i love avm s3 with all my heart, but i admit i was disappointed by some of the storytelling, specifically in regards to purple and king...and at some point my friend and i started discussing our own rewrite for the finale wheeze
notes below for a rewrite of mango's backstory and a few changes to purple's as well--not very major changes, i do think canon has good potential, just a few altered details i think would have made the story more interesting:
Purple's mother, Orchid, was a Minecraft player before Purple was. She was also a romantic attracted to strength, a reason why she fell in love with Navy in the first place, and when Purple was young, she would try to comfort him with fairytales of royalty and dragons and happily-ever-afters, her own ideals of strength. Purple's venture into Minecraft, as well as his aiming for the Dragon Egg, is therefore both a reflection of his desire to please his father and to honor his mother's stories.
Mango was an ordinary stick until one day, a long time ago, he was mysteriously transported into the Nether--imagine isekai-style in a sense, or maybe Jumanji lol. By that time, he'd had a child, Gold, and he became desperate to return back home to them. He perceived his new surroundings as hostile and survived through violence, wit, and domination; he would go on to subjugate the piglin brutes and crown himself as their King.
Mango spent years trying to hunt down a way home, resulting in him building the hub of Nether portals we see in AVM S1. However, despite his efforts, he could never truly escape, and he took out his anger on the beings surrounding him. Rather than trying to grieve properly, his resentment and obsession boiled over into a blind hatred of the world of Minecraft.
(This also provides explanation as to why Mango knows so much about Minecraft and why he's such a good fighter (because in all honesty, i'm unsure of how he was able to almost defeat the cg and all their allies if he was really just a normal stick), and it also brings back the portal hub because that's so far an unsolved mystery.)
Eventually, Mango meets Purple, who was freshly exiled from his old village. Purple sees Mango's kingdom and crown and projects not just his father, but his mother's stories of good, brave kings, which fosters an instinctive trust for the stranger. He is further grateful for Mango's kindness, shown to a youth and the first stick he's met in years. He leads Mango back to his Macbook and shows him the way back to the Outernet.
Mango is at first happy to be returned home, but his joy is ruined when he learns that Gold had died while he was gone. The cause and time of death can remain unknown, but this is the last straw for Mango, who no longer has a reason to continue surviving. Instead, he decides to go all out and take down Minecraft with him, blaming the game for trapping him and preventing him from returning to his son.
Purple--adrift, desiring to do well by his parents, blindly admiring of Mango's strength for its resemblance to his father's prowess and his mother's stories--pledges his loyalty to the King. With Purple's help, Mango builds the staff. They figure out how to obtain a command block, and then that an icon is needed; AvLoL happens because Purple is sent to scout out the CG's PC and gather information on them, so they can steal the Icon as bloodlessly as possible.
Cue the rest of AVM S3; this might be unnecessary, but it could also be interesting to imply that the piglins Blue met were meant to deliver her to Mango, as ransom for the icon, and their disobedience led to Mango calling upon the Witch to trap them, whose failure forced their hand to get Purple to distract the CG.
The CG's recruitment of their allies also further parallels Mango's refusal to recognize the sentience of Minecraft entities--he could have chosen peace and kindness, but his anger led him down a darker path, one where he refuses to see any good left in Minecraft. It's a deliberate choice, more than anything else; it opposes how the CG never fight alone and mourn their allies even if only for a moment.
Further parallels between Mango and the CG: Mango, like Red, lands in a hostile situation, but withholds forgiveness and returns the violence; Mango, like Blue and Yellow, offers training and weaponry to his soldiers (the piglins), but doesn't intend on helping them, only using them to die die for him; Mango, like Orange, faced a monster, but killed it instead of showing it kindness.
Purple's redemption regards his feelings on his parents--his wish to meet his father's expectations, his wish to fulfill his mother's stories--and how those feelings influenced his view of Mango; thus, with Green's help, he decides to make a choice independent of trying to make any of his parents proud, and returns to fight Mango.
I think the imagery for Mango's redemption can remain pretty similar, honestly. It's meant to force him to realize that he had chosen to be blind to all the lives he was killing by destroying Minecraft, how his grief left him in a narrow-minded, self-centered world. When he sees Purple and thinks of Gold, it is thus him coming to terms with Gold's death, that it was out of his control and never truly his fault; however, he can still save this one other child who's still alive, who's dying because of him.
Not entirely sure how the ending might play out, if it's identical to canon or maybe different, but I want to emphasize Purple freeing himself from his parents' expectations but still choosing to stay with Mango out of choice instead of blind idolization, and additionally Mango returning to the Outernet to free himself from the pain associated with Minecraft. Also, when Mango gives the staff and crown away--I think it'd be interesting to suggest that Mango became suicidal due to his grief, planned to die with Minecraft, and is forced to truly become better when the CG refuse to exact any vengeance on him and instead offers their characteristic kindness.
these are all just little ideas my friend and i had...again, avm s3 is so good and the animation is gorgeous, but i think it could have been improved somewhat by adding more cohesion as to mango's backstory and motivations, not to mention complexity on him and purple and a more comprehensible ending for the two.
if you have any of your own ideas as to how avm s3 could have gone, please share :eyes:
