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transmalewife · 3 years ago

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There's this youtube animated webseries called 'no evil'. You might have heard of it, there was a post going around about it a while ago. It's been going on for close to a DECADE and considering it started as basically one person doing everything and their brother helping with voice acting, the quality is frankly amazing. the character design is varied if a bit furryesque, the premise is unique. it's just very fun and easy to watch, the episodes are just a few minutes long each. i'm going to spoil it a little bit so if you care about spoilers you should go watch it here first. (if you just want a taste of the vibe and not the whole thing i highly recommend episode 7, a fun music video with its own self contained story)

The reason i want to talk about it is that even though it's not technically fan content (it is based on Aztec mythology, but it's definitely not in the typical definition of fanworks) it's such a fascinating microcosm of fandom culture.

First of all, the sheer passion of it all is heart-wrenching in the best way possible. The author said at some point that they'd been thinking about this universe since they were in highschool, long before they started actually making it. they must be in their 30's by now, and they haven't given up on it, they're rolling with what's there, resisting the urge to cringe and abandon something they made so long ago and building on top of it. It's an artist's entire journey posted for the world to see with no shame. it's like a fic where you can see the writer growing and the quality getting better with every chapter. Like scrolling all the way down an art blog and watching the artist's hand solidify in reverse. You really only ever get that with amateur art, because amateur means doing something because you love it, not because you're good at it. it's time and evolution chronicled not in order of importance but archived fully, meticulously and indiscriminately, which is exactly what fandom does at its best. There's no entrance exams, no publisher to dazzle, it's just you, how much energy you have, and what do you love enough to spend it on.

It shows the community aspect of fandom too. As time went on more voice actors joined in, as well as colorists and background artists, people started supporting the project on patreon to pay for better equipment, coming together to make it the best it can be.

However, it also highlights some flaws. A story with no clear plan will meander before it figures out what its plot is. That's not inherently a bad thing, stories don't need an overarching plot to be good, and forcing one on them can be actively detrimental (see every single sherlock holmes adaptation).

Even if a story is heading towards a conclusion, it can be nice to go the long way and take a tour of the world before you get there. But there are issues with that. Foreshadowing only works if you know what you need to be foreshadowing. Pacing is pretty much impossible to get right if you don't know where the story is heading. I don't know how much the author had planned out before going into this, I'm mostly talking about the vibe i get from it, and it's something i see in many fanfics and webcomics, or any other type of serialized online story.

The other thing is the ending itself. There's this thing about fandom spaces, especially tumblr, where unlike mainstream media it isn't geared exclusively towards cishet abled white men (and increasingly women), has a larger focus on underrepresented communities and a higher awareness of social justice issues. This is undeniably a good thing. More rep is absolutely needed and it's one of the noblest thing to come out of fan culture. in this series i especially appreciate the characters who use asl, as well as the captions on every video which is more than many major media corporations using youtube bother to do.

Striving for social justice and expressing your ideas for a better world is a huge part of why people make art in the first place, and has been for ages. This is also a good thing. What I'm talking about is that, ok

A happy ending is by far not the only fanfic premise, but it is extremely common, and very often the main motivation of fanfic writers (including myself) is literally fixing canon, undoing a tragedy. It's hard to write compelling conflict and hardship when you love the characters and are dedicated to making them suffer less than they did in the original, or letting them heal from the trauma they have (again, guilty as charged). But a story needs conflict. A happy ending gets that much more satisfying for every hurdle they have to overcome to get there, it's literally worth more if it cost more to achieve. But online media criticism steeped in fandom culture sometimes doesn't really allow for that. There's this blueprint developing of a story that must be 100% unproblematic at all times. There's an assumption that anything in a story reflects the views of its author. You cannot revenge kill the villain if you believe in prison abolition and rehabilitation. You cannot have a character act in homophobic ways if you are gay/an ally. You cannot have a toxic relationship or you are literally an abuser yourself

And I absolutely get where that comes from, because we do, in fact, live in a society. Most romances written like, ever, have glorified a harmful and damaging view of women. Many shows and movies in recent years have been very dark and full of pointless shock value deaths. and reality is also kinda shit right now, it's perfectly understandable to want to escape to a happier, simpler world when no one really gets hurt. I think that's why children's cartoons are so popular in fandom. It's certainly why i like them.

But, I recently saw a gay youtuber get asked "would you rather all media had queer characters in it, or all current queer characters got a happy ending?" and i was shocked when they chose the second option, because to me the first one is so obvious. Queer people are everywhere. if you've got 20 characters in your story, statistically anywhere from 1 to 10 of them should be in some way queer. And realistically, most of them will go through some painful shit in their lives, because most people do. This video was a few years old, and I do remember the vibe back then when it seemed like literally the only thing you saw in queer media was bury your gays, so i'll give them a pass for wanting to fix that, but although the question was purely hypothetical, if you actually immerse yourself in the rules of would you rather for a second its a bit horrifying right? You have two options, the first is this group of people that exists absolutely everywhere gets to be explicitly included in media, where they rightfully belong. the other is this group can only ever get a happy ending. can you imagine how othering it would be? you're still only given crumbs of rep, but the ones you do are all sunshine and rainbows no matter how little that works with the premise of the story. the reality is, in my country surveys show the vast majority of lgbt teens are suicidal. seeing only positive stories would feel like a lie.

Which brings us back to No Evil. I watched the whole thing a few years ago, then remembered it this year and caught up. I was excited to see it had reached the climax of the main plot so far, but what i got instead was more of a fizzle, which got me thinking about all this. They defeat the big bad offscreen, and immediately turn around and mom him into literally undoing all the harm he caused. It's not a bad conclusion to the story (nor is it the ending as far as i can tell, there's a new plot/extension of the old one building), it fits the themes and why the conflict was there in the first place, and the character that saved the day is very pragmatic, it makes sense for her to act the way she did and immediately turn towards enforcing community service. Having the villain immediately made to undo the shit he did is quite fitting, it runs with the general vibe of the story being very comforting. I'm not at all saying this plot needed a different ending, or that the villain needed to be punished (i think losing an arm is already more than enough punishment). I also don't think the story would have benefited from a game of thr*nes everyone dies setup, the fact the characters that got hurt can be saved actually adds something to the tension. you have to defeat the villain before he hurts more people, but also save him from himself so he can revive your friends. all the criticisms i might have (the pacing, the inconsistencies) are easily explained by the series being made over, again A FUCKING DECADE, which honestly inspired me to keep creating more than anything ive ever seen in my life.

No, what i'm talking about here is not at all a problem with the story, but a realisation i had after watching it, about my own writing and fandom in general. I'm using it as an example of a wider trend, even though the story on its own is completely fine.

Because bad things, pain, shitty behaviour, mean horrible endings, awful people doing sympathetic things and sympathetic people doing awful things, aren't the price we pay for satisfying stories, they're what makes the story satisfying, and most importantly, interesting in the first place. toxic, horrible relationships in media are compelling for the same reson fantasy and sci fi are. real life is boring sometimes, and it's fun to root for a self descructive character sometimes, even though we'd cut them off irl). (there's also the fact watching those relationships can be cathartic to people who have experienced similar things, especially if the ending is some sort of revenge or closure)

Which is all really quite obvious if you think about it, but it's easy to forget if you spend too much time on tumblr. And like, i do read, and I watch films outside of the context of fandom, but i guess i just always kept online media and 'real' media as discrete categories in my brain. but like... why? I guess it's understandable bc as i've shown they do operate on slightly different rules and have a slightly different purpose, but there is undeniably shit online darker than anything shown in theaters. and conversely there are mainstream adaptations of classics significantly less satisfying and just... good than fanfic about the same. So why should one be criticized for any sliver of darkness while the other is praised for it?

A tangentially related thing to wrap this up is how criticism works. It's interesting to me how comfortable i felt writing this while focusing on no evil, as oposed to a fanfic. but reviewing media, even critically, is normal. it's the most basic way of interacting with stories. it's literally a job. however, there's this idea in fandom that criticizing fanfic is unacceptable. And on one hand, i absolutely get that, because it kinda sucks to put a lot of work into something for free then get a negative response. but there's different kinds of criticism.

I once got a really long, critical comment, and i actually got excited at first because writing is very much a hobby for me, i've never purposefully tried to learn how to be better at it, english is not my first language, i'm making it up as i go along. but then the entire comment was just "i don't like this, this and this plot point, you should have done this instead" like... okay. go read a fic that has that then. what about the themes? the structure of the story? how do you think i handled what i actually wanted to do with the plot? I'd love to get constructive criticism like that from someone who knows what they're talking about. feel free to write a full mean breakdown of my work if you want to, i'd love that, as long as it's not just entirely subjective, or easily solvable by 'maybe this just isnt the story you wanted to read.' (i obviously only speak for myself, don't do that to other fanfic writers unless they asked for it)

And yeah, fanfic is different because a published author will not get a notification if you criticize their work, unlike ao3 comments. but there are mainstream creators who are online, and seemingly no one thinks twice before sending them all their criticism (it often amounts to hate, which is not at all what i'm asking for. there must be a middle ground here somewhere) directly. However, we've been able to discern between someone saying 'i hate this bc its not what i wanted' vs actual in depth reviews for a long time, and i see no reason why we shouldnt try to apply that to fanfic as well.

there's a difference between someone complaining that "there isn't enough action" in streaming site comments under the shape of water (actual thing i saw) or people sending creators death threats on twitter, vs an actual review that engages with what the story is trying to tell and criticises how it does it. the internet is blurring the lines here again, because on youtube many people's job is in fact to make long reviews that are just "here's all the reasons i didn't like this and i'm gonna frame them as objective truth". but yeah, we can't both want fanfic to be respected as real writing and refuse to accept criticism, because that's an unavoidable part of showing your writing to the world.

anyway, go watch no evil, it's really fun. And in the spirit of open criticism I'll add that I found it easier to stay focused on it when watching in 1.25 speed (not the songs though, obviously watch those as they're meant to be).

#fandom #fandom culture #fanfiction #no evil #the creator is on tumblr so i could have just not tagged it but i don't think theres need to hide #anyway if you do see this (and bear with me till the end bc wow this got long. what did i say about meandering)#i love your work and honestly few things motivate me to keep creating as it does #also i used they/them pronouns just in case bc i can't find if you have yours listed anywhere #feel free to correct me and i'll edit the post #mine.#found this in my drafts #from like half a year ago #oh actually the post has links in it so it won't show in the tags anyway #i need a queue tag #long post

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years ago

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March 9: Star Trek Movie Rankings

I spent waaaay too much time at work today thinking about Star Trek, the original series movies in particular, for which I blame B, so here’s a summary of my objectively correct ranking of ST I - ST VI.

1. The Search for Spock (III)

This film has it all: drama, love, humor, horror. It’s a story of found family banding together for a heist-plot to save their lost friend, and it ends with a beautiful reunion, and an appropriately emotional, slightly bittersweet, but still undeniably right conclusion for Kirk’s personal journey. Criminally underrated.

2. The Voyage Home (IV)

Undeniably the most fun to watch of the six, with an easily mocked but still honestly solid sci fi conceit at its base. I wholeheartedly love this film but I do think it’s a bit of an epilogue in terms of the overarching story of the movies, and in a way of the whole original series, so it comes a close second to ST III.

3. The Motion Picture (I)

The transition from TV to film was not smooth: this film is too long, has extremely questionable pacing, and features unintentionally funny costuming. But it also has probably the best sci fi concept of any of the films (even if it is slightly recycled from The Changeling) and really solid characterizations. Plus, This Simple Feeling.

4. The Wrath of Khan (II)

I’m just gonna say it: TWOK is overrated. The Genesis planet is a silly idea, Khan is a lame villain (at least by this point--I did like him in Space Seed), and Kirk’s characterization is spotty at best. It’s a smoother watch than TMP and definitely does have good moments, and it wins major points for the tear-jerking finale. But I don’t get why so many people consider it “the best.”

5. The Final Frontier (V)

I admit that in many ways, this is not a good film, and its most annoying quality is the way it utterly squanders a conceit that sounds really interesting on paper. The main story line is not an easy watch, nor a particularly fun one. However, the movie also has the best triumvirate characterization of, really, any of the films, and a solid 1/3 of its run time is just Kirk, Spock, and McCoy being silly, for which I give it major points.

6. The Undiscovered Country (VI)

Objectively, this is probably a better film than ST V. It has a solid plot and moves along at a good pace, and it’s a fitting final conclusion to the TOS story. However, I rank it last because my ST priorities are the characters, the science fiction, and the plot, in roughly that order, and this movie is not impressive on the first to fronts. It doesn’t do much with Kirk (other than having him complain about Klingons a lot and then sticking him in prison), it has basically no sci fi concept at all other than... the existence of aliens, and overall it feels more like a conclusion of this era of Federation history and a transition point for the larger Star Trek universe than a particularly important moment for these characters specifically. Yes, Spock is transitioning to diplomacy and Kirk is retiring, and this is a last little coda to their Starfleet lives. It’s nice enough. But overall the film does not have that je-ne-sais-quoi Star Trek feel, so I must put it at the end of the list. (Also... too many Klingons.)

#the year 2022 #2022: fandom thoughts #2022: star trek

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elliepassmore · 5 years ago

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The Golden Compass Review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, adventure, magic, steampunk, talking animals, corporeal souls His Dark Materials is an interesting world because it combines fantasy + technology in a way that makes it seem like it could be steampunk, but without the typical gears and grime associated with steampunk. So you've got grand universities, zeppelins, and flying spy/attack bugs, but you've also got shapeshifting souls, a 'magic' powered truth teller, and witches. I like the interplay between outright exposition and the slow unfolding of the rules this world has--institutional functions we get and main relationships we get to know about almost right away, but things like dæmons are explained more slowly. This book contains three main settings, each with varying interplays of technology and fantasy: Jordan College (Oxford), the fens, and the North. Jordan College pays the most attention (overall) to technology, being a college and all, though there's a healthy dose of what they call 'philosophy' but which is really the study of magic. I think this setting has the most warmth out of all of them, simply because Lyra knows it the best and is able to introduce us to the College and surrounding areas not only via current actions, but also through memories and anecdotes. I will say, though, that it's a fantasy novel and there's literally zero reason why there can't be female scholars without them being looked down upon (yes, I'm aware this is set in an alternate late-1800s, early 1900s, but still). The next major setting, the fens, really takes place in more than one location but can be grouped together under 'fens.' Lyra spends some time with her sort-of friend's family while she's on the run and before they venture up North. Where Jordan College had a sense of warmth, the fens have a sense of family. Everyone takes care of one another and are willing to help one another out--and even though Lyra is an outsider when she's taken in, they still protect her even before it becomes about the Gobblers. I will say, I wish we could've seen a bit more resolution for the gyptians Lyra was traveling with. I know they're mentioned briefly at the end, but I would've liked a little extra info about how everything turned out. The final setting is the North and, like the fens, is actually more than one setting that fit under this category. In the North, we see the port town Lyra and co. stop in upon arriving and where they pick up Iorek Byrnison, an armored bear, and send word to a witch acquaintance. The next setting is really just them traveling farther up to Bolvangar, where the Gobblers have taken kids. Next is Bolvangar, which reminds me a bit of the re-education center in Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead, but with more experiments and less re-educating. It's really quite creepy if you think about what they do in Bolvangar and how they do it with such nonchalance. Svalbard is the next major North setting and is where the armored bears are stationed. The group does, in fact, mean to go there, but naturally it doesn't work out the way they planned and Lyra ends up a prisoner. Pullman balances the fierce warrior nature of the armored bears with the gilded opulence of their new king and I enjoyed reading about the juxtaposition of the two. The main set of characters comprises of: Lyra and Pantalaimon, Iorek Byrnison, John Faa, Roger, Lord Asriel and his dæmon, and Mrs. Coulter and her dæmon. Lyra is a precocious, fierce girl whose age I've put at about 11. She enjoys running wild about her home at Jordan College and the surrounding area and is quite the little leader of a pack of kids. Like most kids who grow up running wild with 'neighborhood' kids, Lyra prefers to be outdoors exploring rather than sitting still and listening to adults drone on about one thing or another, and Lyra's curiosity and adventurous nature get her into places she shouldn't be, even before this book's adventure begins. Pantalaimon, Pan, is her soul and, of course, also likes exploring and being wild, but he's the more reserved of the two. He also works to help her think things out, talk her way out of trouble, and admonish her when she does stuff that gets them into trouble. As precocious and wild as Lyra is, she's also deeply loyal and determined to see things through, as shown by her love and fear for Iorek Byrnison and her fierce commitment to saving Roger. Iorek Byrnison is an armored bear Lyra and co. hire when they travel to find the Gobblers. He's gruff and a bit down on his luck when they find him, and though he grows no less gruff, he does form a companionship with Lyra and Pan and seems to genuinely care about them. As much as he cares about Lyra and Pan and is willing to protect them, he also has his own place in the plot of the story. Iorek was banished from Svalbard and risks trouble when the plot takes the group back to it. But Iorek's main character plot is found there and his journey begins to separate from Lyra's at that point. Roger grew up alongside Lyra at Jordan College and is shown to be her closest friend. The two of them often get up to mischief, though it's shown Roger is a tad more reserved than Lyra. Despite being somewhat quieter, he's similarly loyal to Lyra and willing to go along with her schemes, even when they're risky. John Faa is the leader of the gyptians and comes across as jolly and warm, but fierce. He leads the expedition up North to rescue the stolen kids and seems to regard Lyra as both someone to care for and look after as well as someone to respect and listen to, a nice balance from most of the other adults in the book thus far (though to be fair, most of the adults in the fens have the same attitude). He's one of the gyptians I would've liked a little more resolution for, as we get to see him a little bit a couple hundred pages from the end and we know what he's doing next, but beyond that we don't get any insight into how he and the others are actually doing. Lord Asriel is Lyra's uncle and comes to visit Jordan College when he's not off exploring. He's shown as being an arrogant, controlled person who has occasional explosions of anger. He has an interesting life and the things he talks about are revolutionary and are a fantastic way to draw the world and plot to the characters and readers. But he's also equally dismissive of others in a way that, combined with his other traits, makes it difficult to like him. He's especially an ass at the end of the book, but that's neither here nor there. Mrs. Coulter is another explorer, though she's a new character in Lyra's life, and thus is far more interesting to Lyra than anyone else. Lucky (?) for Lyra, Mrs. Coulter offers to take Lyra in and teach/rear her during her young adult years, offering to make Lyra her assistant. Unlike Asriel's dæmon, who is really just there but doesn't have a huge role, Mrs. Coulter's dæmon is somewhat of a demon. Pan almost immediately dislikes him, and thus Mrs. Coulter, warning Lyra to be wary, but Lyra likes Mrs. Coulter and doesn't pay too much attention to the woman's associated soul, much to her and Pan's chagrin later. Something I greatly enjoyed about the book is how expansive the plot is. It's not just that Lyra's world has been somewhat disrupted by children she knows going missing and that undercurrent of fear that takes over as they do, nor is it just that she's plucked from Jordan College's care and placed under the care of Mrs. Coulter instead, but all of those changes and winds in the plot lead to the bigger plot of the Gobblers and Dust and what, exactly, each is. Each small stream of subplot or problem leads to the next one, which all feed into the river of the main plot, each thread, however benign, seemingly mixing together. All of them, of course, feed into the trilogy's overarching plot and this book with all its little intricacies becomes a mere branch of the larger river. I like the complication of it all and how everything seems to relate to each other before the characters or readers know it. Obviously I enjoy and recommend this book. It's a book that can be read by children, teens, and adults with equal enjoyment and no sense of it being immature plot or character-wise, a bit like A Wrinkle in Time. The first book is fine on its own or it can be read along with the rest of the trilogy. If you want to share it with non-readers, the original 2007 movie is pretty good, and I know HBO has a series that's following the greater His Dark Materials world, which contends with the rest of the series as well as Lyra's World and (I believe) The Book of Dust trilogy.

#book #book review #book recommendations #the golden compass #philip pullman #his dark materials #lyra belacqua #iorek byrnison #lee scoresby #pantalaimon

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luanna801 · 6 years ago

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I’m getting mighty curious about this D.N. Angel series you mention in some of your posts! Would you mind telling us a little about it and what makes it worth the read?

Listen, I’m always delighted to have an excuse to ramble about D.N.Angel (I would probably ramble about it far more if I wasn’t worried about annoying people), and delighted to know that my posts got someone interested in the series! So no, I don’t mind at all - I’m absolutely thrilled to get this ask. :-)

Okay, so the first thing you need to know about D.N.Angel and what makes it worth the read is that the main character is an absolute sunshine:

^Meet Daisuke, our protagonist and deserving bearer of my #Actual Most Adorable Human Being Daisuke Niwa tag.

I enjoy morally grey characters, but sometimes it’s just really nice to read a story about someone’s who’s kind, and gentle and good-natured, and cares for others with every fiber of his being. And Daisuke is all of that, and more (he also looks like he literally shines when he smiles, bless). That’s not to say he’s lacking in flaws or moral complexity - you’ll see that right off the bat when I explain a bit more about the premise of the series - but he’s a continuously sweet and lovely person in a way that’s very lovable.

Daisuke’s deal is basically that he’s been trained by his family to be an expert thief from birth but never knew why (and never demanded answers about this because… well, he can be rather too nice for his own good, frankly). It isn’t until his 14th birthday, when the series starts, that he finds out that he comes from a long line of phantom thieves who have the unique magical ability to, under certain circumstances, transform into an entirely different person by the name of Dark:

^This is him. (The series’ title is obviously a reference to him, although he is not technically speaking an angel. But he is a winged magical being so, y’know, close enough.)

So basically this is a Magical Girl series (despite the protagonist being male), with the twist that Dark is a separate person unto himself, as opposed to just being Daisuke’s transformed self. When Daisuke isn’t transformed, he basically exists as a voice inside Daisuke’s head, and vice versa. Naturally Daisuke isn’t too thrilled with this situation at first, so a large part of the early series is the two of them learning to co-exist with each other.

(Co-existence, or lack thereof, is a major theme in the series! But I can’t discuss that much without getting a bit into spoiler territory.)

The transformation is, specifically, triggered by Daisuke (or Dark, when he’s the one in control) having romantic feelings, which leads me to…

… Risa Harada, Daisuke’s crush (at the start of the series, anyway).

Daisuke and Risa are classmates and he’s had a crush on her for a while, but she isn’t interested in him romantically and turns him down when he confesses to her (leading to his initial transformation into Dark). She feels like Daisuke isn’t cool enough to be boyfriend material but unsurprisingly… well, this happens:

(The art from this series gets a lot better as it goes on, I should tell you.)

So yeah, Risa has it bad for Dark pretty much as soon as she lays eyes on him. This starts off as a pretty shallow crush at first - he’s cool and mysterious, while Daisuke seems like your typical Boy Next Door - but as time goes on, she grows up quite a lot and their dynamic gets a lot more depth.

Meanwhile, Daisuke’s been told that the only way he’ll stop tranforming into Dark is if he gets into a successful, requited relationship with someone, but Risa only has eyes for his alter ego. But someone who feels quite differently is:

Riku Harada, Risa’s twin sister.

Riku and Risa are your time-honored trope of identical twins who have completely contrasting personalities. Riku is a down-to-earth tomboy, while Risa is a romantic adventure-seeker. And unsurprisingly, Riku thinks Dark is a lawbreaking jerk, while Risa thinks there’s nothing cooler than a magical bad-boy.

And, on the flipside, while Risa thinks Daisuke is far too average and milquetoast to be a romantic prospect, Riku likes and admires him for the kind and creative person he is.

Despite their differences though, the Harada sisters do have some major similarities - they’re both very outspoken in what they believe in, very stubborn when they make their minds up about something, and very brave. And while they do clash over their differences at times, they also genuinely love and are very loyal to each other.

The Daisuke/Risa/Dark/Riku love quadrangle occupies a fair part of the early arcs, but it largely ends up being resolved a couple of volumes in and the series from there on focuses a lot more on developing the relationships and plots revolving around the various magical shenanigans everyone deals with, which I appreciate.

Most of the D.N.Angel plots revolve around magical artwork, which Dark (and Daisuke) typically try to steal and which often ends up creating a lot of unintended magical havoc, both for the main characters and on a larger scale. Which brings me to this guy:

^This is Satoshi Hiwatari who, cards on the table, is my absolute favorite character in the series and it was therefore vitally important that I talk about him last, as he brings out my tendency to ramble.

Satoshi, like Riku and Risa, is Daisuke’s classmate, and when the series isn’t focusing on the more serious and plot-driven elements, there are often lots of cute scenes of all of them in school, doing regular things like going on field trips or putting on their school play. (Of course, these are also in turn always hijacked by magical shenanigans, because these kids do not lead normal lives.)

So Satoshi comes from a long line of magical artists who make most of the aforementioned magical artwork that Dark and Daisuke are always stealing. Because of this (and other reasons which are more spoiler-y), his family and Daisuke’s are mortal enemies, and they’ve been trying to capture Dark for generations, which is currently Satoshi’s mission.

Oh, and to facilitate this Satoshi is somehow a freakin’ police commander at the age of fourteen, because he’s just that much of a super-genius. This is ridiculous, obviously, but it should be noted he’s usually much more competent than any of the adult police officers, so. *shrugs*

Also, his life is The Worst. You’ll understand more about why when you read the series, but it’s vital to understanding his character that he has basically never known love or kindness in his life and is one of those characters who severely needs hugs at all times (but would probably have trouble accepting them.)

In spite of the fact that they work on opposite sides of the law and have this longstanding feud between their families, though, Satoshi and Daisuke come to form an increasingly close friendship as the series develops, which is really sweet and one of my favorite aspects of the series.

There are also two main villains of the series, but I’m not sure how much to talk about them without giving away spoilers? But suffice it to say that a lot of the overarching plots of the series tend to revolve around them and the different ways that they go about targeting Dark, Daisuke, and other characters in the series. There’s also quite a bit of backstory development regarding Daisuke and Satoshi’s families, the nature of Dark and the other magical beings who exist in that universe, and things like that.

This is far from a complete overview of the series (particularly since I was trying to avoid anything too spoilery), but that should at least give you a solid starting point! Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to expand on more, and if you do pick up the series, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. :-)

#replies #grelleswife #d.n.angel #dnangel #(putting in the tag because who knows someone else might find this a useful overview)#I hope you all understand that giving me an excuse to ramble about D.N.Angel and why I love it is #basically making my day for me #*laughs*#yukiru sugisaki #daisuke niwa #dark #riku harada #risa harada #satoshi hiwatari #satoshi hikari #rambling

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monkey-network · 5 years ago

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?Does SU is Garbage¿: A Measured Response

or THE TROOF ABOUT STEVEN UNIVERSE, PART 7

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Monkey of the Makaveli, coming at ya live, once again, through the power... of the internet. And this rant is quite menial, especially since the topic at hand is over half a year old now, but I’ve been sitting on it recently and I wanted to get it off my chest.

Back in 2017, I talked about SU’s handling of villains and how the show was plotting up to make them sympathetic, thus neutering the sense of dimension that can come with developing a villain, especially when you initially make them out to be very fascistic in their approach. Over a year later, Lily Orchard released a video essentially touting the same with the addition of saying the show unintentionally bears a theme of nazi apologia thanks to Sugar’s ambition for character redemption, thus making the show objectively bad. I didn’t agree to this but I didn’t have as good of a case then so I left it alone. Cut to winter where I saw a response from her talking about Robobuddies’ video on SU, considering it good but “malnutritious” compared to hers. Again, I didn’t agree with this sentiment but I didn’t have as good of a case then so I left that alone as well. Cut to April this year where, after learning quite a bit about objectivity vs subjectivity, I went back to that response and rereading this one quote, something clicked:

“No criticism of anything should leave out the themes and whether they actually panned out the way the creator was hoping they would. If all you care about is story structure and animation, Robo goes in an impressive amount of detail about those two specific things. But that kind of hyperfixation on these two things while ignoring the themes is malnutritious criticism.“ [December, 2018]

So with all consideration, the analysis of themes seem important to Orchard when it comes to objective criticism, especially when her video was out to prove the why in “Why Steven Universe IS Garbage.” And this isn’t a one time thing, I remember her covering before that the themes are what can make or break a show, episode, what have you. I would agree, but I hate to say this, given that I tend to be quite a writer/critic myself, yet it should be a given:

Themes should not and are not the end all, BE all to objective criticism, because it is an inherently subjective concept.

Now with that said, I’m not saying she doesn’t bring up good points, but for all the talk of whether the themes actually panned out the way the creator was hoping they would, this talk of fascist apologia in SU is not so much discussing Sugar’s intention but second guessing it based on personal hindsight and bias. In all fairness, I’m not above this since, again, I too felt this way beforehand and after watching SU the whole way through, my perspective has certainly changed.

So permit me, if you will, to go on one final SU rant, not only deconstructing that headline statement above, but objectively analyze Orchard’s idea of SU being apologetic to fascism in addition to reflect off of my previous stance for the villains. Prepare yourselves, this is quite a read...

The Themes, Mason

Keep in mind, I’m not saying discussing themes in media is a bad thing because it can enhance how you feel about it. As such discussing only the story structure, characters, the direction of the media isn’t bad either because you’re focusing on how the project came together and what is measurable in terms of good and bad content. But understand that while connectable, they are still separate types of criticisms. And while many writers can disagree with me on this, I feel like this has to be said: themes shouldn't be the point of the show. This goes for creators and critics equally.

I’ve discussed this earlier with someone, but themes are so subjective, you can put the content on a shelf that cannot be considered good/bad; circumventing any criticisms that could prove you wrong, and essentially deadlocking discussion since any opponent can’t really disprove your theme if proven enough and they either have to go along with you or argue to the death that it can be something else while you can sit comfortably in your generally subjective bubble, thinking you achieved objectivity.

You can give counters, but this is what people like Lily resort to define what’s good or bad writing in their eyes, and it can be frustrating trying to deconstruct because you can’t kill an idea. Not to say Rebecca Sugar or other creators can’t/couldn’t fall for this too because trying to contextualize themes over the actions of the characters and the flow of the plot, to force everything around the themes, can often lead to conflicting and sometimes frustrating thoughts as to what the show is trying to say. You will definitely see this with shows containing the most polarized fanbases, i.e. Voltron, GoT, Star vs. Evil, where it’s arguable that the creators trying to put the themes over the writing crippled people’s interest when they actually pay attention to the writing.

That’s not to say themes aren’t important or shouldn’t be important to you, but they should be the shadow that comes with the walking product, not the partner giving you the directions shoulder to shoulder as it goes along. Avatar The Last Airbender certainly doesn’t get the praise that it gets based on the themes alone, but of how well-written the characters were, how they’ve grown, what were their thought processes, and so forth; people love understanding the logic behind writing. Lily understands this. But on the flip side, I’m willing to bet she’ll use the themes as a defense to me saying Captain Marvel is objectively bad in terms of its writing quality. Whether it be their sacred cow or something they want destroyed, themes can be the go-to when trying to convince people that their judgement is concrete, when in reality it’s interpretive.

Furthermore, saying “No criticism should leave out the themes” is the “you have to have a very high IQ” of criticism standards. Truthfully when it comes to objective criteria, the story structure makes the themes, not the other way around. As such what you experience from a movie/show can be different to how the movie actually turned out. Best example would be a look into Armound White, a staple critic infamous for his contrarian takes. Every movie considered great is bad, vice versa, with some even transcending his scale. For a perspective, this man thought Into the Spiderverse was bad and a majority of video games, aside from Detective Pikachu were great, so take that what you will. But if you read some of his reviews, it’s less about what the movie did and more of what it supposedly stands for; His Spiderverse review mostly talks about how, thematically, it’s indoctrinating people into the MCU’s commercial process:

Whoever says Into the Spider-Verse is about “fun” doesn’t understand movies or anything about how 21st-century media operates — particularly the exhausting Marvel franchise. Millennials, and others, delude themselves by accepting market promotion as part of a larger cultural narrative. [...] Marvel and Sony gamble on Miles to meet the identity-politics fashion that now dominates contemporary culture. (Consider that Spider-Man’s example overwhelms Miles’s school assignment, Dickens’s Great Expectations.) But this is not just freewheeling, imaginative, and progressive capitalism, as in Spielberg’s Ready Player One; it’s the worst social, artistic, ethnic, and political engineering.“ [Armound White, December 14, 2018, this is what most of his reviews sound like, FYI]

Now say what you will about White, his way of reviewing is remotely consistent and can somewhat be a nice measurement to what’s considerably good and bad. You can see his review of Man of Steel and take away that it probably isn’t the “Godfather of Superhero Films” or a movie like Suicide Squad where it’s terrible enough that he couldn’t defend it, all the while mostly discussing the themes in lieu of any concrete happenings from the movie. The same can’t be said for most others when they surely want something beaten to the ground or elevated as great. The standards you might have for one thing can be bent to things you like and don’t like if you so choose; warping the context around your idea. As such, you’ll generally find most wanting to enjoy their own perspective while telling others they’re incorrect for having theirs. But how might this collate with Lily’s case for SU bearing the theme of nazi apologia or redeeming the space nazis, making the show pretty bad? Well...

Sympathy and Redemption vs The Deconstruct of Viewpoints

I won’t deny that Lily’s point about the show bringing in the Diamonds as an overarching threat is touchy given what they’ve done and who they are vs how their character was slowly revealed. It was bold thinking that the Sugar gang were gonna offer these characters redemption or show them in a sympathetic light. But I’ll say right now, and I’m talking to 2017 me as well, this is admittedly surface level.

To preface this, I’ll say that Lily’s point amounts to a lot of pattern recognition. This is something people who criticize with themes use and I’m not above that, as I will be doing that soon. Another thing is that in trying to argue Lily’s point, this is in no way trying to defend Steven Universe’s writing; it’s generally just setting some things straight.

With this said, one pattern that she brings up is that the portrayals of the Diamonds is essentially the show trying to make you feel sorry for them. In addition, with Steven being Pink Diamond, it’s trying to justify that without this factor in mind, the diamonds should’ve been killed because they’re far from redemption or sympathy in any light.

Now, I won’t say the part of Steven being Pink is wrong because this opened a disconnect of Steven having to be the mouthpiece for someone that should’ve been alive to give her perspective to characters that deserve it, i.e. the Diamonds and the gems. In fact, Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz is honestly the main problem with this show as a whole and I could into extreme length as to why but I digress. But,,,, on talk of woobifying the fascists, there is a contradiction afoot. With this contradiction comes a question: are the Diamonds ever shown to be in the right?

Weird question but this is where I’ve noticed a contextual pattern that Homeworld’s ideology is always called out on its bullshit, understanding the fact that they’re truly nothing without their sense of superiority. This is with Peridot calling out Yellow Diamond after commemorating how much she respected her before. Blue Diamond getting a fucking farm and a hand dropped on her after stubbornly touting her grief over everyone. And in the end where all three diamonds, including the literal White Supremacist, fall before the fact that everything they thought was right turned out to be crap. Steven does lend a hand to these characters, but it is never shown that he or the show actively justifies their behavior, regardless of their power/status. If anything, the show constantly makes Steven look better than the Diamonds by comparison, while looking like he’s trying to reach common ground with them.

Heck, I’ll go to where Lily talks of Uncle Andy and his episode in that part. There’s no denying that Andy’s retorts were highly xenophobic, but even when Steven and the others try to be chummy with him through dinner, the last third of the episode mostly involves celebrating each others’ presence without him, not once trying to bring him in on the conversation, not even Greg who’s actual family with him. This results in Andy storming off and later on admit that he’s rightfully at fault for not being susceptible to change, and this admittance comes before Steven offers him the opportunity to connect with the family more. Not saying this couldn’t have been tuned better, but we can’t deny that the show doesn’t tolerate attitudes like Andy’s and thus shows them that they’re wrong before Steven offers them the chance to better their worldview, unless you’re Kevin but he’s an outlier all things considered.

And in turn, this also brings in the pattern that the villains don’t submit so easily. The gems had to fight off the Diamonds before Steven got through to them, and even then it took some time before they actually sided with Steven over White Diamond. White Diamond had to be subdued more than once just for Steven to get through to her. While these moments vary in logic and pacing, again thanks to the PD = RQ twist, the point nonetheless rings home that the show isn’t much sympathetic to the Diamonds as much as it’s intolerable towards their stance and reacts accordingly. The only time the Diamonds are ever in the right are when they acknowledge they’re wrong, playing to the theme that no one’s above a change in viewpoint. Say what you will about what happened, it’s at least reasonable to say the writers provided a serviceable story that benefited from not killing anybody (sort of) while giving the heroes a struggle to overcome.

As with redemption, and I’ve mentioned this before, Sugar hasn’t actually redeemed them and the show more or less understands this. Change of viewpoint is one thing, but if they haven’t sacrificed anything beyond their ego or high ground, can’t really count that as them going through a redemption arc because they haven’t really given up anything sincerely valuable of theirs. Given that the show isn’t over yet, it would be premature to say that they’re in the clear and can’t be given time to repent heavily for their past. Just saying, for somebody that sought objectivity in my criticisms of SU for a while now, I’m actually willing to give Sugar a chance to finish her story before vilifying her intentions unlike some. And if I’m proven wrong, I will be happy to admit that.

Now taking everything into account, it’s reasonable to say that the show wanted to give the Diamond more dimension, make ‘em less like Disney villains. And it’s also fair to say that the show stumbles in conveying this rationally given the prefacing condition I’ve mentioned before. But is this prevalent theme of trying to make the space nazis sympathetic applicable to saying SU is objectively bad? Well, if you ignore most of the context, this is a probability, otherwise this is very discrepant to what actually happens in the story give or take its few hiccups. We can say Sugar’s development of the Diamonds comes from a fascination of trying to redeem them, hence trying to sympathize with space nazis, but given what we know and what we don’t know yet, I can’t help but say that this is trying to make it deeper than knowingly. Or if so, the writers are doing it at quite a distance, so to speak.

“”The Argument””

Unfortunately, herein lies a problem I’ve noticed with how criticism is made and handled. Lily and others like her can be pretty inconsistent with their arguments that they resort to inventing quotes and problems to make their arguments look irrefutable and their opponents look crazier by comparison. Not saying Sugar hasn’t flubbed up a few times in the past with SU, but Lily is giving her a lot of credit for something she generally invented herself, only to then say Sugar is remarkably unaware of everything she’s doing like she’s Mr. Magoo. Doesn’t help that the woman offers no citations or references to Sugar providing insight on her intentions or goals in the show, no actual commentary on the matter even when such could exist, to actually make her stance objective. She just says that this theme for SU exists, ergo the show is bad for it... Do you now see what I mean when I say that themes aren’t the end all, be all to objective criticism? Especially for a show like Steven Universe where it can either be analyzed incrementally or as a whole when completed? It’s this dishonesty that stifles genuine criticism because whether or not you're in the right of something, this meshing of objective and subjective takes leads to misinformation and the lack of fair discussion because you can stubbornly keep to your stance. And for the fact that her video’s ratings are disabled and the comment section bears nothing but complete agreements with her, I doubt this troubles her.

Again, won’t deny that the Diamonds aren't fascistic in their character, nor am I saying that the story couldn't have been done better with them, but it should be said that this nebulous vitriol towards Sugar, regardless of her executive position, has lead to a far-fetched presumption that I doubt barely anybody is truly behind other than those who just agree with her. Yet this is what she considers the crux of her stance, an idea that hasn't been denied or accepted by anybody important other than herself. Or better yet a stance she finds irrefutable when in reality, it's a subjective opinion that nobody can or has to really deny unless they actually think about it hard enough. I won’t take away this theme, but if Lily’s seriously believing that this makes Steven Universe garbage... well, she is wrong. And you know what? That’s okay.

The Conclusion

With all this, like I said before, this was less about disproving Lily’s point and more about understanding my old perspective. Cuz when I think about it, critiquing media like SU among others helped me understand what I truly like, differentiate between what’s entertaining and what’s good, generally without having to be interpretive or try to make every argument I have “just my opinion.“ I’ve become more... aware of how see things and I’d say that’s better than trying to stick with a single viewpoint. Doesn’t mean I’m critical towards everything I watch, just feels like I’ve grown thoughtful in how I consume media.

Steven Universe is not a show I find to be a favorite anymore, but through many thoughts and realizations, it’s a show I’ll gladly stay tuned to because it is entertaining and makes me think about it in a nuanced way. Again, this response was in no way an active defense towards this show, but overall, I’ll say the show deserves a better look through than this, so to speak.

#su critical #su critique #anti su critical #lily orchard #analysis #su #Roy Macintosh #long post #i'll see myself out

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rhetoricandlogic · 4 years ago

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Fake It Till You Make It: Savages by K.J. Parker

Stefan Raets

Fri Jul 31, 2015 12:00pm

K.J. Parker appears to be in a very prolific period in his career right now. In addition to the ongoing serial novel The Two of Swords, which just had its sixth monthly installment published in July, and last year’s short fiction/essay collection Academic Exercises, we are now treated to Savages, a brand new full length novel. (Plus, come October, a new novella right here on Tor.com!) Maybe it’s the recent unveiling of his true identity that spurred all this activity? Whatever’s the cause, you’ll never hear me complain about more K.J. Parker on the shelves.

The setting for Savages, as for most of Parker’s output to date, is once again a vaguely recognizable (but really different) parallel of Europe during and after the breakup of the Roman Empire: there are Western and Eastern Empires, one with vaguely Roman-sounding names and one with kinda-Greek-sounding names, as well as some other parallels to countries and regions in historical central Europe. Fans of the author will catch references to, among others, Permia and Scheria, two countries that have frequently been featured in Parker’s fiction.

(The difference with the works of someone like Guy Gavriel Kay is that Parker, as far as I can tell from my very fuzzy knowledge of that period, rarely if ever refers to actual historical events and people. He mainly uses this setting as a nice, dynamic place to develop his wonderful plots and characters. By contrast, with Kay you can usually tell that character X is actually this or that king or poet or general with the serial numbers removed, and if you’re not careful you’ll run into major plot spoilers when you look up the real life history the novels are based on.)

In Savages, we actually get a look at some of the nomadic tribes that wander the edges of the Eastern empire. A brilliant general named Calojan has convinced the Aram Cosseilhatz, one of five nomadic clans, to fight on behalf of the Empire. The Cosseilhatz horse archers are so fearsome that they often make the difference in the ongoing wars and battles.

Savages features a relatively large cast of main characters who take turns as the point of view for this meandering story. In addition to the aforementioned Calojan, the main players are Aimeric, a pacifist student who inherits his father’s faltering arms business, and a (for most of the novel) nameless man whose family is murdered in the opening chapter and who goes on to relentlessly reinvent himself as the story progresses. Further points of view are provided by the young prince of the Aram Cosseilhatz, a counterfeiter, and an expert art/manuscript forger.

Of these characters, my favorite was easily Aimeric, the pacifist student turned arms manufacturer who ends up playing a vital role in the ongoing military campaigns by consistently coming up with creative ways to deliver huge amounts of weaponry to Calojan’s armies. He has the same sort of manic “just keep going” forward momentum as Miles Vorkosigan, playing his new role as a hyper-entrepreneurial weapons merchant with desperate gusto.

“Playing a role” is actually a key concept in Savages: one of the novel’s recurring themes is reinventing oneself. The nameless chieftain has a “fake it till you make it” approach to employment: he basically says yes to any job he’s offered, claiming (entirely fictional) previous experience. Aimeric’s a pacifist playing at being an arms manufacturer. Both of them forge a new life, just like the counterfeiter makes fake money and the forger makes fake manuscripts. It’s all these forgeries and phony identities that somehow drive the plot.

Take for example this telling quote: “So many people these days have a morbid obsession with the truth. Nine times out of ten no good comes of it.” This, by the way, is uttered while two characters discuss the forgery of a prophecy. That original prophecy turns out to be a forgery too, making it, yes, a forgery of a forgery. The entire project is meant to introduce retconned false prophecies into the document—prophecies that have already come true, so people will believe the rest of the fake predictions will come true too. Ah, the tangled web we weave…

Other fun examples: Aimeric rebuys his old family’s house, which was sold off to repay debts his father incurred. He traces down as much of the sold-off furniture as he can find, faithfully recreating the house he grew up in and calling it “an authentic forgery of the original.” And finally, there’s a hilarious section where (and I’m paraphrasing here because I somehow can’t find it in my copy right now) the counterfeiter says something to the effect of “If we do it, it’s called forgery, but if the government does it, it’s quantitative easing.” (This is also, as far as I remember, the first time I’ve seen the term quantitative easing in a fantasy novel.)

Despite all these clever K.J. Parker hijinx, and the recognizably wonderful dialogues (seriously, Parker writes better dialogue than 99% of the field), and the many, exquisitely detailed battle scenes, Savages is a bit of a letdown in some ways. There’s some minor issues, mainly the occasional clumsy plotting: one character sneaks into a building to find a place to sleep and just happens to overhear others plotting—a coincidence that stretches belief to the breaking point.

More importantly, though, the novel lacks a sense of purpose. As fun as the story is, it never feels as if it’s moving towards any kind of resolution. There’s no drive. We follow very fascinating characters interacting, evolving, leading their very different lives, but taken as a whole, the novel somehow lacks tension.

Don’t get me wrong, Savages is not boring—on the contrary even—but it’s missing an antagonist, a goal, a destination, a motivation. The overarching plot mainly takes place on the macro level, with the uncomfortable relationship between the Empire and the titular “savages” its main focus, but the individual stories within that larger plot meander a bit much.

Regardless, a new K.J. Parker is always cause for celebration. Looking back at the author’s biography to date, I don’t think Savages will be as highly regarded as some earlier masterpieces like Sharps or The Folding Knife, but it’s still an entertaining work by a master of the craft.

#K.J. Parker #Savages #mahreviews #long post

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kingofthewilderwest · 7 years ago

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So,do you think that Voltron is deserving of the collective hate for season 4 and the claims of lack of character development? I personally liked the season,I didn't LOOOOVEEE it but it was completely okay and I dont understand some of the claims?

I’m not surprised at negative reactions I have seen from portions of the fandom (it’s to note that, while there is certainly vocal negativity in the fandom, it’s not everybody!). I sort of expected the backlash even before I finished the season; before I went online to tumblr, I predicted what the criticism would be about. So it’s not that people are making something out of nothing. The fans are definitely detecting something. And there are certainly a number of areas where I myself could constructively criticize the season.

That said, I don’t think that what these individuals detect about Season 4 is any reason to create a culture of collective hate for Season 4. I think it misses the point about what Season 4 is, what the purpose of Season 4 is, where in the narrative arc Season 4 is, and what VLD as a whole is. I don’t think Season 4 deserves such negativity at all.

I think that it would be good to step back and understand what S4 accomplishes, and to think about what waiting for future seasons will do to S4′s contribution in the long-ranging story. We need to be patient before everything comes to fruition.

Season 4 is a short six-episode continuation of a very long, complicated narrative. It’s only natural it won’t have EVERY nuanced aspect of the franchise in this time frame. Six episodes is very little material. While of course you can pack a lot into six episodes, and sometimes that’s a good idea, sometimes it’s also not a good idea to pack everything into such a short time frame. That can convolute the story and take away clarity, among other problems.

Voltron juggles a lot. It juggles the overarching narrative structure of fighting against Zarkon and the Galra. It has long-length arcs that last two seasons, culminating in a major climactic moment. It has season-length progression. It has single episode or multi-episode arcs. It has character development arcs for main characters like Allura, Shiro, Lance, Keith, Pidge, Lotor, and Haggar. It has side arcs and main arcs and arcs on top of arcs and many characters major and minor and planets upon planets and so much stuff going on. It’s not that Voltron is oversaturated in storytelling material… it’s just that it’s a very complex story and needs to create a sense of balance of progression for all these different plot points.

A six episode chunk isn’t going to handle all of that. It’s going to be one part of a balance to the greater whole. Season 4 isn’t about Shiro’s character development. But that’s okay. Season 4 isn’t focused as closely on Keith as Season 3 was. But that’s okay. Season 4 can give a good, useful contribution to the story as a whole without tackling everything.

Furthermore, just because it’s called a “season” on Netflix doesn’t mean it has the role of a season. Again, six episodes. The first six episodes of Season 1 wouldn’t make a stand alone chunk, nor would the first six episodes of Season 2. I wouldn’t criticize the first half of Season 1 for not getting “everything” to be a satisfying arc because that is not the purpose of that chunk of material.

And there’s something to say that Season 4 does have a significant arc in and of itself that is introduced, built up, and brought to a climactic point within the six episodes we see.

And that significant arc is really the center and purpose of Season 4.

Season 4 is about the expansion of Voltron’s fight from one castle-ship to a galaxy of beings. That’s the purpose it’s meant to have within the larger VLD storytelling structure. It accomplishes this task very well. It’s not about the Paladins trying to learn how to be Paladins. It’s about something far broader than the six Paladins. It’s a season in which we are opening up to NEW characters and concepts and battles! It does that by giving us for the first time a battle with an entire flotilla of ships from aliens across the galaxy. It’s not a season meant to fully tackle the GRIT of old characters, but to introduce us to more material that will be built up more as we got on.

Season 4 is the beginning of Matt’s official on-screen journey, for instance, and the writers definitely made sure to give Matt a good grounding of screen time. We might not have had big Lance-questioning-himself moments, but that’s because the season’s purpose was to give us grounding for material like Matt which also will need to be developed through the franchise.

Season 4 likely will be a foundation upon which much more nuance can be built. Give it a chance to grow from here, please!

Season 4 might throw people off because it has a slightly different narrative tactic than S1-3.

Season 4 is about expansion rather than a small team. Season 4 is a high concentration of casualties and near-casualties in a short time span. Season 4 builds on external political affairs moreso than has individual character episodes (aside from “Reunion”). Season 4 has more sense of passing time and time jumps than the steady moment-by-moment plotting we get in S1-2 especially. It’s a somewhat different narrative structure. And as soon as something changes, fandom can feel “off” and instinctively react against it.

But I don’t think this means S4 is out of place. It means that we are entering the central, convoluted development meat of the story… where things are getting chaotic and more pressed and everything is changing in the midst of the war. That’s what a middle chapter of writing often does: give us that spiraling out of control and spinning of new circumstances. We’ve started the plunge into a new portion of the overarching story.

Season 4 has incredible moments in storytelling, as well as significant moments for many of the Paladins. To say it is completely void of Paladin growth and nuance is to bypass and downplay critical scenes throughout the Season.

Now about character development: I do feel like the Paladins feel “flatter” because we’re not given as much in-depth focus on them this season (also because “The Voltron Show!” was an intentional writing of flattening the characters… but that’s a FULL episode of them feeling “less”). Again, it’s about the broadening of horizons this season, so we get a less “nuanced” lens specifically at the Paladins. I don’t criticize S4 for having this somewhat flatter feel for the Paladins because 1). sometimes looking at such a small chunk of material can make things naturally look flatter than they are over the whole, 2). there’s that other focus S4 is meant to expand upon, and 3). because the Paladins actually *do* have significant character moments!!!

Season 4 honestly packs a lot of story in a short time, if you think about it. And there is high-quality content in there.

Powerful, intricate moments for characters and their development include:

Shiro/Kuron’s nuanced psychology about Keith being leader. On one side, he says that he has accepted Keith is the Black Lion’s Paladin and will support his friend’s role as Voltron’s leader. But on the other side, Shiro commands Keith to obey him, questions Keith’s decisions, and undermines Keith’s role as leader. Kuron plays back and forth, simultaneously supporting Keith as leader and usurping Keith’s authority as leader. It shows a complicated psychology to what Shiro thinks about the situation.

Shiro/Kuron’s psychological struggle about being rejected by Black. We again see Shiro’s personality dimensionalized. On the surface, he shows himself to be calm, in control, and accepting of situations. He tells Keith he’s accepted he cannot be Black’s Paladin anymore. And while Shiro might even believe that, thinks he believes that, or tries to tell himself he believes that… it’s obvious that’s not the whole story. Shiro is extraordinary distraught when he’s sitting in Black’s cockpit, listening to the terrifying sounds of his teammates shouting, being overwhelmed by enemy forces, in deep danger and need of help. Shiro clenches tightly onto the Black Lion’s handles, his eyes tear up, and he pleas for Black to accept him. This is a huge moment of vulnerability for Shiro and speaks to the problems he’s continued to harbor.

Some interesting, continued dynamics about Shiro/Kuron’s attention to self-interests. It’s not that Kuron is selfish or cruel. He obviously is torn about not being able to save the Paladins, sitting there helplessly in the Black Lion’s lifeless cockpit. But Kuron acts a bit more in his personal interests and makes some commands to (especially) Keith that are less sensitive than we would expect of team-oriented, diplomatic S1 Shiro. This new S3-4 Shiro is being developed.

Keith’s intricate struggle about his place on Voltron’s team. This cannot be analyzed enough. There is a lot of depth to how Keith avoids the discomforts of being the Black Lion’s Paladin by diving deeper into his Blade of Marmora training. It shows Keith accepting his identity as Galra and doing something with it. It shows Keith questioning himself and his role as leader. It shows Keith distancing himself and pulling away as a quiet means of him trying to handle his problems all by himself. We can talk on and on and on and on about what this means for Keith’s personality, as well as what this means for his relation to team dynamics.

Pidge’s mission to find Matt. Do I even need to explain this one and why it’s such a significant moment for Pidge’s character arc??? Isn’t this self-explanatorily a great character episode for her through and through? Isn’t this in depth and full of heart and not flat at ALL for her character?

All the Paladins acting as polished fighters. Compare them to S1. This season manifests how they have grown.

An entire episode dedicated to Coran’s insecurities. Nice to see an entire episode focus on Coran feeling worried about his contribution to the Castle of Lions group!

Lotor moments, Lotor moments, everywhere! Lotor is just as complex and interesting as the second he was introduced in S3. There’s a beautiful complexity in how he acts contrite before Zarkon but smirks behind his father’s back. There are lots of signs of Lotor’s machinations everywhere. And yet again, the story builds on Lotor’s ruthlessness - killing Narti - and being willing to do anything tactical to achieve his ends… down to offering peaceful talks with the rebels.

Haggar being built up as a more prominent antagonist. With complex motivations that are yet to be fully revealed! Wasn’t this so cool though seeing Haggar take the forefront of leadership against the rebels??? It’s a huge growth from her just telling Zarkon she made another robeast and asking him to use it. Also her staring at her appearance wide-eyed? Demonstrations of insecurities from Haggar we are unaccustomed to seeing. Growth growth growth!

Everything about Matt. This season not only introduces Matt, but gives us an in-depth perspective of who he is. He’s hardly flat!!!!!!!

Keith taking on a notable leadership role in the final fight. Keith brings up back-up, taking a notable step in leadership. This might not be Keith in the Black Lion, but this is a point in which we can see that Keith’s training with the Blade of Marmora is making him take prudent initiative in dangerous situations. Keith’s actions in the final episodes feels like a nice step up into Keith starting to actualize as a leader. Definitely an important step up in character development here.

Keith’s self-sacrificial flight. POWERFUL and terrifying Keith moment. We’ve seen Keith take a suicide mission before, filling in a role. We see this happen again, but in a very different matter. This is an even grimmer taking of responsibility… it’s not just that Keith has a small chance of surviving a difficult mission… but that he’s literally flying a ship in an indisputably deadly collision course.

Lance’s leadership abilities and sense of responsibility matured. In the first episode, we see Lance take on leadership roles while Keith is absent and Shiro cannot pilot Black. When Lance gives Allura a speech about her being the heart of Voltron, he’s taking an extraordinary step that no other Paladin has done. Usually Paladins defer to the leader and wait for him to make the next move and statement (especially when Shiro’s in Black). But here Lance steps up to give the necessary leading, motivational speech, Paladin-to-Paladin. He has become an incredibly important and serious second-in-command.

Allura being the heart of Voltron. Allura using her magic in a new way to save Voltron is a beautiful manifestation of her growing abilities, growing strength in herself, and power as a Paladin.

And that’s hardly everything we get in these six episodes! We might not have scenes where Lance questions his value on the team and dig into those character development arcs, and I totally get why that general lack feels odd… but this season hardly turned anyone into two dimensional sticks. We’ve got amazing character stuff in here for sure.

I’m sure we’ll continue digging into Keith’s insecurities, Lance’s insecurities, everyone’s problems. We’ve still got more to come and far, far more to tackle than what a small portion - six episodes - can do.

I’m not worried that the writers have somehow made Season 4 “a mess.” There is something to be said that viewers should be able to be content with a story as they’re going along - not just when they’ve completed the story and can now study it retrospectively - but there’s also something to be said about waiting for plot threads to continue developing, and understanding that different parts of a story have different purpose. Season 4 executes a lot of amazing things. It’s not perfect, and I don’t want to go into all of its flaws, but as I pointed out above, there’s so much to offer, too. My favorite season is probably still 2, but I have no hate for 4!

And frankly Keith’s near-death and Pidge’s graveyard breakdown are going to be some of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise forever.

#long post #vld #Voltron: Legendary Defender #non-dragons #vld spoilers #Voltron #Voltron Legendary Defender #ask #ask me #awesome anonymous friend #anonymous #analysis #my analysis

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requie-blog · 7 years ago

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right, so, old meta from old blog, but honestly i can’t see myself writing this any better than i did back then, so?

While it’s not a headcanon that I can apply into my writing, it deals heavily with Ace’s character, namely with the actual weight of one of his character traits——one that much of the fandom and fanon interpretations really reduce to just a quirk, when actually it’s hinting at something more symbolic. And yeah, that’s the fact that he likes chocobos.

Because there is a reason, one with plenty of literary merit that gets overlooked in its english adaptation, that this detail is included and is so heavily connected to Ace’s character in particular. It is not merely chance nor coincidence that it’s a central aspect of Izana’s relationship with Ace——it is, in fact, critical to the point that Ace’s friendship with him attempts to draw out into the open.

Now, in the world of Orience, chocobos are not seen with the same characteristic fondness that we’re used to them having in many other Final Fantasy titles. It’s not like they’re hated across the board——many NPC’s, ergo civilians, in various towns remark on how cute chocobos are or how they make nice pets, but within the Peristylium, the attitude taken toward them is very, very different. They are, first and foremost, equipment for the military, a means for transportation, devoid of feelings or thoughts. They are seen as replaceable objects, and that same ideology is an expectation and standard held by all the people who work within the Peristylium itself, perhaps with an exception of the chocobokeeps. During Izana’s initial meeting with Ace in the light novel, the cadet remarks that he’s, “the exception. [He’s] often told ‘It’s unreasonable to shower the army’s equipment with affection’.” Prior to this, Izana states that soldiers rarely visit the stables for this reason, especially simply for reasons to pet or feed their trusted partners——people like themselves are a minority, faced with plenty of scrutiny from their peers. Why this matters, when the classes at this point are treated as separate entities from the military is also elaborated on:

“In other words, the cadets were not ordinary students, but existed alongside the military personnel and civil officials. The classes were one organization that always mobilized together, so the relationships between comrades in the classes were extremely close. If he denied those classmates’ opinions, then his standing among them would also decline.”

Which is something we see in the game, but is also a huge concept that we see in Japanese society as a whole outside the game. There’s a really excellent post on the matter using the framework of Persona 4 to explain how it exists in reality (see here.), but for the aspect of time, I’ll hit the highlights. Essentially, in Japan, like in Rubrum, people are taught to view themselves as part of a machine, so to speak. Each individual is a cog in the machine, and therefore unless everybody works together, the machine itself will fail or jam——as such, it is looked down upon to be different from other people in a way that inconveniences the people around you. The individualistic sort of traits that Westerners tend to pride themselves on are more openly found in certain hobbies for them, including gaming, where it becomes an escape to be more unique. Otherwise, it’s best to behave accordingly and not do anything that might bother anybody else. Now, take that framework and apply it to the individual classes within the Peristylium Suzaku, and it draws a near-perfect parallel regarding behavior: those who score lowly, don’t commit themselves to extracurricular activities or clubs, or are generally negative are not popular and are, henceforth, bullied.

So, what does this have to do with Ace’s love of chocobos? Well, give me a second to really explain where Class Zero actually stands in regards to the other classes.

We’re led under false pretenses to believe that Class Zero is beloved by the entirety of the Peristylium for around half the game, excluding many members of Parliament, if we simply proceed with the story and don’t actually talk to the other cadets. However, at the game’s beginning, Class Zero is new and because of their status and adoptive mother being the head of the Sorcery Department, are cast as the most important and powerful class, knocking Class First down a peg (a fact that their moogle is never happy about and constantly challenges you on) seemingly overnight. Now, this doesn’t have an effect until later on in the plot, when Class Zero is branded as traitors and more and more cadets are asking if they’re really all that and so strong, but that’s because in those initial battles, after Class Zero saved the Peristylium, they had no reason to complain. Class Zero was contributing in a beneficial way to the whole of the country and the war effort——it isn’t until they start becoming an “inconvenience” that the hatred and bullying towards them becomes a problem.

And we even witness just how fickle the Peristylium cadets are about it, given in the final chapter when Class Zero returns after defeating Qator in Ingram and everything has gone to shit because of Finis, these other kids are outright screaming the blame at Class Zero from the moment they arrive——blaming them wholly for the end of the world despite the fact they never did anything other than what they were told. These cadets are bullies, unable to do much other than speak slanderous remarks in the face of Class Zero’s proven strength. And what’s worse, they don’t even care if Class Zero actually dies like they’re telling them to do, because they believe they won’t remember them anyway thanks to the Crystal’s Blessing. At that point, it’s more desirable for Class Zero to die and make everything better with their absence from these cadets’ perspective.

In essence, Class Zero is only the top class in name alone. As far as the majority of the cadets believe, these new kids are deplorables if they don’t properly contribute and make everybody’s lives easier, and they only got their high ranking status because of Arecia Al-Rashia handing it to them on a silver platter, which makes it that much more annoying to them. And as we know incredibly well from the incidents at both Ingram and Big Bridge, to boot, Parliament has no issue with using Class Zero as pawns for their own gain, keeping them only as long as they’re useful and ready to leave them for dead the second they get the chance.

Starting to sound familiar? It should——because it’s the same way the Peristylium staff and cadets treat the chocobos: like tools to be disposed of and replaced with no concern for their emotional or psychological states. And within Class Zero stands a greater example of all the societal constraints we see above in Ace himself. He behaves differently to receive the approval of his classmates and streamline their tasks as a class, and also on the larger scale in order to properly fit in among his fellow cadets——even though he doesn’t actually agree with their views or actions. He does still challenge the established norm, as Cater remarks that a “red-mantled cadet was seen at the chocobo stables” in annoyance, claiming that they were, essentially, sullying Class Zero’s name by doing so, and though she doesn’t realize it herself, there’s little belief that the cadet is anybody other than Ace to the player. But, regardless of his attempts to escape and enjoy the things that make him happy, he does ultimately cave to societal expectations of himself, out of a desire to maintain the bonds with his allies and, dare he even call them his friends, even if it means sacrificing a bit of his identity to do so.

Ace, himself, however, is also the symbolic equivalent of the chocobos. In particular, he’s the symbolic equivalent of a chocobo from his own past.

“When he was very young, Ace saved a Chocobo chick he found that had been abandoned by its mother. Unfortunately, the chick later died due to illness. Even though Ace has little recollection of this, he still feels a pinch of sentiment for the lively creatures.” — Crimson Codex; Ace’s character page; Page 2.

Now, whether you personally consider the events in Chapter 8 to be abandonment or not isn’t really relevant for debate. Arecia Al-Rashia did leave her children on their own to combat the events of Finis and to complete the final pages of the Akashic Record from within the dungeon Pandemonium. She was nowhere to be found, and she had little intention of interfering in the game’s cycle, as she hadn’t done in every cycle prior. In this cycle, the Lulusath Arbiter (Rursus Arbiter, for the localization people) is defeated only once Class Zero is saved from death’s door by Machina and Rem using their l’Cie abilities to empower them from within their respective crystals. And as we all know pretty well, this only saved them temporarily from death, as with their own phantoma expended, Class Zero succumbed to their wounds shortly after the battle once they returned to their classroom. At which the revived/freed Machina and Rem enter the room and, suddenly, overcome with grief, Machina manages to forgive them for Izana’s death and the two of them carry the memory of their fallen classmates forward. Despite the twist on the ending, it’s an intentionally similar narrative in the baseline of how the events play out.

Obviously, Ace is not an actual chocobo, though, he does possess many similar traits to them: steadfast loyalty, strength, speed, a desire to remain with others of its kind like family or friends, and a pretty similar color scheme to the chocobo from Chocobo Dungeon (that chocobo even has a satchel like Ace does!). It’s the sheer weight that this particular character trait holds in the overarching world of Orience, however, that makes it important to note, because the birds themselves hold such a particular reputation that it’s hard to believe it’s merely coincidence. Ace’s character is constantly put in comparison or in juxtaposition to the birds he likes (and admires) so much, yet we never see the same compassion from similar individuals, except Machina. It’s a smaller detail that, when looked alongside its entire whole, begins to connect the patches that seem irrelevant and fill the voids in this game’s already incredibly elaborate tapestry.

#♠. ( ooc. )#♠. akashic record. ( headcanon. )#[ going back through my old blog for inspo stuff keeps revealing the good gems... ]

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gamerszone2019-blog · 5 years ago

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198X Review

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/198x-review/

198X Review

198X taps into our love for the games of the ’80s, giving you a handful of short gaming vignettes wrapped around a simple story about the pain of growing up. The games themselves look more like ’90s SNES games than ’80s arcade titles (albeit very handsome SNES games), but 198X’s neon aesthetic (and, of course, its name) is clearly trying to evoke a sense of nostalgia for this period. Unfortunately, despite a few nice homages, it’s not a particularly transportive experience.

198X features five faux-’80s arcade games to play through, and they’re short enough that the whole thing, story sequences included, wraps in less than two hours. They’re not quite minigames–they’re framed as tiny slices of full games that exist within the narrative’s world, the first few levels of five larger experiences. These games, which are chained together sequentially by beautiful pixel-art cutscenes set to a synth soundtrack, make up the entirety of 198X’s gameplay. The plot centers on the “Kid” (he’s never named beyond this), who lives in a suburb outside of a major city. He watches the highway at night and thinks about getting out of town. He seems generally unhappy with his life, until he discovers an arcade hidden away in an old abandoned factory and discovers a sense of purpose and place amidst the machines and patrons there.

198X suffers from some of the same problems that Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One suffered from. If that book’s insistence that being a geek is inherently good irritated you, then 198X’s vague reverence for arcades and youth will likely have a similar effect. There’s something very immature about the game’s portrayal of the Kid and the way he talks about his idealistic childhood, while giving limited insight into why things are so hard on him now. “You get to high school and everyone’s brainwashed,” he says at one point, which is about as deep as the game gets in its exploration of the difficulty of one’s teenage years. You’re not given enough insight into the Kid to really get a sense of why this arcade is so important to him, beyond a few vague references to his father not being around anymore.

Of the five games you play through in 198X, only two really touch on the boy’s struggles in a meaningful way. Playing through the five games in order, then, doesn’t tell us a lot about more about the Kid’s private life, and there’s little real sense of why they are important to him beyond a general sentiment that games are powerful and important by default. Much of this narrative assumes your own investment in the power of an arcade, and the game doesn’t put much effort into selling you on why this particular arcade, and these particular games, mean so much to the Kid.

Your first foray into the arcade comes through Beating Heart, a Final Fight-style brawler with a simple two-button control scheme. It’s the most basic game included–you can punch, do a jump kick, or perform a spinning kick, and if you die while facing off against the handful of enemy types, you can immediately respawn without penalty. It’s a simple introduction, with a lovely period-appropriate midi soundtrack that does a great job of evoking the arcade classics it is paying homage to (in fact, this is true of every game in 198X). But it doesn’t offer anything interesting or unique in its mechanics, nor does it contribute much to the narrative of the Kid.

Next is Out of the Void, a shooter clearly inspired by R-Type, which only runs for two levels. You fly from left to right, collecting ship upgrades and firing regular and charged shots to take down your enemies. It’s solid fun, if nothing spectacular, and things get quite hairy in the second level. It’s one of the more enjoyable games in 198X simply because it actually feels pretty close to a decent arcade space shooter. Alas, it’s over very quickly, and while it’s relatively enjoyable, it’s certainly not as inventive or intense as the best games in the genre–the final boss, for instance, is a pushover. A more challenging experience, or some unique mechanics, would have better represented the games from this period that we have actual nostalgia for.

After this comes The Runaway, an OutRun-style driving game that lacks the arcade classic’s sense of speed and whimsy. The lack of gear changes and sharp corners makes this one a bit of a snooze, although it’s also the game in the collection that achieves the most resonance with the narrative–at a certain point, elements of the world you’ve seen in the cutscenes blend into the game. It’s a neat trick, but it’s in service of a plot that isn’t particularly gripping..

Shadowplay, a “ninja” game, is the standout of 198X. It’s the longest game in the collection (although you’ll still likely finish it in about 20 minutes). You play as a fast-running ninja across a series of automatically-scrolling screens. You can move left and right, jump, slide, and slash your sword at enemies ahead of you. It’s got the feel of an involved auto-runner, and timing your jumps and slashes to avoid enemy attacks and traps is engaging, with ever-changing level designs and interesting challenges that hit the right balance of difficulty where the game is challenging without being frustrating.

The platforms, spikes and pits you encounter make you read your environment and think about how you time your movements as you run through each level slashing at your enemies. You can collect power-ups to give your sword a greater reach, and there are more levels here (and more gameplay variety) than in the other games. There’s even a great boss fight at the end where you have to dodge between multiple platforms as a demon shoots tendrils at you, and reaching the end feels satisfying in a way the other games don’t. As much as 198X feels like a gimmick, Shadowplay stands out as an experience that feels like it could work as a full title. It feels disconnected from the overarching narrative, but it’s the most enjoyable part of the 198X.

The final game, Kill Screen, is a simple first-person RPG. It’s aiming to be weird and creepy rather than particularly challenging, and on that level, it works fairly well. It’s meant to represent the mental state of the protagonist, who has, up until that point, spent every cutscene moping. It works as a mood piece, and there’s some cool weird imagery in there, but the gameplay, which involves hunting for dragons in a maze full of random encounters, is very simple. There’s a neat Paper Mario-inspired mechanic where you can time button presses on attacks to do more damage, and the weird enemy designs are inventive, but it’s fairly one-note in both its gameplay model and its commentary on the Kid’s state of mind.

198X ends with a “To Be Continued.” This feels appropriate because the game, which is not being explicitly billed as episodic on its Steam page, feels not just short, but incomplete. As neat as the concept is, 198X doesn’t do enough to sell you on the connection between the metanarrative of the Kid and the arcade games he is playing–or spend enough time investing you in why any of this matters. There’s promise in some of these short genre riffs, but the game doesn’t give you many reasons to care about the Kid and his desire to get out of the suburbs.

198X is a great idea with middling execution. While its games offer some brief enjoyment, there’s not enough here for the game to feel like a proper ode to ’80s arcades, nor does the Kid’s plight, and his longing to escape his current life, totally connect. There’s definitely a spark of something here–and Shadowplay, in particular, is a lot of fun–but 198X feels more like a proof of concept than a final product.

Source : Gamesport

#Game Reviews

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autoirishlitdiscourses · 7 years ago

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Discourse of Tuesday, 13 June 2017

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Hope your grading option without a fee! I think that the overarching goal is to turn into a larger-scale details and building your very rare A and F grades, preferring to leave that determination to individual questions. You have disgraced yourselves again. I am perfectly happy either way, OK? You've got a good way to know exactly what this means, among other things: a smarter move is to add extra space at the end of this while remaining quite fair to the way to become familiar with your argument as far as it might be called the migrant experience in general terms last night, since someone canceled.

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#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

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