#plot armor

[spite-and-waffles]

(alt included)

Link to Video. (Please help Panda make money.)

Video description and transcript under the cut.

Description: TikTok video by The Panda Redd. Re-enactment of final scene of Under the Hood. All roles played by Panda (a tall, well-built young white man with a mohawk, wearing a grey hoodie). Setting is a dark basement lit only by a hanging light bulb.

Transcript.

Jason: (holding gun on Bruce) "Bruce, I forgive you for not saving me."

Batman: (glares silently)

Jason: "But why? Why on God's Earth—" (hits Joker across the face)

Joker (tied to a chair): *cackles*

Jason: "—is HE still alive??"

Joker: "AHAHAHAHAHHAHA!"

Batman:

Batman: "I'm sorry, d'you want me to be serious here or—?"

Jason: (in disbelief) "YES, Bruce! I want you to be serious right now! If he had done what he did to me to you, I would've done nothing but search the earth for this pile of death-worshipping garbage!"

Joker: "I love you too, Sugar Plum."

Batman: (holds hands up) "Okay, yeah, I get that, totally, I get that. Um. Have you tried?"

Jason: "Excuse you?"

Batman: "Have you tried to kill him yet?"

Jason: (to Joker) "Is he being serious?"

Joker: (also confused) "I'm gonna be honest with you, Junior. I don't know."

Jason: "Got it. Great." (turns back to Batman) "What the fuck does THAT mean?"

Batman: "Okay, so no, you haven't. Cool. Do it."

Jason:

Jason: (lowers gun) "What."

Batman: "Do it, cap his ass. Shoot him."

Joker: (finally rattled) "I'm gonna go with Junior here, and say...what??"

Jason: "You want me to shoot him?"

Batman: "I want someone to shoot him! Give me the gun, I'll do it!"

Jason: (mutters, brain blue screening) "What is going on right now? This should a lot harder than it is."

Batman: "C'mon, son! You decapitated like eleven people three days ago! Fuckin' do it!"

Joker: (turns to Jason quizzically) "This has gotta be some sort of test, ri—"

(BANG! Jason fires. Joker lands on the floor lifeless, eyes still open.)

Jason: "There, you happy? Jesus. Was that so hard? All of this time and it was THAT easy!"

Jason: "What the fuck is that supposed to—" (looks down at floor where the Joker was lying)

Batman: "I don't know what you're talking about 'easy'. There's nothing there." (nods at floor)

Floor: (is devoid of Joker)

Jason: (stares)

Floor: (continues to be sans anything but carpet)

Jason: "What the fuck?"

Batman: "Yeah."

Jason: "WHAT THE FUCK?"

Batman: "Take as long as you need with this."

Jason: (looking around frantically) "I just shot him! He hit the floor! What the f—" (turns back to the floor)

Floor: (is just vibin')

Jason: "Where the fuck did he go??"

Batman: "See that shit? That shit right there happens every fucking time!"

Jason: "There's not even a blood stain! It's just gone!"

Batman: "Yeah, like two days after you died, I chased him into a helicopter where he got shot like six times. The helicopter exploded and crashed into the ocean. And his body was gone before Superman could find it."

Jason: "Oh my God. I don't understand how this is even fucking possible!"

Batman: "He's like a cryptid! I don't fucking get it!"

Joker: (disembodied laughter) "AHAHAHAHA HAHAHA!"

Jason: (freaked out, turning in circles trying to find him) "Oh my God!"

Batman: "THAT OMINOUS SHIT HAPPENS TOO! I DON'T KNOW, DUDE!"

Jason: "Dude. Fuck whatever's going on here, that's some fucking bullshit."

Batman: "Thank you! Finally someone gets it!"

[charmstrangebeauty]

You know Agatha saying ‘if Billy dies he’ll reincarnate again’ and Agatha becoming a ghost means the two queer main characters of this show functionally cannot be killed off from the MCU and I know we just had a lot of bury your gays but this actually feels like the opposite of that. Plot armor for your gays. Immortal gays.

That being said if they take Joe Locke from me I will riot

[thebubblesareevil]

The Fentons plot armor comes from their friendship with Mr Mxyzptlk.

Not Danny, but specifically the Fenton parents.

Mr mxy decided to cause some chaos to get Superman’s attention, but the people he was messing with jumped right into the chaos without hesitation

They treated it like a giant party, to the point where Mr mxy started actively having fun without superman

They don’t even try to get him to leave, in fact they invite him over for tea and fudge

Now they have plot armor and mr and Ms mxy come by once a week for fudge and chaos.

(He adores the baby eldrich horror his friends are raising, he really is a scamp)

[bizzxis]

Kuras appreciation post because he doesn’t get enough credit for all the crap he puts up with.

Tilt screen for better quality and zoom

Bonus: Vere’s damage from earlier in the day

Credit to this fanfic by @softagenda for inspiring the last bit!

[kingoftheu]

The thing about Andor is sometimes I'll get annoyed when he survives by chance again and I'll be like "oh c'mon now" but then I'll remember he's got plot armor in the same way a lobster in a restaurant tank doesn't have predators. He's unbalancing the scales, and he will pay the piper sooner rather than later.

[i-creel-riddle]

eddie munson was completely plot irrelevant and somehow that makes it so much worse.

remove eddie munson from stranger things 4. go ahead. do it. what changes?

i'll wait.

NOTHING. absolutely nothing. the upside down is still there. vecna still does his little villain monologue. max still almost dies. eleven still saves the day. hawkins still falls apart. THE PLOT DOES NOT MOVE DIFFERENTLY.

eddie munson existed to be hot and play guitar and die in the most dramatic way possible and the AUDACITY of that working so well on all of us

joseph quinn carried that character on his back through sheer charisma and face genetics alone. the writers handed him narrative decoration and he turned it into a whole ass moment. the metallica scene? ICONIC. for what? for vibes. purely for vibes.

and the death?? the death was so pointless it looped back around to being insulting. he died in the upside down fighting demobats while the actual plot was happening somewhere else. he died buying time for a plan that would have worked anyway. he died and hawkins didn't even know he's innocent.

the only person whose story actually changed because of eddie munson was dustin. DUSTIN. one character. that's the entire narrative footprint of this man.

and yet here we all are. still not over it. because the vibes were IMMACULATE and he came and served facecard and left like wind and took a piece of us with him

the duffer brothers really said here's a man with zero plot utility and the most compelling presence in the room. good luck grieving.

i'm totally normal about this...mostly

[snakeredbirdbatkatana]

In a way I am one of the most basic and kind of problematic in a way fan.

Because I truly believe my favorite character will always somehow win in a fight.

However, my favorite character is Batman/his children.

So realistically, that plot armor is stronger than their raging orphan issues.

Or is the plot armor is the ranging orphan issues!

I’ve connect the dots!!!

[novlr]

Three tricks to avoid plot armour

Plot armour can be difficult to avoid. We get so attached to our characters that hurting them in any way feels like a betrayal.

But plot armour is detrimental to any good narrative. Having your characters avoid harm, whether that be emotional or physical, means that there aren't any stakes. And without stakes, it's difficult for readers to invest.

There are three simple things you can use to avoid plot armour:

🔵 Injury 🔵 Sacrifice 🔵 Consequence

In every conflict, make sure the resolution contains at least one of these things.

If you don't want to injure your characters, make sure that they sacrifice something, whether that be someone, or an object. If they don't sacrifice anything, make sure there is a consequence. That consequence can be a loss, an emotional wound, or simply a blow to their reputation. The important thing is that your character doesn't remain unscathed by their experience, and they walk out somehow changed.