brusch
Main Event Caliber
Hello! Hi. Cheers! My name is Ben, also known as Brusch on the fwrestling forums. You may know me as the handler of Leyenda de Ocho, NFW’s Triple Crown Champion and otherwise “Broken Spanish Nerdy WTF Luchador”; or, as Malcolm Joseph-Jones, former EPW Television Champion, a heel-turned-babyface because it turns out people cheer badasses (more on that later); or even perhaps as the handler of Henry Keyes, of a short-lived Defiance run, yet another babyface. It turns out I write a lot of babyfaces when it comes down to it – and one thing that I’ve always found interesting in the hobby (whether reading the boards or listening to the famed efedguerillas podcast) is that SO MANY handlers prefer to write heels. It makes sense! Heels aren’t limited by rules, heels can exhibit every broken “jesus fuckwit what the hell is that” fantasy a writer may have – but does that mean it sucks ass to write a face? HELL NO!
I’ve gotten a request or two to write on my perspective on how to effectively write a babyface as an efedder. Take this column as you wish – I’m a fella with only 2+ years of efedding experience, but folks seems to like what I write (and if you don’t, that’s probably fair, because if everyone did that means someone’s blowing smoke up my ass). I do not mean for this article to be an end-all-be-all, because how COULD it be; it is merely my perspective on how to write a compelling babyface efed character that your friends don’t fucking hate because they’re a piece of shit.
1) BE HUMAN
What I really mean by this, is have flaws – RELATABLE flaws, that your rabid fanbase can attach themselves to. It’s not just a matter of “I’m a small guy and that means I’m an underdog” – it’s psychological. Maybe you have an inflated definition of what “success” means – maybe you have this one thing that’s always going to be a trigger for you to lose your shit even if it works against you – maybe you’re a diehard romantic and can’t let something go even if you should. Babyfaces get emotional. Babyfaces have genuine motivation based on the imperfect and wildly erratic human qualities they posses – even if it results in egg on their face. Why isn’t John Cena universally cheered? Because he’s Superman. Don’t be a Superman babyface. We cheer because we hope, not because we expect. And even if you’re right – even if you’re 10000% correct in your assessment of a situation…EVERYONE hates a smug, correct, motherfucker.
2) THE CHASE IS BETTER THAN THE PRIZE.
Heel champions with face contenders are always going to be more compelling than face champions with heel contenders. It’s a gut thing that’s hard to articulate; but we root for babyfaces as they climb the ladder, as they go from scrub to title contender; it’s the story we’ve been told all our lives in TV and film. The problem is, the movie ends when the hero wins; we don’t get two hours of film after the good guy saves the day. Why?
We want to see the hero win. We don’t want to watch the hero REIGN, because it’s boring.
THE HERO BEAT THE BAD GUY, where’s the next bad guy because I want the next hero to beat that guy…THERE HE IS, COME ON NEW GOOD GUY. It’s the reason that, even if a face wins a major title, he or she so often turns heel in the middle – fans want to see a new hero climb that ladder.
If I’m going to go with the Leyenda de Ocho video game gimmick, it’s perfectly clear – video games end when the villain dies. No genuine epilogue. No true, honest-to-goodness reason to believe Mario can run the kingdom. We engage the babyface for the chase – and, we engage the babyface in the climax. WE DON’T ENGAGE THE BABYFACE AFTERWARDS. Because we’re ready for the next one.
3) ACTUALLY BE A GOOD DUDE
How many times have you seen a babyface shit in a heel’s car, or kick someone in the balls, or exude a smug sense of superiority in their writing? ALL THE GODDAMN TIME, AMIRITE?
The biggest issue I see that keeps faces from getting over in their fed – people want to be Stone Cold. People want to be The Rock. “The badass” babyface is an incredibly compelling gimmick, when pulled off correctly. The critique I’ve found is that it’s usually a problem of motivation; what are you rebelling against? What great injustice exists where you must throw down your human form and emerge as a patriarch of boots-up-asses?
Stone Cold didn’t emerge out of thin air. Neither did The Rock. They saw a massive, game-changing evil and rallied against it, and that’s how they got their badass babyface fire. Going into a match and saying “I kick every ass in the world” means you’re a braggart – it doesn’t mean you’re a good guy. You need to give a reason why people should be on your side – even with your flaws, even with your shortcomings. People will follow a strong flawed man long before they’ll follow a perfect man.
So, there you have it – my opinions on the rules an efedding babyface must follow. But the point of this article is simple; it’s not as restricting as you might think! I genuinely believe that if the majority of us writers sat down and wrote “us” as an efed character, we could come up with faces. The allure of heeling out is real and badass – but you can create amazing, unique stories as a face too.
Do you have additional thoughts on writing babyfaces? Reply below! As I said, I’m not the end-all-be-all.
Thanks for reading.
- Brusch
I’ve gotten a request or two to write on my perspective on how to effectively write a babyface as an efedder. Take this column as you wish – I’m a fella with only 2+ years of efedding experience, but folks seems to like what I write (and if you don’t, that’s probably fair, because if everyone did that means someone’s blowing smoke up my ass). I do not mean for this article to be an end-all-be-all, because how COULD it be; it is merely my perspective on how to write a compelling babyface efed character that your friends don’t fucking hate because they’re a piece of shit.
1) BE HUMAN
What I really mean by this, is have flaws – RELATABLE flaws, that your rabid fanbase can attach themselves to. It’s not just a matter of “I’m a small guy and that means I’m an underdog” – it’s psychological. Maybe you have an inflated definition of what “success” means – maybe you have this one thing that’s always going to be a trigger for you to lose your shit even if it works against you – maybe you’re a diehard romantic and can’t let something go even if you should. Babyfaces get emotional. Babyfaces have genuine motivation based on the imperfect and wildly erratic human qualities they posses – even if it results in egg on their face. Why isn’t John Cena universally cheered? Because he’s Superman. Don’t be a Superman babyface. We cheer because we hope, not because we expect. And even if you’re right – even if you’re 10000% correct in your assessment of a situation…EVERYONE hates a smug, correct, motherfucker.
2) THE CHASE IS BETTER THAN THE PRIZE.
Heel champions with face contenders are always going to be more compelling than face champions with heel contenders. It’s a gut thing that’s hard to articulate; but we root for babyfaces as they climb the ladder, as they go from scrub to title contender; it’s the story we’ve been told all our lives in TV and film. The problem is, the movie ends when the hero wins; we don’t get two hours of film after the good guy saves the day. Why?
We want to see the hero win. We don’t want to watch the hero REIGN, because it’s boring.
THE HERO BEAT THE BAD GUY, where’s the next bad guy because I want the next hero to beat that guy…THERE HE IS, COME ON NEW GOOD GUY. It’s the reason that, even if a face wins a major title, he or she so often turns heel in the middle – fans want to see a new hero climb that ladder.
If I’m going to go with the Leyenda de Ocho video game gimmick, it’s perfectly clear – video games end when the villain dies. No genuine epilogue. No true, honest-to-goodness reason to believe Mario can run the kingdom. We engage the babyface for the chase – and, we engage the babyface in the climax. WE DON’T ENGAGE THE BABYFACE AFTERWARDS. Because we’re ready for the next one.
3) ACTUALLY BE A GOOD DUDE
How many times have you seen a babyface shit in a heel’s car, or kick someone in the balls, or exude a smug sense of superiority in their writing? ALL THE GODDAMN TIME, AMIRITE?
The biggest issue I see that keeps faces from getting over in their fed – people want to be Stone Cold. People want to be The Rock. “The badass” babyface is an incredibly compelling gimmick, when pulled off correctly. The critique I’ve found is that it’s usually a problem of motivation; what are you rebelling against? What great injustice exists where you must throw down your human form and emerge as a patriarch of boots-up-asses?
Stone Cold didn’t emerge out of thin air. Neither did The Rock. They saw a massive, game-changing evil and rallied against it, and that’s how they got their badass babyface fire. Going into a match and saying “I kick every ass in the world” means you’re a braggart – it doesn’t mean you’re a good guy. You need to give a reason why people should be on your side – even with your flaws, even with your shortcomings. People will follow a strong flawed man long before they’ll follow a perfect man.
So, there you have it – my opinions on the rules an efedding babyface must follow. But the point of this article is simple; it’s not as restricting as you might think! I genuinely believe that if the majority of us writers sat down and wrote “us” as an efed character, we could come up with faces. The allure of heeling out is real and badass – but you can create amazing, unique stories as a face too.
Do you have additional thoughts on writing babyfaces? Reply below! As I said, I’m not the end-all-be-all.
Thanks for reading.
- Brusch