The universe has been saved, but no one feels much like celebrating, because Beast Boy is dying. Incidentally, this is the first we've heard of his wounds being fatal.
He asks how Terra can still show him kindness after everything he's done. This might seem like an effective display of remorse, but the other heroes step in to express their belief that they're equally responsible for beating him down rather than supporting him, and Terra feels this way most of all. It's worth noting that in Teen Titans, all of the Titans have, at one point or another, gotten to the point at which the best thing their friends can do for them is give them a verbal kick in the pants, and Beast Boy is no exception.
Beast Boy says that his life has been hard, and he saw the world as a cruel place, only realizing its beauty now that it's too late, a somewhat cliched bit of melodrama that not even the dying can deliver well.
Terra says that they can start over, and pleads with Beast Boy to get up, but Copy-Cat informs her that Beast Boy doesn't have the strength; his body was damaged from his pain and anger (oddly enough, not extensive use of the Dark Prognosticus, which killed him when it was activated, or the wounds sustained in the battle), and he doesn't have long left, since now that the Dark Prognosticus has been destroyed, Beast Boy can't get the dark energy he needs.
The heroes once again lament their inability to Save the Villain this time, as well as their perceived responsibility for this, but Beast Boy doesn't mind; knowing that Terra is fine and she loves him is all he need to pass on peacefully. Terra begs Beast Boy not to go, saying that she loves him, and he responds in kind before his eyes shut for the last time.
While I'm generally more tolerant of tragic sendoffs for dying villains, there really was nothing truly sympathetic about Beast Boy, with his crimes far out of proportion to what he suffered. It was painful for him to hear that Terra had apparently forgotten about him, and that she couldn't even recall the experiences they shared, in the end, he accepted it, and should have done the same here.
The others mourn his passing in their own ways, and a funeral is held, with Beast Boy being cremated Darth Vader-style, as the Titans and Doom Patrol attend in poorly drawn suits and dresses (especially Cyborg and Robot Man), whose right arms don't fit.
The epilogue begins. The Doom Patrol leaves, but decides to visit when they can.
Copy-Cat decides to join the Teen Titans, so that he can repay them for saving his life, and replace Beast Boy. It's also indicated that he and Raven might be close, even if they hardly spoke prior to this. With this, Cyborg is now the only surviving Teen Titan who doesn't have a pairing, and that could potentially be remedied, especially with the other new member.
Terra joins the Titans to do what Beast Boy would have wanted her to do, and wields the Light Prognosticus, essentially meaning that virtually no one will prove a challenge to the Titans anymore. She visits Beast Boy's grave every day to offer him her prayers(Terra's religion, or lack thereof, aside, as far as I know, most people only visit graves on special occasions, such as the anniversary of a death).
Beast Boy's grave reads the following: "Garfield Mark Logan/Beast Boy Driven insane by the negligence of humanity and fate May he finally be at peace."
The credits roll, and it's said that NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT (IS) INTENDED.
Mykan then offers some incredibly cliched wisdom, such as:
- How cities fall but are rebuilt, and heroes die, but are remembered. Essentially any work of fiction that kills off a sympathetic character (and works like this one) could do this.
- How you should keep your friends close, your enemies closer and your loved ones closest, a fairly thorough mangling of a classic movie quote.
- People cannot change themselves, especially not Terra. While I believe that most people have aspects of themselves that are crucial to their identity and do not easily change, it flies in the face of reality.
- People are different from each other, but are like you and me and have feelings. This sort of Aesop would be insultingly basic even in kindergarten level literature.
- Most obviously of all, that what Terra did in "Things Change" was wrong, and this fic was intended to punish her and everyone else who wronged Beast Boy.
The video then offers a link to a forum, which an annotation says "Enter at your own risk," and Mykan then wishes us goodbye.
Now that it's over, I have a few things left to do.
Here's the Official Mary Sue Litmus Test results for Copy-Cat, starting with the first section.
- 37.Copy-Cat's quest for revenge counts
- 46. The initial question and A. Copy-Cat's powers are quite desirable in a story in which superheroes and villains battle it out.
- 48. He has a mark, considering that he's by far the most powerful of the Psyconians.
- 54. Shapeshifting is Copy-Cat's ability. It's less clear whether the "multiple forms" applies, since while he can take on almost anyone's appearance, he can only do so after touching them.
- 55.Defeating the minions when they defeated all the Titans and Doom Patrol counts.
- 69.He has the Light Prognosticus, even if he doesn't end up as its wielder.
- 72.He's prince of the Psyconians
- 85a.Count Logan killed Copy-Cat's parents.
- 99.He saves the rest of humanity.
- 101.Mykan has expressed this sentiment many times in the past.
Now for Part III: Fan Characters
- 4.The character looks a lot like Robin, although it possibly says more about Mykan's artwork.
- 7.The Psyconians are an entirely new species.
- 12, 12c. and 12d. Copy-Cat's joining the Teen Titans covers all of these.
- 18 and 20. The implied romance with Raven counts.
- 25.If he lives in Titan Tower, that would count.
- 41.He tells the heroes about the Light Prognosticus and brings them to Count Logan's base.
- 42a-c. The first two fit his role as Mr. Exposition, and the latter is a consequence of him having the Light Prognosticus and the only means of transportation into the Void.
He gets a 50, placing him just barely in the "definitely a Mary Sue" category. There have been significantly worse Mary Sue characters, but it's generally not a bracket where any self-respecting writer wants their character to end up.
All in all, this was an interesting experience. While I found My Little Unicorn to be too unoriginal to evoke much of a reaction of anything, I found that this fic was largely So Bad, It's Good, as a result of the poor writing, even worse animation, and blatant and poorly thought out plagiarism.
Unfortunately, unlike many poorly written works of fiction, there aren't any characters the audience can rally behind (generally the ones the author tries and fails to make unlikable). For example, Ace Ray from My Little Unicorn was intended to serve as a Straw Loser to mock the author's critics, but he ended up representing many of readers' complaints about the protagonists, so he became fairly popular.
Here, there's no one like that. The Teen Titans and Doom Patrol are largely useless, and spend most of their time lamenting what they did to Beast Boy, essentially only serving to make Beast Boy seem sympathetic. The latter applies to Terra, too, who plays her role as much as Beast Boy does. Copy-Cat is a blatant Gary Stu, as mentioned above, and the minions, in addition to being on Beast Boy's side, hardly have any characterization. Even Jackie and Jillian, the only two who antagonize Beast Boy without feeling regret for it, are too ineffectual to be truly likable.
It's also somewhat sad that rather than moving on or doing the relatively constructive thing and writing a Fix Fic, Mykan writes a fic in which Beast Boy continues to fail to get the girl, commits countless atrocities and then dies. Instead of coming to terms with what has happened, or trying to do something about it, he simply seeks revenge against canon and has the characters he likes endure suffering to spite others. This, in and of itself, could say a great deal about how Mykan lives his life, and why he spends most of his time writing fanfics like this.
Still, all that time Mykan spent wasn't completely wasted. In the course of it, he produced a fic that, while far from a good or even decent piece of writing, was enjoyable in its own way. Thank you for reading this liveblog, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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