How do you decide what you'd like to read or watch? When do you decide to drop something?
Without resorting to the situational "it depends," I'd probably say I watch something based on what I've heard of it combined with how trustworthy the opinions I've heard from others is. As for when I drop it, that usually comes down to its lack of quality becoming too obvious or it taking the kind of downhill turn that wastes what potential there still was for investment.
Darth Tobey is the apprentice of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Jar Jar. No Jedi stands a chance against him
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What do you think of this
post and revenge stories in general? Which ideas and twists do you think would make the average revenge plot more interesting and less straightforward?
The post itself isn't the most helpful when some of the points are overly simplistic even for a beginner writer and the idea that this needs to be a sole motivation for a protagonist's actions is setting them up to be a bit reactionary. The advice that a character mustn't go overboard is also limiting depending on the intent of the story, as many of the best revenge plots often showcase the dangerous aspect of going down a path of revenge.
As for adding more meat to the typical revenge plot, there's many examples that can make doing so more interesting. There are two examples within anime/manga to serve as a gold standard for revenge stories, being that of Guts and Griffith in Berserk and that of Thorfinn and Askeladd in Vinland Saga. With Guts, we see enough of his character development in the Golden Age to know how shocking Griffith's betrayal was and have a desire to see him get vengeance, but we're also shown prior in the Black Swordsman Arc and later in the Conviction Arc how Guts' desire for revenge has made him at least as sadistic and murderous as those he fights against. On top of that, events in the story have him make choices and compromises as to whether pursuing vengeance without a second thought compared to protecting what matters to him and allowing new bonds to open up with others is the right path, with his arc prior to Miura's death having been in a position where he could've easily given up his quest for revenge by instead pursuing happiness depite his hatred for Griffith not subsiding. With Thorfinn, his revenge plot is made interesting due to the position he is in causing Askeladd to act as a mentor figure for him at the same time as an object for revenge to make his feelings far more complex.
For more broad ideas of improving a revenge plot, here's a few:
* The aftermath - Even if the revenge plot is cut and dry, this can lead to new scenarios of how the character feels after taking revenge as well as what are the repercussions for killing the antagonist or those along the way.
* Beaten to the punch - If the antagonist is killed or otherwise incapacitated from their duties by another before the protagonist (or whatever role the avenger is) can get their revenge, this can test the potential of the character by exploring how they will deal with their desire going unfulfilled and what kind of relationship this may create with the one who beat the antagonist.
* The avenger loses - If the one seeking revenge ultimately fails, being captured, killed or otherwise losing to the antagonist, this opens up many routes a story can take in terms of how other characters will react to this, what affect this will have on the antagonist (eg. becoming overly arrogant and ignorant of their own vulnerability).