In appreciation of Violet (sorta)

[u/How_about_a_no]

Ok, so Violet came out, and the discussions on DL subreddits is as expected, a shitstorm; the people are divided as hell. But with this post, I wanted to just say why I find Violet appealing, especially her 'mundanity'.

After listening to her voice lines and her interactions and giving her backstory a look, I eventually warmed up to her as a character. Don't get me wrong, you can find her boring. I am not going to tell you what to think of her, but to me, her mundanity is one of the reasons I like her, and she feels fresh thus far.

In this game, every character seems to be generally fine with the entire situation at hand, participating in the battle to the death to try and summon an eldritch god to grant them their wish. I don't think there are a lot of characters that seem to be nervous or unwell from everything that is going on, unlike Violet.

Violet is clearly new, she is no fighter and doesn't seem to enjoy killing, brutalising or risking her life, and to a degree, I dig that. She feels normal in a good way, she feels like an average person who, while she has had exposure to magic, only now gets to meet this many insane and weird people.

Her interactions, backstory and character feel more grounded in a good way. In the world of gods and powerful supernatural entities, she is a uni student who is just trying to be noticed and not forgotten, even if it means participating in a death battle ritual.

Of course, there is also the fact that she does drugs and is horny for a lot of characters, which honestly, I also think fits her and goes well along with how 'normal' she feels.

Again, if you find her boring, I am not trying to convince you that she isn't in your eyes, I am just expressing and sharing what I think of her and maybe finding other people with similar thoughts.

TL;DR; I find the fact that she is more mundane and normal an interesting part of her character, especially when compared to a lot of other characters that are clearly way more prepared for the ritual than she is.

[u/blorgono]

Ive heard the "she's boring on purpose" a lot, but I gotta ask, would you have liked this character less if she had an actually compelling supernatural mystery going on? Or some kind of more weird personality?

Also being unprepared for the ritual isn't even unique to her, Paige (who isn't the same as her because she has an acutal plot hook and takes a leading role in some of her convos) Graves (who also has the "I don't like my parents cliché but is made interesting with the lich hand) and Rem (creature from another world trying to find it's way back home) are all unprepared and insecure for the ritual, they all also have plenty of mundane interactions, they are however not a snoozefest to read thru.

My main problem is that in any of her interactions it's always someone ELSE being cool and interesting while she brings nothing, her mundanity doesn't really work with the rest of the characters because it's not used for anything except the usual "im scared to be here", wich is ruined by the fact that she also doesn't have a good reason to BE here.

She wants her art to be noticed, she doesn't want instant fame or for people to like her art, she just wants people to notice it. So she's willing to kill people in a ritual to summon a god but not just... paint a mural on a Fairfax building or something? Like there's other mundane wishes sure, Silver wants to pay her rent. But Silver is a fucking wreck who has screwed her life up so badly she litteraly sees the ritual as the only way of fixing it.

Overall I think trying to go for the mundane/normal person archetype on a magical painter is silly, and a complete waste of potential.

[u/alibloomdido → u/blorgono]

There are more than enough characters with superpowers in the game, getting a mundane character motivated by a mundane thing feels fresh for me indeed. It's like being an outsider to this world of freaks with superpowers. She's not boring, she's reserved, partly because of anxiety, partly because what's happening is just means to an end for her. It's like going to a party with people outside your circle with a sole purpose of talking with a specific person.

[u/SteveCraftCode → u/blorgono]

The whole purposely boring argument makes no sense it’s like would you rather have a sandwich with meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. Or two pieces of bread?

[u/blorgono → u/SteveCraftCode]

"Well clearly the two slices of bread, since ive been having delicious varied sandwiches my entire life it makes the plain ass bread stand out more"

[u/SteveCraftCode → u/blorgono]

Yep

[u/Cautious_Log9568 → u/blorgono]

I will be honest. a plain slice of bread can be pretty tasty as a snack.

[u/Motor-Design-4932 → u/blorgono]

Having another demigod will be kinda meh

[u/BiggPapi87 → u/blorgono]

The whole she's boring on purpose and her being boring is actually great cos the rest of the cast isn't boring are weird and uncompelling arguments

I highly doubt valve were like let's subvert the expectations we have set by releasing such interesting characters by dropping one that's as bland as possible 

[u/How_about_a_no → u/blorgono]

>She wants her art to be noticed, she doesn't want instant fame or for people to like her art, she just wants people to notice it. So she's willing to kill people in a ritual to summon a god but not just... paint a mural on a Fairfax building or something? Like there's other mundane wishes sure, Silver wants to pay her rent. But Silver is a fucking wreck who has screwed her life up so badly she litteraly sees the ritual as the only way of fixing it.

She does go to protests and does paint murals, but it seems like it's not really doing the job that it's supposed to or something else might be interfering with it, either way, it seems that something is preventing her from being noticed, which honestly does suit a uni student who is still trying to actually build something for themselves in the world

>Ive heard the "she's boring on purpose" a lot, but I gotta ask, would you have liked this character less if she had an actually compelling supernatural mystery going on? Or some kind of more weird personality?

I would be fine either way, I am just glad to see a magical painter character in the game

> Also being unprepared for the ritual isn't even unique to her, Paige (who isn't the same as her because she has an acutal plot hook and takes a leading role in some of her convos) Graves (who also has the "I don't like my parents cliché but is made interesting with the lich hand) and Rem (creature from another world trying to find it's way back home) are all unprepared and insecure for the ritual

True but it's feels less obvious with them, or at least less noticeable; both of them seem to be rather used to more eccentric and dangerous people they meet, they may be unprepared, but they feel like to them, ritual and different supernatural beings they encounter is more like an average Tuesday

> My main problem is that in any of her interactions it's always someone ELSE being cool and interesting while she brings nothing, her mundanity doesn't really work with the rest of the characters because it's not used for anything except the usual "im scared to be here"

I mean, that is sorta what being a more regular person is like compared to an ancient murder hobo vampire, old powerful witch, an evil mf that is trying to become a god after nearly having his soul destroyed etc. Sure to some it may be boring, but in my eyes it has it's weird charm

> Overall I think trying to go for the mundane/normal person archetype on a magical painter is silly, and a complete waste of potential.

Ehhhhh, it's waaaay to early to tell tbh

Another point about this fandom is that people are acting like Deadlock is already a finished game, when it's far from being that, who knows, maybe Violet will get more stuff about her, I mean hell, Kalvin only now got hints of being more than just a revived corpse with memory loss, and mf has been in the game for a long time

[u/blorgono → u/How_about_a_no]

>She does go to protests and does paint murals, but it seems like it's not really doing the job that it's supposed to or something else might be interfering with it, either way, it seems that something is preventing her from being noticed, which honestly does suit a uni student who is still trying to actually build something for themselves in the world

Would be awesome if they actually told us that something was interfering, would have been something to go off instead of her seemingly making the jump from "no one gives a shit of what I do" to "I gotta summon GOD". An artist archetype that would be a lot more willing to go thru something like the ritual would be someone like Van Goh, someone who has been trying for a long time and has genuine talent but hasn't found an audience out of pure bad luck, unlike Violet who is an art student who has barely started to put herself out there,

>I would be fine either way, I am just glad to see a magical painter character in the game

So why are you defending her being boring?

>True but it's feels less obvious with them, or at least less noticeable; both of them seem to be rather used to more eccentric and dangerous people they meet, they may be unprepared, but they feel like to them, ritual and different supernatural beings they encounter is more like an average Tuesday

That's because it's a magical world with magical creatures in it, you'd think a paint wizard who lives in said world would be a lot more used the weirdos running around if she were the average Jane.

>Ehhhhh, it's waaaay to early to tell tbh

>Another point about this fandom is that people are acting like Deadlock is already a finished game, when it's far from being that, who knows, maybe Violet will get more stuff about her, I mean hell, Kalvin only now got hints of being more than just a revived corpse with memory loss, and mf has been in the game for a long time

I completly agree with this, I probably shouldn't have said that she was a waste of potential since there are ways she can still be fleshed out, and I believe Valve writters to be competent enough for that, it's just quite a dissapointing first impression is all.

[u/How_about_a_no → u/blorgono]

> So why are you defending her being boring?

I am not defending her being boring, I am saying I can sorta dig her mundanity because it contrasts pretty well with other more eccentric characters, did you even read my post?

> That's because it's a magical world with magical creatures in it, you'd think a paint wizard who lives in said world would be a lot more used the weirdos running around if she were the average Jane.

I think there's a difference between interacting and seeing magical creatures and having to fight an ancient vampire murder hobo, a being made of dreams with a completely unknown origin, a federal dream assassin, a mf who did something so bad that his soul nearly destroyed and is now striving to be god, an avatar of the ocean(I think that's what Viscous is) and a lot of other magical beings that an average person wouldn't really encounter in their day to day life, even in a magical world

Plus add onto the fact that they are trying to summon a wish-granting Cthulhu

> Would be awesome if they actually told us that something was interfering, would have been something to go off instead of her seemingly making the jump from "no one gives a shit of what I do" to "I gotta summon GOD". An artist archetype that would be a lot more willing to go thru something like the ritual would be someone like Van Goh, someone who has been trying for a long time and has genuine talent but hasn't found an audience out of pure bad luck, unlike Violet who is an art student who has barely started to put herself out there,

Again I feel like in this case we need to wait and see what else Valve adds to her, a lot of current interesting characters didn't really start out with much either

[u/How_about_a_no → u/blorgono]

To clarify, I probably should've used ordinary or regular instead of mundane

I think people might be misunderstanding my point that I made in the post

[u/nvinithebard → u/How_about_a_no]

Shes not even a convincing story about her art work notoriety being interfered with because she has a full ride scholarship to art school and has apparently won multiple events at the MoMa.

That second part is a huge fucking deal.

Her kit is good and her visual design is clean + enjoyable to look at, but that lore is bad from the base.

Not to mention the not insubstantial amount of people from her exact demographic (starving artist with asian immigrant parents) finding her a painful cliche.

Like her, please i dont want this character scrapped, but that lore is bad.

[u/How_about_a_no → u/nvinithebard]

Wouldn't it be more cliche if she went for careers and bachelor into like sciences and engineering or something? I don't think I've met many overseas students or Asians that go into art degrees

Though I guess mangakas exist

Not sure what you mean by second part

Adb as for her notoriety, I don't think that those factors really affect her popularity that much, because I don't recall artist that are still studying, being popular or widely known

[u/nvinithebard → u/How_about_a_no]

Im kinda shocked what to say to a lot of that.

But its a movie and tv trope, plus its also a trope among the art community.

Its like multiple tropes in one, the asian student whos a gifted protege but has imposter syndrome, the asian student who pursues art to stick it to their parents, and others im too tired too remember.

And for that last bit, Violet's bio says that she focuses on being noticed by "that one person" refers to someone who can help gain access to opportunities which is absolutely ridiculous cause MoMa is literally where ANYONE art wise would DIE to gain notoriety in. She EXPLICITLY tells Rem shes fiercely against that.

Which doubly makes no sense as a bleeding heart activist, cause shes participating in the evil murder ritual not even for a wish but as an art expo.

Its very contradictory writing.

[u/How_about_a_no → u/nvinithebard]

Well, either all of this is intentional and DL team is cooking up something for the future

Or they did indeed make a very contradictory character

And didn't know about the trope part, I genuinely never encountered characters in media that fit it, so that's a pretty new info to me, the more you learn

[u/nvinithebard → u/How_about_a_no]

Haha yeah, if you ever watch "everything everywhere all at once" that one has it, so does Crazy rich asians. Both really good movies but they do tackle the cliche of asian immigrant social pressures in different ways.

I do hope valve is cooking or else itd be kinda sad to see their first fumble be on such a, supposedly, grounded character.

[u/PapaImpy]

They never address why she can do what she does? Like what's the deal with the living paint. Is it soul infused? Is it something they taught her in art school? Is this some new way of painting that she herself invented? Same for Solomon tbf. He just plays chess and is lowkey a chilled ass guy, the end. Not everything needs an explanation but give us something. Danny and Rat king emphasize their motivations where as Violet is supposed to be driven by fear of failure as an artist but that never comes across strongly in her voice lines. Gameplay wise she's probably my favorite out the batch but character wise she needs more time in the oven. Yamato got a full voice change so I hope they get Violet's VA to do some cooler lines further down the road.

[u/EstablishmentStock18]

It's all fine and dandy but quite frankly she doesn't even have a reason to be in the ritual.

[u/How_about_a_no → u/EstablishmentStock18]

Eh, a deeper reason might be revealed later

If she is ready to do the ritual just to be noticed, there is probably more to her wish

[u/EstablishmentStock18 → u/How_about_a_no]

Thing is she doesn't even seem ready to be in the ritual, she's more scared then any other character including a literal child.

[u/BiggPapi87]

The characters in this game have so much sauce

She's a dry slice of white bread in comparison 

Her design and kit are cool tho

[u/How_about_a_no → u/BiggPapi87]

> She's a dry slice of white bread in comparison 

A bit of an exaggeration

Especially since her kit is one of the better ones in the game

I'd say it's more like the majority of characters are wagyu steak, while she is closer to being a ground beef patty

[u/BiggPapi87 → u/How_about_a_no]

Not really she is very boring and mundane doubly so when compared to the rest of the cast

Burgers are juicy and flavoursome

She is devoid of flavour

[u/How_about_a_no → u/BiggPapi87]

How exactly is she devoid of flavour when her design is pretty solid and her kit is one of the more creative and visually cool looking in the game

Just because her voice lines and backstory isn't as wide and developed?

[u/BiggPapi87 → u/How_about_a_no]

Design and kit are fine

Her backstory and voice lines are super weak doubly so when compared w how interesting the rest of the cast is

[u/How_about_a_no → u/BiggPapi87]

I mean, tbf, a lot of other character voice lines aren't the pinnacle of writing either and have their cliches

Not to say Violet's voice lines aren't on the weak side, I do think they come off as a bit, NPCish by comparison to others

But also again, her voice lines are far from being 'super weak'

[u/BiggPapi87 → u/How_about_a_no]

"not to say  Violet's voice lines aren't on the weak side, "

"Far from super weak"

Uhhh????

It's okay to admit her character isn't great and is underwhelming next to how fun unique and interesting the rest of the cast is

[u/How_about_a_no → u/BiggPapi87]

Yes, and I am not denying that

But you are exaggerating the 'boringness' of her character

> "not to say  Violet's voice lines aren't on the weak side, "

> "Far from super weak"

> Uhhh????

Weak and super weak are pretty different on a severity scale

You are acting like they added a regular accountant named Dave in the way you compare her to others

[u/BiggPapi87 → u/How_about_a_no]

You admit she's boring and her lines are weak but have issue w people thinking they are very boring or very weak

Like I said. It's okay to admit they didn't hit it out the park w this one

[u/How_about_a_no → u/BiggPapi87]

The only thing I am saying and said in my post is that I sort find her mundanity appealing and an interesting contrast to the rest of the cast

I do have issues with you in particular over exaggerating how 'boring' she is, and I can also admit she isn't as strong of a character design as compared to other characters

Why are you twisting my words as if I am contradicting myself, when I can both not agree with the overexaggeration of your claims and also admit that compared to other characters, she isn't as eccentric and doesn't stands out as much

Is English not your first language?

Edit: ok, I probably should've used "ordinary" instead of mundane, since mundane if "ordinary in a boring way", English isn't my first language either

The second point still stand

[u/EstablishmentStock18 → u/BiggPapi87]

Kit would be so cool if it wasn't so overbloated and so stupidly strong that it makes this bland-ass character compete with Celeste for Yoshi's favourite character.

[u/How_about_a_no → u/EstablishmentStock18]

> Kit would be so cool if it wasn't so overbloated and so stupidly strong that it makes this bland-ass character compete with Celeste for Yoshi's favourite character.

wasn't that the case for all the recently released characters, busted kit that eventually gets nerfed, except for Danny

[u/BiggPapi87 → u/EstablishmentStock18]

Most of this six have been super strong on release apart from Danny 

I'm sure she will be tweaked but I do think she's fun to play

[u/SteveCraftCode → u/BiggPapi87]

Danny is strong he just is more harder to learn then others.

[u/BiggPapi87 → u/SteveCraftCode]

Yes Danny is strong now 

Day one he wasn't hence him getting patched almost immediately 

[u/monsj → u/SteveCraftCode]

Had some wild Danny players that hard carried the match already.

[u/SteveCraftCode → u/monsj]

Yeah Danny just requires a certain mind set and play style that I think most people don’t do. Which is being and up close demon and a far away angel of hellfire.

[u/EstablishmentStock18 → u/SteveCraftCode]

People played him like vind*cta instead of danny, so they got a buff to the vind*cta playstyle (and everything else).

[u/SteveCraftCode → u/EstablishmentStock18]

No seriously half of the buffs are not needed. All they need to keep is the increased health gained from dive bombing. Then it’s good.

[u/EstablishmentStock18 → u/BiggPapi87]

Danny was strong on release but was hard to play, so now in right hands he's unfathomably awful to deal with.

She's fun to play but also complete aids to play against, just like celeste!

[u/blorgono → u/BiggPapi87]

I like her kit (except for the bloat) but the ult is so boring both gameplay wise and visually, it's just a big circle of damage and slow, and for it being an "abstract landscape" it just looks like a bunch of paint smears.

[u/Jastreen]

Boring backstory, weird voicelines and VA, boring design

[u/ReynaGolba]

"its good that she is boring and unbearable to listen to actually" how do people say this and not think they sound tasteless

your only defense of this character is that shes different lol like thats a virtue all by itself

[u/How_about_a_no → u/ReynaGolba]

My brother in Christ, the only thing I said in this post is that I find her ordinarity and how regular she is, sorta interesting/neat, because it contrasts to other more eccentric characters

I am not defending the character and I even outline why I made the post in the first place, just to share my opinion on her and to see if anyone else feels the same way

I expected more literacy from the community that cares this much about lore and interactions

[u/ReynaGolba → u/How_about_a_no]

IM NOT DEFENDING THE CHARACTER BUT yeah whatever DUDE no need to get defensive mister media literate

"After listening to her voice lines and her interactions and giving her backstory a look, I eventually warmed up to her as a character."

"To me, her mundanity is one of the reasons I like her, and she feels fresh thus far."

"I don't think there are a lot of characters that seem to be nervous or unwell from everything that is going on, unlike Violet."

"She feels normal in a good way, she feels like an average person who, while she has had exposure to magic, only now gets to meet this many insane and weird people."

"Her interactions, backstory and character feel more grounded in a good way."

"In the world of gods and powerful supernatural entities, she is a uni student who is just trying to be noticed and not forgotten, even if it means participating in a death battle ritual."

"Of course, there is also the fact that she does drugs and is horny for a lot of characters, which honestly, I also think fits her and goes well along with how 'normal' she feels."

"I find the fact that she is more mundane and normal an interesting part of her character, especially when compared to a lot of other characters that are clearly way more prepared for the ritual than she is."

[u/How_about_a_no → u/ReynaGolba]

None of these are really defending her

I am expressing why I personally sorts vibe with her thus far, me defending her would be trying to convince "Noooo guys! She is actually super duper cool, for [insert myriad of reasons]"

All I am saying in my post is outlining why I find her appealing and what I noticed about her

So yeah, whatever DUDE

Sybau

[u/ReynaGolba → u/How_about_a_no]

do i need to highlight every time you say the word "GOOD" too for you my son?

ill pretend when you said good you meant vibes instead o algo and that that isnt the same as defending her design lol

its nice that you "like" her design good for you i guess

[u/How_about_a_no → u/ReynaGolba]

Have you heard of subjective opinions? Or do I need to spell out in big letters "SUBJECTIVE OPINION INCOMING"

Am I trying to convince you that she is amazing, am I trying to say "No guys she isn't actually boring!"

Not really, I can see how people can find her boring, I am only outlining what I noticed and found pretty cool, after listening to her voice lines

If you find her boring, cool, I can understand that, do you find her cool? Also good

I personally just find her pretty neat and am looking forward to seeing what valve is going to provide her with in the future, in the meantime I'll be over here happy with my boy Shiv

[u/Sad-Personality5698]

I like all the characters, but I see Violet as a harbinger of bad decisions, I dislike the Rivals, and I'm genuinely worried about Dedlock. For me, Violet are boring characters in this update with her look, as a Victor in first vote and Apollo in old god. I didn't even dislike her, but I dislike Violet simp, and I am disgusted by the fact that the rejection of one hero is perceived as misogyny in our community. Also really nice post author, my respect, I freaking love long post.

[u/How_about_a_no → u/Sad-Personality5698]

I think you are doom saying waaaay to early, this game still has characters that kept their designs from neon prime

Especially considering community's reaction, I highly doubt Valve will be just going Kiriko route

[u/Sad-Personality5698 → u/How_about_a_no]

I hope so, but I worry not about kiriko, but Luna Snow.

[u/Docterzero]

Yeah, I agree. I like her for much the same reasons. I have kinda wanted just a normal character in the game and she fills that niche surprisingly well.

is horny for a lot of characters

And let us be honest, that is most of the fandom

[u/Sudden-Ad-307]

I jacked off to her 5 times already, thats the only thing i care about