#oogie

My overall opinion? It's too early for me to judge the Event AS A WHOLE, given how I looked at things. But as far as Swing himself goes, I think he's an interesting twist on Oogie in a few ways, and I also like him on his own terms. In terms of kink crushes from the game, not sure where he ranks (I can safely say he's NOT in my top three, it's...a little hard to beat Malleus, Ruggie, and ESPECIALLY Leona), but he's definitely got some potential. Between his "bottomless greed," his diabolical persona, his deep voice, and him talking about people as "prey" and quoting Oogie's "ohhhh, I'm feelin' weak...with HUNGER!" bit...yeah. Lots of potential there. >///>

As far as the character HIMSELF goes, though, I think what I like most is how he plays to a trope I've always found fascinating: I don't know if this trope has a name, but it's something I've noticed happen in a few shows, games, and so on. It's a situation where literally all of the other major antagonists have some kind of sympathetic side to them…and then you'll have that ONE villain who is just kind of evil for the sake of being evil. (For one example: Cruella De Vil in Once Upon a Time. Every other major antagonist - the Evil Queen, Rumpelstiltskin, the Wicked Witch, etc. - has some kind of sad backstory...but Cruella was literally just evil from birth.) Swing is that kind of character: literally every other major antagonist we've faced in both the Main Story and past Events has had some kind of good side to them, but this guy is just kind of a bastard, plain and simple. And I kind of love that being the character based around Oogie, because that's exactly how Oogie was in the original movie: every other great Disney Villain, practically, has something else going on…but Oogie was just, "Nope. I do terrible stuff just 'cause I wanna." In fact, that's the first and biggest point of comparison/contrast with him and my boi, Reno. Speaking of which...let's get to that. When I created Reno, I wanted to create a character who fit in with the rest of the major cast. Meaning a character who would start off an antagonist, but eventually undergo some kind of revelation and...not necessarily reform or redeem himself - he's still got plenty of flaws and vices - but would certainly have a sort of change of heart all his own. He would have soft sides and a sad backstory, like so many of the others, and would eventually develop in a way as a character. The challenge was doing this with Oogie, who - at least in the original film - was basically just a case of "evil for the lols." I kind of chuckle at the fact that the CANON Oogie character we now have went the OPPOSITE way: instead of making him a character who fits in, the game makers intentionally made him STAND OUT. His appearance, his motivations, his personality, kind of everything about him is designed to be a character who ISN'T like all the others in the game. And it's funny to me that what I struggled with, they effectively embraced. Now, does that mean I think Swing is better than Reno, or the other way around? Honestly, neither. First of all, Reno is my baby, and I am VERY proud of him: I'm honestly proud of MYSELF too. I'm glad that, with the help of some folks I knew, I was able to create a character based on a longtime favorite villain and ex-fictional-crush that fit into this world. And I'm actually even MORE glad now that, with a canon character in existence, the two DON'T feel THAT similar. There are definitely some points of comparison, but both visually and at their core, the two are extremely different, with equally vastly different backstories and setups. If anything, it's just an interesting examination in how you can take one simple problem, and different creators will come up with different methods to achieve it: kinda like how different fanfics and pieces of fanart will cover similar ground but all have their own unique flavor, or how different adaptations of classic books will go in their own directions to find new ways to tell the same story.