The DVD Fairy

Also, have this mild coloring screwup on the part of the painters.

Mentioned locations include the “subterranean world of the Almuddi” which we have yet to cover because I really don’t like the episode, and “Quarkistan” which I also haven’t covered. Will soon. In one case – it’s a race of human-eaters. Have at, Moze. I’m sure that won’t end horribly for you. In the other, it’s a kingdom ruled by a child whose mood affects the weather and terrain. You’re going to threaten a kid with a monster that wants to eat him. You’re kind of a shithead, but you will also probably get struck by lightning because said kid only has as much control over his powers as a child would have over their emotions, and I’m pretty sure he can focus on being pissed off at you enough to make the earth swallow you whole. Just saying.

YOU HAVE NO PLAN.

Seriously, he approaches this with the same enthusiasm and utter lack of direction as a kid who gets their first car, decides they want to travel all over and have yet to realize they’ve never been outside their home town before and have no idea what they’re doing.

He is such a rookie in this episode.

And this is something that’s not openly acknowledged so often in the fandom, in RP (even I feel like I’ve learned something by looking so closely at this episode and I’ve been writing him for years), in discussions of him in general. his age isn’t really brought into play that often save to compare him to the hero – and because to some fans that adds to his attractiveness. Often villains are of an advanced age compared to the hero because it serves to show how opposed they are. A lot of focus is on his power and his snarkiness, his tragic disfiguring secret, etc and it doesn’t tend to go far beyond that.

The thing is: Mozenrath is dangerous because when he’s good, he’s amazing. He doesn’t fail because of comic relief blunders (unless he sends comic relief to do his job for him – see Vocal Hero) like Mechanicles and Abis Mal can and do. He fails often because he has to be overpowered. This is all often acknowledged.

However, more often than not, Mozenrath also fails because he frequently makes immature mistakes. Because he is immature. It’s not because he’s there to be funny; it’s because he, like Aladdin, is a teenage boy who thinks he knows everything, and if he were a hero rather than a villain with a murder rap-sheet, he might be seen as endearing because of his flaws.

And because he IS so massively powerful, because this level of power – enough that if Jafar had ever met him he would have NEEDED a Genie’s magic and his second wish granted for him to stand a chance – is in the hands of someone just as if not more flawed than Aladdin is, just as young and inexperienced as Aladdin is? He can be his own undoing, and he makes for a compelling character.

I say this isn’t often discussed because I don’t often see it. In most fic, even the big name fictions, he’s always a lot more collected than he ever is in the show. The immaturity is ignored.

Part of this is because a lot of us watched the show as kids, when the character, in relation to us, was older, and we were less likely to notice immature behavior when we, ourselves, were also immature. I didn’t come to appreciate this character fully until well into my adulthood, well after I would have passed his assumed age.

My point is that Mozenrath is a brat, but it works.