Edward (Lovely World)

Edward is a fictional character in the animated television series Lovely World, initially produced by Starlight Productions, Cinebolt Productions, and Brightmyth Film Studios. He served as one of four main protagonists, alongside Leo, Michael, and Kamila, for the first five seasons, referring to The Original Series, and from the sixteenth to eighteenth seasons in the New Generation Series. He is voiced by actor Louie Brown, with Sebastian Wilkinson providing the role of a younger Edward. Depicted as kind-hearted and welcoming in the series, Edward is a young adult who is teleported to an in-digital world following a mission in the real world to search an old building, with creative freedom, and builds his own town, which is referred to as a "world." Throughout the first series, he travels with Leo, Michael, and Kamila on various adventures to get resources for the towns, and Edward develops feelings for one of the characters, Michael, which is further developed in the New Generation Series.

Edward, along with Michael, was one of the first designs that was created, prior to the development of Lovely World, around 2007, shortly after the release of A Lovely World by John Collins. During production, Edward replaced an early version of the book's main character, who was a teenager. Upon his debut in the series, Edward was praised for his reliable personality, emotional connection with audiences, and role model for boys in general, particularly teenagers. He is ranked as among the most popular characters in the Lovely World franchise and fictional characters in general, during the 2010s, which resulted in the New Generation Series being developed later on as a reunion to the first five seasons and toward Edward.

Concept and creation

Main article: Lovely World (2011 TV series)#Conception

Before Lovely World began development in late 2009, Collins had planned a television series based on the books The Lovely World and A New Lovely World. Two pitches were attempted in 2007; both of them failed, but the former attempt included the first designs of Edward and Michael, whom become the series's original main characters. Collins stated that he presented the drawings to Henry Parry, who liked them but felt like a "much richer design" was needed to make the characters "look modern." Because the idea failed to advance toward the early stages of development, no more designs were made until November 2009, when Collins created a story draft with several people and presented it in a story bible to the Avast Television studio, which green-lit the series for development. Collins originally was in charge of developing the designs, and upon starting development, Collins focused on creating the traits of Edward, which he had planned out in a notebook to be "simply complex," and introduced those that fit with a young adult, including identity formation and self-development.

Early versions of Edward included a "younger version of himself," with "hopelessness, yet dreams for the future," but it was scrapped as it was considered confusing by the production team. To create Edward as a regular adult, compared to those in the digital world, he developed the character to be based on one of the common personalities of men and to have the personalities of those in the other world be different than Edward and the rest of the group, outside of Leo; the latter idea was scrapped later on due to it being challenging. Originally, Collins had written Edward as a "scaredy-cat" in the beginning and would improve his fear throughout the rest of the show, but the writer team felt like the concept was "too childish" and wanted Edward to be more serious. However, Collins proposed a concept of where Edward's fear would be "doubled down" and introduced Michael as his best friend to make the latter go toward the same problems as him. Starting with the third season, Edward was written to have develop feelings for Michael, though the production team was worried about the lack of attention toward the two characters and the general reception on homosexual.

Voice actor

Louie Brown provides the voice of Edward. In 2010, He was approached to voice Edward shortly after meeting with his boss and executives; he had previously done voice acting for a few animated television series, and when Avast executives heard his voice, as well as Collins', he described it as "cute, off-putting, and straight," He also stated that Brown's voice acting "was the reason he was given the role". When Louie first started voicing the character, he noticed that it had a personality that he did not have. After a few recording sessions with the production team, some of which was used in the pilot episodes, Louie formally accepted the position. Throughout the first five seasons, the production team noticed that Brown's voice was becoming deeper, particularly in the fourth season, and decided that the best idea was to show Edward and the group maturing over time, which Collins described as a "slow time-skip". During voice recordings during "very intense moments," including the final battle between Edward and "Z," Brown practiced his rage to match what Edward "truly felt during that scene" and to "give audiences the impression that he was pissed as hell."

Halfway through production on the fifth season in April 2015, Brown was informed about the production of a new series and that he was being replaced by a new set of casts for the characters. Originally, Brown recorded his lines for the final episodes by October of that year and thanked the production team for "giving him a chance to show himself through the screen." Years later, Brown was invited to the studio, in which they confirmed that a new series, titled The New Generation Series, was in development and that he and the original cast would return. Due to the lengthy period in between the fifth and the sixteenth season, Brown was trained by some of the people that he had known since voicing Edward and researched his own voice during meetings to "experience that feeling again." Due to Brown being much older compared to when he was in 2015, the production team introduced several ideas to Brown to have the character aged up by a huge amount or have them keep the same ages but with an explanation for their deepening voices; he chose the former as it "makes sense" and "gives an audience a new look at Edward."

Characteristics

Edward is a 18-year old young adult, who had black hair and brown color. Collins confirmed that Edward is 5'6 tall and weight 150 pounds. Throughout the series, Edward is shown to adore animals; initially, he is terrified of murdering them, but is forced to do so because he becomes hungry quickly without food, sobbing over the killings. Edward had been nice to everyone; when one of his members became sad, Edward decided to lift their spirits by attending fun events, alongside with his friends. In several episodes of the first five seasons, Edward expresses a desire to travel the entire world, primarily to obtain resources for his villages. Notably, Edward and Michael attempt to travel on a planned adventure, but a disaster strikes, and they help those affected. In another journey in the first half of the fifth season, Edward and his companions travel to a different universe, where Edward becomes depressed about losing his group.

Appearances

In Lovely World

Main article: Lovely World season 1

Main article: Lovely World season 2

Main article: Lovely World season 3

Main article: Lovely World: Future

Main article: Lovely World 3D

In the real world, Edward attends Pacific Grove High School and is a member of an abandoned buwilding exploration group. During his first trip to the in-digital world, he is terrified of murdering the animals, but he is forced to do so because he becomes extremely hungry without food. He travels to a community, where he receives extensive assistance and meets the residents. He helped a badly injured Michael after teleporting into the digital realm, which led to their friendship. Throughout the first and second seasons, Edward first meets John, a member of his group, followed by Leo, a shy guy who is accepted by the group, and Kamila, a near-adult girl.

Critical reception

Edward had been ranked as among of the Lovely World's most popular characters, with the character getting first to second places in polls. Edward's reliable personality was praised for introducing the idea to children to trustworthy relationships and personal values. Alexander Clarke was favorable of how Edward was "often honest to all of the characters about his mistakes and that he took responsibility for the trouble that he had done" and that Edward "never got upset whenever another character yelled at him for messing up, though that guilt is presented in his facial expressions," comparing him to a "chill person," adding that Edward is among the rare "very real" characters that "come out of nowhere and show children important topics that they need to learn." Jayleen Wagner, similarly, praised Edward as "a genuine, honest person by revealing to his friends and his community what he was feeling; whenever he was feeling happy, sad, or angry, he actually confirmed the fact that he was going through that feeling" and added that "this helped Edward into a likeable character both for the audience and the characters in the show as they helped him."

Ryan Ewan highlighted Edward's love for animals and stated that "Edward is presented in a way that clearly shows that he loves these creatures, no matter what they have done to him in the past." It is the emotional connection between the pets and Edward that makes their relationship grow stronger. Throughout their eyes, Edward sees something special in every single animal, and in response, that animal sees something special within Edward: a good person that wants to support their true goals and dreams. It is almost like Edward is treating the animals like a real human best friend", citing the death of Edward's wolf friends in one episode and the rescue of various Sheep in an another one. He went on to say that the emotional connection helped Edward become a stronger person because "whenever he makes a bad mistake by screaming at them, he gets so grief-stricken by what he has done that he starts crying over that mistake". While Edward's "scared" personality was one of the most criticized, critics praised his decision not to kill the animals, even though he does so, in the first couple of episodes for "showing Edward that he cares and that he was not going to end an animal's life". Christopher Holland praised Edward's idea of remembering what "he had done in the past" and "trying his hardest not to repeat that same event".