: Re: How to trick the reader into thinking they're following a redshirt instead of the protagonist? I'm currently planning a "magical girl" story, and I thought of an interesting way to start it,

@LarsenBagley300

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I would do a heroic twist of the very first scene of the Buffy the Vampire series, which opens with two high-schoolers: a rather rough around the edges but still 90s cool boy and a nervous girl who is following him, but he keeps having to assure her that they're safe and no one is in the school building that they are breaking into after hours.

Now, if you've ever seen any horror movie, you would know this story like the back of your hand: The title includes the word vampires... vampires have little regard for the rules. Everyone who watches this scene has the situation in their head primed... it's obvious that he's gonna make her feel comfortable, they'll be a titillating erotic scene, and then the obvious vampire boy kills the innocent girl. In horror films, monsters are drawn to teenagers having sex like moths to a flame.

Only that scene doesn't get to the screen as the teen boy is distracted by her thinking she heard a noise and goes to check. Nothing there, and as he turns to tell her this, she jumps at him, bites down on his neck and we learn he has a rather girly scream for what we assumed was the obvious monster of the episode. Next we see of no name bad boy, his corpse falls out of a locker onto the bitchy cheerleader every teen horror has to to torment the hero.

Now, it's not a major spoiler these days, but this scene was quite the surprise of the time. Again, I pointed out it was set up to be the horror film cliche. The boy was clearly dropping innocent lines in a whisper that made him sound creepier than he was. Of course you whisper when your breaking into a high school to have fun time with a hot blonde girl. Of course a guy would play protector to a girl he's trying to have sex with, just to show off how masculine he is. These are normal things in the light that the guy isn't the monster. He is playing at being the macho man bad boy to impress her, because you can clearly tell, the innocent girl is not this kid's first rodeo. He's done this before and gotten away with it. And this self-confidence, combined with knowing where in a horror genre work, can easily mislead the audience into presuming his valid reason for being cocky is the self-confidence of the predator, allowing the real killer to tremble with fear. The predator is hiding in the grass, waiting for the confident prey to stray too close. It had not been done before.

One of the best known attempts of these is the surprise that Arnold Schwarzenegger's titular character in Terminator II was the hero. I say surprise, because most people who watch the film have had this spoiled for them, or watched it so much that it doesn't even register. But at the time of the films release, the trailers for it were careful to show the kid and Arnold in the same scene and if you watch to the point of of the first shoot out, and how the shots of both of the characters are framed... Arnold is way more menacing than Robert Patrick, and Patrick is doing a very good impersonation of a cop. In fact, the only reason John Conner fleas the cop is because the cop is asking for him, and John just stole money from an ATM... John doesn't know why the cop is asking for him, but it's never a good thing when a cop goes looking for you personally... especially when you know you just committed a crime. Patrick's character also has a subdued introduction compared to Arnold's Interaction, where the latter's first interaction is to engage in over the top violence inflicted upon the hell's angels style bikers in the biker bar, a defining feature so well associated with the character, it's the reason why Arnold's catchphrase is "I'll be back" (The line was from the original Terminator scene. James Cameron put it in, intending for the joke to be apparent only on a second watch of the movie... but he went to an opening weekend showing, and was surprised to hear the line get chuckles from the audience before the Terminator's "Return". The audience was so aware of the character, they were certain that not only would the robot deliver on it's promise, it would do so in the most outlandish way possible). All of this plays into one of the greatest movie surprises that everyone forgets is supposed be a surprise.

In all these examples, the story is set so that the audience expects the former. It needs a eye for dialog, action, and subtlety that betrays the motives, but only when seeing it on a view. One idea I had for the expectation that she is expected to be a victim, (and please excuse my more Kamen Rider references, I don't know Magic Girl genre stuff, but the Henshin Hero is close enough). Open in a public place with the redshirt getting a compliment on her bracelet from a creepy guy... have her move along, only for the creeper to follow her build up to a chase but have it end in a dark alley where she thinks she's safe... only he's right behind her. Have him burst into the actual form of the monster, roar, and knock her to the ground. The monster picks her up by the arm with the bracelet. She grabs at the creature's large, massive fingers with her free hand, trying to pry them loose, but clearly she can't. THe monster lifts her over his head, and roars at her, prepared to deliver the final fatal blow or what have you and then...

A faint sound is heard that causes the scene to come to a halt, a tiny cry of "Henshin! Henshin!" in an upbeat jingle voice. The monster looks around stupidly for a moment before opening his fist enough that he can see the jewel on the bracelet flashing. This time much louder, it again cries "Henshin! Henshin! Make way for the amazing hero, MAGIC GIRL* Cut to your stock transformation footage, and flash cuts of the costume, and then proceed with the ass kicking of the monster.

If you want there to be an expectation that there will be a hero who can save the girl, perhaps both the monster in human form and the red herring hero are chasing her and both are acting in a manner that would lead the audience to conclude their partners (when they aren't). When she's cornered, have the red herring do what all men who aren't aware they're in a magic girl genre series think: I'm the hero, she's the damsel in distress. And like all times, this makes him volunteer for damsel in distress, and now she has to do a reveal that she's the hero (transform).

Alternatively, the dude's the hero and transforms to save her, only to bet owned by the monster. She runs over to him, rather than away from the monster, to tend to him, only to now be in danger and without a protector hero to save her... or so it seems... She wasn't tending to him... but grabbing the transformation device, which she activates and uses to kick ass (you can easily do the bracelet scene again). Though this works better if the hero's design is one that isn't strongly gendered like most magic girls, and the name is not a gender association, as this way you can further mess with audience expectations by putting the art of the hero on the cover, in such a way that it looks like the person in the suit is the man (easier than you think. Most Henshin hero suit actors are men... including the female characters... the reason why the Pink Power Ranger normally wears a skirt is because it hides the, um, area that could give it away... all the stunt actor has to do to complete the illusion is wear an undershirt with a fake bust. And you thought the original yellow ranger being an in character man in japan was the oddest thing about Power Rangers).

And finally, if you're feeling really daring and adventurous, and since this subversion is pretty well known in Superhero genres, try this. The big reveal about your "Damsel in distress" woman and your "hero" man is that... they are are exactly what they appear to be. She is a damsel in distress (but joins the team as a powerful ally) and he is actually the hero of the story... but there's a second part to this tale: When he shout's "Henshin!" the transformation sequence still turns the man into a Magic Girl... with all that is implied by that change. Again, this works because the modern reader is going to see the obvious if this is a magic girl genre work (You really can't hide the ball that she's going to save her self, considering the heroine would be on the cover... unless the heroine on the cover isn't a heroine when living a civilian life. From what limited knowledge I have of the Magic Girl genre, a general them is that the transformation comes with a host of problems as the transformed form is normally more idealized than the civilian form and the body image issues the girl(s) deal with. While they don't have the same exact issues, Men are not immune from having Body Image issues, which I'm pretty sure, this scenario would definitely have room to explore.

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