, at least not all of them. To many identical characters at the same time are taking too much place and space. I also think that Ash, Phoebe, Ricky (I know she is long gone in Aus/UK), Nate and several more are too identical characters;  adults without real goal, purpose and connection to anyone. The show works better when it has more a "natural community" structure. 

 

[CaptainTed84]

8 hours ago, jodlebirger said:

Having two male characters liking sport, don't make them similar. We need more similarities for example with their backgrounds and their and the actors personality and charachter development to make them similiar. 

I have seen a lot of comments about Matt being identical to Aden...And it's like their journey didn't matter and that is a shame. They had alcoholic fathers and had some behaving problems, but how the storylines were written made them totally different. For example for Adens case there were a struggle to become better, but Matt changed over the night, and we didn't really see him behave really badly either - not other than people were mentioning that he was from Mangrove River.. Aden had more personality, Matt has being changed to fit the storylines. 

Kat and Charlie - hm... Even if I think Charlie was a crappy character because of the direction she took, she was better written than Kat, more intense and had more interesting things with her... With Kat it is only the boyfriends storylines, but at least Charlie had a sister/daughter, a father and a stephmother. I think Kat started better though. But what makes them similar is that they were dark haired policewomen, they look quite identical. And it is no doubt for me, that they have tried to make Kat the new Charlie,  but they haven't succeeded at all. At least Charlie had a personality. 

Tony and Brax really aren't like each other at all! Then I would have compared Tony to earlier characters and family fathers like Joel Nash and Rhys Sutherland. But I always felt that Tony was a pale copy of these two... And Beth was a lot like Natalie and Shelley. But if Tony or Beth had been on today they would have been  strong characters.. Such things show how the writing has changed. The show is in need for male and female characters like that, characters that are (almost) like "normal" fathers and mothers. 

But I don't think that the problem is characters which has some similarities with characters in the past, with the same "function" and role, when their development and backstory is a bit different from each other. But I think that the Braxtons characters were way too identical, why on earth bring in three, and later four brothers with almost the same personality. And I think it would be the same with the Morgans and their crappy backstory. It would have been better if these adult characters weren't siblings, at least not all of them. To many identical characters at the same time are taking too much place and space. I also think that Ash, Phoebe, Ricky (I know she is long gone in Aus/UK), Nate and several more are too identical characters;  adults without real goal, purpose and connection to anyone. The show works better when it has more a "natural community" structure. 

 

Yeah I agree with your last point. There's too many sibling families coming in. The last one that was actually mother/father and kids was the Walker's and before that was the Holden's. They need to bring back actual ready-made families and not make them as the character develops (like the Summer Bay House family of Zac, Leah, Hunter, VJ).

As much as I really liked the Braxton era on the show, (mainly from 2011-14) it definitely felt a lot different to what the show was like in 2008. 2008 was an amazing year because of the "natural community" structure that you stated. The show definitely has not been as enjoyable to watch this year compared to years past which sucks. They also need more characters that stay around for longer, these days we don't see many characters enter their 5th year as a character. Some have come close but it's something we rarely see.

[j.laur5]

Does anyone think Kyle and Hunter are silmair?.

[harrietjames]

We are talking about similarities, not being identical. But they are the same character type.

There is a school of thought that says all stories can be broken down into the same pattern - the oft repeated "hero's journey"

There are lots of characters who start off as a bully to an existing character or trouble maker, then some underlying cause is exposed and someone shows them some sort of love and helps them change (possibly with a few relapses along the way). Certainly the redemption story arc is a Home and Away standard. (True villains tend to be more plot device than a character  - one dimensional and existing predominantly for the part they play in other characters' journeys without developing themselves)

You have the straight laced character who is drawn into misadventure by their best friend and often has some huge act of rebellion and returns to their previous normal (unless it is to be their exit story line). Of course it is dynamic - the former bad boy can play the good boy after he is reformed, especially if there is a new bad boy in town.

You have comic relief - characters like Colleen and Chris, who do little besides entertain on an ongoing basis, excepting when they actually get a story line.

 

The reason, IMO, that we get sibling families rather than traditional ones these days is that then they are all "attractive". If they started the show today, there are a lot of characters, even the most iconic ones, who would never have existed and more actors who would not have been cast. Tom and Pippa would be much younger actors if they existed, Sally in her ugly duckling stage would have been recast or dumped and so on.

(and on a tangent related to "attractiveness" - proof of Global Warming - surfers like Adam and Matt used to wear wetsuits, now they all surf in boardies)

 

 

[CaptainTed84]

1 hour ago, j.laur5 said:

Does anyone think Kyle and Hunter are silmair?.

That's one I never really thought of. But yeah in a way they are in terms of what they did. Kyle grieved his father's death by kidnapping Casey in the desert whilst Hunter grieved the fact that he thought Zac didn't want to know him by burning down his house. However, Kyle wasn't really as violent after that. He never really acted as violent or evil for the rest of his time on the show. Hunter on the other hand has been pretty violent and short tempered from the get-go, like he has gone through his periods of calmness but Kyle became a lot more calmer than Hunter has ever been 

1 hour ago, harrietjames said:

We are talking about similarities, not being identical. But they are the same character type.

There is a school of thought that says all stories can be broken down into the same pattern - the oft repeated "hero's journey"

There are lots of characters who start off as a bully to an existing character or trouble maker, then some underlying cause is exposed and someone shows them some sort of love and helps them change (possibly with a few relapses along the way). Certainly the redemption story arc is a Home and Away standard. (True villains tend to be more plot device than a character  - one dimensional and existing predominantly for the part they play in other characters' journeys without developing themselves)

You have the straight laced character who is drawn into misadventure by their best friend and often has some huge act of rebellion and returns to their previous normal (unless it is to be their exit story line). Of course it is dynamic - the former bad boy can play the good boy after he is reformed, especially if there is a new bad boy in town.

You have comic relief - characters like Colleen and Chris, who do little besides entertain on an ongoing basis, excepting when they actually get a story line.

 

The reason, IMO, that we get sibling families rather than traditional ones these days is that then they are all "attractive". If they started the show today, there are a lot of characters, even the most iconic ones, who would never have existed and more actors who would not have been cast. Tom and Pippa would be much younger actors if they existed, Sally in her ugly duckling stage would have been recast or dumped and so on.

(and on a tangent related to "attractiveness" - proof of Global Warming - surfers like Adam and Matt used to wear wetsuits, now they all surf in boardies)

 

 

Yeah, you are definitely right about them being on there because they are attractive, that's for sure.

[Angelica]

19 hours ago, jodlebirger said:

Having two male characters liking sport, don't make them similar. We need more similarities for example with their backgrounds and their and the actors personality and charachter development to make them similiar. 

I have seen a lot of comments about Matt being identical to Aden...And it's like their journey didn't matter and that is a shame. 

 

I don't think anyone is trying to suggest these characters are identical or trying to ignore their story arcs. I think the point is that one can watch one character and be reminded of another. As you say, Aden was a more complex character who had more of a character journey whereas Matt has never been a bad boy to start off wifh so his journey has been different. But I definitely .reminded of Aden when I see Matt (as I say I think it is just as much the actors - I.e I think they are both 2 of the most charismatic actors on the show).

As has been said there tend to be broad characterisations that will recur. H&A's favs are "bad boys turned good" and "pretty girls who are accessories to the bad boys". 

[CaptainTed84]

1 minute ago, Angelica said:

I don't think anyone is trying to suggest these characters are identical or trying to ignore their story arcs. I think the point is that one can watch one character and be reminded of another. As you say, Aden was a more complex character who had more of a character journey whereas Matt has never been a bad boy to start off wifh so his journey has been different. But I definitely .reminded of Aden when I see Matt (as I say I think it is just as much the actors - I.e I think they are both 2 of the most charismatic actors on the show).

As has been said there tend to be broad characterisations that will recur. H&A's favs are "bad boys turned good" and "pretty girls who are accessories to the bad boys". 

Yeah you're right Angelica, I'm definitely not suggesting identical characters. Just ones that remind me of one another.

Having 2 male characters liking sport is definitely something that makes them similar because it reminds me of one another. Obviously for some they don't have too many besides that (Aden and Geoff, both like sport but apart from that not too much in common). But for me Mason reminds me a lot of Geoff purely because of the sport/fitness as a common link and the fact that personality wise they both have good hearts and the way they talk and act sort of reminds me of one another.

[Trudy Heine]

Pippa and Sally, Leah and Evie. Also Tori first appeared during a disaster like Rachel did 10 years ago.