Discussion op mcs?

Discussion in 'Novel Discussion' started by eskarleh, Dec 28, 2021.

?

thoughts?

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  1. eskarleh

    eskarleh i'm tired

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    what're your thoughts on op mcs?

    in my opinion, i love them. give me a mc that can obliterate anyone. despite me liking strong/op mcs it's hard to find ones that are well written; most are op mcs that are written to have no flaws. i grew up reading mary sues and remember cringing (after looking back, i dislike 70% of the mary sues i used to read), but i loved the fact that they were strong. unfortunately. most op mcs that i come across follow the same formula; strong, flirty, has a harem, and has no flaws, so i end up dropping the novels because i got tired of the same repeating stories.

    a lot of manhuas seem to follow this formula, and a lot of manhwas/mangas tend to try and recreate original op/strong mcs without making it original (i'm aware most of my favorite op/strong characters are also recreated/copies of another so i guess i fell in their trap).

    my absolute favorite types of op/strong mcs are anti-heroes or just mcs that are just nonchalant like mash from mashle (haven't read this one though so thoughts might change on mash), saiki, saitama, shigeo (these were the ones that immediately came to mind)
    i swear there's more, but i can't name them.

    and strong characters like agni from fire punch make my head spin. gosh, that story was something istg. it took me a couple of months to fully register the whole thing and i still think about it to this day despite it being two years now since i first read it. reading stories like that though makes me emotional asf.

    these are just my thoughts and everyone is entitled to their own thoughts, but i'm curious and nosey and i wanted to hear anyone else's thoughts. i have no hate towards weak to strong but there's something satisfying to me about strong to stronger.
     
  2. Sabruness

    Sabruness Cultured Yuri Connoisseur

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    i find a lot of OP MCs arent actually truly OP. They strengthen or weaken as the author needs them to fill in plotholes.
    IMO OP MCs also only work when the stories are either SoL style or stuff like Dual Cultivation where fighting isnt a major part of the story. Every time a fighting or cultivation novel tries to have an OP MC it fails badly (*looks at CN novels in particular*) because they usually nerf the MC half the time to fit the plot.
     
  3. Harry

    Harry Now you see me

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    In the beginning, I also like OP MC because other mc is just like a baby and there are no more lose someone dearly because a baby is a baby and can't do anything. Continued with the baby crying, other characters try to cheer up the baby and the baby eventually will get enlightenment (2 to 5 episodes maybe???). After that came the training arc, after boring training the mc got power-up that was barely able to win the antagonist A, but suddenly appear wild Antagonist B that are far stronger....... and we got the repeated scene again and again. MC finally get super OP but it's become the last episode, the series end where the fun just started
     
  4. BigBadBoi

    BigBadBoi Well-Known Member

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    OP characters are great when well written. Overpowered but spineless betamales are the opposite of well written and this site is full of them unfortunately.
    Good taste.
     
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  5. eskarleh

    eskarleh i'm tired

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    i know right? why have them go through at training and not show us the character at their strongest form? i understand there has to be an enemy stronger than them or at least as strong as them, but at times it can be a bit repetitive and i just lose my interest.
     
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  6. Epythymy

    Epythymy Well-Known Member

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    Are there any non-op mcs in web novels?

    No matter what they will overcome all the difficulties and be successful in the end. It's not like WN's protagonist can die and disappear. Even if he/she dies they will resurrect and come back even stronger by a plot device.

    There is no suspense in WNs.

    It's more of a matter of personality. Confident/Clever protagonists are more likeable than retarded pushovers who wouldn't act until you push them till the end.
     
  7. eskarleh

    eskarleh i'm tired

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    when it's well written I begin to think so much about the characters and can't help but be like damn, this shi is good. betamales is all i find and it makes me want to punch the air.
    fire punch made me rethink my whole life. i always recommend it to my manga friends.

    now that I think about it... there is barely any non op mcs in wns. non op characters are always the love interests or a side character. in web novels they truly don't die and it ends all happy as if all the shit they went through was nothing. in some mangas I've read op mcs end up dying, leaving to isolate themselves, suffering because shit ended horribly, or have lived but had to sacrifice something that truly impacted them terribly.

    although I love to read web novels they just don't leave a lasting impression on me and I always confuse them cause they seem to follow the same plot.
     
  8. Fluffums

    Fluffums 【R-18 Researcher】【Seeker of Moe】

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    I don't really care about OP main characters either way. I don't like novels that flaunt the protagonist's strength, especially when over 90% of that strength is usually borrowed or gained from lots of drug use and stolen goods and all that. There's a pretty good one where dungeons showed up and the protagonist got a strong power - not the strongest, but strong enough that it warped his life and relationships, including tearing his family apart. I don't know what happens in the end, but not all OP MCs get what they want all the time. And no amount of being OP will keep a high schooler's father from being jealous that his son earns more in one day than the father earns in a year.

    The suspense is whether or not the author will ever finish the novel. Also, in how the character ends up succeeding. Although I've read some stories where the ending was the main character getting too cocky and ending up dead or worse because s/he lost the macguffin / OP power.
     
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  9. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    I like OP MC's in Slice of Life stuff that have the OPness just being an excuse for the MC not needing to worry about danger in a setting with monsters or whatever.

    I dislike OP MC's in settings where the MC is actively involved in battles.
     
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  10. meliori

    meliori [in a dark tunnel seeing light from afar]

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    I'm at the point where I feel worry whenever I encounter an ordinary non-OP MC
     
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  11. DustySpiral

    DustySpiral Well-Known Member

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    I dislike the conflation of OP/Strong, as if any MC that can't slaughter the heavens with a single cough is an absolute loser that's better off staying in bed.

    We see it in this very thread - people talking as if an MC can only be helpless or all-powerful. There is such a thing as a competent, even strong MC that is not the best warrior ever(TM) to have graced their setting. Such characters are rare in the action/adventure WN, granted, and extremely rare if it is an action-adventure Isekai with a male MC (There's probably an exception..? Can't think of one at them moment though..).

    -------

    I also disagree with the "All MCs are OP because they are successful in the end" argument as I feel that's straining a definition far beyond the common use of the term. Nobody asking for a story with an "OP MC" is going to be happy if you tell them to go read the Hobbit. Or if you want a WN example, if you tell them to read "The Weakest Tamer Begins a Trash-Picking Journey".

    Watering down terms makes communication more difficult, and I'd put this in the same boat as the people combining Strong with Overpowered.

    ----

    So what IS an "OP MC"?
    In manga comment sections it is often used to refer to an MC that never struggles and is fully capable of overcoming any obstacle without breaking a sweat*. If such an MC ever, and I do mean EVER, has any difficulties with an opponent/situation under ANY circumstances expect to see complaints that the MC is weak now. If the issue is something like "being able to explode mountains is kind of useless for filling out your taxes", expect a subset of the comment sections to be enraged that the "loser" MC is not committing genocide to avoid suffering the unbearable agony of being somewhat inconvenienced.
    *With the specific exception of anything romantic, which they are permitted to be abysmal at as long as there are enough love interests following them around.

    On the other hand, the more general use of the term "OP" simply refers to something that is powerful in a way that is unfair compared to what else is available in the system/world/game/etc. Any MC possessing a "cheat" would generally qualify under *this* use of the term OP, even if they have to legitimately struggle / have to work hard / etc. Some cheats would be more arguable than others, granted.

    That said, I feel the specific term "OP MC" when talking about WN/LN is generally meant to mean the same thing it does in manga comment sections, and has become a specific phrase that's used separately from, say, the idea of an otherwise weak MC that's barely making ends meet with an unbalanced-for-the-setting ability.

    ------

    Anyway, I personally prefer action-adventure MCs that are competent while still capable of being challenged as that generally facilitates interesting plots. An MC that is too powerful or too helpless can still result in an interesting story, but it's harder to pull off. How competent an MC can be without being too powerful generally depends on how specialized their skillset is - an MC can be extremely powerful within their specialty without trivializing issues that can't be directly solved with that specialty. On the other hand, generalist MCs (like most isekai MCs) are very difficult to make *just* strong enough that they're competent without being OP.
     
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  12. Novel Monster

    Novel Monster Well-Known Member

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    In my case, I like OP MCs, but I like it more when the MC has a mysterious past and strong from the story's start.

    Chinese OP MCs these days are prone to be repetitive, either abandoned, shamed, mistreated, revenge crazed, transmigrated self-appointed justice bringer OP MC from who knows where or OP MC with a built-in system to show the MC's 'specialty' in dumbfounding the system.
    For me an OP MC with a past is more interesting than an MC who is 'trying hard', even though it's all about his luck to get stronger, to reach their goals. When the MC has a past that means there is experience, that means they know their boundaries, weaknesses, faults and they somehow had to earn their current strenght rather than just relying on some shady artifact treasure.
    It's certainly easier to reason an MC's personality trait based on experience this rather than making up events from scratch so that the Mc could gain experience which could lead to an end for the MC's growth and to plot holes.

    Japanase OP MCs these days are either misunderstood to be 'useless', loved by gods, have a cheat skill or are transported just to get thrown out for being 'weak'.
    Not to mention that some of the japanese OP MCs don't realize how strong they are, even though he might have just blown up a Demon King's or God's head, I mean "Seriously? You say that you're still weak after defeating an Evil God?! Is he a joke to you? If I wanted a Slice of Life without Action then I wouldn't have used the Overpowered Protagonist tag."

    And the worst of all the HAREM.
    'Yes, why not? A new girl for every arc, it will be a hit!'
    "Khm... sorry, as a girl reader, the view of another extra big boobs and butt don't really make me feel anything beside jealousy and a slight urge to skip some chapters, in worst case scenario to drop this into the bin."
    Those MCs do even have the time for each girl? If your girl is just like any other girl (who will throw themselves at you without a thought) then the entire world's girl population is just your harem. Are we trophies?
    Btw, I can read a harem novel, untill the MC starts to gather new girls at every turn and every hour of the day just because they like him. "Have a backbone please! You can say NO to joining hands with a devil to conquer the world but you can't say NO to a woman? I can't bear to see these kind of people getting to the pinnacle of the world. What you love all of them? You have a thousand of women in your harem, can you remember each of them?"

    P.S.: It was good to rant:blobmelt:
     
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  13. fdsgadfgdfgsdg

    fdsgadfgdfgsdg Well-Known Member

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    I'm fond of overpowered MCs because they just makes sense in my opinion. If the MC is going to sweep through the heavens and the earth then logically he needs to be overpowered in some way
     
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  14. eskarleh

    eskarleh i'm tired

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    op mc's with a well written past are the novels that I hold dear to me. I may not remember their titles but I sure do remember the story. something about op mc's who tries hard to be op and end up winning battles with other op villains because of a .01 chance is shit that makes me vomit. how tf you gonna use that in your next battle?

    I despise the harem. I've read so many novels/mangas/mahuas/mahwas and 90% of the time they have a harem. most of the time I look for a novel where there's no love interest because I know a harem or love triangle will be included. I find it annoying? as a girl I see how all these women fall for the same guy who does the smallest shit and they see how he has a main love interest (but the mc still makes advances towards them) yet end up falling in love? in reality, they would respect him and realize that they may most likely just idolize him but nah in these novels they end up becoming part of the mc's harem. mf can literally forget their name and they would still be in love. fuck all of them yet they gotta remain loyal to just him and can't be with anyone else. literally why I try to find no romance in these types of novels.

    op mc's that recognize their power and actually acknowledge it are top tier. them trying to live a normal life and understand they are op is top tier.

    Chinese op mc's (for action/battle) use the same formula that I already know what happens and can drop the novel for a year, pick it up again, and know exactly what's going on. it's just hard to find a cn op mc novel where you can find originality in the plot and try to guess what's going on.

    I enjoyed your rant
     
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  15. orangethegreatorange

    orangethegreatorange Well-Known Member

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    It honestly depends. Yeah op mc is great but if he faces no challenges then what am I reading the novel for? To see him beat whoever tf he doesn’t like and act like he’s absolute justice like mc of Regressor Life Report? That’s boring. I like strong mcs, even stronger than most characters. Just not the strongest. Dropped Solo Leveling cause mc suddenly became so op even top hunters can’t compare to him; basically unrivaled. No rivals = no excitement. I prefer something like Soul of Negary where mc is op in some situations and worlds but still has even more powerful enemies. At this point I like weak mcs with powerful brains, like Regressor Instructions Manual, just so I can feel the excitement coming from real challenges that faces mc. So yeah, op is good but not the best imo!
     
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