Is Nabu an Overrated Character?

Subject: Is Nabu an Overrated Character? Mon Oct 03, 2016 5:03 am

I'm scared to say this, but I'm starting to feel like Nabu's an overrated character. I've been looking back at seasons three and four lately. He was basically a gender-bent clone of Aisha with a nicer personality, and his relationship with her had no development or depth. I doubt everyone would be so emotionally attached to him if he hadn't died.

Can anyone really defend him as a character? How was he not overrated?

RP Moderator Posts : 9973

I think there was a bit of depth, but not an entire lot of it. It was based on an arranged marriage concept. I think the reason besides his death to why people liked him was the fact he was a wizard and used different combat abilities as compared with the other main male characters.

But they did more or less shoe horn him in towards the middle of season 3. They gave him some minor development and that was it. People look at the character through a biased lens like we do for all things. He was there for a season and a half and was only there to serve as a boytoy for Aisha and combat buddy to sky and the others. If he hadn't died, people might not be as attached, but they would have liked the character.

In the end, I can see the overrated argument cuz of how much emphasis people put on him. Sure he was a nice addition to the character parade, but he did a few things to help out, but he also acted kind of shady on the first few encounters in season 3. He's a mid range character that people put on a pedestal because of some of the achievements he did in season 4. People just need to look at things from a different perspective.

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The Avatar was done by Chrissie.

"But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten—things that require a smaller, more honest soul." Professor Ozpin, RWBY

Subject: Re: Is Nabu an Overrated Character? Mon Oct 03, 2016 3:41 pm

I don't think there was any depth to Aisha and Nabu's relationship. They met and fell in love immediately after discovering they had some things in common. It was instant -- from strangers to lovers in a few episodes near the end of season three (not the middle). Like you said, it felt like Rainbow shoehorned him in.

After they became a couple, all they did was gush over each other. They never confronted their differences, dealt with each other's flaws and weaknesses (if Nabu even had any), or overcame any obstacles (like disagreements between them). It was a simplistic relationship with no development, even in season three.

I think the fanbase has put him on a pedestal because he died. Yes, he was likable and unique, but he was a static character. What little character development he had was just a parallel of Aisha's character development in season three: not wanting to accept the arranged marriage, but ultimately deciding their parents were right. He had no development outside their relationship.

I've noticed the fanbase doesn't analyze him the same way they analyze other characters. They're willing to pick the others apart and judge every scene, line of dialogue, etc, but for Nabu, they immediately say he was perfect, wonderful, the best, etc. Some fans don't even remember how shady he acted at first in season three. It's biased like you said.

RP Moderator Posts : 9973

The only minor issue they had was during the entire thing when the girls were angry with the guys being sent to help them in season 4. But even that was just ignored and fixed within a few eps. I will agree that he had little to no development as his own character.

I looked it up and he does appear mid season (running into Aisha ep 9ish and again appearing in ep 11 or so), but his involvement of being really shady only starts from ep 18. They honestly didn't have an idea of how to bring him in I think and they didn't do a good job of using him.

The biased lens of fans will not diminish on this either, unless they can view things from another angle. This can be said for a number of subjects within the series too. Nabu had a potential to be a good character, but they squandered it.

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The Avatar was done by Chrissie.

"But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten—things that require a smaller, more honest soul." Professor Ozpin, RWBY

Subject: Re: Is Nabu an Overrated Character? Mon Oct 03, 2016 5:14 pm

zerowing21 wrote:: The only minor issue they had was during the entire thing when the girls were angry with the guys being sent to help them in season 4. But even that was just ignored and fixed within a few eps.

Actually, Aisha never got angry with him about that. She was fine with it. The other Winx weren't.

zerowing21 wrote:: I looked it up and he does appear mid season (running into Aisha ep 9ish and again appearing in ep 11 or so), but his involvement of being really shady only starts from ep 18. They honestly didn't have an idea of how to bring him in I think and they didn't do a good job of using him.

In episode 9, she told the Winx her parents wanted her to marry him, but he didn't appear in the episode. He did appear briefly at the end of episode 11, but he was just spying on her in the bushes. They didn't meet until episode 18, and they became a couple in episode 23 (he wasn't in 19 or 20).

We're assuming Rainbow didn't know what they were doing, but what if they did it on purpose? The fanbase thinks he was supposed to be a permanent character. What if he wasn't, and that's why he got so little screen time in season three and was just shoehorned in?

zerowing21 wrote:: The biased lens of fans will not diminish on this either, unless they can view things from another angle. This can be said for a number of subjects within the series too. Nabu had a potential to be a good character, but they squandered it.

Again, we're assuming Rainbow didn't plan this. If they meant for him to be temporary, they didn't squander his potential. They used him for the exact purpose they created him for. The reason the fanbase can't see it from a different angle is because they're so attached to him.

RP Moderator Posts : 9973

Point 1) I thought she did, so my fault for not remembering that. I know the other winx were angry with the others, but I thought that would go for the same with Aisha. That would have been a good conflict for them if anything.

Point 2) Yeah, mentioned in 9, had to relook it up again. He didn't just spy on her, he bumped into her too. That's also a good point to bring up that they only did what they did for him since he was just supposed to be a temp character and shoehorning him in worked well for their plans.

Point 3) Again, every true, if he was supposed to be temp, then they used him accordingly. Shame we won't ever get a true answer from rainbow on the matter. The fanbase needs to let go a little in order to see past this. They needs to think a bit.

________________________________________________________________
The Avatar was done by Chrissie.

"But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten—things that require a smaller, more honest soul." Professor Ozpin, RWBY

Subject: Re: Is Nabu an Overrated Character? Mon Oct 03, 2016 6:01 pm

Okay, I checked it again. This is what happened. He first appeared near the end of episode 11, but he just watching her from a tree. He then appeared at the end of episode 12, but again he was just watching her, this time from the bushes through a telescope. They didn't meet until episode 18, and like I said they became a couple in episode 23.

Regardless of the stalker context and the arranged marriage, why did Rainbow rush their relationship? They fell in love in a few episodes, and the writers didn't even show the development. It was just instant. Even in the comics, Nabu was rarely with her (or the Specialists). He only appeared in a couple comics.

Rainbow also didn't give him a unique character. His was mostly a rehash of Aisha's: dark skin, blue eyes, brown hair, grew up on Andros, had magic powers, may have been a prince, had a lonely childhood, and had overbearing parents. The only real difference was his personality. None of the other guys are that similar to their girlfriends. Either the designers got lazy, or maybe he was designed to be a temporary character because the group didn't need two such identical characters in it.

I still think this may have been intentional. He wasn't supposed to be a permanent character -- just a temporary "boytoy" like you said. Their relationship didn't have depth, and it was rushed together at the end of season three. All the other couples' relationships had more development.

RP Moderator Posts : 9973

It takes more than 5 episode for two people to become a couple or even to find out they like each other. It took nearly all of season 1 for Bloom and Sky. Mostly two seasons for Tecna and Timmy, along with Riven and Musa and nearly all of season 2 for Flora and Helia. They probably thought no one was gonna question two people falling for each other since the entire thing was arranged in the first, so that's why they did it.

From the way it is with the comics, it sounds like he was just a placeholder if they barely used him there either. I think they may have attempted to give him something unique in season 4, but by then it was kind of late to do it, I don't really remember. I should rewatch that season. Regardless, they could have done something to make him different aside combat training from guards and still be almost the same type of character.

In the end, if it was intentional, it was poorly executed.

________________________________________________________________
The Avatar was done by Chrissie.

"But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten—things that require a smaller, more honest soul." Professor Ozpin, RWBY

Subject: Re: Is Nabu an Overrated Character? Mon Oct 03, 2016 7:48 pm

zerowing21 wrote:: They probably thought no one was gonna question two people falling for each other in an arranged marriage, so that's why they did it.

I don't see the arranged marriage as an excuse. Rainbow could have had Nabu join the group early in the season under his alias "Ophir" and get to know Aisha gradually. That would have been more believable than having them fall in love -- and commit to getting married one day -- after a couple conversations with each other. Since it happened so late in the season and so suddenly, maybe Rainbow didn't want him to be part of the group for long, especially since he wasn't in the group much in the comics, either.

zerowing21 wrote:: I think they may have attempted to give him something unique in season 4, but by then it was kind of late to do it, I don't really remember.

I vaguely remember him saying he studied something on Andros (medicine, I think), but that's it. That was also the episode where he died. Definitely too late by then.

zerowing21 wrote:: From the way it is with the comics, it sounds like he was just a placeholder if they barely used him there either.

I don't think he was a placeholder, per se. I think he was there to develop Aisha's character. That could be why they didn't give him a unique character and why despite being told he was part of the group, he wasn't with them much.

Rainbow just needed him to be attached to her, not to the whole group.

RP Moderator Posts : 9973

I changed what I said with the arranged marriage probably when you were posting to since the entire thing was arranged, but I could have done better completing the thought. They used the concept of the arranged marriage it as a catalyst to get Nabu to try and stalk Aisha to get to know her somewhat, but they rushed it. What you said would have made a lot more sense with joining early on and slowly moving along with Aisha, instead of stalkery shady deal and then talking to her and have some kind of odd relationship blossom after both their parents show up and admit they were wrong.

He took combat lessons from his body guards on the island he lived on, but that was I think said in season 3.

That does make sense and would explain why he didn't show up til the very end of lost kingdom. He was just there to add something to enhance Aisha. You have a very fair point of it being they wanted him to be attached to her.

________________________________________________________________
The Avatar was done by Chrissie.

"But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten—things that require a smaller, more honest soul." Professor Ozpin, RWBY

» Is Nabu Really Back...?
» When will the fanbase get over Nabu?
» What happened to Nabu?
» Need Nabu BACK
» Aisha and Nabu