u/fly_line22

Sorry about the somewhat clunky title. But, what're some case where you went back to an earlier installment/chapter and see a particularly strange moment? Whether it be a sudden quality drop/increase, early installment weirdness, whatever.

Yu-Gi-Oh has the first 7 volumes in general. As many people probably know, Yu-Gi-Oh originally started as a series about games in general. So, before Duel Monsters became the primary game, there were a number of crazy moments. For example, remember that time Yami Yugi lit an escaped convict on fire? Or that time he dealt with some yo-yo wielding delinquients by also lighting them on fire? That time where he and some asshole played ice hockey, except the table was a fucking grill, and the "puck" was a piece of ice with a vial of nitroglycerin inside? That chapter where Yugi and Anzu go to a water park, and Yami Yugi has to play Solitaire with a terrorist? Then there's the chapter dealing with Yugi's friend that's a massive fan of Not-Spawn and thinks he's an actual superhero. And then there's all of Death-T, Kaiba's giant killer amusement park he made to get revenge for Yami Yugi's penalty game on him, with such attractions as "laser tag, except you're up against soldier with actual guns" and "a haunted house staffed by an actual fucking serial killer." It's certainly entertaining to say the least.

As the title states, who're some characters that're so vile, so monstrous, or so goddamn annoying that no one, in-universe or out, has anything nice to say about them?

JoJo has many such cases in its villain line up. Steely Dan is a cowardly douche who relies entirely on using people as human shields with his Stand, and fully abuses the leverage he gets over the heroes as he forces Jotaro to be his servant. Alessi is also a massive coward who won't fight anyone unless he feels he has a massive advantage over them, whose Stand turns people into kids so he can kill them easier. Angelo is a deranged murderer and rapist whose been at it since he was 12. And finally, Cioccolata was a murderous sadist even before he joined the mob, actively delighting in torturing people, and his battle has one of the highest civilian body counts in the series. Sure enough, they all deserve the absolute ass beatings the heroes give them in retribution.

Final Fantasy VII has Professor Hojo. Seriously, just about every problem throughout the entire compliation is tied to this greasy, slimy piece of shit in some fashion. The dude is directly responsible for half of the party's traumatic backstories, whether it be what he did to Aerith and her mother, holding Red/Nanaki hostage and experimenting on him, being the one who mutated Vincent into a monster, >!and Cloud's fucked up mental state is due to being stuck in a tube getting Mako poisoning inside Hojo's lab!<. Meanwhile, he's also the father/creator of Sephiroth, meaning he's also indirectly responsible for the all bad shit he did. Remake has a scene during a Shinra board meeting where, in order to have more Cetra avaliable, he proposes having their SOLDIERs force themselves onto Aerith to produce offspring. In response, almost everyone present turns away with looks of disgust on their face. You know you're a special breed of fucked up and crazy when even the other loonies in charge of Shinra are put off by your ideas.

Speaking of scientists, there's Harvey in Octopath 2. Seriously, Harvey is one of the biggest assholes in the entire series. It's not enough that he just had Osvald framed for the murder of his wife and daughter. No, >!Rita and Elena actually survived the fire. He used Rita to create a horrific monster, while he brainwashed Elena into thinking he's her actual dad.!< Literally every action, every idea Harvey has is specifically devoted to "what would hurt Osvald the most?" solely due to Harvey being a spiteful, envious manchild who can't accept that someone is smarter than him. Hell, one of Osvald's travel banter has Partitio, one of the chillest, friendliest members of the group, outright agree that Harvey needs to die. And then the final chapter reveals that >!he was the one responsible for torturing Ochette's unchosen companion into the Darkling, and got a little too emotionally invested in it!<. Needless to say, >!he absolutely deserved Osvald not only blasting him to bits with the One True Magic, but his own shitty knock off of it literally blowing up his face.!<

As the title states, what're some sad examples of mortal enemies that, if they had met on better terms, could've been genuine friends?

Final Fantasy VII has Cloud and Sephiroth. From what we see in both flashbacks and Crisis Core, Sephiroth was a surprisingly chill guy. Yeah, he still did tons of bad shit under Shinra's orders, but he actually had friends and was more socially introverted than outright evil. But over the course of Crisis Core, we see him gradually lose his friends until he only had Zack left. And tragically, that wasn't enough to keep him from utterly losing his mind after learning of his true origins, causing him to jump right off the deep end. In effect, >!just like how Cloud mentally rewrote the events at Nibelheim to keep his psyche together, Sephiroth spun himself the yarn of being the "chosen one" of the Cetra to give himself a new identity!<. I have the feeling that, if he actually had a fucking therapist, Sephiroth could've remained somewhat stable instead of degenerating into a godhood seeking madman.

As the title states, what're some of your favorite characters that're basically warped/bad end versions of the heroes? Whether they be comedic like Wario, or more complex like Shadow to Sonic.

Metroid Fusion begins with Samus nearly dying as a result of getting infected with the X-Parasites. While she does survive thanks to the Metroid vaccine, the pieces of her armor that were removed get sent to the BSL station for study. But, the armor actually comes to life and breaches containment. The SA-X is basically Samus without a soul, showing what she very well could've been. Enhancing that is the fact that Samus herself is now part Metroid, meaning that Fusion is showing you what it's like to be hunted down by a full powered Samus Aran.

Mega Man Zero was originally going to have X himself as the big bad, having become a despot in the span between the X series and this one. But, they eventually decided to settle on a duplicate of X instead, and this works so much better. X had a century of testing done to ensure he had a proper sense of right and wrong, and a further century of actual life experiences that helped him mature. Meanwhile, Copy X had all the same potential for greatness as X himself. However, he was given no time to develop as a person before being put into a position he wasn't mentally equipped to handle, had no real identity to call his own, and was surrounded by enablers that sided with him regardless of what horrible things he did. So, instead of becoming a wise, emphathetic leader like X, Copy X turned into an immature, self-righteous tyrant convinced that everything he does is totally justified.

The original Yu-Gi-Oh has Bandit Keith towards Jonouchi/Joey during Duelist Kingdom. Both of them are blonde, surly, and have a tendency of using trickery to catch their opponents off guard. In addition, both of them had outside help in entering Duelist Kingdom. They also both use cards based around gambling, with Jonouchi using cards like Time Wizard, and Keith with Barrel Dragon and Slot Machine. But, whereas Jonouchi is ultimately a good person that values his friends and family with all his heart, Keith is a selfish douche that throws his allies away once they've fulfilled their purpose. And while Jonouchi entered the tournament to help pay for his sister's eye surgery, all Keith joined for was the chance to get revenge on Pegasus for humiliating him. Their duel is pretty much Keith doing something, than Jonouchi countering by doing the same thing but better.

As the title states, what're some of the best moments where revelations make an earlier moment come off as radically different?

God of War 2018 has one of my favorites. When Kratos and Baldur first meet, it seems like Baldur knows who Kratos is and what he's done. He talks about how Kratos is a long way from home, how he thought "your kind (the Greeks)" were so much smarter, how Kratos is a coward for just living in the woods, and more. This is certainly how Kratos interprets it. >!But at the end of the game, it's revealed that Baldur was actually looking for a Jotnar: Kratos's dead wife Faye, with Baldur mistaking Kratos for a Jotunn. I just think it's a really smart twist, and it's also kind of funny that their initial conflict with each other stems from them having two entirely different conversations!<.

Metaphor: ReFantazio has a number of examples throughout the story. For instance, >!every interaction with the Prince once it's revealed that Will is his heroic ideal brought to life. Suddenly, every moment involving the two takes on a different light!<. And the other big one would be >!the fact that More is the spirit of King Hytlodaeus. Everytime More shit talked or criticized the old king for being a fool? He's talking about himself. And it also makes his and Will's interaction much sweeter, as it's Will getting help and support from his father!<.

Octopath Traveler 2 has many such examples across it's 8 stories, both within them and how they affect the wider story. In Castti's story, >!Malaya being a hallucination makes all her scenes in chapter 1 hit differently. It's even foreshadowed by the fact that none of the other townsfolk acknowledge her being there, and Osvald even has a banter where he thought he heard Castti talking to herself!<. Ochette's first boss is the Dark Entity, which while certainly creepy as hell, has no impact on her story. >!But in Temenos's route, it's shown that his friend Roi found the Darkblood Bow and intended to destroy it before suddenly going missing. Considering that Petrichor has the bow, the scraps of clothing on the Entity's back, and it outright repeating the last thing Roi said to Temenos, it's all but confirmed that the Entity was a hideously mutated Roi!<. Agnea's route is probably the least important in the grand scheme of things. But, >!the final chapter showing that Tanzy was Arcanette's pawn explains how exactly the Moonshade Order knew where the Sacred Flame's were!<. In Throné's story, >!everything becomes even more twisted with the revelation that Claude fathered her and many of the other Blacksnakes, making them all unknowing half siblings!<. And finally, a lot of stuff in Hikari's route takes on new meaning >!once you find out that Kazan is actually Oboro, once of the Moonshade Order's ringleaders!<.

As the title states, what're some parts of a series that're considered so unanimously bad that fans prefer to totally ignore them and pretend they didn't happen in the first place?

My example would be Metroid Other M. For one, the sheer amount of bad shit it did to both Samus and Adam's characters. The other would be some incredibly dumb moments, like the infamous section where Samus goes through a superheated area without the Varia Suit, or Samus freezing upon seeing Ridley again. And finally, the fact that it contradicted a lot of lore from both the manga and the Prime games. Due to all of these factors, I and many other fans choose to interpret Other M in a broad strokes fashion: the general events did happen, just not in the way the game presented them. That said, it does have a good ending. In the lead up to Dread, Yoshio Sakamoto commented that Other M's depiction of Samus is still the closest to his vision for her. But, he also acknowledged the feedback people gave and understood how unpopular it was due to how hard it clashed with the Samus people had come to know. So, come Samus Returns and Dread, Samus is closer to her characterization from Fusion and the Prime games.

As the title states, what're some of the best examples of the internet deciding two characters from different series would get along perfectly? As an example, Doomguy and Isabelle due to Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons coming out on the same day.

One of the main inspirations for this post were related to Diana from Pragmata. For one, there's been tons of cute fan art pairing her and Emily from RE Requiem in a classic introvert-extrovert friendship. And the other, as a reference to the period where people believed Pragmata was connected to Mega Man, her interacting and becoming friends with the various Mega Men is also pretty cute. And the official social media account for Pragmata also played into this, because for a couple days, Diana took over the accounts of other Capcom series. Sure enough, she directly commented on wanting to be friends with Emily, and her trying to hack into the Mega Man account, with Geo forming a Brother Band with her. It's both really fun advertising, and a neat little nod to the fans.

Another funny example from Capcom would be Peter Parker and Morrigan. I just find the idea of the two being friends just really funny/sweet. And in particular, Morrigan being the world's best wingwoman, getting to meet MJ, and having to take of Mayday.