unOrdinary

[Thales]

I was surprised to find that he'd gone in such a similar path the first time, when he really hadn't known he had powers. His current reign of terror seemed to be a response to the trauma of that first experience and what the Authorities did to rein him in, but apparently not — he got super violent and bloodthirsty before as well.

His dad had no Ability

We have no direct evidence to support this, but trope-wise, I would not be surprised if John's dad either has a very potent ability or is in a leadership role of some shadowy organization. Explains how John won the power lottery in a setting where this does seem to be genetically determined, and why he's away so much.

[Kantaki]

We have no direct evidence to support this, but trope-wise, I would not be surprised if John's dad either has a very potent ability or is in a leadership role of some shadowy organization. Explains how John won the power lottery in a setting where this does seem to be genetically determined, and why he's away so much.

I think it was mentioned at some point that he's a ”Cripple“? But yeah, apparently powerless.
And sure, it would make sense if John's father (or mother, but she's a non-entity, so who cares) has either a powerful Ability or is an outlier in a high-ranker family.
Maybe we'll find out if he shows up again because Sera needs help helping John.

If it turns out he has strong powers and never taught John how to deal with that* it'd kinda move him from actually decent father into ”parent of the year“ territory though, so I kinda hope not.

*The book doesn't count. He only gave it to John after the rampage.

[Anteros]

His willingness to let Sera get hurt to maintain his cover cemented his position as a terrible person in my opinion long before he truly went off the deep end like he is now.

As for Arlo, he's much more of a product of his surroundings as anyone. If you're willing to make excuses for John I don't see how you can not do the same for Arlo. He's spent every moment of his life being brainwashed by his family, friends, and even his government that maintaining the hierarchy of power is the best thing he can possibly do for people. The fact that he's as open minded as he is is already borderline unbelievable.

[-D-]

His willingness to let Sera get hurt to maintain his cover cemented his position as a terrible person in my opinion long before he truly went off the deep end like he is now.

He let himself be hurt on a DAILY level to keep the cripple mask. The one time Sera was hurt, he was relying on Arlo to protect her.

As for Arlo, he's much more of a product of his surroundings as anyone. If you're willing to make excuses for John I don't see how you can not do the same for Arlo.

Much more than John? Him being pampered and privileged his entire life is somehow more tragic than someone rising from the bottom to the top and getting dunked on?

Let's do an experiment on privilege. Imagine for a second anyone lower than 2.0 is black or lower caste if you are more familiar with it (because let's face it, they are treated as a lower caste by unO society). Now replay the things that happened in unO.
-----------

The thing about Arlo is that it takes some real amount of dimness on Arlo's part to not realize what John, Sera, Remi, Blyke, and everyone around him were telling him. He has to be massively in the darkness to not understand it.

I'd say it's less John was revealed to be a massive hypocrite, and more he became one. I think he genuinely believed in what he was preaching, he just lost control and went to the dark side when placed in a position of power (exactly like he was afraid of doing, which is why he pretended to be powerless in the first place).

I don't think he honestly believed in it. John just wanted it to be true, so he pretended it was the truth.

As far as I understand John is suffering from PTSD (thanks Keon), that means certain triggers were making flashback back to that state (things like Remi approaching him, Arlo's betrayal, low rankers, etc.). And that means another trip to Keon, which John wants to avoid by any means.
The more John struggled to avoid it - becoming Joker, becoming king, the more were things turning out the same as before.
Thus, the more desperate John became, making things turn out the same as before.

I think it was mentioned at some point that he's a ”Cripple“?

If it turns out he has strong powers and never taught John how to deal with that* it'd kinda move him from actually decent father into ”parent of the year“ territory though, so I kinda hope not.

Pretty sure, he's listed as true Cripple and that author confirmed he never had any power.

[Anteros]

He let himself be hurt on a DAILY level to keep the cripple mask. The one time Sera was hurt, he was relying on Arlo to protect her.

Which is admirable. Self sacrifice is admirable. Sacrificing others you claim to care for to avoid your problems is what psychopaths do.

Much more than John? Him being pampered and privileged his entire life is somehow more tragic than someone rising from the bottom to the top and getting dunked on?

Let's do an experiment on privilege. Imagine for a second anyone lower than 2.0 is black or lower caste if you are more familiar with it (because let's face it, they are treated as a lower caste by unO society). Now replay the things that happened in unO.
-----------

The thing about Arlo is that it takes some real amount of dimness on Arlo's part to not realize what John, Sera, Remi, Blyke, and everyone around him were telling him. He has to be massively in the darkness to not understand it.

You know full good and well we can't discuss your analogy on this forum. I'll just say I disagree with it and leave it at that.

As to your other points, John was a victim who suddenly got the power to be the aggressor and abused it despite everyone in his life begging him to stop. He is a bad person. He's sympathetic, but that just makes him a bad person with a sympathetic back story. Arlo is someone who has been brainwashed by everyone he trusted his entire life to believe that might makes right and yet still became compassionate towards those weaker than him. He is by far a more admirable person than John. It isn't even close. It doesn't matter who had the easier life, Arlo is a better person than John is now.

I don't think he honestly believed in it. John just wanted it to be true, so he pretended it was the truth.

As far as I understand John is suffering from PTSD (thanks Keon), that means certain triggers were making flashback back to that state (things like Remi approaching him, Arlo's betrayal, low rankers, etc.). And that means another trip to Keon, which John wants to avoid by any means.
The more John struggled to avoid it - becoming Joker, becoming king, the more were things turning out the same as before.
Thus, the more desperate John became, making things turn out the same as before.

You act like John has no agency in his own actions. He could stop the bad things from happening at any time. No one is preventing that from happening except John.

His "PTSD" is a direct result of being forced to experience what he put his victims through. Cry me a river. He deserves every bad thing that comes his way. At least Arlo's experiences made him a better person. John chooses to become worse at every opportunity. Arlo was blind to his situation and allowed people to suffer. John willfully causes suffering as often as possible and then jerks himself off about how self righteous he is for doing it.

[-D-]

You know full good, and well, we can't discuss your analogy on this forum. I'll say I disagree with it and leave it at that.

Ok, replace it with high/low status.

As to your other points, John was a victim who suddenly got the power to be the aggressor and abused it despite everyone in his life begging him to stop. He is a bad person.

He has or had violent tendencies. And for all the philosophizing, he's right. Society turns a blind eye to it, implicitly condoning it. When John begged, who stopped? And why should he give them more rights than what he got?

NB John was way more violent than current John. NB John snapped at the random comment, while current John is focused on ex-Royals and Safe House. Is it because John wasn't given enough time to give in to his violent tendencies, is speculation at this point.

You act like John has no agency in his own actions. He could stop the bad things from happening at any time. No one is preventing that from happening except John.

Does he? He snapped at Remi for just briefly reminding him of Claire. The more flashback we see, the less in control he seems to be. Before his fight with Sera he looks hungover, as if he was binge drinking.

His "PTSD" is a direct result of being forced to experience what he put his victims through.

You're wrong on both accounts.
His PTSD is a result of not being controllable. Had he beat his entire school within an inch of their life, then complied, Authorities wouldn't have re-educated him. That's the horrible realization. His violence is ok, but his insubordination isn't.

His flashbacks only portray Claire's betrayal. That's played on loop in his mind. Not what he put others through, just her betrayal. The thing that was written off the record, was that John liked Claire and thought this was a romantic letter. That and what Adrion overheard is what makes it tortuous.
It is kinda self-centered but I never accused John of magnanimity. His critical weaknesses are being selfish and a really ****ing nasty temper.

Cry me a river. He deserves every bad thing that comes his way. At least Arlo's experiences made him a better person. John chooses to become worse at every opportunity. Arlo was blind to his situation and allowed people to suffer. John willfully causes suffering as often as possible and then jerks himself off about how self-righteous he is for doing it.

Cry? I do enjoy John getting his just desserts. But people seem to think he's the only one that needs comeuppance.

Arlo's only sympathetic because of what happened to others. If Rei didn't become a vigilante because of Ordinary, and if Sera never lost her ability, he'd be the same hierarchy zealot. He changed only because people close to him got burned.
If Spider-lady and some stranger were targeted? He'd still harp about hierarchy.

What anguish did Arlo experience for being blind and/or stupid? Next to nothing.

As for John attacking and jerking himself off about being righteous, that's more of a defense mechanism.

[Anteros]

Ok, replace it with high/low status.


He has or had violent tendencies. And for all the philosophizing, he's right. Society turns a blind eye to it, implicitly condoning it. When John begged, who stopped? And why should he give them more rights than what he got?

NB John was way more violent than current John. NB John snapped at the random comment, while current John is focused on ex-Royals and Safe House. Is it because John wasn't given enough time to give in to his violent tendencies, is speculation at this point.


Does he? He snapped at Remi for just briefly reminding him of Claire. The more flashback we see, the less in control he seems to be. Before his fight with Sera he looks hungover, as if he was binge drinking.


You're wrong on both accounts.
His PTSD is a result of not being controllable. Had he beat his entire school within an inch of their life, then complied, Authorities wouldn't have re-educated him. That's the horrible realization. His violence is ok, but his insubordination isn't.

His flashbacks only portray Claire's betrayal. That's played on loop in his mind. Not what he put others through, just her betrayal. The thing that was written off the record, was that John liked Claire and thought this was a romantic letter. That and what Adrion overheard is what makes it tortuous.
It is kinda self-centered but I never accused John of magnanimity. His critical weaknesses are being selfish and a really ****ing nasty temper.


Cry? I do enjoy John getting his just desserts. But people seem to think he's the only one that needs comeuppance.

Arlo's only sympathetic because of what happened to others. If Rei didn't become a vigilante because of Ordinary, and if Sera never lost her ability, he'd be the same hierarchy zealot. He changed only because people close to him got burned.
If Spider-lady and some stranger were targeted? He'd still harp about hierarchy.

What anguish did Arlo experience for being blind and/or stupid? Next to nothing.

As for John attacking and jerking himself off about being righteous, that's more of a defense mechanism.

If this. If that. That's a lot of story that doesn't actually exist that you're inventing. I'd prefer we stick to the one that we're all reading instead on nonexistent fanfiction.

As for why John should give them more than what he got...because that's the bare minimum of not being a psychopath? Arlo and the others were guilty of being largely unaware of the suffering of those underneath them. They weren't going out of their way to hurt people, but they were complicit in the system. Once they discovered how much harm they were doing they all grew into better people. John is fully aware of how much people are hurting, but intentionally perpetuates it because he's a sadistic piece of garbage who wants other people to suffer just because he had to.

Who cares if Arlo never got punished as much as you want him to? My point is that he's a better person than John is at this point in time. If you're only interested in seeing characters you don't like suffer then I guess that's fine, but it doesn't have anything to do with them becoming a better person. I wanted to see Arlo suffer too in the early story, but now that he's managed to change what's the point? Sadism? Pass.

[Thales]

Pretty good update.

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The guess that Sera can overcome John's "Anything you can do, I can do better" power by hers being effectively invisible was correct! But I think it's fairly cool how John combines the powers he's copying into novel forms, such as using Cecille's to give Arlo's barrier spikes.

But the psychological element is more interesting. John is convinced — has been convinced — that he is nothing more than who he is on his worst day. And because he needs to believe this, because he's decided it's the axiom of his life, he's stuck in a funhouse mirror world where all he can see is that people are just like how he sees himself. If he acknowledges that other people aren't all complete monsters, he'd see himself as incommensurately worse than the rest of them, and quite possibly try to kill himself if my read of the end of this episode is correct.

There is a way out. He can realize that the John who became Sera's friend, who was nice to anyone who would be nice to him, and make a spirited attempt even at befriending those who weren't (see: Sera at the start) was him too. He may have done some very bad stuff, and currently be engaged in doing more, but that's not all of who he is, and it's never too late for repentance to make a difference.

[-D-]

If this. If that.

Which part do you consider dubious? The Claire part was confirmed by uru. The rest I mentioned are plainly visible in the comic.

As for why John should give them more than what he got...because that's the bare minimum of not being a psychopath?

You say, psychopath, I say a person with lots of trauma. That you're expecting him to behave perfectly rational, is in itself irrational.

Like you know what Keon did. You know he has recurring nightmares. You know he has flashbacks to that moment.
And you expect him to just behave like it was nothing

(Before you counter with NB John. He also faced refusal. People weren't willing to accept a former cripple was now stronger than them.
He probably thought that being powerful will earn him some kind of gratitude from others, but it didn't. If anything, he just earned scorn from higher tiers.
And he did get angry, I'm not excusing that.
But keep in mind, in unO world threats of violence and outright murder of low tiers by mid-tiers is overlooked.
But it was obvious no one was helping him adjust. Claire did nag, but how would Claire's words help him navigate the world of high tiers? They wouldn't.)

Arlo and the others were guilty of being largely unaware of the suffering of those underneath them.

Let's be honest. Arlo didn't care. If none of his high-tier friends were targeted he wouldn't give a flying ****.

Even now, he gives little to no flying **** about those below him. Name one low-tier person he's friends with. Not best friends, but like can hang out.

Once they discovered how much harm they were doing they all grew into better people.

By them, you mean Remi? Isen doesn't care too much, and Blyke cared when it involved Sera or when the threat of Joker was a real problem.

Arlo joined Safe House for good, ONLY after he heard from Kayden, that Authorities killed Rei (which was obvious several hundred of chapters before).

John is fully aware of how much people are hurting, but intentionally perpetuates it because he's a sadistic piece of garbage who wants other people to suffer just because he had to.

John didn't know, that Joker was going to be a thing.
He just wanted the hierarchy destroyed, to prevent people from ganging up on Sera and to get back at Arlo.
It's wasn't a great plan, but it somewhat worked. It backfired spectacularly, but hey, mid-tiers were now jumping on low-tiers one at a time. Progress!

My point is that he's a better person than John is at this point in time.

I doubt that. The difference between John and Arlo is that Arlo had friends all along. Remove all Arlo's friends, and he's no different than John. Albeit with a slightly better temper.

Let's make a parallel that's not politically motivated:
- A rich man invests the money wisely and makes lots of money in retirement.
- A poor man, gets money on the lottery and squanders it.

Who's the better person? Is it the rich man that knew the system and was thus in a better position to use it for his gain?
Or the poor man that was born into a mindset that is going to put him at odds with the system?

The only way to know is to put a rich man in a poor man's position.

[Douglas]

The guess that Sera can overcome John's "Anything you can do, I can do better" power by hers being effectively invisible was correct! But I think it's fairly cool how John combines the powers he's copying into novel forms, such as using Cecille's to give Arlo's barrier spikes.

I'm actually not sure that's the reason John hasn't copied Seraphina's ability. As I recall, it's been established that he can only copy four abilities at a time, and he currently has abilities from Cecile, Zeke, Remi, and Arlo, so he's at that limit. To copy Seraphina, he'd have to replace one of them, and swapping out a power without waiting for it to expire is something he's never been shown as able to do.

[-D-]

I'm actually not sure that's the reason John hasn't copied Seraphina's ability. As I recall, it's been established that he can only copy four abilities at a time, and he currently has abilities from Cecile, Zeke, Remi, and Arlo, so he's at that limit. To copy Seraphina, he'd have to replace one of them, and swapping out a power without waiting for it to expire is something he's never been shown as able to do.

It wasn't specified how the replacement works. It's possible he needs to discard all to get her ability, and that in his opinion isn't worth the trade-off. Her ability is complex and harder to copy.

[Kantaki]

John's power looks pretty cool here, in a evil overlord final boss kinda way.
You know, if you ignore the entire context.

Pretty good update.

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The guess that Sera can overcome John's "Anything you can do, I can do better" power by hers being effectively invisible was correct! But I think it's fairly cool how John combines the powers he's copying into novel forms, such as using Cecille's to give Arlo's barrier spikes.

But the psychological element is more interesting. John is convinced — has been convinced — that he is nothing more than who he is on his worst day. And because he needs to believe this, because he's decided it's the axiom of his life, he's stuck in a funhouse mirror world where all he can see is that people are just like how he sees himself. If he acknowledges that other people aren't all complete monsters, he'd see himself as incommensurately worse than the rest of them, and quite possibly try to kill himself if my read of the end of this episode is correct.

There is a way out. He can realize that the John who became Sera's friend, who was nice to anyone who would be nice to him, and make a spirited attempt even at befriending those who weren't (see: Sera at the start) was him too. He may have done some very bad stuff, and currently be engaged in doing more, but that's not all of who he is, and it's never too late for repentance to make a difference.

Always loved that speech.
And I think it's something John really needs to hear.
Unfortunately I don't know if he can.

I mean, obviously he can. Hear the words that is.
But I doubt they'd truly reach him, that he would could understand them as he is now.

Well, I guess the first step is to crack some of those barriers John build around himself. Both the literal and the figurative ones. Getting through the former is probably the easy task though.

[-D-]

I don't know who said it, but they nailed it - John needs someone strong enough to overpower his defenses, and talk some senses into him.

On a lighter note.
Here's my favorite piece of unOrdinary fanart.

[Kantaki]

snip

So cute...

[Taevyr]

snip

Gods, that's adorable.

[Thales]

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While this does seem to be being resolved a bit more easily than I buy with how bad John had gotten, I'm glad he's getting out of the school for now. And I think it's right that he understands that having a realization doesn't mean he's healed — just that he can start the process.

Also interesting that the school nurse is being poached by the power-stealing organization. And whatever they did to Sera, it's fairly striking that their best attempt to undo it still has considerable side effects.

[TeChameleon]

So, I discovered UnOrdinary a few days ago, devoured it, and... eesh, what a ride. It's hard not to feel a fair bit of sympathy for John- he's had a painfully rough go of it.

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Going to be interesting to see where the larger plot threads go now; Spectre (the power-stealing organization) is about as organized as a sack of cats, which does not bode well for the maybe-good-guys, Ember is still happily performing... state-sponsored domestic terrorism, I guess?.. and the rest of their society seems rather badly unstable. I'm honestly curious as to whether or not there's been any worldbuilding for the non-urban areas of the UnOrdinary world; is it basically a feudal hierarchy out in the rural areas? Because the food has to come from somewhere; I don't care if you can throw buses with your mind, if nobody's growing food, your life is going to suck. Briefly.

[Anteros]

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As much as I'm glad that John's subplot is finally going somewhere, I'm not convinced the other aspects of the plot are strong enough to carry a story. John's descent has been the main plot of the story, and while I'm sure the author intends to resolve it and move on to the "bigger" issues, those plot points are so nebulous and poorly developed I'm not sure they can hold my interest.

[-D-]

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As much as I'm glad that John's subplot is finally going somewhere, I'm not convinced the other aspects of the plot are strong enough to carry a story. John's descent has been the main plot of the story, and while I'm sure the author intends to resolve it and move on to the "bigger" issues, those plot points are so nebulous and poorly developed I'm not sure they can hold my interest.

Spoiler: I agree

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The worldbuilding has been rather poor. I'm not convinced there is an actual world outside of Wellston.

And the option available to explore are:
A) how the Royals and how they deal with John's leaving Wellston and/or Sera being left in coma,
B) follow John around so he can be the Sorry-John (which is boring IMO)

I guess, John leaving could magically solve all Wellston's problems, but that doesn't seem plausible.

[Typewriter]

I think the plot could take an interesting turn with John leaving. The school might try to go back to normal with certain people (Zeke) attempting to reinforce the hierarchy. The school might try to go back to the normal hierarchy as its familiar but at this point the entire 'old' hierarchy no longer supports that - but will that last? If Zeke tries to become 'boss' then in order to stop him someone will have to flex on him... which is just the hierarchy again - the strongest makes the rules. I could see a lot of conflict between the cast as they try to come to terms with all of this stuff and the school tries to find its footing again. Hell, maybe Zeke will even get support from Ember because they're trying to enforce the hierarchy and restore 'order' and he gets a boost or two - then when **** is hitting the fan John will show back up and see his 'enemies' defending his ideals and help them.

[TeChameleon]

Hmm...

The writing has consistently been fairly good; I think that the author is talented enough to keep the story going now that the 'main' subplot has been at least partially resolved. There's still a couple of major subplots rolling along that the various characters have touched upon, and now would probably be the time to bring them gradually into the larger world around them, especially as Arlo is graduating (comic-book-time) 'soon'.

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I'm also curious as to how the Headmaster plans to move things along- he's clearly got his own agenda, and it seems to be reform-oriented... and for that matter, how he came into his position in the first place, as there was a woman as headmaster only a few years previously.

I'm also wondering if Sera's family has any connection to Spectre- beyond her sister being a member, of course- since the attack that depowered her happened suspiciously close to her lipping off at her mother.

[Kantaki]

New comic(s)

Ah, always nice to meet old friends.
Whom you hospitalised brutally.

But John probably needed that talk.
Especially the truth about Claire.
Not that he wants to hear it.

Well, what he really needs is someone fixing that mess Keon made in his head. Because otherwise he's gonna have a hard time moving on from his worst day.
Which is probably by design.

Also, I absolutely love the comments.
One photo of John's dad with the back of some girl behind them and everyone goes "Oh, there's John's mom!" John's mother had white hair!".
I mean, they're probably right, but it's still amusing.

[Thales]

Interesting how the pacing has changed. I think I prefer this over having John exit the story and return healed. It makes it easier for him to be a protagonist again, moves him as a character back closer to the center, and feels more realistic. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some important clue to the larger threats that he comes across here, which is a touch contrived, but it's not bad storytelling. He still needs to figure out the stuff around Keon; I hope he can open up about that somewhat at some point.

[-D-]

Interesting how the pacing has changed. I think I prefer this over having John exit the story and return healed. It makes it easier for him to be a protagonist again, moves him as a character back closer to the center, and feels more realistic.

You know what is realistic? Weather reports.It also makes for a boring ass read.

Like everything is a foregone conclusion so what is the point of seeing exact details of how it plays out?

Also next week is season finale according to uru.

[Thales]

You know what is realistic? Weather reports.It also makes for a boring ass read.

I would object if this were the plan for the next few months, but as you say, it probably isn't. Plus, it serves other purposes in the narrative.

[TeChameleon]

You know what is realistic? Weather reports.It also makes for a boring ass read.

Like everything is a foregone conclusion so what is the point of seeing exact details of how it plays out?

Also next week is season finale according to uru.

... eh, gotta disagree with you on this being boring. Seeing John's development as a character is (at least for me) kind of the point of this story, and just because nothing's exploding right now doesn't mean that the story isn't progressing. Colour me actually somewhat impressed that the author is willing to have the story follow the protagonist's emotional development as well as shonen power curve.

[Kantaki]

Well, John's definitely making progress.
I mean yeah, he still was going to punch those clowns until they can work as fertilizer, but he did let Adrion stop him.
Also, those two kinda deserved a beating.

[Douglas]

Well, John's definitely making progress.
I mean yeah, he still was going to punch those clowns until they can work as fertilizer, but he did let Adrion stop him.
Also, those two kinda deserved a beating.

Yeah, even just allowing someone to stop him is a major step forward for him. Before Seraphina broke through to him, whether recently at Wellston or back at New Bostin, his response to that would have been either coldly dismissive while continuing the beating, or beating up the person who tried to stop him too.

[-D-]

Well, John's definitely making progress.
I mean yeah, he still was going to punch those clowns until they can work as fertilizer, but he did let Adrion stop him.
Also, those two kinda deserved a beating.

Yeah, but on the other side, this is essentially a given. And is boring to read.

I now realize why manga/manhwas utilize timeskip, and honestly, it's better than this meandering plot.

[Kantaki]

New comic

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Good news: John's back in school.
Better news: Interesting times ahead.
Bad news: Mid-season break.

Also, Arlo has gotten seriously chill.

Also also, his Aunt is in fact that Volcan chick.
Big surprise, I know. I was still kinda hoping for a red herring since Arlo described her power as a variation of his. Of course with the booster giving more control and more oomph using burning claws to hide your power is actually fiery shields would be possible.
Probably a good idea too, not to have that obvious a connection between the drug dealer and the government employee.

Actually what's the point of the whole operation?
Can't be testing, there's better ways for that.
Is it to lure out potential vigilantes?
You know, by giving them a reason.
Like drugging some angry guy and letting them rampage playing petty tyrant completely unopposed by the authorities.

Because while pointlessly evil and hilariously counterproductive in the long term that sounds like a thing the clowns who came up with John's "rehabilitation" would do.