#and I want to fix the miss characterization of a fan created second personality of a secondary character

[gaypirate420]

Me trying not to listen to the voices and write a Jasper/Major fic.

[iamanartichoke]

I wasn't sure if I was going to post this, but I may as well.

I keep starting to reply to things and then stopping bc the words just aren't there, and I suppose I figured out the core of what bothers me so much (and is making me have such a rollercoaster of a fan experience) about the show.

(cut for length)

It's not well-written. My opinion is my opinion, so I'm saying this subjectively, take it or leave it, but ... I feel that it's not well-written. The overall story is fine, and the plot is fine, but I don't know if it's because of the limited number of episodes not being enough to house the story, or because of the relative inexperience of the writer/showrunner+director, or both, or something else, but -

In an earlier reaction post to episode 4, I mentioned really wanting to sink my teeth into all of the subtext I picked up on. That was what made me initially enjoy the episode so much - there were a lot of little moments that I initially felt revealed so much about the characters and about Loki, and I wanted to analyze them. But at some point, as I gathered more information, my perspective changed and now I no longer want to analyze the subtext bc ... subtext = good. Subtext w/out payoff = not as good.

I'll go into more detail in a moment, but I think the tl;dr of it is that I feel like the narrative requires the audience to work way too hard to put together all of the moving pieces here and, like, I kinda just don't want to do that work? Not so much of it, and not in vain. A lot of the enjoyment of Loki's characterization is coming from fans who are rationalizing why he's behaving as he is, but the narrative never actually confirms those rationalizations. It's asking us to figure it out and maybe our conclusions will be correct but maybe they won't, though. At some point, subtext isn't enough without explicit follow-through.

I thought my issue was with the lack of character development - that is, not having enough narrative space to really earn the big things that are happening now, like Loki/Sylvie or Mobius turning against the TVA. And that's still true, to an extent; I still feel like the pacing is all very off and it seems like most of these things kinda came out of nowhere (but are not unbelievable - just undeveloped).

But, yknow, it is what it is, it's a limited series, and I can excuse some things. Ultimately, my issue isn't a problem with what the narrative isn't doing, it's a problem with what the narrative already failed to do and probably cannot recover from at this point.

The narrative has left out significant details that should at least help us do some of the work here. If a person turned on Loki and started episode 1 and had no background knowledge of the character besides that he tried to take over New York - how would that person interpret Loki? Would that person say, oh, well, he's been through X, Y, and Z, and plus A happened, not to mention B, C, and D, so really, it makes sense that he seems off-the-rails, or that he'd want to get ridiculously drunk at the worst time ever.

Maybe we'd like to believe they would, but how would they be getting to that conclusion? The narrative hasn't led them in that direction so, no, they would not say well we have to consider this, this, and that. It would be impossible to really understand Loki as a character from just what we've gotten in the series. The general audience would probably interpret Loki as being out of his element and so it becomes, I wonder how this character is going to get the upper hand here. And, while that's not wrong, it's just so limited.

The narrative at face value does not address Loki's identity crisis from Thor 2011. It does not address his hurt and devastation at being lied to, nor does it address how complicated his self-image is (bc it sucked to begin with and that was before he found out he was part of a race of "monsters," as he'd been taught his entire life). It does not reference Loki being so broken at the end of Thor 2011 that he deliberately let himself fall into the void of space (aka tried to kill himself). It does not reference that he was tortured by Thanos or even that he went through a seriously dark time in between Thor and Avengers, and it absolutely does not reference or address any influence or control of the mind stone.

These are all things that we, the fan audience, know because we've already invested our time into this character's story. But tons of people, the general audience, wouldn't know these things. Or if they did, bc they saw Thor and Avengers, they wouldn't be thinking about them as deeply as we would, nor contextualizing them with how Loki is behaving now, or why it would make sense that he needed to get drunk, or why it's understandable that he needs to keep going-going-going in order to not have a spare second to think or feel.

They'd probably look at Loki, again, as a character who was a villain and is now getting his comeuppance in a place where he has no power or control, and no literal powers, and even when he manages to escape and catch up to the variant, he proceeds to fuck up their plan for seemingly no real reason except that he wanted to get drunk bc he's hedonistic. Which Sylvie even berates him for! I mean. This is not exactly a complex character breakdown, nor a very flattering one, but that's what the narrative has given us.

(If the narrative has addressed Loki's mind control, his torture, his mental breakdown, his suicide attempt, and his general shitty self-esteem as a result of his upbringing, please point it out to me. If the narrative has explicitly acknowledged and referenced these things anywhere and I am missing it, please show me where. Please explain to me how the casual viewer would know any of these things that they need to know in order to actually understand what's happening in this story.)

So I mean, okay, we have a narrative that doesn't paint a full, accurate picture of Loki. Fine, sure. But because the general audience starts out on the wrong footing, they're not going to get out of the overall story what the writers probably intended them to. For example, in episode 3, a lot of us theorized that Loki had some kind of plan - that he broke the timepad on purpose, for some reason, bc otherwise it wasn't believable that he'd be such a failure. But episode 4 revealed that no, there was no bigger plan, Loki just plain old messed up. Which is fine if, again, one is only considering the surface-level portrayal here, but it's not true to Loki's actual characterization.

I mean. Loki is not perfect and Loki actually fails a lot, this is true. He fails for a lot of reasons, but incompetence has never been one of them. Usually it's that either things grew beyond his control, or there ended up being too many moving parts, or he had to change his plan at the last minute due to some roadblock or another being thrown his way, or even that he got in his own way - whatever the case may be for his plans' failures, he was always at least shown to know what he was doing.

That wasn't the case here. The "plan" to fix the Timepad failed as a direct result of Loki's actions, which were careless and made him seem incompetent, like he couldn't even handle this mission. "You had one job," etc. And there were pretty big consequences for this; they were not able to get off-world in time and would have been killed had the TVA not shown up at the last second.

And maybe none of these things matter bc the writers never intended any of this to be a reflection on Loki's character, positive or negative. The situation exists solely because the writers needed to put Loki and Sylvie together in some kind of hopeless scenario so that they could get closer, and thus the narrative could set up their romance. I get that - but, there were other ways to do it that didn't require Loki to look foolish.

Furthermore, the whole reason they needed to set up the romance is to show Loki eventually learning to love himself (like, figuratively but also literally). The audience is supposed to gather that Loki and Sylvie fell for one another, possibly due to the high emotional aspect of, yknow, being about to die (in addition to the variant-bond). The intent is clear: Loki and Sylvie almost die but get rescued at the last minute, having now created an emotional bond --> Loki and Sylvie team up and the narrative further establishes that Loki, at least, has caught feelings --> Loki might confess them but is pruned before he gets the chance --> he somehow survives, he and Sylvie are reunited and don't want to lose one another again, and the combined power of their love is enough to break the sacred timeline and spawn the multiverse, and the reason that the power of their love is so, well, powerful is because it's about self-love and self-acceptance as much as it is about having the capacity to love someone else. The end.

I get all that. The writers more or less said all that. And, I mean, it's certainly not the way I would have chosen to go about it, but it's a fair enough arc to explore. I don't really have an issue with the intent - but my question, however, is this: if the narrative has so far not addressed Loki's background issues (as outlined above), and has furthermore kinda gone out of its way to portray Loki as hedonistic and narcissistic, among other things (like kinda incompetent), and the context the audience starts with is that Loki's this villain who deserves what he gets -

- my question is 1, why should the audience care whether or not Loki gets to a point of loving and accepting himself (thus to make the theme of self-love, via the romance, hold weight) if they don't know that he hates himself to begin with and 2, why should the audience root for Loki to reach that point when so far the perception of him is that he's "kind of an asshole"? if he's a hedonistic narcissist, he probably already has a pretty inflated sense of himself, right? A misplaced inflated sense of himself, at that, because, again, the narrative has made him out to be not that capable of much of anything. (And it didn't start out that way! It seemed to start out with Loki being capable and intelligent but it's like episode 3, in trying to set up the romance, just jumbled it all up somewhere. I think this is why I'm harping on the Loki/Sylvie aspect so much - it's frustrating bc it kinda messes up the whole story and can't even accomplish what it's supposed to anyway.)

Anyway, that's beside the point. What I'm ultimately getting at is, at what point is the audience supposed to get invested in Loki's personal growth journey?

They can't, not really. Without understanding and having the context of everything Loki has been through up until now, and why he hates himself, and why it's so important that he learn to love himself, then the "payoff" becomes kinda pointless bc the significance of it is lost in translation. So suddenly we're left with this romance that comes off as either "Loki loves Sylvie bc of Reasons" (best-case scenario) or "Loki loves Sylvie bc he's vain, narcissistic, and kinda twisted" (worst-case scenario). Neither of these conclusions are what the writers intended or were going for, I'm positive, but there we are, regardless.

In order for the writers' intent in these storylines to land, they need to address the context of what makes these particular stakes high for Loki. So far, they haven't done that. They're asking the audience to pick up on all of these things, and they're showing things that subtextually make sense and are relatively in-character - but only if you realize there's subtext in the first place.

But you can't expect the audience to do all of the work for you. If you don't want the audience to think that Loki is a narcissistic asshole and instead you are trying to convey that, worst-case scenario, he thinks he's a narcissist but is an unreliable narrator, then you have to address that. If you need the audience to understand why you're going the selfcest route and why it's important to explore Loki's capacity to love himself and others, you have to address where that exploration is starting from and why it matters. Etc etc etc.

The narrative isn't doing any of that. And it isn't like it'd be that hard to do it. They don't need to reinvent the wheel here; a lot of the pieces are already there. A few lines of dialogue for context, a brief scene here or there addressing the issues, a little more care and consistency in how Loki handles things - these are all little things that could go a long fucking way in making the narrative stronger.

I'm rambling. My basic point is that my rollercoaster of emotions with this show is because

- as a part of the fan audience, not the general one, I can contextualize and analyze the subtext and come to the conclusions the show wants me to, and thus find the story and the characters more or less enjoyable,

- but I am also going to be using the subtext to come to conclusions that aren't there but probably should be (I think it would be a better story, for example, for Loki to confuse platonic love with romantic love bc it would pave the way to explore just how fucked up Loki's understanding of love - whether of other people or of himself, and the different forms it can take - actually is)

- and when they're ultimately not there, then I think, okay why am I bothering doing all this work just to ultimately feel very unfulfilled? They don't even have to write it the way I would, I'm not saying that, but they do have to do something to make the story feel rewarding.

If we don't get some confirmation of what Loki's been through, and where his headspace is, and why it matters for him to love himself, then the story remains pretty shallow and, for me, it's not fulfilling enough. It's not engaging enough. There isn't actually anything to sink my teeth into, so it becomes kind of boring. Maybe it's rewarding to other people, and that's great for them, but like - I need more than whatever this is.

So I'm just like - well, I had a lot of worries about this show, but my being bored wasn't one of them and now there's only two episodes left and am I really not going to get anything out of this, in the long run? No new canons, no new depths or layers, no new information on Loki's experiences? This is it?

I don't dislike it. I didn't start out disliking it, and I probably wont end up disliking it. I mean, there are a lot of good moments, and good things, and fan service-y things that I appreciate. As far as inspiration for fic goes, it's a goldmine, both plot-wise as well as aesthetic-wise. All of that is great. I don't dislike this show.

But I am disappointed in it, and I feel like I'll be watching the next two episodes lacking the sense of anticipation that would make it exciting. I'll still enjoy them, probably, if for nothing else just the sheer Loki content, but whatever it was I felt watching episodes 1 and 2 is gone and I'm sad about that, too. Because I really wanted to feel fulfilled by this series; I wanted it to fill up the void that Loki's death in IW created three years ago. And I just ... don't feel it. Maybe, maybe that'll change over the course of episodes 5 and 6. I don't know.

Everything that I end up enjoying long-term, I think, will come about as a result of my own interpretations and analysis and while theoretically there's nothing wrong with that, if I had known all I'd get out of this series was more headcanons or support for my current headcanons then, well - that's fine, I suppose, but I'll definitely a little bit robbed.

[spnfanficpond]

Alpha Reader Program - June 2021

Our pair for May have been working so hard this month and we can't wait to see what they've crafted! It's time to start thinking about next month, though, so let's get to it!

Our alpha reader for June is @emilyshurley!

If you are a Pond member and are interested in working with this month’s alpha reader, everything you need to know about signing up is below the cut!

Click here to find out exactly what an alpha reader is! Here’s how the program works.

(Everything is subject to change as we go if we find things that aren’t working out. If you have any suggestions, let us know!)

Below, you will find information from the alpha for this month. This information should help you determine if this month’s alpha is someone you could work with.

If you are interested in working with this alpha, you will fill out this application form. (Pond members only. Joining is easy! Check out the Start Here link!)

Only the Pond admins will be able to see your username. The alpha will not know who you are. We hope this brings together people who maybe wouldn’t otherwise find each other, so this application process will be blind.

DEADLINE TO APPLY IS MIDNIGHT, PACIFIC TIME, ON THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH JUNE 4TH!.

Based on the application information, the alpha will pick a mentee. Only after the mentee is chosen will the alpha know who they have chosen.

The pair will decide if they want a list of prompts to choose from, or if they want to work on a story idea the mentee has had on the back burner.

Together, they will create beautiful words.

The mentee will post their work on their own blog and submit it to the Pond for posting and to be added to the Program masterpost.

If there are any questions or concerns throughout, @mrswhozeewhatsis will be the point person/mediator!

Story requirements/parameters:

Must be SPN fan fiction.

All ships/pairings/kinks/genres allowed. The only restrictions are those set by the alpha and the mentee.

Use a Keep Reading cut if your story is more than 500 words.

Tag your story with the appropriate trigger warning tags and list them in the author’s note.

Our preferred header format is here.

There is no minimum or maximum word count for this. We don’t expect a novel, but hope for a one-shot.

The story idea MUST be something the mentee has not written or posted, yet. Ideally, to get the most out of this experience, the mentee will only have a couple of sentences about a vague idea, at most. We will provide a list of prompts if you like.

We would prefer that this not be Part 1 of a series. We don’t want to ask the alpha to commit to something larger than a one-shot. If the idea turns into more, and the mentee is willing to continue without the alpha, or the alpha is willing to continue working on the story after the month is done, then that is up to the alpha and the mentee.

​Use the hashtag #alpha reader program when you post your story and tag the @spnfanficpond, your alpha reader, and @mrswhozeewhatsis.

And now, a bit about our alpha for this month:

What is your username?

@emilyshurley

Are you a writer, yourself?

Yes

Are you an experienced beta? (Have you beta read for more than five people, reading more than one story for at least 1 of them?)

Yes

What is your turnaround time for a typical one-shot? (This will not be a typical situation, but this answer will give everyone an idea of how long to give you after they send you something.)

2-3 days

On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being “English is my second language,” and 5 being, “I have a degree in English or professional editing experience,” how confident are you with your grammar skills?

2

What time zone are you in?

IST (GMT +5:30)

Is there anything you won't read? Ships/pairings, smut, non-con, dub-con, slash, AU, etc.

Destiel

On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being “Please don’t make me drink the demon blood again,” and 5 being, “Easier than Dean’s pie,” how comfortable would you be checking for story elements such as continuity errors, characterization, and canon compliance?

4

Brainstorming ideas will require you both to be free at the same time. When is the best time for you?

Can be discussed (not a fixed schedule)

How long of a story are you willing to read for this project?

5000 - 9999 words

Do you use Google Docs?

Yes

Please write a couple of sentences to give writers a feel for your style and approach to alpha reading. For example, what is your main focus when it comes to storytelling (i.e. details, feelings, actions)? Are you willing to help with flow or pacing? If a writer is having trouble with a certain sentence, are you willing to offer rewording/restructuring suggestions? Do you feel comfortable offering notes on the story if you feel like something is missing or needs more work?

Though I'm comfortable helping with sentence structure and similar things but English is, in fact, my second language. So there might be times where my brain might not English. I can help with brainstorming stories, dialogues or just being a cheerleader for completing whatever someone is working on.

What do you feel your weaknesses are when writing or alpha reading? For example, do you have trouble with dialogue or action scenes? Is there a particular grammar aspect you have trouble with?

I sometimes struggle with descriptions for setting a scene but dialogues are my strength.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

No.

There you go! If you are interesting in working with our alpha this month, go fill out this application here and we will let you know if you are chosen!

If you have any questions or suggestions about the program, please send an ASK to the inbox or a private message to @mrswhozeewhatsis!

[earstwo]

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I hit 7k recently after losing almost 1.5k followers when I converted to a Reylo blog (not sorry in the slightest) and decided it was time to finally compile some of the INCREDIBLE fanfics that I’ve read since joining the fandom in December. 

I’m constantly impressed by the talent around here and I'm so grateful to love a ship that has some of the most amazing content I’ve ever seen. The creators in this fandom are second to none. I’m so thankful for all they do and all that they give to us. 

Please keep never stop sharing your gifts. <3 

**Note: Most (pretty much all) of these are rated E. 

Without further ado, here are (some of) my favorite stories: 

The Jedi Path  by SouthsideStory | 19k | E | I am such a sucker for Jedi Academy Ben and Rey. It’s everything I never knew I needed, and this fic is a beautiful rendition. If you know me at all, you know that I devour Angst with a Happy Ending stories, and this is no exception to that rule.

Exile by Ernzo | 22k | E | Oof. This one hurts. Leia sends Rey to the planet where Ben is exiled. It’s angsty and sad and cathartic in every way. I’ve read it dozens of times. 

Before the Saber Swings by @waterlilyrose​ | 28k | M |  Fuck. When I tell y’all that this story fucked me up, I mean it from the bottom of my s o u l. It stayed with me for days. I literally couldn’t get it out of my head. It felt so real to me that I was in physical pain while reading it. I also made an AU gifset of the fic with a quote from Buffy because I’m extra and love pain. 

penitence by @bettsfic​ | 16k | M | Look, Betts is one of my favorite fanfiction authors of all time. Her Bellarke works are some that I’ve read dozens of times and I was fucking ecstatic when I found out she also writes Reylo. This is an A+ TROS fix-it that is lovely and soft and sweet. 

The Writings of Ben Solo by BurnedStars777 | 39k | E | This was recced to me by the fabulous @galacticidiots​ and is just a fantastic story all around. Rey finds Ben’s journal whilst stuck on a planet with Kylo Ren and she (eventually) connects the dots. Rey falling in love with Ben sight unseen? Here. For. it.  find a thread to pull, and we can watch it unravel by again_please | 17k | E | A fantastic post-TLJ story with angsty and broody Ben and just some all around quality smut. I devoured this and have read it multiple time since. 

We Could Plant a House, We Could Build a Tree by @likeadove​ | 124k | E | I will probably never stop reading this fic. It’s such a beautiful coming of age story for Rey and her relationship with Ben as she grows up is just... gah. It’s fantastic. Please read it.    

Soul Searching by OptimisticBeth | 205k | E | Soulmates AU where Ben is Rey’s teacher? Sign me the fuuuuck up, and Soul Searching is so fucking well written. I go back to this one every few weeks and just gush at how great the world building is. I love the relationship Rey has with Leia and Han. It’s rich with love and angst and fluffffff. So good. 

Coveted by OptimisticBeth | 82k | E | WIP | OptimisticBeth is just an incredible writer, so you should honestly read all of her stuff, but I am so, so, so into this fic. It’s A/B/O and Ben’s Rey’s pack leader. He, along with a bunch of other Alphas are trying to court Rey, a highly desired Omega. It’s so fucking delicious, y’all. Alpha Ben Solo is just...it doesn’t get much better. 

A Treehouse Covered in Salt by violethoure666 | 34k | E | This fic made me cry my eyes out. I’m not kidding. It’s so raw and real. It hurts to read at some points, but you care so much about Ben and Rey in this that you fight through the pain. They grow up together as neighbors and Han builds them a treehouse where they meet throughout their childhoods/teen years. Prepare to cry but also be so fulfilled and satisfied. It’s wonderful. love it when you call me lover by @kylotrashforever​​ | 66k | E | WIP | First, let me say that anything by KTF is going to be gold. These fics I have listed are just a few of my favorites at the moment. Lover is hot as fuck (as is all of her stuff) but also fluffy in the best way. It’s in Sadsville right now so I’m fucking PUMPED for her to update. Ben’s a doctor who basically gives Rey a sexual awakening when he proves her statement of “I just don’t think I can come from (insert sexual act here)” very, very wrong.  

mountain at my gates by @kylotrashforever​ | 26k | E | More A/B/O goodness. Omega Rey’s car breaks down on a mountain. Ben is a mountain man Alpha. You can probably guess what happens from there. *fans self* 

take me to church by @kylotrashforever​ | 26k | E | I love this story so much. Ben is the pastor’s son at the church Rey grows up in. They start hooking up in secret and are terrrrrrible at communicating with each other which leads to angst. But it’s so sweet and soft while also being super hot. I love this Ben and Rey so much. 

Your Pretty Little Heart by @ever-so-reylo​ | 64k | E | The A/B/O Reylo bible, I feel like. They’re doctors and he’s a grumpy as fuck Alpha. Shenanigans ensue. And by shenanigans I mean a lot, a lot, a LOT of sex. 

The Food of Love by @lovesbitca8​ | 60k | E | Y’all. If you haven’t read this yet, please stop what you’re doing and read it RIGHT NOW. I ate this fic up in one sitting because holy SHIT it’s amazing. It’s so well written and the story is just... absolutely exquisite. Ben is cellist that’s also a famous rockstar and Rey’s an up and coming violinist and they fall in loOOoOOve in the best, most angsty, sexiest way. Please just read it right now. The scene when she firsts goes to his apartment and plays one of his cellos............you guys. It’s a lot.

Already Home by AttackoftheDarkCurses | 81k | E | This is soulmates + A/B/O so naturally I am obsessed with it. Rey gets connected with her soulmate via a website and he’s going by the name Kylo Ren. At the same time, she’s also moving in with grumpy librarian Ben Solo. She falls in love with both but has no idea that they’re the same person. It’s INCREDIBLE. 

Tangled but Unbroken by AttackoftheDarkCurses | 20k | M | I read this the other night and it’s so fucking soft. I am such a fucking sucker for growing up together fics and this is just such top quality. The braiding kills me every goddamn time. Also, I’m making my way through all of Attack’s works right now and they’re all incredible. Highly recommend. 

Dear Mr. President by @shmisolo​ | 89k | E | I love this Ben so much. The characterization is so on the money. The angst is absolutely delicious. The smut is top brass. Oh, and did I mention they’re soulmates? It’s everything you need, I promise. 

Good Day, Professor by @faequeentitania​ | 38k | E | One of the best Professor Solo fics out there. I’m such a sucker for age difference fics. Of course there’s angst, who do you think I am? 

Embers by sciosophia | 34k | E | Breaking up/getting back together fics are some of my favorites and this one is fantastic. The pining with these two is ridiculous. You just want to smush their faces together. It’s a beautiful love story. 

Reclaimed by @bettsfic​ | 14k | E | Ughhhhhhhhhh, Reclaimed. I am so in love with Reclaimed. Alpha Ben adopts Omega Rey after she’s rescued from this terrible Alpha that held her captive for most of her life. She doesn’t talk and Ben has to help her learn to be a human being and not just a subservient Omega. This Ben is the Ben of my dreams. No contest. 

the following are all written by  @kylorenvevo​. please read them all if you haven’t already. 

landscape with a blur of conquerers | 362k | E |  Y’all know this shit is fire. It’s basically the bible. If you haven’t read this yet, consider this as me yelling at you to do it NOW.   

like young gods | 84k | T | fuck, the Sword of the Jedi series is incomparable when it comes to in-universe fics. I cannot begin to express how much I love this story. It’s so soft and intense and sad. Like, gut wrenchingly sad. Ben senses Rey on Jakku when she’s six and he and Luke take her back to the Jedi Academy. She grows up with Ben. 

to kingdom come | 145k | M |  The sequel to Like Young Gods. I’m not gonna spoil much here, but just know I cried through most of this fic. I downright SOBBED at the end. It’s gorgeous and I will never stop rereading it. The love these two have for each other... it’s unreal. 

i kill giants  | 34k | E | WIP | The TROS fix-it we all need. Ben is alive and finds Rey on Tatooine. It’s soft and Thea does a great job of soothing so many of the gaping wounds we were left with after TROS. My heart soars every time I read a new chapter. This is what we deserved. :( 

the heartbreak prince | 58k | E | WIP |  Harry Potter AU. Professor/student. Size kink. Virginity kink. ANGST. All the good things life has to offer. Professor Solo is fucking filthy in this and I (along with Miss Niima)  am here 👏 for 👏 it. 

place the moon at my eyes (and her whiteness shall devour)  | 29k | E | Another breakup/get back together fic that I absolutely adore.

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Thank you to everyone that’s been so kind and welcoming to me the past couple of months! I love this fandom and its energy and enthusiasm and how much everyone seems to care for each other. I hope that I can continue to create content for you forever <3 

[warsmith-38]

How I would do RWBY Pt. 0

Disclaimer: It is easier to improve what already exist than it is to create something new. Boy howdy do I know that. That being said, I believe that RWBY has more than its fair share of flaws and this is how I would do it differently if I was behind the reigns. This is just a collection of my opinions and ideas which in the end will probably amount to nothing. I felt the need to do this because my brain just decided ‘nah motherfucker, you ain’t thinking of anything else from now on’ and this is the end result for nothing else would satisfy my rage.

I wouldn’t quite call this a complete re-haul, but more rather a rework with some of my own brand of polish. It’s not a compete rebuild from the ground up in a different world with different concepts and themes, but how I would go about a second go around with the series from the base that is already there. If a detail is missing from my musings then assume it is either unchanged or removed, depending on context.

If some of my complaints were addressed after I stopped watching, I honestly don’t much care. If it takes longer than 4 seasons to fix what I view as fundamental problems, then it’s far too little too late for me. I paid scant attention to the series post my stopping point and liked little to none of what I saw.

Please do not take this as a specific attack on anything other than the writing of the show itself. This is not directed or targeted against anyone, regardless of position or feelings on the topic at hand. If you ignore what I just said and decide to take this as an insult, then I say that you need to be more self-secure in your tastes and interests.

Things I would remove + reason why

Silver eyed warriors as a concept- it’s more or less the same concept as dojutsu from Naruto. It’s the fucking sharingan (rubygan). It’s not quite chosen one level, but crap like this is the blight of good protagonists. It’s fucking eugenics that makes you awesome not your own skills or training but on your bloodline. No need for personal development or life-changing hardship when you have a built in power that can be cultivated like a fucking bumper crop.

Maidens- Wasn’t intended originally and only made the overall story more cluttered with power creep and plot device. It’s a similar problem as above. No need for training or anything if people can just kill the person who has the power currently and take if from them. Which, at that point, why do you want that power if you’re already strong enough to kill and take it from the person who has it to begin with? It’s something someone just shouted out and they rolled with it because it sounded cool in the moment.

The Relics- McGuffin dragonballs that serve as plot device and little else. A story can be told without needing to monotonously race for Excalibur or the holy grail. Considering the Maidens, I doubt that the relics were intended in the first place and as such if you can’t tell a story without throwing something in after a few seasons because you realized that you didn’t have a plot, then you’re not that good at telling stories.

Oscar- The show didn’t need more main protagonists when what was already there wasn’t being given enough characterization to begin with. For that matter-

Quite a few characters- The cast is cluttered and convoluted enough as is with seemingly important characters getting the shaft in favor of yet another new character that would barely do anything. Time and effort seems to be put into one-off schmucks that would be better served making the story not need poochie the dog, let alone several. Character integration is not ‘create a character to do one thing and then pretend they don’t exist’. There’s already plenty of characters than can be used wherever.

The overt shipping bait, especially if it’s just going to be taken up or abandoned on a whim- I don’t mean relationship building, I mean the obvious baiting of a relationship that, in the end, might not even happen. All it does is dumb down characters and character arcs, draw out pointless scenes, and make the fans have conniptions one way or another. People are pissed off whenever things don’t go their way with shipping so the only winning move with these people is not to play their game. Looking at you Klance and Zutara. Either don’t do anything or have a fucking plan and stick to it and not make complete swerves when fans get uppity. If it genuinely matters to you, then pretend whatever ship happens at whatever point, I don’t care.

Changes to the world that I think would go over better-

Everyone has a level of aura with a naturally high level generally meaning that they might be able to unlock a semblance. A semblance is unlocked through some sort of specific event, typically a stressful one IE: Yang and Ruby are caught in the woods by grimm and Yang gets frustrated and scared at not being able to defend her sister before getting angry and her rage mode semblance unlocking. Not everyone who unlocks a semblance goes into combat schools but it is a requirement for acceptance into most of them. Having the potential to unlock a semblance seems entirely random but has a higher chance with genetics.

There are two types of semblances: 1 is hereditary like the Schnee glyphs, changing only slightly, if at all, through the generations. 2 is a random personal power like Yang having her rage mode as compared to Raven’s portals. Whichever you get tends to be random with the occasional exception depending on genetics and the specific semblance.

Every 1 in assumedly 10 people who have semblances have the potential to have two semblances, often times, but not necessarily, being one hereditary and one random. The process of unlocking the second semblance involves immense emotional distress and in some cases might not even happen for the individual who has the potential, period, thus skewing data. This gives an enhanced type power but isn’t protagonist exclusive. It shows a higher than average power capacity, but isn’t a gamebreaker to the same level as a fucking kekkei genkai or getting the powers of a fucking demigod. A good amount of characters would only have one semblance and be considerable badasses despite it and even be able to beat a couple of the few that have two.

Establish Menagerie as the official Fifth Kingdom, the newest of the great kingdoms. Maybe not the singularly strongest or most influential, but make it so Menagerie and its people, the faunus, have a considerable role in the world’s affairs, if even from an isolationist standpoint. Don’t have them as even a semi thriving entity that isn’t a kingdom because that only begs the question as to why the kingdoms are so important to begin with then.

Make the White Fang a faunus supremacist group that has very little support, if any, from the faunus people as a whole. Faunus right issues are history for the vast majority of the world and the White Fang as a whole is only using the problems in Atlas with the SDC as a means of trying to gain power. There are actual faunus rights groups trying to make things better for their race in Atlas and other marginalized areas but the White Fang dislikes them on the grounds that they go against their goal and it makes them look even worse.

Fucking pronounce names correctly, I mean, Christ. Weiss, the word, is pronounced like ‘Vice’. It’s an actual fucking word. It’s the German word for white. It’s like saying tor-till-uh not tor-tee-ah. Blake is Bella-doe-nah not Bella-dawn-uh. Shit like that. No you don’t need to put on a heavy accent to say these words but pronouncing things so inaccurately just makes you look like an ignorant rube (no, that was not a pun). I don’t fucking care what your reasons are. Why use these words in the first place if you’re not even going to try to say them right?

Ozpin is order to Salem’s chaos. Ancient demigods of both archetypes vying for power across the ages and the innocent peoples of the world be damned in the crossfire. Neither are entirely good nor evil but both are not exactly helpful to the free peoples on the world and the continued livelihood thereof. Their progenitor god created them to try and guide humanity in a balanced way. That seemed to work at first, but then failed like a bad marriage and they waged war ever since like a bad divorce. The grimm are a creation of Salem’s to test humanity and make then stronger through conflict. Ozpin ranges from the lawman to the fascist fairly duplicitously. The two can only be permanently killed by each other but neither wants to get too close to the other because of that exact same reason. If killed by other means, they will resurrect after a fashion no worse for wear.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Ruby Rose- It is a crime that the titular character has so little actual character beyond just being ‘Hyperactive Anime Protagonist #235’. Most of her (few) character traits are tell not show, and of course she’s got the fucking rubygan bloodline ability crap. She has next to nothing that isn’t allotted by default to most anime protags on the grounds of the stereotype. For the main character to have less character than any of the members of the fucking B-team is a travesty.

1. Give her a clear rebellious streak, a distinct problem with authority, and a headstrong attitude. Daddy doesn’t want her to be in danger, so she decides to become a huntress. She’s told to stay put, so she hunts down Roman. She’s told that she needs to stay home and recover, so she sets out on her own not thinking about the exact consequences. Make her the impetus for the team’s involvement with the problems of the world in the early seasons. Make her a driving part of the plot, not just being along for the ride or because someone else said so.

2. Give her blood knight tendencies. Make her VERY willing to get into a fight with the bad guys, not just fights in general, but fights against bad guys. Nothing over the top, but enough that she has a scene or three where she says “Shut up bad guy, skip to the part where we get to kick the crap out of you,” or something of that nature. Hyper combative characters are fun and ethical.

3. Give her more traits as a mechanic and weapon nerd. Include scenes of her fixing everyone’s weapons for fun or being able to analyze an opponent’s fighting style based on the type, design, and/or wear & tear of their weapon, make her a polyglot of weapons that can be at least proficient in using just about any weapon. Come to think of it…

4. Anything that could give her actual character traits. They don’t even have to be all that major traits, just give her enough so that we actually have a character with more definition than printer paper. She’s the main character, the titular character at that. This isn’t a video game with a blank-slate protagonist. If the main character isn’t even really a character, like, at all, then what’s the fucking point?

5. Convert silver eyes power into a second semblance for white fire vision that kills grimm like nothing else. Gotten as a hereditary semblance from Summer. Which is also why Summer was specifically targeted by Salem on the grounds that it makes her just a little too dangerous for her long-term plans. This makes it so she isn’t just the fucking chosen one, but still has a clear definitive reason to be involved against the big bad because, y’know, dead mom. Yes, this kinda goes into the whole ‘bloodline is what determines importance’ thing I wanted to be rid of, but it’s only a chance two generations instead of a massive lineage of nonsense and keeps more of the onus of involvement on Ruby herself.

6. Give her a very clear motivation that’s deeper than surface level. ‘Oh, I want to do the right thing’ is a flimsy as balls motivation especially compared to the rest of her team that has that AND an actual reason for thinking that way. Why does she want to be the good guy? What happened in her life that makes her this motivated to doing the right thing? Yang has her desire to find her mother (which, come to think of it, doesn’t necessitate being a good guy), Blake has wanting to make up for being a terrorist, Weiss has her desire to step out from under the shadow of her family’s reputation, even fucking Jaune, the b-team protagonist, who wants to live up to his family reputation, has a proper motivation to be involved in the story. WHY is Ruby involved beyond ‘I’m the main character’ level reasoning? As much as admitting it makes me wish to commit Sudoku, even SAO has better main character motivations. Good god, I need hooch after typing that.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Yang Xiao-Long- Her arc was mostly fine, barring some of the pacing. Raven being a maiden undercut the message of ‘screw that deadbeat bitch, go to your real family’ by making her important to the overall world state and confirming a measure of later relevance but that’s more a flaw with Raven than Yang.

1. Keep her motivation about getting strong enough to find her mother but add in the clear desire to kick her ass for leaving her and Tai. Of course it’s more about just getting the answers to her questions, but the ass-kicking should also be a major component.

2. Amp up the rivalry between her and Mercury. Mercury was designed as an opposite to Yang, I mean for fuck’s sake, look at him. Consider their respective backstories too; both raised in a single father home yet one was supported and loved (if a little neglected) while the other was horrifyingly maimed and abused. Punch vs kick. It works.

3. Make her more protective of her little sister, explicitly going along with her personal crusade to keep her safe (safer, rather). If she’s supposed to be the good older sister, maybe just maybe, something more than lip-service to that idea should be done. Hell, maybe she can be overprotective like their father, or even the exact opposite, not really giving a shit and then learning to give one. That might lead to a little tension and growth between the two of them.

4. Make her semblance consistent. Is she supposed to have super saiyan rage mode or is it energy buildup and dispersal? Is it supposed to be both? Just make it rage mode, for the sake of fuck, and don’t flip-flop. Speaking of…

5. Give her anger issues. Flesh out her being the kind of gal that would start a fight in a nightclub when she doesn’t get what she needed with little justification. This would stem from abandonment issues from Raven, Summer (inadvertently), and Tai and her general thrill seeking personality. This could lead to tensions and dramas until she overcomes it and learns to use her aggressive feelings and not let them use her.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Blake Belladonna- Shitty-kitty is shitty, here’s why.

1. Do something with the hypocrisy of being, more or less, princess of Menagerie, a world power albeit a minor one, and joining a band of terrorists that do more harm than good for the people they claim to represent. It’s like a trust-fund baby joining some charity organization in Africa for a few weeks, doing jack-shit to help, joining some jihadists, and then acting like she’s Mahatma Gandhi.

2. Make her arc less about running away and fighting Adam, more about realizing that running is for assholes and try to find her team to at least apologize for cutting and running like she did. Doing that and stopping Adam are not mutually exclusive. The friend thing should be the priority. As it stands she is almost rewarded for abandoning her team just to focus on her own problems.

3. Make her arc involve going from ‘There’s no such thing as pure evil’ to ‘Okay maybe some people are just too evil to work with’. Some people are too far gone and, despite still having good traits, will only ever continue to do evil things and don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone has some sort of good motive beneath the surface and, even then, does that matter when the only action they do is objectively evil? Still, y’know, save who you can, like Ilia.

4. Have Belladonna not actually be her last name. If she’s the daughter of a the chief of Menagerie, the closest thing the faunus have to a unified racial leader, then how the unholy shit does nobody recognize her name? She is, again, princess of Menagerie, yet nobody recognizes the name in a grander context. Have ‘Belladonna’ be a cover name so she can hide her identity better so that she’s using what should be a very recognizable real name in a tournament that is broadcasted worldwide. Her real family name could be “Nightshade” or some shit like that.

5. If she’s supposed to be ‘The quiet one’ maybe actually have her be quiet and not make big speeches every season or have loud arguments with her team. Just a fucking thought. If she’s still supposed to do that, then make her ‘the opinionated one’ or ‘the kind of mean one’ or even ‘the one who doesn’t shut up’. Blake, as seen, or rather heard, is not the quiet one.

6. Have her actually fucking interact with Ruby. Maybe they have a two-person book club. Maybe Blake teaches Ruby to meditate or something. Anything, anything at all would be fine, anything more than nothing at all. Blake’s whole interaction with the team shouldn’t just be through Yang and cursory scenes with Weiss.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Weiss Schnee- You can’t solve racism with like two scenes.

1. Make the racism thing a much more gradual decay rather than more or less disappearing after a single conversation. Hell, make jokes about it, ‘oh, no, one of my best friends is a faunus,’ stuff. It’s hard to unlearn an upbringing of hate, but she’s trying type stuff.

2. Involve her at least a little with the White Fang plot. It only makes sense that the heiress of the company that still more or less has slave labor is at least semi-involved with the plotline involving terrorists that want that company destroyed. Make her subject to assassination attempts at a young age, or even have her been kidnaped at a young age and held hostage, getting her scar in the process.

3. As evident by some of the intros, her rival was supposed to be Emerald. This could be serviceable, at the very least. The street rat pickpocket that had to learn life lessons the hard way and was taken in by the baddies VS. the rich heiress born with a silver spoon but raised by a dickhead. There’s potential there and it is a crime that it is not explored in the slightest. Even Yang and Mercury had a minor fight.

4. Like Yang, make her semblance consistent. Is it supposed to be summoning or physics altering magic symbols? These are two completely different powers, it’s not like super speed also giving super reflexes or whatever. Just make it one or the other, don’t bullshit us on these things. Or, hell, make it a second semblance she gets during the course of story.

5. Emphasize her loneliness. Make the main onus of her personal arc be about how she goes from this prickly, spoiled, opinionated, brat to a warm and caring friend who only wants the best for everyone. Yes, this might be the main intention in canon, but I feel it could have used a little more refining.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Cinder Fall- If she’s supposed to be Ruby’s chief rival and foil then she needs a lot of work to even be close. She shouldn’t be nothing but the rival, but at that same time she should have that be a considerable part of her characterization and role in the series. I feel the best way to do it is to have their similarities highlight their differences in both character and design. Basically, make her the Vergil to Ruby’s Dante.

1. Make her Ruby’s age. Being the same age as Ruby while initially outclassing her, and even veteran hunters, provides risk and contrast between the two. Throw in an evil sadistic streak compared to Ruby’s happy-go-lucky personality to further the contrast and you’ve got a good little yin-yang thing for them. It also shows just how bad someone can turn out if raised to be a killing machine.

2. Keep her using the bow/twin swords as a comparably simple weapon in contrast to Ruby’s, even in universe, overcomplicated Scythe/Sniper rifle. Both weapons are long range marksmen’s weapons as well as vicious close combat weapons but are still very different in essence. Also make sure she keeps the red with black and gold color scheme is contrast with Ruby’s Black with red and silver. Even minor visual cues can work to the rival schema.

3. Make her one of the people who have two semblances. Pyromancy (pyrokinesis? Fire bending, she has fire bending) and dilated perception (bullet time) so that Ruby’s super speed and the dilated perception cancel each other out, adding a little extra tension to the fights now that both parties’ signature abilities are moot points against each other.

4. Make her competent. She kills Ozpin and Pyrrha and then she either fails or draws every fucking fight she has afterwards baring nameless jobbers here and there. Even before that, she needed help to take down Amber and even manages to fuck that up. The more failures she has and the less intimidating she is. Too much of that and she’s just a jobber that makes you wonder why she was ever seen as intimidating in the first place. When that happens then Ruby beating her is just the status quo and not a triumph of any sort.

5. Make her Ruby’s long lost fraternal twin sister. Incredibly cliché, I admit, but siblings make the best rivals, especially twins. Once again, it’s all about adding the similarities and the contrasts. In this case it creates the ‘there but for the grace of god go I’ idea with the two of them. Ruby seeing it as how evil she could have turned out and Cinder seeing it as how weak she could have been (Eventually becoming how good she could have had it because I’m a sucker for redemption arcs) Who said that?

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Team JNPR- JNPR was fine-ish but the over focus on Jaune and the underutilization of Ren + Nora early on are both issues. B-team should not get jack shit before the A-team gets the lions share.

1. Downplay Jaune’s screen time. I doubt this is a particularly controversial statement. Jaune is not the titular character. This is (technically) a shoujo not a shounen. It’s supposed to be about the girls more than the guys. It kind of undercuts that idea when the guy (the side guy at that) gets the lion’s share of characterization, attention, and growth before the girl (the main girl) does.

2. Make Ren and Nora actual characters earlier on. Comic relief is all well and good, but either extend that to the whole team or make these two characters more than just comic relief in the early parts of the story. Make them, y’know, actual characters. They ain’t gotta be all that important, but they do have to be actual characters.

3. Make Pyrrha’s deathflags less blindingly obvious. We all knew Pyrrha was going to get clipped. The self-sacrificing type, all the musical and visual cues throughout, being based on Achilles, and ‘oh she just confessed to the boy she likes’. Homegirl was waving deathflags like an insecure redneck with the confederate flag. When you foreshadow obvious things that much it’s not a surprise to the audience when it happens and the reaction of the in universe characters seems overdone. If it’s not supposed to be a surprise then, whatever, but that’s clearly not the case if you’re going for just shock value. It’s fine for a character to die, but for the love of Jaysus you got to do something with it more than ‘this character’s sole purpose is to die for the angst and to up the stakes’. Pyrrha was just a plot jobber.

4. Make them a little more independent in the overall plot. Give them their own full sub-plots, have them go on their own little adventures, have them do things completely separate from RWBY that has plot relevance but not overtaking the main story in grandeur or importance. B-team gets B-plots and are cool in it of themselves.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Qrow Branwen- Take or leave this, I just felt the need to include this because reasons.

1. Just make him Dante from Devil May Cry. Just make his personality the same as Dante from Devil May Cry. Make him stylish and cool but low-key a massive dork. He’s too cool to drink or smoke or anything harsher than PG-13. This series could use a guy like that, says I.

2. Make his semblance something that makes sense and isn’t just an angst generator. How do you even quantify ‘bad luck aura’ as a power? Make it short range teleportation as a connection to Raven’s portals. Make it so that he can direct the bad luck at will. Do SOMETHING with it that isn’t just an excuse for mostly pointless character angst.

3. This technically also counts as a Raven change but whatever. Make the Branwen family old nobility and not a loser bandit tribe from nowhere. Or at least make it so they used to rich or something. They come from a family that had a good amount of cash and even a chateau in Mistral. After the money dried up and the chateau ransacked by grimm, the Branwen twins had differing opinions on how to proceed. Qrow fully integrated into the hunter thing while Raven ran away and became a bandit, using it as further excuse to skedaddle on Tai and a recently born Yang.

[tfrohock]

writing a series: the story so far ...

As much as authors hope that our readers remember every single detail from our books, the truth is that most SFF fans will read anywhere between ten to twenty-five books in a year. Keeping up with characters, themes, and stories from one book to another can be daunting, to say the least.

While writing the Los Nefilim series, I wanted to devise a way in which readers didn’t have to struggle to remember who was who and what they were trying to accomplish. I’d tested the method with the Los Nefilim novellas by writing a very short summary of what had happened in the previous novella (or episode) at the beginning of each new novella, and the readers seemed to like it.

Since we wanted Where Oblivion Lives to stand apart from the novellas, I only wrote a note about the various spellings of nefilim and the different divisions of the Inner Guard in the foreword. However, the sequel to Where Oblivion Lives, Carved from Stone and Dream, brought forward a complex set of problems.

I wanted each of the novels to work as stand-alone stories that achieved a sense of closure at the end of each book. I personally hate cliff-hanger endings, and I’ve heard a lot of readers state the same. However, when I enjoy a series, I like a quick refresher to the preceding stories so I don’t have to reread the previous edition before moving to the current book.

At the same time, I want to keep that refresher as non-spoilery as possible in case someone is picking up the second book as their introduction to the series. I need those blurbs to be as enticing as possible so that if the reader enjoys, for example, Carved from Stone and Dream, they might go back and read Where Oblivion Lives.

That was the first problem. The second was more complex and more of a structural issue that I created while planning the events of the series.

Where Oblivion Lives takes place in 1932, and Carved from Stone and Dream takes place in 1939. That is a seven year gap between the events in the first novel and the second.

I also knew my American readers had little exposure to the events leading up to the Spanish Civil War, but at the same time, I wanted to jump readers straight into the action. At the same time, I needed to recap the events succinctly so readers weren’t spending five pages orienting themselves to current events.

Since I’d envisioned the Los Nefilim series as spy/war stories very similar to the old Shadow series, the first problem was fairly easy to fix. I included an author’s note at the beginning of each novel, and beginning with Carved from Stone and Dream, I included a brief refresher that looked like this:

To remedy any memory gaps the reader might have, I’m also including a very brief, spoiler-free synopsis of the events from previous episodes. To be clear: each of the novellas and novels can be read as stand-alone works.

However, I always imagined Los Nefilim as a serial, much like the old Shadow radio serials. In keeping with that tone, here is the story so far . . .

1931 (The Los Nefilim omnibus contains the novellas In Midnight’s Silence, Without Light or Guide, and The Second Death)

Diago Alvarez, a rarity among the nefilim in that his mother was an angel and his father was a daimon-born nefil, discovers that he has a six-year-old son named Rafael. Having never officially joined Los Nefilim, the Spanish Inner Guard, Diago has always lived as a rogue. He maintains a superficial connection to Los Nefilim through his husband, Miquel de Torrellas, who is Guillermo Ramírez’s second-in-command.

Rafael’s presence changes Diago’s priorities. The only way he can protect his son from his daimonic kin is by joining Los Nefilim. Diago swears an oath to Guillermo Ramírez, the king of Los Nefilim, who wants Diago to try and compose the Key—the song that will enable the nefilim to open the realms as the angels do.

1932 (Where Oblivion Lives)

Now a member of Los Nefilim, Diago leaves Spain in order to solve the mystery of his missing violin, which torments his dreams. It’s his first official mission as a member of the Inner Guard, and he succeeds in both solving the mystery and in confronting his PTSD from the Great War. During the course of these events, Guillermo discovers traitors within his own ranks that belong to his brother, Jordi Abelló, who has returned to undermine Guillermo’s right to command Los Nefilim. At the end of 1932, Diago and Guillermo work together and finally compose the first notes to the Key.

Our story begins in 1939. . .

I did the same for A Song with Teeth, and simply added a very short spoiler-free synopsis of Carved from Stone and Dream.

A few tips for writing these summaries:

Focus on one character’s story arc. There are a lot of awesome characters in Los Nefilim, or at least, I like to think so, and while there is room to elaborate on all these characters, remember the purpose behind the refresher: to jog your reader’s memory. Design your blurbs around your protagonist’s character arc and be as precise as possible.

Remind the reader why the protagonist is special. I did this in the first summary of the novellas and continued it throughout the series: Diago Alvarez, a rarity among the nefilim in that his mother was an angel and his father was a daimon-born nefil, discovers that he has a six-year-old son named Rafael. It’s also the first sentence of the first summary. For those who have read the books, they remember Diago. For those new to the series, they know which character is the protagonist and what makes them special to the story.

Stick to the most important plot points. This isn’t the place to go into characterization arcs. The reader will remember those. Ask yourself: What is the series’ main objective? For Los Nefilim, it is the search for the Key. So I designed each blurb to focus on what led them to the next step in finding the Key.

KISS it. Keep it short, sweetheart, from beginning to end. You want to design it so that someone can scan the whole summary in less than a minute. Hit the highlights in as few sentences as possible and then move to the story. In the Los Nefilim series, the novella summaries were two paragraphs only because they were covering the events of three separate stories. I kept each novel’s summary to a short paragraph.

The second problem required a more creative solution. How was I going to skim through seven years of events and keep it entertaining?

The answer was through a prologue, but I didn’t want to do a standard recap.

I thought about how the various divisions of the Inner Guard would communicate during the 1930s: memos and telegrams. So I devised several very brief memos and telegrams that established the backstory as if it were happening in real time. I also developed a catch-phrase that the readers immediately associated with the stories (watch for me).

Because this post has grown a bit, I’m not going to post the entire prologue. It’s comprised of several very short memos and telegrams, but so you can see how I handled the situation, this is the final one before the story begins:

INNER GUARD DIVISION: LOS NEFILIM General Miquel de Torrellas Servicio de Investigación Militar

10 February 1939 SIM Report No. 49785

To the Honorable Madame Sabine Rousseau, Capitaine Général, Les Néphilim:

Catalonia has fallen. Los Nefilim is in retreat.

Our intelligence has uncovered Jordi’s plot to send assassins after Don Guillermo and his daughter, Ysabel. Diago Alvarez, Carme Gebara, and Feran Perez are assigned to escort Don Guillermo to the French border via an undisclosed route. We severed communications with Don Guillermo on 5 February 1939 for his own safety. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

Even in retreat, our unit remains under heavy artillery fire. The Germans and Italians bomb civilians as they flee the Nationalist advance.

My unit will continue to provide support to the mortal refugees in the eastern sector as they cross the Pyrenees. We will approach the border at Le Perthus.

Watch for us.

And this is how you can make a prologue work for you in a series. The prologue is essentially a backstory infodump—the trick is to keep it entertaining.

Be creative. Think about how your characters communicate. Is it through text messages, ravens, coded letters? Then work that into a prologue that will bring your reader quickly up to speed.

If you can skip the prologue and bring your reader into the story in the first paragraph, then by all means, do so. Toss the rules into the fire and do what works best for your readers and your story.

Use beta readers and listen to their input as to what works for them and what doesn’t. One beta reader suggested that I add a glossary to the series, and I did. I don’t know if the readers ever needed it, but it certainly proved invaluable to me a couple of times.

So remember the main rule: keep your reader in the loop at all times. Everything else can handled creatively.

That’s about all I have for now. I’ll be around.

Watch for me.

[master-sass-blast]

Five Times it Was Yours and Wade’s Fault and One Time it Wasn’t.

TIME TO GET FUCKY.

Summary: Five times that you and Wade caused some level of destruction and-or chaos at for the X-Men --and one time that it actually wasn't either of your faults.

Rating: T for language, mild-moderate verbal abuse, and mildly inappropriate hijinks.

Pairing(s): Piotr Rasputin x Reader and (somewhat) implied Jean Grey/Scott Summers.

Set before “Questions and Answers” but after “Of First Dates and Not So First Kisses.”

Author’s Note: Scott is arguably the worst behaved in the “+1″ bit of this fic. This whole thing is just a bunch of crack and comedy, so don’t worry about missing any sort of plot if you skip that part. Also, this doesn’t really contribute anything plot/characterization-wise to the series, so if you want/need to skip it because of the mild-to-moderate verbal abuse coming from Scott --or if you’re a Scott fan and don’t want to see him getting shit on--then don’t worry, you won’t miss anything crucial.

Taglist: @chromecutie, @marvel-is-perfection, @super-darkcloudstudent, @girl-obsessed-with-things

1. El Pantalones Del Fuego, Except the Pants Are Water, and the Water is Your Swimming Pool, and Yeah, It’s Our Fault, but in Our Defense, It Looks Cool.

 “Wade! Y/N!”

The merc-with-a-mouth in question quickly kicks several containers labelled “heptane” behind him and out of view, while you just try to look as innocent as possible. “Yeah?” the two of you answer simultaneously.

Scott Summers, looking suitably shocked and unquestionably enraged, makes various noises of disbelief while gesturing at the swimming pool on Xavier’s property –which, thanks to the wonderful principles of Chemistry, is currently on fire. “How? How did you even do this?”

“We didn’t do anything,” you lie as more residents and students run over to see what’s going on. “This just… happened.”

“No –no! You two absolutely had something to do with thi—”

“It’s water on fire,” Wade says, barely suppressing the mirth in his voice. “Come on, Clopsie, even I don’t have that kind of power.”

You hide a smirk with your hand as Scott continues to freak out. Yeah, but chemicals sure do.

 ***

 2. Granted, We May Not Have a Future as Car Detailers, but This Still Looks Cool. Also, You’re Out of Sticky Notes.

 Fact: The standard Post-It note is three inches long by three inches wide, giving it a surface area of nine square inches.

Fact: Thanks to quote estimates for vehicle wrapping surfaces, you know that the average surface area for a four door sedan is about two hundred forty three-square feet, the average van is around two hundred ninety-seven square feet, and no one seems to have average measurements for SUVs, but most of the quote estimates start at over ten thousand dollars for those, which has to mean something.

Fact: If you try to add all those together, then convert them to inches, then multiply by the number of cars in the garage at the Institute, then divide by the surface area of a sticky note… you quickly remember why you tutor in writing and not in math.

What you do know is that you and Wade stay up the entire night of the thirty-first of March to cover every single “X-Mobile” (save for the jets, because not even Wade is crazy enough to try and cover those in Post-It notes) in sticky notes, and by the time it’s 8:45 AM, you’ve gone through well over two hundred packs of sticky notes, you’re both exhausted as fuck, and every single car has a dick made out of sticky notes somewhere on its body.

You and Wade grin, then exchange equally tired fist bumps.

Scott’s reaction is going to be legendary.

 ***

 3. Look, It Started Out as Wondering if You Could Fill A House With Enough Balloons to Lift It Off Its Foundation, Sort of Like a Bootleg “UP,” and Then We Found Out You Could Order Balloons En Mass from Amazon, and –Look—at Least We Got Latex-Free Balloons, so That Should Count for Something, Right?

 “This was incredibly wasteful, not to mention time consuming—”

“You got that right,” Wade interjects, voice pitched up and squeaky from the helium he keeps inhaling from one of the –many, many, many—balloons that the two of you used to fill the X-Mansion.

As in the whole mansion. Every single room, all three floors, and the training rooms, too.

You’d thought your fingers were going to fall off from tying off all the balloons.

(One of Wade’s actually did.)

“I am very disappointed in both of you,” Piotr continues, looking every bit the stern, steel disciplinarian with his arms crossed over his chest and his brow furrowed.

You suck in some helium from a balloon, then grin cheekily up at your boyfriend. “Sorry, baby,” you apologize, voice sounding like a cartoon character’s. “Won’t happen again.”

“Dorogoy… please.”

“Sorry.” You gulp down regular air until your voice is back at its normal pitch. “Look, we were just trying to see if we could pull an ‘UP’—”

“Myshka.”

You quickly alter course. “Hey, you have to admit that the kids are having a good time with it.”

Piotr looks over at the front of the house, where the students are delightedly shoving balloons out of the open doors and windows and releasing them to the sky, and smiles softly. “Perhaps. But that does not change that you two are in great deal of trouble. Or that you two will have to clean up all mess from prank.”

“We figured,” you say with a reassuring smile.

“We did?” Wade asks.

You kick your honorary brother in the shins to get him to comply, then grin up at your boyfriend. “We’ve got it covered, babe. No worries.”

Piotr fixes Wade with a stern look, but it softens when he looks over at you. He kisses the top of your head –gently, ever mindful of his strength—then heads off to help corral the students, seemingly satisfied with the reception of his lecture.

Wade heaves a sigh next to you. “Man,” he grumbles, voice still squeaky. “Cleaning up is gonna suck.”

“Yeah,” you agree before sucking down more helium to pitch your voice up once more. “And not in the fun way.”

The two of you laugh –then laugh again at how your laughter sounds—and collapse against the front lawn like the delighted dumbass duo you are.

(The clean-up does suck, though.)

 ***

 4. Okay, Fair Enough, This is a Waste of Food, But We Bought It With Our Own Money, and –Hey—You Have To Admit You Weren’t Expecting It.

 Wade buys the Poptarts. So many Poptarts. More than a year’s supply of Poptarts, even.

He also procures the glue and does glue application, since you’re doing –arguably—the most physically demanding part of the prank.

“What on Earth made you two think that gluing Poptarts to ceiling was a good idea!” Scott snaps, looking like he’s two seconds away from having a coronary.

Which, granted, is basically Mission Accomplished.

“Look, I understand you might suspect Wade,” you start, “but I—”

“Zip it!” Scott snarls, face red and shoulders heaving. “You’re the only person dumb enough to partner up with that.” He points at Wade. “So, don’t even try the ‘I’m so innocent’ act that you use on your boyfriend to get away with murder. It’s not going to work on me!”

You narrow your eyes into an irritated glare. “Who the fuck are you calling ‘dumb?’”

 ***

 5. Hey, All We Did Was What You Asked of Us. Mostly.

 After the “House Full of Balloons” and “Poptarts on the Ceiling” incidents, the two of you are asked to “please, scale back your exploits and consider the wastefulness of your pranks and the ruckus you create, thank you.”

So, you and Wade do just that. No more expensive, house-wide pranks. No more wasting huge amounts of supplies or food.

In fact, the crux of your next prank only takes two cartons of eggs and a roll of duct tape.

See? The two of you can be economical.

And, if the two of you also you industrial strength sealant to shut Scott’s door while he’s gone on an extended mission, no one thinks to comment about it because you do it from the inside. You wouldn’t want to cause a ruckus, after all.

And, if you also drape his entire room and everything in it with garbage bags and seal those bags together with duct tape so nothing can get under the edges, it’s because you two don’t want to ruin everything in his room. That would be wasteful.

And, if you also hook up several hospital grade air purifiers to continually pump the air out of Scott’s room, it’s because you don’t want his neighbors to deal with any sort of averse smells. That would be too grand a scale.

And, if Scott comes home to a room with rotten eggs hanging from the ceiling by strips of duct tape and a slightly maggoty mess on the floor…

Well, that’s no one’s problem but his.

***

 +1. This One Actually Wasn’t On Us. Suck It, Scott.

 It happens on a mass school camping trip in the middle of the summer.

The students are out in the middle of an otherwise abandoned, grassy field, working on practicing using their powers by playing games of balloon toss, going through rope climbing courses together, and other fun activities—

And then a car explodes.

There’s a lot of jumping and screaming as the sound of the explosion rockets through the air, then various teachers use their abilities to protect the students and everyone else as random car chunks rain down from the sky.

There’s a moment of silence as everyone stares at the car, in various state of shock—

And then the silence is shattered when Scott Fucking Summers loses his shit.

“That does it!” Scott storms over to you and Wade, face redder than ketchup and body trembling with rage. “I have had it with you two destroying Institute property at whatever idiotic whim strikes you!”

“Woah!” Wade holds up his hands defensively. “We didn’t have anything to do with this one!”

“Save it, Scarface! We both know that you’re the only one insane enough to blow up a car—”

“He’s telling the truth, you monumental as -jerk!” you shout (and quickly censoring yourself, to boot), glaring down Scott. “Wade and I didn’t do this! Our pranks might be crazy, expensive, and-or annoying, but we don’t blow up cars. Moreover, we don’t put people at risk like that!”

“Do you honestly think anyone’s going to believe that?”

“‘Do you honestly think anyone’s going to believe that?’” you repeat back in an obnoxious, nasal tone. “Do you even hear yourself right now?”

“You sanctimonious—”

“Enough!” Piotr storms between you and Scott, causing the shorter man to back up several paces. “I understand frustration and shock, but that does not give you right to lash out at others.”

“Are you kidding me?” Scott screams. “You let her get away with murder—”

“We didn’t do it!” Wade hollers, cutting Scott off.

“The last person on the face of the Earth that I would ever believe—”

“He’s telling the truth, Scott.”

Scott whirls, expression dumbfounded, and stares at his girlfriend, Jean. “What? Are you kidding me? You’re saying that you believe them?”

“Clarissa did it,” Jean says firmly, arms wrapped around a weeping second-grader’s shoulders. “It was an accident. She lost control of her powers.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because she told me,” Jean states flatly, expression one of irritation. “And because I can read minds.”

“Wilson’s mind can’t be read!”

“But Y/N’s can. And she’s telling the truth about both of them having nothing to do with the car exploding.” Jean narrows her eyes at her boyfriend. “Unless you think I’m lying.”

Scott flounders for a moment, then slowly realizes that everyone else –staff, teachers, and students—is staring at him.

“Go cool off for bit,” Piotr says to him, nodding in the direction of the tents.

“I don’t need—"

“Go. Cool. Off.”

Scott seems to size up the situation –chiefly, him versus three hundred plus pounds of angry, grade A Russian beef—and quickly beats feet towards the tents.

“Suck it, bitch,” Wade mutters under his breath as he watches Scott go. “Suck it so hard.” His expression goes stormy for a moment, and then it brightens again as he turns to face you. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” you say after a moment as you watch Scott with unease. “I’m fine.”

[rnmremix]

What is a Remix?

I first heard the term remix somewhere in the wilds of Livejournal back in 2002/2003. It became something fairly common- sometimes synonymous with recursive fanfiction and sometimes not. I’m going to steal pretty hardcore from the wiki fanlore about what a remix is/can be to try and shed some more light on this particular exchange:

A remix is when you re-envision someone's existing fanwork - essentially writing (in this case) your own version of someone else's fic with all your own preferences. It's different from collaborating because the remix does not fall into the "official" continuity of another fan's stories; it's different from being inspired by someone else's [trope] fic and writing your own [trope] fic because the connection between the original and the remix is made explicit, with the remix being built out of the original.

Some people have a very narrow view of what counts as a remix, but ours is considerably broader. If it's related to the original work in such a way that you can see the connection, and the author of the second work calls it a remix, it's a remix.

A remix exchange is when authors sign up to allow other authors comb through their collection of works to find something that inspires them to write their own. 

A remix challenge works with very loose standards: In a remix challenge, the mods assign to each writer another participant's body of work to choose from. Each writer selects and rewrites at least one of their assigned participant's stories, with the expectation that another participant will do the same to one of the writer's own stories. Most remix challenges require the plotline of the remix to stay the same as that of the original. The remix challenge may also require that the ending of the original story be preserved; this does not necessarily mean that the remix and the original must end at the same point. We don’t want to put hoops for the writers to jump through outside of their own imaginations. This is about finding inspiration and also giving something back to our fellow writers.

WE ARE NOT “FIXING” OR “IMPROVING” someone else's fic,we are writing a complement to the original, a story that will stand up on its own but will also be interesting to someone who's already read the original. A good remix will give the reader a new way of appreciating the original by filling out the background, giving another character's view of what's happening, or explaining the characters' motivations in a different way.

A remix can take a lot of different forms- the fanlore lists quite a few:

Writers sometimes incorporate dialogue, description, or other details of the original work into their remix story, but it's not necessary. Many remixes keep the same characters, ships and basic plot, especially in remix challenges where there are often rules about what remixers can change.

A discussion on fail_fandomanon produced a list of possible remix techniques, most of them from one post. The list has been reproduced and expanded on below.

POV flip — Retelling the same events from a different character's point of view or switching between first, second, or third person.

Role Reversal — If A was the bank robber and B was the security guard in the original, B is now the bank robber and A is now the security guard.

Sequel/prequel — The remixer explores what led up to the events in the original work, or what may have happened after. (The writer of this list noted that "There's quite a bit of disagreement about whether or not this actually counts as a remix," and suggested that "the best way to resolve it as an issue is to be certain the remix overlaps with at least a couple scenes of the original.")

New spin/tone shift — The same things happen as in the original fic, but they mean something different than they did in the original. For example, a happy time travel fic might be portrayed as tragic by the remixer.

Characterization shift — Similar to the above, but what's changing is the characterization. This "works quite well when you see the characters entirely differently than the person you're remixing."

Genre change — Changing a western into a space opera or changing between slash, het, or gen.

AU to Canon — That modern/space/western AU now happens in the canon era/setting.

Canon to AU — That canon fic is now an AU.

Different place in canon — The same events happen, but they happen at a different point in canon.

Pairing shift — This can have several meanings:

a fic with a main pairing of A/B and a background pairing of C/D may be remixed so that C/D is the main pairing instead. (please be courteous of the original authors ship preferences if choosing this type of remix)

the remix backgrounds the shippy parts in order to focus on the plot (changing a shipfic into a casefic for example) or the other way around.

Pairing change — The events of the fic happen to C/D instead of A/B. This is an unpopular option because challenges tend to disallow it.[2]

Missing Scene — The remixer writes what might have happened in a scene that was not portrayed in the original work.

Expansion/Contracting — The remix expands a 200 word story to 5k or contracts a 20k story down into 1000 words.

For want of a nail — One small detail at the beginning of the story original story is changed, so events spin out differently in the remix.

Mash-up — The remixer takes two or more of someone's fics and combine them.

Changing the ending — Someone dies in the original, they don't in the remix (or vice-versa).

One crucial detail — The remixer pulls out what they consider to be the most important detail of the original fic, then lets everything else go in order to explore that detail.

Scope of events — The remix covers a smaller or larger scope of events than the original. For example, if the original focuses on the events of one day, the remix might cover the entire month that day takes place in, recontextualizing the day the original focused on by showing how it relates to what happened before and after, or it might focus on just one hour of that day.

Trope addition — An extra trope is added by the remixer, for example soulmates or wingfic. This is "similar to genre shift but not quite the same."

Remixers may do several of the above at once, or just one.

Remixing is one of those controversial fandom things, thus the event is considered the author giving permission to another participant to remix their work- permission should be given before attempting a remix. This is considered creating an homage as a thank you, not turning in a marked up work.

Hope this helps answer any questions you all may have!

[smokeybrand]

Harley Quinn and the Miscalculation

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey is bombing in theaters and what i was apprehensive about, is coming to pass. All of this rara, GRRRL-power, superficial, laughably toxic, feminism saturates this picture. And that’s fine. A little misandry never hurt anyone, especially with as much unapologetic misogyny that is rife within Hollywood. Still, there is a limit to and, while i didn’t mind the whole emancipation equal initialization angle this movie was going for, i can see why it would turn off so many others. We’re on the back end of the MeToo movement now and, in a world where Amber Heard has been exposed for the violent abuser that she truly is, the climate is a little different from when this flick was greenlit. It’s wild watching a marketing strategy trying so goddamn hard to alienate half their audience. Seriously, that sh*t was box office suicide but its not the reason why BoP failed. The media wants to blame sexist men for not supporting an all-women production but that’s not realistic. The demo breakdown for those who went to see BOP skewed heavily male. No, there are several reasons why and i kind of want to go over them here.

Issue 1: Feminist Marketing

The biggest issue this movie had was the way it was marketed. Besides the gung-ho drive in an attempt to appeal to that ludicrously vocal minority of third-wave feminists that don’t support sh*t outside of their own little echo chamber causes, it appears the WB did everything in their power to shoo away and semblance of testosterone. I noted this early, but that sh*t blew up in their face immediately. No one want to sit around and be preached at or two hours. I endued that sh*t because i enjoy comics and Margot’s Harleen is pretty legit but, goddamn! In a world of Nice Guys and Neckbeards, going so hard at that misandrist angle was a goddamn mistake. That, and the misleading push of Harley Quinn. This is not a birds of prey film and never should have been promoted as such. I could tell this was a Harley Quinn film immediately, but Normies sure didn’t. I imagine they wanted more Harley but saw the Birds top billed and decided it wasn’t worth the trip.

Fix: Better Marketing

To just say “Better Marketing” is kind of glib, but bear with me. There’s a lot to this. First thing first, that title should have never got approved. You want to lead with Harley, you lead with Harley. Hilariously, someone at WB thought so, too, and they changed the name. Personally, out the gate, i would have named this thing “Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.” from the start, you set the expectation that this is a Harley Quinn movie AND assert that the BoP will have some sort of presence. The movie, itself, can still be exactly what it is, but that title change alters the entire expectation of that whole experience. Doing that also gives you an opportunity to promote this thing in a more balanced manner. Maybe don’t attack all the dudes that might want to see your flick with bullsh*t politics. I rather liked the idea of an all-girl gangster flick. It worked super well for Widows. If executed properly, you can even keep that whole Tarantino-esque vibe. But that might conflict with the second issue...

Issue 2: Hard R Rating

Everyone wants to be Deadpool but no one can be Deadpool. Look, i love the Hard R in my capeflicks. The aforementioned Deadpool was excellent and i absolutely love what Philips and Phoenix brought in Joker, but if you want to see how to do a proper R rated superhero film, look no further than Logan. Holy sh*t, that movie was good. and violent. and moving. I cried at the end of that thing. Shed me a man-tear, for sure. The thing about all of these films? That R was earned. You want to go Tarantino? You go full Tarantino. Bop did not commit like that. This motherf*cker was a “hard PG-13″. Seriously, the violence in this thing was akin to the violence in The Wolverine, a PG-13 flick. Why did they need that Hard R? Just to keep pace with the other Hard R flicks? See, that alienates your best bet at a profit.

Fix: go for that “Hard PG-13″

You want kids to see this thing, specifically young girls. Girls LOVE Harley, as they should. She’s become one helluva character. The growth shown in her comic persona is to be celebrated and this movie kind of touches upon that. 14-year-olds can’t get into your unnecessarily R rated film. You want those 14 and 15-year-olds to see your movie multiple times, and this thing had the potential for just that. Instead, they went too hard for that Hard R and it ruined a massive source of revenue. Besides, you already have a mature Harley show airing on that DCEU streaming whatever. The adults can check that one out, especially since it’s f*cking dope.

Issue 3: Character Interpretation

Harley Quinn has a very specific, very Snyder-esque design. You can’t shake that. Quinn is gonna Quinn. How the f*ck did the rest of these characters land on their respective situations? Hell, Cassanda Cain is “in name only” and that sucks! Cass is one of the dopest Bat-Kids in the fam and she’s relegated to that? Really? You barely even hint at Montoya’s sexuality, which is fine because it doesn’t define her, but to push this flick as LGBTQ, or whatever, without acknowledging the biggest L in the film seems disingenuous to me. And Huntress? Oh, my darling Huntress. You were the best thing about this movie and they didn’t even let you be IN the goddamn movie. Look, I’m all for creativity and letting creatures create but come on. At some point, you gotta give a little back to the fans, not just slap them in the face with such mediocre adaptions.

Fix: Better Characterization

Out the box, you should have NEVER adapted my girl Cass the way you did. Everything about this character is bogus. Where is my socially inept, traumatically mute, bad-ass human weapon? You give me a potty-mouth pick-pocket instead? For real? Nah. A much better character for this would have been Bluebird. How is Harper Row not perfect for this part? Considering her origin, she could start off as Harley’s protege and become better, actually become Blurebird and join the Birds later on down the line. How is that not a thing? And Montoya? Aside from a lack of screen time, maybe tie her into the plot a little better. Aside from a few throwaway line, what do we really know about her? Canary is fine, they did more than enough to give her character legs, but all of the Birds should have gotten as much time to develop. Speaking of time, my darling Huntress should have had WAY more screentime. She was SO dope and it’s a crime you didn’t give Winstead enough time to play with this character because she was having very real fun with her.

These three problems crippled any opportunity this movie had at being great. I’m sure WB thought they had a hit on their hands, or that the name “Harley Quinn” could carry this flick on it’s own but really? After Wondy and Aquaman, hell, even Shazam to a certain extent, you’d think these cats would have learned something. Instead, they opted to go hard with the Snyder-isms and the Box Office reflects all of that. This should have never been a BoP films. Margot should have definitely went for Gotham City Sirens. Still, we got what we got. It’s not good, but it’s not that bad, either. If they would have done the above three things, it could have been great. Missed opportunity.

[waltongoggins]

ohhh may i ask what you didn't like about the first season? fyi i never read the comics and i think the story kinda dragged at times (esp. abt the hazel&chacha bits??), and ik i'm gonna be lynched for this but i think ellen page was pretty meh as vanya...but since you've read the comics i'm curious abt what you think

yes, you can absolutely ask but the answer may be long...and keep in mind this is from the perspective of someone who not only has read the comics, but has been completely enamored with them since ‘07...i’ll start with hazel & cha-cha since you mentioned them and because it’s a Big One for me. (this is going under a cut because it’s long as hell, and i’m prone to rambling)

steve blackman, the showrunner, was so excited to bring H&CC into s1 and yet what he essentially did was create two OC’s. on one hand, i get. in the comics they have very little depth, but the few key traits they do have were essentially erased. they became bland, joyless versions of some of the most iconic characters in the whole series. the more time i spend with tuatv the less i give a sh*t about hazel/agnes (and it was already part of the show that dragged for me). i’m annoyed they massively revamped these characters, but i’m disgusted by the way they made the White Man redeemable and Loving and Soft, while focusing on the hyperviolent, revenge-seeking black woman trying to ruin the Quirky White Indie Couple. i’m annoyed they ruined the love and camaraderie between comics H&CC in favor of a forced romance subplot that they used to fill time. i’m mad that hazel got a second chance and a few layers worth of depth while cha-cha started and ended with “she likes murder!” with about one second worth of deeper characterization before it gets shit on again. either give both characters the same care and attention or keep them both as Gleeful Assassins, prioritizing and humanizing the white man while reducing the black woman to harmful tropes at the same time without even hope for something more is UGLY.

moving on to vanya because you also mentioned her (and i’m bitter) i love ellen page and i think she did an amazing job in the show. and i like tv!vanya for what she is, but it didn’t feel much like vanya to me and while i work really hard to keep the show separate from the comics and enjoy both for what they bring to the table, i wish i saw more of that character on screen. that’s essentially the base of a lot of my issues with the show as a comics fan...in so many ways it doesn’t /fee/ like the comics at all. and that’s a bummer for me, because i spent over a decade imagining what this adaptation would look like. i could go into detail here and make a list of specific things that disappointed me re: character details, personality changes, world building, etc. but it would be long and tedious and it’s just as easy to say that it wasn’t what i hoped it would be. (not that i don’t love the show, i do!!!! but coming from this specific perspective, some of these things are just hard to accept, and a lot of the changes i’m just not a fan of, no matter how hard i try to be. some of them make sense and some of them just didn’t need to be done imo...). overall i feel like the show lost a lot of the magic from the comics, and certainly much of its uniqueness.

as for some Bigger, more Tangible issues i have with the overall narrative of the show itself:

dave. listen, i was ecstatic when i read that klaus was going to have a canon boyfriend, but this isn’t what i expected nor what i wanted. you want to talk about Bury Your Gays? this is a pretty significant example, and dave doesn’t even have any actual characterization out of fanon and/or what the actor had to make up for himself to give any semblance of life to that relationship (or the idea of it). in the end he was simply fodder to klaus’ arc and while i respect any/all fans who try to salvage this and make the best of it, it really did Nothing for me at all besides make me angry.

EUDORA PATCH. similar to above, another example of a harmful and ultimately unneeded trope to fuel diego’s pain and personal tragedy which he’s already full up on. another new addition to the story i was excited to see on screen that really just ultimately left me bitter.

to be fair, both of these could be fixed or at least revisited via time travel, but i’m still cautious about being hopeful. i feel like the chances of seeing dave again might be higher than that of patch bc of certain details of the Dallas arc that might land them back in the 60s, but STILL. a season with this kind of thing back-to-back just ain’t cute.

on a different level, i have such a big problem with how the plot is revealed in this show, specifically re: pogo. let me say this, if your entire plot can be avoided by ONE CHARACTER revealing some truth then it’s...Not Great...and the fact that pogo has THREE bombshell pieces of news that are littered off one after the other and significantly drive the story just feels lazy, frankly. and the more i watch it the more i hate it. (also i feel like they missed the opportunity to make the audience really /care/ and /feel/ for pogo. maybe instead of all that time with hazel/agnes they could’ve added in more flashbacks to reveal character rs’s for ALL the kids and their parents/guardian figures hmm just a thought...)

give me time and i can think of more, but i guess (barring some of the more petty issues i have regarding certain choice changes from the comics) these are mostly the Big Ones i feel toward the show.

[plumbobpost]

Fanfic Friday: Spotlight on Skell’s Fortune & Romance

Sul sul!

Today Week of Woohoo continues with a very special twist. I have had the opportunity to ask Skell a few questions as part of a new series of posts about storytelling in The Sims community.

Skell’s Fortune & Romance serves as a prequel to the Pleasantview and Strangetown storylines in The Sims 2 from the perspectives of the Caliente sisters, hence the title which references their aspirations. Her story takes place in the time period between the first and second games and fills in the gaps between the contradicting timelines of The Sims, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3. Although the story is largely from Dina’s perspective, it features most of the iconic The Sims 2 characters ranging from Olive Specter to the Tricous to Bella and Mortimer Goth, establishing its own vivid mythology in the process.

In addition to writing, Skell has also created beautiful Maxis-Match content for The Sims 2 and is a frequent contributor to the Totally Maxis Tumblr and the fansite Garden of Shadows.

Without further ado, I’ll let Skell speak for herself.

You’ve said in the past that Fortune & Romance started out as your attempt to make sense of Maxis canon for the premade characters of Neighborhood 1, Pleasantview, and Sunset Valley. How did this evolve from your personal headcanons into a full-fledged story?

“I had played TS2 off and on for years before I was part of the fandom, mostly just goofing around but I had a lot of fun taking pictures and experimenting with posing. One day I discovered Strangetomato’s “Strangetown Here We Come” on TVtropes and was amazed at the way she fleshed out the premade stories from the game. Through her comment section, I discovered the whole fandom and started paying better attention to the premades. Eventually I came up with a backstory for Dina that I really wanted to write and share.”

Why did you choose Nina and Dina Caliente to be your protagonists? Did you ever consider different lead characters?

“It was always gonna be Dina because I was intrigued her backstory with the mysteriously inconsistent Michael Bachelor and the fact that she’s part alien. I wasn’t as interested in Nina until I noticed that she was shy (like me in RL) and also autonomously beating people up all the time. That’s when I realized she was gonna be a co-star and balance to Dina’s antics.”

Instead of ignoring Maxis’ characterization of Dina as a gold digger, you embraced it and made it a focal point of her character. Similarly, you fully acknowledge Nina’s romance aspiration while not making her a heartbreaker. How did you find a balance between their implied “villainy” in The Sims 2 and making them more sympathetic characters?

“I enjoy classic movies where Marilyn Monroe or Thoroughly Modern Millie is like “teehee I’m gonna marry a millionaire,” and it’s quirky rather than villainous. In those stories, she usually falls for a poor guy and chooses love over money (and often he turns out to be secretly rich.) Since Michael didn’t give her a “married a rich sim” memory, I wanted to write Dina the gold-digger as a modern version of that kind of story.”

“Maxis kind of setup Romance sims for “villainy” by not allowing for casual or open relationships, but of course that can be fixed with mods. With Nina, it’s interesting that she doesn’t really fit the “outgoing party girl” type. I think of her as a quiet person with a very intense energy. She needs lots of exercise and woohoo so that she doesn’t explode.”

There are a lot of unconventional relationships in your story. Nina and Servo. Olive and Ichabod. The Tricous. Even Dina and Michael. That being said, there is very definitely a theme of “love conquers all.” What motivated your approach to these relationships? How does that relate back to your attempts at reconciling Maxis canon throughout different games?

“I have a thing for mixed supernatural relationships. Dina and Mike bonding over their hidden supernatural heritages was always key once I figured Michael had a magic side. I knew I wanted to have Nina be intimate with a servo because that’s HAWT, but I didn’t foresee how intimate things would get until I figured out Servo’s character. The Tricous’ happy polyamory was my explanation for all the weirdness going on with their relationships and family tree. And I wanted Olive, Ichabod, and DJ make up this very loving and weirdly “normal” Unholy Family.”

Speaking of reconciling Maxis canon, you created your own version of Michael Bachelor in order to match his appearance in The Sims better and to create a resemblance between him and his famous sister, Bella Goth. Why do you think Michael was depicted so differently throughout the first three games? What did you draw inspiration from in creating “The Ultimate Michael Bachelor?”

“I think it mostly comes down to them wanting to use a familiar name for Bella’s brother/Dina’s husband in TS2, and carrying that forward. In TS3, I saw a boy who had his life all planned out for him by his father. In my headcanon, he screwed that all up and became the graduate of TS1 who had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. His relationship to Bella is the reason why he’s still single by the time he reconnects with Dina, who helps him find direction.”

There is an abundance of strong female characters in F&R, some of which were not originally portrayed that way. Why did you feel that it was important to write them as such?

“Well, because I’m a proud “SJW,” of course! But seriously, it’s less about being strong and more about seeing them as people?”

^Best answer that I could have asked for.

A large portion of Fortune & Romance is dedicated to the mythology of The Sims universe(s) and to supernatural sims. How did you go about the process of world building? Did you draw inspiration from different games in the series and/or from outside sources?

“My biggest worldbuilding is the explanation of where the supernaturals came from. The fairies are sort of fallen angel types who each have an animal form, and their magic rubbed off on human sims to create the supernatural life states.”

“I try to base the worldbuilding off things in game or aspects of game play. The fairy backstory was heavily inspired by fairy tales, in the way they morally test humans for punishment or guidance.”

Aside from premade supernatural sims such as the Smiths, Calientes, and Summerdreams, how did you go about deciding which premade sims were supernatural and which weren’t? How did you decide what life state they were?

“Bella has that awesome bio about being descended from “occultists, decadents, and mystics,” but then in TS3 the Bachelor family is uber-normal, so it eventually became that Jocasta is a squirellier version of Samantha from Betwitched.”

How has Fortune & Romance evolved since you started? Are there things you would do differently if you were to restart it?

“I was such a younger, different person when I started it, and yes there are many things I would do differently. (Michael’s skintone, for example. I tried to split difference between games with a custom skintone in between S2 and S3, but everyone assumes he was whitewashed to S2.)”

“When recreating families for TS4 I came up with a backstory for Dulcinea and Nestor’s relationship as well as a backstory for Don that explains how he got to be the way he is. I still can incorporate these things, but it would have been nice to bring them in earlier.”

With your story having reached a climax, many readers are wondering whether or not F&R will come to an end sooner rather than later. Not to spoil anything, but will the story continue after the party and if so, do you intend for it to last until the events of The Sims 2?

“I never intended for it to last until the events of TS2 because then it would be really depressing. There is more stuff planned for after the party though!”

Aside from writing Fortune & Romance, you have also created a variety of Maxis-match custom content. Why do you prefer working in this aesthetic? How do you feel it complements your writing?

“The game is cartoony, and I like to use that style to tell the story. I prefer to keep things heightened and silly rather than realistic, which very much fits into The Sims aesthetic.”

Speaking of Maxis-match, you have been working on a project for The Sims 2 that involves adapting Maxis-based custom content to blend in better with the game files. Would you mind elaborating a bit on The Maxis Match Repository Project?

“The TS2 repository project is made up of conversions/separates/or otherwise adapted Maxis which pull their textures from the ones that are already in your game, rather than creating new ones. This makes the files much much tinier. I also wanted to create a catalog where you can easily find it all in one place rather than hunt all over the internet. Check it out and don’t miss out on the gems in the back of your catalog!”

You’ve played every main game in The Sims franchise, and you’ve even made some very popular 2t4 recreations of the Calientes and Michael Bachelor. Do you have a favorite game for playing? Creating sims? Making Content? Building?

“I enjoy a lot of things about TS4. The game looks great and CAS and Build Mode are the best of any game. My favorite aspect is making sims, especially that you can share sims with traits/careers/skills so they have their own little story packaged with them. However, it is much more difficult for storytelling since there’s not even a way to pick up sims and move them around.”

“TS2 is still the best as far as premade sims go, and it’s the only one I make content for. I’m a bit of a control freak with my sims, and TS2 has been mastered by fans at this point where you can have ultimate control.”

Why do you continue to play The Sims? Do you feel that the games provide a creative outlet?

“I always loved playing with Barbies as a kid and The Sims really is the ultimate dollhouse. The first time I ever heard about TS1 I knew I HAD to have it. My aunt bought it for me while I was on vacation, but I couldn’t play it until we got home! During the car ride back home and I read that manual from cover to cover multiple times, so many ideas buzzing in my head.”

Any parting comments, teasers, spoilers, public service announcements, etc.?

“I’ve been on hiatus a long while and am just now getting back into the swing of things. I’m currently working on finishing up the chapter I started posting on Tumblr but never finished. It was FreddyAirmail who got me back in the TS2 spirit by asking me to help out with the Crystal Springs neighborhood project. It’s a community hood with houses based on each of the Stuff Packs, and I made the families for Teen Style and Family Fun!”

Thanks again to Skell for answering my questions. To those of you out there who aren’t familiar with her work, go check out her Tumblr and make sure to catch up on Fortune & Romance.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to visit my ask box. If you are interested, give Plumbob Post a follow, and reblog for anyone else who you think would enjoy this blog. Stay tuned for upcoming posts!

Dag dag!

 *Photo Credits go to Skell*

[mortythesp00k]

Review: Tokyo Ghoul Movie

I had mixed feelings when I first heard that Tokyo Ghoul was getting a live-action adaptation. I find most cinematic recreations of both books and manga usually fall short of their source material (I’m looking at you Death Note). However, I was pleasantly surprised by Tokyo Ghoul. I do not think it was a flawless film, but it did not leave me feeling disappointed like many adaptations of stories I greatly enjoy. I will be splitting my discussion of this movie into four parts that are labeled below. Before I begin, I would like to state a quick disclaimer: I have not seen many live-action adaptations of anime/manga. As a result, I will not be able to make too many comparisons between Tokyo Ghoul and its fellow adaptations. I am also from the west, so my idea for what makes a movie good is probably out of touch with the standards of cinema in Japan. All of that being said, I am happy to be discussing and sharing my opinions on the 2017 film adaptation of our beloved Tokyo Ghoul.

Plot:

In this section I am going to giving some general thoughts about the story of the movie and how much its deviations from the story presented in the manga affected its quality. First, there is something important that I need to get out of the way early in this review: the manga is always better. I am going to do my best to judge this movie on its own merits, but I cannot ignore the superiority of the source material.

Speaking of source material, I want to begin by talking about how much of the original Tokyo Ghoul manga that this movie actually covered. Basically, it adapted the beginning of the story and the Dove arc. I think this was the right choice. Trying to jam the Gourmet arc in would have made the movie feel bloated, sped the pacing of the movie up way too much, and created an odd sense of anticlimax after Mado’s death. I cannot even imagine what kind of disaster this movie would have been if they tried to adapt as far as the Aogiri arc. My only criticism of the choice of material to adapt is that Nishiki’s role in the story feels a bit more random (although it is far from irrelevant). We also do not get to see any of his redemption arc.  

Even with such a small amount of the Tokyo Ghoul narrative to work with, the movie still had to condense or remove some scenes to keep the runtime reasonable. Some of this I thought was well thought out and did not harm the story at all. Some examples include this scene:

Having Ryoko and Hinami already in Anteiku when Kaneki arrives seemed like a good way to introduce their characters earlier on without badly disrupting their or Kaneki’s story. Another example was the second appearance of Nishiki:

This scene fit with the narrative well and gives us the background information to Kaneki’s and Hide’s relationship. This method prevented the exposition from being completely forced in a much more awkward way or just completely absent. Having Hide attempt to answer for Kaneki was also a clever way to show more of the relationship between them.

Unfortunately, some scenes seemed to be stretched out for unclear reasons. The best example of this is Kaneki’s alleyway encounter with Nishiki and Touka. Instead of ending like this:

Kaneki runs away from Touka only to encounter her shortly afterwards taking the trash out at Anteiku:

This is where they have a tamer version of the infamous cake conversation before Yoshimura arrives and invties Kaneki inside. I am not sure why one of the most iconic scences from the early parts of Tokyo Ghoul was split like that, but I do not think it adds much to the film.

Overall, I think that the Tokyo Ghoul movie picked a good amount of the manga story to adapt and did not, for the most part, reduce its quality in adapting it.

Characters/Casting:

First up is our boy. Masataka Kubota nailed Kaneki’s personality and effectively used mannerisms and behavior to convey ideas that were expressed using internal monologue in the manga. I think he also succeeded in making Kaneki’s revulsion to human food (something I was worried would be super cringe-worthy if poorly acted) seem genuine and disturbing. His portrayals of Kaneki’s turbulent emotions were also spot on. 

Maybe I am just used to the more serious Hide we have been seeing in recent chapters of re, but Kai Ogasawara’s performance felt a bit too goofy. I did not get the feeling of a caring and intelligent mind that lurks beneath the jovial exterior, and I think that is a quintessential part of Hide’s character. However, Hide played a fairly small part in this film. I can’t fairly expect a ton of characterization given how little screen time he has.

Fumika Shimizu did a good job bringing Touka to the big screen. I do not have too much to say about her performance and the character played a fairly similar role to what she did in the manga. I think some facets of her personality (like eating Yoriko’s food) are not fleshed out enough in the film to make her as compelling a character as she is in the manga, but like I said for Hide, that was hard to do in a movie format.

Mado was probably the second best portrayed character (next to Kaneki). Yô Ôizumi did a great job with Mado’s focused, but unhinged, personality. Additionally, his dialogue did a great job of characterizing his dehumanizing view of ghouls. I also really appreciate the fact that they made an effort to give him a cockeyed appearance similar to his manga counterpart.

This was probably my least favorite of all the major characters. Maybe my memory of early Tokyo Ghoul is clouded, but it seems like Amon came across as much more of a general jerk in this film. His treatment of his subordinate and his incredible willingness to commit terrible acts seemed different from his manga counterpart. He just seemed too angry and one-sided. I did not get the feeling that he would be a character who would end up questioning much of what the CCG stood for later on.

Honorable Mentions:

Despite his incredibly minor role, I thought Kenta Hamano did a great portraying Enji. The Devil Ape’s unique sense of humor definitely came through. I would also like to give a shoutout to Shôko Aida. I think she did a good job bringing Ryoko’s character to life and not letting her admittedly odd role affect her performance.

Dishonorable Mentions:

Yomo was looking a little bit too fresh. I do not know how canonically old Yomo is, but Shuntarô Yanagi felt way too young. It was hard to see him as the serious character that he was in the manga and, to a lesser extent, this film as well. Also, where are the flowing silver locks? I’d also like to mention Hinami. I might just not like child actors, but I thought her performance was not compelling even with the emotionally loaded scenes she featured in.

Cinematic Elements:

I know that special effects are usually the most obvious point of criticism for anime/manga live-action adaptations, but I feel the need to mention it. Generally, the movies effects are not noticeably bad, but the kagune really stand out. I will admit that Kaneki’s kagune looks okay (although its motion is often jerky and awkward), but the other ones really suffer. I’m especially looking at Nishiki and Touka:

I missed Nishiki’s elegant dolphin tail and Touka’s gorgeous, kinetic wing. On a somewhat related note, I did not care for the CCG coats. This might be minor, but they looked too much like a costume instead of the relatively simple garment they are in the manga.

While the cinematography was generally quite good, there were some moments were more reliance on the manga might have helped. A good example is this scene:

Working in some of the most famous visuals from the manga might have made shots likes this a little more dramatic and would have been a nice way to pay homage to the source material (not that I can really fault the movie for not doing this).

I’d also like to draw some attention to some setting changes that bothered me. I think the change in location for both the Kaneki v. Nishiki fight and the Kaneki v. Amon somewhat detracted from those scenes. This problem was especially evident for me in Ryoko’s death scene:

I never realized how much I liked this scene being in a long, narrow alley until it wasn’t. I understand the limitation of shooting on location, but I thought this particular choice took away from the quality of a key dramatic moment in Tokyo Ghoul.

Unjustified Nitpicking:

I know you are probably thinking that my whole review belongs under this category, but I aim to prove you wrong. For these next few points I am throwing any attempt at objectivity to the wind and just listing some personal gripes that, while not objective flaws, still stuck in my craw while I was watching this movie.

First, the mask:

This is a prime example of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” I really liked the mask design from the manga and am not sure why they chose this new look. I thought the flat human teeth were better visual imagery than the series of sharp, metallic teeth on the film version of the mask.

Next, I would like to point out some odd examples of foreshadowing (I guess these are more of references since they have no payoff in the film). In no particular order:

Eye-lick scene:

Centipede in the shadows:

Hajime is here:

I guess these were nothing more than references for the hardcore fans, but it seemed odd to include them for only that purpose. 

Finally, I would like to register a formal complaint that the song BANKA by illion was only used as an end credit song. It is a great track that reminded me a bit of Kisetsu wa Tsugitsugi Shindeiku (the Root A ending theme, a track that might even rival Unravel in quality).

That will be all from me. I know I spent a lot of time harping on this movie (I tend to do that), but it was really not that bad. I think that long time fans will have a fun time watching this take on the opening to TG. This movie is also a nice gateway into the series for people who have never experienced any part of TG. I think it’s worth checking out either way. 

I plan to be writing about a new chapter tomorrow (fingers crossed). I am also happy to wish you all a productive and enjoyable week. Hope it’s a good one!

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Postmortem: Harley Quinn and the Miscalculation

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey is bombing in theaters and what i was apprehensive about, is coming to pass. All of this rah-rah, GRRRL-power, superficial, laughably toxic, feminism saturates this picture. And that’s fine. A little misandry never hurt anyone, especially with as much unapologetic misogyny that is rife within Hollywood. Still, there is a limit to and, while i didn’t mind the whole emancipation equal initialization angle this movie was going for, i can see why it would turn off so many others. We’re on the back end of the MeToo movement now and, in a world where Amber Heard has been exposed for the violent abuser that she truly is, the climate is a little different from when this flick was greenlit. It’s wild watching a marketing strategy trying so goddamn hard to alienate half their audience. Seriously, that sh*t was box office suicide but its not the reason why BoP failed. The media wants to blame sexist men for not supporting an all-women production but that’s not realistic. The demo breakdown for those who went to see BOP skewed heavily male. No, there are several reasons why and i kind of want to go over them here.

Issue 1: Feminist Marketing

The biggest issue this movie had was the way it was marketed. Besides the gung-ho drive in an attempt to appeal to that ludicrously vocal minority of third-wave feminists that don’t support sh*t outside of their own little echo chamber causes, it appears the WB did everything in their power to shoo away and semblance of testosterone. I noted this early, but that sh*t blew up in their face immediately. No one want to sit around and be preached at or two hours. I endued that sh*t because i enjoy comics and Margot’s Harleen is pretty legit but, goddamn! In a world of Nice Guys and Neckbeards, going so hard at that misandrist angle was a goddamn mistake. That, and the misleading push of Harley Quinn. This is not a birds of prey film and never should have been promoted as such. I could tell this was a Harley Quinn film immediately, but Normies sure didn’t. I imagine they wanted more Harley but saw the Birds top billed and decided it wasn’t worth the trip.

Fix: Better Marketing

To just say “Better Marketing” is kind of glib, but bear with me. There’s a lot to this. First thing first, that title should have never got approved. You want to lead with Harley, you lead with Harley. Hilariously, someone at WB thought so, too, and they changed the name. Personally, out the gate, i would have named this thing “Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.” from the start, you set the expectation that this is a Harley Quinn movie AND assert that the BoP will have some sort of presence. The movie, itself, can still be exactly what it is, but that title change alters the entire expectation of that whole experience. Doing that also gives you an opportunity to promote this thing in a more balanced manner. Maybe don’t attack all the dudes that might want to see your flick with bullsh*t politics. I rather liked the idea of an all-girl gangster flick. It worked super well for Widows. If executed properly, you can even keep that whole Tarantino-esque vibe. But that might conflict with the second issue...

Issue 2: Hard R Rating

Everyone wants to be Deadpool but no one can be Deadpool. Look, i love the Hard R in my capeflicks. The aforementioned Deadpool was excellent and i absolutely love what Philips and Phoenix brought in Joker, but if you want to see how to do a proper R rated superhero film, look no further than Logan. Holy sh*t, that movie was good. and violent. and moving. I cried at the end of that thing. Shed me a man-tear, for sure. The thing about all of these films? That R was earned. You want to go Tarantino? You go full Tarantino. Bop did not commit like that. This motherf*cker was a “hard PG-13″. Seriously, the violence in this thing was akin to the violence in The Wolverine, a PG-13 flick. Why did they need that Hard R? Just to keep pace with the other Hard R flicks? See, that alienates your best bet at a profit.

Fix: go for that “Hard PG-13″

You want kids to see this thing, specifically young girls. Girls LOVE Harley, as they should. She’s become one helluva character. The growth shown in her comic persona is to be celebrated and this movie kind of touches upon that. 14-year-olds can’t get into your unnecessarily R rated film. You want those 14 and 15-year-olds to see your movie multiple times, and this thing had the potential for just that. Instead, they went too hard for that Hard R and it ruined a massive source of revenue. Besides, you already have a mature Harley show airing on that DCEU streaming whatever. The adults can check that one out, especially since it’s f*cking dope.

Issue 3: Character Interpretation

Harley Quinn has a very specific, very Snyder-esque design. You can’t shake that. Quinn is gonna Quinn. How the f*ck did the rest of these characters land on their respective situations? Hell, Cassanda Cain is “in name only” and that sucks! Cass is one of the dopest Bat-Kids in the fam and she’s relegated to that? Really? You barely even hint at Montoya’s sexuality, which is fine because it doesn’t define her, but to push this flick as LGBTQ, or whatever, without acknowledging the biggest L in the film seems disingenuous to me. And Huntress? Oh, my darling Huntress. You were the best thing about this movie and they didn’t even let you be IN the goddamn movie. Look, I’m all for creativity and letting creatures create but come on. At some point, you gotta give a little back to the fans, not just slap them in the face with such mediocre adaptions.

Fix: Better Characterization

Out the box, you should have NEVER adapted my girl Cass the way you did. Everything about this character is bogus. Where is my socially inept, traumatically mute, bad-ass human weapon? You give me a potty-mouth pick-pocket instead? For real? Nah. A much better character for this would have been Bluebird. How is Harper Row not perfect for this part? Considering her origin, she could start off as Harley’s protege and become better, actually become Blurebird and join the Birds later on down the line. How is that not a thing? And Montoya? Aside from a lack of screen time, maybe tie her into the plot a little better. Aside from a few throwaway line, what do we really know about her? Canary is fine, they did more than enough to give her character legs, but all of the Birds should have gotten as much time to develop. Speaking of time, my darling Huntress should have had WAY more screentime. She was SO dope and it’s a crime you didn’t give Winstead enough time to play with this character because she was having very real fun with her.

These three problems crippled any opportunity this movie had at being great. I’m sure WB thought they had a hit on their hands, or that the name “Harley Quinn” could carry this flick on it’s own but really? After Wondy and Aquaman, hell, even Shazam to a certain extent, you’d think these cats would have learned something. Instead, they opted to go hard with the Snyder-isms and the Box Office reflects all of that. This should have never been a BoP films. Margot should have definitely went for Gotham City Sirens. Still, we got what we got. It’s not good, but it’s not that bad, either. If they would have done the above three things, it could have been great. Missed opportunity.

[itslovewithyouthings]

Rajnish Gambhir Author Interview Family Writing Scotch and Golf Rajnish Gamb… https://ift.tt/2TWPFVL

Rajnish Gambhir Author Interview Family Writing Scotch and Golf Rajnish Gambhir watched first ever film Sound of Music at the age of 5 Rajnish Gambhir is a down to earth guy whose family is his first priority Rajnish Gambhirs priorities are in the order Family Writing Scotch and Golf He is a down-to-earth guy whose family is his first priority. Then his writing followed by Scotch and golf! Meet Rajnish Gambhir. Welcome Rajnish.Your real name and pen name?Rajnish GambhirPlease share some of the best memories of your childhoodTill the age of 9 I lived in a large joint family in a huge ‘haveli’ (built by my late grandfather). My fondest childhood memories are of the years spent in this ‘haveli’ – be it playing cricket with my cousins uncles and friends or going for picnics or participating in festivities together! I also fondly recall watching my first ever film ( ‘Sound of Music’ ) at the age of 5.About your education?Went to St. Paul’s School (Darjeeling) and La Martiniere for Boys (Kolkata) before graduating in Commerce from St. Xavier’s College (Kolkata).What career did you plan during your education days?I always dreamt of becoming a doctor. Even during childhood my favorite possession was a ‘Doctors’ set’ (or sets) that my mother would frequently buy me! What languages you can speak and write?EnglishHindi Punjabi Bengali (though I cannot write in Gurmukhi). What is your biggest source of inspiration in life?The loving bond with my wife and children.What hurts you most in this world?Not that I’m easily hurt. But yes at times when I’m misunderstood by a loved one! If you had to live a day of your life as one of the living dead personality who would it be and why?Rajesh Khanna (of the early seventies). I’m his huge fan – out of his seventeen consecutive hits of the early seventies I don’t think I’ve missed watching even a single one. Reason – To relish the fame of receiving letters ‘written in blood’ by beautiful women!! Also to get the opportunity in having myself filmed opposite Sharmila Tagore for the evergreen romantic number ‘Mere dil mein aaj kya hai’ (Daag).What is your favorite genre and why?Fiction and Biographies.When did you start writing? What is the purpose of your writing?I ‘casually’ wrote throughout my school and college days (basically poetry) – but all confined to my ‘secret diary’. Post marriage I would often choose blank cards and script poetic lines before presenting them to my wife! Presently I am more into novels as writing long stories provides me a platform to share my thoughts with my readers through the characters I have so lovingly created! Which of your work has been published so far? Would you like to share asynopsis of your work?My debut novel ‘A Passion Beyond Extremes’ (Leadstart) was published in 2013. The novel is an intriguing love triangle set in Calcutta Darjeeling and Bombay shrouded in a well crafted mystery. The second novel ‘Honour For A Ransom’ has been recently published by Leadstart (March 2016). This is a heartrending love story set in Punjab and England during the pre and post colonial era with ‘honour killing’ as the major theme. What are your forthcoming writings?I’m working on my 3rd novel which will be a romantic thriller.What genres you write in and why?Romance Romantic thrillers – because I have grown up reading these genres.What keeps you motivating towards writing?The urge and curiosity to create interesting characters to shoulder the story I always wanted to tell. If Writing a Book is taken as a project What are the key essentials youtake care of in Project Management?Good editing a striking cover an appealing (but concise) back cover blurb and finally an effective book promotion strategy.How do you plan schedule and monitor your writing commitments?Since I’m not a full time writer I do not have any fixed schedule for writing. For me planning a chapter (or a part of it) along with the layout of the episodes and necessary research on essential facts together with jotting down relevant notes is an absolute pre-requisite. Once these are in place writing becomes easy and then I needn’t have a fixed schedule. It can be early morning or late night or even during office hours (when I’m relatively free!) What are your future plans?To continue with my corporate job and simultaneously write more novels. What is generally your preference in reading a paper book or ebook? Andwhy?Paperbook definitely. The feel of a well published paperbook in your hands cannot be compared to any other format! Secondly I have grown up reading paperbacks and hardbacks since in our younger days e-books didn’t exist. What four top most things you take care of while writing a book?Basic plot characterization climax and flow. I have the first three clearly chalked out (in detail) before even embarking on the first chapter. I try to ensure that every chapter (or part there of) ends on an inquisitive note prompting the reader to eagerly seek what’s next. This is important in order to maintain an engaging ‘flow’ of the story being told. How much real life goes into a fiction writing?Quite a bit. I feel what one has actually experienced can be best expressed in words. Is a high level of imagination important to have for an Author?Yes of course. Your origin of birth and other countries you have visited/ stayed. Whatbest things you liked in these countries around the globe?Origin of birth – Kolkata. Countries visited / stayed – USA UK Nepal Bangladesh Thailand China Singapore Hong Kong PhilippinesTaiwan Dubai. The ‘French Quarters’ of New Orleans for its unique architecture London for its ‘old world charm’ and Thailand for its mouthwatering local cuisine deserve a special mention. Favorite time of the day?Late evening when I’m relaxed at home after a long day! Your zodiac/ sun sign?Taurus. Your favorite color and why?Blue. I guess it looks good on me. What is the last book you finished reading? What is the current book you are reading?Last book I read was ‘A Prisoner of Birth’ by Jeffery Archer. I am currently reading ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. Your favorite book and why?Difficult to pick from a) Master of the Game (Sidney Sheldon) – simply loved the character ‘Kate Blackwell’ for her steely determination and ruthless business sense b) Death on the Nile (Agatha Christie) – such a baffling murder mystery superbly crafted and c) The Seventh Secret (Irving Wallace) – an incredible plot so skillfully woven by the author. . Your favorite movie and why?Amongst English – ‘One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ for Jack Nicholson’s amazing performance and a heartrending script. Amongst Hindi – ‘Aandhi’ for award winning performances by Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen coupled with haunting melodies credited to Gulzar (lyrics) and R.D.Burman (music). Your favorite celebrity and why? Your favorite food?Chinese. Possessed with a ‘sweet tooth’ I am extremely fond of desserts too (Indian and Western) often amenable to second helpings! Your favorite sports?Golf. What is the force that drives you?I always try and read the word ‘Impossible’ as ‘I am possible’! What comes to your mind when you think of India?Saare jaahan se acchha! Some quickies: Sun orMoonLaughteror Smile Morning orEveningCoffee orTeaMountainor Sea Long Drive orShort Drive Silence or ConversationWateror Fire Air orEarthMars or Jupiter Tulip orRose Red orBlue Left orRightGlance or StareFameor Money Boy or Girl Day orNightTreeor PlantLoveor PassionWhat three words come to your mind for each Technology: essential growth employment Life: precious beautiful useful God: supreme powerful feared Humanity: essential charity care Terrorism: cowardice insanity inhuman Racism: inhuman arrogance stupidity Childhood Abuse Love: God family friends Parenting: love care education Old age: respect care patience. First thing you do in the morning after waking up?Quietly praise the Lord. The last thing to do before sleep?Have a glass of water. If one fine morning you wake up and find your sex changed to the oppositewhat will be your first reaction?Horrified! State your signature line/ tagline/ best quote’There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts’. (Mahatma Gandhi). The last line of your autobiography would be?I am truly thankful to God Almighty for what I am today. The title of your autobiography would be? Will decide when I actually plan to write one!! Links & other relevant details: ISBN-10: 9352013921 ISBN-13: 9789352013920 ASIN: B01D1N4DR8 Publisher:Leadstart Publishing (P) Ltd. Twitter handle:Rajnish Gambhir (@rajnish19611) | Twitter Facebook page:http://ift.tt/1TY24py Website:http://ift.tt/22Coe0A Goodreads author page:http://ift.tt/1TY24pA Amazon link:Honour For A Ransom Any other links:http://ift.tt/1TY24FR ift.tt/22Coe0C ift.tt/1TY24FU Video Trailer: HONOUR FOR A RANSOM – Book Trailer authors

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Rajnish Gambhir Author Interview Family Writing Scotch and Golf Rajnish Gamb… https://ift.tt/2TWPFVL

[fivewrites]

5557 Reviews Your Fanfic #2: In Space, No One Can Hear You Have a Breakdown by paladont

Hello, friends, I am 5557 on Ao3 and I review your fanfiction if you want me to.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Have a Breakdown by paladont

@cranberrycurator​

Rating: T

Warnings: None

Tags: Anxiety Attacks, fluff

Summary: Lance wakes up in the middle of the night with a panic attack, and ends up connecting with the last person he ever expected.

Optional info:

Is English your first language? Yes

How long have you been writing for? 10 years

Are you 18+? Yes

Do you want publish / write professionally one day? Maybe

Technical Style / Formatting: Paragraphs are of good size and consistent double-spacing. Easy to look at. Italics are used sparingly but effectively to indicate thoughts. Single quotes are used for thoughts as well as italics. This is not necessary, as italics or single quotes alone are fine, but it’s also not bad. Just a stylistic choice.

There is a tense error in the very first paragraph. It switches from present tense in the first sentence, to past tense in the second. It’s very important to be consistent and clean in the first few paragraphs so that readers won’t be confused about the present moment, and will also want to keep reading. Readers are fickle and can abandon a fic that has too many errors in search of a more polished one!

Throughout the story there are some errors that a spell check won’t pick up, so I recommend doing a final pass over your fic, or getting a beta reader to go over it. Again, these aren’t huge, breaking errors, but for a clean, polished fic, things like “Each second he spends going from the bed to the door, he desperately trying to rationalize trying to” can be fixed easily.

“Oh, heyyy.”

Another personal opinion, I don’t think stretching a word out onomatopoeically is necessary. I prefer to see the dialogue accented with action. ‘“Oh, hey,” he says through a clenched grin.’ Again, not wrong, just personal style.

“Keith is blindsided by the thanks, looking surprised.  “Yeah, sure.” He bites his lip, looking for something good to say.”

I think this is more of an error than a choice, but this sentence sounds like we’re flipping to Keith POV suddenly, rather than all Lance as we’ve had so far. It just needs editing.

Pace: The prose pace is fast and solid. Although I ask for more detail about Lance’s nightmares, I’m never hugely lost about where Lance is or what time it is.

I appreciate how we don’t linger too long on one moment, and the story moves past an idea that has fully completed.

However, the plot pace has some issues which I cover in the flow and story section.

Dialogue: Excellent dialogue. It sounds natural and smooth. It’s really a strong suit of you writing. I don’t have too much to say here because it’s really, really good. Try experimenting with punctuation to get breaths and pauses in. Use semicolons, dashes and commas and see which ones are needed where. It can change the flow and read naturally. But really, it’s good. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Characterization: Aside from the tense issues, the imagery is quite good, and it reveals Lance as nervous and out of sorts. I like that motion and sensory images are used to give us his state, rather than just telling us a summary of how he feels.

Lance’s reflection on his family is a little simplified, but it’s not out of character. It’s just, as I said, not especially new when it comes to fic. Every langst fic has Lance reflecting on his family, so it can become repetitive if it’s all the same. However, what’s written here is good, and it makes sense character-wise for Lance.

I really like how Keith is portrayed as neutral. He’s not an asshole, just someone who’s a little guarded.

Although I feel like Lance’s breakdown is well-written, and transitions naturally from hiding, to spilling, then to shame, I think I’d want a bit more detail about why Lance feels so much shame being emotionally vulnerable in front of Keith. Right now he’s really embarrassed and ashamed, but Lance was shown to be vulnerable in front of both Hunk and Coran. So why specifically Keith that bothers him?

‘"I mean, you know...if you're not one hundred percent...you could stay in my room.  In case you need someone to talk to.  Or you just like someone just.  Being there."  It sounds really stupid once he suggests it.  Lance mentally slaps himself.’

This part seems like the smallest bit of a stretch. I get that this is a brain fart on Lance’s part, but as said above, he is really ashamed of being seen as vulnerable by Keith, and then he does a very quick 180 and invites Keith to his room? Is Lance aware of his feeling for Keith and the reader doesn’t know? It’s just… a very fast development.

“It feels weird having Keith in his bedroom.  Has Lance ever invited him in before?  He doubts it.  It felt like an oddly intimate gesture, especially given their sometimes tedious relationship.”

At least the fic is kinda self-aware that this is odd?

Nothing feel necessarily out of character, it just feels like a few chunks of time are missing that would fill the reader in a bit better as to what goes on. I believe that lance would eventually invite Keith to his room, just not, like, immediately.

Flow / Prose Style: The first few sentences give very nice vivid imagery and action. I can really sense the shock and discomfort Lance is feeling right from the get-go. However, as we progress, some of the longer sentences become overly complex and confusing. They use a lot of filler and modifier words and become unclear in their imagery.

‘Lance’s mind supplies a dozen different things that he could have been dreaming about instead, not even remotely elevating any of his sudden worries.’

The first part is vague on several levels, one being the “different things” (what things?) and two that he may or may not be thinking about them (why mention this if he is not thinking about them?) The last section, I’m not sure what you’re trying to get across. “Not even remotely” goes into more vague territory and “elevating his sudden worries” (again, what worries?) leaves me wondering what this whole sentence is trying to tell me. The next sentence switches tense again, so as a reader I am left wondering what is happening in the present, and what is going on with Lance.

On the upside, your short, snappy paragraphs are effective at creating tension, and holding interest. This writing doesn’t need to be the long, drawn out paragraphs of Jane Austen or Herman Melville. It’s more quick and dense, like Hemingway or Chuck Palahniuk

I am also a big fan of an effectively placed one-sentence paragraph.

My biggest piece of advice, and one that I struggle to follow myself, is once you have finished a full chapter, leave it for 24 hours, and then go back and re-read it as an editor. You will catch your own mistakes, and you will find areas of chunky prose that can easily be fixed by moving the sentence structure around a bit. If you practice switching between creative writing and editing, your writing will improve very quickly.

When we get to the interaction with Keith, there’s a lot more filler-modifier words, “almost, somehow, tries to, as if that were” re-read these and see if they are necessary.

Story: Right off the top, the summary tells me that this is a story that’s been done before. Which, is not necessarily a bad thing, but now because a question of, how can we separate this story from others like it, and make it unique?

When we get to the point where Lance is searching his brain for a person to talk to, I really want to know in more detail what exactly is bothering him. If he has a specific nightmare, it would help him choose which person to seek out, even if the person he eventually ends up around is Keith. Say, if Lance has a nightmare about the ship falling apart, he could seek out Coran or Hunk for reassurance.

So we go into the section where Lance reminisces about his family and home life, and get a feel for how he’s homesick. The difficult thing with going into deep memories for more than a couple paragraphs is that the reader might get lost and forget where we are right now. I think we’re in the hallway? It’s good to yank us back to the present every so often to re-establish and anchor where we actually are.

“His body is so worn from stress and hurt, he can feel himself giving in.”

Was Lance fighting a major battle recently? This is the first we’ve really heard of it. More detail would give us more connection.

“Lance much prefers imagining this goofy scenario in his head, as opposed to all the awful things he was thinking about just minutes ago.”

I really want to know the awful things.

The story starts off well, but when Lance considers who to talk to about his nightmares, the plot / characterization fall into what I call the “Klance Funnel” That is, stretches are made here and there to force Keith and Lance together when normally they wouldn’t want to or need to interact.

The klance funnel isn’t entirely unbelievable, and it certainly lets the reader know where the story is headed, but that can also be where a story sags a bit. There isn’t much mystery or coincidence in their meeting. It’s not… organic. When we finally do have the characters meet, it feels more like the hand of God has shoved them together like barbie dolls rather than a situation where two real people come together incidentally.

This is my personal opinion. Some people really like stories that are “set up” and you know what’s going to happen and how it all plays out. I, personally, like a bit of will-they-won’t-they rather than a “yeah, they definitely will, and here it is”.

Another thing about the klance funnel is that is has the effect of reducing the other characters to one-notes, or even writes them out completely. I liked that Pidge was Lance’s first choice, but we never really got to meet her or have her interact.

Overall: The story is likable, and definitely readable. I didn’t have any huge cringe moments, nor did I feel bored or have my attention wander away. I do wish for more details of Lance’s nightmares, why he’s embarrassed to be vulnerable in front of keith and then… maybe some development before they start sleeping together right away to reduce the big leap?

Other than that, it’s a nice, easy read and something a Klance fan would enjoy.

[jakelace]

Marvel Ranked: Part 3 (22-12)

The night of the Spider-Man: Homecoming premier is upon us now, so again Aaron Hahn and I are going through our rankings of all of the Marvel movies since 1998. In case you have missed any of the previous installments, you can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 on Aaron’s blog here. Without any further ado, lets dig into those Marvel films that are just on the verge of being some of the best of all time.

22. THE WOLVERINE

“Eternity can be a curse. It hasn't been easy for you, living without time. The losses you have had to suffer. A man can run out of things to live for. Lose his purpose. Become a ronin. A samurai without a master.”

Jacob: The train scene, Aaron! The train scene! It was moments like that that left me so high after viewing this film. In fact, the first two acts of this film are really great. James Mangold was on his way to directing one of the greatest X-Men films ever! Sure, we can say he’s done that now, but not with The Wolverine. It is really a shame how quickly this film goes downhill once the final battle begins. While the film doesn’t squander all of its goodwill it had with me, it certainly tries by including last minute villains and plot twists that were so obvious they barely felt like twists at all.

Aaron: Yes, yes, the train scene is an innovative and thrilling action scene, as are many of the early samurai-inspired battles, but they’re almost drowned out by the goofy, muddled CGI climax. For the first two thirds of the movie, starting with that harrowing Hiroshima opening, James Mangold’s Noir-influenced character study is a refreshingly nuanced, involving superhero flick. Hugh Jackman is great as always, as are Tao Okamoto and Rila Fukushima. It really is such a shame about the third act being so overblown, but thankfully Mangold and Jackman took this film as a learning opportunity, and fixed those tonal inconsistencies the second time around.

21. X-MEN

“I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school… looking for trouble.”

Aaron: A lot of the commendation for the original X-Men film is directed towards its significance in the history of comic book adaptations. Fueled by some pitch perfect casting choices that went on to pervade the venerable franchise, including Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Patrick Stewart as Professor X, X-Men was the first successful superhero blockbusters in the modern era, paving the way for the MCU and more to follow. It’s a significant film, but also a pretty good one. Beyond the excellent cast, the film features plenty of exciting (though dated) action, and there’s a lot of charm in its plot’s embrace of comic-book wackiness. While the X-Men franchise would have better (and worse) entries later on, the original film remains a well-made, enjoyable foundation.

Jacob: Of all the X-Men films, this is the one I’ve seen the most by far. While I would never claim it is the best, there is something to it that I just can’t stop coming back to. I love our introduction to Jackman’s Wolverine, the villains’ oddly convoluted plot, the oddly inconsistent accents of Rogue and Storm, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the “toad and lightning” line in some dark and twisted part of my soul. That line is absolutely horrible, from the writing to the stilted delivery of it, but I consistently laugh at it every time. Not for the right reasons, mind you, but I still laugh. I think that’s the best way to describe my feelings for this film honestly. It isn’t always good, but it has charmed me to the point where I can forgive its shortcomings and laugh along with it.  

20. ANT-MAN

“Baskin-Robbins always finds out.”

Jacob: Just so everyone knows, it kills Aaron that Ant-Man is this high on the list. I, however, had fallen for Ant-Man the minute the credits rolled. It is flawed, sure, but there is a lot here that works. Paul Rudd is a charismatic lead, Ant-Man’s power set makes for interesting and often times hilarious set pieces, and the bits left over from Edgar Wright’s original vision for the film are sublime. On top of that, it was the first film in the MCU that really made the universe feel like a living, breathing world, and that is no simple tasks. It’s hard to shake the thoughts of how great this film could have been if Wright had stayed on the project, but if you can manage, there is a lot to love underneath.

Aaron: Going in, we both knew this was going to be one of the most contentious films to place, and, yes, I’d personally put it lower. Ant-Man was one of the first films I reviewed for my blog, and I received a lot of flak for my indifferent response to it. Sure, Paul Rudd, the humor, and the set-pieces are great, but all these elements are just loosely strung together by a series of forced emotional beats and clunky “Hey, this will be important later!” dialogues. I like what you said about it making the MCU feel more like an authentic world though, as the film’s small-scale stakes are refreshing (and fitting for the character). It’s noticeably clunkier than your average MCU film (that Falcon detour is so contrived), but hey, that Thomas the Tank Engine gag never fails to make me laugh.

19. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

“The city is flying and we're fighting an army of robots. And I have a bow and arrow. Nothing makes sense.”

Aaron: Avengers: Age of Ultron’s reception was perhaps unfairly damaged by the inescapable pressure put on it following the all-out success of the first film. It could never have completely recaptured the magic of watching these various heroes unite on the big screen for the first time, but that doesn’t stop it from trying, to marginal success. The quipy writing and excellent chemistry of the all-star cast once again shines, especially in quieter moments that ended up being the best parts of the film, such as the roundtable attempts to lift Thor’s hammer. There’s plenty of cool visuals and dynamic team-up action, and while Ultron’s inconsistent characterization is disappointing, one can’t deny that James Spader was absolutely perfect casting. Age of Ultron can’t help but pale in comparison to its predecessor, but is still a blast for comic-book fans.

Jacob: Speaking of the inescapable pressure of the original, poor Joss Whedon, man. Nearly everything that doesn’t work in this movie can be directly traced back to Marvel mandated content that he had fought against during the film’s production, to the point where it burned him out on working with them altogether (although now he’s with DC, so it couldn’t have burned him out too badly). When this movie shines though, it’s fluorescent. The attempts to lift Thor’s hammer are certainly fantastic, but the moment that shined through the most to me was the introduction to the Barton farm. It’s scenes like those that really prove what Whedon is capable of. He can take characters who we know or care very little for and turn them into some of the most fleshed out and cared for in the series, and that’s really something special...or Thor can take a bath in some cave or something. Not entirely sure what was happening there, but that was in this movie for some reason.

18. IRON MAN 3

“Is that all you've got? A cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?”           “Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography.”

Jacob: Let’s continue the train of Marvel films Jacob loves that Aaron barely tolerates! Next stop: Iron Man 3! Man, I really dig this movie. From Shane Black’s excellent direction to another show-stopping performance from RDJ, it’s hard for me to believe that people hate this movie. I mean, I even like the parts that people hate, like the Mandarin reveal and the fact that Iron Man is barely in it. This is partially helped by the fact that I love watching films where characters who are out of their element have to find creative ways to solve their problems, and the whole second act fits the bill for me there. On top of that, the finale is bonkers and is everything I wanted from the final solo Iron Man outing. House Party Protocol anyone?

Aaron: Yeah, that “need to find creative ways to solve problems when out of their element” part doesn’t really work. In the first one, Tony Stark is able to create the Mark 1 suit as a captive in a cave in Afghanistan. Here, with access to an entire hardware store, he makes… a electrocuting glove..?  And couldn’t we have traded that annoying kid’s screen-time for more Iron Man action? Nevertheless, I have become a lot more favorable to this film after embracing the fact that this is more a Shane Black film than your typical Marvel one. The humor’s great, the parade of new Iron Man suits is delightful, and the examination of Tony’s PTSD is surprisingly heavy material for a summer blockbuster. The Mandarin twist even adds some fascinating political commentary to the mix. It’s too bad it also leaves us with Guy Pearce’s bland villain.

17. THOR

“Your ancestors called it magic, but you call it science. I come from a land where they are one and the same.”

Aaron: I remember, back before the MCU carried a sense of obligation, being very hesitant to see Thor in theaters, having never been a huge fan of the comic character. However, I ended up loving the film, even more than most, as it still ranks as one of my favorite MCU films. The casting is solid all around, including the charismatic performance of the at-the-time relatively unknown Chris Hemsworth, the gravitas generating presence of Anthony Hopkins, and, of course, the introduction of surprise fan-favorite Loki, played by Tom HIddleston.  From the elaborate costumes to the various unearthly realms, the film is visually fantastic, embracing its colorful comic book roots. Sure, the detour to Earth slows down the film significantly, but when swept up in fantasy drama of Asgard, imbued with the excellent Shakespearean sensibilities of director Kenneth Branagh, the film is magical.

Jacob: Alright, it’s been a while, so I guess it’s time for me to have another confession time: I don’t really like this movie. I think it might have something to do with not really liking Asgard as a setting, but I find it hard to feel connected to this film and its stakes. On top of that, this is easily Hemsworth’s worst go at the character, and I find it hard to put my finger on as to why that is. Perhaps it’s because Thor is really whiny in this movie? Oh yeah, that’s it. As much as I could nitpick at this film, it’s hard to dismiss it entirely. There are some fun moments like anything with Agent Coulson and our short introduction to Hawkeye, and of course this film introduces us to Hiddleston’s Loki, but on the whole, this is a film I’m content to skip when looking through the MCU’s filmography.

16. BIG HERO 6

“Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion.”

Jacob: A Disney team-up was practically inevitable from the moment Marvel was acquired by them. I wasn’t expecting much from this film, but thankfully, Big Hero 6 is way better than it has any right to be. A lot of this is helped by a great voice cast including Scott Adsit as Baymax and Alan Tudyk as Alistair Krei (side note: why is Tudyk so fantastically talented? There’s no reason for that.) This film is gorgeous, hilarious, heart-warming, tear-jerking, and pretty much everything else that we’ve come to expect from this most recent string of Disney films. Thankfully for Marvel they were lucky enough to be along for the ride.

Aaron: I guess I’m the opposite in that I expected great things from this film, and was left somewhat disappointed. The story was far too predictable, and for a film called Big Hero 6, the rest of the team are completely overshadowed by Hiro and Baymax. Still, this imbalance is understandable, given how absolutely hilarious and lovable Baymax is. His antics never fail to make me smile, and Scott Adsit is fantastic in the role. It has the expected gorgeous animation of your standard Disney film, and its exploration of grief and depression represents another emotionally mature, yet still fun for the whole family, effort from Disney. I hope we get a sequel to this wonderful, heartwarming film someday, one that moves us further away from this one’s familiar material.

15. DEADPOOL

“You're probably thinking, ‘My boyfriend said this was a superhero movie but that guy in the suit just turned that other guy into a f***ing kabab!’ Well, I may be super, but I'm no hero.”

Aaron: Deadpool is perhaps the most accurate comic book adaptation ever made. After four failed comic book entries (including #39 on this list, Blade: Trinity), Ryan Reynolds found the role he was born to play, perfectly embodying the manic eccentricities of the anti-hero, uninhibited by the unnecessary muting the character received in X-Men: Origins: Wolverine (#36 on this list!). Mocking everything from the X-Men franchise’s convoluted timeline, to the film’s low budget, to Green Lantern, Deadpool is a riotous blast, with plenty of inventiveness in the action scenes as well. Considering how well it sends up the superhero genre, it is a bit disappointing that it’s clichéd origin story takes up so much of the runtime, but the film packs in enough jokes and absurdities into its brisk runtime to more than make up for all of its shortcomings. Deadpool was a breath of fresh air for the superhero movie genre, and its risk-taking was thankfully rewarded with critical and commercial success.

Jacob: Thankfully is right. Remember when there was a time where Deadpool wasn’t one of the biggest heroes in the world? Well, keep that memory close, because I’m pretty certain we won’t be seeing anything like that again for years to come. Whenever Deadpool is actually being Deadpool in this film, you can’t help but smile from ear to ear. This film is unbelievably gory, raunchy, and hilarious in all of the best ways, but all of that is set to the side for about twenty minutes or so of runtime. While that might not sound like a lot, it’s enough to have you begging for more action, based on the fact that all of it is so good. It’s those twenty minutes that keep this film out of the running for the top ten Marvel films, and that’s no joke. Deadpool is really that good.

14. DOCTOR STRANGE

“Dormammu, I've come to bargain!”

Jacob: It was only a matter of time until the MCU started to dive into the mystical side of the Marvel-verse, and it was a moment I had been eagerly anticipating. Before Doctor Strange was released I did my best to stay away from promotional materials, and I’m thankful I did, because I was completely blown away by what I had seen in that theater. While the story is fairly well- worn in its genre and beyond, Strange differentiates itself by being a spectacle to look at. The way the rooms and cities fold in upon each other all while containing well shot action is nothing less than kaleidoscopic and mesmerizing. That’s without even mention the climax which is the most original in Marvel’s history bar none.

Aaron: The fourteenth film in the MCU, Doctor Strange both adheres strongly to the established studio template, and completely breaks the mold. The story bears strong similarities to the likes of Iron Man and Ant-Man, but, man, those M.C. Escher/Inception-esque kaleidoscopic set-pieces really are just some of the coolest, most visually arresting action scenes ever put to film. There’s also a fantastic cast, with Benedict Cumberbatch doing the type of arrogant genius role he does best, Mads Mikkelsen elevating his underdeveloped villainous role with sheer talent (Man, that “Mr. Doctor” exchange is just sublime), and Tilda Swinton once again proving she’s one of the best actors currently working. And that climactic showdown was fantastically surprising, inventive, and perfectly fitting for the hero. Just wish the rest of the plot had shown that much risk-taking.

13. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

“He says, Welcome to the frickin' Guardians of the Galaxy! Only he didn't use ‘frickin'.”

Aaron: It’s always hardest ranking the newest entries for a list like this, as they hasn’t been enough time for their impact to be fully gauged. However, it seems like a safe bet to place Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 this high on the list, considering it fully delivers on more of the same irreverent humor, colorful visuals, and rockin’ 70s tunes that made the first film such an unexpected success, even if it is a bit too much of the same. The plot may be a bit sluggish, but that allows the film to spend lots of time further developing the wonderful character dynamics between the fantastic cast, and engaging in extended comedic beats. It doesn’t quite recapture the magic of the first film, but at the end of the day, getting to go on another zany adventure with the endearing Guardians is just an absolutely great time at the movies.

Jacob: I think you’re right in assuming that this placement is somewhat free of a recency bias. Now is it free of my bias for these characters? No…no, it probably isn’t, but man it’s hard to argue against just how much fun this movie is. From the very opening battle to the five (yes, five) after credits scenes I couldn’t help but be fully engrossed in this world and its characters. James Gunn has done such a fantastic job with writing and directing these movies, and though the plot takes a backseat in this entry, it allows Gunn to prove just how much he adores these characters by giving nearly everyone a moment in the spotlight. Oh, and I’ll put the “Come A Little Bit Closer” scene up against nearly any other MCU scene. Don’t @ me.

12. X2: X-MEN UNITED

“The war has begun.”

Jacob: Despite the original X-Men still being quite good and a landmark for superhero cinema, X2 is a quantum leap forward in quality. In fact, a lot of people cite this as their favorite superhero film of all, and while I certainly don’t agree, I can see exactly where they’re coming from. X2 takes the groundwork of the original and builds upon it with great characterization for the series mainstays and newcomers alike (Nightcrawler especially), and well-choreographed action sequences for all of the mutants. Plus, Brian Cox’s Stryker is one of those great villains that I absolutely love to hate.

Aaron: That wicked, intense opening scene of Nightcrawler in the White House is just such a perfect way to kickstart this great movie, and then it’s followed up by that Magneto prison escape, the X-Men Mansion invasion, and that Wolverine/Lady Deathstrike battle? X2 not only contains a plethora of magnificent action scenes, but a lot of strong character work as well, particularly the exploration of Wolverine’s origin (If only that hadn’t felt the need to follow it up with that Origins film…) Plus, Magneto’s betrayal and ultimate master plan is legitimately haunting, helping make X2 not only one of the best X-Men films still, but also one of the best superhero movies ever.

That’s all for today, but be sure to check back tomorrow on https://thiscleverblognameisalreadytaken.tumblr.com/ for the final part of our Marvel Ranked series, where we talk about the best Marvel has to offer in the realm of film.