#bingmei is over there being unsuspicious

[phoenixkaptain]

Okay but all the little changes and everything in Scum Villain add up to the ultimate, biggest difference in the story, which is this:

Shen Qingqiu, who was an early villain in the novel who gets defeated relatively early in the story (relative to the fact that there are about a billion more pages after he becomes a human stick) and Luo Binghe, who was the main character, both completely reverse their roles.

Shen Qingqiu becomes the protagonist who is generally very well liked. The Shen Qingqiu of PIDW was a liar and a schemer and just about the most suspicious person in any given room at any given time. The Shen Qingqiu of SVSSS is a liar (by necessity) and a schemer (of ways to off himself but live through it) and just about the most suspicious person in any given room at any given time (if someone who I had a rivalry with suddenly called me a “beauty fading,” I think I would react in a similar way to Liu Qingge honestly). All the traits that made the character disliked are things that the others actively choose to ignore in the person, because they like him.

Luo Binghe becomes not just a villain, but the ultimate villain. The unbeatable villain. Luo Binghe in PIDW was generally very well-liked because he could manipulate people into thinking he wasn’t that bad and he was morally grey and he could defeat any monster with relative ease. Luo Binghe in SVSSS is generally disliked, particularly because whenever he pulls out his very convincing polite person cosplay, everyone knows that he is definitely manipulating them and is a bit wary of why. He’s morally grey but his morals are even more screwed up than his predecessor. He can defeat any monster with relative ease, but he can’t defeat any person he wants to, he can’t kill anybody he wants to, because he knows that Shen Qingqiu would hate him if he did and he doesn’t want that. The traits that the original used to his own advantage only makes this version more and more unhappy.

Shen Qingqiu goes from a villain, the villain the readers all most wanted for Luo Binghe to take out because of how terrible he was to Luo Binghe, to the protagonist.

Luo Binghe goes from the protagonist, the protagonist with hundreds of wives and the world under his control, to the villain.

I can never get over this role reversal, this swapping of spots, this absolute 180 of the characters from the base novel. It’s one of the clearest indicators of the story being permanently altered. It’s part of why they fit so well and work and it’s really good, it’s really really good I like it a lot.

#scum villain self saving system #svsss #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #bingqiu #the inane ramblings of a madman #it’s so good man #the build up to lbh being the villain the big bad is my fave #because the only person who doesn’t see him as the big bad #is sqq who has been scared of binghe since the beginning #he’s always been scared the lbh would kill him #and he totally saw it coming but at the same time was blindsided by it #bingmei is over there being unsuspicious #and sqq is like oh no when will he kill me #bingmei is over there being the most suspicious #and sqq is like this is the goodest boy who would never do anything wrong #i can’t articulate how well this worked #it’s like poetry it’s beautiful it’s amazing i love it #long post