Does Unordinary suffer from scope creep? Or is this just the natural escalation?

[u/Um_H3110]

All the way back in Season 1, Unordinary started as a story about a teen in a high school. Cut to now, where we are dealing with government agencies, and terrorist organizations. It's hard not to wonder how we even got here.

Often times when I'm reading, I wonder if the story would be better told if the protagonists were a little less... out of their depth. It's something that impacts my specific suspension of belief. Honestly, I question the story going in that direction in the first place. I feel like there is a bit of a jump between teen vigilante and fighting the Shadow Government.

I wanna know what y'all think. Does the current scope work for you? Did getting here feel natural? Would you change something about the scope or approach if possible?

Edit: A lot of good responses! I had a feeling that this would come down to a matter of personal taste (on my end) that cause me to feel this way. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[u/d3r0k2]

It's called story development.

No story remains the same as it progresses.

Boku no hero started as a boy who wanted to be a hero fighting against the league of villains, a world war, etc.

[u/Um_H3110 → u/d3r0k2]

Fair. Although, the story of My Hero primes itself more to go in that direction than Unordinary does. MHA is a story about a hero school, not just a high school in a super power world. Deku has a goal of being a Hero, John has no such aspirations. Nor is such a goal reasonable in the Unordinary world

[u/d3r0k2 → u/Um_H3110]

You have always been presented with the story of Unordinary with conspiracies and things like that, even in the description of the webtoon it tells you so.

Everything else is the natural path to get there.

[u/Um_H3110 → u/d3r0k2]

Don't get me wrong, I expected conspiracies and the like. And I do think that the story is pretty well set up for the first Season, and most of Season 2. For me personally, Specter and the Bureau being inexplicably confronted by teenagers undercuts them in a way that clashes with my suspension of belief. Though, I understand that it's a miles vary thing.

Genuine question: Do you feel like the progression to this point was natural? Not just that it happened, but in the way that it happened.

[u/d3r0k2 → u/Um_H3110]

Everything felt natural

At first, both the readers and the characters ignore their world and as the characters discover things, the story progresses, the plot becomes more complicated and along with this the reader learns about the characters and the world.

All organic

[u/d3r0k2 → u/Um_H3110]

Nobody paid much attention to John, a normal teenager in a high school where the social elite possess unimaginable abilities and powers. But John has a secret past that threatens to topple the school's social hierarchy… if nothing else. Fulfilling your destiny will not be easy, as there will be battles, intimate enemies and deadly conspiracies at every turn.

[u/N-ShadowFrog]

I feel like it fits cause we've had the greater scope suggested from the start. Both Spectre and Ember were shown very early into the series. Literally every major event in the story was in someone the cause of their actions.

[u/berylliumblue → u/N-ShadowFrog]

Yea this is the one. I wouldn't have minded if we had stayed in Wellston (LUFF PTSD lol) but the themes of government corruption were pretty present from the beginning

[u/OldSpinach9245 → u/N-ShadowFrog]

also the title of the webtoon itself "unordinary" refers a book denouncing established authorities... the direction was set even before opening the first chapter

definitely not scope creep in that case. honestly this is one of the very few webtoons that have stayed remarkably on track

[u/iamasceptile]

If you ask me it's pretty natural because imo all the bigger threats appeared more gradually instead of just randomly appearing at one point without any setup.Also the story was probably thought up with them in mind since we get introduced both to spectre and ember in the first 10 chapters

[u/Ok-Listen4057]

Peak scope ended with kj arc. A consistent theme of the story is them just being wildly out of their depth. They were thrown into it by the inherent nature of the three strongest characters. Though I do agree they should’ve maybe had a better Segway or binder with regards to how all the other factions became the main focus but it was always there (in regards to the worldbuilding and backstories of the characters) and logical that the story would go in this direction just a question of was this the right way to do it with the whole losing the powers of seraphina and John plot lines.

[u/Um_H3110 → u/Ok-Listen4057]

That’s probably where I stand too. I feel a better execution would quell some of the dissonance I feel.

[u/BiLLubruh]

In the first part, we had the school to represent the underlying problems in UnOrdinary's society: e.g. fixation on order, complete neglect of human rights, a barbaric hierarchy with fighting skills valued first and foremost etc

In the 2nd part, we see the direct consequence of this with John, a level 7.5 ability user, exploding like a timed bomb. Through this, the other characters get the wake up call they needed. Previously, the main cast remained oblivious to the flaws of the system as they were on top of it. But after going out and seeing the helplessness of the weak and the explosive outburst of John, the dark side of the world they are living in becomes more apparent.

Most of the 3rd part is for the cast to properly comprehend how shitty their world is. Just as they think things are tough, it gets worse.

The 3rd part ends with the main cast finally acting out against the big, evil force that they have lived under all of their lives. The 4th part, the current one, is about their fight against that force.

Imo, all of this is a natural progression. What wouldn't be natural though is if the main cast suddenly became a force to be reckoned with. But as things are now, they are still the underdogs, just kids. So no balance was broken yet

[u/Um_H3110 → u/BiLLubruh]

Well said. For whatever problems I have with the story, I think it’s becoming clear to me that the progression isn’t one of them.

[u/Jdoggokussj2]

Every story starts small just look at dragonball it started with a little monkey boy meeting a city girl to find some balls to grant a wish now that little boy is in death battles with gods

[u/ploploplo4]

I think the development is acceptable. Ember and the authorities has been a thorn in the protagonists’ side since the series start, taking them on feels like natural progression even if it means high schoolers taking on the government

[u/fiphew]

The shift was natural to me s1 was almost entirely focused on the school and john with little spectra and vigilante stuffs, s2 slowly introduced us with all the authority and spectra things and gave us many answers the s2 final fight was the clear indication of the end of wellston school and now finally s3 is the action time how they gonna expose ember, release john’s mom, take down orrin, break the toxic hierarchy orders - there are still so many things left to solve

Im pretty satisfied with the flow we already got tons of school stuffs and i think now it’s time to see them in action with bigger enemies with more new powerful abilities

[u/morericee]

It could just be that we don’t know what happened to wellston yet, so it feels like the mc’s are still only in high school dealing with adults who are 30+

[u/ItsMeSevereAlbatross]

High school bullying to government conspiracy pipeline is insane tbh, and I feel like it could've been handled a lot better. I also know that people will axe me for this but I'd rather die standing than live kneeling