How it feels to become completely irrelevant after the Wither Storm arc:
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Would you rather fight a hundred chicken-sized zombies, or ten zombie-sized chickens?
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~ One of life's greatest philosophies.
The Minecraft Movie recently released (it's peak cinema by the way) and I've got one character in mind for that film. Anyways, in spirit of this recent Minecraft hype, here's a character from the OG Minecraft Movie. She's someone I was kinda unsure about, but now's a good a time as ever to give her a shot.
Minecraft: Story Mode is a spin-off of Minecraft, developed by Mojang Studios and Telltale Games in 2015. It is an episodic point-and-click adventure game, where the player controls the main protagonist, Jesse, on an epic quest to save the world from the Wither Storm. After the defeat of the monster, he/she would go on adventures in the Portal Network, entering other worlds to meet new people and defeat dangerous villains.
The game would receive another season in 2017. Jesse's world is threatened by the legendary Admin named Romeo, prompting him/her to go on their most dangerous journey yet, encountering new allies and dangerous enemies.
Who is She/What has She Done?
Olivia is one of the tritagonists in the Season Pass (the first four episodes) and a supporting character in later episodes. She is one of Jesse's best friends and the smart engineer of the group.
STEVE'S LAVA CHICKEN????? (please send help)
She started off as a Redstone enthusiast who could build basic circuits, but not much beyond that. At the night of the Endercon building competition, the Wither Storm broke loose, so she accompanied Jesse on his/her journey do defeat it. After seeking refuge at the Order's Temple, she went on a trip to Redstonia. Regardless of Jesse went with her or not, she always returned with Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer. From then, the group went to Soren's Fortress to recruit him and craft the Formidi-Bomb. Once everybody returned to the surface, Olivia helped build distractions for the Wither Storm while Jesse took this opportunity to literally nuke the monster. However, after the dust settled, the Wither Storm came back to life, this time in three different segments. While Axel led the Wither Storm away, Olivia accompanied Jesse to the Farlands, where they found Ivor's secret base and the legendary enchantment that could break the Command Block. Now suited up in new armor, the gang confronted the Wither Storm yet again. Olivia helped build a launching device to propel Jesse into the kaiju. Once the monster was defeated for good, she attended Reuben's funeral at the end of the episode.
After the first four episodes, Olivia's relevancy quickly shrank. She joined Jesse's treasure hunt at the beginning of Episode 5, but just left to do community service while Jesse, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor went on the Portal arc. She only reappeared after Mevia kidnapped her and Axel to threaten Jesse with a deal. Fortunately, they escaped and cheered on Jesse as he/she ended the Old Builders' rule.
In Season 2, she appeared briefly at the first episode before heading off to Redstonia... for nearly the entire season. Seriously, it's honestly sad how little she appeared this season. She finally returned mid-finale, where she was being manipulated by Romeo to celebrate Jesse Day (or whatever it was called). Once things got cleared up with the real Jesse, she helped distract Romeo during the festival, allowing Jesse to sneak through into the Terminal Space. After Romeo's reign of terror came to an end, she reunited with the protagonists and headed back to Redstonia.
Admirable Standard
Here's the tricky part. Countless heroes who stopped global-level villains and their schemes of genocide, torture camps, or world domination. Some of the heavy lifters are Jesse, Petra, Lukas, Ivor, Jack and Reuben. Even the more minor characters have an impressive rap sheet: Axel bought the heroes crucial time away from the Wither Storm, Harper prevented PAMA's mass brainwashing for years, Radar nearly sacrificed himself for strangers he met yesterday, Xara helped the gang escape the Sunshine Institute, and Fred safe-kept the Golden Gauntlet for who knows how long.
So how does Olivia compare to this competition? There are two moments that allow her to cross the Goodness Zone:
The gang definitely couldn't have crossed this chasm without the flying machine.
In the Farlands, she fixed the Flying Machine so the gang could traverse across the chasm to find Ivor's secret weapon. Jesse clearly had no idea what to do with the Redstone contraption, so without Olivia, the gang would've been stranded at the end of the maze while the zombies overwhelmed them. Thanks to Olivia's puzzle solving, the crew was able to enter Ivor's secret base and find the enchantment to defeat the Wither Storm.
At Soren's Fortress in the finale, after the Endermen cleared a hole into the Wither Storm, she suggested to build a way into the opening. Thanks to this, the gang built a launching device to launch Jesse (and Reuben unintentionally) into the Wither Storm, allowing them to end its reign of terror. No matter what contraption Jesse chooses (a flying machine, rocket minecart, or TNT launcher), Olivia's Redstone is always the key to making it work.
Some smaller feats include recruiting Ellegaard, protecting the gang with her Redstone machines, and distracting Romeo for Jesse to sneak through.
While that's all good, there's still characters who do noticeably more than her, like Jesse, Petra, Lukas, and Harper. However, here are some things to consider. Firstly is her lack of resources. Though a Redstone engineer, she's fairly new to the industry, with people like Xara, Harper, and Ivor having years worth of experience compared to her. At the start of the story, hooking up a simple daylight sensor was an accomplishment for her. Even with her newbie skillset, Olivia still used them to the best of her ability when fixing the Flying Machine and launching device, which again, were crucial for the Wither Storm's defeat.
Similarly, she significantly lacks the screen-time of other main characters. Her only major appearances are the first four episodes and the Season 2 finale. Compare that to Jesse, Petra, and Lukas, who have shown up in almost every instalment, so they had way more opportunities for heroism than Olivia. I know screen-time isn't that important, but when considering her role in defeating the Wither Storm with such limited appearances, I confidently believe she passes the AS. But what about Reuben? He had less screen-time yet performed the most impactful sacrifice with essentially zero resources. The thing is, Reuben was only able to do it thanks to the launching device, which again, Olivia played a major part in creating. Besides, Olivia has a longer list of heroic acts than the pig, so I believe she stands out even if none of her feats match the latter's sacrifice.
Mitigating Factors
She's one of the most polite, honest people in the story, so there's pretty much nothing in terms of corrupting factors. Anything "rude" she does like bicker with her friends or bump Axel's arm to wake him up are just harmless, ordinary acts with her pals.
While she's usually very positive, there's one brief moment I need to address. Down at Ivor's secret lair, she acted all doom-and-gloom after she failed to fix the flying machine; questioning to even continue this journey if she can't do something this simple. After some needed motivation from Jesse, she got back on her feet and finally cracked the machine, subverting any incompetence she might've had.
Final Verdict
Weak yes for her important role in defeating the Wither Storm, especially considering her lack of screen-time and experience. I thought Reuben's re-proposal was my most ambitious one, but this probably beats it.
If you picked a hundred chicken-sized zombies, you're a madman.
