#cadybear's braindumps

[cadybear420]

No because a lot of modern stories MCs are literally so bland. I know I've said this before but I absolutely adore MCs where you have actual Choices with them. ILS MCs where my decisions affect nerve scores which can affect their and their friends' fates. TH:M MC where I can mix and match with crewmate combinations and get different endings depending on how well they perform at it. OG HSS MC where I can choose their activity, and I can get different outcomes based on how good they are at their activity, how much school spirit they raise, how "loyal" they are to their team, how they treat the incoming Hearst kids, etc. LOA MC where I could build up different specific lawyer personas for them!

These MCs were flexible and wildcard! They had Choices that actually mattered!! I could make different versions of the same book's MC with all different choices for them and they'd feel like actually different characters from one another!!!

But with so many modern books, all the Choices we have are entirely cosmetic. They just feel like they wrote a story for a YA erotic romance novel, then slapped a couple of appearance and dialogue options onto it and called it a day.

[cadybear420]

Something I kind of appreciate about the activity choices in HSS OG Trilogy (even more than I already appreciate it) is how they sort of have a different approach of integrating it in each book.

In Book 1, you sort of have a different and distinct conflict going on in each activity, eventually leading to how they all come together in the homecoming game. The differences are pretty straightforward there.

In Book 2, while we don't get as much involvement in our extracurricular, it does seem to have some weight on how other characters respond to our decisions and beliefs during Isa's reign– like when you have MC decide whether band or cheer gets the remaining funding, or the argument in Ch 9 between Mia and Julian and Aiden which is also influenced by who you sided with at the game. It also affects how you can behave about certain events by changing some of the dialogue options– such as when Isa's brother becomes the coach, or when Isa cuts band and cheer entirely.

In Book 3, it's kind of the same base conflict in each activity where your MC is against a Hearst student for a special role in the activity. But the characters in each activity– incoming Hearst kids included– have always been pretty different from one another with their own different dynamics, which does allow the narrative to carry differing implications for each activity. And while usually, all three activities are participating in the big sports game (the supposed reason for sports, band, and cheer being the activity options), this book deviates from that by having concert band getting their own concert and not participating in the game. So you get two big activity events, each with their own versions.

[cadybear420]

You know, if there's anything that makes MCs female coded it's not the feminine characterizations of the MCs. It's the fact that the male versions of f!MC diamond outfits (which are clearly meant to be very cute, risque, or glamorous) are so unapologetically basic and bland and yet they get put on the same tier as the f!MC's outfits.

They expect me to believe MC will be turning heads at Brian's pool party in a plain blue beach shirt and olive-green board shorts. They expect me to believe MC will steal the spotlight in the last episode of AME in a toilet-swirl-colored winter jacket. They expect me to believe MC will be able to "show off his hot bod" in an off-brand Doctor Who 4 cosplay outfit. They expect me to believe a bathrobe and boxer briefs can be sexy in the same way that lace lingerie can.

Don't get me wrong, as a GNC woman I'm not particularly a fan of cutesy revealing outfits being put on a pedestal over other clothes. But at least I can somewhat buy that the cutesy revealing outfits would be eye-catching to others. Can't say the same for their m!MC counterparts. The only times it seems to actually work with m!MC outfits is with formalwear (cause yknow it's formalwear, even if f!MCs still get more daring outfits there) and those two purple outfits in TCH (cause yknow they were actually pretty and risque).