Ok, this might be one of those posts that leave you thinking “Why the hell am I even wasting my time reading this?!”, but well you’re here and you might as well read it anyway.
Well, the whole thing is that I think Asterix & Obelix cartoons are very unfair.
I’ve felt this way ever since I was a child, and everytime I read one of the new books, I get pissed off again.
I was introduced to Asterix & Obelix by my very cool uncle, who is a big fan and used to collect all their comic books. They were all in French, a language I used to suck in; In fact I still do. Anyway the comic books helped me gain a minimum of understanding for the language, enough to understand what the hell is going on and what they’re saying in those bubbles.
Going back to the idea of the post, reading those comics and watching the movies later on when they were made, rang so unfair to me. In fact it’s their titles that got to me.
Why the hell are they all Asterix and something? Asterix and the vikings, Asterix and Cleopatra, Asterix and the romans, and the list goes on…
Why the hell is Asterix the main character?
He’s really short, he has no special powers, he’s not that handsome and he depends on a little pouch of magic potion to be able to do anything…
On the other hand, Obelix fell into the magic potion when he was a baby, meaning that he doesn’t need to take a sip of potion in between punches, he’s the one who is the most effective in battle, piling those romans up like pyramids, and well he’s also showed a more affectionate side to him.
Of course they try to make it out as Brains vs. Power, and so Asterix is made out to be smarter, resulting in him being the main character, and Obelix a secondary one. But I think that’s unfair.
Obelix is clearly being exploited.
They should at least always use the two names, like “Asterix & Obelix Against The Vikings” or something like that.
Because, honestly, Asterix is not much on his own, he’d surely get his ass kicked in the blink of an eye.