Problems with "The Hero"

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gotrane

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Blame TV Tropes and Scooby Doo.

Hero Complexity: The Hero must feel that he/she/it need to help EVERYBODY in need of trouble. Major or minor, the hero will come to aid and help, no matter what, even if it has nothing to do with him/her/it. It seems to corny and Mary-Sue-ish. Plus, it's often the result of many fillers. No one is all-good-hearted helpful in real life... well, not everyone.

The Hero's Useless Friends: Remeber when they were actually helpful and actually did something? No? Neither do I. At the end, everything rests at the hero's hanc, no matter what.

Your Problems?
 
That's really a complaint? Dude, you're talking about fiction it doesn't have to mimic reality.

Anyway, complaints about heroes? My only complaint about heroes is that often the villains outshine them and always seem to be more ambitious.
 
To be honest, I personally wish we had more ambitious heroes. It often feels like ambition is frowned upon in popular children's media.


*Glares at Harry Potter.*


You know, it just occurred to me that DBZ is rather unique for having a main hero that is extremely ambitious. Goku always wants to become stronger, just for the sake of seeing what he's capable of, no matter what. Usually that kind of ambition is the villain's domain.
 
Fiction doesn't have to be reflective of real life, and not every hero character is like that. That's a generalization.

Also, wanting to help everyone doesn't make a character a Mary Sue. A hero who always succeeds at helping everyone without breaking a sweat or struggling even a little and who always receives the endless praise and admiration of everyone around them, even to the point of impressing their enemies, that's a Mary Sue.

That too is a generalization. There are just as many useful friends to hero characters as there are useless ones. It depends on the show and character in question.
 
Elisa Maza was pretty useful in Gargoyles. Notable moments include High Noon, and The Avalon World Tour where she was the only traveler who could move around during the day or being able to get location info from another person.



Not to mention that he has several character flaws such as:

1. Not being too attentive to his family, which is understandable since he got through life without a family.

2. Sometimes putting the fight over the safety of the planet such as:
A. Sparing Vegeta for the sake of having a strong opponent. Piccolo you could justify as his death costs Kami's his life and the end of the Dragon Balls. Though one of the Dubs tries to make Goku's decision more noble by reminding Krillen that Piccolo eventually came around.

B. A more famous one. Refusing to seek out Gero's Lab all so they could have a motive for training.

Don't get me wrong. I think these flaws are handled as a good way to keep Goku from being perfect and done well without making him unlikable.
 
I didn't realize it until I rewatched the 80's TMNT again that April wasn't as useless as 'Turtles Forever' made her out to be. Yes, there were certain episodes where she'd be 'the damsel in distress', but those were few and far between. Like Elisa, she was also useful in getting the Turtles info they couldn't get on their own, and even managed to save the day on a few occasions (The Mean Machines; Raphael, Turtle of 1,000 Faces, etc)
 
You always seem to challenge whatever I say. I'm just becoming cycnical about that. I just find it abit less believible than anything. It's something.
 
Really? :confused: Funny, it doesn't seem that way to me. In fact, I can't even recall us exchanging words that often. Sorry you feel that way, but that's not the case.

Be assured, I don't go out of my way to challenge whatever you say. I haven't done so in the 3 years I've been here. So you have nothing to become cynical about.

But we're talking about fiction. Fiction doesn't have to be believable. It just has to be credible within the confines of the story's universe and entertaining.
 
Well, he's definitely an example, but I don't know if I'd say he's a very good example....I mean, the guy is constantly getting rid of all his most powerful pokemon....


Of course, that's more a byproduct of the fact that the show needs to go on forever and ever.


But yeah, it does seem that heroic ambition is a little bit more of an anime thing than a western animation thing. I wonder if it's because ambition is better suited for an ongoing story arc, rather than episodic stories. For instance, Superman can never strive for anything greater than maintaining the status quo (aside from alternate universes, where everything always goes horribly wrong) because that would change too much of the basic episode structure.
 
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