The Woobie Cleanup

Yes to the above three.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

Sure

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

Okay. I'll do the write up for them.

Write-up for Kaito and Millanis are up.

While I look into Hereditary for any potential keeps, here is another film directed by Ari Aster.

What is the work?

The Strange Thing About the Johnsons is an indie short film about a happy, middle class African American family who have a dark family secret.

Who is he?

Sidney Johnson is a well-known poet who has a dark secret.

What is his predicament?

Well, for one? He gets repeatedly sexually assaulted by his own son Isaiah. This predicament had lasted for 14 years most likely starting when he came home crying after attending Isaiah's prom. Even when Isaiah gets married himself, the abuse doesn't stop. Joan witnesses the sexual abuse at the wedding reception, but because of her abject displeasure over it, she does nothing.

Sidney had since taken to writing his memoir Cocoon Man: Confessions by Sidney Johnson which is a recollection of all the endless instances of him getting abused by his son. Finishing with the memoir, he tries to sneak it underneath his wife's pillow...but his son barges into his room, claiming that his toilet was broken. Sure enough, Isaiah discovers the memoir, and psychologically manipulates Sidney into getting rid of it under the threat of further abuse. So...Sidney does what he says.

In what is considered the most disturbing part of the film? Sidney tries to relax by listening to recordings on his MP3 player whilst laying in the bathtub. His son bangs on the door, reminding him that he hated locked doors. He kicks it down, and savagely rapes his father. Joan overhears his desperate scream for help...but she turns up the volume on her television set to drown it out.

In short, Sidney met his demise when he finally reached his boiling point and tries to run out of the house with his second copy of his memoir only to be ran over by a white van.

Sympathy standard

He gets sexually abused and raped for 14 years. That is all that needs to be said.

Is he a Jerkass?

Not really. The film keeps it ambiguous as to how the abuse started — with Sidney's first sentences of his memoir reflecting whether he did something to provoke his son — but in the end, it is Isaiah's fault for everything he does and he tried to make his father look bad so that he would never speak out about the abuse.

Can he defend himself?

Taking the notion he didn't discipline his son when he was still a kid aside, no.

Verdict

Woobie

Edited by AustinDR on Jan 21st 2019 at 9:49:01 AM

Okay, here's my writeups for Pyrrha, England, and Vale from Weight of the World. I wasn't sure where to start with this so I went with the descriptions I had and trimmed them down. I think they can be shortened more.

I also posted these on the drafts page.

Iron Woobie

• Pyrrha Nikos is an aspiring Huntress and international celebrity of Remnant. She'd prefer to be a "normal" Huntress and have friends rather than fame. She accidentally kills Penny, her friend, while the whole world is watching. Because of Penny's death, people fear her, hate her, or blame her for the fall of Beacon since Penny's death drew in the Grimm. While on an airship flight, a little girl recognizes her as the "one who killed the girl with the bow" and calls her a monster. She's taken from her world and everyone she loves and dropped into a new, unfamiliar one, where she is forced to keep her powers in check or risk being arrested by the government. She finds out the people she has been fighting for (Ozpin and Ironwood) lied to her and have done terrible things she cannot justify, making her question her entire purpose in life. Her decision to tackle England and prevent him from stopping America from leaving helped lead to America's latest abduction. Pyrrha holds her emotions in and puts on a smile but is unable to repress the trauma she feels from what happened. She is terrified of her own Semblance because of what happened to Penny and occasionally breaks down but downplays her sorrow and does not let it affect her for too long. She suffers from graphic, bloody nightmares about Penny's death and America's near-Death of Personality, revealing she feels responsible for both. She also feels guilty for mistrusting England and stopping him from going after America (which led to America's recapture at the hands of Atlas).

Jerk Ass Woobie

• Vale (Amber) is the strongest personification on Remnant, who won the Great War almost singlehandedly. Her Aura unlocks the Relic of Choice, which means she is hunted by both Salem's forces and Ozpin's conspiracy. On Ozpin's orders, Vale was forced to use her Semblance and the Relic of Destruction to decimate the enemy forces during the Great War. Her King is taken over by Ozpin and she is the only one who cares. She refuses to work with Ozpin, so he tortures her until she uses her Semblance on what will become the lock for the Relic of Choice and its Vault. He unintentionally uses the Relic of Choice to make sure she can never speak ill of her "master" again. She is forced to flee her own Kingdom and spends 80 years in hiding as Ozpin's men hunt her. Vale runs into Mistral and they "renew" their friendship but Mistral envies Vale's stability and prosperity. Mistral lures Vale into an ambush of bandits. Betrayed again, Vale breaks ties with Mistral and leaves, alone once more. Mantle (Vale's brother) is the only one she trusts to know her location. He gives it to Cinder to save his own skin. Cinder finds Vale and takes part of her Aura, leaving her comatose but aware and unable to do anything. She feels it when part of her Aura (her soul) is pulled out of her body and forced into America before her body is killed by Cinder. When Cinder dies, the rest of her Aura goes to America and their souls merge. She and America are mostly-amnesiac and technically one when Roman, Neo, and Mercury pretend to be their friends. In actuality, they are taking them to Cinder's allies in the hopes of saving their own skin. Vale/America finds out and Roman, Neo, and Mercury attempt to kill them and leave them to die in the woods. They get better. America regains his memories and their souls split. Vale cannot access her Aura or Semblance, or take over America's body even a little. She is trapped as a voice in America's head, and cannot do anything, not even help him when he is in danger. He begins suffering from nosebleeds and other ailments and Vale realizes her Kingdom is dying and taking both her and America with it. Vale gradually becomes harsher, more ruthless, and cynical. She rarely warms up to people and is very pessimistic. She is also prone to giving up when she believes she cannot win. Rather than share her emotions or why she's upset, she lashes out. This becomes worse after she realizes she and America are dying. She constantly berates America at first, but (after some prodding) admits shes frustrated that she cannot do anything to help anyone since she is a voice in his head. She is very mistrusting and will always expect the worst in people. She fully expects them to betray her.

• England (Arthur Kirkland) is the overprotective elder brother and guardian of America and Canada. His brothers were abducted from within his country, where they should have been safe. He spent eight months trying to locate them and eventually discovered they were on another world. When he reunites with his brothers, America and England argue, and America storms off. Next time England sees his brother he is unconscious in a hospital after being shot. America goes missing during the fall of Beacon and England is forced to search for him once more. England finds out about Vale's Aura being forced into America, which may have resulted in his brother's Death of Personality. He finds America, only for him to be amnesiac. America does not remember anything about England except the time England pointed a gun at his face during the Revolution. England blames his tense relationship with America on Vale's influence. He also keeps his distance from him and acts cold and aloof until Pyrrha points out how much he is damaging his relationship with his brother by rejecting him. He tries to get past his prejudices towards Remnant but cannot quite manage it. He refuses to take what America wants into consideration and plans to sever his connection with Vale without America's knowledge or consent. He gets close to America and gains his trust. All that trust is shattered when America finds out England planned to remove Vale from him, which would result in all of Vale's people (including Ruby and Yang) suffering from a nation-wide Loss of Identity. America calls him out for this and leaves, only to be captured by Atlas soldiers. England comes to regret what he did and takes measures to make amends. He reunites with America and apologizes but finds out his brother is slowly dying because of Vale, and there is nothing he can do to stop it. He would still try to separate America and Vale if he could, though this time it is to save America's citizens from a Loss of Identity if he dies. England is terrified his brothers will be hurt by Remnant more but keeps it to himself. He has a deep hatred of Remnant for what they did to America and Canada and is infuriated whenever America does something Atlas would "want" (such as choosing to keep the Relic of Choice safe from Salem). This causes England to treat America and other Remnant natives with scorn. However, he grows to care for them and desires to save their world.

Yeah... That really really needs a lot of trimming. Though I'm not a trimming expert but unsure on this.

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

Yes to Sidney.

To ElfenLiedFan90: I'm not a trimming person either. I don't know where to start.

Sid

I've trimmed both entries to under 300 words:

• Vale (Amber), strongest personification on Remnant, won the Great War almost singlehandedly. Her Aura unlocks the Choice Relic, meaning she's hunted by both Salem and Ozpin. Ozpin made Vale decimate the enemy during the war. Her King gets possessed by Ozpin and only she cares. Refusing to work with Ozpin, he tortures her into her Semblance on what will become the lock for the Choice Relic and its Vault. He unintentionally uses the Choice Relic to make sure she can never speak ill of her "master" again. She flees her Kingdom and hides from Ozpin's men. Vale runs into an envious Mistral, who gets her ambushed by bandits. Mantle, Vale's brother, is the only one she trusts with her location. Thanks to him, Cinder finds Vale and takes part of her Aura, leaving her comatose but aware and unable to do anything. She feels part of her Aura(her soul) forced into America before Cinder kills her body. When Cinder dies, her remaining Aura goes to America, merging their souls. They are mostly-amnesiac and one when Roman, Neo, and Mercury pretend to be friends, but later attempted to kill them in the woods. America regains his memories, splitting their souls. Vale cannot access her Aura or Semblance, or take over America's body. She's rendered a voice in America's head, and cannot even save him from danger. He begins suffering from nosebleeds and other ailments and Vale realizes her Kingdom is dying, taking both her and America with it. Vale becomes mostly cold, very pessimistic, and prone to giving up when she believes she'll lose. Rather than share emotions, she lashes out, becoming worse after she realizes she and America are dying. She eventually admits she's frustrated that she cannot as a voice in his head.
• England (Arthur Kirkland) is the elder brother of America and Canada, who were abducted within his country. Eventually reuniting with them in another world, America and England argue, and America storms off. Next, England sees his brother hospitalized after being shot. America disappears during the fall of Beacon, forcing England to search for him again. England learns about Vale's Aura being forced into America, which may have caused his brother's Death of Personality. He finds America, who remembers nothing about England except the time England pointed a gun at him. England blames his relationship with America on Vale's influence, also coldly distancing from him until Pyrrha points out how damaged his relationship with his brother was. He tries to abandon his prejudices towards Remnant but cannot quite manage it. He plans to sever America's connection with Vale without America's knowledge. He gains America's trust, which gets shattered when America learns England planned to remove Vale from him, resulting in all of Vale's people (including Ruby and Yang) suffering from Identity Loss. America calls him out and leaves, only to be captured by Atlas soldiers. Regretting what happened, England apologizes to America, but finds out his brother is slowly dying inevitably because of Vale. He still tried to separate America and Vale if he could, this time to save America's citizens from a Loss of Identity if he dies. England is terrified his brothers will be hurt by Remnant more but keeps it to himself. He deeply hates Remnant for what they did to his brothers and is infuriated whenever America does something Atlas "wants" (including keeping the Choice Relic safe from Salem). This causes England to treat America and other Remnant natives with scorn. However, he grows to care for them and their world.

IPP Wick Check created.

To MasterJoseph: Thank you! Is the Pyrrha entry okay then? Also, how do you tell how many words an entry is?

She's okay.

I've also used a word counter.

Edited by MasterJoseph on Jan 21st 2019 at 11:55:38 AM

IPP Wick Check created.

Sidney

Yes to Sidney.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

Anyone think the following woobie pages for A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones should be merged as they are part of the same franchise?

Normal-Types
A Song of Ice and Fire
Game of Thrones
Jerk-Types
Game of Thrones

And who might volunteer for woobie candidates from this franchise?

Edited by MasterJoseph on Jan 21st 2019 at 5:08:56 AM

IPP Wick Check created.

No. The characters in the books and movies are quite different and have separate Character Sheets for a reason. See this:

• A Song of Ice and Fire
• Game of Thrones

I.e. on tvtropes Sansa from ASOIAF and Sansa from GoT are treated as different characters. Since The Woobie is a character trope, the pages you linked should not be merged unless those Character Sheets are merged, which is undesirable to say the least.

Edited by Asherinka on Jan 21st 2019 at 5:18:22 PM

I'm back with one more Woobie-analyses from the Weight of the World Woobie page.

This time it's Oscar Pine.

Who is he?

Oscar Pine was a normal, friendless farmboy until he woke up one day with Ozpin in his head. He longed for adventure and saw Ozpin as an opportunity but was reluctant to head out to save the world. He goes out anyway but is out of his depth. He learns fast but not quickly enough and finds himself facing situations he is woefully unprepared for.

What has he endured?

Oscar is shy and not very confident by nature, yet finds himself in a position where he is expected to lead others. He only has a few months' training and knows he is not the strongest or best fit to be the group's leader. Ozpin expects him to be, but no one else does. The group looks to Qrow, Ruby, Jaune, or England for leadership, not Oscar (to his relief).

RWBY, JNPR, and the others do not trust Ozpin after finding out about his past and fear he may sacrifice their lives for his goals. They keep their distance from Ozpin, which makes them isolate Oscar as a side-effect. Most of the times they speak to Oscar, they want to talk to Ozpin.

Oscar joins the team in invading the Transformation Institute as his first mission, and sees horrible things including the execution of innocent prisoners. He also witnesses the savagery of a mob during the Atlas riot.

America^note  who has been separate from the group until this point and knows how Oscar is feeling due to how people treated him and Vale is the first person to treat Oscar as only Oscar and approach him to talk to him, not Ozpin. America encourages Oscar and tells him that it's impossible to save everyone and no one expects him to, only for Ozpin to take control of Oscar's body mid-conversation.

Oscar finds out that Ozpin is slowly taking over his body and will soon take control permanently, erasing Oscar's soul in the process. He discovers this when he wakes up standing over America with a sacrificial dagger in his hand. Ozpin tried to murder Oscar's only friend to get more power while Oscar was unaware. Oscar manages to wrestle control back from Ozpin and save America, Penny, and Pyrrha, the latter two whom Ozpin was planning to kill to silence the witnesses.

His response?

Oscar becomes very withdrawn after RWBY-etc. isolate him. He can tell the others (except America) mistrust Ozpin and feels uncomfortable asking for anything from them. He is traumatized by the Institute mission but is not comfortable asking for help, and keeps his trauma to himself. When America inquires how Oscar is feeling after the Institute, Oscar bursts into tears and says he can't believe the soldiers could be that cruel, and he feels guilty about not saving everyone. It is implied he has developed a pacifism-inclined worldview based on his desire to use a staff and Wind Dust ^note In the series, Wind Dust or wind is often used when the user either consciously or subconsciously does not want to harm an enemy. in a theoretical weapon for himself. After Ozpin tried to kill America and Oscar stopped him, Oscar begs to be killed so Ozpin cannot harm anyone else.

Verdict?

Woobie.

Edited by EmeraldSky on Jan 22nd 2019 at 7:20:53 AM

To MasterJoseph and Asherinka: Asherinka is correct. The characters are completely different, so merging the pages does not make much sense.

Oscar

So looking back at Johnsons...

Who is she?

Joan Johnson, the dutiful wife of Sidney, and mother of Isaiah.

What is her predicament?

Alright, I'll level with you: she is nowhere near the level of suffering that her husband is at the hands of his psychopath of a son. Despite that...she knows explicitly what her son is doing. Now, it's true, anyone could easily give her flack for not doing the logical thing and calling the authorities on her son, but I feel that one of the primary reasons as to why she didn't say anything was because she was still trying to preserve the image of a "perfect" family, and this is actually something that happens in multiple cases of real life domestic abuse. It's made clear that all she wanted was a normal, functioning family, but this disillusionment blocked her judgment. That kind of taboo happening between the father and her son (which is of course one-sided) would just tear their family apart if it was made public.

During the most infamous scene of the short film, Joan tries to turn up the volume of her television set to drown out her husband's pained pleas for help, and is forlorn about it. The next day, the unimaginable happens and her husband is killed indirectly by Isaiah. If losing her husband to a vehicular accident was bad, at that moment, she decides to confront Isaiah about Sidney crying after returning from his prom 14 years prior. She angrily accuses Isaiah of murdering his own father which leads to a clash between the two. When Isaiah tries to shove his mother headfirst into the fireplace, Joan grabs a fire iron and after bashing her son in the head with it, she repeatedly bludgeons him to death before crying. She then throws the second copy of her husband's memoir.

Is she a Jerkass?

Like I said, you could call her out for doing nothing about anything her son was doing, especially the bathtub scene where she drowns out her husband's distress by turning the volume up. But like I said, there is the argument that she was desperately trying to preserve the image of a perfectly wholesome family and that the threat of the truth coming out would lead to a lasting controversy. So, she tried to pretend that nothing was happening, but of course that facade gradually is eroded away.

As for her murdering her son at the end...come on, he tried to throw her in the fireplace. It was self-defense, but maybe bludgeoning him repeatedly with the fire iron was a bit uncalled for. I maybe would've liked it more that she knocked him unconscious and then called the police to arrest him, but at the very least he can't hurt anyone else anymore. Other than that, I may lean towards JW more, but she does have an understandable motivation behind her inactivity.

Can she defend herself?

Against her adult son, no. She does manage to give him some serious damage, but that was only because of her desperation.

Sympathy standard

Like I said while she is nowhere near the level of sympathy that her husband fell under, she knew that her son was a monster and was afraid of him, and now she had to keep the knowledge of what her son did to his father as a secret for the rest of her life. And she was forced to kill her own son in self-defense. Come on, that in itself should earn her a few brownie points.

Verdict

Jerkass Woobie, but only to a relatively small degree.

Joan

Found this under Little Shop of Horrors:

• Jerkass Woobie: Seymour. He definitely crossed the Moral Event Horizon at some point (where exactly the point was is up to you), but when Audrey dies and he's left all alone, you have to feel a bit sorry for him. His backstory (a poor orphan taken in by someone who doesn't even like him), and his desperate pining for Audrey at the start of the show, watching the girl he loves get abused by someone who doesn't love her the way she deserves, garners a bit of sympathy, too.
• The Woobie: Audrey (the human). Her father ran out on her when she was a child, and she grew up poor, which is why she's trapped on Skid Row. She has absolutely zero self-esteem, which is why she stays with her abusive boyfriend while secretly pining for her sweet coworker that actually treats her well — not only does Audrey not know Seymour loves her back, she doesn't even think she's good enough for him. When her scumbag boyfriend gets eaten, she's understandably glad he's gone, but feels guilty for feeling that way, in spite of how terribly he treated her. Oh, and Audrey II eats her for no goddamn reason other than to mess with Seymour.

---

I can relent that she does qualify under The Woobie since I've seen the film and play. Seymour is okay too.

Onto....

What is the work?

Courage the Cowardly Dog. A Cartoon Network series about the titular Courage trying to protect his owners Muriel and Eustace Bagge from monsters and other supernatural threats. There could potentially be several that fall under Woobie or Jerkass. First one...

Who is she?

The female Starmaker from the episode "The Last of the Starmakers."

What is her predicament?

Her mate is forced to sacrifice itself for her and their unborn offspring when a space whale threatened to eat them. Crashing to Earth, the female Starmaker of course ends up at the Bagge house. Muriel and Courage take a liking to her because of her gift of creating stars hence her name. When he overhears that the Starmaker was a priceless find, Eustace of course calls the military so he could get a reward. The Starmaker is taken and is experimented on. When Muriel notices that she was drying out, she tasks Courage with getting into the lab to place the Starmaker's eggs underneath her so that the species wouldn't die out.

Courage digs his way into the lab and succeeds at his mission. The eggs hatch, and the baby Starmakers flap their way into the sky. The female Starmaker then crawls out of the lab and dies, becoming a garden.

Can she defend herself?

No. She has to protect her eggs, making her vulnerable. She does manage to hold off two of the military members so her eggs could hatch, but other than that, she could not.

Sympathy standard

Her species was under the threat of near extinction, so yes. As for her mate, I won't suggest him since he dies early on in the episode before there could be much development.

Is she a jerk?

No.

Verdict

The Woobie. The first of many to come.

Edited by AustinDR on Jan 22nd 2019 at 8:37:22 AM

Sure there Austin... For Courage, I'm guessing Courage is one of them.

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

Yes to Joan and the Starmaker.

Edited by EmeraldSky on Jan 22nd 2019 at 8:41:47 AM

Starmaker.

The second Woobie...

Who is she?

Bunny. Bunny first appears in the noticeably Darker and Edgier episode "The Mask." She is the best friend (and widely speculated lover) of Kitty. From her name, she is obviously a rabbit.

Her predicament?

Well, she's in an abusive relationship with her Mad Dog, the leader of a pack of brutes. How she got involved with him is uncertain, but he greatly dislikes Kitty, so much so, he threatened to bury her and Bunny alive if they ever came into close proximity of each other. Bunny cries, leading to Mad Dog pretending to be remorseful as with most realistic domestic abusers tend to do as a tactic...only to angrily bury Bunny up to her neck in a flowerpot.

Courage arrives and after a dramatic car chase with Mad Dog ending with him getting smashed by a train, Bunny reunites with Kitty.

Can she defend herself?

No, of course not.

Sympathy standard?

She is in a domestically abusive relationship, something that the show doesn't try to shy away from. In fact, this is probably one of the more realistic of domestic abuse I have ever seen. Mad Dog uses manipulative tactics such as faking remorse to keep Bunny under his paw, he forces her to do performances for him under the threat of harm (the episode heavily implies that Bunny's "work" has to do with a certain industry), and she has no way of getting out of it. So, yeah. A pass.

Is she a Jerk?

She is first dismissive of Courage when he arrives to rescue her, but considering who her boyfriend is, it is a justified response. She gets better towards the end and earnestly thanks Courage for his assistance.

Verdict

Woobie, onto Kitty.

---

Who is she?

A red, humanoid cat who is the best friend (and possible lover) of Bunny. She first appears wearing a white mask and a white cloak.

What is her predicament?

Her friend's in an abusive relationship, for starters. Because of Mad Dog, Kitty grew to resent all dogs; as such, when she first arrives to the Bagge residence, she wastes no time with beating the crap out of Courage to comedic effect. She had a valuable object in her possession to think about Kitty, and Courage decides to rescue her despite finding out that Kitty was well, a cat (and looks incredibly similar to a certain cat that Courage faces nearly in every episode).

After facing down Mad Dog, Kitty reunites with Bunny, and thanks Courage for everything.

Is she a jerk?

Starts off as one. She beats Courage up for no reason other than for him being a dog, but it is explainable as the only dog she knew was a horrible abuser. When Courage helps her reunite with Bunny, she realizes the error of her ways, understanding that not all dogs were bad. She genuinely thanks Courage at the end for everything.

Sympathy standard

Knew that her best friend was in a tight bind but was unable to do anything about it. While she wasn't in the same situation, the fact that she couldn't do anything to stop it makes her relatively sympathetic.

Can she defend herself?

Aside from beating Courage up in unprovoked attacks, she cannot hope to take on Mad Dog and his goons.

Verdict

Jerkass Woobie