The Woobie Cleanup

Yes to everyone. I was going to do a huge post of everyone's content to the pages but I sadly cannot as my computer keyboard needs to be fixed. The letter A doesn't work on it so I need a new keyboard and won't likely have one till Tuesday so you might have to post your own writeups on the page or go to the locked pages and do it there.

Now to start on the Ace Attorney page.

Who is Maya Fey?

Maya is the main protagonist Phoenix Wright's assistant and the deuteragonist of the trilogy. She's not featured in any new games beyond Spirit of Justice because the Apollo Justice Trilogy was originally meant to be set in it's own universe.

Anyway, she is the sister of Phoenix's deceased mentor Mia Fey already earning her some woobie points, and is generally a very sweet girl.

What is her predicament?

Well, she starts off as a young 17 year old spirit medium with very little self confidence. She is the sister of Mia Fey, Phoenix Wright's deceased mentor and one of the most genuinely sweet characters in the series. She called her sister late at night and ends up getting arrested for her murder. During this time she's extremely depressed and eben attempts at cheering her up seem to bring her down. When Phoenix tries to clear her of the charges the killer accuses HIM and then she does her best to hold it together as the one person who stood up for her is being tried for her sister's murder. Maya channels Mia's spirit when Phoenix gives up in court and she helps him put Redd White away. It is then that Phoenix accepts her as his assistant at his mentor's law office now called the Wright and Co. Law Office. Then she goes through trauma in the fourth case where she struggles to channel her sister to help Phoenix defend Miles Edgeworth and defeat the truly horrible Manfred Von Karma who tases Maya and Phoenix making her wish she never woke up, showing again, she has little self worth, but it's thanks to her that a vital piece of evidence was kept away from Von Karma. Then in the second game taking place exactly a year later, she's framed for murder again, this time by her aunt, Morgan Fey, who used a seemingly deceased nurse to kill said nurse's boss. During this case she goes through heartache at the fact her aunt would do something so horrible, and finds out she tried to get her usurped so she could take over the Fey Clan under the guise of it being "good for Maya's cousin Pearl Fey". Of course it doesn't end there. A case or so later and she's kidnapped for ransom by an assassin, the ransom being a complete acquittal for Jerkass Matt Engarde (who was formerly listed as a Complete Monster but just barely missed our). Phoenix struggles to pin the blame on an innocent (and suicidal) woman in an attempt to get Maya free from Shelly De Killer but in a message, Maya assures him she is fine and to get Engarde a guilty sentence.

After she is rescued by Phoenix finding a loophole in Engarde's plot: the assassin in question is honourable in that he hates blackmail and traitors, something Engarde was doing to him, Phoenix, Maya and Pearl have a tearful reunion.

The third game mixes things up a bit. Maya isn't actually accused of murder until "Iris" (actually Dahlia Hawthorne's spirit possessing Maya's body) accuses her of murdering her own mother. The real killer was Mia Fey's boyfriend Diego "Godot" Armando, and Dahlia attempting to kill Maya was a part of Morgan Fey once again trying to kill her.

Finally after the third game things seemed to be looking up for her for some 9 years, that is until she is accused of murder again in the lawyer hating Kingdom of Khura'in. Despite getting a guilty verdict on day one and nearly dying because of the Defense Culpability Act, both Maya and Phoenix beat the charges only for Maya to get kidnapped again. She was rescued by Dhurke the rebel leader Dhurke who risked his life to rescue her. As thanks, Maya channeled his spirit so he could go to the US and see his adopted son Apollo (who is also quite the woobie) but Phoenix is told by his new client that Maya was kidnapped by his benefactor one Inga Karkhul Khura'in the minister of justice. After facing off against Apollo in a civic trial, Apollo beats his mentor and they hear about Maya who swaps places with the not dead queen of Khura'in Amara in channeling Dhurke. The rest is a very long story but you get the idea.

Is she sympathetic by the standards of the story?

Absolutely. She is one of the biggest sufferers in the series and a sweet girl to boot. If you read all of that you know why.

Can she defend herself?

No. Aside from channeling there is little she can do and she most certainly can't fight back or stand tall like other characters. She encourages others but that's about it.

Is she a Jerkass?

Absolutely not. She is incredibly kind despite her lack of confidence for a while and always tries to cheer people up.

Verdict?

Keep for regular woobie.

Maya

IPP Wick Check created.

Yes to Sayori and Maya.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

Alright. Next DDLC post.

Who is she?

Monika, the popular, gorgeous leader of the Literature Club. She at first seems to be a helpful side for the player by reminding them to save their game and doing the whole "Writing Tips of the Day" speeches. But that's more than meets the eyes...

What is her predicament?

For starters? She realized that nothing in her life was even real. She not only realizes that she was a fictional character in her own work, she also sees that she was deliberately made to not have a route in comparison to her other clubmates. Taking issue with this, Monika lashes out at her intended purpose and gradually starts to edit the game's files with her newfound powers.

She starts this by amplifying Sayori's depression, driving her to the brink of insanity. This ends with Sayori committing suicide towards the end of the first act. The game restarts seemingly normal — albeit with some minor glitches and a lack of Sayori — but Monika herself starts to become more pronounced. She next targets Yuri by making her become incredibly obsessed with you — to a point where she said that she wanted to cut you open and slide inside of you — and she too kills horrible in grizzly fashion regardless if you choose her maddening love confession or not. You are then subjected to watch Yuri's body decay over the weekend. Natsuki comes, and naturally vomits at Yuri's corpse before running out. Monika arrives and says that she would make everything better...and then deletes both girls from the game. So, in short, when her plan of making the girls look deplorable to you didn't work, she opted to deleting their character files.

In the infamous "Just Monika" route where you're floating endlessly with Monika in a void, she explains her motivations to you and either you close the game down and resume with Just Monika, or you delete Monika after which she realizes that she brought this on herself and removes herself from the game. Before doing so, she reveals that she didn't permanently delete the girls as she didn't have the heart to and opts to bring them back. Unfortunately, Sayori is the next to fall victim to the corrupt club as its new president, and Monika is forced to delete her to save you and bids you farewell with her ever iconic song "Your Reality."

Is she a jerkass?

Well, she was the one responsible for amplifying Sayori's depression climaxing in her killing herself; she makes the remaining girls seem unpleasant such as by making Yuri gradually come more obsessed with you until she stabs herself to death regardless of whether you accept her confession or not. And then taking the extra level in dickishness by deleting Natsuki's character file along with Yuri's.

But here's the thing: Monika became like this in part due to her position as the club president. It is heavily implied that the status is what drove Monika to insanity to begin with. After becoming self-aware, Monika realized her existence as just being a background character not meant to have a route of her own, and thus, she became mad. The idea of the Literature Club itself being corrupt is proven true as if you were to delete Monika in Act III and start back with Sayori in the fourth act, Sayori displays Monika's powers and a disembodied Monika is compelled to save you before deleting the game entirely, realizing that no happiness could be found in the Literature Club.

While I don't like Monika myself, I can't deny that she did have reasons for her psychotic behavior.

Can she defend herself?

As I mentioned in Sayori's EP? She is nearly a godly being in the game due to her ability to edit and alter the script and how she can literally delete characters from the game. All this when she gained Medium Awareness due to her position in the Literature Club. Her only hiccup is that she makes no effort with having her own character file being immune to deletion...and she kind of left it out in the open for you anyway, so...yeah.

What makes her go beyond a jerkass?

Amplifying the other girls' negative traits to get you to love her and then deleting their files is one thing, but she then takes it a step further by completely rewriting the game's world to an endless void where she gets to stare at you for eternity. Not only that, but she is more than capable of then deleting the world as evidenced by her saving you from Sayori when she took her place as club president.

Verdict

A strong case for Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. Thoughts?

Edited by AustinDR on Jan 14th 2019 at 7:14:14 AM

In Nidome No Yuusha, the story begins with the protagonist having been hunted down by his "true companions" who turned on him, after he saved the world and their lives, hunting him for sport and killing him, patting themselves on the back while proclaiming aloud "And thus we have slain evil." With his last breath, he promises revenge on them all. Que a Cosmic Retcon, and he's back at square one, on the summoning platform, face to face with the one who orchestrated his suffering, Princess Alesia.

He's not alone. All the main characters are strong contenders for Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, or maybe Jerkass Woobie, although they are fairly decent to those who don't intentionally provoke their ire.

To date:

Ueki Kaito: Protagonist. Summoned from Japan to the New World, and told he's needed to save the world from the Demon King. He spends three years doing just that, with one self-less heroic deed after another, struggling in almost never-ending training and battle. Then actually meets the Demon Lord, they fall in love, and she gives up her life so he can go home. That's when things go to hell, literally. His party turns on him, and tries to kill him, hunting him down like an animal. Princess Alesia has him framed for the crimes his companions committed before he was even summoned, and her own sin of mass-enslaving the vast majority of her kingdom's population, so she could escape the inevitable revolt. Leading him to be sold out by everyone he had rescued, over and over again, eventually being told, while cornered and surrounded by knights, with Alesia herself speaking through an illusion, under a ritual where she was incapable of lying, that even if he knew the magic ritual to get home, and had enough mana to actually activate it, his peaceful life in Japan is gone forever, as the very act of summoning him automatically caused the death of 200 people physically close to him, his entire school, and five close relatives, mother, father, siblings, and a cousin or two. A trip back to Japan would require an equal sacrifice...

Millanis: A slave Kaito purchases to be his "accomplice" on his path of vengeance. Originally a sweet 7-year-old girl, she saved the life of Lucia, her best friend, but in doing so revealed her beast-kin traits. Lucia "thanks" her for this by breaking her promise to keep it secret, telling her parents, other friends, and anyone who will listen, that not only is Millanis a beast-kin, but terrorized her into silence and feared for her life. This destroys her family, as her father, facing an angry mob, disowns her and her mother to save his own skin. Both Millanis and her mother are sold into slavery, not only facing abuse and beatings from the slave merchant, but from their fellow slaves, who were encouraged to use them as punching bags for ten years or so, until the mother died, and Millanis herself was on the verge of death from starvation and abuse, and would have died if Kaito didn't buy her.

Shiura: In order to get the medicine needed to save her younger sister from illness, she agreed to her older half-sister Yumis's demand to have her magic abilities drained. This took the form of being trapped in a room for three solid years, no contact with the outside world, except for a magic recording provided by Yumis once a month. At the end of this three years, after Yumis gets what she demanded, she's escorted by Yumis to a small shack just outside of town. It is then that she learns that Yumis had done the unspeakable. Yumis had made a contract with a demon, to wipe out Shiura's home village, to the last resident, no survivors, in exchange for providing the mana needed to run the 3-year ritual to steal Shiura's powers. The "promised reunion" with her mother and younger sister? A face to face with their undead corpses, right before being left alone, and helpless, with the same demon who wiped out her home village, so her soul would serve as a nice snack, and her body would be claimed for its Human Resources, to fuel Yumis's own magical research. If not for being rescued by Kaito, she'd be turned into a walking corpse too.

All three characters swear their lives to revenge against their tormentors.

all I missed.

Yes to Monika.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

• Doki Doki Literature Club!:
  • The Woobie: Sayori — the preppy vice president of the Literature Club — is the childhood friend of the player character. Revealing her optimism as a front for her depression, Sayori commits suicide regardless of the player's choice. Possessing the chance of becoming insane and deleting the game without Monika's influence, Sayori's depression is conveyed realistically, and serves as one of the first true scares of the game.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Monika is the self-appointed president of the Literature Club. Growing insane due to her title, Monika becomes angered at not having her own route. To this end, Monika accentuates the girls' negative traits to make them less appealing before opting to delete their character files when that fails. Destroying her world so she could be the only being in the game, Monika realizes what she had become when deleted. Monika's attempts at fixing her mistake goes awry, forcing her to permanently delete the game, declaring that no happiness could be found in the Literature Club.

Edited by AustinDR on Jan 14th 2019 at 12:10:33 PM

I'd like to suggest PAFF/Aroma from Cytus II.

What's the work?

Cytus II is the sequel to Cytus, a Rhythm Game with a cyberpunk story. Whereas the first game has a cryptic plot told mostly via images hidden during certain songs, the sequel is a lot more open about its story, which is told in a Log Fic style through messages posted on a social network site and files in the characters' computers. Cytus II follows the stories of several musicians, who are dragged into a strange conspiracy involving the disappearance of the legendary DJ AEsir.

Who is PAFF?

PAFF is the stage name of Aroma White, an Idol Singer under Monophonic Records. Arguably the biggest name in music, she is surprisingly introverted despite feeling completely at ease while singing.

What is her predicament?

The biggest and most important of PAFF's hardships is the car accident. On the day she was to make her idol debut, PAFF was involved in a crash and suffered brain damage, falling into a coma for over six months. After waking up, she was left with no memory of her prior life. Upon returning to school, Aroma was bullied due to her amnesia.

PAFF went on to have a wildly successful musical career, but something bothered her. She couldn't help but wonder whether or not she was the real Aroma, or if the amnesia changed her. Eventually, the stress of this was too much to bear, and she ran away from home, leaving behind her idol life. After being reported missing and with search efforts turning fruitless, Monophonic Records decided to terminate their contract with PAFF (a decision which led to riots from her highly devoted fans).

After two weeks of homelessness, Aroma had nearly lost all hope. She eventually finds shelter with NEKO, a rival musician who had previously declared herself enemy of PAFF due to an incident involving songwriting credits. Thankfully, NEKO gets over their rivalry rather quickly and lets her live in her house (albeit in secret, hidden from NEKO's family in order to prevent her location from being leaked to the paparazzi). As of this writing (patch 2.0), this is where PAFF's story ends.

However, some clues imply even worse things have happened to her. A few days before the aforementioned crash, Noah (the husband of Aroma's sister Helena) approached her while drunk. It's not explicitly stated what happened afterwards, but given his dialogue ("Compared to Helena... I rather... you...") followed by Aroma screaming in terror, it's heavily implied that Noah raped Aroma.

Possibly even worse, some clues suggest that the person we know as PAFF is not even the real Aroma. It's hinted that the character we are following right now might actually be another girl originally named Kaori, who was kidnapped by a human trafficking ring and had her own personality overwritten with Aroma's in order to replace her following the car crash. This may be why PAFF had an existential crisis above: what if she isn't really who she thinks she is?

Is she sympathetic?

Very much so. She is a Shrinking Violet and the most straightfowardly nice of the game's protagonists.

Can she defend herself?

PAFF has not been shown to be a fighter. As mentioned above, she was assaulted and overpowered by her sister's husband.

Verdict

I do think PAFF is a good candidate for The Woobie, but one thing that makes me hesitant is that a few of her predicaments have only been hinted at so far. One could also argue that if the "Aroma is Kaori" theory is true, then we're following not one but two characters (though one could argue the opposite as well, that since Aroma's mind was transferred into Kaori's body, anything Kaori does from there on is what Aroma would have done, making them the same person). As much as I would like to see PAFF listed as The Woobie, I could also stand to wait and see how the story develops.

@2018: Will you mind giving each of them a proper effort post?

IPP Wick Check created.

From YMMV/Dolls:

• The Woobie: Judy. Thankfully, she is no longer this trope by the end of the movie.

Please add that to the Re-Evaluation Box.

IPP Wick Check created.

How do I do that?

PAFF

"No running in the halls!"

Paff

IPP Wick Check created.

to PAFF.

"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 PAFF.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

Yea

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

Yes to all of the above.

So I couldn't get out to get my keyboard so I'm hoping I'll get batteries for a wireless one I have lying around.

I could try posting them on my phone but the pages are locked and it's not easy to copy paste on a phone.

Monika

If anyone can hear this, cast a vote on her while you can.

IPP Wick Check created.

• Cytus II: PAFF (real name Aroma White) is a Shrinking Violet with a traumatic past. On the day she was to make her debut as an Idol Singer, a car crash left her comatose for months and missing most of her memories after waking up. Although she went on to have a massively successful idol career after her awakening, the amnesia haunted her, to the point where she had an existential crisis: what if she wasn't the person she thought she was? The possibilities haunted her to the point where she ran away from home, leaving behind her life of fame and luxury out of fear that it wasn't hers. And then there are the implications that her fears may be founded and that she may be another person brainwashed into taking Aroma's place, or that she was sexually assaulted or even raped by Noah, who she saw as a parental figure. It's hard to not feel sympathy for PAFF's plight given all she had to go through.

EDIT: I guess I just add this to the page? I went ahead and made YMMV.Cytus II.

Also, Monika

Edited by Zuxtron on Jan 15th 2019 at 8:14:31 AM

Why don't you add it to the drafts?

IPP Wick Check created.

Sorry. The original post isn't very clear on what I was supposed to do. I added it to the drafts page.

Edited by Zuxtron on Jan 15th 2019 at 8:31:21 AM

I think I'll try my hands at this.

What's the Work?

Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids is a series of books by British author Jamie Rix. Its premise is that it's a collection of short stories usually revolving around kids (and sometimes adults) misbehaving and suffering extreme (and often fatal) consequences (often through supernatural means). It was later adapted into a TV series that ran for six seasons from 1999 to 2006, and another two in 2010. One story, "The Stick Men", actually revolves around a particularly sympathetic kid.

Who is He?

Chico is the only child of workaholic parents who pass him out to nannies. Unfortunately, the nannies are more interested in watching TV, raiding the fridge, and phoning their boyfriends than actually caring for kids. Worse yet, they never even take Chico out to meet kids of his own age, resulting in him growing up lonely and creating his friends through crayons. He usually draws them on the wall, much to his parents' chagrin.

Anyway, one day, Chico is pondering what to do in his made-up world of Fiddledy-dee when Nanny Sharon comes into his room. No more fond of his drawings than his parents are, she calls the picture ugly and says Chico has weird friends. This causes Chico to be unable to enjoy the world he made, but then, a stick man called Stan comes out and brings his friends for fun. To Chico's horror, they start scribbling all over the place. Chico's feeble attempts to get them to stop wake up the knobbly hobgoblins, and their leader sketches a picture of Nanny Sharon talking and a snake coming out of the phone. Nanny Sharon goes screaming out of the house, and the hobgoblin sketches a picture of a helicopter crash. Chico erases it (only in the book version) and puts the hobgoblins back in the picture. Stan invites Chico in, but Chico has to draw himself in.

To his dismay, Fiddledy-dee looks exactly like Chico drew it on the wall, and it isn't a pretty sight. The sorceress (who's blind because Chico forgot to give her eyes) tells him that the stick men's appearance will change if a human lives with them. Chico is hesitant, but just then, his parents arrive. Naturally, they are furious to see the mess. Chico's father grabs a bucket of water and throws it on the drawing, washing it out.

Fortunately, Fiddledy-dee was born of a sorcery more powerful than water. Although he can't step out of a picture that doesn't exist, Chico is still able to live there. And guess what? The story actually averts And I Must Scream by having the stick men become human, the sorceress regain her sight, and Fiddledy-dee become much like the real world. Just as washing off the picture can't destroy the forest, though, so rubbing the hobgoblins' sketch can't destroy their dark magic. Three weeks later, Chico's parents are killed in a helicopter accident, and with their heads swollen to five times their normal size, they look like stick men.

Can he defend himself?

Not exactly. He's never put in a life-threatening situation, but it's made clear that he suffers from Abusive Parents. His father (in the TV version) stops his food, and his mother suggests that they put Chico in a sack and throw him in the river (although the TV version waters it down to simply locking him in a dungeon and throwing away the key). You may think Chico's parents are justified in their anger at their son scribbling on the walls, but it's revealed that they never really enjoyed him or seen the point of him (Chico's father even states he thought they threw Chico out with the rubbish), and a flashback (at least in the TV version) reveals that they tried to trade him in for a toasted sandwich maker when he was born (and almost undoubtedly had no understanding of the world around him).

Sympathy Standard?

Most kids often suffer from a Big Brother Bully, and the Chipper Chums get one of the series' darkest fates, but Chico probably has it the worst, as he suffers from Abusive Parents. Amos Sterling never came off as abusive toward his daughter, Albert (even though he seemed more interested in fame than her future) and even seemed genuinely remorseful when she was turned old.

Is he a Jerkass?

Not at all. Chico seems to feel no ill will toward his parents despite the (mostly verbal) hell they often put him through, and doesn't want to leave them forever. He even tries (unsuccessfully) to stop the hobgoblins from hurting his parents.

Verdict?

I removed PAFF from YMMV.Cytus II. I'm not too sure whether that was the right thing to do or not, but it seems like it still has to go through another phase before being accepted. Could someone clarify this for me?

I also removed examples of Jerkass Woobie and Stoic Woobie that were added by another troper without going through this thread first.