Why is everyone saying Zac isn't upbeat anymore?

Ralanr·Jan 12, 2017·13 votes·1,888 views

Is it just because his parents are dead?

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/bc/bc76a415ef1d2a7909d659a0ebfbb63c88453abe5afc334c389da33d173bac1d.jpg

I mean, yeah he failed to save them, but I'm not seeing him go all brooding edgelord. He still helps people and personally goes out of his way to minimize the negative emotions in the city. Heck he decides to repair the damage he did instead of trying to figure out who was behind it (Takeda is in a lot of this stuff) and getting revenge.

I'm not seeing the brooding.

30 Comments

TyrekGoldenspearJan 12, 201718 votes

If anything his upbeatness has more weight to it because he had every reason to seek revenge and instead did the right thing.

RalanrJan 12, 20174 votes

Exactly!

TyrekGoldenspearJan 12, 20179 votes

I guess you could say he... Bounced back.

midnight oil24Jan 12, 20171 votes

OH SNAP!

nice pun, buddy.

TyrekGoldenspearJan 12, 20171 votes

Haha, thanks.

I try my best to be cringy with the puns. Heretic Lunari doesn't frequent the Story boards after all.

SharjoJan 12, 201711 votes

He's more layered like this; he suffered and grew. He developed as an individual and came to understand his place in the world to a degree.

I mean hell his short story starts with him literally being so upbeat his physical form is affected by it. He becomes gellatenous upbeatness for a while there.

Toplane FencerJan 14, 20171 votes

It's quite generic though. For some reason, every superhero's parents are dead. I really liked Zac's former lore, which was more unique in a way.

midnight oil24Jan 12, 201711 votes

Yeah. He's more compelling and one quote is even better now: "even if you don't have a spine, sometimes you have to show a little backbone" I think that's even more relevant now.

OleandervineJan 12, 20175 votes

It was forcing tragedy on a character who didn't need tragedy. Zaun is so far defined exclusively by tragedy, it's how the city came into being. There needs to be characters more than Ekko who are not tragic characters. When everyone in a place has the same background, it removes the diversity of the region, and makes it stale. This is why Zac should have remained unmarred by tragedy.

And he's clearly not upbeat anymore because he lurks in the pipework, only emerging from time to time. Having his parents alive game him meaning and life. Having his parents murdered only made him into the reclusive Batman slime that sometimes helps people. He's not experiencing life anymore, he's creeping through the sewers. I want a Zac who's happy to be alive and experience the world, not the one who oozes through the sewers and soaks up emotion.

RalanrJan 12, 20171 votes

Except who else in Zaun has the whole "everyone I love is dead!" Background?

OleandervineJan 12, 20172 votes

{quoted}

Except who else in Zaun has the whole "everyone I love is dead!" Background?

No one in Zaun at the moment, considering the lore is in upheaval, but many more in other regions. But every single other Zaunite is either defined by tragedy or completely utterly evil/insane. Janna's entire resurgence is because of the destruction of half the half of Piltover that became Zaun. Singed is insane. Warwick is a beast who slaughters people by night. Even a lot of the Pilties have tragic backgrounds like Camille, Vi, and Orianna. My point is, it gets old and tiresome and comes across as being rehashes of the same stuff to create motivations. There can exist simpler motives, such as the love of life and those who show it to you.

RalanrJan 12, 20173 votes

So what do we do to motivate the character to act? Even Ivern watched his friend's corpses rot and Kled is too insane to care.

OleandervineJan 12, 20172 votes

{quoted}

So what do we do to motivate the character to act? Even Ivern watched his friend's corpses rot and Kled is too insane to care.

Well, death an insanity aren't the only motives. There's love, affection, and even just a plain desire to help others. Take a look at Braum, for instance. Zac should have similar motivations to Braum.

RalanrJan 12, 20173 votes

Except Braum doesn't even have a color text.

Plus Zac is motivated out of love. Love for the city and its people. Especially because he literally feels the emotions of everyone in the city.

OleandervineJan 12, 20171 votes

{quoted}

Except Braum doesn't even have a color text.

Plus Zac is motivated out of love. Love for the city and its people. Especially because he literally feels the emotions of everyone in the city.

Yes, but this is at the useless deaths of the people who love him and gave him purpose. He's got no anchor to humanity now, no reason for players to connect to the Batman spooge that pops out of the gutters to save people.

SharjoJan 12, 20176 votes

I mean Braum's a shit example here regardless because he has NO apparent motivation. He just helps people because that's what Braum does. He actually has little in the way of character depth despite being a super endearing character. He has no history to him beyond old folks tales and no true bio. He speaks of a mother but what happened to her?

I mean think about this for a second: Braum has perhaps the most unique personality and perspective of all of the Freljord's denizens, and yet has the least exploration in to why he even has such an outlook on life. For all we know everyone Braum ever knew and loved is also dead.

Zac has depth and motivation. He has desire and he has complexity, given how he struggles with his seemingly endless empathy. He's far more of a character in that regard than Braum. Braum is an archetype. Zac is a character.

RalanrJan 12, 20172 votes

Now that I think about it, everyone that Braum loved is probably dead. He's probably actively cherishing their memories.

SharjoJan 12, 20171 votes

He's an old character with an untold history. This is what makes him flawed as a character in terms of what's actually there. Ivern's an example of how why this is important.

OleandervineJan 12, 20171 votes

{quoted}

I mean Braum's a shit example here regardless because he has NO apparent motivation. He just helps people because that's what Braum does. He actually has little in the way of character depth despite being a super endearing character. He has no history to him beyond old folks tales and no true bio. He speaks of a mother but what happened to her?

I mean think about this for a second: Braum has perhaps the most unique personality and perspective of all of the Freljord's denizens, and yet has the least exploration in to why he even has such an outlook on life. For all we know everyone Braum ever knew and loved is also dead.

Zac has depth and motivation. He has desire and he has complexity, given how he struggles with his seemingly endless empathy. He's far more of a character in that regard than Braum. Braum is an archetype. Zac is a character.

Yes, but Zac's character didn't need to be defined by his parents' death. It did nothing to enrich his story because he apparently regressed back to being gutter sludge with personality once they died. His parents being alive is something that anchored him and kept him tied to humanity. It was a huge part of who he was, and removing them completely guts any characterization he has. Some characters are defined by tragedy. Some, particularly the inhuman ones, are defined by their persistent love and protection for the humans who love them in return. Zac is supposed to be Superman, Vayne is supposed to be Batman.

RalanrJan 12, 20172 votes

He's not fully defined by his parents death, but rather what he chose to do after.

He didn't take revenge against Takeda. He instead stayed and fixed the damage he caused. That's his character defining moment.

OleandervineJan 12, 20171 votes

{quoted}

He's not fully defined by his parents death, but rather what he chose to do after.

He didn't take revenge against Takeda. He instead stayed and fixed the damage he caused. That's his character defining moment.

It's an insignificant part of the story though. It was basically "He saw what he had done, and rebuilt the homes. Then he retreated to become a sewer living recluse." Zac removed himself from humanity, which is something his parents had been trying to stop. They wanted to show him love and the world, and acceptance by the humans who cared for him. His retreat from what they were trying to instill in him is just terrible for him as a character.

RalanrJan 12, 20174 votes

It's a small moment but not insignificant. This is what defines him as a person. He'd rather fix than punish.

As for the recluse, well honestly I'm not sure what else he could be. I feel even his parents hide him a bit because having a flubber well known throughout Zaun is basically telling Takeda where he is and only asking for more bloodshed.

He also feels the emotions of everyone easier when stretched out in the sewers.

KoKobotoJan 13, 20172 votes

I like to imagine Braum is a evil personally.

Valaran NaraJan 13, 20173 votes

{quoted}

It was forcing tragedy on a character who didn't need tragedy. Zaun is so far defined exclusively by tragedy, it's how the city came into being. There needs to be characters more than Ekko who are not tragic characters. When everyone in a place has the same background, it removes the diversity of the region, and makes it stale. This is why Zac should have remained unmarred by tragedy.

And he's clearly not upbeat anymore because he lurks in the pipework, only emerging from time to time. Having his parents alive game him meaning and life. Having his parents murdered only made him into the reclusive Batman slime that sometimes helps people. He's not experiencing life anymore, he's creeping through the sewers. I want a Zac who's happy to be alive and experience the world, not the one who oozes through the sewers and soaks up emotion.

Honestly, I would imagine if Zac's parents were alive, and he goes about doing what he does, he wouldn't be walking in broad daylight. In fact, he would probably talk to them most of the time, then be in pipes the remainder of the time. Remember, before the scientists were killed, he was in the pipes feeling the emotions of the area. The only reason he was aware that something was wrong is because he felt negative emotions and energy. Even in the old lore, I doubt Zac would have just went gallivanting about in broad daylight as he is. That, and let's face it. For a slime who was treated with sever pain to be formed into a super weapon, somehow found people who cared for him, and then found he was too late to save them, he is hella upbeat. This guy still smiles, has fun, and enjoys what's around him (except for negative emotion). Hell, if he was all brooding batman, he wouldn't give the woman a piece of himself.

Also, why does Batman always has to be the reference for when someone loses their parents. Spiderman lost his. He has a completely different personality. Zac isn't brooding. He is experiencing life. He is experiencing the world (or at least Zaun) and all that is around him. He just does it via emotion as opposed to popping up in the middle of an alley saying "Hey, pal! Do you happen to have a suit my size?"

Chromatic EagleJan 12, 20174 votes

He's sort of forced to be happy. If he lets the bad feelings overwhelm him, he'll go on a rampage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cR-WiGKZtg

HalfTangibleJan 12, 20173 votes

Can-someone-photoshop-that-Batman-slapping-Robin-panel-(you-know-the-one)-so-it-has-Zac's-face?

(spacebar-still-broken-sorry)

Wrathof300Jan 13, 20172 votes

Zac's lore is no where as broody to be compared to batsy. In fact it emphasizes something all 3 stories where trying to go for.. or rather to core of the 3 stories we got, 'There are no happy endings in Zaun... but its what you make of it that matters'. Zac's parents are not necessarily irrelevant to his story, as they are the reason he is who he is now. But from now on its up to Zac, even if they were alive they would be just as good as dead characters in the event of future lore. Zac is happy and absorbs the emotions of the city he loves. Maybe in a future lore even t where he is forced to reveal himself publicly he might stop living in the sewers and becomes acknowledged by the city. Atm most don't even know he exists, and he has always enjoyed exploring the city form sewer-side, its the closest he can be to the cities emotions at the moment without freaking everyone out. Zac