![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Cow Tipping (or, ITP: I Essay on Lambo)
Okay, so this is something I started working on a while back because I was writing a fic about Lambo—5YL!Lambo, to be specific—and that proved to be a pretty big challenge at first. The thing about messing with timelines for the purposes of fic is that for most characters, figuring out how they would behave a few years older or younger isn’t all that hard; you just take the existing character and either add or subtract a few years’ worth of maturity and experience. No biggie.It is, however, a different story when you’re not just adding or subtracting experience, but doing both. And that’s where I ran into a problem with Lambo. The thing is, Lambo is kind of a unique character in KHR in the sense that he isn’t really just one character at all—he’s two. We see, on a regular basis, both the five-year-old Lambo and the 15-year-old Lambo, and the thing is, they have wildly different personalities. So the challenge with trying to write a 10-year-old version is figuring out exactly which parts of which personalities to add and subtract from.
Now, I figured that the easiest way to do this would be to find some common ground between five-year-old and 15-year-old Lambo, and work from there. For instance, the fact that they’re both crybabies; that’s one similarity. I figured that there must be more, so in the end I decided to take a closer look at both Lambos, make a list of their character traits, and work from there to see what does and doesn’t change over ten years, and if there were any underlying patterns to his character that explained said changes. Something to give me some insight into why Lambo behaves any given way, instead of just the whats and hows of his behavior.
So here are the lists I came up with.
Lambo, age 5
- panics, cries easily
- is usually very self-centered and self-assured. The notion that he could ever fail at anything isn’t one he often considers—until it actually happens and then he’s immediately off crying to the nearest sympathizer
- is HYPER, and easily distracted by shiny nice things
- is somewhat aware that he can be both charming and annoying, and makes use of both of these qualities
- isn’t entirely inexperienced in the world of the mafia; he fights with grenades (and the bazooka too, though HE’S NOT EXACTLY A PRO WITH THAT), knows when he’s preparing to eat and run (which is more than I can say for a certain Tenth Vongola boss), and stowed away on a freaking airplane to get to Japan, for crying out loud
- despite this, he is extremely naïve most of the time, and seems to still be too young to comprehend when serious business is going on
- is extremely attached to figures like Maman and not at all wary of them, suggesting that he hasn’t thus far led a mafia life quite as turbulent as, say, Gokudera’s
Lambo, age 15
- is incredibly mature on the surface, almost to the point where he seems to be overdoing it and you have to wonder if in fact he’s trying to appear grown-up on purpose
- is very intelligent and soft-spoken (in sharp contrast to his youth)
- is still a crybaby when push comes to shove—as he very bluntly puts it, “I don’t like being hurt”
- considers himself to be a very chivalrous, almost noble/heroic type, despite the fact that he doesn’t really come through on that sort of thing
- has an obvious respect for the other Vongola guardians, even Gokudera (this despite a clear wariness of the latter’s temper); he has, after all, been raised looking up to these guys
- has clearly improved his fighting skills (Electric Cornatta), but at the same time is much less willing/eager to do battle
- although he does still have a prideful streak, as evidenced by his trying to show off to Reborn
- wears his shirt open, ON PURPOSE, “for style”—make of this what you will (the eye thing, too)
- is still very fond of snacks, as he often seems to be eating when he’s summoned
- overall, will attempt to seem very cool and in-control (in that, he hasn’t changed)—until something happens, at which point he unabashedly panics and cries as always
So, what about that common ground? Well, looking at the lists, there are definitely a few things that stand out.
First of all, as I said earlier, both Lambos are very quick to panic, cry, and generally fall to pieces whenever something goes wrong. Lambo has very little in terms of an actual spine. XD He’s very immature and totally undependable. We do know this will eventually change, however; his 25-year-old self seems to have finally matured into a calm, self-assured fighter who’s totally unafraid of his opponent and extremely confident in his own skill. Still, the fact that it takes 20 years for him to reach that point, coupled with the fact that the 20YL!Lambo seems to come from a dystopian, bawwww-the-Vongola-are-deaaaaaad future much like the one in the current arc, seems to suggest that the wussiness comes more naturally than the competence.
This leads me to the next similarity between the two Lambos, and the one that I think most touches on the core of Lambo’s personality: both five-year-old Lambo and 15-year-old Lambo are very noticeably concerned with trying to look and act cool and mature. Little Lambo refers to himself in the third person as “Lambo-san”, and the way he does so suggests that he might mentally be adding “the Great” or “the All-Powerful” or something onto the end of that title. Like I said earlier, he’s extremely self-assured, to the point where he can’t seem to conceive that he might ever screw up. He puts on a show of being a badass awesome mafioso, and has a habit of grandstanding—especially when he’s around someone he desperately wants to impress, like Reborn. And of course, as soon as he does fail, he bursts into tears and pretty much can’t be consoled.
The thing is, while it might seem that 15-year-old Lambo has somewhat matured in this aspect, if you look closely, a lot of his behavior is clearly aimed toward creating a cool, confident image, just like his younger self. The only difference is that over the past ten years he’s gained a lot more common sense, and a much better grasp of how to pull this off. Instead of grandstanding and marching around singing songs about himself, he’s calm and soft-spoken and projects this almost hilariously cool and casual image (his zen-like politeness; his habit of calling Tsuna, who’s technically almost his age, the young Vongola Tenth; the whole keeping-one-eye-closed thing). At first it’s almost impressive until you realize that a) he’s still a crybaby, and b) the whole thing is almost overkill. The fact is, I’m pretty sure most of it is just as much of an act as the overconfident grandstanding of his younger self. He goes out of his way to act as cool as possible.
Which of course begs the question of why he’s so eager/desperate to show off, which of course leads us right back to the first point. Lambo is insecure. He scares easily, he’s not a very strong fighter, and he folds like laundry under pressure—and he knows it. And he’s somewhat ashamed of it. Which is why he makes such an effort to hide those aspects of himself under such a heavy layer of “no, really, I kick ass.” He doesn’t want to be thought of as a coward; he wants people to respect him and take him seriously. So he overcompensates in his attempt to impress others.
The third noticeable common ground between the two Lambos is that—despite how Reborn and Gokudera might beg to differ—neither of them is an idiot. Five-year-old Lambo is ridiculously childish and naïve, it’s true, but even he still has enough presence of mind to realize, for example, when he’s about to dine and dash. He snuck onto an international flight to get from Italy to Japan. A moron wouldn’t have been able to do that. And he’s also self-aware enough to realize that he possesses a certain degree of charm, and to use that to his advantage. You see this with the girls most clearly. Lambo loves the ladies, and they think he is adorable. Maman, Haru, and Kyoko all fawn over him constantly and give him sweets and praise and hair-ruffles. And he eats it up. He knows he’s got it good with them and he takes full advantage of it.
Which is where the fourth and final similarity comes in: no matter which of the two ages he currently is, Lambo, when you get right down to it… is kind of a brat. XD He’s sneaky, prideful, lazy, and extremely self-indulgent. What charm and intelligence he does have, he mostly just uses to get what he wants. As a child, he couldn’t care less about anything that doesn’t involve his own immediate interests, and as a teenager, he’s reluctant to get involved in anything that might inconvenience him—especially if it might involve pain. It’s pretty clear that he’s used to getting his way, and when it doesn’t work out for him, he immediately melts down.
Sooooo, let’s see. Having reviewed the character traits of both five-year-old and 15-year-old Lambo, I have essentially concluded that he is a cowardly, insecure, vain, self-obsessed, sneaky, lazy spoiled punk. At this point, you may be thinking, “MAKESTE! YOU DID NOT SAY THIS WAS THE COMEDY CENTRAL ROAST OF LAMBO; ARE THERE EVEN ANY GOOD QUALITIES THAT YOU THINK HE HAS?” To which I say, “WAIT WAIT LET ME FINISH I WAS GETTING TO THAT.”
The good thing about Lambo (and the reason he’s one of my favorite characters) is that even though he is a brat, he wants to be better than that. The very fact that he does bother to put on the whole act of “check it out guys I’m cool” is proof of that. And basically, what that means is he’s not a hopeless case. He looks up to the other guardians, and especially Tsuna. He wants to be like them. He wants to be cool, he wants to be dashing and noble and heroic. And as we’ve seen with 20YL!Lambo, he’s definitely capable of it. He’s just a work in progress—which is fine, because after all, he is just a kid.
Anyway, I think that’s pretty much it. To sum: Lambo is a smart kid, a little selfish and lazy, but good at heart. He’s aware of his own flaws enough to work at hiding them, but not yet mature enough to actually try to fix them. Despite this, he does aspire to be cool and strong someday, both so that he can be proud of himself, and so that he can finally earn the respect and acknowledgement he’s always sought from others.
TL;DR Lambo is cute and failish and insecure and I love him. ♥
no subject
neither of them is an idiot. TRUE. There is a huge difference between idiocy and incompetence. Though, sometimes his big-headedness keeps him from grasping a situation...like when he made Tsuna yell at him. I never would have gotten insecure from him though. Actually...it's kinda like with Yama, he doesn't seem the type to be insecure but with his constant "I have to become better" and finally that suicide scene, you would get the idea that he's not all "ahaha." XD But know that you mention it, Lambo could be pretty insecure.
And I also got the sense that his fifteen year old self is still pretty self-centered.XD Like with him never turning down chocolate on Valentine's Day and all.
And I think he learns about the responsibilities of time travel before he becomes fifteen...he has never once hinted that Tsuna would be dead in ten years and it kinda makes me sad, even when I'm rereading crack about Lambo using the ten year bazooka. It just seems that he has a lot on his shoulders, and that's how I made sense of the complete 180 in his personality....though we still know he likes to be the center of attention.
When twentyyl Lambo went "It's so nice to see their young faces again" I got maaaajor chills. X_X ffff, LAMBO WHY SO EPIC? /nerdrage (for now anyways XD)
no subject
And yeah, his 15-year-old self really isn't that much more mature than the five-year-old; he just puts on a better act. But he's still kind of a brat. :P
The time-travel thing, as always, gives me a headache because of the whole parallel universe thing; ever since he had that discussion with Tsuna in his kitchen the night before the Lightning Ring fight, I totally haven't been able to make sense of which Lambo is from what timeline. Because they ended up changing things, right? So was the TYL!Lambo we always saw during the Daily Life arc from the same universe where Tsuna was killed, or not? He didn't remember the ring battles, so who knows what else ended up different. It's weird to think about. If he did know about the future events, though, I agree that that probably helped sober him up a little bit.
Yeah, me too. When I first read the Varia Arc I'd already been a little bit spoiled for the Future Arc, so I knew about Tsuna being dead and all. And when Lambo said that, my brain just went "!!!" because I know what he was likely referring to and it was like the series had just become that much more serious all of a sudden.
*loves on Lambo*
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
SPITE USAVOID TYING UP ALL OF HER CRAZY LOOSE ENDS. I hope she gives us some sort of clearer explanation, though. XDno subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject