Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

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Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby Varysoir » Thu Feb 25, 2021 6:17 pm

So a basic kind of issue that some people mess up on, usually in people first coming onto the chat, figured it is good to give some kind of advice.

So, the first serious issue is, making characters defined by a trait. Being defined as 'badass' is not really any different to being 'obnoxious' or 'a stamp collector'. There are thousands of badass characters in media, so it is not special. So off the bat it is aiming for a very bland character.

Generally if you think you need to make a "badass" character, you'd do far better to make a character that other people come to the conclusion is badass than try to force it.

The definition of badass is very vague and okay let's look Dragonball. Is Yamcha badass because he died stepping into a suspected trap for Krillin because Krillin couldn't be brought back? Is Hercule badass for standing up the the villains despite the certainty of death? Or are neither of them badass because they can't destroy planets and stuff (Yamcha couldn't at the time he took the bullet for Krillin at least)? Different people answer differently.

There are some unfortunate kinds of "badass" too, mainly ones that are "badass" because, and entirely because, they have powers or special training or something like that; in many superhero comics, said heroes may lose powers, often for a considerable time, and find means of resolving conflicts despite not having them, in short, characters being special only because of some ability they have or etc tends to mean poor characterisation.

The best characters on here that can be called "badass" i find tend to be the ones that if they lost any powers, don't change as characters at all.

Further there's some issues, often associated by people basing on characters, and being too strict to source material, sometimes having a very long list of abilities that outside the context of a movie or game or tv series they come from are functionally redundant and make character profiles too focused on such things, like, you generally don't need sound kamehameha and earth kamehameha and fire kamehameha and another earth kamehameha and freeze kamahameha and an additional earth kamehameha and air kamehameha.

Even moreso in some characters based off of series or games potentially given many possibilities for abilities, giving them abilities that say something about the character's personnality tends to be better than pretty much everything they may need ever.

Characters that seem to need their powers for doing pretty much anything and can't seem to do anything outside of using them also seem... kind of bland.

Further, a lot of prey characters are depicted as.... very formidable adversiaries sometimes, maybe because it is sexier to see someone vey tough be dominated, or people may just not like a very innocent character be abused. Point is, there are already many characters that are "badass" but it does them no good in the context of rp.

In basic I'd say trying to make a character primarily for a purpose of said character appearing badass is a pretty bad idea.
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby VoidicFang » Thu Feb 25, 2021 6:45 pm

Badass is just someone who can handle a conflict well.

Someone who has traits that show they are capable, such as a certain level of calm in a stressful situation.

You need to be able to see them next to someone who is not badass in order to tell by comparison. In writing, this is called a foil.

No, arrogant is not badass, you described an overconfident and insecure character with no ability to back it up. We call that guts and we admire it, but badassery is when you are certain someone is capable, usually capable in conflict.

No one with a life is arguing or debating fetish website OC powers though.
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby Randomdude5 » Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:13 pm

So I am not the only one who dislikes million year old overpowered author insert gods that alternate between acting like a 13 year old sociopath on a power trip and a needy prey character begging for scenes.
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby Bigfatpiggy » Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:31 pm

One time, my D&D character Bloodedge Deathkill drew his blade and killed a town guard 8 times before rolling for initiative.
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby BepisBepis » Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:15 pm

Bigfatpiggy wrote:One time, my D&D character Bloodedge Deathkill drew his blade and killed a town guard 8 times before rolling for initiative.


then they make an ekas chat profile based on Bloodedge Deathkill and they're prey only
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby coop500 » Fri Feb 26, 2021 8:17 am

Oh god this brings up memories...

Trying to play either on my predator OR prey character and seeing people introduce their character like this.... tough badass that NO ONE fucks with. And then the character is just some edgy Shadow the hedgehog ripoff or something.
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby Randomdude5 » Fri Feb 26, 2021 10:12 am

coop500 wrote:Oh god this brings up memories...

Trying to play either on my predator OR prey character and seeing people introduce their character like this.... tough badass that NO ONE fucks with. And then the character is just some edgy Shadow the hedgehog ripoff or something.


Or they could be an ugly fat woman who thinks that makes them a top predator, if you want bonus cringe points.
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby ItsSongxing » Fri Feb 26, 2021 10:52 am

Randomdude5 wrote:Or they could be an ugly fat woman who thinks that makes them a top predator, if you want bonus cringe points.


I mean, hey, most people don't wanna eat ugly girls. Ugly guys, whatever, apparently, but ugly girls? Probably tasting like a whole chicken in a can or some other eldritch nightmare of a food.
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby CuddleSlut » Fri Feb 26, 2021 7:46 pm

I'd argue that you can make a character badass in so many different ways, there's no need for them to become boring. A character doesn't need to be physically strong or even combat competent to be badass. A character can be badass by being smart and ruthless. A character can be badass by by a confident attitude. A character can be badass for surviving a tough situation. Of course, this is speaking of general fiction and characterization, rather than exclusively for fetishy RPs and such.

Predators, almost by necessity, need to have some advantage over their prey, some form of power that is not necessarily physical, and the sheer domination they exert tends to be, at least in some sense, 'badass'. One could argue an exception for unaware, reluctant or stupid predators, I guess?

As far as badass prey goes, I've never seen much of a point, really, so I don't write them, unless it's a switch character for like a pred vs. pred scenario. As you pointed out in your OP, the role of prey pretty much renders a character's theoretical badassery largely moot. They're gonna get eaten in the end, so what does their badassery or combat prowess or whatever really matter?
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby Varysoir » Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:14 am

Randomdude5 wrote:So I am not the only one who dislikes million year old overpowered author insert gods that alternate between acting like a 13 year old sociopath on a power trip and a needy prey character begging for scenes.


There are also some predators that are so badass they are easily "the apex" and so can consume other predators (and don't have to get permission to do so from predators' players) because.... they have some powers and... that's it. Not smart, not resourceful, probably don't even train in strength or stamina or speed or agility or I can go on.

CuddleSlut wrote:I'd argue that you can make a character badass in so many different ways, there's no need for them to become boring. A character doesn't need to be physically strong or even combat competent to be badass. A character can be badass by being smart and ruthless. A character can be badass by by a confident attitude. A character can be badass for surviving a tough situation. Of course, this is speaking of general fiction and characterization, rather than exclusively for fetishy RPs and such.

Predators, almost by necessity, need to have some advantage over their prey, some form of power that is not necessarily physical, and the sheer domination they exert tends to be, at least in some sense, 'badass'. One could argue an exception for unaware, reluctant or stupid predators, I guess?


Exactly, but those are examples of a fleshed out character given badassery that feels natural; unfortunately, a some people make "badass" characters that... don't really have much personality, that don't really have anything to them beyond their powers.

Good point, and indeed have rp'ed both sides of deities ending up as prey to fairly mundane characters, sometimes all it takes is not trying to present yourself as a threat until opportunity comes, but again, that seems not to be "loud" enough for people that think they're making a point by making "look at my badass and OP character!" profiles.
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby Rumor » Tue Mar 02, 2021 8:15 pm

Honestly, the complaint can just be summed up as "poor writing". A character concept can certainly be "badass" or whatever, but the actual character can be really lame if they are not played/written well. Either way, most of the actually "badass" characters probably don't have profiles written to showcase how "badass" they are. At least, not in my experience. Then again, if someone's profile is a big list of powers along with pictures of their 40 guns they own or whatever, I usually won't approach them. It's not an instant-no kind of thing, and there's been a couple that were actually fun to play with, but it's definitely a point against them.

Also, some of it definitely may be the appeal of "powerful badass getting shown their place" or something along those lines. I have an alt that the profile specifically mentions that she's overpowered and god-moddy. I don't play her often, usually only with people I already know, and she's really more meant for certain kinds of scenes (often a bit plot-heavier). But seems like whenever I bring her on and don't set Do Not Disturb I'll get someone who can like break time and space like a toothpick who wants her to be their, often subby, prey (which I've so far all declined). So I mean... there is a market for the "badass prey", I suppose.
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Re: Causes of "badass" becoming "boring"

Postby RedOrange » Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:08 am

I'm confused by the idea of being overpowered. I have no I interest in being prey. Should I pretend to be prey sometimes even if it's in direct conflict with my personal preferences? Being prey would make me uncomfortable irl.
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