Shinneth
I loved that jab at lengthy transformation sequences in Voltron Force last night.
by , 22nd July 2011 at 11:15 AM (283 Views)
It's so nice to have Trifecta 18 done, you have no idea. Now I'll get to write some really fun things whenever I get to starting chapter 19, which shouldn't be long from now. First I just have to vent out all my negativity so I don't drive myself insane from bottling all up inside.
Also, since when was the word "Mary Sue" treated like it's up in the leagues of racist slurs around here? Oh, right. Because it's been associated with Iris, and apparently you're a horrible person if you have even the slightest negative connotation about Iris as a character, her development, or the writers who are behind the handling of her character.
But because two wrongs totally make a right, it's perfectly justified to drag Cilan's name through the mud and call him a Gary Stu because that's nothing at all like the double standards that have been needlessly bitched about due to the heinous crime of anyone doing anything less than loving and worshipping the almighty Iris.
I have zero sympathy for anyone who whines about how sick they are of Iris "being called a Mary Sue", even though she hasn't outright been labeled one and it's merely observed that the writers are inadvertently making her take on more Sue traits as time goes by, so much to the point that it's a cause for concern. Guess what! There is a difference, but this wouldn't be the first time wild conclusions were jumped to because of hasty assumptions.
The reason I don't feel sorry for anyone who's upset by associating Iris with the word? I've experienced the same kind of scenario with my own favorite character. Someone on LJ called him a Villain Sue and made all sorts of erroneous accusations to justify their dislike of the character. And mind you, this was a Big Name Fan doing this, meaning the influence could easily spread these misconceptions across the fandom and make a fine mess of things. But did I jump in, call out this person for their lies, organize a character defense crusade and force that person to change their mind? No. I did not. I never once interacted with that person. All I did was show the entry to my friends during a Skype call, we all made fun of her perceptions contained entirely within the call, and that was it. I got over it and I moved on.
Is it because I didn't like that character enough to defend him? No. It's because I didn't feel the need to start a conflict based entirely on their opinion of a fictional character, however warped it was.They weren't attacking real-life fans of the character, they weren't invading fan clubs or harrassing people who thought differently, and though this person had to have been heavily misinformed for the exaggerated accusations, I felt no need to enlighten that person. That person's extremely negative view on that character had no bearing whatsoever on how much I enjoyed the character, and so any action I could've made to "right" this "wrong" wouldn't have been worth the time or effort. I've seen similar sentiments here on the forums as well, but again, I've done no crusading to prove them wrong and change their minds. It's easier to ignore such sentiments than you might think.
This is why I roll my eyes at this "situation" with Iris. Mountains are being made of molehills, all because it seems no one but a select few are willing to agree to disagree and leave it at that. Since I've found multiple sources of me and some of my friends being slandered (both here and elsewhere) solely for not liking Iris - claiming we're in cahoots to get a rise out of Iris fans by relentlessly trolling them and dissing Iris for the hell of it - I'd say I have far more reason to be pissed off about this scenario than anyone who's just sick of seeing the word "Mary Sue" sprinkled about in the forums.
Is it that hard to believe that I genuinely really don't like a character and want to speak my mind with no ulterior motive whatsoever? I honestly couldn't care less who agrees or disagrees with me, and I have better things to do with my time than be a manipulative asshole towards people I don't even know. I initially had very high hopes for Iris; I'll admit rising my expectations was my own fault since I ended up being far more disappointed than I would've been had I not hyped up the prospects for the upcoming series. But that still doesn't excuse what I honestly feel is very poor writing, and it's not just with Iris. There's dozens of aspects of BW I dislike and am annoyed by, but since Iris is a main character, it's significantly harder to ignore whenever they screw up with her. I've watched and analyzed plenty of episodes, and I don't think it's a coincidence that in the episodes of BW I actually like, Iris is pretty much always the sole low point of these episodes due to various reasons.
There are perfectly good reasons why Iris is under suspicion of becoming some form of a Sue down the road. Anyone who bothers to research TV Tropes can see there are many different variations of Mary Sues. Yes, the essence of the original Mary Sue usually aren't seen beyond horrible fanfics, but there are valid points out here that I think justify the belief that Iris is starting to cross into that territory (once again: this is not to say she is a full-blown Mary Sue). A lot of people didn't like how the ongoing Excadrill "subplot" (can you call it an ongoing subplot when it existed for all of two episodes?) was handled, and I think one would be hard-pressed to argue that Emolga suddenly becoming obedient and battle-ready out of the blue with no explanation whatsoever was a good move. How is it that Iris' problems with her Pokemon are getting resolved with little to no struggle on Iris' end, with no revelations of how her flaws may be holding back her true potential (y'know, how it works for everyone else in this series), and rather that the Pokemon is the solely the one at fault (despite what was said in DP about how a Pokemon's shortcomings are the fault of the trainer). Iris already knows all there is to know about being a Dragon Master and can do what Dragon Masters do, and since her Pokemon can better themselves through the magic of plot convenience that requires no visual effort of Iris, y'know, training these Pokemon, there's got to be a point where you stop and realize "Okay, is it me or is Iris getting by way too easily?"
She gives Ash a hard time for absolutely no reason and gets away with it, she's needlessly overly-critical towards others and no one tells her to shut her face, she's always got something negative to say whenever something amusing or entertaining is going on (hence the Debbie Downer monicker), so from my perspective and from others, Iris just brings everything down to a depressing halt. I feel no real trio vibe between her, Ash, and Cilan.
Yet I do feel a trio vibe with Ash, Cilan, and... Bianca. I finally realized that I'd probably enjoy this show a lot better if Bianca was the token girl and Iris, with some retooling, became a rival. Because when it comes down to it, even though the writers obviously want us to feel for Iris (otherwise we wouldn't have seen her cry bitch tears in BW036) even though I honestly have trouble connecting with her. I can't sympathize with her, I can't understand her attitude or motives, and the story has given me no reason to want her to succeed in her goal. Bianca, on the other hand, I can connect with. She has an engaging plot in the game that seems to be set to be adapted into the anime, and I have to say a ditzy girl striving to become a trainer to prove her discouraging and overprotective dad wrong is a much more heartfelt story than watching the journey of a young girl prodigy who doesn't act like one half the time who possesses this self-righteous superiority complex and deflection issues, whose catchphrase only serves to put down others and reflect on her own immaturity that the series so far is ignoring in favor of glorifying her inherent abilities, strive to become a Dragon Master even though she already knows everything she needs in order to become one and all she really has left is to wait for her weak-ass or ornery Pokemon to catch up with her.
I gotta say, that's not really a thrilling story. Hell, Brock was rarely thrilling but his aspirations had more spirit and emotional appeal than this.
Actually, if I weren't so certain I'd get eaten alive here by doing so, I'd love to have a topic about the prospects of a "What If?" scenario where Bianca is the token girl of BW instead of Iris and how the series would go about that way. And before anyone brings this up, her trainer status could always change early on into another path (similar to May), since Bianca in the games was always unsure about whether or not she'd be fit to be a trainer and ultimately ended up taking on a more supportive role, which she could do in the anime as well. That way, we won't have to deal with repeat Gym battles. And hell, if she were part of the main cast, Ash wouldn't have needed to catch that personality-deprived Tepig and might've caught something more worthwhile in its place.
Really, it's a fascinating idea and I'd love to discuss it, but I'm sure it would be interpreted as "more Iris-hating" which is apparently a crime here now.
Anyway, I'll stop here. I'm sure this will brew a fine shitstorm; that's what I get for speaking my mind. How dare I, right?
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