Characterization - Blog Posts

“He’d look fine doing it-““he’d be so hot wearing-“ NO! LET HIM BE UGLY. I DONT WANT HIM HOT AND BASIC. I WANNA SEE HIM UGLY!! BUT CONFIDENT AND I WANNA BE CONFUSED ON WHY I LIKE HIM!!!

I just wanna put it out there, that in mlm ships you don’t have to “feminise” or “twinkifise” them. They don’t have to have certain interests or traits — please stop copying and pasting every bottom in mlm relationships.

This isn’t targeted to a specific character but there is a few that come to mind.

This isn’t to hate or shame anyone who disagrees!! This is just a personal opinion of mine — and I want to see if anyone agrees.

This picture is me trying to convince you to read my blog!!:

When (not if) you read my analysis, you will REEEAAAALLLLYYYYYYYY see how passionate I am about my silly little characters.

This whole blog will just be me yapping a lot :/

Hope you enjoy!!

Supernatural Romances make NO sense - A Random Opinion

Here's the thing: As much as I enjoy these concepts or tropes, they don't make sense when you take the time to think about it. Don't believe me? Let's go down the list then.

Vampire romances: The concept of a vampire romance really doesn't make sense when you take just five minutes to add all the aspects together.

Sure, it can be intriguing or whatever (especially if there’s a unique way in which the premise is handled), but let's really boil down the contents of its true implications here.

A vampire is a creature that feeds on human blood. Vampire romances USUALLY (not all the time, but usually) involve a vampire falling for a human rather than a vampire falling for another vampire.

Let me say this again. Vampire, which eats humans---then has stories where they then fall for humans.

That's like a chupacabra hooking up with a goat. What sense does it make for a creature to fall in love with something it usually tends to eat?

Even if the said predator of this relationship has no intention of eating their mate or harming them---would you, as a rational person, feel comfortable knowing that your partner has to harm YOUR species and eat them for their own survival? I highly doubt it.

"Oh, I know you kill people and drink their blood, but I know you won't kill ME! I'm just DIFFERENT--"

It literally makes no sense.

Zombie romances: Zombie romances make even less sense to me. Because now instead of a creature that simply wants your blood, it’s a creature that quite literally wants to rip your stomach open and eat your intestines like Twizzlers.

At least with a vampire, you could just have IV blood bags for them to drink to put off their thirst for a WHILE. But when it comes to zombies, they literally rely on eating the WHOLE entirety of the human.

Once again, it’s like a chupacabra dating a goat. Oh, but what if the zombie doesn’t want to eat or harm their partner?

Well, then we get into even more ethically concerning details on the human’s part. Because aren’t zombies walking corpses that eat people? And if a human is willing to date or become uh…'entangled’ with a zombie, isn’t that a form of necrophilia since the zombie is literally just a man-eating corpse? 

Sure, we could argue whether or not zombies are living or non-living. But let's be honest here: the majority of the time, zombies do not look cute. They are rotting parts of their bodies, they look dead, they smell horrible, they’re covered in blood, and sometimes missing a limb or two. If you’re unironically attracted to that in real life or something (not including those who JUST like the stories for the stories), you are mentally ill—there’s no way around it for me. You are attracted to something that looks like a corpse. That in itself is necrophilia and it’s honestly gross from an incredibly literal standpoint.

Even if the zombie were to look like some cutesy/idealistic anime character or something, it still doesn't change the fact that this thing's practically DEAD.

Sure, like vampire romances, it could be interesting depending on the intricacies of the story. But it still makes no sense when you write it down on paper. Wow, you’re dating a creature that looks dead and has to fight off the urge to eat people every single second they're on this planet. How quirky. 

Ghost romances: Ghost romances also don’t make sense on paper. Now, this one is a bit more loose in my opinion since ghost archetypes are often experimented with in terms of what they can do or not do. It’s just one of those things where it really depends on the story world and the premise it's placed in. However, from the very cultural and general stance of how ghosts work, they can’t touch anything (except when it's to conveniently scare people, so even then, their intangibility is transient) and they can’t age. 

I’m sorry, but aren’t the driving points of a romance being able to see the characters display affection and/or get old together? And if a ghost can’t touch anything, what’s the point in being romantically involved with someone you can’t kiss? I get there’s long distance relationships, but if they’re in the same room with you—why would you want that? 

Even if the subject of physical intimacy wasn’t an issue, there’s still the prospect of aging. Because if your boo (pun intended) died young and is a ghost, that means they’re physically stuck at that age forever. Even if they were to be centuries older than you, wouldn’t it be weird to see some elderly person smooching on a young looking supernatural?

Let me put it like this. A human woman at 25 years old is in a relationship with a male ghost. The said male ghost died at 30. Sure, she could get away with dating him for another five or ten years, but eventually, the human woman ages in appearance physically and looks older than her ghost partner. And if she lives long enough, she’s gonna be 80 while her boo still looks 30. You’re seriously telling me that DOESN’T look weird from the outside? Wouldn't you be weirded out if some super old person was smooching up with someone decades younger than them?

At that point, to avoid any oddities, you’d be better off killing yourself in whatever spot they’re stuck to so you wouldn’t have to worry about aging out of proportion in the relationship (and if not aging, then to touch them). That sounds like a lot more work than it’s worth.

Werewolf romances: Werewolf romances are the only sort of supernatural romance I could possibly get behind—and even then, it’s still highly dependent on how the said story chooses to handle the workings of lycanthropy. 

At least with this partner, they most likely can turn humans who won’t HAVE to kill you out of survival. You don’t have to be sorry about some super weird complex age gap. And you can touch them. Sounds like a pretty decent basis so far. BUT there’s always a catch.

A werewolf is (duh) a person who can turn into a wolf (or wolf-like monster). When it comes to these beings, it really is a roll of the dice. Because some versions will make them seem they have no thought process or control at all—whereas others give them complete control. So to call a werewolf automatically dangerous to the well being of their human partner is rather tough to say off the bat. Though, I do know that all of that fur that sheds off of them will be annoying to deal with (and that’s not even counting all of the things they might chew up---like your shoes).

And while I would be inclined to agree that being in a relationship with a werewolf could most definitely be a form of beastiality, at the very LEAST a werewolf can revert back into a human the majority of the time. So as long as you’re only doing stuff with them as a human, you should technically be fine, right?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still don’t find much appeal in becoming romantically involved with someone who can become some giant creepy wolf abomination, but at least there’s SOME things in there you COULD manipulate depending on which universe you land into.

Overall, while I do think supernatural romances are indeed a fun concept (and I DO tend to enjoy some of these stories), there’s no way in HECK I think they’re ACTUALLY plausible (unless you add some major--MAJOR--plot armor).

Some of my favorite tropes!

(just for the heck of it)

Character who starts out as an antagonist/villain and goes through a redemption arc

^ The above, but after they are redeemed, they still struggle to integrate in with 'the good guys' and have a long road of earning the trust of others

Homunculus/artificially created being who is misunderstood by others/longs to understand humanity

^ Especially when they are good but were created by someone evil

As an alternative take, a homunculus/artificially created being who was made by someone very good and struggles to live up to their creator's light

A very hard to get along with/seemingly jerk-y character who is actually extremely loving and sensitive deep down, and it shows around the people they trust

Siblings who are mirrors of the other (what they might be, could have been, and wish they were), who understand each other more deeply than anyone else but struggle to reconcile themselves to one another

Villains/antagonists who give the hero a terrible time but are actually really kind and considerate to their own associates (has a found family with all of their henchmen, has really good healthcare benefits and perks for their workers, is able to upkeep positive relationships and is actually respected)

me, trying to explain that I change how I portray the characters to match the narrative and how it affects them but they’re still the same core person: Please just listen

The goose in my basement: Honk

i don't particularly like amy rose 😬☝️

its mostly because of her characterization

TW: opinions

she is seen typically as a codependent because she is literally an independent woman she can do things by herself as seen in sever things and yet in so SO many pieces of media shes extremely codependent and relies on others even though she is perfectly capable of doing things on her own shes also depicted as a clingy mess to sonic and oblivious to how sonic does NOT like her (sometimes) despite the fact that she's allegedly aware of other's emotions it just bugs me.

seeing her separately from these basic and stereotypical girl characterizations i dont dislike her nearly as much as i tend to but the way that she's written in most things as annoying and basic i just don't like her. :[

i think the concept of her character is pretty good but she's never written in a way that makes her seem capable despite the fact she is.

I'm so glad people actually talk about this!! The whole first episode is spent building up Izuku's backstory just for it to never matter outside of him not knowing how to use his quirk.

The worst part is that 1) mha isn't known for having shitty backstories, many of the characters are known specifically for their well written stories (the todorokis, most of the league, even the relationship between bakugo and izuku before and throughout canon) so it's incredibly frustrating to see the main character's hardly affect him after a while

and 2) that the original plot WAS that Izuku would stay quirkless and use weapons to become a hero. I'm not sure how true this part is, but I've heard that the reason it was changed is because one of the editors convinced horikoshi that the main character not having a superpower would make it boring.

MHA: Izuku Midoriya

I know I'm kicking a hornets nest here, but I feel like Izuku was more interesting as a protagonist before he got a handle on One for All. Like, way back when he was still breaking his own bones on the regular. It just feels like he got super powerful and it doesn't have a cost or stakes for him anymore. (I'm not saying it doesn't, I'm saying it doesn't feel like it.) It also kind of undermines who he started off as.

Like, he was a smart and goodhearted kid who wanted to be a hero, but didn't have a Quirk. On that premise, I would have expected him to Batman or Iron Man his way into heroics. Instead, they kind of Green Lantern/Blue Beetle it. Which is fine, sort of. Except GL and BB origins are usually good people going about their business and suddenly granted power they feel obligated to do good with. It vibes differently for a kid who desperately wants to do good and is suddenly given the powers of Superman (and later everyone else in the justice league). Comparison is getting away from me.

Giving that power to an untrained, unprepared child feels like Izuku is being taken advantage of. And he kind of was. There were better options, for both passing on the Quirk and training the recipient. But narratively it also helps give Izuku seemingly impossible expectations to live up to and a very short timeframe to do it in. It keeps him an underdog, even with access to unholy levels of power. And we were introduced to MHA as an underdog story.

As Izuku struggles to become the hero we (the audience) know he can become, we also watch him lose the rose-tinted view of heroics. The system is corrupt. Its not just a few cowards who don't help because of a bad quirk match-up (I have strong feelings about the sludge villain incident), its built into the system. If the story had stayed more on that, I think I would have enjoyed where it went. You can have the most powerful hero in the world and a corrupt system will still leave them the underdog.

But instead they make it more of a legacy 1v1. All Might v All for One, then Izuku v Shigaraki. Which might be easier to illustrate and finish, but it less narratively satisfying. I get that this is battle shounen, and they're all about their big power-scale-shattering fights with their arch enemies, but was it weird I was sort of expecting better by a certain point?

You know, as someone who adores the Four swords adventures manga, I'm always confused by Green's characterization. Vio, Blue, and Red are obvious. Brains, brawn, and heart respectively. But Green? He's just a tad to vague for me. His main thing in the manga is some form of classic heroism, which doesn't really feel like a character trait iykwim? It always just kinda feels like he's supposed to be Link™ but that kinda defeats the purpose. So! I'm going to be rambling about a couple Green concepts that I think give him a bit more spice.

Aggressively average Green. Exactly what it sounds like, he is so horribly, terribly average at everything. Take his dubious characterization and dial it up to 11. Massive potential for an identity crisis, and easy to paste into the manga. His heroism is sorta the only thing he clings to, after all, if he's not the hero, who is he?

Mans fucking tired Green. This dude has been trying desperately to wrangle 3 would-be heroes into some state of cohesion, because he's the actual braincell. Sure, Vio has a lot of facts, but he has no common sense. Green is just trying to make sure his brothers(?) don't die. If it were up to Green, they would all be sitting at home with some hot cocoa and a kitty.

Go with the flow Green. Drawing particularly from the four elements that forged the four sword, we're leaning into the idea of the air element. Green's got absolutely 0 braincells this time, he's moving on vibes. Oh, we're four people now? Sounds good to me. I'm in the middle of the desert? Sure, why not. Vio's being gay with the enemy? Good for him. This is arguably harder to implement in the canon, but we can just say at the time he was just doing what felt most in line with the goal of "be a hero, save Zelda"

Ew Vio Green. Leaning more into their rivalry that was pretty awesome, we're making Green as opposite Vio as possible. While Vio is all "the ends justify the means" Green thinks you can't break the rules even for a good cause. While Vio is very into book learning, Green is very experience oriented. While Vio is an introvert, Green is an Extrovert. You get what I mean? Relying on Vio's incredible characterization to help bolster Green's.

Add more green character types in reblogs or comments pls! I really wanna see it, or heck, if you have complaints about another FSA manga character I'd also love to hear your changes!