The discussion of fridging should really be about how the way cape comics are means civilian supporting characters and love interests beyond the classic(and only certain ones, no one cares about Vicki Vale) are considered disposable and people only care about characters interacting with other heroes.
Iirc even Gail Simone has talked about how people have gone a bit crazy with the term now. Her whole point wasn't the death of the character but the character themselves having little to no development and existing simply to die
Yes Gail regrets coming up with the term but she focused on the person being a female in addition to their only purpose was to be killed to incentivize the male hero. But that was forever ago and she's learned that's not the case. The truth is anyone that's close to the main character can be fridged but a love interest is usually the best candidate.
>and people only care about characters interacting with other heroes.
Fricking hell I hate this trend in modern comics. IMO it's actually the biggest flaw with modern characters and why the industry is so stale
Yeah, it absolutely should be this, and there should be a whole separate discussion on actual superheroines being killed for drama, or writers reducing them to notches on /theirguy/'s bedpost, in meaningless hook-ups but it is what it is now. The term's been out there for too long and too many people are ready to go crazy if anything bad happens to a supporting character if she's female, even if she was created for the purpose of dying. That Green Lantern story was supposed to be his equivalent of Uncle Ben's death in Spider-Man's origin.
it is valid criticism, building up a supporting character only to have them die in a freakish tragic way just so the main hero can have his "moment" is terrible
because you're taking a character who has their own story going on and killing them regardless of if it's finished or not, or caring about the fans of that character just to prop up some unnecessary drama in a different characters life
>a character who has their own story going on and killing them regardless of if it's finished or not
Just like in real life. I can't believe God is a hack that relies on fridging. God's plan my ass!
Your reasoning sucks and you're getting called out by other anons. You're the one that shouldn't respond anymore.
11 months ago
Anonymous
You're an immature child of you honestly believe your post was anything but foolish. Didn't I tell you to stop responding to me if you're gonna say stupid things?
11 months ago
Anonymous
Let me guess MTF troony?
11 months ago
Anonymous
The immature thing is resorting to name calling out of anger and frustration over being called out and proven wrong. How can I take you seriously when this is the best you can do? So I'll say it again. Your take is stupid because stuff like what you're complaining about happens in real life all the time. People die while they still have stuff to do. Their death impacts other people in various ways. Some people will have their lives changed and even be motivated to do better because of it. All that matters is that it's done well in comics. Some work well and some come off as cheap. That's what your argument should have been but it was moronic from the start. That's why you had others not agreeing with you. And then when you tried to explain yourself better you failed in doing so and then got mad and lost whatever composure you once had.
Bitch, please. This is a fictional story and characters should serve a greater function to the overall narrative. All you have to do is look at shit like Worm to see what happens when you make death random and how badly it can frick with the pacing.
>make death random and how badly it can frick with the pacing
That's on the writer and we're not talking about random deaths. We're talking about a character dying for some reason relevant to the story. Fridging isn't about random deaths. It's about giving a character motivation by killing a female close to them. That's what the OP is talking about.
11 months ago
Anonymous
>We're talking about a character dying for some reason relevant to the story. Fridging isn't about random deaths.
Then you and that anon are talking about two entirely different things
I didn't follow comics back then but from what I've heard, so many characters got "fridged" (yeah that even became a term) that people got sick of it and the pretentious edge. Someone died is just the most generic hero motivation.
I hate it and it's the reason why I disliked Primal. Does it not only once but twice. It's a cheap and lazy way to create a motive for the MC. It's the same shit as making the villain a gloating rapist so that the hero can kill him as sadistically as possible and still look like a hero.
I don't think they're making a point as to whether or not the character is a hero, but how lazy and almost power fantasy/wish fulfillmentish it feels. Same energy as the fantasy scenarios we make up in our head where we're badass or successful.
It is valid criticism but it’s overused by morons who seethe at characters they like getting killed. Ironically i think the Kyle Rayner fridge example is not actually an example of fridging. It’s just the name of the trope but it’s really not bad or lazy storytelling and works quite well. The recent Ms Marvel death is true fridging though.
It can be incredibly annoying but I feel like the term is just used for any female death by most of the people that use it.
I would say a good recent example of fridging is the utterly moronic way that they killed off Ms.Marvel recently. Love or hate Kamala she showed up for no reason, acted completely out of character then died entirely to give Peter even more pathos.
It's a valid criticism if an established female character gets reduced to a plot device. Looking at Gamora in Infinity War, that was definitely some bullshit fridging.
People wildly overapply it though, to everything from a female character making a heroic sacrifice to any random female background character getting killed.
The discussion of fridging should really be about how the way cape comics are means civilian supporting characters and love interests beyond the classic(and only certain ones, no one cares about Vicki Vale) are considered disposable and people only care about characters interacting with other heroes.
Iirc even Gail Simone has talked about how people have gone a bit crazy with the term now. Her whole point wasn't the death of the character but the character themselves having little to no development and existing simply to die
Yes Gail regrets coming up with the term but she focused on the person being a female in addition to their only purpose was to be killed to incentivize the male hero. But that was forever ago and she's learned that's not the case. The truth is anyone that's close to the main character can be fridged but a love interest is usually the best candidate.
>and people only care about characters interacting with other heroes.
Fricking hell I hate this trend in modern comics. IMO it's actually the biggest flaw with modern characters and why the industry is so stale
Yeah, it absolutely should be this, and there should be a whole separate discussion on actual superheroines being killed for drama, or writers reducing them to notches on /theirguy/'s bedpost, in meaningless hook-ups but it is what it is now. The term's been out there for too long and too many people are ready to go crazy if anything bad happens to a supporting character if she's female, even if she was created for the purpose of dying. That Green Lantern story was supposed to be his equivalent of Uncle Ben's death in Spider-Man's origin.
it is valid criticism, building up a supporting character only to have them die in a freakish tragic way just so the main hero can have his "moment" is terrible
Isnt it better than just killing a character who had no development and expecting that to mean something?
because you're taking a character who has their own story going on and killing them regardless of if it's finished or not, or caring about the fans of that character just to prop up some unnecessary drama in a different characters life
>a character who has their own story going on and killing them regardless of if it's finished or not
Just like in real life. I can't believe God is a hack that relies on fridging. God's plan my ass!
What a terrible counter argument, if you're not gonna take it seriously then don't respond
Your reasoning sucks and you're getting called out by other anons. You're the one that shouldn't respond anymore.
You're an immature child of you honestly believe your post was anything but foolish. Didn't I tell you to stop responding to me if you're gonna say stupid things?
Let me guess MTF troony?
The immature thing is resorting to name calling out of anger and frustration over being called out and proven wrong. How can I take you seriously when this is the best you can do? So I'll say it again. Your take is stupid because stuff like what you're complaining about happens in real life all the time. People die while they still have stuff to do. Their death impacts other people in various ways. Some people will have their lives changed and even be motivated to do better because of it. All that matters is that it's done well in comics. Some work well and some come off as cheap. That's what your argument should have been but it was moronic from the start. That's why you had others not agreeing with you. And then when you tried to explain yourself better you failed in doing so and then got mad and lost whatever composure you once had.
Bitch, please. This is a fictional story and characters should serve a greater function to the overall narrative. All you have to do is look at shit like Worm to see what happens when you make death random and how badly it can frick with the pacing.
>make death random and how badly it can frick with the pacing
That's on the writer and we're not talking about random deaths. We're talking about a character dying for some reason relevant to the story. Fridging isn't about random deaths. It's about giving a character motivation by killing a female close to them. That's what the OP is talking about.
>We're talking about a character dying for some reason relevant to the story. Fridging isn't about random deaths.
Then you and that anon are talking about two entirely different things
Kamala being fridged for Peter recently is a good example
why
I didn't follow comics back then but from what I've heard, so many characters got "fridged" (yeah that even became a term) that people got sick of it and the pretentious edge. Someone died is just the most generic hero motivation.
I hate it and it's the reason why I disliked Primal. Does it not only once but twice. It's a cheap and lazy way to create a motive for the MC. It's the same shit as making the villain a gloating rapist so that the hero can kill him as sadistically as possible and still look like a hero.
>It's the same shit as making the villain a gloating rapist so that the hero can kill him as sadistically as possible and still look like a hero.
Why would "sadistically" fixing problems make someone not a hero?
I don't think they're making a point as to whether or not the character is a hero, but how lazy and almost power fantasy/wish fulfillmentish it feels. Same energy as the fantasy scenarios we make up in our head where we're badass or successful.
Because heroes shouldn't take pleasure in torture and murder. It should be a last resort and not the default.
It is valid criticism but it’s overused by morons who seethe at characters they like getting killed. Ironically i think the Kyle Rayner fridge example is not actually an example of fridging. It’s just the name of the trope but it’s really not bad or lazy storytelling and works quite well. The recent Ms Marvel death is true fridging though.
It's moronic that people think it's a misogynistic thing or extremely common
It can be incredibly annoying but I feel like the term is just used for any female death by most of the people that use it.
I would say a good recent example of fridging is the utterly moronic way that they killed off Ms.Marvel recently. Love or hate Kamala she showed up for no reason, acted completely out of character then died entirely to give Peter even more pathos.
No, because male characters die far more often with less fanfare
It's a valid criticism if an established female character gets reduced to a plot device. Looking at Gamora in Infinity War, that was definitely some bullshit fridging.
People wildly overapply it though, to everything from a female character making a heroic sacrifice to any random female background character getting killed.
Obligatory video on the subject: https://youtu.be/U2D1GHHMb9g