BWFoster78
Myth Weaver
I don't think you can really equate a focus on plot with a straight-out academic explanation. If we're discussing Character vs. Lecturing, then I agree, character wins. But while from your perspective what made the difference between HB,HG and TDVC was that the latter had characters, someone else could easily say that the two books are different in an equally if not more significant way: TDVC has a plot, HB,HG doesn't.
Aren't you kinda arguing that the presence of characters makes a series of events a plot?
Without the characters, you have a lecture. With the characters, you have a story and a plot.