#kudzu plot

Academic Alpha Bitch

A bitchy and mean character who excels in academics.

Propaganda:

look just cause you have straight a's doesn't mean you're a bitch. half the people i know with straight a's aren't bitches, and those who are have problems and just need to be talked to. kindly. idk just gets on my nerves lol sorry

Kudzu Plot

Many plot threads are started at once, and are not resolved for a long time, if at all.

Propaganda:

OK, here’s something that fans of the modern “Nomura fanfiction”-dominant KH series seem to miss - Kingdom Hearts, as a project, was not concieved as some “massive, convoluted Shonen anime JRPG but with Mickey Mouse and other Disney stuff thrown in there”. Originally, the complex lore and anime JRPGisms were intended to exist in service of Mickey Mouse and other Disney stuff every bit as that Disney stuff was there to service the anime JRPG stuff, with the literal Final Fantasy character guest stars being there for extra seasoning. It was a Disney fantasy epic first and a Shonen series second, as opposed to a pure Shonen series with Disney stuff as increasingly diminished window dressing and filler fluff that barely matters to anything in the convoluted-as-fuck Shonen series plotline aside from a few key characters (King Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and Yen Sid), a plotline that’s gone so far up Nomura’s own ass that it’s unintelligable and bears no resemblence to what KH begun as.

This Lily Orchard endorsed view of the franchise from 2010 onward as being deliberately and charmingly campy and “funny” cause “lol Disney cartoon characters in a big serious, sprawling, convoluted animu saga”, if you want to cling to it, fine, you do you, but to me it really fails to convey just how meandering and out-there bonkers in a frustrating, unpleasant, asinine, not-very-fun way the KH lore has gotten since “Nomura’s fanfiction” became the number one priority.

It’s what @themattress​ stated here:

When I think about whether I consider a trope "annoying" I think of tropes that I think are almost always annoying when they appear, no matter the skill of the writer- like where even in a good story with good writing where the execution is basically fine, I still find myself groaning when that trope pops up. For me, a Kudzu Plot is very much not that. Because the thing is a story that introduces lots of plot threads that don't get resolved for a while can be admittedly frustrating if done poorly, but when it's done well the payoff can be huge and it can really elevate the excitement of seeing answers be revealed and storylines intersect. Basically it can be a hard trope to get right but when it is done right it can be fantastic and so I have trouble viewing the trope itself as annoying- the thing that's actually annoying is writers digging themselves in too deep with a style of plot that they don't really know how to handle.

I will say I admittedly also think Academic Alpha Bitch isn't that annoying of a trope, either. But I think what it has going against it for me in the match-up is that the payoff of that trope when it is well executed is nowhere near as strong as the payoff for an actually well-executed Kudzu Plot; so taking two tropes where they aren't really inherently annoying and are really only bad when written badly, I see the tie-breaker as "but which one is better when written at its best?"

Kudzu Plot

Many plot threads are started at once, and are not resolved for a long time, if at all.

Propaganda:

FNAF lore. (no, I'm serious, "a story [that] leaves so many tangled Plot Threads that [makes] it extremely difficult to follow and ridiculously complicated" is literally the definition of why FNAF lore is bad)

All Girls Want Bad Boys

A woman is attracted to a man because he's "bad".

Propaganda:

"Not So Different" Remark

Two characters or groups at odds realize they are more alike than they want to admit.

Propaganda:

I have rarely seen this used effectively. The villain is always like “Ah. You’re just like me because you want to fight me!” while they are literally filling the orphanage with cement.

Kudzu Plot

Many plot threads are started at once, and are not resolved for a long time, if at all.

Propaganda:

Y’know how I posted earlier that the Five Nights At Freddy’s franchise became too Lore Overdosed? Well to further make the point clear, it’s not that the series has lore that gets expanded upon that’s bad - it’s that Scott tends to expand it Kingdom Hearts style.

Seriously, here’s how it progressed:

THE SECRET LORE OF FNAF

The Bite Of '87 is a mystery

5 children murdered by random serial child murderer

Child murderer caught on tape and apprehended

Children's souls latched on to 5 Fazbear's animatronics

They seek revenge on Fazbear’s for allowing their deaths

Leading child soul inhabits Golden Freddy

Fazbear's closes down after night guard dies or survives

THE LORE AS OF FNAF2

There was a pizzeria called Fredbear's Family Diner that served as the precursor to Fazbear’s

There were toys of the animatronic characters and a defunk original Foxy called Mangle

The Bite Of '87 happens to the first night guard of the game, implied to be by Mangle or Golden Freddy

5 children murdered by a serial child murderer who worked for Fazbear’s

Wrong suspect was apprehended, killer still at large and involved with Fazbear’s

Children's souls latched on to 4 Fazbear's animatronics and one puppet, seek to somehow stop the killer by terrorizing Fazbear's

Leading child soul inhabits the Puppet

Puppet can bring toys + Mangle to life

Golden Freddy is implied to be the suit worn by the killer when he lured his victims to their deaths

There's a Balloon Boy who comes alive for some reason

Fazbear's closes down after night guard dies or survives

THE LORE AS OF FNAF3

There was a pizzeria called Fredbear's Family Diner that served as the precursor to Fazbear’s

There were toys of the animatronic characters and a defunk original Foxy called Mangle

The Bite Of '87 happens to the first night guard of the game, implied to be by Mangle or Golden Freddy

5 children murdered by a serial child murderer who worked for Fazbear’s. Wrong suspect was apprehended, killer still at large and involved with Fazbear’s

Children's souls latched on to 4 Fazbear's animatronics and one puppet, seek to somehow stop the killer by terrorizing Fazbear's

Leading child soul inhabits the Puppet 

Puppet can bring toys + Mangle to life 

There's a Balloon Boy who comes alive for some reason

Fazbear's closes down after night guard dies or survives

The old animatronics are relocated to tourist attraction and become phantoms at night

The child killer wore a Spring Bonnie suit during his murders and later died in it when trying to escape the vengeful ghosts, becoming Springtrap and haunting the new Fazbear’s attraction

Golden Freddy is now totally inexplicable

EVERYTHING BURNS

THE LORE AS OF FNAF4 AND ONWARD

The Bite of '87 happened at Fredbear's...except it didn't since it was '83 at the time, so it was The Bite of ‘83

Little boy bullied by his older brother and his friends got his skull bitten by Fredbear animatronic at his birthday party, entered coma, relived days leading up to party in a fever nightmare before dying

Good spirits salvaged the boy and "put him back together" as what’s implied to be Golden Freddy

Jim Sterling gives us a spot on and brilliantly funny take on why Tetsuya Nomura’s narrative in the KH series and the series’ handling by Square Enix are...well, stupid gibberish.

And here are some other fun videos where people try to wrap their heads around and make sense of this gibberish storyline and it’s screwy timeline of events, including one by James Rolfe himself! Should probably just leave the Xehanort Saga recaps to Lara Jill Miller, guys!

Found this image on this Is Master Xehanort A Bad Villain Character? article. It’s perfect.

OT Terra-Xehanort: You were supposed to enrich my character and secure me a great villainous legacy! You had one job! ONE GODDAMN JOB!