#overpowered characters

[novella-november]

Hiiiii please watch this video, it is both an examination of how overpowered characters with no stakes means your story doesn't have enough tension to keep your audience engaged once they look past the sparkly lights and a very very good commentary at the 22 minute mark about the difference between real world racism and fantasy racism, and why fantasy racism in most cases, is literally just writers *regurgitating real world racism* instead of *actually critiquing it* by positing that the people facing oppression are biologically hardwired to be some kind of threat to their oppressors, thus giving them 'justified racism' aka as Knightly calls it, "zootopia racism".

[jackiep1astri]

My friend: you know you have a habit of making the female versions of characters really overpowered, right? Me: updating my 30+list of Fem! Percy Jackson Titles

PERCY JACKSON TITLES: (in my opinion and not in order)

Daughter of Poseidon

Princess of Atlantis

Slayer of Alecto

Slayer of the Minotaur

Wielder of Riptide

Seerer of Fates

Retriever of Ares Shield

Escaper the Lotus Casino and Hotel

Retriever of the Master Bolt

Retriever of the Helm of Darkness

Sailor of the Sea of Monsters

Retriever of the Golden Fleece

Enterer of the Garden of Hesperides

Bearer of the Sky

Savior of Artemis

Protector of the Ophiotauras

Wanderer of the Labyrinth

Escaper of the Labyrinth

Causer of Mt. St. Helen's eruption

Head Counsellor of Cabin Three

Greatest Swordswoman in centuries

Traveller of Ogygia

Witness of Pam's fading

Holder of Pam's spirit

Retriever of the Chariot of Ares

Retriever of the Sword of Hades

Escaper of Circe's Island

Defeater of Polybotes

Defeater of Antaeus

Defeater of the Nemean Lion

Former Bearer of the Curse of Achilles

Receiver of Pandora's Pithos and Elphis

Spirit of Hope

Survived sitting on an Olympian's throne

Twice Refuser of Immortality

Retriever of Herme's Staff

Leader of the Battle of Manhattan

The Centre of Two Great Prophecies

One of the Prophesied Seven

Retriever of the Twelfth Legion Eagle

Carrier of Juno across the Tiber River 

Daughter of Neptune

Praetor of the Twelth Legion

Former Praetor of New Rome

Drinker of Gorgon's blood

Survivor of Arai's Curses

Controller of the Rivers of the Underworld

Blood/Poison/Ichor-Bender

Survivor of the Death Mist

Nyx's Blessed

Champion of Nyx

Survivor of Tartarus

Defeater of Titans

Defeater of Nike/Gaea

Champion of the Gods

Saviour of Olympus

The Godkiller

[super-hero-confessions]

[icey0307]

New Update!

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

This is part of a series, so you should read the rest of the series before you read this! Lol.

[plasmalink]

Might be a bit of a long shot, but does anyone have that page written about overpowered MUGEN characters? It broke them down into tiers of how overpowered they were and what tactics they used to win, starting with like "they have a move that hits full screen and deals max damage", then moving on to "They don't have a hurtbox, they have a glitched HP value that can't be decreased", and eventually it reaches a tier of like "these characters are literally malware that run arbitrary code on your computer to rewrite the game code to ensure they win"

[chrysoula]

Classroom of the Elite

(Note: I have read up to Y2v6 (I'll probably read v7 tomorrow once my housemate finishes it) as well as a summary of the Y0 bonus book.) I really like this series. I think the author is skilled, intelligent and literate. I also think he's writing way above the level of his primary readerbase. Or at least, that's the conclusion I am drawing from going through the subreddit. Maybe it's just reddit, though. Why do I like it so much? I have friends who bounced hard off it because the narrator is such an overpowered isekai protagonist (although it's only an isekai metaphorically). He's pretty much superhuman in most ways. But that's never been the sort of thing to drive me off, as long as there's more going on than a power fantasy. I watched episode 4 of Solo Leveling yesterday and it bored me to tears. I kept comparing it to early Danmachi and early Kumo Desu, both of which had me deeply invested in their boss fights. And this is because Kumoko was being clever and fighting above her weight class (and got the shit kicked out of her). And Bell, while a lot less clever, had emotional growth worked into his minotaur fights just like a proper shonen protagonist. Meanwhile the protagonist of Solo Leveling started out interesting and sympathetic and clever but could not make me give a shit about his totally optional battle with a giant snake.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is OP by any measure. But that's the point of the story. He starts out OP, and also 'defective'. He's not a hero. I'm not even sure he's a protagonist. He seems to see himself as the antagonist; he's training Horikita and her class up to be the protagonists. He's clever and manipulative and impossibly badass physically, and his personal development over time is obscured by being an unreliable narrator, but there are bits and pieces that add up over the 20+ volumes I've read that make him just as fascinating a character as the students he's helping 'grow'. One of my enduring interests is exploring how human nature works, and from the beginning that's been the point of the story. Kiyotaka has repeatedly referred to the paradox of his goals at the school. He wants something he doesn't entirely believe he can get, and he's striving for it as hard as he can. It's just that his goal isn't 'saving his sister' or 'defeating the demon lord' or whatever, it's 'being defeated in such a way as to prove his father wrong'. That's really compelling to me! Especially when combined with his own character growth. Over on reddit, people say things like, "Why would Ayanogod lie to the readers, that'd be lying to himself, people can't lie to themselves..." which, I mean, that's a very... young point of view. Which is why I'm ranting to the void here rather than trying to find thoughtful discussion there...

What I've been noticing a couple times in the last few books is Ayanokoji noting that he doesn't have the social skills of the far more socially deft students _right now_. Because he didn't construct a socially deft persona; he constructed an Ordinary High School Dweeb persona. The obvious implication is that he _could_ be anybody he wants, with some prep time. He might not start out good at it--he has never been good at emoting even when he seems to think he is--but he'll keep learning until he is. This isn't interesting to me because 'oooh ayanogod is so cool' but because it suggests his own sense of identity is pretty flimsy. And the edges and fragments where he's slowly developing an identity are just... peak coming of age story, and his particular degree of OPness is just... keeping things interesting. In y2v6 I noticed his interactions with Mii-chan a lot. At one point, when Mii-chan doesn't need any more than a slight push to work through all her issues (and this is without heavy interference from Ayanokoji). He describes her as a 'almost a fully complete person'. I think Kiyotaka (yes, also Ayanokoji, I switch between his names by vibe) would be the first to admit that he's a deeply flawed and incomplete person as he is. And that's great! That's awesome! That is what I want to see as an enjoyer of OP characters. Being able to punch out Cthulhu isn't the be-all and end-all of personhood! (I am also a fan of Nobilis and Reinhard van Astrea.) I have no destination with this post. I just wanted to babble. If you came here via the tag and find what I have to say interesting, let me know and I'll say more of it!

[dushman-e-jaan]

Kaguya’s a perfect deconstruction of an over-powered villain by being an unskilled buffoon who overestimated her third son and made the same mistakes she made with her other two sons; you people are simply blinded by your hatred for the author to notice anything else.

[change-anime]

In this scene you can only think of one thing: "poor one who will have to face them"