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autopotion · 1 year ago

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*These are not official groupings, just mine.

EARLY (1987-1993)

Mainline games released: I, II, III, IV, V.

Other notable releases: the Legend series, Mystic Quest

Established the formula & series mainstays--job classes, summons, chocobos & moogles, etc.

These games were relatively simple at first, but soon became trailblazers for epic storytelling in RPGs--especially IV (or initially II in North America).

Pixel guys.

Mostly known by their many (many, many) remasters and remakes.

Modern audiences might find their stories rote and their gameplay unnecessarily difficult, but they still enjoy a tiny, vocal fanbase.

GOLDEN (1994-2001)

Mainline games released: VI**, VII, VIII, IX, X.

Other notable releases: Tactics, Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon, Anthology, Chronicles

With the formula established & with the more powerful hardware of fifth- (and later sixth-) generation consoles, FF pushed boundaries and graphical limitations to produce their most ambitious games (and marketing campaigns) yet. You might say they succeeded, for better or worse; Final Fantasy VII is generally considered to be the very first AAA video game.

The era that the majority of the FF fanbase on the Internet is most nostalgic for, a fact that might inspire either your own misty-eyed recollection of the good ol' days, or an overwhelming desire to snap the rose-tinted glasses. Or both.

Saw the first of many (many, many) ports across different systems--in part to give English-speaking audiences access to the early games they missed, but also as blatant cash-grabs.

Modern audiences who have no nostalgia for this era often voice that they find stylized 3D polygons much more difficult to acclimate to than the pixel guys.

**FFVI could arguably fall under the early era. If I'd made this poll fifteen years ago, when the division of fans between VI and VII was much more stark, that's where I would have put it. However, this poll is also about how modern audiences tend to think about their favorite FF games, and FFVI enjoys a nostalgic fanbase on par with those of the other games of the golden era. Search for it on any "best FF games of all time" list and you'll see what I mean.

COMPILATION (2002-2008)

Mainline games released: XI, XII.

Other notable releases: Crystal Chronicles, X-2, Compilation of FFVII (Before Crisis, Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, etc.), FFXII: Revenant Wings, the Tactics Advance series & the War of the Lions remake of the original Tactics, the DS remakes of III & IV, the first Dissidia. (Also of note, though not directly beneath the FF umbrella, was the introduction of Kingdom Hearts.)

The era of sequels, remakes, remasters, crossovers, and extended universes, shepherded by the Square Enix merger. Only two mainline games were released in this period, and the one that was not an MMO was an entry in the newly-formed "Ivalice Alliance" (contrary to the desires of one of XII's principal developers, Yasumi Matsuno, who left the project before it was finished).

While of course we've seen plenty of sequels & remakes since, this era went all-in on expanding Final Fantasy to the behemoth it is now. FFVII, its golden child, was showered with prequels and sequels. Crossovers were all the rage. Even games that were not strictly "Final Fantasy" games were retroactively roped into one of the existing canon masses, i.e. Vagrant Story into the Ivalice Alliance.

This was also the boom of handhelds, like the PSP and the beloved DS. Mainline games were saved for the heavyweight home consoles, while other titles were dispersed across the smaller systems.

Very few "new" worlds with no preexisting ties to the other games (outside of the shared banner of Final Fantasy) were created in this time, XI and Crystal Chronicles being the few exceptions.

If you enjoyed seeing the games you loved from the 90s getting more content, this era was a delight. If you'd rather the original entries were left alone, it was a painful sign of things to come.

EXPERIMENTAL (2009-2015)

Mainline games released: XIII, XIV (twice)

Other notable releases: XIII-2 & Lightning Returns, Type-0 (also a member of XIII's Fabula Nova Crystallis series), Dissidia 012, the Theatrhythm series, the first expansion for XIV (Heavensward), Record Keeper, Brave Exvius

FF's darkest era. XIII was the first time FF tried something new since XI--brand new world, female protagonist, fresh spin on the old ATB formula--and it fell just short of catastrophic. XIII and its sequels were not well-received (though whether this negative backlash was "deserved" is another story). The game that would later become XV was originally intended to be Versus XIII, an entry in Fabula Nova Crystallis. Between XIII's poor reception and Versus XIII's fraught development, this didn't happen.

The initial release of XIV, on the other hand, was catastrophic. It was so bad that the entire thing had to be rebooted.

The good news is XIV's reboot, A Realm Reborn, did so well that XIV is widely considered one of the best MMOs of all time. The reboot is also one of the earliest examples of video game "rehabilitation," in that a dramatic change or update to the original game transforms a negative experience into a positive one, and thus scrapes back the good will of the player. (No Man's Sky is a non-FF example.)

The virulent criticism of XIII has softened over the years, and it enjoys a small, dedicated fanbase.

You started to see FF dip into mobile games at this point, too.

MODERN (2016-2023)

Mainline games released: XV, XVI

Other notable releases: World of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Dissidia NT, Dissidia Opera Omnia, Final Fantasy VII Remake, the pixel remasters of I-VI, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Reunion, Crisis Core: Reunion, a slew of expansions for XIV

The long-anticipated release of XV heralded a new age (as well as a movie and an anime). In contrast to XIII, XV was very popular, and put FF back on the map. People loved the boys' road trip.

XIV is still going strong. I don't play MMOs but I'm happy for them.

The remakes & remasters are back, and looking more realistic than ever (if you're into that sort of thing). Look at how many individual pores you can see on your old favorites' faces! The most successful of these is the Final Fantasy VII Remake, which is not a remake as much as it's a conversation with the original game, a move that both drew in a new audience and softened (some of) the diehard og-VII fans who disliked the rest of the Compilation.

Stranger of Paradise is an odd duck attempting to evoke the uncanny valley weirdness of the PS3 era. YMMV on if it worked.

The modern FF games step further out of the boundaries of what an FF game is, dropping ATB combat in favor of real-time action that's all the rage these days. In a first, XVI doesn't have any party members. For the folks who've grown tired of ATB and crave the fast-paced action of the modern day, XVI was a hit (though, I've heard, it failed to deliver on the story).

The endless conversation about whether FF ought to be evolving this far outside of its "formula" (whatever one believes that to be) might feel tired to the average FF fan. But, going forward, it's worth talking about the ways in which FF has neglected to evolve, or even gone backwards: such as the dev team of XV stating that the inclusion of women would cause their core bros to act unnaturally, thus why there are no female party members in the game, or the dev team of XVI deliberately not including a diverse cast because their fantasy game is inspired by medieval Europe.

Tell me which era you voted for in the tags, and what your personal favorite FF game is!

#final fantasy #ff #i had fun writing this up so reblogs would be appreciated if u felt like it

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anotheruserwithnoname · 2 years ago

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Book series that would make good movies/TV shows if done properly

With all this talk about Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and now Harry Potter being remade for TV, there are a number of popular book series that I am surprised no one has (by now) done a proper film or TV series about. Here are a few that I think are overdue for adaptation on screen. Spoiler break here as this will be a bit long:

(n.b. all cover scans are from my collection)

1. Honor Harrington

This post was inspired by the fact David Weber’s military SF series Honor Harrington - which traces the career and exploits of the titular character - turns 30 this year. There is some immense world-building by Weber here, more than enough to sustain a TV series and spin-offs. And Honor had the “tough hero with cute cat” look down pat while Brie Larson was still in her crib. I feel old because I read On Basilisk Station when it first came out!

2. Killashandra Ree

I’m surprised there haven’t been movies adapting Anne McCaffrey’s novels. The Killashandra Ree trilogy - about a young woman who uses her singing voice to mine a precious commodity called crystal. This would be a perfect role for a singer-actress.

3. Illuminatus!

Shea and Wilson’s Illuminatus! trilogy has been called the ultimate fairy tale for paranoids. Most of not all references to “the Illuminati” which appears in films from time to time take some notes from the Illuminatus! Trilogy. It would have to be NC-17 if done for movies, so this is more likely a Netflix-friendly concept. And once the trilogy is done, Wilson went on to write a number of novels called The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, another semi-related trilogy, Schrodinger’s Cat, and also Masks of the Illuminati.

4. Vatta’s War

If they don’t want to do Honor Harrington, there are other female-led military sci-fi series available, such as Elizabeth Moon’s Vatta’s War series focusing on space academy dropout Ky Vatta’s attempts to redeem herself as she commands a trading vessel caught in the middle of a war.

5. Modesty Blaise

It’s true, there have been 3 attempts at adapting Peter O’Donnell’s comic strip for the movies: indeed, his very first full-length novel adapted his original script for the 1966 movie version that threw everything out the window in favour of goofy comedy. A 1980s TV pilot was Americanized. A 2004 prequel movie called My Name is Modesty failed because it was a prequel. But if properly cast (Gal Gadot), and properly written, a Modesty Blaise movie would make everyone forget the entire notion of casting a woman as James Bond - they don’t need to do so with retired crime lord-turned-unofficial MI6 spy Modesty Blaise around.

6. Old Man’s War

I was going to include John Scalzi’s amazing Old Man’s War series next, but apparently they are doing a TV series of that one.

7. Harvard Lampoon’s Bored of the Rings

OK, maybe not - but it would be funny to see someone release this as counter-programming to Rings of Power!

#honor harrington #killashandra ree #illuminatus trilogy #ky vatta #modesty blaise #bored of the rings

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ryan-shepard-writes · 2 years ago

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I posted 1,810 times in 2022

50 posts created (3%)

1,760 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@delusion-of-negation

@athena-anna-rose

@chaos-event-horizon

@scientistservant

@spaghetticordez

I tagged 119 of my posts in 2022

#important - 30 posts

#fate's crystal majesty - 28 posts

#ideas - 14 posts

#writeblr - 11 posts

#discourse - 10 posts

#crowlyn nissad coronis - 9 posts

#ask game - 8 posts

#science fantasy - 6 posts

#mature - 5 posts

#writblr - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#no dude she has no character arc. no emotion. every third interaction she has is her telling people they're worthless while the bus cheers.

My Top Posts in 2022:

ANNOUNCEMENT:

So... I completely reworked Fate's Crystal Majesty.

After realizing that the first book was long enough to be almost 2 and a half whole novels... I decided to break it into chunks. In doing that, I've changed several parts of the story that many people have already seen.

BUT!

That also means the book is several steps closer to being worthy of possibly getting published!

So. The website has been redesigned and the live chapters have been re-uploaded as google docs rather than site pages. Not only does this make interaction more smooth, it also creates better ease of access. As always, they are completely open for comments and interaction!

A story can't happen without its reader, after all...

12 notes - Posted September 12, 2022

I have no idea about what bigotry/drama/war unfolded while I wasn't looking (my dash is sprinkled with a wide variety of conflicting takes that do absolutely nothing to clarify whatever the heck I missed) but more and more lately I'm thinking that we as a community need to just... Have a fucking meeting. Because there is a LOT of thinly veiled shit that seems to constantly be happening. Everything from people starting drama about writing about ~bad things~ (a gay person having a homophobic villain character in their works and getting attacked for it) to SERIOUS racism (apparently someone said they want to live in a world/write a world with only one race? The fuck?) to cultural appropriation/deeply rooted lack of knowledge about a culture being referenced (saw a writer trying to just... Claim Aphrodite as a 'trans-masc icon' and trying to rename her 'Aphrodito'???) To mountains of mountains of toxic positivity and/or insisting on asanine levels of 'purity' within the work of other people.

Genuinely. We all need to like... Talk.

13 notes - Posted October 24, 2022

Okay so this is very obviously NOT the finished product. Not even a little bit. But I'm writing a prequel bit for Fate's Crystal Majesty for @athena-anna-rose's writing contest. And. I'm having the hardest and funniest fucking time writing an oblivious straight man. I have no experience in this category of Guy so writing this bit is killing my sensibilities but it's already so fucking funny and I wanted to share. Current progress is under the cut. This is turning into a comedy.

Contest Story: What Once Was

"I've been meaning to say this for a while," said a voice, light and playful like a bell. "...But you really are pretty cute, mister Crown Prince!"

Solaris Trinidad Coronis nearly slammed his book closed, face turning red as his head whipped around. There, standing behind him, was a young mage— a university student that was younger than him, and a familiar one. Her blonde hair and aquamarine eyes would have been a dead giveaway, even if her uniquely folded 'dog' ears didn't signal her identity and status.

"O-oh, you're… Lunari Nitewing, correct? I believe I've seen you around…" He asked, doing his best to ignore her commentary on him. He nearly winced as he glanced at the nearby clock, suddenly noticing the time.

The young half-Rorvan nodded, grinning. "Yes, your highness. But I'm surprised you remembered my name… They say you spend too much time with your head hidden in these books to notice much, and I'll admit, this library is where I usually end up seeing you."

He sniffed, wolf ears giving a disdainful twitch as he collected his studying materials. "Well 'they' don't seem to know the value of being well-read… but at least they're smart enough not to insult me to my face, I guess…" Though… he thought wryly, I'd have to be blind not to notice the most magical young woman on the planet. "...You ought not to listen to gossip, Miss Nitewing. You have a lot of talent. It would be a true shame if you got caught up in a bad crowd."

"I find your studious nature endearing, actually!" The girl giggled. He suddenly realized how petite she was as she sat on the table, her eyes just barely higher than his were. "Makes you seem like a normal person."

"You'll find that I am a normal person, Miss Nitewing," he said, voice even. "I do what I can to make sure that being a prince doesn't get in the way of being a good citizen."

He stood then, gathering his books in his arms, then gave the girl another quick once-over. Sky blue Rorvan-inspired blouse over white pants, dark boots, a charming blue headband to match her top, tasteful floral scented oils along her pulse points… she looked a bit too nice for a trip to the library.

Is she… going out with someone?

He gave a polite cough. "If you're planning to meet someone, you shouldn't be chatting me up… someone might get the wrong idea if you speak to me."

She smiled almost pointedly. "Oh, I don't know if I'm going out yet… the guy I like doesn't seem to notice me as much as he thinks he does. I'm actually here to talk him into going to dinner with me."

Solaris blinked, suddenly a little surprised and annoyed on her behalf. What kind of idiot wouldn't notice her? "Oh… that's too bad. Someone as interesting as you should be at the top of anyone's list. Are you meeting him here?"

The young woman giggled. "Actually, he's already here. I'm just running a social experiment to see how long it takes him to notice."

16 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

The Crystalline King

Lilly watched as the young Keir—he really was so, so small here—quietly edged towards a door frame. Somehow, despite the fact that she was much further away, voices suddenly came to her the same way they would have if she stood where the young prince did. It was as if, even here, that part of their connection still worked. But the sounds were… odd. Entangled, somehow. It was impossible to tell who spoke, without seeing who was in that room.

"... But you know he'll probably never have magic like us."

"We can't say that! He's only a child, just like Rolph had been before he left because of all this pressure. His magic could manifest any day now, or maybe even years from now, and that's fine!"

Lilly blinked, then jogged over to the doorway, watching things unfold. There stood a young Crowlyn, looking around her own age, leaning against a table and facing the king… who looked very different from when she last saw him in real life, a creepy and dangerous figure with a fake smile and lacking entirely in humanity.

No, this was an entirely different man. Tall, yes, but only barely taller than the average human. Velvety black hair with greying highlights framed his face, and seemingly helped to hold up glasses with a thin wire frame. His shirt was strikingly white and billowy, draping over somewhat lean limbs and tucked into brown working pants and a pair of well used boots, as well as a pair of leather bracers at his wrists. Like Keir, the king wore minimal jewelry. Much of it was made of sturdy leather and gold chain—including a piece resting at his forehead and looping under his hair, which seemed to stand in for a crown like she'd seen Keir wear occasionally. The way he stood and the magical atmosphere around him, however, resembled Crowlyn. He had an aura that even she could feel, and a sense of strength and authority that went beyond the physical. She couldn't quite see his eyes… but she knew that he could probably stop armies with a glare. This was the man from the painting she'd seen. Handsome. Soft features, clean and well-kept hair and close-cropped beard, a voice that was soft, but firm. A smile that radiated kindness—if not also a tight frustration at the current discussion with Crow. He looked so… normal. Like a father. Not at all the imposing and dangerous force that he had been when she’d met him.

She could understand how Lunari might fall in love with this man, rather than the king she knew he would become.

"But still, an heir to this kingdom must have magic,” Solaris said, “It's the only way we keep our status as leaders over the other Daekin. If it wasn't for Lunari bringing together the other mages and supplying most of the power to build this place, I doubt we'd be held in such high regard. An heir who's empty of magic cannot take the throne while you are still an option to rally behind. It must be you, unless..."

"You're too much of a pessimist. And he doesn't need magic, if he has a mage and advisor,” Crowlyn argued.

"You only say that to avoid your duties, my son. Whether they lead anywhere or not, marriage interviews are part of the job—"

“—An unnecessary part, I assure you—!"

"—and are vital to keeping our family line strong,” the older man sighed, rubbing his neck. Did… did he seem sorry for having to say these things, or was Lilly just imagining it? “Our ancestors were the first Rorvae. The first to undergo the changes back on Earth, and the first to access the magic behind Fate. Our history and future are important things that must be maintained, at any cost."

Changes… back on Earth?

But no one elaborated on her silent question. “Keir can do that easily when he's old enough. Leave me to my own business,” Crow said, an edge to his voice, “And stop trying to force all these petty she-wolves on me! I'm not going to suddenly be more normal just because you set me up with someone!"

"Crowlyn…"

"No offense, father, but I'm tired. You should really go and see your sick wife for once, instead of barking in my ear about something neither of us needs to be concerned about."

As Crowlyn abruptly turned she watched Keir half-fall over himself to get clear of the door, while she also stepped back. He was nowhere near fast enough, though, and Crow—he seriously couldn’t possibly be a day over twenty—nearly tripped over him as he rounded the corner. Upon finding the younger prince, Crowlyn immediately signaled for silence, fluidly picking him up and trotting away.

Lilly glanced between the king and retreating princes, then turned to follow—

"I don't have my wife's talent for discernment, but I'm not entirely blind either."

The girl halted, her head whipping back to Solaris. He'd sat down at the wide table and started to write something. After a moment, he looked up with eyes that bore a startling resemblance to Keir's. They looked like bright gemstones, faceted and glimmering an array of yellows and oranges as light shifted around him. But unlike Keir's warm honey and amber tones, the eyes of king Solaris were hard and cold with their brightness, and zeroed in on her with alarming precision. They looked so light and alive compared to the last time she'd stared him down.

"Well, come in. You don't appear to be here to kill me… and from what little I can see of you I doubt you could regardless. Just skin and bones, you are"

The girl shivered, then entered the room. Once she'd gotten past the door, it clacked shut, trapping her and causing her to jump with a squeak.

"A girl? And human as well, it seems… I have no idea what you're doing here, but you shouldn't be roaming around so… willy-nilly. This place can be dangerous," he said, turning his attention back to what he was writing, almost sounding concerned for her safety. "But I suppose the guards cannot see you, as powerful as your spell is… though I'm shocked Crowlyn didn't spot you either. He's a very powerful mage… perhaps even more powerful than me. He's at least on par with Lunari, when she was younger. He must be just as frustrated as I am, to be so distracted."

Lilly swallowed. "I… don't know if he can see me, since he's who I'm… supposed to be following. 'Dream-walking', I think Crowlyn called it?"

The king nodded absently. "He sent you from somewhere himself, then… and you are a powerful magician in your own right. Your combined magic must have affected his spell, if you're here, and able to move independently. This isn't dream-walking, young lady. You've projected your soul back along Crowlyn's timeline. So... you aren't a spy, nor an assassin. Humor me, girl, why are you here?"

"Well… uh…" Lilly fumbled, her heart racing. Was it even safe to talk to this man? In a few short years, he'd be hurting his children left and right! She didn't want to give him anything he could use.

Solaris paused, then sighed, his shoulders sagging a bit. "It seems I've frightened you by accident… I apologize. When they call me 'the crystal king', it isn't just because of my eyes… I'm also a bit cold and rigid. You've caught me in a bit of a mood. Crowlyn, bless his heart, has put me in a difficult position. I don't want to force him to marry when he obviously isn't interested in women, but a king needs to be able to carry on his legacy. He can't dance around the problem forever, but he also doesn't seem keen on telling me his actual reasons. If he would, I'd be able to relent a bit…"

See the full post

19 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Contest Story: What Once Was

Heya! This is my entry into the writing contest being held by @athena-anna-rose! It's a short story involving some characters from my book, Fate's Crystal Majesty, and hints at some of the events to come. I recommend reading it in the original document HERE, because Tumblr breaks everything and doesn't allow for other fonts (and also removed every ounce of formatting in the story).

I put a lot of thought into what scenes to show, so I hope you find the story interesting!

"I've been meaning to say this for a while," said a voice, light and playful like a bell. "...But you really are pretty cute when you're lost in a good story, mister Crown Prince!"

Solaris Trinidad Coronis nearly slammed his book closed, face turning red as his head whipped around. There, standing behind him, was a young mage— a student at the nearby university, and a familiar one. Her blonde hair and aquamarine eyes would have been a dead giveaway, even if her uniquely folded ears didn't signal her identity and status. A human-Rorvan hybrid, with strong magic and eyes nearly as mesmerizing as his own, could only be one person.

"O-oh, you're… Lunari Nitewing, correct? I believe I've seen you around…" He asked, adjusting his glasses, doing his best to ignore her commentary on him and hoping the magic in his eyes hadn't flared up. He nearly winced as he glanced at the nearby clock, suddenly noticing the time. The pups would probably tease him again for staying out so late...

"You'll find that I am a normal person, Miss Nitewing," he said, voice even. "I do what I can to make sure that being a prince doesn't get in the way of being a good citizen… or parent, though I can't say I'm doing a stellar job at the moment. I ended up getting lost in my reasearch."

Is she… going out with someone?

He gave a polite cough. "If you're planning to meet someone, you shouldn't be chatting me up… someone might get the wrong idea if you speak to me."

Solaris blinked, suddenly a little surprised, and annoyed on her behalf. What kind of idiot wouldn't notice her? "Oh… that's too bad. Someone as interesting as you should be at the top of anyone's list. Are you meeting him here?"

The young woman giggled. "Actually, he's already here. I'm just running a social experiment to see how long it takes him to notice."

Prince Solaris looked around. His lanky build let him have a good view of most places, and from where he was standing… this floor of the library seemed empty, aside from himself and the young mage that still sat rather casually on the table.

I don't see…?

"You know…" she started, and when he looked down at her he found that her eyes almost seemed to twinkle in the artificial light of the nearby reading lamps. "...I've been saving up for this date for nearly a month, so it'll be a shame if he turns me down."

Solaris blinked, noticing a hint of humor in Lunari's eyes, but chivalry won out over his ability to think past the sudden twinge of his heart. "That is quite a power move on your part, Miss Nitewing… but I must say, any man that forces you to pay for him as well as you, isn't worth your time. Call me old-fashioned, but a first date should be a meeting of equals."

She giggled, and he suddenly twitched to adjust his glasses. "If it were a normal man, I'd agree… but I'm afraid that I'm quite fond of this poor soul. He and I haven't talked much, but…" she said, looking up at him, eyes sparkling in shades of blue. "The medium of my magic is Shadow… and shadows tend to talk. This particular man's shadow says he's lonely, and a bit tired from all the stress he's been under after an awkward breakup. I decided it might be nice to treat him and his children to something fun. Maybe ice cream, since I know he has a thing for sweets."

Solaris suddenly blushed. Children? She has eyes for someone with kids? That would make him probably as old as… probably a lot like… and he enjoys ice cream like…

"...Oh."

"I've been watching this man from afar…" she confided, looking almost shy, as if watching the dots connect in Solaris' head while his ears twitched in embarrassment. "I don't think he really noticed. I've been trying not to scare him off, you see, since he's the type who tends to overthink things. I didn't want him to think that I was just approaching out of the blue or that I wanted something I shouldn't… but I didn't quite know how to start a real conversation with such a dignified gentleman."

The prince looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "...What will you do if he declines?"

"Probably just try again tomorrow. I'm very persistent!"

"And you don't mind that he… has children?"

See the full post

26 notes - Posted November 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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qqueenofhades · 5 years ago

Note

If/when they make a Joe/Nicky prequel movie, what are some of the Dos and Don’ts for them, with regards to historical accuracy. Like, what do you think they should include, and what do you think they should avoid?

Oof. This is a GREAT question, and also designed to give me a chance to ramble on in a deeply, deeply self-indulgent fashion. That is now what will proceed to happen. Consider yourself warned. So if they were miraculously to be like “well that qqueenofhades person on tumblr seems like she knows what she’s talking about, let’s hire her to consult on this production!”, here are some of the things I would tell them.

First off, a question I have in fact asked my students when teaching the crusades in class is whether you could actually show the sack of Jerusalem on screen. Like... if you’re making a film about the First Crusade, what kind of choices are you going to make? What narrative viewpoint are you going to uphold throughout the story? Are you actually going to show a slaughter of Muslim and Jewish inhabitants that some chroniclers described as causing enough blood to reach up to the knees of horses? (Whether it actually did this is beside the point; the point is that the sack went far beyond the accepted conventions of warfare and struck everybody involved in it as particularly horrific.) Because when you’re making a film about the crusades, you are also making it by nature for a modern audience that has particular understandings of Christian/Muslim conflict, religious warfare and/or tolerance, the War on Terror, the modern clash over ISIS, Trump’s Muslim ban, and so forth. The list goes on and on. So you’re never making a straight, unbiased historical adaptation, even if you’re going off the text of primary sources. You’re still constructing it and presenting it in a deliberate and curated fashion, and you can bet that whichever way you come down, your audience will pick up on that.

Let’s take the most recent example of a high-profile crusades film: Kingdom of Heaven from 2005. I’ve written a book chapter on how the narrative choices of KoH, aside from its extensive fictionalization of its subject matter to start with, make it crystal clear that it is a film made by a well-meaning Western liberal filmmaker (Ridley Scott) four years after 9/11 and two years after the invasion of Iraq, when the sympathy from 9/11 was wearing off and everyone saw America/Great Britain and the Bush/Blair coalition overreaching itself in yet another arrogant imperial adventure into the Middle East. Depending on how old you are, you may or may not remember the fact that Bush explicitly called the War on Terror a “crusade” at the start, and then was quickly forced to walk it back once it alarmed his European allies (yes, back then, as bad as America was, it still did have those) with its intellectual baggage. They KNEW exactly what images and tropes they were invoking. It is also partly why medieval crusade studies EXPLODED in popularity after 9/11. Everyone recognized that these two things had something to do with each other, or they made the connection somehow. So anyone watching KoH in 2005 wasn’t really watching a crusades film (it is set in the late 1180s and dramatizes the surrender of Jerusalem to Saladin) so much as a fictional film about the crusades made for an audience explicitly IN 2005. I have TONS to say on this subject (indeed, if you want a copy of my book chapter, DM me and I’ll be happy to send it.)

Ridley Scott basically sets it up as the Christian and Muslim secular leaders themselves aren’t evil, it’s all the religious fanatics (who are all made Templars, including Guy de Lusignan, going back to the “evil Templar” trope started by Sir Walter Scott and which we are all so very familiar with from Dan Brown and company). Orlando Bloom’s character shares a name (Balian de Ibelin) but very little else with the eponymous real-life crusader baron. One thing Scott did do very well was casting an actual and well-respected Syrian actor (Ghassan Massoud) to play Saladin and depicting him in essential fidelity to the historical figure’s reputed traits of justice, fairness, and mercy (there’s some article by a journalist who watched the film in Beirut with a Muslim audience and they LOVED the KoH Saladin). I do give him props for this, rather than making the Evil Muslim into the stock antagonist. However, Orlando Bloom’s Balian is redeemed from the religious extremist violence of the Templars (shorthand for all genuinely religious crusaders) by essentially being an atheistic/agnostic secular humanist who wants everyone to get along. As I said, this is a film about the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq made three years after 9/11 more than anything else, and you can really see that.

That said, enough about KoH, back to this presumable Joe/Nicky backstory. You would obviously run into the fact that it’s SUPER difficult to make a film about the crusades without offending SOMEBODY. The urge to paint in broad strokes and make it all about the evil Westerners invading is one route, but it would weaken the moral complexity of the story and would probably make it come off as pandering to guilty white liberal consciences. Are we gonna touch on the many decades of proto-crusading ventures in Iberia, Sicily, North Africa, and other places, and how the eleventh century, especially under Pope Gregory VII, made it even thinkable for a Christian to be a holy warrior in the first place? (It was NOT normal beforehand.) How are we going to avoid the “lololol all religion sucks and makes people do crazy things” axe to grind favoured by So Very Smart (tm) internet atheists? Yes, we have to demonstrate the ultimate horror of the crusade and the flawed premises it was based on, but we can’t do that by just showing the dirty, religiously zealot medieval people doing that because they don’t know any better and are being cynically manipulated in God’s Name. In other words (and the original TOG film did this very well) we can’t position ourselves to laugh at or mock the crusader characters or feel confident in looking down on them for being Dumb Zealots. They have to be relatable enough that we realize we could BE (and in fact already ARE) them, and THEN you slide into the horror and what compels them to do those kinds of things, and THAT’S when it hits. Because take a look at the news. This is happening around us right now.

Obviously, as I was doing in my First Crusade chapter in DVLA, a lot of this also has to spend time centering the Muslim point of view, the way they reacted to the crusade, the ways in which Yusuf as an Isma’ili Shia Muslim (Kaysani is the name of a branch of Isma’ili Shi’ites, he has a definite historical context and family lineage, and hence is almost surely, as I wrote him, a Fatimid from Egypt) is likewise not just A Stock Muslim. In this case, obviously: Get actual Muslims on the set to advise about the details. Don’t make stupid and/or obvious mistakes. Don’t necessarily make the Muslims less faithful or less virtuous than the Christians (even if this is supposed to praise them as being “less fanatic” than those bad religious Catholics). Don’t tokenize or trivialize their reaction to something as horrific as the sack of Jerusalem, and don’t just use dead brown bodies as graphic visual porn for cheap emotional points. Likewise, it goes without saying, and I don’t think they would anyway, but OH MY GOD DON’T MAKE THIS INTO GAME OF THRONES GRIMDARK!!!! OH MY GOD!!! THERE IS BEAUTY AND THERE IS LIGHT AND THERE IS POETRY AND THAT’S WHY IT HURTS SO MUCH WHEN IT’S DESTROYED! AND THE CHOICES THAT PEOPLE MAKE TO DESTROY THOSE THINGS HAVE TO BE TERRIFYINGLY PLAUSIBLE AND FAMILIAR, BECAUSE OH MY GOD!!

Next, re: Nicolo. Evidently he is a priest or a former priest or something of the sort in the graphic novel, which becomes a bit of a problem if we want him to actually FIGHT in the crusades for important and/or shallow and/or OTP purposes. (I don’t know if they address this somehow or Greg Rucka is not a medieval historian or whatever, but never mind.) It was a Major Thing that priests could not carry weapons, at least and especially bladed weapons. (In the Bayeux Tapestry, we have Odo, the bishop of Bayeux, fighting at the battle of Hastings with a truncheon because he’s a clergyman and can’t have a sword). They were super not supposed to shed blood, and a broadsword (such as the type that Nicky has and carries and is clearly very familiar with) is a knight’s weapon, not a clergyman’s. The thing about priests was that they were not supposed to get their hands dirty with physical warfare; they could (and often did) accompany crusade armies, bishops were secular overlords and important landholders, monks and hermits and other religious preachers were obviously part of a religious expedition, and yes, occasionally some priests would break the rules and fight in battle. But this was an exception FAR more than the rule. So if we’re going by accuracy, we have Nicky as a priest who doesn’t actively fight and doesn’t have a sword, we have him as a rule-breaking priest with a sword (which would have to be addressed, and the Templars, who were basically armed monks, weren’t founded until 1119 so he can’t be one of those yet if this is still 1099) or we just skip the priest part and have him as a crusader with a sword like any other soldier. If he was in fact a priest, he also wouldn’t be up to the same standard of sending into battle. Boys, especially younger sons of the nobility, often entered the church at relatively early ages (12 or 13), where it was treated as a career, and hence they stopped training in arms. So if Nicky is actually out there fighting and/or getting killed by Yusuf several times for Important Purposes, he’s... almost surely not a priest.

Iirc, they’ve already changed a few things from the graphic novel (I haven’t read it, but this is what I’ve heard) so they can also tweak things to make a new backstory or a hybrid-new backstory in film-verse. So once we’ve done all the above, we still have to decide how to handle the actual sack of Jerusalem and massacre of its inhabitants, the balance between violence comparable to the original TOG film and stopping short of being exploitative (which I think they would do well), and the aftermath of that and the founding of the new Latin Christian kingdom. It would have to, as again the original film does very well, avoid prioritizing the usual players and viewpoints in these events, and dig into presenting the experiences of the marginalized and way in which ordinary people are brought to the point of doing these things. It doesn’t (and frankly shouldn’t) preach at us that U.S. Invasions Of The Middle East Are Bad (especially since obviously none of the characters/people/places/events here are American at all). And as I said already but bears repeating: my god, don’t even THINK about making it GOT and marketing it as Gritty Dramatic Medieval History, You Know It’s Real Because They’re Dirty, Violent, and Bigoted!

Also, a couple tags I saw pop up were things like “Period-Typical Racism” and “Period-Typical Homophobia” and mmm okay obviously yes there are these elements, but what exactly is “period typical?” Does it mean “using these terms just because you figure everyone was less tolerant back then?” We know that I, with my endless pages of meta on medieval queer history, would definitely side-eye any attempts to paint these things as Worse Than Us, and the setting alone would convey a sense of the conflict without having to add on gratuitous microaggressions. I basically think the film needs to be made exactly like the original: centering the gay/queer perspectives of marginalized people and people of color, resisting the urge for crass jokes at the expense of the identity of its characters, and approaching it with an awareness of the deep complexity and personal meaning of these things to people in terms of the historical moment we’re in, while not making a film that ONLY prizes our response and our current crises. Because if we’re thinking about these historical genealogies, the least we can do (although we so often aren’t) is to be honest.

Thanks! I LOVED this question.

#history #medieval history #kingdom of heaven #joe x nicky #long post #persephone-rose-r #ask #the old guard meta

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20thcentutygeek · 4 years ago

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The Fox Sci-Fi Universe - Julian Darius

Fox owns several venerable sci-fi franchises, most of which have struggled to one extent or another. Fox’s attempt to combine Predator and Aliens produced a couple lackluster movies, which were then contradicted by Ridley Scott’s Alien prequels. In sum, these properties are mostly languishing (to one degree or another), while Fox had problems managing continuity within franchises, let alone in its one attempt to combine two franchises.

The “Fox Sci-Fi Universe”, listed below, is an attempt to combine these Fox franchises anew, along with other Fox material. Fox has an extensive catalogue of classic films and series which would fit well, many of which haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. I think ,erging them into a single continuity would reinvigorate each film or property, making it part of a tapestry that encourages fans to draw connections and to explore material they otherwise might not.

In addition, Disney’s acquisition of Fox would permit Disney to merge some of its own sci-fi films, including franchises that have struggled on their own. Tron might not be successful on its own, but it could now be an interesting segment of a larger universe, with its world and technology available to characters from other stories.

Key to this strategy is to merge as much compatible material as possible, with special attention to quality material and material produced from the 1980s onward (which looks modern enough). Some quality movies are incompatible, for one reason or another. We can reject any movie we want, and the below list is subject to change. But in general, we don’t want to be purists, only incorporating the very best. We want to incorporate the best works, but we also want to be as all-encompassing as possible, so as to produce a grand tapestry spanning centuries of history.

An impressive body of work containing multiple beloved series and characters, the Fox Sci-Fi Universe contains material directed by Steven Spielberg, Joss Whedon, Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Cronenberg, Guillermo del Toro, and David Fincher.

One key franchise here might not be obvious: The X-Files, which retains a certain cache and which is perfect for such an expansive sci-fi universe because of its expansive scope. If you think about it, there’s no reason why Mulder and Scully couldn’t have investigated the VR world of Tron, the teleportation technology of The Fly, or reports of the murderous alien from Predator.

Chronologically prior to The X-Files, the Indiana Jones franchise fits well. Like The X-Files, it’s episodic and less concerned with a single, coherent version of the supernatural or of extraterrestrials than creating an exciting, all-encompassing world in which fantastic stories can be set.

Moving chronologically into the future, the dominant franchise is Aliens, which has the benefit of rarely depicting Earth, permitting us more freedom in terms of a consistent depiction humanity’s future. Beyond Aliens lies Firefly, which is also largely vague about Earth.

Moving forward, material set in the Fox Sci-Fi Universe can incorporate characters and ideas from other properties. Companies should be connected to one another; for example, Bartok Science Industries (from The Fly) could be purchased by Weyland Corporation (from Aliens), and we could learn that the Bartok teleportation technology was an important predecessors to Weyland’s own technology. Similarly, various government agents can be retroactively seen as predecessors or successors to the X-Files program.

The following is a timeline of the Fox Si-Fi Universe. As previously stated, it’s subject to change; movies can be added or removed relatively freely, at least until new installments explicitly place them in continuity. To help set them apart, TV series appear in red.

Era 1: Indiana Jones (1908-1962)

This era essentially contains all material set in the past, relative to its actual date of production.

1908-1920: The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (28 episodes across 2 seasons, 1992-1993)

1935: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

1936: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

1938: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

1938: The Rocketeer (1991) – assuming Disney owns the film rights in perpetuity

1957: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

1962: The Shape of Water (2017)

Era 2: The X-Files (1982-2018)

This era contains all material set in the present, relative to its actual date of production.

1982: Tron (1982)

1986: The Fly (1986) – features Bartok Science Industries, which funds Brundle’s research

1987: The Fly II (1989) – set about nine months after the first film, we might want to eliminate this film in favor of an alternate sequel (such as one directed by Cronenberg, which has been discussed over the years and which could now reference other material from this shared universe)

1987: Predator (1987)

1989: The Abyss (1989)

1993-1994: The X-Files, season 1 (24 episodes, 1993-1994)

1994-1995: The X-Files, season 2 (25 episodes, 1994-1995)

1995-1996: The X-Files, season 3 (24 episodes, 1995-1996)

1996-1997: The X-Files, season 4 (24 episodes, 1996-1997) and Millennium, season 1 (22 episodes, 1996-1997)

1997-1998: The X-Files, season 5 (20 episodes, 1997-1998) and Millennium, season 2 (23 episodes, 1997-1998)

1998: The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998) – the first X-Files movie (sometimes simply called The X-Files), set between seasons 5 and 6

1998-1999: The X-Files, season 6 (22 episodes, 1998-1999) and Millennium, season 3 (22 episodes, 1998-1999)

1999-2000: The X-Files, season 7 (22 episodes, 1999-2000) – includes “Millennium,” wrapping up Millennium

2000-2001: The X-Files, season 8 (21 episodes, 2000-2001) and The Lone Gunmen (13 episodes, 2001)

2001-2002: The X-Files, season 9 (20 episodes, 2001-2002) – includes “Jump the Shark,” wrapping up The Lone Gunmen

Uncertain: Tron: Uprising (19 half-hour animated episodes, 2012-2013) – set before Tron: Legacy

2008: The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)

2010: Predators (2010) – features a group of humans on a Predator hunting planet and ends with them still stuck there; connected material also includes two 2010 short films, “Moments of Extraction” and “Crucified”

2010: Tron: Legacy (2010)

2016: The X-Files, season 10 (6 episodes, 2016)

2018: The X-Files, season 11 (10 episodes, 2016)

2018: The Predator (2018) – features a battle with Predators in American suburbia

Era 3: Aliens (2023-2381)

This era takes place in the future, from the late 21st century to the 24th century.

2023: “The Peter Weyland Files: TED Conference, 2023” (2012) – a 7-minute short film in which a young Peter Weyland gives a TED Talk

2079: “The Peter Weyland Files: Happy Birthday, David” (2012) – a 3-minute short film in which David explains what he thinks about and what makes him sad

2089: portions of Prometheus (2012) are set here; specifically, after the opening sequence (in which the Engineers seed life on Earth), archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover a star map in Scotland that matches others from several unconnected ancient cultures, which they interpret as an invitation from humanity's forerunners, the "Engineers"; Peter Weyland, the elderly CEO of Weyland Corporation, funds an expedition, aboard the scientific vessel Prometheus, to follow the map to the distant moon LV-223

2089: “The Peter Weyland Files: Quiet Eye, Elizabeth Shaw” (2012) – a 3-minute short film consisting of a video call from Shaw to Weyland, introducing herself and her findings

2091: “The Peter Weyland Files: 'Prometheus' Transmission” (2012) – a 7-minute short collection of pre-mission interviews with the Prometheus crew

Dec 2093: most of Prometheus (2012) takes place here, when the ship arrives at its destination

2094: “Alien: Covenant – Prologue: The Crossing” (2017) – a 3-minute short film in which Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (after the events of Prometheus) repairs David on the abandoned Engineer vessel, as she searches for humanity’s creators

Uncertain: “Alien: Covenant – Meet Walter” (2017) – an in-universe advertisement for Walter, the android from Covenent (and the successor to David from Prometheus); although its place in continuity isn’t clear, it makes sense as an introduction to Walter, and thus should go here

2103: “Alien: Covenant – Phobos” (2017) – a 9-minute short film in which a computer program tests the feelings and reactions of the Covenant crew

2104: “Alien: Covenant – Prologue: Last Supper” (2017) – a 5-minute short film in which the Covenant crew and its android Walter enjoys a final meal before cryosleep on the way to their destination

2104: Alien: Covenant (2017) – sequel to Prometheus

2104: “Alien: Covenant – Advent” (2017) – a 7-minute short film in which David, after the events of Covenant, sends a transmission from the Covenant to Weyland-Yutani on Earth, elaborating upon the genetic experimentation he has been conducting on Planet 4.

Uncertain: “David’s Lab: Last Signs of Life” (2019) – a 12-minute short film, produced for Alien’s 40th anniversary, and set sometime after Alien: Covenant, in which an astronaut examines David’s lab and is attacked by a facehugger

2122: Alien (1979) – the main Alien sequence begins

Unknown: “Alien: Alone” (2019) – a 12-minute short film, produced for Alien’s 40th anniversary

Unknown: “Alien: Containment” (2019) – a 10-minute short film, produced for Alien’s 40th anniversary

Unknown: “Alien: Harvest” (2019) – a 9-minute short film, produced for Alien’s 40th anniversary

Unknown: “Alien: Night Shift” (2019) – a 9-minute short film, produced for Alien’s 40th anniversary

Unknown: “Alien: Ore” (2019) – an 11-minute short film, produced for Alien’s 40th anniversary

Unknown: “Alien: Specimen” (2019) – a 10-minute short film, produced for Alien’s 40th anniversary

2137: Alien: Isolation (7 episodes, 2019) – a mini-series, set 15 years after Alien, starring Ripley’s daughter Amanda and based on the video game of the same name; episodes were 8-14 minutes long

2179: Aliens (1986) – Ripley is revived after 57 years in status on one of the Nostromo’s escape shuttles

2179: Alien 3 (1992) – begins shortly after Aliens and ends with Ripley’s death

Unclear: Black Hole (1979) – this classic Disney film features no date and is difficult to fit into our timeline, since it features a space station monitoring a black hole, something arguably too advanced for the Alien franchise, yet also features robots less advanced than those in the Alien franchise

2381: Alien Resurrection (1997) – stars a clone of Ellen Ripley, more than 200 years after her death; ends with the clone arriving at Earth

Era 4: Firefly (2517)

This era takes place further in the future – specifically, in the 26th century.

2517: Firefly (14 episodes, 2002)

2517: Serenity (2005) – a continuation of Firefly

Stuff that Doesn’t Fit

The two Alien Vs. Predator movies (2004 and 2007) aren’t very good and are incompatible with the Alien prequel movies.

Predator 2 (1990) has been excluded for a few reasons. First, it is set in 1997 and guesses at future technology in a way that’s incompatible with the real world. Second, it features a Predator in Los Angeles and doesn’t limit those who are aware of its alien origins. Third, it briefly features an Alien skull on board a Predator ship, which is incompatible with the origin of the Alien species in the Alien prequel movies. Finally, Predator 2 isn’t great and is widely regarded as a weak film.

Material depicting public encounters with extraterrestrials in the (then) present must be excluded as incompatible with the rest of our material. This excludes material such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and Independence Day (1996). Although a closer call, Flight of the Navigator (1986) has been excluded for the same reason.

Other material is excluded because it presents a future that is incompatible with that of Alien. For example, Planet of the Apes could not be included for this reason (even if that franchise did not include copious incompatible material set in the present day). Post-apocalyptic material such as Zardoz (1974) must similarly be excluded (even if we were inclined to ignore that film’s tonal inconsistencies).

Other material is excluded because it’s incompatible with the rest of the material’s depiction of Earth’s state of technology. This is a subjective criterion, because The X-Files has plenty of technology and knowledge that isn’t referenced later, and this can be used to justify the inclusion of material such as Tron (1982) or The Fly (1986). However, it would be hard to reconcile the miniaturization technology in Fantastic Voyage (1966) with the rest of our timeline. Similarly, Tomorrowland (2015) features advanced androids that are incompatible with later development of androids as depicted in the Alien prequels.

Other material is excluded due to incompatible tone, another admittedly subjective criterion. It’s one thing to include The X-Files in the same universe as Alien, but it’s another to include Buckaroo Banzai (1984) or Idiocracy (2006). While Indiana Jones and The X-Files contain supernatural elements, the tone of Buffy the Vampire Slayer makes it incompatible, in my view. Similarly, the Kingsman franchise feels incompatible with the tone of The X-Files. The exclusion of some older films, such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) or the original The Fly (1958), may also be attributed to their tone.

Some material isn’t included but might be. For example, I’m not sure if James Cameron’s company doesn’t co-own Avatar (2009), and its sequels (in production) might contradict our timeline. Were Avatar to be cleared for inclusion, it would be set between Alien and Aliens. Similarly, because The Martian (2015) is an adaptation of a novel, it’s not clear that Fox retains all rights in perpetuity.

#Blogging #scifi #Movies #blog #Disney

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terresdebrume · 7 years ago

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A Fic Rec Post

Okay so @julinettewrites asked me for a few fanfiction recs to get to know the fandom side of things. The requirements were: ‘good character development/introspection’ and ‘doesn’t require in-depth knowledge’ for fandoms she isn’t in. Of course I had to oblige.

Note that several of the fics on that list will be novel-length and beyond (wordcount included in the post) and several of them will deal with mature themes including but not limited to : mourning, death, rape-recovery, slavery, depression and medical torture. Please check the warnings on fics before reading :)

Legend for the brackets in front of titles:

M = Multichaptered fic

OS = One shot (one chapter) fic

S = Series of fic

C = Complete

I = In progress

The first fic on the list is my go-to rec for people discovering fanfiction, the rest doesn’t really have any order of preference, fandom or length. I stuck to fics hosted on AO3 for convenience’s sake, although a detour through my fic rec tag has a couple of little gems for your perusal.

I also included a couple of my own fics at the end, because I’m proud of them, and also because I can.

Enjoy !

I. Others’ fics

[M|C] Spin Control by trovia (Hunger Games, Finnick/Haymitch, 146k+ words, Rated M)

Summary : When Haymitch Abernathy’s alcoholism makes the prime time news, Finnick Odair is sent to live in District Twelve to pick up the pieces. But it’s hard to save a friend if you can barely stand looking yourself in the eye. And it might become impossible once that friend decides to move hell and high water to bring two of his tributes home at once, even if it should cost him his own life.

[S|I] Double Agent Vader by fialleril (Star Wars Original Trilogy, Gen, 78k+ so far)

Series summary : The one where Vader turned double agent for the Rebellion about three years after ROTS, and Leia is now his primary contact with the Rebellion.

[M|C] All The Angels and The Saints by speranza (MCU, Steve/Bucky, 48k+ words, Rated E)

Summary : In which Steve Rogers loses God and finds God and loses God, and also: Bucky.

[M|C] The Weight of the World by bellinaball (Glee, Gen, 12k+ words, Rated E)

Summary : Blaine's parents have given him a present. No matter what Kurt tells him, Blaine knows that his gift isn't a person.

[M|C] The Twin Thrones by Angelike (Merlin +Chronicles of Narnia, Merlin/Arthur, 40k words, Rated E)

Summary : While visiting a neighbouring kingdom for peace negotiations on behalf of King Uther, Arthur finds his attempts to seduce Merlin thwarted at every turn. Hiding in the wardrobe seemed like a good idea at the time.

[OS|C] Migratory Birds by nekare (Supernatural+X-Men, Gen, 11k+ words, Rated Teen & Up)

Summary : When the end comes, one brother is on one side, and the other on the opposite.

[S|C] The Guiding Winds by Fialleril (Star Wars OT & Prequel Trilogy, Gen, 5k+ words, Rated General Audiences)

Summary : The one where everything is the same, except Anakin survives ROTJ. Mostly a connected series of fics written in the same universe, centering on Luke and Anakin's relationship, and written by request - updated on a whim, but each fic is complete.

[OS] different from all other nights by metonymy (Xmen, Gen, 2k+ words, Rated GA)

Summary : "This year we are slaves; next year we will be free." Kitty and Erik host a seder for Passover at the Xavier School.

[OS] In Starships and Cups of Coffee by lorata (Star Wars OT, Gen, 1k+ words, Rated GA)

Summary : Han has no idea when he was born and it doesn’t really matter, it’s what he’s done with his life that’s important, not whatever day he got dropped into the world, red-faced and screaming and smeared with gunk. (Chewie would have his hide for that, but you know what pal, just because his kid had fur from the start didn’t make the whole process any less weird and slimy.)

Birthdays away from home can be complicated, whether you're an orphaned smuggler who doesn't remember, a princess whose home planet exploded, or a farm boy whose native world used an obscure calendar system.

[OS] A Nice Boy (The Family Matters Edition) by pocky_slash (X-Men : First Class, Charles/Erik, 20k+, Rated T&U)

Summary : Erik's not sure whether the problem is that he doesn't want his parents to meet Charles or that he doesn't want Charles to meet his parents. Either way, he never invites Charles to brunch. Why should he? It's not like they're dating.

[OS] Guardian Angels by WerewolvesAreReal (Digimon Adventure 01, Gen, 3k+ words, Rated Gen)

Summary : After the digital portal closes at the end of 01, TK looks for a new guardian angel. This search leads mostly to heartbreak.

Things to know : Takeru’s Digimon is Angel-shaped at his highest levels and died (twice, I think?) in the course of adventure 01. This fic takes place soon after that.

[M|C] The Crystal’s Song by sebastianL (Rogue One : A Star Wars Story, Chirrut/Baze, 160k+ words, Rated Explicit)

Summary : He is a Guardian. He believes in the Force. He is alone. Things change.

[OS] To Have Outlived The Night by stillane (Teen Wolf, Stiles/Derek, 23k+ words, Rated Mature)

Summary : Derek steps away from the window. “You helped me. They took that as a declaration.”

[OS] The Butterfingers G. D. I. Stark to Problem Solving by Epiphanyx7 (MCU, Gen, 18k+ words, Rated T&U)

Summary : Tony begins to notice that things are going missing from his workshop... and discovers that his bots have been hiding a very, very big secret from him. Or rather, a very, very small one.

In which Dummy is a kleptomaniac, You is painfully shy, Butterfingers is a programming genius, JARVIS is a sarcastic sonofabitch, Pepper takes care of Tony outside of the workshop, Bruce is Tony's boo, Thor is Tony's favourite, Clint is actually kind of smart, Steve has terrible timing, and problem-solving is never simple or easy.

Things to know : Dummy, Butterfingers and You are Tony Stark’s robots, the ones in his workshop, which we mostly see in Iron Man 1 & 2.

[OS] Je n’ai jamais promis un jardin de roses by chezvous(XMen : First Class, Gen, 5k+ words, Rated GA)

Summary : Charles had wanted a puppy for his tenth birthday.

(Or: Charles takes care of roses to make up for the fact that he was not loved quite enough during his childhood.)

II. Things of mine

[M|C] Once more, with kissing (Digimon, Taichi/Yamato, 41k words, Rated M)

Summary : In which Taichi has questionable ways to handle his issues, everyone tries to be nice, and Yamato yells at him a lot. Same old, same old, except for the part where there's kissing.

[OS] The Green Teacup (Saint Seiya, Gen, 7k+ words, Rated T&U)

Summary : Aphrodite, after a week-long absence, is finally back in the Sanctuary, which means Deathmask can just yell at him for leaving everyone behind and let things go back to normal.

Except for the part where they don’t.

Things to know : The characters mentioned are all super-powered child soldiers with Tragic Backstories (Deathmask’s takes the cake). In this fic, Aphrodite was sent 200years into the past and has just come back to the Sanctuary (where they all live) a little too late to prevent people from knowing he time-traveled at all.

[S|I] Teeth of the Desert (Star Wars OT, Gen, 9k+ words so far, Rated T&U)

Summary : In which the homestead doesn't burn but Luke is orphaned anyway.

In which he never leaves Tatooine, but learns to know Han and Leia anyway.

In which Luke never becomes a Jedi, but he saves a world anyway.

[OS] Killing zombies, and other fun activities (TWD+Battlestar Galactica, Gen, 4k words, Rated GA)

Summary : Daryl finds Kara in Griffin, roaring drunk and just about ready to die. Things, as it turn out, don’t quite go according to her plan, but she doesn’t really complain.

[S|C] The Boxes ‘Verse (The Hunger Games+Avatar : The last Airbender, Finnick/Haymitch, 7k+ words, Rated T)

Summary : "Remember that time we talked about little boxes? That was ages ago but try to remember it, if you can?" "I can, Mom. I remember it. What about it?" "Well, we're trying to see if it's possible to unpack them."

#My posts #fic recs #julinettewrites #Fic Rec

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sage-nebula · 8 years ago

Note

final fantasy?

This really depends on which Final Fantasy we’re talking about, haha, because my opinion varies a lot!

Overall:

a reason why: I don’t have a clear reason why aside from “most of the games were on Playstation systems when I was a kid, and I didn’t have ready access to them.” That’s a slight lie; I had a PS One as a kid, that I used primarily as a Spyro and Tekken machine, but that’s because I didn’t have Playstation games, generally, since we were poor and any video game money I had typically went to Nintendo games (since I was far more into Pokémon and The Legend of Zelda). Like, if I had a choice between a Final Fantasy game I had never heard of or a new Pokémon game for the N64, I was going to go for the Pokémon game every time, no matter how much of a random spinoff it was. That was just how I was as a kid, and I didn’t have the disposable income to get both.

That said, I did try to play Final Fantasy IX once. I had rented it from Blockbuster (that sentence aged me terribly, didn’t it?), and even though I know now there’s no way in hell I was ever going to finish it within the week I had to play it, I was excited for it anyway. The problem is, there was something wrong with the first disc; it kept freezing shortly after the theater sequence in the beginning. I thought that meant I had to change the discs, but that didn’t work, obviously, since the first disc is not that short. In the end I returned it without getting any farther than the very beginning, and that was the end of that. (I did buy it ages ago on PSN, but I once again didn’t make it very far since the combat hasn’t aged well, imo, and it was bugging me. :/ Maybe I’ll go back to it someday.)

Since then I’ve played a handful of other games (which I’ll rate in a moment). In my experience, I tend to prefer the less traditional (i.e. non-numbered) Final Fantasy games, over the main series ones (which feels a bit backward, but hey). Overall I do think there are appealing things about the series, but I just never got very into it.

That said, of the ones I’ve played:

Final Fantasy III:

a reason why: This was one I actually didn’t mind very much in terms of story or combat (and it is in fact where I got the name Luneth from), but shamefully, I ended up getting to a part where I had to beat a boss (Medusa or something like that) that I just could not overcome. Truthfully, I could have overcome this obstacle by level grinding, but I abhor level grinding (and am especially irritated when I have to level grind despite not running from any random encounters), so I just . . . put it down and never went back to it. I never got very far and I don’t remember much about it aside from the fact that the main character was named Luneth, and I had a female red mage party member that I liked a lot.

Final Fantasy VII:

a reason why: I’m just honestly not very interested, haha. I already know all of the plot details and spoilers, and the fact that the localization has so many typos (from what I’ve seen) was rather off-putting to me. The graphics I can live with; typos are another story. But yeah, I know that everyone hypes up VII as being The Very Best Ever™ (it’s basically the Ocarina of Time of its series), but I was just never very interested in it. That said . . .

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII:

a reason why: I needed games for my PSP, saw that this was a thing, thought, “Hey, that’s an RPG, I’ll probably like that,” and got it. I LOVED IT. Yes, yes, I probably should have played through VII first, whatever, I don’t care about that. I already knew all the spoilers from VII, and this is a prequel anyway, so what does it matter? It doesn’t.

I praise Crisis Core for several things. One, I freaking adore the protagonist. Zack Fair is an actual puppy angel and I love him to pieces. Second, the combat is great. Rather than being traditional turn-based combat, Crisis Core is far more action-oriented, which is a lot more engaging for me. I also really love the DMW and how it gives you bonuses based on Zack’s memories with his loved ones. My god, Cissnei’s and Aerith’s bonuses might have been broken, but I loved them. So the gameplay was fantastic, especially with all the side missions you could do (I loved all of the side missions with Yuffie, hahaha). Lastly, that ending. THAT ENDING. This is a perfect example of a thing where, you already know how it’s going to end, you know Zack doesn’t survive the game because he can’t if VII is going to take place, and yet it still punches you right in the gut. This is one of the few things that made me cry just as hard on the second time through as I did on the first. It was beautifully executed (no pun intended) and just . . . aghhgdsghdsagdsa. Crisis Core, man. So, so good.

Final Fantasy IX:

a reason why: Again, I’ll probably go back to it someday, but the combat felt very tedious and boring which made me not very inclined to keep playing, especially with the frequency of random battles. But that said, the story seemed intriguing and the ending looks sweet (I’ve seen gifs on my dash), so I’ll probably go back and finish it someday, especially since I do own it.

Final Fantasy X:

a reason why: My roommate freshman year of college played this one while we were in the same dorm together, and I apologize to anyone this offends, but the voice acting was atrocious. I’m not talking about just in the fake laughing scene; other scenes grated on my ears, too. Voice acting can make or break a game for me (it broke me on Baten Kaitos before I even made it post the tutorial level, tbh), and that put me off X. To be fair, since she played it in the same room as I did I know a lot of the spoilers anyway, but still.

Also, years and years ago there were people online who bashed Tales of Symphonia by calling it “just a cheap knock-off of Final Fantasy X,” so. That didn’t help to instill any warm, fuzzy feelings in me for it. :/

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance:

a reason why: I haven’t played this one in years, but my god did I adore it when I played it. Again, I saw that it was an RPG (for the Game Boy Advance, this time), and I like story-based games, so I bought it. I did not regret it. This was actually my first ever SRPG, but I found the gameplay very easy to understand, and the story sucked me in immediately. I mean, a bunch of kids who go to an alternate universe after reading a book? And then for that alternate universe to actually be a manifestation of their dreams (especially the dreams of one of them, Mewt) in an attempt to keep them there? Like, bruh, that’s my jam! I absolutely love stories like that, where they’re in alternate worlds and they have to fight to get out, but the main thing keeping them there is themselves. I remember going out of my way to clear all the bonus missions in that game even after beating the main story, I loved it just that much. (I tried to write fic, too, but it wasn’t very good, especially since I was like . . . thirteen/fourteen, haha.) It was great, a++.

Final Fantasy Tactics A-2:

a reason why: This one, however, aggravated me. I can’t remember why, exactly---it’s been a good number of years---but I think it had something to do with the disconnect it seemed to have with FFTA? Something like that, how it broke canon or something. I honest to god can’t remember, but I do remember that I was really annoyed, put it down, and never went back. Pure disappointment. =(

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions:

a reason why: Again, I needed games for my PSP, and my friend Luke recommended this one to me (after I mentioned playing FFTA, but actually before I had played A-2), and though I was a bit disappointed that it had nothing to do with FFTA, really, I gave it a shot. AND I’M SO GLAD I DID.

Like, honestly? I’m so mad that I don’t have my PSP anymore, and that this isn’t on PSN for PS3, because I want to play it again so badly. Everything about this game was spot-on fuckin’ amazing. The story, the characters, the gameplay, the animation, the music---everything was phenomenal. Even the cameo characters, because I fully admit that one of my all-time favorite characters in the game was Balthier, and I considered getting XII just for him (I didn’t, though, since he’s a side character in it rather than the main). This game’s narrative has everything you could want from a narrative---intrigue, drama, betrayal, romance, emphasis on family, the works---and is just . . . god it’s so good, so much of the dialogue is golden (and I applied it rather well to YGO characters once upon a time, too). Honestly, this is probably my favorite of the games on this list (though Crisis Core is a close second). It’s incredible.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles:

a reason why: This is an odd case in that I really, really liked / loved it . . . but was forced to give up because I couldn’t beat the final boss (and I do mean the final, final boss). :(

I had so much fun playing this game. Despite how annoying the moogle was (“I’m tired, kupo!” “It’s freezing, kupo!” “I’m too HOT, kupo!” SHUT THE FUCK UP, KUPO!!), I found the exploration and variety in combat to be fantastic, and I loved my character (she was a wolf-styled selkie; I wish I remembered what I had named her). I also played this game with my older sister a lot, which was one of the few times we ever got along. She would help navigate, and I handled the combat. We were a good team at that, but even with her navigation and my combat skills, by the time we’d reach the final boss (Raem, I think its name was?), I’d be too low on health to beat it. :( I could have trained up more, but I just never went back, which is a shame. I will say that I adored the passage of time, and the memory aspect. Reading the journal entries on top of doing the sidequests for all the different characters in the game was probably my favorite part.

If only Kupo (his real name was Mog, but we called him Kupo), wasn’t so goddamn annoying. Honestly, Kupo, I know I need you to carry the chalice, but shut the fuck up for real.

And I think that’s all of the ones I’ve played! Well, I do remember playing another Crystal Chronicles game for the DS---Ring something or other---but I didn’t get very far and can’t even remember the title, so I don’t think it’s fair to rate it. :)

#series rating meme #bakurue

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fangirlingabout · 8 years ago

Note

Since you are a big fan of cartoons what are your top 10 favorite cartoons of all time? Honorable mentions can be included

Oh! Oh, cool! You seriously don’t know how cool it is that someone would care to ask, thank you!

Also, sorry for the wait. Seriously, that was excessively sucky. Life likes to get busy at inconvenient times, you know?

But dang, that’s such a hard question…

Only one way to do this right.

Dammit, Anon, This is Hard

I’m not the type of person to decide on ranks (or anything) very easily, so I’ll say this: some choices were easier than others.

I should also mention a lot of these choices are very personal, and if this were a more objective list of the best shows out there, it would be totally different. I also don’t pretend to always have the best taste, these really are just my favourites that I’ve seen. Sometimes I can recognize that one show is probably objectively better than one I like, but that won’t necessarily stop me from liking something. Basically, my list, my bias.

Still, I’ll do my best to explain my choices for those of you who didn’t have the same experiences with these shows that I did. I assume you don’t live in my brain.

Honourable Mentions

Is it hard to believe that the honourable mentions section was harder to decide than the actual list?

There’s just so many shows I’ve enjoyed and I think deserve to be lauded. If you ask me, “Well, what about ____?! Where the hell was ____?!” it would probably fall in this category.

I’ll try to keep it short, though:

The Fairly Odd Parents - I don’t think you could’ve grown up in the early 2000s without encountering this show in some capacity, but I absolutely loved it growing up; I played FOP video games, I watched it every day after school, I even remember catching all the movies on TV whenever I could. It’s always had such a great sense of humour, combined with the jazzy stylistic choices that gave it that extra punch. More recent seasons aside, this one is a 2000s classic.

Over the Garden Wall - I watch this every October now. It’s absolutely spectacular. I think the only thing holding it back is sadly that it’s a miniseries—and it’s not like I would change that, the story needed to be told the way it was. But it’s become seasonal for me, so it’s a favourite but… only briefly.

Rick and Morty - Damn, I love this show. Just give it one more season and let the plot really start to kick in, it may start to climb this list

There are also plenty of shows that I think could be on here had I gotten to watch more of them, and some of those include:

Batman: The Animated Series

Danny Phantom

Sym-Bionic Titan

And here are shows I once had a bit of an obsession with that in hindsight… was a bit unwarranted (again, I never claimed to have great taste):

Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi

Yin Yang Yo!

Total Drama Island/Action

With that out of the way, onto the list!

#10. South Park

What can I say about a comedy that’s antagonized censorship on TV 20 seasons? Well, for one, there are moments that genuinely reward you for caring about these characters for so long. For example, there’s a gut-punch of a two-parter, You’re Getting Old/Ass-Burgers that legitimately made fans question if the show was in danger of ending, with just how fatalistic it’s tone is.

They’ve even since made the transition from episodic to serialized season-long stories—to varying degrees of success, admittedly, but I don’t know if a show, especially one this well-established (this happened in season 18) has ever done that.

In a strange way, South Park’s a show that innovates. It quickly surpassed any other show on at the time for most edgy/boundary-pushing—to the point that its offensive humour wouldn’t be acceptable coming from anyone else but South Park (which isn’t to say I don’t understand when/if people have an issue with it, but… more on that in a sec)!

I’d also like to give special shoutout to the South Park Movie, and the recent South Park video games, the Stick of Truth and Fractured, but Whole—all three of which are jam-packed with South Park goodness.

Personal Reasons: When I was growing up this was the pinnacle in shows my mom didn’t want me to watch. And with what little of a rebellious streak I had, I took that to mean it needed my attention.

I remember watching it late at night (which just made it more scandalous!) with my brother, and separately with my best friend at the time, Daniel. We loved that kind of raunchy, crude humour! And in hindsight, like I said, I know there’s been plenty of times when they’ve made jokes in poor taste, but I don’t know. Sometimes when you make fun of everyone equally, there can be room for some less tasteful jokes. Especially when being a boundry-pusher is a big part of your identity.

As the old saying goes, “It’s South Park: what did you expect?”

#9. Clone High

One of the more obscure choices on this list, but I’ve mentioned it from time to time for sure. Coming from the writing/directing team behind Lego: Batman, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and 21 Jump Street, Clone High was a short-lived 13-episode MTV comedy.

The premise was simple: clones of famous historical figures all go to high school together.

Done, simple as that.

But what makes it so funny is how it parodies the high school drama genre while still existing as it’s own story with it’s own characters. Like, every episode is always announced as a “very special episode” and even in their short run, they managed to do the Drug episode, the holiday episode, the natural disaster episode, the dramatic Death episode, the class election episode—it just doesn’t let up.

Oh, and I’d like to mention Pan Pzza/Rebel Taxi did a stellar review that goes into the history surrounding the show along with some analysis of its content, so if I piqued you’re interest at all, you can find a more in-depth review over here.

Personal Reasons: This s a show my brother introduced me to. Watching videos or playing video games with my cool older brother was always awesome, so watching a show with him as tons of fun.

#8. Moral Orel

My god… this show is the absolute most brutal show I’ve ever loved. You can tell by my lists that I tend towards shows that deal with darker subjects in soft, even light-hearted ways, but this isn’t that kind of show.

Or, at least, the season that made it my 8th favourite show isn’t.

I should explain. Moral Orel was a show on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim that had a total of 3 seasons (with a prequel special that came out years after the fact), and for most of the first two seasons, it’s a vastly different show than in its third season.

From the second season’s finale onward, Moral Orel becomes one of the most bleak, bitter, heart-wrenchingly real shows on TV. It’s breath-takingly bitter.

The first two seasons largely center around the main character Orel Puppington and his religious adventures in his hometown of Moralton. It started as a parody of Christian cartoons, in particular the stop-motion/claymation Davey and Goliath.

Basically, Orel would learn a lesson from an authority figure in town and misinterpret it to the extreme. It could make for some funny commentary now and again, but in truth it was nothing special.There were a few early episodes worth watching, like the Lord’s Prayer and The Best Christmas Ever, but if that’s all it had to offer, its charm would wear thin.

This, on the other hand, is no regular series.

The fact that it started out the way it did makes the reveal even more powerful. You see, those more upbeat first two seasons, where the morals are skewed and everything’s just a bit cheerier than it should be come crashing down when Orel’s father’s alcoholism is taken devastatingly seriously during a hunting trip in the two-part season finale “Nature” parts 1&2.

Nature marks a drastic turn in the series tonally. From there, the series shifts focus from just being about Orel to chronicling the lives of several members of the town in the aftermath and the days surrounding that infamous hunting trip. The third season even starts counting down each episode (Numb, for instance is 1 out of 13).

And the reason for this is that as Orel lost faith in his father in that season finale, we, along with Orel, start to see all the people in his life in a different, sometimes disturbing light.

If I’m making it out to sound a bit on the unwatchable side, I understand, you don’t always want to watch something that will bring you down like that. But to sing its praises just a bit more, the reason it struck such a chord with me is because there’s such a humanity to it. There is hope somehow, and goodness in all this messed up stuff.

Personal Reasons: I used to stay up late watching Adult Swim, or use the TV to fall asleep to. I managed to catch episodes now and again, so it hit me hard the first time I saw some of the darker or more bittersweet episodes.

#7. Steven Universe

We jump from one of the harshest shows to one of the sweetest! And yeah, I was surprised this wasn’t higher, too

And maybe it could change as the series goes on, but in the meantime, wow is this a fantastic show! We’ve talked about it a number of times on FGA, but I don’t think that’s any reason to not sing it’s praises some more!

Premiering in 2013 on Cartoon Network, Steven Universe, as you probably know (because this is Tumblr), follows the titular Steven and his emotionally-driven life with the Crystal Gems, alien rebels from a far-off Homeworld.

Properly referred to as “singing and crying,” Steven Universe slowly runs the gambit from gorgeously heartbreaking to sweetly uplifting, all the while feeling like a mellow, safe, and warm place to be.

Like many people have said in many different ways, it’s a show that explores relationships. All kinds of relationships. It’s made massive strides in LGBT+ representation in kids’ shows, presenting it without the pomp and circumstance of a “very special episode.”

The gradually unfolding plot has fans like me hooked, even if the slower pace and hiatus plague can leave us hanging for quite some time.

Personal Reasons: This is yet another show that I’ve gotten watch and talk about with my girlfriend, so I think I’ll always remember it fondly for that. Fangirling.

#6. Avatar: The Last Airbender

It’s what I consider to be the greatest show of all time… and it’s this far down on the list. There really is no justice in Bias Town.

One of the best purely serialized shows out on this list, Avatar is a perfect example of a simple three act story-structure. It tells a complete, satisfying story that needed no more and no less.

And in that time, it managed to find the perfect balance for everything. Rich, interesting world-building reflecting real-life cultures? Check. Fun plots that moved forward the overall story? Check. Likable complex characters that humanize the world so no one side is undeniably in the wrong? Check.

The only thing that took a while to grow on me was Avatar’s humour. Can’t explain why, but once I warmed up to it, there were episodes and moments that made me lose my shit.

It’s such a well-crafted story, and I could probably just go on and on about how well everything was developed, but sufficed to say, it would probably top my list for what’s objectively the best cartoon out there.

Personal Reasons: I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but I actually missed out on Avatar’s original run. I vaguely remember being interested by it, but never catching an episode in full.

Years later, I somehow stumbled across it by chance, and oh my god. Oh my god, you guys. I watched most of the second and third season in one weekend. I couldn’t stop.

#5. Spongebob Squarepants

In last year’s Nostalgia Month, I fangirled a little bit about Spongegbob, and if you read any of that, you’ll know I’ve always been a huge fan. It’s one of the cornerstone series of my generation (just take a look at the Ocean Man meme that was a thing for a while—that song is buried in the credits of the Spongebob Movie, so you would have had to sit through the credits to get that reference), along with Pokemon and Fairly Odd Parents, so again, I couldn’t not have some experience with it, but I was pretty much a super fan.

And there’s kind of a reason for that. I can’t say what it’s like now, but in its early seasons, it’s humour was surprisingly intelligent and stupidly funny. There’s definitely a difference between stupid characters and a stupid show, and so long as you can see that, you’ll find a charming undersea comedy that became a household name for a reason (at least initially).

Personal Reasons: God, where to start. For one, I have a fear of fish, but I love swimming and the sea. That fear developed in second grade, ironically around the time I would’ve been the deepest in my Spongebob phase. I think it helped, actually. There’s a reason I have a random anchor as a logo.

And you know, there’s some shows that you love so much that they come to represent a part of your life. All my elementary school days and even into middle school, Spongebob was something I was an expert in. I had as much merch as I could afford to get, I watched it religiously (even the DVD boxsets), I made my first best friend that way— it just ruled my world for a long while there.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way. The nostalgia goggles are strapped on hard for this choice, but I couldn’t honestly tell you I don’t have a sincere place in my heart for it. And always will.

#4. Gravity Falls

You know how the 2010s starting kicking a lot of ass for animation? I think more than anything—more than even Adventure Time (which I do love)—this is the show that represents that to me. Not because it’s dated, but in fact the opposite: because it’s a modern classic that will forever feel timeless. Something truly spectacular that we’ll always look back on and remember as ours.

Gravity Falls takes influences from all the best stuff, but makes itself unique by being incredibly inventive. Like, it really does remind me of any Matt Groening show because of it’s sense of humour and even a bit of the world-building, but the mystery and heart are so magnificently its own. These things are the backbone that take the the already stellar comedy to a whole other level.

The best word for it is just as I said: magnificent.

From beginning to end, it’s undeniably so. It rewards close-viewings and theory-makers ten-fold, and that detail-orientated approach makes the experience that much richer and more, well, rewarding.

You knew it was coming, but hell, I can’t deny a show that succeeds in doing so many things I love so, so well.

Personal Reasons: I’ll never forget the experience of watching Not What He Seems for the first few times, or really, a lot of the episodes. Watching the fandom come up with theories about the Stan twins a season in advance, and then seeing those theories made reality in the most spectacular, theatrical episode of the television I’ve ever watched blew me the fuck away.

And getting to talk about it here and with LittleNightwing just made it more of an interactive experience, which is exactly the kind of thing Alex Hirsch wanted.

I know I’ve said this too many times by now, but I even wrote part of an episode for Gravity Falls: Deep Woods (a storyboarded fan-series inspired by the show). When episode three eventually comes out, if they haven’t cut it out for time constraints, my name will be in the credits. And having my name associated with anything related to this show is just an honour.

#3. Futurama

I don’t even know what I can say about Futurama that hasn’t already been said, but whatever, I’m gonna try because I have to include it.

It started airing back in 1999, which was appropriate, because the series starts us out by travelling to the year 2999 on New Years, entering into the new millennium as we enter into this new series. And from there, this lovable portrayal of a future that somehow seems not too far from our present day becomes awesome.

Everything is a little crappy. That’s not a diss on the show, it’s just the reality of the year 3000. It’s not some dystopia, but it’s no utopia, either. It comes with all the problems and foibles of modern day, just with different technology, space travel, and alien races.

And don’t get me started on how inventive it can be. The writers staff behind that show is one of the most educated on television—quite literally, with “three Ph.D.s, seven masters degrees, and cumulatively had more than 50 years at Harvard.”

And they put all that to use to make sure the science behind that sci-fi could work. In fact, they not only created their own alien language for the show, but writer Ken Keeler devised an entirely new math equation to resolve a plot point for the episode “Prisoner of Benda.” In the field, it’s referred to as the Futurama theorem or the Keeler theorem, and has since inspired research.

So when I say next level nerdy, I mean next level nerdy.

Futurama uses this incredible scientific and mathematical power to parody the sci-fi genre with a great sense of humour and a Simpsonian sense of heart. Pretty much all of the main cast has at least one tear-jerker episode, but none so powerful as the infamous Jurrasic Bark, an episode dedicated to telling the story of our main character, Phillip J. Fry, and his dog Seymour. It will tear you apart.

Personal Reasons: This is yet another series I grew up with, and I think it taught me a lot about storytelling. Episodes like Luck of the Fryrish, The Sting, or the aforementioned Jurrasic Bark end on a incredibly bittersweet note, and to really earn that, the writers build it up expertly.

There’s also episodes like the Emmy-winning Roswell that Ends Well that take these wacky sci-fi concept to insane new levels. Whether or not I can execute on that, it taught me to always push an idea further.

Plus, I followed the series from it’s original run to it’s first cancellation to the four straight-to-DVD movies (that I ADORED renting from Blockbuster) to it’s return and final ending in 2013. It’s been one hell of a ride.

#2. The Simpsons

And at this point, you probably know the whole list. But let’s go through it anyway.

The Simpsons, for me, really is one of the most brilliantly stupid comedies out there. It seems there are a number of comedies on this list that could be written off as just brainless, but I think there’s a charm to that for me. Something that clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously when it doesn’t have to. The Simpsons, in that way, has always been rather inviting to me.

Despite it’s now nearly 30 year run, it never seems to have an ego about itself, even when some consider it the greatest comedy of all time (me).

There’s an endless amount of hilariously quotable episodes, and like any good comedy, it doesn’t skimp out of the character development or sentimentality. It’s certainly lost it’s touch for the most part, as is the case with a lot of running series, but every now and again, even in the later seasons, it still manages to surprise.

I couldn’t explain it’s legacy if I tried. It’s currently the longest running animated series, and at this point, seems to have outlived the entire era it was so adept at parodying, but it’s still so legendary I can’t fault it! Even the impossible finally does happen and the show takes its final bow, I know this funny family will keep me laughing for years to come.

Personal Reasons: This started as another show my mom didn’t want me to want, but the reason I got to watch it so much and maybe the reason I love it so much is because my dad loved it.

From that point on, I started collecting the DVD boxsets of every season I could, and enjoying all the early seasons I was too young to watch when they originally aired.

And watching Simpsons reruns in whatever capacity I could became tradition. I still do to this day, even if it’s just online now. It’s become sort of a comfort show, it’s that familiar to me.

Plus, there’s the Movie, and games (The Simpsons Hit and Run is so much better than it has any right to be)—I even wrote an essay on The Simpsons back in high school.

It’s just been the huge, life-long love for me that will never truly end because of how much it shaped me as a person (as silly as that sounds).

#1. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Shock! Awe! Everyone is stunned! People never would’ve seen this coming if they know me…

Alright, so I’m predictable (I prefer the term “reliable” but considering how long it took to get this list out…), but it’s strangely so well-suited to everything I love. This entire section is full of personal reasons.

There’s fantastic characters to love (and obsess over); a heart-warming, light-hearted, cute, and ultimately loving tone that’s inexplicably never too saccharine even when it by all means should be; a fascinating fantasy world to dive into; a remarkable at times Disney-esque musical element; an eye-pleasingly soft animation style; an unashamed love of puns—I mean I could actually go on about this for a full year.

I really, really could… over on my main blog (sorry for the self-promo, but it’s relevant).

Year of the Pony, MLP Editorials (which are a big part of YotP)

I’ve dedicated this entire year to talking about My Little Pony in an event I’m calling Year of the Pony. There’s so far been something pretty much every week, themes for every month—I love this show a lot you guys. I really, really do.

That really is the reason I’m doing this event. I’ve been a fan of this show for five, going on six years, and it somehow became my favourite show of all time, even when there are shows out there that I think are objectively better. I’m trying to dissect why that is bit by bit.

For instance, here’s an upcoming two-parter:

These two characters are sisters, and long story short, one was forced to send the other to the moon. This was a story that introduced the series in the first two episodes, and has since been explored by the fandom in every way imaginable. So I have to ask questions that’ll give me a way to talk about how much and why I love this particular story element.

It’s not the greatest tragedy out there, sure, but I’ve seriously gotta figure out why this has struck such a chord with me, you know?

Obnoxious self-promos aside, I really did fall and fall hard for this series I think because it was still unassuming by the time I got to it. The was a fandom, sure, but I didn’t know what to expect (whether these “bronies” were just using it for memes and liking it ironically or what), and that made it a genuine discovery for me.

And it’s that very unassuming, unpretentious sweetness that continues to make me love it, even though it’s made a few mistakes along the way. I don’t think it’s a perfect series, but it’s definitely perfect for me. And what more could I ask for in a favourite show?

But that’s just my list. Feel free to tell my some of your favourites or take up the challenge to put out your own list and send it my way! Show me how much better your taste is than mine!

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pete-and-pete · 6 years ago

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21 Best LEGO Star Wars Sets: The Ultimate List (2018)

Looking for the best LEGO Star Wars sets available in 2018? We’ve got you covered with the list below.

The LEGO brand has always had a unique way of handling others’ properties. The company has done great things with some key franchises like Batman, Harry Potter, and Minecraft. But one of their biggest successes — at least, as far as other franchises are concerned — is undeniably LEGO Star Wars.

There have been numerous Star Wars LEGO iterations on TV, including The Yoda Chronicles, Droid Tales, and Freemaker Adventures. On top of that, there are so many INCREDIBLE LEGO Star Wars video games dating back to 2005 and as recent as last year’s LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Of course, all of these great iterations and the main line of Star Wars movies lend themselves well to some awesome LEGO Star Wars sets that make the perfect gift for kids and collectors alike.

Here are the top 20 best Star Wars LEGO sets available on Amazon right now in 2018 (most of which are cheaper than if you were to buy them on the official LEGO store):

1. LEGO Star Wars The Arrowhead Building Set

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The Arrowhead Building Kit is #75186, and it allows you to build a replica of The Arrowhead ship first seen in The Freemaker Adventures. It’s one of the coolest looking Star Wars ships we’ve seen yet, and it features a lift-off cockpit canopy that can fit up to 3 minifigures and the included R0-GR. It also has a cool transparent opening dome, complete with a removable crystal power source element and 2 shooters. It comes with a few accessories, including two handguns and two blaster pistols. It also comes with a service cart.

Price: $83.98 (7 percent off MSRP)

Buy the LEGO Star Wars Arrowhead Building Kit here.

2. Yoda’s Jedi Starfighter LEGO Building Kit

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While we unfortunately don’t get to see Yoda’s incredible Jedi Starfighter in any of the main movies, it does play a role in the Clone Wars TV series. The Yoda Jedi Starfighter LEGO Building Kit (#75168) includes Yoda and R2-D2 minifigures, and they fit right in the cockpit. The ship itself features folding wings and two laser cannons, each with spring-loaded shooters. The ship measures 2″ high, 5″ long, and 7″ wide. It’s intended for ages 8-12.

Price: $19.99 (20 percent off MSRP)

Buy Yoda’s Jedi Starfighter LEGO Kit here.

3. Star Wars Republic Fighter Tank

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If you’re looking for a cool-looking tank to add to your collection of Star Wars Lego kits, check out the Republic Fighter Tank Building Kit (#75182). It features the TX-130 Saber-Class fighter tank that was first seen in the original Star Wars: Battlefront game, and it has appeared in many games and some TV series since.

The set comes with two minifigures, Aayla Secura and a Clone Trooper Gunner, as well as two Battle Droids. It has an opening top hatch with a cockpit for a minifigure, two elevating guns with shooters, and hidden wheels that give it a sort of hovering look. It measures 2″ x 6″ x 4″.

Price: $24.86

Buy the Republic Fighter Tank here.

4. LEGO Star Wars AT-ST Walker

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Of course, your LEGO Star Wars collection would be incomplete without the AT-ST Walker (#75153). It’s one of the highest rated LEGO toys on Amazon, holding 4.7 out of 5.0 stars on Amazon from over 240 reviewers. It’s intended for ages 8-14, and comes with 449 pieces.

It’ll allow you to build your very own LEGO AT-ST Walker with posable legs, and opening cockpit, and two spring-loaded shooters. It comes with Baze Malbus, a Rebel Trooper, and an AT-ST Driver.

Price: $31.97 (20 percent off MSRP)

Buy the LEGO Star Wars AT-ST Walker here.

5. Duel on Naboo Set

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Jedi vs. Sith duels are always exciting, and whether you were rooting for Darth Maul or Obi-Wan, this Duel on Naboo Set (#75169) will allow you to re-enact one of the most iconic moments from the Star Wars prequel trilogy. It comes with a push-activated door and even an opening purification chamber that has a removable element intended to look like plasma. It comes with Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul figures, and it includes Maul’s iconic dual-sided lightsaber. It’s recommended for ages 7 years and up.

Price: $19.99 (20 percent off MSRP)

Buy the Duel on Naboo Set here.