[001]
ExplodingFrogs
Current Version
Changed line(s) 1 from:
n
Wow. CompletelyMissingThePoint, much? Making it to the top 8 or the top 4 \'\'doesn\'t matter\'\', because, from the perspective of the audience, she did it all off the backs of the aforementioned nameless nobodies. We haven\'t seen these characters. We don\'t know how skilled they are. In fact, given the LawOfConservationOfDetail, many viewers don\'t factor them in at all. When she duels onscreen she loses--and she does so \'\'consistently\'\'. If she had a few victories against characters with NominalImportance here and there, this wouldn\'t be nearly so damaging to the viewers\' perception of her--but as things stand, the impression this gives is \
to:
Wow. CompletelyMissingThePoint, much? Making it to the top 8 or the top 4 \\\'\\\'doesn\\\'t matter\\\'\\\', because, from the perspective of the audience, she did it all off the backs of the aforementioned nameless nobodies. We haven\\\'t seen these characters. We don\\\'t know how skilled they are. In fact, given the LawOfConservationOfDetail, many viewers don\\\'t factor them in at all. When she duels onscreen she loses--and she does so \\\'\\\'consistently\\\'\\\'. If she had a few victories against characters with NominalImportance here and there, this wouldn\\\'t be nearly so damaging to the viewers\\\' perception of her--but as things stand, the impression this gives is \\\"whenever Mai faces anyone with real skill, she will lose.\\\"
You\\\'re approaching this in terms of real-world logic. You recognize that, logically, all participants in a professional tournament will have a roughly even spread of skill, and thus making it to the finals is a significant achievement. You also recognize that losing doesn\\\'t mean you\\\'re bad or even that your opponent was better, just that they won this time. This is actually a good thing from the perspective of WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. From the perspective of analyzing tropes, however, it\\\'s a liability, as this requires you to recognize that a)everything that happens is determined not by skill, but by the plot, and b)\\\'\\\'only things that happen onscreen matter.\\\'\\\' It doesn\\\'t matter that making it to the finals would be an incredible achievement for a tournament of this scale in RealLife. It doesn\\\'t matter that Mai probably has hundreds of wins against duelists of comparable caliber to the ones she lost against to her three losses. That all happened offscreen, and in fiction, that relegates it to the realm of hearsay and rumor. Onscreen, she dueled three times, and lost three times, despite being hyped up as one of the best duelists there is. That\\\'s all that matters, as far as this site is concerned. If you want a realistic analysis of what Mai\\\'s actual abilities are, freed from narrative concerns, that\\\'s fine--but it has no place here, except perhaps on the forums.
You\\\'re approaching this in terms of real-world logic. You recognize that, logically, all participants in a professional tournament will have a roughly even spread of skill, and thus making it to the finals is a significant achievement. You also recognize that losing doesn\\\'t mean you\\\'re bad or even that your opponent was better, just that they won this time. This is actually a good thing from the perspective of WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. From the perspective of analyzing tropes, however, it\\\'s a liability, as this requires you to recognize that a)everything that happens is determined not by skill, but by the plot, and b)\\\'\\\'only things that happen onscreen matter.\\\'\\\' It doesn\\\'t matter that making it to the finals would be an incredible achievement for a tournament of this scale in RealLife. It doesn\\\'t matter that Mai probably has hundreds of wins against duelists of comparable caliber to the ones she lost against to her three losses. That all happened offscreen, and in fiction, that relegates it to the realm of hearsay and rumor. Onscreen, she dueled three times, and lost three times, despite being hyped up as one of the best duelists there is. That\\\'s all that matters, as far as this site is concerned. If you want a realistic analysis of what Mai\\\'s actual abilities are, freed from narrative concerns, that\\\'s fine--but it has no place here, except perhaps on the forums.
