Forum - View topicOver-powered heroes.
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#839747
Posts: 9 |
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[Edit]: Removed spam.
Last edited by #839747 on Tue Sep 15, 2015 4:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13240 |
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Having a weaker, unconfident protagonist (like Shinji) or one that only needs to go training in the mountains a bit in order to beat a new foe (like Goku or any shonen hero ever) are by far the most common sort of protagonist. Sometimes people want something different.
Like all things, how well an OP character works is dependent on the writing. But an OP protagonist comes with their own unique set of challenges. I'm a Superman fan and I know a lot of people hate him and think he's boring. He might have few foes who can rival him in combat but he has other things to worry about. Because of his immense power he has to keep perfect control over his actions so he doesn't hurt anyone. He's a symbol of justice and thus can't do anything to tarnish that image. He has the power to solve all the world's problems but doing so would make humanity overly dependent on him. With OP protagonists it's about how they effect the world rather than the other way around. On a more base level it is cool to see some one kick a lot of ass, especially if that character is supposed to be a stand in for yourself. Even if there's no real threat to the hero it's nice to see bad guys get what's coming to them. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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^
Ah, I take it you have the World of Cardboard speech in mind? ---------- I think OP characters are basically a form of wish-fulfilment. As in, what if you weren't weak, what if you didn't have to train and work hard. What if you were just awesome right from the start and were only limited by your own morals. What if consequences didn't apply to you. What if you could do anything you wanted and could defeat anyone who annoyed you. It would be like having cheats on in a videogame. In fact, like would become a game. While being too powerful could be boring, it's still a seductive proposition. People have the desire to become someone important and strong without using any effort to achieve it. Given that fact, they enjoy putting themselves in the shoes of characters who are power personified. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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The earliest written heroes in history were less about "strength of character" and more so about "they can overcome ANY opponent" so writing up an Overpowered Hero is in truth par for course where establishing a character is something to be more nuanced if a story becomes more than just telling an audience for 10 minutes the exploits of "badass Hercules".
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meiam
Posts: 3450 |
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I don't particularly enjoy OP character themselves, but they generally avoid a lot of the stuff that I hate in main character.
The main one is that non OP character very often have OP power, but to keep fight unpredictable the writer usually make the main character very very stupid at using there power (see future diary for the best example in my mind at the moment). OP character usually don't have this problem. It also avoid a lot of power creep, since the character start OP they usually don't improve much, so you don't have huge leap in power. In some show the first arc enemy can kill someone with there mind, second one they can wipe out a small city then a country then the earth and things just get really weird. There's also minimal amount of whining and lamenting involved. If the main character is too weak at some point they usually quickly decide to train or something similar, rather than spending a few chapter/episode moping around. Overall I just find that OP character have more interesting personality. None of these advantage require OP character, they just usually come in bundle. |
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Night fox
 Posts: 561 Location: Sweden |
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In some instances a character's significant power is important to convey a moral dilemma, by showing the viewer that violence is not the answer when solving the world's problems. In Maoyu, the exteremely powerful Hero, who starts out as simpleminded and ignorant, gradually matures and realizes that the world is very complex and that not all problems can/should be dealt with using brute force.
When children get to a certain age, they start to develop a strong sense of justice and insist that everything be fair. Candy and christmas presents should be evenly distributed between siblings, or hell will break loose. Politicians should just solve global problems like war, disease and famine already, because how hard can it be? Shows like Maoyu can help explain why everything isn't just in the world and maybe wash away some naiveté and help children mature a little. Generally, though, I agree with #839747 in that I quickly lose interest in overpowered characters. That's probably why I've never been a fan of the mecha genre. Just because a character can destroy planets by piloting a giant robot that fires laserbeams from its eyes, doesn't make him interesting imo. |
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Lili-Hime
 Posts: 569 |
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It really depends on the writing. Vash from Trigun and Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin are both pretty OP compared to the rest of the world around them. But they're limited by their moral code to not kill anyone, so it makes the story interesting.
On the other hand, take something like Hellsing Ultimate. Alucard pretty much just rips through his enemies without much trouble, so it kind of loses the suspense. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Well the show I think recently in terms of OP characters would be The Seven Deadly Sins, it almost a completely different show than others because as it often follows the basis villains pretty much being overpowered, but the heroes are even more than that. I am sure that wish fulfilment is part of it, but I think there is also the general want of feeling that the only thing holding back the protagonist is their own decisions.
They might want things to be interesting which would hit a chord with the audience in wanting entertainment. It might be that if they went too hard they might hurt someone, a general rule of play people learn and sympathise with and says something about the character's character. It might be that the character is naturally different from other characters, and thus somewhat isolated from everyone else, which can also be something people can sympathise with in feeling different from others, especially when specific weaknesses are added. And lastly, it can be simply cool, people don't always don't want to watch something where it can be a real struggle, they want to watch something fun. |
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Spotlesseden
Posts: 3514 Location: earth |
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Americans like powerful hero in their comic.
do you want to be Superman or Batman or Shinji? |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Because someone competent with the skills to win is a breath of fresh air and a nice change from nakama power and long dragged out training arcs.
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ayanami000
 Posts: 79 |
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not all people like overpowered character. maybe the young one like overpowered but not the adult ones. its kinda boring if the character is overpowered like they can destroy the entire universe or something. but i love dragonball tho because thats the first anime I've watched lol
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5150 |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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Maybe because most of us are so underpowered in RL. We like seeing someone blow away the petty BS from time to time. I do, anyway. Of course, it all depends on how it is presented. Some types of OP are just stupid and not very entertaining, but other kinds are pretty awesome just for the spectacle.
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