My Own Worst Enemy Episode Analysis!
First Episode Analysis: and… why not?
The character designs of Max and Bradley are perfect, they look so close to their canon designs and I'm digging it! Max looks his exact age, boyish features complete with messy black hair (really love his hair here!) and a slender form. We have two Bradleys here, the one from Max's perspective who is charming and confident and oozes of smugness (exactly like the Bradley standing out on the porch of the Gamma house in the movie), @snowywingg did a spectacular job capturing Bradley's canon essence coupled with the bright colors of Max's infatuation toward him. Interestingly the bright colors and the glimmering disappear into darkness when it's announced that Bradley was defeated by an "upstart freshman" it all came crashing down. Then we have the Bradley Max meets on the street, the lines of his face are more aggressive, less charming and more vulgar, his true colors are showing and he's surrounded by red (which contradicts the bleak colors of Max's depression).
One detail I've noticed is that Max was wearing his glove throughout the episode, until the very last panel, you see his finger bare of covering as he creates a fake account and begins his descend down the wrong path. The glove could be a symbol of innocence and restrain, and by removing it Max is choosing to get his hands dirty.
The story starts with Max revealing his obsession with Bradley. He had admired and looked up to him from the start, figuring that once he won the X-Games, Bradley would fall off the pedestal he'd put him on and Max would finally be free. But no, Max was yet again distracted, thinking about Bradley while talking to his long-distance girlfriend, Roxanne, and this time Roxanne is rightfully fed up. After getting dumped, Max falls into depression. His friends try to comfort him and pull him out of his slump, but it isn't working. They advise him to distract himself, so Max suggests taking a walk, but neither PJ nor Bobby can join him. Left on his own, Max tries to distract himself by playing video games, reading a book about how to play drums and listening to music. Nothing works, as his mind is plagued by thoughts about why Roxanne dumped him and what he did wrong. Realizing that PJ and Bobby won't come back any time soon, Max finally takes that walk on his own.
Max skates alone in the dark streets looking so pathetically depressed I just wanna hug him (sorry, fangirl moment there hee) anyway, Max overhears Bradley's angry conversation with his girlfriend who dumps him and hangs up the phone on him. Bradley is so aggravated, and then hears Max's voice calling him and, not wanting to be caught in a vulnerable moment in front of him, he goes for the smug, cocky act – except the sweat on his face betrays him – and Max asks if they could talk to which Bradley responds by refusing and leaving. Max wonders why Bradley won't talk to him and goes back even more depressed, he overhears PJ and Bobby talking about someone who was rejected by a girl so he created a fake account to stalk her. Max decides to do the same, creating a fake account and sending a text to Bradley.
- Max Goof: Max's obsession with Bradley, which had been festering within him and concealed for so long, didn't dissolve after he managed to defeat Bradley in the X-Games. His inability to think about anyone else made him drift away from Roxanne, who noticed and dumped him for it. Max appears to be in denial at first, wondering why Roxanne left him and what he did wrong. He was spiraling; nothing he did could distract him from his misery, as his friends had suggested, until Max finally admitted to himself that he was losing interest in Roxanne, and that's why she broke up with him. He talks about needing someone to talk to (and he had PJ and Bobby for that) but Max only wanted to talk to someone specific… the window was open once he realized Bradley had been dumped too… they're both equals now: X-Games champions who have both been rejected by their respective girlfriends.
Yet Bradley doesn't want to talk to "Max Goof," and Max doesn't understand why. This leaves Max more depressed and frustrated with anger beginning to simmer within him. Roxanne broke up with him because of his nonstop thoughts about Bradley and now Bradley doesn't want to talk to him… or more specifically "Max Goof." Taking inspiration from the story he heard from PJ and Bobby about creating a fake account, Max creates a new account and a new persona just to talk to Bradley. He craves it, he wants it, and since Bradley won't give it to him willingly, nothing is left but deception, and here begins Max's descent down a very dark path.
- Bradley Uppercrust III: We've seen Bradley through Max's POV (and I believe Bradley would be thrilled if he knew how much Max idolized him) but the real Bradley is the one standing in the street. "The hell you mean break up?" His aggressive tone suddenly melts into a sweet one as he tries to butter up the girl he's calling: "But wait, honey, we look so good together…" But the girl disconnects the call. From this conversation, I feel it wasn't Bradley who created the fake account, because he sounded shocked that his girlfriend wanted to break up with him, not upset that he was caught.
Once she slams the phone in his face, Bradley's anger boils and he takes a long inhale to calm himself down only for Max, of all people, to appear and catch him in this humiliating light. Bradley tries hard to put on a mask of indifferent arrogance in front of Max with a ridiculing, "Is that our new X-Games champion?" They stare at each other: Max with sadness and Bradley with a crumpling mask of superiority. Max's "Did you just get dumped?" catches Bradley off guard and he tries again to appear cocky and nonchalant with a cruel smile and a condescending, "Didn't your daddy Goof teach you that eavesdropping is bad?" He attempts to leave in anger, "It's none of your business, Freshman!" reminding Max that he was nothing but a freshman just to give Bradley some sense of power after being defeated by him. Only for Max to dare suggest "talking," so Bradley throws one more jab to save his dignity, "Why would I want to talk about it to Max Goof?" I wonder if Bradley is going to fall for Max's fake account, and how he's going to take being stalked and fooled by the "upstart freshman."
I love how Max appears so innocent here while Bradley looks like Scar from the Lion King, yet it's Max who's heading down a dangerous dark path.
@snowywingg you did a fantastic, fantastic job here. Your talent doesn't stop at drawing and designing characters but goes beyond that to constructing a compelling storyline with an interesting plot. I really wish you all luck with your series.
