User blog:Norisuke/PG Removal Proposal: Cala Maria (Cuphead)

It really surprised me that she had Pure Good to begin with.

This is a Pure Good Removal proposal for Cala Maria from Cuphead.

What's the work?
Cuphead is a run and gun platformer centered around, primarily, boss fights. Cuphead takes heavy visual inspiration from cartoons of the 1930's, especially those from Disney. The story follows the titular Cuphead and his brother Mugman as they gamble away at a casino. Cuphead, blinded by riches, bets away both his and his brother's soul, where they roll snake-eyes and find out that the casino is run by the Devil himself. Cuphead and his brother Mugman must then collect the souls of those who are in debt to the Devil if they wish to keep their own souls.

Who is she? What has she done?
Cala Maria is one of the various bosses of Inkwell Isle that Cuphead and Mugman must collect debts from. Not much is known about her, outside of her clearly flirtatious attitude, swaying her hips sensually throughout the battle and making suggestive and romantic advances towards the players. She does nothing integral to the story besides serving as an obstacle that the brothers must overcome. Nothing is known about her besides her flirtatious, and later monstrous demeanor.

Why she is not Pure Good.
This is incredibly simple. She is not Pure Good because she displays no heroic feats whatsoever. She doesn't help anyone, she doesn't attempt to reason with anyone, she serves no purpose in the story at all besides being a boss. Cuphead and Mugman come to collect her soul and she fights back, that's it. Pure Good should imply some level of heroism, a willingness to go above and beyond to help others, something Cala Maria entirely lacks.

If that's not enough, though, almost all of the traits we see of Cala are negative anyways. Her flirtatious demeanor suggests that she's willing to lure people in with her looks to get the jump on then, like a typical siren. This is underhanded and dishonorable. She also uses her fellow fish as weapons, handling them with vigor and violence, abusing her underlings, with absolutely no regard for their wellbeing at all.

The most important detail to note is that she literally owes her soul to the Devil. This can only mean that she sold her soul to the Devil, or lost it in a bet. The Devil operates through gambling in this world, and the only logical way for Cala Maria to have lost her soul at all is to have knowingly gambled it away. This alone should prove that she is far, far from Pure Good.

Verdict
Cala Maria is not a hero. She displays no heroic deeds, and the story itself implies that she is willing to sell her soul to the literal Devil and to use her good looks to murder people.

Cala Maria is hardly a hero at all, but she is without a shred of a doubt not Pure Good.