When you have time I would LOVE to hear your thoughts about post time skip buggy!!
Hi, anon! Sorry for the late-ish reply. I thought carefully about how I wanted to reply, but alas, here I am again, starting my metas in the strangest places. Anyways, here’s a seemingly unimportant question: Why is it funny that Buggy keeps failing upwards?
My answer also happens to be one of Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling:
"Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating."
You might be wondering why I chose this quote -- after all, Buggy manages to escape most conflicts by sheer coincidence. Take the canon-filler episode(s) “Little Buggy's Big Adventure,” for example; coincidence is the sole reason why he ends up on Gaimon’s island and eventually finds Alvida, one of his future allies. But for as much as Oda is guilty of using coincidences to benefit Buggy, he also creates coincidences to get Buggy into trouble. Sure, Buggy left on good terms with Gaimon/found Alvida, but only after:
Suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Luffy
Losing most of his body
Being chased by killer fish/eaten by a ginormous bird
Nearly getting shot in the head by Gaimon over a misunderstanding
Being chased AGAIN by a deadly crab???? LMAO???
Buggy’s “luck” functions like a pendulum -- for every good thing that happens to him, horrible things are guaranteed to follow. This core aspect of his character is what keeps the gag afloat. Buggy is never rewarded by the narrative without experiencing consequences. In order to earn moments of respite, he has to suffer.
I find it hilarious when people argue that Buggy doesn’t deserve to have good things happen to him. Because, yeah? Duh. Oda loves having his cake and eating it too. It’s not necessarily good to play both sides with the audience when it can cheapen emotional impact, but Oda will absolutely continue to make Buggy both a complete joke and a genuine character. He has fun that way. However, he’s not going to help Buggy without hurting him first.
But that's a very meta perspective. How does Buggy view his own beneficial coincidences? He’s now an emperor, and extremely close to the One Piece/Pirate King title that he so desperately wants. But why does he think he’s being rewarded, in-universe?
His facade.
His devoted followers, his influence, that billion-berry bounty, his emperor status -- all of it stems from his fake persona and its snowball effect. He’s well aware of this. In fact, I think it’s likely that he hates himself for being such a coward and hiding behind lies. But when he sees his true self as worthless, what else can he do except dig himself into a deeper hole?
Look at 1082. Buggy finally stands up for himself, claiming that wealth and power come from chasing after your dreams -- not grand schemes. Here, he’s talking to himself as much as he’s talking to Crocodile and Mihawk.
“This is wrong… This isn’t how I wanted my life to go…”
It’s a very depressing peek at the man behind the curtain. Buggy only ever wanted to follow his dreams, but he uses schemes to get ahead instead, because they're all he thinks he has. His lies are a crutch to depend on, so he doesn't have to face the truth: he doesn't believe in himself.
To me, 1082 reads as a "Hail Mary" moment from a character at an emotional low. Buggy still doesn't believe in himself, but he is saying: Fuck it. If Shanks and I finally have an equal chance at becoming Pirate King, I at least have to try... Right? We can confirm his lack of self-confidence, because Buggy even admits he got here by “luck or chance or whatever."
He cannot entertain the possibility that he'd get this far any other way. Of course he doesn't see himself as Shanks' equal. It’s one of many reasons he didn’t want to go with Shanks at Loguetown; he assumed he’d be working “under” Shanks (even though Shanks only said “Come with me!"), because he truly believes he is lesser in terms of potential/greatness. ("You coward!" can also be interpreted as Buggy projecting his own insecurities onto Shanks.) Buggy's decision in 1082 is a desperate leap of faith. "Go for broke," "shoot for the moon," etc.
Post-Timeskip Buggy may appear more dangerous than ever before, but in reality, he’s just a small fish in a big pond. The farther he crawls his way up the ladder of success, the worse he feels, because the life he has built is not how he wanted to live at all. Based on everything we've known about Pre-Timeskip Buggy, we should expect him to be happier than ever. He has influence. Power. His monetary value in the eyes of the World Government has shot up exponentially. But look at the poor guy. He's miserable.
If you've ever seen Better Call Saul, I think this scene from S4E9 is very similar to how I feel about Buggy:
JIMMY: There you go! Kick a man when he’s down!
KIM: Jimmy, you are always down.
Buggy is a character who is always down, even when you think he might be up. Until he stops maintaining that false image, he will always be punished by the narrative pendulum he's trapped himself in.
Unfortunately, change is hard, especially with the stakes he’s currently facing. If Buggy actually has to fight Blackbeard, Luffy, or Shanks... he can’t. Not alone. He needs people to believe the facade, because that's what got him here in the first place. He may look invincible, but he is quite possibly the most vulnerable character right now.
Crocodile and Mihawk would sell him to Satan for one corn chip (especially after that stunt he pulled in 1082). We haven't seen him improve his physical abilities (unless Oda pulls some off-screen bullshit). As an emperor, he has more people gunning for his head than ever before. Buggy’s last line of defense is his long-running gag -- if Oda decides to subvert our expectations, he’s a dead man walking.
And who would he have to blame but himself? He built his image on smoke and mirrors. Eventually, he's going to have to pay the price.
If Pre-Timeskip Buggy is a man defined by coincidence, then Post-Timeskip Buggy is defined by consequence.
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big day for my thoughts of things other than mike crew.
only listened to his statement 3 times today. as a treat i'm going to ramble on about his cadence; it's one of the reasons i've been able to listen to it *checks notes* at least 30 times in the last week.
it always catches me off-guard, because he makes pauses at places i don't expect him to. normally, when people speak, they pause at joining or connecting words, but mike constantly, throughout his statement, stops at odd places, like:
"exists in my mind... completely detached"
"dreamed that night of... shifting, branching"
they're not indicated in the transcript, because they're too short to really count, but it happens multiple times throughout his statement, like he's struggling for words, having difficulty either recalling or articulating what had happened. i adore either possibility, or both at the same time, because for the former you have his self-admitted "sometimes it's hard to keep track" & for the latter you have the obviously traumatic childhood and his "i'm not usually the sort for speeches".
i think when i first listened to his statement back in 2020, it kind of annoyed? me? because i was so used to mr. j. sims, oxford graduate, and his smooth posh voice, but now that my eyes have been opened it's just part of his charm.
it's got to be something about the dopamine expectation vs. actuality thing; if you know something too well it gets tiring, which is how i get sick of songs when i loop them. but even though i know basically every word of those 14 mins where mike crew speaks, i don't know the way he says it with 100% certainty, so each time i listen i'm treated to several surprises along the way and my brain loves it!!
(also tangentially related -- i always expect him to say 'decade' when he talks about the first 'real' storm in 10 years, because of course 10 years is a decade,, but maybe that's my literature-brain speaking? which is interesting because i'd thought with the amount of book-hunting mike's done he'd be more used to fancier terminology. or maybe he's just more utilitarian in his speech. or i'm just reading too much into a single word choice in a 1.5k+ word statement, which is far more likely)
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I think part of me expected this burnout would last a long time, but it’s drawing close to a year now. I have a strong reason to suspect medications are prolonging it. Granted: I have no intention of stopping medication, but I suspect I may need to make some changes. It’s been nice not to feel burning rage/crippling despair/panic most of the time, but I also miss being able to actually... act on things! Start things! Feel some semblance of motivation, as fleeting as it is. Mostly my reaction to prompts of any kind are “nah, don’t wanna” or “so what?” which isn’t terribly conducive to anything more than day to day life. (Y’all, I can’t even reliably plan my vacation and that’s pretty terrible.)
I’m saying this in part as a sort of explanation as to why I’ve been so slow to respond to anything, or post any art, or even re-open commissions this past year. I just... generally can’t make myself do anything that isn’t a part of my daily maintenance routine. Knowing that making art (even personal art) takes 3x times as long to complete is a standout reason I’ve been refusing to reopen commissions especially, since I’d be unwilling to make clients wait more than a few months for even something as simple as a sketch. People were patient enough with “Old Me,” I don’t think most would hold out for “New Me.”
Thankfully I’m speaking to my doctor tomorrow regarding my experiences on the current medication, and maybe I can find something that works a little better. I feel like I’ve been pretty fortunate so far, all things considered, and my side effects have been fairly mild. (Though I have suspicions it’s also thinning out my hair something fierce... probably time for supplements for that issue!)
Hopefully I’ll figure it out sooner rather than later? Either way, I’m learning to accept things as they are these days.
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ok so!! small reminders about me, since i do feel like lately a lot of blogs have been following me that don't agree with my opinions in the harry potter fandom specifically!
first and foremost, i am a minor. if you have in your bio "minors DNI" please don't follow me? or interact with my posts?? if you're over thirty, try not to respond to my stuff. grow up and learn to ignore it.
i do not care about, nor do i like snape. if you disagree with me, that's perfectly fine, i totally respect that, and good for you. however this blog is not a snape-loving environment. if that bothers you too much, you can unfollow me. i certainly like a lot of problematic characters (barty, evan etc), but i dont cry about it when others disagree with me.
i am not a death eater apologist, despite enjoying their characters. in non-canon stuff i love all these characters, they're amazing. however i'm not one of those people who think that the canon characters deserve to be forgiven because of abuse they've faced. if you disagree, again that's fine. but please be aware of this. (yeah i enjoy their characters, but they dont get to be forgiven)
if you dislike lily evans (or sirius black), just do not interact with my blog. i'm strong on this one. i don't like people who dislike lily evans. call me immature, i don't care. it's one thing i will not budge on!! any other character, and i could understand. but not lily babes <3 and also, i will strongly hate you if you hate sirius. really not kidding about this one.
if you strongly dislike jily, jegulus, or wolfstar, you probably shouldn't be here. i dont like discourse.
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the critical role cast as fic writers
matt: years-long canon-divergent epics with amazing plot, well-developed ocs, beautiful writing, and emotionally fulfilling narratives. world-building is spectacular, and elevates the existing canon with deeper history and lore. canon characters are a little ooc, but the rest is so good you can deal with the occasionally off line.
sam: humor fic that makes you cry with laughter, but also has surprisingly strong character development. lots of tongue-in-cheek character bashing. very obviously who his least favorites are.
marisha: purple prose and occasionally cringey dialogue but when she hits emotional moments right they fucking hurt. multiple comments call her ocs mary sues, but they are actually just badass and interesting. plot consists mostly of interpersonal and internal conflict.
travis: unoriginal plot and gratuitous concepts but very well executed. perfectly timed humor. no plot holes, excellent attention to detail. turns a character you previously ignored into your blorbo.
taliesin: bnf with devoted followers who ask for headcanons and commentary daily. writes only 100k+ dark!fic that is updated every few days. his readers demand whump and he supplies. dialogue is fucking SHARP, and you get chills days later. everyone has a terrible backstory. you need a cuddle after.
liam: 100% character studies, even if the summary suggests otherwise. sucks you in quickly and does a phenomenal job of exploring really complex character psyche, but goes on probably 30k longer than it should. characters make a lot of dumb mistakes that could be easily resolved but the complicated resolution is just engaging enough for you to hang in there. you are both sad and relieved when it's finished.
laura: that author. writes beautiful slow burns that are romantic and adventurous. peripheral relationships are fleshed out and meaningful, especially the platonic ones. tropes everywhere and some scenes are on the cheesy side, but you don't mind. writes the fandom classic au for the pairing and turns it into an original novel.
ashley: 3k fluffy one-shot pwps and hella cracky crossovers that you just have to try. rarely writes a pairing more than once. her list of works baffles you and you only recognize half the fandoms, but you end up reading them all because they are so unique and so well-written.
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