Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4519633-20141022032431/@comment-25536775-20161128032021

Eskaver wrote: KnocknickKnock wrote: Like I said in an earlier post. Powerscaling/Magic became really screwed up when they gave Emma magic. I don't think it was when Emma got magic (since she had it in season 2). I think it started going wonky when they tried to explain it and then left it too chance. They set up Zelena too strong (and undefined like any magic user) then never been steady. Apparently Glinda was lying because Regina's not the strongest user of light magic by any means. Glinda said she tried when she didn't. Clearly the writers don't read the other episodes intensely. I mean if we did season 3b rankings it would go:

Rumple

Zelena

Regina

Emma

But they also had the weird "Zelena can't kill Emma" angle which wasn't explained. And with plot, Zelena could have killed Regina at any moment, but didn't. She could have killed and incapatiated Emma at any moment, but didn't. Basically a ton of PIS.

The issue is weird "Because the plot" moments. The way the set up Emma is to be the sole heavy hitter light magic person. Regina's suppose to be one of the top tier dark magic users. But they can't really have that. Then season 4 threw everything off with (Elsa and by transitive property) Ingrid. Ingrid was the combination of Once Magic and the overpowered nonsensical magic of Disney.

What they lacked to do is show, not tell. Rumple's the strongest magic user currently, but he does a little teleport here or there, while everybody else tosses energy blast and fireballs. They say "this door is enchanted by Hades (a deity)" and then Regina and Emma break through it, but can't phase Hyde. One moment, Regina's too weak, Zelena's barely able to open a portal, then later on they both open portals like it's a piece of cake. Even Hyde used the wand easily and with no concern.

Lol, guys remember when Blue stood up to Zelena? As I've said, this show really doesn't explore its own mythos very well, it never has. But the mess started when Zelena got in, because they gave her magic powers from birth without an excuse like Emma, and just made her insanely powerful. As a consequencee, they attempted to do a rigid power hierarchy thing that never worked with Once. All human magic users were undistinguishable, with Rumpel and Emma as exceptions because tehy were DO and PoTL. To make Zelena significantly more powerful than the rest of the cast, they had to ridiculously downgrade Regina. Post-3B Regina throws fireballs, teleports, and makes occasional potions, but that's basically it. Then every couple of seasons tey introduce another witch villain, who does something the previous witch villain didn't seem to be able to do, further screwing with an already broken system. In order to give Zelena an advantage, they also had to remove the "everyone can learn magic" thing.

Pre-Zelena: Magic is learn-able, and there isn't a significant power level difference between human magic users.

Post-Zelena: Magic is innate, there's a power scale (But it's not reliable).

Also, Zelena couldn't kill Regina because she needed her heart. I'm assuming it means a beating heart.

I thought Hyde couldn't be killed unless Jekyll was killed, since he is just a physical manifestation of Jekyll's dark impulses.

To be honest I'm expecting Blue to do something big this season. She's been in the screens so often compared to the last couple of seasons. I hope they do her backstory, or at least explain why she was said to be so powerful.