Following up again on my KND rewrite AU because I’m starting to organize character breakdowns in order. I’m trying to treat this as a modern expansion of Codename: Kids Next Door while still keeping the core tone: kids being kids, chaotic missions, big emotions, and growing up in a world that doesn’t always understand them.
This si still planning Stage but obviously some notes
- Exploring high expectations from an upper-class upbringing and the pressure to always be “perfect.”
- His need for control and structure is something that actually gets challenged over time, not just a background trait.
- His relationship with Lizzie is being reworked into something more realistic and less toxic, with clearer boundaries and actual emotional growth instead of misunderstandings driving everything.
Hogarth Hoagie Pennywhistle Gilligan Junior
- Expanding his role as a kid who loves building, inventing, and problem-solving.
- He presents as socially adaptive and funny, but often uses humor and masking as a way to figure out where he fits in.
- He and Kuki both share different forms of people-pleasing tendencies, but expressed in very different ways.
- I’m also exploring the possibility of Child Services intervention due to neglect, potentially leading him and his brother into a safer foster situation.
- His identity is also shaped by growing up in a religious/cultural household while figuring out his own identity, including LGBTQ+ representation.
- A people-pleaser who assumes others feel the same way she does emotionally, which leads to misunderstandings.
- Learning emotional boundaries and that she doesn’t have to carry everyone’s feelings.
- More than just a love interest or “sweet one”, she has her own emotional arc and identity outside of relationships.
- I’m leaning into cyclothymia-like mood fluctuations as part of her emotional experience, but not defining her by it.
- Reframed away from “dumb muscle” stereotypes.
- Undiagnosed ADHD, dyslexia, and autism traits shape how he experiences school and how often he’s underestimated.
- He’s learning to unlearn toxic masculinity, especially the idea that being “strong” means acting like action movie heroes.
- His worldview is heavily shaped by media, especially action films, which he slowly starts questioning as he grows.
- More than the “responsible one.”
- She’s allowed to exist outside of being everyone’s emotional support system.
- Focus on her personal identity, interests, and growth instead of just holding the team together.
- Reworking her away from the “boy-hating feminist stereotype” into a more grounded, layered character.
- Keeping her strong personality and beliefs, but removing caricature elements.
- She will also represent LGBTQ+ identity in this AU.
- The goal is not to change her core, but to give her more nuance and humanity rather than flattening her into a trope.
