blackrthanblack | (no subject)

Hmm. It could be nothing, but on the other hand, I'd feel better if we made sure. I'm not so much worried about their physical development... our genes should more than take care of that... I'm only concerned about possible mental damage... the brain is a very subtle thing, after all.

I imagine he'd be hated by some people no matter what you did. ...what's your idea, though?

Kay. let's check then.

Some prince of space or some shit for X reason has to marry a bunch of girls. Culture Clash Comedy of Errors occurs.

Alright.

Aha. Well, you do want to make sure the reason isn't all about him... he'd be pretty chauvinistic if the only reason he married all of them was for an inheritance or something.

Well it would start that way, I guess, under penalty of exploding pants or something. He matures into a more interesting character later on.

I'm thinking of his rivals being a werewolf, a Yakuza gangster, and a haughty Swedish prince.

Hmm. I dunno. It might work, but I imagine he won't be especially liked, except maybe by the more rabid of fans. I've heard stories about how they can get. *shiver*

...I get the first two, I think, but Swedish Prince?

... Why?

[Private to Erland]
He's in love with me. He's muscular. And he's doing my sister.

Well, just seems like the kind of guy you'd like to see fail, you know? Or maybe that's just me.

[Private to Shiyoko]
...right.

He will. A lot.

[Private to Erland]
How do you feel about his expy being flaming, over the top, and the girls put with him out of pity?

Aha, so that's your plan.

[Private to Shiyoko]
...considering mine, that only seems fair.

What's my plan?

[Private to Erland]
I'll just have to mock everyone with this, then.

Make my expy be the comic foil of sorts. Who probably does things entirely over-the-top, then learns that he needs to actually have feelings, and learns to love and all that jazz.

[Private to Shiyoko]
...except the girls. Because we all know that's what's going to sell the thing anyway.

You're the protagonist. But that makes sense.

[Private to Erland]
... Is it bad I want to do the Shiroko and Susan expies with drill hair?

Oh, the girls will get mocking, but yeah, they'll probably be treated be.

Would a character people want to see fail even be a protagonist? Main character, sure, but protagonist?

[Private to Shiyoko]
...for the record, yes. Off the record? Not at allll.

Better to have them somewhat silly, but not outright mocked.

That's the same thing.

[Private to Erland]
Why not at all off the record, Pink. Just out of curiosity.

Yeah. They'll be silly.

Not exactly. The protagonist is the one you're supposed to identify with.

[Private to Shiyoko]
Well, Shiroko not as much, but Susan definitely has the haughty trying-to-outdo-everyone thing with her, so it fits. Shiroko has the class president forcefulness, so it kind of works, but forehead revealing would probably be a bit better there.

Silly is usually endearing in girls, though.

... I'm supposed to identify with a rubberman?

[Private to Erland]
... Big forehead Shiroko makes me queasy.

... Really? I always thought it's problems.

Or want to be him... there's all kinds of people, after all.

[Private to Shiyoko]
Not sure what else to suggest, then.

Depends on the guy. And the problem.

The protagonist also seems to be the butt of a lot of jokes in these sort of stories, though.

[Private to Pink]
... Drill Hair Shiroko it is.

... I meant something else, but durrrp.

Well, it's usually from the wacky situations they're in, not so much from being fail themselves. ...at least, not a selfish kind of fail.

[Private to Shiyoko]

Oh, did you mean, like, silly leads to problems?

... I don't get the difference.

[Private to Pink]
I don't know what I meant. I guess that might work.

Well, let's take a couple different things as examples. There's the Disney Beast. Completely selfish and spoiled, needs a girl to break the curse, and basically kidnaps a girl to try and un-curse himself. Of course he's completely awkward to try and make him likable, but ultimately he's kinda on the creepy side, if you think about it a while.

Other example, Tenchi from the old OVA series. He's kind of a brat but good at heart, but he doesn't have any real designs he's trying to fill out... he just steps up to protect the girls even though they give him headaches sometimes.

Then there's some others, I think. I've heard of one where the guy is considered a demon, so girls are sent to his private island as sacrifices of sorts. They build a city or something and live lives... probably should read it someday. Anyway, he's on the not-selfish side, since he's not the one who forced the girls into anything.

Then another where a guy was obsessed with ideal body parts, and was crazy protective of anyone with even one ideal part. He's more on the selfish side since he's basically hording the girls for his own libido, I guess.

I think I've heard of one where a guy needed to marry someone for some reason, and there was a contest for it... I can't tell you much about it, so can't say which side it fits on.

tl;dr: The more stake the guy has into getting the girl other than the girl themselves, the less people are going to admire his efforts.

I always found Beauty and the Beast and Ai Kora cute, honestly.

... Shina Dark?

...sounds like you might have heard of all of those.

In any case, do you kinda see what I'm getting at?

Nope.

...I was afraid you'd say that.