YMMV / Black And Gold

• Alternate Character Interpretation: L.J. Either she's Broken Bird and victim of abuse that's made her a self-destructive Anti-Hero... OR she's a Brilliant, but Lazy Manipulative Bastard who uses her tragic past to fuel her self-loathing, which she then uses as an excuse to Martyr herself and not have to deal with her problems.
• Anvilicious: "Self-loathing is bad" is brought home a few times, especially when you see where the self-destructive practices of Rachel and L.J. got them.
• Awesome Music: It has been stated by Word of God that the official song for Black and Gold is ofcourse "Symmetry" by Falling Up (of course). "Reckless Youth" by Pillar and "Sweet Sacrifice" by Evanescence are also given mention.
• Crazy Is Cool: Kira. Let us reiterate. She's an unstable schizophrenic who can turn into a missile launcher.
• Die for Our Ship: Purposely averted. OAS states that she really wanted Kid to have a love interest, and the best way to give him a worthy and equal pairing was to create a counterpart. Canon characters aren't used much because the author fears writing them OOC.
• Fridge Brilliance: Everywhere. The whole reason OAS' reveals come off as so damn shocking is that she lays these subtle hints all over her work, and then never draws attention to them again, so that they all add up to a big Wham Episode. Little sentences or phrases in early chapters end up being part of the whole plot. Just see chapter 10, where OAS actually collected all of the hints foreshadowing John and Damian's intentions, and you're jaw will drop at how you remember reading it but how it all went completely over your head.
  • For example, go back and pay very close attention to how L.J. met Kira. No, just how that situation occurred is not an Aborted Arc, Red Herring Twist or Noodle Incident. It's pretty damn important.
• Growing the Beard: The story matures from slapstick and playful humor to a rather dark, psychological study of maturity and fractured families.
• Moment of Awesome: A few, but what really made Kira awesome in the eyes of fans was her taking a door, and flipping it on it's hinges so that the symmetrical design faced inward. Then she locked Kid and L.J. inside. Cue L.J. trying to break the door down, and Kid not letting her. Hilarity ensues.
• Shocking Moments: Damn. Let's see, L.J. is a Stepford Smiler, John and Damian are of the Wild Card alignment, Kira is a weapon born to a witch family who then aligned herself with L.J's Nightmare Fuel older sister in an attempt to pass the Magical Girl Queenliness Test and win over her "Well Done, Son" Guy family, and has been responsible for the witch attacks on the school but was unaware due to her Jekyll & Hyde Identity Amnesia. Also, L.J.'s sister stuck herself to L.J., creating an Enemy Within situation that L.J. was so spectacular at hiding that not even her best friends (who she regularly exchanges wavelengths with) knew about. In fact, she's such a convincing Stepford Smiler that we, the readers, don't even know how twisted she is... while the story is written from her perspective . The only thing keeping us from thinking Original Alien Superspy made this all up as she went along is that Fridge Brilliance is also everywhere.

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