While I don't really see the accusations nearly as much as before, I think a couple of past misunderstandings about Cookie Run's Calamitiy Cookies needs to be clarified.
So, for those who don't know, the Calamities were revealed in a trailer for Tower's 1st Anniversary. And it didn't take long for (some, but not all) Kingdom fans to label them as Beast copies, either for being sealed evil or thinking that they were corrupted (that's not the case, but more on that later). I've even seen some claiming that Tower's attempting to replicate CRK's formula based on the Calamities having a few similar concepts (sealed evil, world-ending threats, etc).
And... after a couple months, these takes are doubtful at best. And hardly fair.
Calling them Beast clones for being sealed evil just because the Beasts came first ignores the facts behind the Calamities inspirations and how Tower's story has worked up to this point.
The Calamities are based on the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (while it's obvious to some, some people don't know that). The developers say it themselves in the 1st Anniversary Preview trailer.
This matters because being sealed and unsealed is a central part of the Four Horseman and their origin.
Tower of Adventures (seemingly) takes inspiration from the Book of Genensis and the Book of Revelations (the tldr version is that both are linked as the beginning and the end of things). The Pancake Tower is the Tower of Babel in Genesjs, with each new floor raising the size of the tower.
The Four Horseman are in the Book of Revelations specifically. Their origin is that they appear when the first four seals of the Seven Seals of God are opened (link in image description)
At that point, it's only fair to carry over a similar origin story to the thing you're taking inspiration from for your creative work. That's literally how inspiration and basing something off of something works (that thing being the Four Horseman). The Calamities being sealed evil is a coincidence from their inspiration. At best, the Beasts have little to nothing to do with that choice.
You can even see the inspiration with the Guardians. While there's only six of them, in a way, they represent the seven seals that the Four Horseman are locked behind, because they were the ones who sealed them in the first place (that said, the 1st anniversary website hints at a possible seventh Guardian, but that's a whole other topic for another time)
Another thing to keep in mind is that Tower's story conflict was always about sealed evil. It was just focused on the evil energy locked behind the Tower's Oven and not a group of villains. While that's different from the Beasts, the problem is this meant that Tower didn't really have any form of villain to actually raise the stakes or push the narrative forward.
But you also can't just throw the current threat away without resolving it first. If they did do that, it would just be the same problem as Dark Enchantress in OB and, to an extent, Kingdom.
Like... when was the last time Dark Enchantress was relevant as a threatening villain in Ovenbreak? And while she's still relevant in Kingdom, she's pretty much been overshadowed by the Beasts atm.
The point of the Calamities is that they maintain the threat that's been the main driving conflict of Tower's story, while raising the stakes to tell a more focused story. Because the Calamities were sealed inside the Oven along with the evil energy plaguing the Tower and all the Cookies inside it.
The Calamities take inspiration from a real-world concept that has sealing as a central part of their origin and are meant to stay consistent with the established threat of the Tower's Oven while raising the stakes of the story.
Furthermore... franchises reusing concepts for their other works in different ways is not an uncommon thing at all. Several media franchises do this (and still do to this day).
You know how many times the Sonic franchise has done sealed evil beings who are world-ending threats?
Two of those times being in THE SAME GAME.
And guess what? They all manage to feel like and be their own thing. Because they're a different take on a similar concept (check the ALT text if you want to know why and how).
Here's another one: Necrozma, Eternatus and Terapagos share the same concept of "Legendary Pokemon responsible for their origin game's battle gimmick". Click the image description if you wanna know the differences.
Similar concepts, different context. And they all feel different and relevant to the games that introduced them because of those differences.
Heck, games like Persona 3, 4, and 5 follow the same concept of "a group of high school kids getting into supernatural fate-of-the-world hijinks while living their daily lives out". And yet, anyone who's actually played those games knows full well all three games are still their own thing and couldn't be more different from each other if they tried.
Even Cookie Run has reused concepts before with different context. Think about how many Cookies share a similar sounding ingredients to each other, or just similar ingredients in general. (Peach, White Peach, Peach Blossom. Chocolate flavored a Cookies like First Choco, Dark Cacao, Cocoa). That similarity doesn't mean they're all the same thing
Heck, look at how many legendary groups we have at this point. It's not like sharing that same concept means they're don't all feel different because of their lore, story, and context, which we've had more than enough time to learn about (Dragons, Novas. First, Ancients, etc).
In fact, some of the concepts of the Beasts are similar to the Dragons
Lychee and Shadow Milk use shapshifting and trickery as part of their plans, Lotus and Eternal Sugar rule over a paradise meant to bring joy to Cookies, but hides darker secret underneath. Does having those same concepts mean they're not different enough to be their own thing? When looking at who they are overall, in term of character, powers, lore, and character relationships, no, of course not. They're still their own thing. And on that note, I have to ask...
I know it's not all, only some. But why act like this can't, or won't, apply to the Calamities when they're still new, and we still know little about them? Why act like the Calamities are stealing a concept from another group when concepts and tropes of all kinds are free to be used and experimented with by any and all fictional works? The Beasts don't own the concept of sealed evil or world-ending threats. If that was the case, other works way before Kingdom was even a thing wouldn't have either of those tropes in play. Including franchises that reuse concepts in different ways (see above).
Plus, there's a difference between having similar lore concepts and having similar lore context.
Are the Beasts and Calamities sealed evil? Yes. Are they a group of powerful villains? Yes. Does that mean the Calamities are copying the Beasts? No.
If anything, that's not really respectful to both groups. At that point, both are being judged by what's on the surface and not by the elements that make them their own thing overall. Especially when diving deeper into them.
The Beasts used to be good, but were sealed inside of the Silver tree for becoming corrupt. They managed to break out because of Dark Enchantress interfering. Also, there's more to them than just being sealed evil. They share half of their Soul Jam's power with the Ancient Heroes. Their motivations revolve around getting their Soul Jam fully back. Eternal Sugar's the one exception, and even then, she still technically follows this because she wants Hollyberry herself, who wields the other half of the Soul Jam of Happiness.
The Calamities weren't corrupted. They're described as "corruption given form", not characters who "used to be good, but became corrupt". They were sealed by Tower's six Guardians and managed to break out by themselves without any outside help because the Seal was weakening.
And the Tower Guardians have their own lore going for them when it comes to things like the Guardian Stars, and could have more when we eventually learn more about them (and for anyone whose about to say Cookies sealing evil is a concept done before, I'd like for you to go back and read my Sonic, Pokemon, and Persona points again).
Melanchream implies that the Calamities are set on destroying the Tower because they view it as a prison, a place where Cookies are trapped. Their method of doing so is killing the Guardians and erasing the protective barriers they've placed around the Tower. And their powers are their own. They don't share half of it with the Guardians.
Even more differences could exist later when the story of Tower's upper floors gets more updates.
My point is that there's more to both side's lore than being sealed evil. There are differences within those similarities to make them separate from each other because there's more to the concept than what's on the surface. But labeling one as copying the other based on that similarity is just judging what's on the surface and ignoring the canon differences of both that literally prove there's hardly any ripping off involved.
Two things can have similar concepts while still having more than enough differences, whether in lore or character, to be their own separate thing from each other.
Like I said before, it seems like it's not as big of a thing as it was before. But at the same time, I think most of us would (hopefully) rather not have to endure that whole July fiasco again when the next Calamity eventually gets revealed.
And while it's true that being based on the Four Horseman wasn't revealed until after the trailer... that's kinda what I'm talking about with this. It didn't take that long for us to learn the Calamities are inspired by something that has sealing as a central part of its origins, hence why the Calamaties have that backstory. Sometimes there's value in being patient and waiting for more information to come instead of jumping to assumptions and comparisons based on what something looks or sounds like on the surface.
And just to clarify, I'm not trying to say you can't make comparisons. That's perfectly fine and fair enough. This is all just to say that we should keep an open mind, to just wait and see what happens with the Calamities before making assumptions about copying, ripping-off, or replicating the Beasts or CRK's formula. For all we know, the entire story involving them probably won't even follow a similar formula or aesthetic to the Beasts or CRK (and based on how Chapter 1 of Adventure Mode plays out, I honestly doubt Tower's not going to do it's own thing with its story).
If you made it all the way to the end, thanks so much for reading! I tend to get a little too in-depth when it comes to sharing thoughts, but I hope what I gave was informative enough!
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