Discussion What do people mean by Novel author turning MC from "Alpha Male" to "Beta Male"?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by SummerMascot, Jul 17, 2018.

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  1. SummerMascot

    SummerMascot Well-Known Member

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    Discussing the below topic on a general scale, not limiting to a single Novel.

    What do people mean by Novel author turning MC from "Alpha Male" to "Beta Male"? Felt curious after reading the 1st reader comment on this page https://www.novelupdates.com/series/wicked-soldier-king/: What do people mean by Novel author turning MC from "Alpha Male" to "Beta Male"?

    1. So does it mean that said Novel author neuters (or gasp castrates?) MC in terms of personality and abilities?
    2. Some readers even interprets as the MC becomes the "bottom" (lewd?) in love relationships?
    3. Or should it be said that MC switches from an independent entity into a slave/servant?
     
  2. Zerses

    Zerses Well-Known Member

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    It’s more the mc personality such as going from confidence and aggressive or manly in the way he deals with women into someone who is spineless or fickle with women and shows clueless attitude towards their affection and such
     
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  3. SummerMascot

    SummerMascot Well-Known Member

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    So should I equate this to terms like "小受", uke and "受ける" (which all means "receiving bottom"?) used in JP and CN Novels?

    And is this MC from "Alpha Male" to "Beta Male" trope commonly used/found in Novels under the "Bodyguard" genre?
     
  4. Delirious

    Delirious [Code of conduct]

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    Thought this was pretty self-explanatory. Alpha male is the type of person who nuts up and gets shit done regardless of whether it's a woman (the number one cause of beta syndrome) or anything that gets in his way. No, that doesn't mean he goes psycho on them and kill them like in CN novels. Just that if logic dictates they're an issue, deal with it instead of letting them and the situation control you.

    A beta is like the mc from Maken-Ki that is a perverted loser and let's women walk all over him despite the fact that a) he did nothing wrong and because it's a woman he let's her hit him. B) the women are literally capable enough and strong enough to do shit themselves but gets butthurt when women beat the shit out of each other. And C) If he wasn't such a pussy and let the women and situation control him, none of the women he loves so much wouldn't get hurt.
     
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  5. no168_92

    no168_92 BrokenDoor|NeedsFixing|LackingFunds|DonorsWelcomed

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    author deliberately change the mc from a confident/in-control male into a queen-controlled/spineless guy personality wise i guess
     
  6. Scholar Occult Cauldron

    Scholar Occult Cauldron Bonk Maestro | Ascended

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    It's basically when an MC is cool, charming, decisive and overall ubermensch becomes an MC that is hot headed, indecisive (so that there is a sense of 'danger'), and as bad as a JP isekai virgin protag in regards to how to interact with women. What makes the story even worse is that the Author sometimes forcefully ships the MC and heroine using BS logic, when both characters were initially more realistic in terms of EQ and IQ.
     
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  7. SummerMascot

    SummerMascot Well-Known Member

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    Would you agree that when CN Novel authors turn their MCs from "Alphas" to "Betas" is actually a viable method to salvage their sinking readership/population because "going psycho and killing enemies all the time" gets boring?
     
  8. juniorjawz

    juniorjawz Well-Known Member

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    Just Google alpha and beta.
     
  9. Vincent1873

    Vincent1873 Well-Known Member

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    First thing I thought of when I saw the question was FF8. MC's personality switches from cool professional to love sick puppy as soon as you go to disk 2(or was it 3?).
     
  10. SummerMascot

    SummerMascot Well-Known Member

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    Doesn't work if FF8 MC is already an anti-social EMO-loner in the 1st place.
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2018
  11. Dragon Devourer

    Dragon Devourer Well-Known Member

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    Just ignore them. Most of them mean "The MC isn't being a complete asshole sociopath and treating everyone around him like garbage to make himself feel better about being subhuman scum any more, now I can't identify with him!"
     
  12. HarukiMizuki

    HarukiMizuki Well-Known Member

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    Generally, it is something like this if you read yaoi:-

    Alpha - The strongest and leader type. The dominant one.
    Beta - Lower than Alpha. Ordinary one.
    Omega - Basically, a male who can get pregnant. Belongs solely to the Alpha. Not for Beta.
     
  13. Houye

    Houye Well-Known Member

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    The main character becomes an utter pussy type of main character that's submissive type.
     
  14. Vincent1873

    Vincent1873 Well-Known Member

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    Well, I was gonna say that it was Sigma to Beta but I figured it was close enough.
     
  15. Simon

    Simon [The Pure One's Chief Steward][Demon Beast]

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    Simple answer
    Alphas are viewed as more dominate in situations.
    Betas are viewed as more submissive in situations.
     
  16. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

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    it mean
    reader feel betrayed from their initial expectation about MC which they put their own concept of alpha and beta which based on popular commercial science I presume based on research about pack of wolves living hierarchy on nature long time ago
     
  17. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    I mean, if I read it because the novel promised strong leader type MC but suddenly he became a sex slave of every FML then I would also give a bad review. It's not about MC isn't batshit insane but about how author broke their promise.
     
  18. mrducky

    mrducky Well-Known Member

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    Beta is usually something along these lines:
    • immune to advances or fully oblivious of all attempts, possibly even reproaching people who do it
    • overly righteous
    • slave mindset
    • self pity (only if depressed MC)
    • spineless
     
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  19. kenar

    kenar ヽ(`・ω・´)ゝ

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    this is true.
    this is the origin, lul
    edit: so, if someone scream "this is mc is beta!", that means they are a frequent of omegaverse or something like that
     
  20. NGCleric

    NGCleric Well-Known Member

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    I often ignore when people complain about Beta MCs - I've found it often meant that the MC doesn't attempt to sleep with the women (usually for a reason), they don't like the humor of when "the MC just lets the girls walk all over him" (I found this is usually just in comedic situations, sometimes slapstick. I recognize it may not be realistic, but I gave that up long ago in these stories and just accepted the humor), or they are "dense and it's obvious the girls want him and he doesn't get it". I know that there are cases where it's pretty ridiculous that the MC doesn't recognize a woman's feelings (I recall Infinite Stratos had this quite a lot), but if it's subtle enough then I think it's fine.
    I haven't seen alpha male used, but I always imagined it meant the MC from various CNs, out to kill because <insert whatever reason, whole groups of people will die because of maybe two people>.
     
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