Sure on him

"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."

Hiryu

"It doesn't matter anymore. You win. It is Duck Season."

Sorry to butt in, but has The Woobie been given the Complete Monster treatment where posting in this thread in the effort post format is required to post examples? Looking at this thread that seems to be implied, but there's nothing about that in the trope description (or even a link to this thread). And if so I'm wondering how that decision was made.

"It's just a show; I should really just relax"

To Hiryu's manga and NES incarnations.

"Death's vastness holds no peace. I come at the end of the long road—neither human, nor devil... All bends to my will." -Demifiend.

Never knew Hiryu NES incarnation went through so much. for both versions.

Yes to both versions of Hiryu.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

I've finished the woobie entry for Hiryu's Manga counterpart, it's in the drafts now: Strider Hiryu was an orphan who passed the Striders' dangerous training program as its youngest Super-A Rank. However he abandoned the organization after being forced to kill his crazed sister and went to Mongolia to live in peace, befriending small girl named Rin he met at a nearby nomad settlement and lived a simple life until his former superior, Vice-Director Matic, came demanding Hiryu to take on a mission to assassinate his(Hiryu's) friend Cain/Kain after he was captured, threatening the villagers if he didn't cooperate. Hiryu traveled to Kazakh and with his friend Sheena's help, the two rescued a comatose Cain. During the whole time, Hiryu was conflicted over taking his friend's life. Once he woke up, however, Cain attacked the them violently. Hiryu and Cain battled it until the former won,but Sheena was mortally wounded by the latter. Hiryu held Sheena as she died in his arms. Later interrogating the captive secret police chief, Hiryu learns about Enterprise's ZAIN Brainwashing Project, and Cain was used as a guinea pig in the experiments. Hiryu relays to an awakened Cain the events surrounding his sister's death, and how he now realized she was another guinea pig in the same brainwashing experiments. Both swear to take down the ZAIN Project and anyone involved with it. Learning that Matic is involved, making the Striders also enemies Hiryu will have to deal with eventually. After the elimination of all foes including Enterprise; the ZAIN Project; and Matic, Hiryu disappears leaving his Cypher behind.

I've finished the entry for his NES counterpart as well: The NES Version of Hiryu gets it worse than his manga counterpart. After being forced to kill his dear sister Mariya, he retired to a village in Mongolia to live in peace, until his former superior at the Striders, Vice-Director Matic, called him back into duty demanding Hiryu to take on a mission to assassinate his(Hiryu's) friend Kain/Cain after he was captured during a mission in Kazakh. However Hiryu denounces killing him right away and instead rescues and brings him back to the Blue Dragon Station. As Hiryu learns of Enterprise's/the Syndicate's ZAIN brainwashing Project from Kuramoto, the Striders' Director, he was forced to defend himself from his friend Cain, getting the latter injured in the process. Learning that his sister Mariya and his friend Cain were guinea pigs along with Matic's involvement in the ZAIN Project, Hiryu sets out to kill everyone involved, but as he's out traveling ZAIN's terminals, Cain escapes and Sheena, trying to find him, ends up being mortally injured, moments before she dies, she asks Hiryu to get Matic. A dying Cain would later send a last message to Hiryu on the location of Matic's station, the Red Dragon Base. After killing Matic and stopping the ZAIN Project, Hiryu rejects the Director's request to rejoin the group and leaves without his cypher.

Edited by MasterJoseph on Nov 29th 2018 at 11:59:34 AM

IPP Wick Check created.

Okay so I updated the first post to include the template and now to answer your question, it's not required per se, but it does help us get more insight into the character. Now then, I'm going to propose a regular Woobie later and Jerkass Woobie now from Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc.

What's the work?

Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc is a remake of a 2010 PSP game by Spike Chunsoft that quickly gained popularity for it's similarities to Ace Attorney and genuinely creepy moments such as the over the top Ironic Executions. The game is run by a teenager named Junko who controls a bear named Monokuma who carries out the executions. It chronicles the life of the high school students at Hope's Peak Academy as they play a killing game to survive.

Who is Mondo Owada?

Mondo Owada is the Ultimate Biker Leader. He is also easily one of the most arrogant of the students. But he's got quite a tragic backstory and does have some genuine redeeming qualities like bonding with Makoto Naegi if given the chance and Kiyotaka the moral compass who is easily one of the nicest of the boys besides Mick himself and the other guy I'm proposing. He is Chihiro's killer on a spur of the moment thing, but he's got a soft spot for everyone including his victim who he went to a high school with before. He is the villain of the second case and thus gets a rather creepy yet funny execution where he's literally melted into butter due to having corn hair similar to that guy from Jojo. But damn does it leave an impact on his bro Kiyotaka who is a genuinely sweet guy if a bit loud and has some pretty tragic aspects to him as well. For one, Mondo was his first friend ever (again besides Makoto should you choose to bond with him).

What is his dilemma?

Well isn't that the million dollar question? Well Mondo's story first began when he was the younger brother of Daiya Owada. Daiya gave his brother a chance to be in his biker gang and Mondo, nearly getting himself killed in the process by driving into a car. Daiya rescued his younger brother and just barely made it in time causing poor Mondo to lose his only living family. Since then, Mondo's biggest secret has been that he can't get over his brother's death and has plenty of self-loathing and blames himself for it, always calling himself weak and building a complex so he never had to experience loss again. Despite the fact he decks Mick on the first day, in his social links he shows he's a huge fan of dogs and even has a hard time talking to girls. Not only that but unlike the previous murderer Leon, he just accepts his execution without a fight, showing his obvious guilt for the murder of Chihiro. Of course this breaks poor Taka utterly making him extremely quiet. He's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold in every sense of the word.

Can he defend himself/Is he a jerkass?

He's rude and arrogant, and swears like a sailor at first often peppering his phrases with Goddamn and shit/fuck. At the same time he's still considerably nicer than a few other killers Celeste, Hifumi, even the first victim, Sayaka wanted to frame someone, Mondo, unlike most Ace Attorney killers does not try to frame anyone and just leaves the body as is, it's Insufferable Genius Byakuya who tampers with the body. Sure, he disposes of Chihiro's e-handbook and moves the bloody poster, but that's to honour a man to man promise he said to Chihiro (yes Chihiro is a guy, but a crossdressing guy, I'll talk about him and Kiyotaka later) about keeping his gender a secret in exchange for help training.

Sympathy Standard?

Out of all the killers and attempted killers, Mondo is easily the most tragic having lost his entire family, including his beloved older brother so I would say pass.

Verdict?

Easy keep for Jerkass Woobie.

Edited by Klavice on Nov 29th 2018 at 11:36:14 AM

Fair warning: I can get pretty emotional and take things too seriously.

@naturalironist No idea.

The Protomen enhanced my life.

Mondo

BTW, if anyone hasn't cast a vote on Snow Drake from Undertale, try to throw one while you can.

IPP Wick Check created.

Yes to Snow Drake from Undertale.

Fair warning: I can get pretty emotional and take things too seriously.

Yes to Mondo.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

Time for Strider Candidate # 5

MasterJoseph: What is the Work?

Terrible_Cage: Strider Hiryu is a 6-issue manga published in 1988, and the first release in the Strider series of video games, being worked alongside the better-known Arcade game and the NES version. Set on a dystopian and still-Communist Kazakh in 2048 just like the video games, the manga focuses more on the Strider organization and their alliance with a shady Mega Corp known as "Enterprise". In this story Hiryu retired from the Striders 2 years before after an incident in which his beloved sister Mariya went crazy and he was forced to kill her in self-defense, and was living a peaceful life until the appearance of his former superior Matic, the Striders' Vice-Director, who forces him to take on a mission to eliminate his good friend Cain, captured during a mission. As the story unfolds Hiryu uncovers the "ZAIN Project", a project to create a brainwashing machine with the intention of mind-controlling all of humanity, and Matic's involvement in both this and in his sister's death, setting him on a quest to stop them all at once.

Joseph: Who is the candidate?

Cage: The Flower Girl is a little girl (whose real name is never revealed) appearing in the first chapter of the manga. She appears to be a little girl that makes a living selling flowers on the streets. She's found by Cain following his encounter with an armed chopper, lying on the snow. Worrying she got hit in the crossfire, Cain approaches to check if she was alright, only for the girl to suddenly sprung up and shoot him with a tranquilizer dart. As Cain loses consciousness, the girl tells him she has to do this, as her father got arrested by the Secret Police, and they promised her he'd be released if she helped them. Cain nods, understanding her situation, moments before passing out.

After the Commander of the Secret Police checks on Cain and orders him transported, the girl approaches him to ask about his promise. The Commander, however, scoff at her, telling that what she did was merely her normal civic duty. As she understandably started to get desperate, the Commander slapped her away and left. The girl is then found by Sheena, and she learns what happened to Cain from her.

Joseph: Is she sympathethic by the standards of the story?

Cage: Although a very small character, everything we are told or can infer about her ends up being quite depressing: For starters, her father got arrested at some point in the past, leaving her apparently alone. There's no mother in sight or mentioned, which seems to imply she was not only on her own ever since her father got arrested, but forced into selling flowers on the streets to survive. Add to that the Kazakh Federation is going through a pretty harsh winter and the country is almost bankrupt, and one has to wonder if her fate should the police Commander didn't find an use for her wouldn't have mirrored a certain other street vendor...

Then she gets used by the Commander when Cain and Sheena prove to be too much for his men to handle, expecting Cain to attempt to save her so she'd be able to ambush and sedate him, promising her to release her father if she complies. After the fact, she explains her situation with tears on her eyes to a soon-to-be-unconscious Cain, clearly not content on having been forced into doing this but having no choice in the matter. And then, as Cain is carried away, the Commander tells her straight that she did nothing but a citizen service which shouldn't expect any reward, denying any promise he may have done. When the girl starts to get desperate and grabs onto him, the man slaps her away calling her filthy, and leaves her alone on the snow, crying, without a single care in the world.

It's rather fortunate Sheena was around, although then she's never mentioned again. Thankfully it's not unlikely Sheena may have done something to atleast get her off the street, but the manga sadly makes no mention about it and her fate (as well as her father's, which is not really bright at all given how the police hands over prisoners to Enterprise for mind-breaking experiments...) is left up in the air.

Joseph: Can she defend herself?

Cage: Nope. She's a regular little girl, and can't do anything to either defend herself or change her situation at all.

Joseph: Conclusion

Cage: There's nothing that happens to her that goes well. From losing her (apparent) only family to the corrupt Secret Police and being forced to survive on her own on the snow-filled streets of a bankrupt country, to being used against her will by a unscrupulous police commander under a hopeful promise to have her father back only to not only break his word, but non-chalantly just slap her away when she starts bothering him, nothing really goes well for her. Sheena finding her would bring some hope she atleast wasn't abandoned on the streets, but the lack of resolution on her situation is all the more depressing, as we aren't even told what went on with her or even if she will ever see her father again.

One can only hope Sheena did help her in some way, otherwise literally nothing good comes to happen to her at all, which given the bleak future painted by the manga (and the games as well), seems like a common fate for the innocent people caught up into the conflicts.

IPP Wick Check created.

Yea on her.

"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."

Flower Girl

"It doesn't matter anymore. You win. It is Duck Season."

to The Flower Girl.

"Death's vastness holds no peace. I come at the end of the long road—neither human, nor devil... All bends to my will." -Demifiend.

Yes to The Flower Girl.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

Flower Girl

Here's my writeup on the Flower Girl:

The little unnamed Flower Girl in the first chapter of the manga makes a living selling flowers on the streets of a bankrupt Kazakh. She's found by Strider Cain following his encounter with an armed police chopper, lying on the snow. Worrying she got hit in the crossfire, Cain approaches to check if she was alright, only for the girl to suddenly spring up and shoot him with a tranquilizer dart. As Cain loses consciousness, the girl tells him she has to do this, as her father, her only known relative, got arrested by the Secret Police. After the Commander of the Secret Police orders Cain to be transported, the girl approaches him to ask about his promise to free her father. The Commander, however, slaps her away and left. The girl is then found by Cain's friend Strider Sheena, and she learns what happened to Cain from her. One could hope that the little girl is transferred to a safe place.

IPP Wick Check created.

I screwed up by trying to truncate the current Iron Woobie entry for Undefeated Bahamut Chronicles directly rather than putting a WU here.

• Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle: Lux Arcadia's suffering started when his father, the emperor, exiled his side of the family because of his grandfather's principled stance. The commoners refuse to help Lux because of his relation to the evil family, leading to his mother dying from an accident without receiving medical attention. Later, Lux becomes a Drag-Knight to change the empire from the inside, but is forced to participate in a coup to save his childhood friend from a horrifying experiment, which ends with his memory being erased by his treacherous "brother" Fugil and his childhood friend being turned into an Abyss-human. Afterwards, Lux is forced to work off his family's debts with no recognition of his role in the coup and has the nigh-thankless role of fighting off the new regime's numerous threats. Despite that, Lux continues to fight for his ideals of saving everyone rather than taking the easier choice of sacrificing some for the "greater good."

Edited by Bugfragged on Dec 6th 2018 at 2:34:41 AM

While I wait for Klavice's answer, I'm putting up one more Strider candidate:

Strider Candidate # 6

MasterJoseph: What is the Work?

Terrible_Cage: Strider (2014) is a video game released for the Play Station 3, 4, X Box 360, One and Steam, and the current latest entry in the Strider franchise, a speedy action platformer with Metroidvania elements. Billed as a "retelling" of the basic series plot, the game centers on the ever-present conflict between the mysterious otherworldly entity Grandmaster Meio and the top Strider agent, Strider Hiryu. The year is Meio 0048 and the Grandmaster holds total control of the world. The Strider organization has sent in several agents in an attempt to eliminate him, but to no success. Now it is the turn of Strider Hiryu, the youngest Special-A agent in its story, to infiltrate the Grandmaster's base in "Kazakh City", eliminate any subordinate and general of his standing in his path and finally put an end to his reign of terror.

Joseph: Who is the candidate?

Cage: The Prisoner is a minor NPC character in the game. He was at one point a head researcher of Grandmaster Meio and the presumed creator of the Gravitron technology. During development of the machine, however, he realized the dangers the machine poised to the world and attempted to convince his colleagues to stop development. Unfortunately, all the other researchers were so confident in the project and the theories they developed they didn't believe him, ignoring his warnings and thinking of him as a ruse. Eventually Meio's Army caught wind of his complaints and arrested him under charges of "heresy", sending him into the Military Prison.

Once there, however, he was subjected to torture and brain surgery which eventually broke his mind. By the time Hiryu runs into him in-game, he's a rambling madman that spews nonsense most of the time, although he still seems to retain some of his old self, as he can at least direct him into the Underground to search the help of the Black Marketer, a former researcher just like him.

Joseph: Is he sympathetic by the standards of the story?

Cage: Described as originally being a "serious but friendly young man", the man has to pay a high prize for realizing the truth of Grandmaster Meio's intentions. Having been the creator of the technology for the gravity-manipulating Gravitron (although this is by his own, mentally-disabled account), he realized the dangers of such a machine could provoke and tried to stop its development. But he was not only mocked and ignored by his peers, who were too proud of the work they were doing (and believing they were doing it to provide a perpetual energy source for Earth, unaware of Meio's more sinister plans for it) to realize what he was saying was the truth. And then, he was eventually caught by the army and put in prison for daring to defy the Grandmaster's vision.

The Military Prison is not a nice place, with prisoners put to use as testing targets for the machines of the army or send as guinea pigs to the Research Lab, but the Prisoner got it even worse. He was not only severely tortured but also got subjected to "brain surgery". The info given is vague, but considering his official art◊ shows a gauze on his head, it'd appear he was given the good ole' lobotomy so he'd stop talking.

Unfortunately even more, this ended up having the opposite effect. His mind broken, he not only became raving mad, but also started suffering psychotic breakdowns and destroying everything on his proximity, as a result being moved from cell to cell constantly. Although he proves helpful to Hiryu when he meets him, the damage seems to be irreversible and his fate after the end of Meio's reign is left uncertain.

Joseph: Can he defend himself?

Cage: Not at all, as even before he was broken, he was just a regular researcher with no fighting ability of note.

Joseph: Conclusion

Cage: An innocent man with a vision to create a perpetual energy source, but with the insight to realize what he was doing was actually dangerous for the world. His attempt to prevent the Gravitron from being created went into deaf ears, and his opposition to Meio's orders robbed him of not only his freedom, but also his sanity. And now he spends his days a prisoner in a mostly empty prison, speaking nonsense and rambling to nobody.

As another example of the fate of those who seek justice or to do the right thing in a world ruled by Meio, condemned and mind-broken to keep up Meio's designs for the world, he's a Woobie.

Joseph: I also find it worth noting that it was possibly him who contacted the Striders to deal with Meio.

IPP Wick Check created.

Joseph. How many candidates are there for Strider anyway?

Edited by 11111001011 on Dec 8th 2018 at 9:55:23 AM

Yea on Strider candidate I guess

"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."

Since I don't have anything to do...

What's the Work

Houshin Engi is a 90s manga that is essentially becoming one of my main influences for the current story that I made for now and ended up becoming one of my favorites. The story tells us about Taikoubou, a young Sennin or Sage who was given order from his master, Genshitenson, to execute Houshin Project by capturing all of the supernatural beings causing utter mayhem and mischief across the world. And the leader of those spirits is Dakki, who is a beautiful but wicked fox spirit who has bewitched King Chuo of the Yin dynasty and needless to say, the Yin Dynasty had it's downfall thanks to her and this is the perfect time for Taikoubou, as he's actually had a personal grudge after Dakki decimated his village.

Before defeating Dakki, Taikoubou must persuade a king that rules the Western China, Ki Shou and oh boy his story is much more tragic than it meets the eye...

Who is He/What Has He Done

Ki Shou is the benevolent ruler of the West and is one of the four rulers that pledge loyalty towards the Emperor of Yin, King Chuo. Initially, he was invited by Dakki and the Emperor to join their extravagant party along with the rest of the three kings but after seeing their decadence and depravity due to the other kings were murdered and one king pledge himself to serve Dakki and Chuo, Ki Shou rebels against them and as a result? He was imprisoned for 7 years... Until one of his son, Hakuyuko comes into the scene...

See, here's the thing about Hakuyuko, originally he tries to bargain with Chuuou regarding his freedom and Dakki found him really attractive and try to seduce him to his side. Unfortunately Hakuyuko rebels considered the things that she had done with her father which resulted on Hakuyuko getting brutally executed by Dakki and his flesh was cooked into becoming a hamburger by Dakki and her sister, Ko Kibi.

After Hakuyuko was cooked into becoming a hamburger thanks to Dakki, the worst part is that the latter feeds Ki Shou with the hamburger that Dakki cooked (NO! I am not making this up!) which resulted on Ki Shou crying and rebels against Yin Empire. Unfortunately with the psychological trauma after Dakki cooks his son into a hamburger, he has a serious trouble ingesting food.

While he still continues to rule his domain, or better known as the Zhou Empire, for years and years and tries to help Taikoubou to rebel against Choka while hiding his problems, Ki Shou unfortunately can't defend his malnutrition and dies from said malnutrition after having serious problems with ingesting food due to his traumatic experience when he was in prison. Despite this, his legacy lives on and he was replaced by his second son to rule the Zhou Empire, Ki Hatsu.

Sympathy Standard

Well, Despite Dakki's scene regarding making hamburger seems humorous at first. The story involves Ki Shou? Is pretty serious and tearjerking at its finest. The guy got imprisoned for fricking 7 years because rebelling against Dakki and the Emperor, has his son made into hamburger and was fed by that thanks to Dakki and has a serious malnutrition issues in later years. Need I say more?

Can He Defend Himself?

Well, when Taikoubou went into the Western Part of the empire, Ki Shou acts like a Stepford Smiler and acts nicely towards Taikoubou and his companions as if nothing went wrong but in reality, despite being nice towards everyone, he was hiding his problems and said problems? Still affects him until he died so yeah... I'm not sure if he can defend himself

Final Verdict

Your call

"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."

to The Prisoner.

"Death's vastness holds no peace. I come at the end of the long road—neither human, nor devil... All bends to my will." -Demifiend.