Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Misused
, started by MsCC93 on Jun 9th 2017 at 2:55:01 PM
The example of Miko from Order of the Stick is smeared on extremely thick, at least to this troper. The person who wrote that example clearly sympathizes entirely with Miko. One singular sentence is dedicated to the "she deserved it" perspective (Which is little more than a blow-by-blow account of what happened), and then 3 bullet points' worth of text presenting the OTHER perspective. Plus some of the examples are patently absurd... "finding out your prudish judgmental grand mother has a hot 18 year old boy toy"? Whaaaat? This troper did indeed sympathize with Miko - it was a crappy way to end one's life - but feels it was necessary. Miko was not about to snap out of her delusions and become a good guy. If she had remained alive, she would have bent her considerable combat prowess against the heroes and continued to remain a dangerous foe. The author precedes one of the bullets with "Not to drive the point home..." Sorry, pal, but in my opinion, that's exactly what you did.
Hide / Show Replies
Writing in four years later - :p - that entire bullet point is overlong and reads like a forum debate. I'm going to curtail it, and leave the old version here for posterity. This is how not to bring character debates into the main page!
Two prevailing opinions are:
- She deserved to die because she capped off her role as The Scrappy by Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, killing the Cool Old Guy, weakening the fabric of the universe, and ensuring that the villains won the battle for Azure City, all while thinking she was still doing the right thing.
- She becomes sympathetic in the eyes of the audience because her last actions were made under the belief that she was saving everyone instead of dooming her side to exile, and then after being mortally wounded as a result, the spirit of the founder of her order explains to her just how she screwed up and tells her that she won't get a chance at true redemption, but that her celestial horse will still get to visit her in the afterlife. Sniff And in a 'verse where it has been proven that Death Is Cheap, she was decided by the author to be so unworthy of resurrection and redemption that any chance of it happening is rendered moot in a throwaway gag.
- Not to drive the point home, but another aspect of the death that turns it into a touching moment is her last words. Miko was, above all else, uncompromising. She would never accept anything but the most pristine of Lawful Good, would go over the top with her expectations and would scream and cry whenever she did not get her way. Yet here, in her last moments, she was denied the thing she wanted the most, being a paladin. When that happens, she shows a final bit of character development when instead of crying about it, she instead just asks if she will see her only real companion again. And when given just that small favor, instead of screaming about what she really wanted, showed maturity in compromising for that one little bit, by saying "I can live with that." In her last moments she learns to compromise what she wants.
- Some think she might just have been driven a tiny bit insane by the revelation that said cool old guy mentor and father figure who personally recruited her into the order of paladins had been lying and manipulating her (for the great good but still that has to be like finding out your prudish judgmental grand mother has a hot 18 year old boy toy.) resulting in her paranoid delusions but this party is just less vocal about their opinion. Also the fact that the party magnificent bastard (Belkar) was deliberately pushing all her buttons the moment she arrested the party.
Does it count if the event in question that happens to The Scrappy is tragic, but not a death? The trope description says that it's a Death Trope and that it's when The Scrappy is killed off, but some of the examples listed don't involve deaths.
Edited by SWFMax Hide / Show Replies
Nah, that'd be more like Rescued from the Scrappy Heap.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Walking Dead's killing Andrea might be the opposite ("And there was much rejoicing") but the creators were clearly going for this trope.
From the examples':
- Shirley Fennette in Code Geass. "Whiny", "stupid", "powerless" and "in love with the main character", she quickly earned her Scrappydom in the first season. Yet the reaction from the fanbase following her heartwrenching and VERY well-done death scene in the second was one of sheer and absolute outrage towards her murderer. Who would have thought?
- And later? The murderer, Rolo, died too... and lots of fans mourned him instead of cheering because he sacrificed his life for Lelouch, even after Lelouch confessed his hatred toward Rolo, as the first and last thing he truly did of his own will. Lelouch himself ended up mourning him when all was said and done.
- The only reason why Shirley didn't die in the first season was because she was unexpectedly popular with fans.
I don't know, but it just feels like there might be a revision. I don't want to deny the last statement, Code Geass having a notorious Broken Base and all (and hey, I really liked Shirley), but it kind of feels like it has a hint of "Well hey, she did too have fans!" to it.
Edited by Stoogebie
It says No Real-Life Examples, but does that apply to companies too? A lot of people who hated their policies felt sad about 4Kids's closing. As Little Kuriboh put it (at the end of YGOTAS episode 56): YUGI: "It's weird. I'm actually kind of sad to see them go." KAIBA: "Yeah, after all, they did provide us with hours of entertainment. So what if they censored a few things? They were just doing their job." YUGI: "And without them, we wouldn't have Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged. So from now on, let's remember them as the guys who gave us fond childhood memories—and unfortunately, the One Piece theme song."
Hide / Show Replies
I'm afraid that does apply to companies as well.
That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.
- Runaways: Xavin's Heroic Sacrifice to save Karolina from the rest of her race seeking revenge against her for her parents actions. Got this reader who always hated that smug gender-bending asshat.
Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Snowclone
, started by Telcontar on Jun 10th 2013 at 4:09:43 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman