Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Mera_Green t1_ja7ks81 wrote

Reply to comment by SmolFaerieBoi in [WP] When a god summoned your group of friends to save his magical realm, he allowed all five of you to choose your appearance in this world. The first two of your friends chose to be idealized adult versions of themselves. The next two chose fantasy races. Everyone was suprised by your choice... by Martinus_XIV

I am going to very unpopular.

My thoughts on the viewpoint character are: "What a selfish, stupid AH."

It's very feel-good to want to love your body, but let's face it, the character is morbidly obese and by the sound of it, grossly unfit. And has been summoned to fight on behalf of a god in a magical realm which is not going to have modern conveniences. They are hopelessly incapable of doing anything even remotely risky, since any form of combat will lead to them dying, or their friends spending a lot of effort keeping them alive at risk to themselves. This is someone who cannot (pardon the expression) pull their weight. They are a genuine liability.

Were they in the normal world, then sure, love yourself if you want. Go for it. More power to you. But to not only refuse to do anything to ensure that you can do the job required, and to try to shame others about their decisions to upgrade themselves is appalling. Sure, the others added flaws reminiscent of their original bodies, and that's okay, but the viewpoint character won't even go that far. This is someone who does not understand that the world doesn't care about how they feel, and that when they get torn apart by demons, or their friends do while trying to protect their sorry ass, then it may just become apparent that it was a truly terrible idea.

This was an amazing opportunity, and would require you to really earn it with the rather major quest that they were being sent on. It certainly wasn't free! They didn't need to be perfect, they just needed to be capable of successfully completing the quest. And that requires work and a lot of danger. They need to put aside their personal biases and think of other people, such as their friends whose lives they are endangering, and the people of the world who are relying on them to save it.

It's well-written but I certainly didn't admire the viewpoint character, rather I was disgusted. I saw them as an example of a self-centered person who is blind to the realities of the situation and expects everyone and everything to conform to their wishes. I very much hope that this was the intended plan.

9

Martinus_XIV OP t1_ja7ydva wrote

At the risk of putting words into the author's mouth, I think this story is less about being OK with being overweight or about it being bad to want to change yourself, and more about not giving in to societal beauty standards. All of the characters kept the changes to themselves that they liked. The point is that they re-examined which changes they made to themselves because they wanted to, and what they did because of societal pressures.

Kenzie did away with what society told her was sexy and kept only what she herself needed to feel sexy.

Rod stopped caring about having to appear masculine and instead found a way to live out his power fantasy as a more authentic version of himself and have the long hair he always wanted.

It's implied that Zedd only gave his monstrous form a washboard because he felt he was supposed to. Perhaps he is an artist who learned to draw by imitating DBZ or something in a similar style.

Finally, Melissa is written as though she only feels that her freckles, her glasses and her figure are ugly because she has been told so by others - bullies, influencers, society in general. When she takes a step back to consider how she herself feels, she realizes that she likes these parts of herself.

8

s-mores t1_ja8592f wrote

First off, I don't disagree with you. My first reaction to the prompt response was "Meh. As self-righteous indignant speeches go, I've heard better" (if you get the reference, shout out!).

However, you have to understand the prompt response is so amazingly genre-conscious it's insane. Isekai is all about exploring the what-if, the transformation, the difference between real and fantasy (and power trips and harems, of course, but that's just Japan being Japan). I could 100% see this rant as something at the start or midway point of an isekai show, absolutely. So the author absolutely, completely nailed it.

It's also about never trusting first glances and impressions -- maybe this rant was exactly what the group needed to get on track, or maybe it gets them killed in the next episode.

Also considering isekai target audience.. yeah, you really don't want to overthink them.

7

raqshrag t1_ja7uiro wrote

I believe you when you say you're disgusted. But don't pretend it's just in the context of realistic conformity to the practical needs of the plot. After all, it's just a short make-believe story that isn't even about the quest you put so much focus on. You make it quite clear that what you find disgusting is the idea of people who are overweight according to modern standards. You're lying about your perspective at the beginning of your second paragraph. I don't know if you care whether people notice, but I thought maybe you would be interested in knowing how obvious you're making it. If you really want to hide your true opinion, you should be more subtle.

3