Discussing the Damsel Scrappy business

[sarajayechan]

So you have a character who's always getting in trouble and needs rescuing, to the point where the audience goes "JUST LET IT DIE ALREADY AND GO BACK TO YOUR KICKASS ADVENTURES!!". And maybe the character really IS obnoxious or annoying, and hatred of them is understandable

Comments

[rosehiptea]

I agree that this happens frequently. I see it fanfic also, with characters obviously being mouthpieces for the author's viewpoint rather than acting as they do in canon.

It's especially painful to watch this fan reaction when it's the hero's possible love interest getting in trouble because the Bad Guy wants to get to the hero. If the fans thing she's stupid, they can't go thinking the hero is stupid for wanting to save her, so they make up reasons why the hero secretly hates doing it or blame her for anything bad that happens -- even if it's pretty obvious in canon that he cares about her a lot and that's why the Bad Guy knows it's an easy way to get to him.

(It's not always a male hero and a female love interest, but almost always.)

[sarajayechan]

Oh God, I HATE fanfics like that.

(It's not always a male hero and a female love interest, but almost always.)

Usagi and Mamoru, need I say more? Though I can't remember the last time any fans said "Usagi should just let Mamoru die because he's a stupid damsel", they prefer to just have him get hit by a truck so she can shack up with someone else.

[sarajayechan]

If your beloved hero did decide that it was okay to let Bendite die because the scale's just lifted from their eyes and they were truly in love with Crishal all along and Bendite is just totally annoying amirite, then that's serious ethical dissonance within the story-world. If canon establishes that Afua and Bendite really do care about each other, it's OOC for the hero to suddenly refuse to save the person in danger even if they are being shipped with someone else in the story.

Exactly. Again with the Mario example, a lot of fans joke that Mario is sick of saving Peach because he doesn't "get anything" in return except a kiss on the cheek or maybe some cake. It's pretty obvious he's not doing it for the reward and genuinely cares about her.

[pimmy]

Ah yeah, this sorta thing always bugs me, especially in fan-works and the like. Maybe it's weird that I tend to first connect with the motivations of the hero? Ha, or maybe I'm just tired of people using this technique as a comedy element. I mean, it's a common thing to have the main character voice the ridiculousness of his situation, but when you start breaking character so badly that he doesn't want to help out someone he cares for or something... then it's kinda eehh.

[sarajayechan]

Ditto. I know if I were the hero and I knew people were going JUST LET THE DAMSEL SCRAPPY DIE I'd be pretty pissed.

[inkedfeathers]

EEEE, YOUR ICON.

MY CHILDHOOD.

[ringing_phone]

I think it's easy for fans to forget that some of these "damsel scrappies" get in trouble more often than the other characters, not because of anything they do wrong, but because they are targeted more often than the other characters. It's not fair to hurl water balloons at one single person in a group and then rip on them because they're wetter than everyone else. And a friend of theirs- especially one specifically tasked with protecting or rescuing them- is not going to hate them for that.

[chaos_by_design]

I see the Damsel Scrappy as usually being an instance of poor, lazy, sexist writing than anything else.

[kankurette]

I agree. It's Tite Kubo I'm pissed off with for constantly turning his female leads into damsels and making Ichigo rescue them, not the girls themselves.