Your Character Needs To Get Their Ass Kicked

Why am I deciding to write this? Simple, a lot of writers, especially in popular TV and film media have fallen into the trap of easily handing their characters: main, protagonists, antagonists, side, flat, round, etc. a life on easy street. Now, here's the thing, every character isn't going to have the same developmental process or journey. Some characters will need to be humbled more than others just based on their inherent nature and/or upbringing. That's right, nature vs. nurture just comingled on this piece while I'm about to give You a piece of my mind.

Too many characters today only have to go through a journey of self-acceptance, which in a way in it of itself, has become too repetitive and states that the character has had little to no growth at all. This also displays that the character has never had, nor will ever have any, relapses. A character that's infallible isn't a person, like You or I. A perfect being is an angel. For goodness sakes most writers have actually given angels more nuance and developmental growth when it comes to fictional writing. If an angel can experience "Oh how the mighty have fallen" or be faced with the conflict theme of "just because you're holy doesn't make you correct" the same rules and methodology should apply to one's own character.

When it comes to self-acceptance arcs or journeys of self-discoveries a character needs to have mastered a skill or innate ability till the point that it's as natural as inhaling a fresh breath of air on a calm lazy Sunday afternoon. Since, if they've always struggled to accept themselves, or something particular about themselves they need to have a conflict about how they've been discriminated against just for existing or doing something in particular that they're naturally good at.

The Monster from Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus" has difficulty accepting the conditions of his birth, let alone his own life and very existence. In the passages of the book itself, he cries out from being lonely. In fact, he sees himself as so lonely that even the imps and demons have the devils to reside amongst each other while they dwell in hell. This leaves him to be the only one of his kind. Does the monster have a journey of self-acceptance? Not necessarily, but he comes to understand that he is not like other people. The only person who didn't hate him was a blind man who willingly accepted the monster's company. In knowing that there is no one like him, the monster finds Victor again and demands that Victor makes him a partner. Being that Victor played God, the monster demands that Victor makes him an Eve. Victor stops short of his work, since the uncreated female monster has never made any promises to him nor towards the first monster. Even Victor feared that the female monstrosity would be repulsed by the male monstrosity's appearance. Less I digress, let's continue.

A journey of self-acceptance of a natural ability or skill can be seen in the movie such as "The Incredibles" or in the anime "My Hero Academia."

In "The Incredibles" Dash and Violet are mere rookies in comparison to their parents when it comes to using their abilities. Sure, You can argue that some of it works via pure instinct, but the other part is largely mental.

1. Dash knew that he could run fast, but didn't know that he could run fast enough to run across water. Before that scene occurs he's expecting to skip across the water's surface like a stone. You can see the fear in his eyes just before he shuts them. To his surprise he's not afloat, but running across the water just before its surface tension breaks. Dash later uses this to his own advantage when it comes to scene where the robot's attacking the city and he goes long to catch the control device, like how his dad threw him a football earlier in the movie during the montage scene to the song, "Life's Incredible Again." That is a fantastic piece of music btw, if You don't have it in Your playlist I have to say that You are severely missing out, dear reader.
2. Violet can turn invisible and make force fields, but making a large force field and one that can handle immense forces still takes time for her to get used to. While on the plane with her mom and brother, their plane's targeted by missiles. Their mom asks Violet to make a force field around the plane. Violet's never made a force field that big before and buckles under the pressure of realizing that their lives are literally within the palms of her hands. Helen remembers that her suit is, as Edna Mode describes it as, 'virtually indestructible' (when viewed in that examination testing of taking two missiles at point blank range). Thus, the Helen jumps into action saving her both of her kids, Violet and Dash along with herself from the oncoming missiles. Violet struggles with being able to use her powers to the best of her ability under pressure, but was capable of doing so when the time needed. In the movie, we see the family struggle and get captured by Syndrome, thus showing that even though they're "Incredible" that they're not Invincible. Heck, even the show "Invincible" has Mark, a half-blooded Viltrumite, get his rear-end handed to him on several occasions and have to learn how to use his powers. Back to Violet, when the robot attacks the city and is about to squish both her and Dash, she makes a force field strong enough to withstand several attacks before it applies too much force, temporarily knocking her out by conking her on the head. This scene shows that she's grown a lot on their journey with her abilities and is honing them well, but still needs to practice and exercise them to find out their full limit.
3. In "My Hero Academia" class 1-A goes through intensive training processes to better utilize their quirks not just against each other, but against actual villians that won't hesitate to kill them. Sure, You can blab at me, "But Thavien, the maing character, Izuku Midoriya didn't have a quirk to begin with. So he never had a self-acceptance journey." Point taken, but he has to accept the newfound responsibility he's been given, just like the rest of his classmates. Izuku's learning to grow into his newfound abilities just like how his classmates are continuing to grow into their own. Even Thor from the Marvel series had to learn how to wield lightning and his hammer for many years. Then when his hammer was destroyed he had to learn that his hammer was just a tool that made it easier for him to learn how to channel his lightning. Thor's the god of lightning and thunderbolts, not the god of hammers. The point being that even with their own innate skills, they have to grow and develop their powers.
4. Heck, do You know who has a great journey of self-acceptance? Shrek... Being an ogre he's treated like a horrible, murderous, monster. Therefore, he pushes people away from him being afraid of having anybody grow to close. He has to learn that he is deserving of friendship and love. Shrek isn't no pushover either, he puts in the work and does what's required of him. Life hasn't handed him any golden egg-laying gooses for him to ride all the way to success. Sure, chance comes in when he meets Fiona, but chance comes into play when any person meets anybody anytime anywhere. Shrek's was just personal business about him wanting to stay alone, but finding out that he actually the company of others.

Just like how someone with an incredibly high IQ must do more than just be smart, they have to read books, be well traveled, have a thirst for knowledge, be willing to be taught by many people, and learn to accept when they are wrong. The same goes for somebody who's been gifted with extremely athletic genes. They still have to train for a proper physique and train for proper conditioning for their sport. As a person who did multiple sports in school I've learned about the different types of training that various sports do and what they train for specifically even if all the muscle groups are being trained.

How about another example. You ready? Cool, hold on tight. Let's dive in.

Bakugan Battle Brawlers is a pocket monsters anime in which the characters are involved in saving two worlds by trying to prevent one from collapsing into the other.

"Okay Thavien, You lost me. What does this have to do with my character getting their ass handed to them?"

Good grief, You're impatient as ever. You know that, right? Look, in several pocket monster cartoons the characters are shown that they don't win every battle that they come across and that their ideals, let alone their way of navigating the world, is a hinderance not only to themselves but to the ones they care about.

Pikachu's been seen on multiple occassions of getting his rear-end handed to him by another Raichu, his evolved form. Raichu, all-around, has better base stats than Pikachu. Health/Hit Points, Physical Attack, Physical Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and even Speed Raichu outclasses Pikachu in every one of these areas respectively. Hence, Pikachu and Ash are challenged with a different approach to how they're going to battle since Pikachu's against evolving.

Even in the trading card game Yu-Gi-Oh! our protagonists don't win every battle they come across. Even Yami Yugi lost a duel, that cost him dearly, only to be saved at the last second by Yugi Moto. His first defeat comes in the hands at Maximillion Pegasus at the start of the series when Pegasus traps Yugi's Grandfather's soul after losing a game based on the amount of time that was on a pre-recorded video.

Back to Bakugan.

One of the main characters named Dan Kuso is forced to go through some growing pains. In the 3rd episode of the series, Dan is approached to brawl by a player who's Bakugan align with the water element. This concerns Dan's guardian bakugan, Drago, since it's not that water beats fire when it comes to Bakugan, but different elemental bakugan have different strategies that they can play to their own advantage.

At the start when the field is getting set, Dan lays down a very important card called a "Character Card." However, since he rushes into battle trying to match his opponent card-for-card, bakugan-for-bakugan, Dan unwittingly falls into his opponents' trap. The first card that Dan laid down was never played since Dan was forced to play Drago on his enemy's card after his opponent wiped the entire field with a tsunami wave.

Dan's strategy was to go in with power and full strength, thinking he could just bulldozer his opponent. Dan still treats this game like,- well... like a game. Sadly for the Bakugan, it's not a game at all in the slightest. When they get sent to the Doom Dimension, it's like sentencing a Bakugan to death. If You want a similarity, it would be like having Your pets duke it out against another person's pets and as soon as one of Your pets loses they immediately get dragged to a euthanasian's office, never to be seen again. Hence, Dan has to come to terms that these are living, breathing, creatures that think and feel and are not just tools and toys for his entertainment. Lowkey though, I don't know any kid that wouldn't throw a fit or cry if their favorite toy(s) were taken away from them.

Thanks to Drago's battle expertise, he uses his own autonomy and fights on his terms, thus winning him the battle, saving him from being sent to an early grave. After the battle Dan and Drago talk which shortly becomes an argument. Angry at being told that he's in the wrong, Dan chucks Drago away into a river, stating that he doesn't need him.

In Episode 4, now this is the crux of the theme here. Dan's pride gets the better of him and he bullies another classmate, Ryo, all because his classmate just runs battle simulations and has never actually played a game a Bakugan before. Let's face it, 15 meter tall creatures popping out of golf-ball sized orbs isn't exactly the most calming and usual thing for people to be okay with. Sarcasm aside, Dan accidentally breaks his Ryo's game and Ryo is later approached by the main antagonist, Masquerade, offering Ryo a chance of getting revenge against Dan.

Here's where the sh*t hits the fan.

The next day Dan goes to apologize, but Ryo just wants to wipe the floor with Dan. Learning that Ryo's teamed up with the brawler's worst enemy, Dan tries to talk him out of joining teams with Masquerade, but Ryo doesn't care. Thinking that he's still in the right, Dan goes into the battle thinking that he's going to destroy Ryo.

Dan's so overconfident in his own skills, he literally thinks "This geek is going down."

Victory is short and sweet, but not for Dan. Oh no... Dan, lost everything, or should I rather say, everyone. All three of his Bakugan in that battle took a one-way trip to the Doom Dimension, never to return. Dan tried to beat Ryo just like how he tried to beat Rikimaru, but failed not spectacularly, but pitifully.

Reflecting on his actions, he's forced to see the error of his ways, and learns how much danger he's put all of his Bakugan in, especially his guardian Bakugan, Drago.

Running into the river during a storm, Dan plucks Drago out just in the nick of time before Drago goes straight down a storm drain. After a little heart-to-heart, they join teams again, and go back to battle Ryo, trying to free him from Masquerade's influence.

During this next battle, Dan gets taken a bit by surprise, but quickly makes a comeback by using Ryo's own strategy against him. The battle isn't over yet, though.

Putting trust in each other, Dan thinks about the next move Ryo's going to make. Hey, remember that "Character Card" I mentioned earlier? Well, check this out. That becomes the card that Dan plays, only for Ryo to find out unsuspectingly.

When the card's activated, applying its effects, Ryo thought that Dan was just fighting with the same kind of power that he did before, and therefore went to counteract it. In hopes of shutting down Drago's power, Ryo went in with his earlier strategy, thinking that Dan didn't learn from his mistakes, and that his own strategy was perfect. However, Dan had the perfect plan just to counter him.

That "Character Card" doesn't improve a Bakugan's strength based on its element, but based on its species. Ryo, planned to counter Dan's element power plays, not thinking that Dan would skirt around his strategies with any other methods. But here's the other thing, even though that "Character Card" is meant to improve a Bakugan's power, this card's setup and payoff played a pivotal role on both Dan's and Drago's Character Development.

During his isolation Drago learned not to be too harsh on Dan, and Dan learned that he needs to be more considerate and methodical. Thus, with Drago's guidance and Dan's willingness to adapt to new strategies and be more considerate for his Bakugan, treating them as living beings, they were able to win, stop Masquerade's influence (winning a new friend out of the ordeal), and build a newform trust between each other.

TL:DR; A kid gets his ass kicked in a pocket monsters' game, losing everything in a gamble, and has to learn how to be more considerate when it comes to strategy.

TL:DR; TL:DR; Your character needs to get their ass kicked and promptly handed to them, and their self-acceptance needs to be a journey of struggle rife with affliction from external pressures. Flawed Characters. MAKE. GOOD. WRITING.

Peace.