I guess y’all kinda know what I would change on Armin’s route, but even so ~
As I have said before, I wouldn’t have made Armin’s arc pass through other’s characters arc, I would make it only about him and about him alone - okay, sorry, maybe I would let Alexy tag along.
I probably wouldn’t have made it specifically about him finding his parents, but more so about what it would mean to him - I wouldn’t have made it a game, something that he was challeging himself to get with hacking - but maybe I would’ve left one of his parents alive and him going down a path of self reflection.
Maybe he would’ve have some abandonment issues, maybe he actually have some trusting issues, maybe it’s simply important to him to know despite what Alexy would want or his parents would want - just something that would drive him more to the center of the conflict more, where he would act and even get some space to error and self grown.
When they made his arc almost happen by accident, because he was trying to challenge himself by hacking the government to find out that information, they took away any emotional connection the character might have had with it from the begining and instead they made it about some tag of war fighting that turn to be more about Alexy than Armin - which is crazy, cuz it was about their parents, they BOTH should have somewhat deep connection with it, even more if you gonna use it as an arc.
And it was a shoot on the foot at the end, because it then turned into Alexy’s arc, then turned it into Evan’s arc, then into Kentin’s arc and at some point it became everybody’s arc BUT Armin’s.
So I would simply again, go with the cliche, but made it about knowing Armin better and show off his emotional connections with Candy, Alexy and his parents to make him more relatable and interesting during his arc.
Aside from that maybe I would’ve tone down of how much about gaming and how nobody NOBODY around him would relatable with his references would be, like, that spin-off about super heroes went down such unnecessary path…… instead of making it grounded in some reality, it just keep screaming that he’s almost an alien around other characters when he simply enjoyes pop culture elements and video games - that’s so silly and the writing overuses it.
Also unrealistic for the time, since Marvel and video games became so popular even back then and just keeps growing.
Or if they really wanted to do it, just make him a completly “outsider” kind of character then, just go and make it an arc for him, teach him how to connect better with other characters too - he did it by himself on High School with his friendship with Nath and Kentin without any meanful imput from Candy or in the story, wasted material in my opinion, since so many young ppl go through similiar situations of feeling like you don’t fit in or feeling like an “ousider” on High School.
Ilus that I would put on Armin’s route:
- Him snoozing in one of the classes/during the luch time and Candy playing with his hair;
- They going to an arcade and playing some games together;
- They competing in some kind of fairground game or an amusement park;
- Sneaking out at night in the part to star watching with a telescope (I dunno, I like to think that Armin likes space related things);
- Movie night with him and Alexy (horror movies or something).
I wouldn’t mind getting any of those on Alternative Life too so xD
