#character critique

[wtv-i-feel-like-saying-atm]

isn’t it interesting that the two characters gooseworx relates to most either doesn’t understand consent or intentionally wants to bulldoze over it, specifically when you’re a non-man and especially when you’re a woman?

[clairv6yance]

Okay so I just finished watching the movie ‘Obsession’ since it’s gaining popularity right now and looking back at the TikToks of men SWEARING that Bear was not the villain genuinely pisses me off right now. Sure, he killed himself at the end to stop the chaos he created, but I HIGHLY doubt he did that for Nikki mainly because he knew she’d be in so much more anguish after she snapped back?? All of her friends dead because her guy best friend wanted her to love him. The scene where she was speaking through her subconscious while the entity was asleep said a lot about how selfish Bear really was. She begs him to free her while being in god knows what kind of agony and the only thing he replies with is “How bad is it to be with me.” IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU. Genuinely the creepiest thing about this is her independence and liveliness being stripped away and guys finding a reason to criticise her. Them laughing at the SA scene doesn’t surprise me tbh.

[real-total-drama-takes]

I'm rewatching some Island material again, and... I genuinely forgot howich they flanderized Owen. Like, REALLY flanderized him.

I don't know if i'm way too dirty minded or whatever, but he was pretty much a voyeur back then or had some kind of kink for getting naked and everyone watching him. And on the later seasons, they treat either that as an joke because he's dumb and doesn't realize getting publicly naked is wrong or whatever. No, on island, you can literally see him making a smug face as he showed his ass to his team, you can see how he did that either because he wanted to or because he wanted to get a reaction out of them.

He pretty much a bissexual pervert tho? C'mon, he picked on Lindsay's chest on Action, you saw him showing interest in women who remind himself of him, you can see him most definitely having a thing for Justin, till the point that got so obvious that they had to stop.

He was a fucking coward back then tho. Like, one of the main things about me thinking like that is him throwing Izzy to the slasher killer wannabe and immediately running away as far as he can, keep that in mind that he DID NOT know that was chef. If that was an actual slasher killer, he would've leave Izzy to death and wouldn't care.

Okay, so gather all that, he's a self conscious douche bag sometimes, he's a coward, has a thing for both men and women, has some kind of exhibition kink, since he got naked Alot of times in Island & Action and seemed to enjoy doing it, he cursed and had the capacity of getting angry or disappointed at people...

And rn, he's literally a fat dude™ who so happens to be so silly and goobersome that you forget he once won a season because of his bastardness instead of him being a cutie or something... Not gonna lie, i love both Owen's, but god he should've stayed the same.

[snakeredbirdbatkatana]

So the last couple months, I feel like I've been doing a hell of a lot of critiques about a lot of characters specifically some Jason, Tim, Bruce, Stephanie etc and I just wanna make it clear that I do not discriminate I guess from critiquing absolutely any of them.

The only ones who have not actually had like a whole post where I kind of bitch in a way about something is Dick and Duke, maybe Damian but Damian I did do something kind of funny but the reason I wanted to kind of talk about this little bit is I wanna make it very clear that as a fan of all of these characters I also want to discuss them.

If a character does not have a critique in someway, I'm not gonna be interested in that character. Any character that is so one dimensional that there's not a single thing that you kind of question about them they're not interesting enough. In the same realm if a critique on a character seems like a personal attack that I feel like it's a problem in a whole other way because you should never be so obsessed with a character that you can't see their wrongs. In that same breath if you see the wrongs, but you're still ok with them I totally respect that because that's exactly how I feel.

I love Jason. I love Bruce. I love every single bat, but I still see where they're kind of shitty and that's what makes them so fucking interesting.

I even like Superman, but I am going to drag out his issue with the Kon until I'm dead. Death bed, I will be bitching about them.

[missing-sanity]

Its funny being around more power scaling side of fandom because I thought your post will defend shanks on completely different fandom issues. Like him being this ultra alpha man in most peoples eyes? Also I was shocked some people blame shanks as I only saw people blaming buggy for them parting ways? Crazy how people minds work and no side got the message here. Just interesting to see other people take on fandom discourse I have never experienced myself

oh i’m sorry to disappoint. genuinely. i just don’t really engage with the powerscaling side of the one piece fandom. actually i never engage with the powerscaling side of any fandom. agenda piece is something i Hate with every fiber in my body. it just goes against everything i like. i love media analysis. i love media literacy. i’m very pro media literacy actually. agenda piece is just. the opposite of that. that’s why i dislike character slander because it’s often baseless. i like character criticism, because all authors are human and therefore all fiction is subjective. every story will inevitably have the author’s interal biases. that’s why it’s important to engage with media critically. characters are never going to be perfectly written, and well written characters are usually flawed. because flaws are an important part of human nature. so it’s important to criticise characters, both them as a ‘character’ and their writing.

about shanks being seen as a ‘ultra alpha man’ anyone with an ounce of media literacy can see that’s not the case. it’s completely inaccurate to his character. though what else would i expect from dudebros. (no offence to anon, i don’t mean you. if you can see that it isn’t the case, then this clearly doesn’t apply to you.) then again i am Not touching one piece reddit with even with a ten foot pole. i think the amount of mischaracterization would actually kill me. not to say all analysis on one piece reddit is bad, of course. i’ve read some pretty good analysis posts there.

i tend to be on the shipping side of fandom. and both shuggy and mishanks shippers tend to blame shanks for the fallouts he had with buggy and mihawk. which. annoys me. it annoys a Lot actually. both parties have their flaws and issues. but shanks ends up taking the blame for most of it. with mishanks, it’s like some people think shanks needs to make up to mihawk. for losing his arm? apparently? which i know i know, for mihawk, shanks was the only one able to rival him, in a world where his swordsmanship skills remains undefeated. mihawk is Lonely. he’s lonely at the top, and he’s Bored. bored with life, he has already achieved his Ambition and now there’s no one who’s been able to challenge him yet. shanks was the only one who could, but he went and lost his arm in a bet for the New Generation. and now he’s Gone and they’re Unequal. but like. and? mihawk has Issues, but that’s not shanks’s fault or responsibility. he lost his arm to save luffy. like that’s His arm. he doesn’t owe mihawk anything for choosing to do so. like they’re both at fault for Miscommunication (seriously they’re Grown Ass Adults but they can’t handle Feelings and Communication? really? i’m pretty sure my autistic ass could do better and i can’t even talk to people properly due to sheer anxiety half the time) but if we really had to Blame someone (which is stupid as hell because relationships don’t Work like that) it would probably be more mihawk’s fault that shanks. i mean, again the only thing the man’s guilty of is losing his own arm. (yes yes i know their relationship crumbled due to a Lack of communication as well as mihawk and shanks’s individual Issues, that’s why we don’t Point Fingers people. relationships are two sided. [looking at you, Those shuggy fans] i’m just simplifying things) of course i’m not saying shanks is Perfect and absolutely Faultless. he’s definitely a Flawed character with his own Problems. but like, he doesn’t owe mihawk Anything.

and shuggy. oh Holy Shit shuggy. like i can see why people ship them and they do have a really solid basis and canon content for shipping. shanks and buggy still so very much Care for each other in canon. however i have So Much to pick about how Some shuggy fans view their relationship and how they treat shanks as a result. and it makes me so Mad. but. this post is getting long so i’ll put my grievances in another one.

[mad-not-disappointed]

i will never understand when there’s a fictional character who is so unlikeable but is somehow beloved by everyone in the story.

don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying characters HAVE to be likeable in order to be good. there are plenty of protagonists who are unlikeable or even straight up villainous, but they make for very compelling characters.

what i don’t get is when the writers wants us to believe that these type of characters are perfectly acceptable and loved by everyone. not even as a façade, it’s not like people are pretending to like them. they just do, for whatever reason.

the thing is that you can like an annoying character if they’re interesting enough to impact the plot in unique ways. but the same wouldn’t apply to real people. you might like a character who is snobby or self-centered or manipulative, but you absolutely would NOT like them if you knew them irl.

so it’s just absurd to me when that kind of character is canonically beloved by all. even worse when anyone who doesn’t like that character is treated as the villain. it just immediately turns me off. if you’re gonna write a heavily flawed and unlikeable character, you have to commit to that and make everyone else react to them in a realistic manner.

even when the character is good and not terribly flawed, i find it unrealistic when EVERYONE (except the villain maybe) just loves them. this is the problem i had with Kipo from Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts. she was your archetypical protagonist - the adorkable main character.

but the thing that annoyed me the most about her is just how much EVERY SINGLE PERSON liked her and had to mention how kind or nice she is every two seconds. and the only person who hates her is the villain because obviously only evil people are allowed to dislike Kipo.

it just comes off as forced and unrealistic because let's be real, no matter how good you are, there will always be people who hate you or don't particularly like you.

but yeah, it's worse when the character is straight up an asshole and everyone else just ignores it or treats it as a cute little quirk.

[nocturnalgenesisforest]

Hot take: I dislike how Pacifica Northwest’s character is treated.

This is in no way to send hate to the creators or anyone else that thinks just the opposite of this.

This is just me rambling, I am in no way stating facts, just my own opinions. I could be totally wrong about the truth of this character and how she’s handled, but I digress…

I don’t like how Paz is abased when it comes to her working at Greasy’s Diner. She used to be this sassy proud girl with more money than she can count, but now she works at a gross diner as a waitress? Didn’t her parents say they can still afford her a pony at the end of the series?

I dislike this because her whole things is that she’s the silly villain-of-week who’s fun to laugh at and mess around with and can be funny when you let her. She’s a stereotype. Without her money she isn’t a stereotype anymore! And I don’t know how I feel about taking Paz seriously. This is like chopping off her fingers or disemboweling her character for Pete’s Sake! What on earth? Give Pacifica Northwest her billions back! This is not who she is.

Although it’s a bit interesting, she never gets portrayed in a serious light. Even when her family has “lost everything” (cough cough, her mom can still buy her a pony, cough cough, they are so not poor at all) and she now works at a gross diner. This should be a pretty traumatic experience for her. And so should her parents mistreatment of her. But it’s still so cartoony the way she’s framed by the narrative in all circumstances. It’s like mixing roast fish with ice cream.

The intrinsic whimsy and silliness of Paz taking herself seriously as a proud beautiful rich sophisticated girl with sophisticated hobbies but really being this funny jerk who acts like a wet gremlin by verbally attacking anyone who displeases her even a little and is so sensitive her butler might as well push her around in a stroller with how much she can act like a baby vs her family “going broke” or her family abusing her. It’s a clash that doesn’t mix well in my opinion.

Why I don’t think Paz works well as a serious character: she’s a stereotype.

I don’t think Paz has any values or core characteristics that contradict how she’s a stereotype. Now I’m not talking about hobbies or likes or interests here. I mean who she is. Not what she likes.

Northwest Mansion Mystery did not transform Paz from stereotype to character. It transformed her into stereotype with a shitty home life. And then it transformed her into a stereotype who did something for a murderous ghost I guess.

I mean. That guy didn’t have anything to do with Paz. Only her ancestors. So what did all that matter to her really?

And what does Paz even believe in? Why is she so mean? These things are not explained away by how cartoonishly mustache twirling-y her parents are. Who Paz is comes entirely from her. Because who she is cannot be derived from anybody other than herself. It’s the part of her that chooses what to do with what raw material she’s been given by life.

And letting in a bunch of strangers into her house because a ghost was rightfully pissed at something that (while justified) was not something Paz was responsible for and there for should not have been held accountable for. Since there was nothing that Paz or her parents actually did to him. He might as well go into the afterlife and beat the shit out of the Northwest’s that locked him out that day if he truly wanted them to face the music for what they did to him and everyone else whom they broke the trust of. (Even though that deal was lowkey bogus anyway. Communal parties once a year instead of money paid to the people you hired to build your house?)

A true accountability story for Paz would be about the girls she’s bullied. Actual things she herself did and her perhaps even coming to terms with how what she says hurts other people.

A story that made her a character would not have mentions of her past stereotype persona. It would let us completely know the girl under the mask. And it’s not that the vain rich mean girl can do nice things every once in a while for people who don’t entirely like her or trust her. It’s that she has character traits and story beats that are separate entirely from being a stereotype. Plus no more jokes that are about her being a stereotype! For her to be more than that she has to be more than that. And if she’s more than that then how are you going to make jokes about what Pacifica no longer is? Anyway…

For example: Mabel or maybe even some other girl somehow outs Paz for mistreating her and Paz’s parents promise to her that they’ll be by her side no matter what. But when it comes time to meet with Mabel’s guardian (or some random girls guardian) and have a discussion they completely throw Paz under the bus. Like REALLY do. “How could she have done this!” The main point would be the betrayal of someone close to Paz. I think it ties in nicely with Gravity Falls’s “trust” motif/theme. The worst part is they’re only saving face. They do the exact same thing but no one calls the out for it. Paz would be truly, truly hurt by this. Like, her relationship with her parents will never be the same ever and it would take decades for Paz to even consider a relationship with them.

Maybe they could threaten to disown her if she does something that goes against them. They would never actually do it but Priscilla is an emotionally volatile person like her daughter. So…

Maybe we could see how abuse affected her and has caused her to be distrustful of the world to a degree which is unreasonable. Maybe she attacks people because she subconsciously believes everyone is out to get her or will hurt her if she lets people get too close. Maybe her selfishness stems from a place of thinking that if people try to befriend you they’re really only going to betray you in the future. So it’s best to look out for your own interest.

Maybe the raw material she’s been given by life has shaped her in ways that aren’t like her stereotype. Maybe she retreats into the digital world too much or begins to rely on material things like makeup, clothes, or stuffed animals or collections of cute or pretty things for comfort instead of turning to a person for comfort. She could be soft and sweet and sensitive in ways that are different to Mabel. Kind of child-like in a sense where she still depends on mommy and daddy because the hole they’ve left in her development still shows.

We could see her truly hate her parents. Fantasize about getting her revenge when they’re too old to take care of themselves. Making others feel the pain she’s feeling in that feeling abandoned or having your family torn apart. (Dipper could certainly sympathize with the last one.) struggle to forgive them for hurting her. Struggle with feeling resentment for people who haven’t done something so terrible as to earn it. Like someone making an off hand mean comment and Pacifica being too tender emotionally from her recent betrayal not to feel truly hurt by it. We could see her struggle with living in the past. One of her traits could be sensitivity. And she would certainly be sensitive to people who can be brash and abrasive. Like Dipper or Stan.

Maybe another one of her core values is how she can be quite modest or even self deprecating at times. Maybe it could be based on how she values quality over quantity in things. Or her dreams or aspirations. Or maybe she doesn’t have any of those good traits! We could dive deeper into her pride and vanity and take those things about her seriously. We could see how it erodes her attempts to make a relationship with the Pines twins.

Just something other than: she is a rich mean spoiled arrogant vain valley girl. And it’s partially because her parents are mean to her. And we’re not going to show them doing that in any realistic way or even show Paz cry because of what they do to her. We’re not going to delve into why she’s the way she is by examining Paz herself. We’re going to examine her environment, but not seriously, we’re not going to show her mom making scathing remarks or invasive comments about her body or restricting Paz against her will in what she’s allowed to or how much she can eat. We’re going to do this cartoonish thing where her crazy vain mom rips out the last pages of the Ugly Duckling and practically loudly proclaims to the world the value of vanity and how vain she is and how she’s going to push it onto her daughter. We’re not going to examine a character struggle within Paz. We’re going to examine struggles originating outside of Paz. Things her family did 150 years ago. Or things that come from her stereotype like her snooty attitude, arrogance, or vanity. She’s still not being taken seriously. She’s a joke stereotype still with lackluster depth. This is how pretty much all of Paz’s arcs go. She’s wrong, realizes she’s wrong, it’s not because of something she did all by herself or something that comes from within her. Because then she might gain a trait which is entirely her own. It all starts at the source of her cartoonishly evil parents. Or because grandpa was a criminal and now a ghost is angry at her because of it. Or because she’s a stereotype (genuinely snooty, arrogant, rude, vain valley girl) which we’re now trying to take seriously. Then she does something to aid the Pines twins. The end. Paz is pretty boring to be honest.

She’s not a character with a redemption arc. She’s a stereotype with an equally basic backstory.

[blooms-in-april]

My thoughts on Arcane Season 2:

1. Writing took a major dive. All the fascinating characters from season one were separated and not interacting at all. Victor was off doing his thing, Mel was kidnapped out of the storyline, Jayce, Echo, and Heimerdinger were all sucked into alternate dimensions for multiple episodes, Vi was off doing her own thing, Jinx was hiding away with Isha. I felt like Season 1 set up a complicated fascinating chess game and in Season 2 they took half the players off the board. The interactions between fascinating and complex characters with different goals is what builds conflict. Because there's so little interaction, a lot of the climactic emotions and decisions feel hollow and uninteresting.

2. The war between Piltover and Zaun did not deliver. At all. We wanted angst and complicated questions about nationalism and independence. Instead we got a rat man, Ambessa doing god knows what, and all the civil strife being solved because they decide to fight VICTOR in the last 2 episodes.

3. JAYVIK IS CANON LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO??? Let's fuckin go??