#I know this is niche because I talked about Marvel AND Sonic | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

artist-issues · 1 year

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Not every character needs to change to prove the Main Point. Sometimes a character, like Sonic or Captain America, embodies the Main Point, and then every character around them is changed by them.

For example, Captain America embodies “The Price of Freedom is High, but I Can Trust Others to Sacrifice For it With Me.” He believes that at the beginning of Winter Soldier, and he never changes; he believes it all the more even after the organization he was working for betrays him. The characters who see that he embodies that ideal and change based on his example are Natasha Romanoff and Nick Fury.

Nat and Fury start the movie believing that, if put to the test, nobody else can be trusted to pay the price for freedom. So they have to lie and spy to stop threats before they start. But by the end, Fury is willing to sacrifice his secrets and Nat is willing to sacrifice her life, because Cap showed them that other people can be trusted to sacrifice for freedom.

Or Sonic. In just about every game, Sonic embodies the main point of: “Keep Moving Forward to Do What’s Right.” He literally never, ever changes. When he falls he gets back up. When he fails he keeps going. When he’s facing impossible odds, he jumps right in the face of them. Even his gameplay is all about maintaining momentum, getting that momentum back when you get hit.

He doesn’t change, but the characters who interact with him do. Tails constantly follows Sonic’s example of solving problems even after he’s made a mistake. Amy goes from waiting on the sidelines and thinking only about what she wants to finding her own way to help. Shadow goes from literally being stuck in the past, one way or another, to just deciding who he is and how he wants to do the right thing based on the present; moving forward.

I think that “characters of Change” are OFTEN the main character, but not ALWAYS, and some of the most enduring characters are actually just static.

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magicstormfrostfire · 3 years

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This is completely random, but just seeing people talk about Steven Universe made me think about it overall and how I feel in comparison to Adventure Time. I don't dislike SU; its objectively good and I give it a 7/10. but I don't particularly like it's writing for a good chunk of it, and vastly prefer Adventure Time's storytelling (not that there is this-or-that ultimatum between them, but its sort of like a Mario vs Sonic, Marvel vs DC kind of thing fandom wise since a lot of folks shifted their interest to SU over time.)

I love the groundbreaking Steven Universe has done. I love the LGBT+ representation, and the discussion of niche topics. But a lot of cohesive storytelling and characterization was sacrificed for 'making a point' or 'being a metaphor' when the two concepts arent mutually exclusive. SU hit its mark exceptionally well sometimes, but toward the end the executions got very sloppy (and sometimes patronizing) when trying to 'say something'.

Adventure Time, however, does it very well, integrating things organically, each piece of the series building upon the established foundation to whatever message it wants to convey, and the HBO mini-series only amplifies that.

I know the wedding plotline for Ruby and Sapphire was the ultimatum for SU. And I hate that it was because....Unpopular Opinion time....I didn't even really enjoy the wedding?

Don't get me wrong, it was cute, and I love Ruby and Sapphire as a couple but it felt so shoehorned to me. Especially since Fusion was always this ethereal, ultimate connection of love and basic Earth Marriage seemed like such a weird step backwards in comparison.

Meanwhile in Obsidian, Marceline singing her song to Bubblegum while they were trapped in a volcano had so much love and intimacy, with so much of that meticulous groundwork for their current relationship's setup backing it up that it nearly made me cry.

-I understand that SU taking a leap of faith was priority and taking a stand for representation, and ultimately I respect and approve of their choice.

- I understand the way some things went were often because of compromise and unwanted input from the network. (Not all their writing choices, but I guess mostly just how the ending of the main series and Future went)

- and I understand that Adventure Time downplayed their gay relationship drastically because of CN (mainly referring to them denying Marcy/Bubblegum confirmation by a staff member way back) and were only able to fully flesh Bubbeline out toward the end and afterwards (with Obsidian) while SU did the exact opposite.

Im less critical of the way things went toward the ending of the series because I know why they went as awkward as they did, but it still gutted a lot of what the show could've been.

I commend them for doing what they did despite the imperfections but not-great storytelling just really makes or breaks a series for me, personally.

I've watched both series in full recently over quarantine and I guess my vast preference for AT over SU is very objective; AT's story was better to me, more fleshed out in both the world and characters, and made me feel more things. Obsidian and Together Again still gives me goosbumps everytime I watch it, where SU:Future falls flat for me toward the end in an awkward way. I understand the paths taken were different in nature, and each series has its flaws, but ultimately I think AT ended up with a better told story in the long run and executing its topics well.

I appreciate what SU has done and the path its made for cartoons will never be forgotten.

but AT was a trailblazer in a different way for stories, emotions, concepts, and relationships, some of it even making the way for SU later on, and it will always just be my favorite.

#adventure time distant lands #adventure time #finn the human #jake the dog #steven universe future #steven universe #fandom

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