Character Discussion Eustass Kid is a more interesting character than Luffy

[Finalbeta]

I would not focus too broadly on the Apoo matter, no one could really defeat him so far. We have to remember that Oda sometimes rather shapes power levels to fit the narration than the other way around or still by sticking to "normality". I'm fairly curious to see what Kidd will manage to accomplish from now on however.

 

[rerere]

I don’t care about 99% of the One Piece universe here

I care about Kid. And if the question is, “was it surprising thay Oda made this guy fight until the bitter end?” then the answer is no. Because that’s Kid’s archetype of a character. People can certainly like him for that, but it’s not surprising. A strong character being strong is no surprise, it’s when a weak one shows courage, or a strong one shows vulnerability, that things get interesting

I get your point. My answer is: Kidd's internal struggles will be digged later in the story during his fall, we are now seeing the real start of his rise.

Problem with this is, it was one sentence years ago. Sure, Kid later turned out to have done more than what Brulee suggested. But it was all skipped over so quickly no one even cared. Most (sane) people just said it probably happened early in Kid’s journey so doesn’t matter much.

A quick sentence from Brulee and then Caribou talking shit only to be immediately put correctly, it’s really not putting much effort in, and it also isn’t doing anything to make Kid a better character.

It wasn't skipped but teased. We'll see a half chapter flashback (or something like that) about that raid during the fight with Linlin, I'm confident about it.
Looks to much like the right moment to dig into it.

Also, Caribou is still the bar-pirate-voice. His words, at least right there, were to be interpreted as the general reputation Kidd has and that's Oda's way to tell you that Kidd ain't known for his successes as people like Luffy are.
While Brulè was either bluffing (but I doubt it) or actually didn't know the true story but the one reported.

He would genuinely have been more interesting if he refused point blank to work with Luffy and Zoro and became a wildcard third option trying to beat both Luffy and the Yonko. That would have been surprising. Luffy and Kid teaming up, on the other hand, nope.

Would have been surprising for sure, but the surprising way isn't always the best way. Especially with 2 Emperors at the top of the opposing force.
As a Kidd fan, this is something I thought before the start of the raid but didn't considered it as possible cause the enemies are overwhelming.

Thinking on your feet isn’t much of an excuse when thought bubbles, a free action that shows the character‘s thoughts without taking up anytime, exist.

There’s nothing to suggest that Kid was in any way bothered by moving on to Big Mom. He just goes from A to B, no fuss. I’m not in any way amazed by that, it’s not great character writing, it’s just simply moving the pieces of the plot around.

I kinda agree on that. I like Kidd fighting Linlin a lot (especially after the Napoleon-Hera-Prometheus combo we saw against Ulti) but don't love how he setted it. A couple of panels more were necessary imo.

I don’t know what’s worse, the statement here that introductions are meaningless or the idea that 500 chapters (or being generous, the 100 since Kid reappeared on Wano) counts as an “introduction.”

Introductions are an absolutely vital part in characterisation, whether that’s as a first impression that will be played with and proven to be false later on, or as a building block to help develop the character. If a character has failed to be especially captivating despite years of screentime, then that is a failure.

Not saying that introductions are meaningless, I'm saying that is useless to judge when a character will have his peak as a character with that info.
Kidd introduction is meaningul: top rookie in terms of bounty, with a SN partner. Doesn't imply in anyway when his flashback/background/thinking process will be explored the most.
Doflamingo: introduced in CH. 230 (iirc) at Mariejoise, later seen at Jaya, then in Dressrosa during the Sabaody incident, then the MF war and post-war. Only after that he had his own arc and full development which fitted perfectly with the the character we saw appear here and there.
Mihawk: introduced in the damn East Blue, Baratie arc, later seen at Mariejoise and MF war, trained Zoro and now he lost the Warlord status. His full-time ain't come yet. Really detached role cause is reserved for EoS (before/during/after final war, but I would exclude during).
Dragon: introduced in Rogue Town, at the end of East Blue, MIA for lord knows how many years and then some appearence here and there. Now we're starting to get a bit closer to him. He's final war material too.
Could go on for a lot of characters and Kidd is one of them. Wano is not Kidd's arc, he'll have a huge role here but is not his arc.
I have my opinion on when and where his time will come but we should open a whole new discussion.

Taking aside the assertation that great things are in store for Kid post Wano- the peak is irrelevant if the journey of the character beforehand is irrelvant. I know Kid is strong, that doesn’t make me care about him.

We actually know a decent amount stuff about Kidd's journey in the NW during these 2 years:
- He moved in aggresivly and raised his bounty to 470 millions for his known crimes/feats
- Took an island as his hideout at somepoint
- Fought the Red Haired Pirates and lost an arm, we don't know how
- Seems to be well connected in the underground business, but doesn't seem to fuck a lot with it
- Assaulted/Infiltrated Totland, stole what he wanted and wounded a Sweet General
- Everything that happened post TS
That's some info