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quill-and-paper-cranes · 7 days ago

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(My answer to this got rather long, @pepsiiwho , and felt like something that might start some interesting thinkjuice in the tag, so I'm making it its separate post.)

Hrmm. How to encompass all that we've been talking about for like a month now, about why Basilio/Will is compelling.....

To set the stage a little- there's a Metaphor Re Fantazio post I've seen making the rounds that says, to paraphrase: 'the universe of MRF is excellent for fanworks specifically because it is so vague.' I'm inclined to agree even though this is also a double edged sword; we are given little 'meat' on a lot of functions and lore of the overall setting, mere drips and drops of backstories and history, passing one-line mentions of otherwise fascinating topics never broached again..... we're shown just enough to hook us in and make us care, make us wonder, make us want to expand upon what little is given, and no more. It is frustrating, to be sure, but on the other hand, it allows for a LOT of wiggle room for fan creators to sort of just take the slack in the reins and run with it.

For me- and most others, I'd imagine- one appeal of shipping comes broadly from taking something not in canon (usually not even implied) and bringing it into existence. This is typically done by interpreting source material in alternative ways- certain lines can be thought of as more rosy than they are, some canon scenes that end early with a cut-to-black might in the imagination be extended and deepened, the way characters are animated to interact with each other might seem just so.... we know all that, I don't need to explain how we go about fueling the brainworms for pairings in general. What I WOULD like to submit to the class is that Basilio/Will in particular feels, to me, like something that is ripe with narrative opportunity, which makes it FUN both as a creator and a consumer.

Let me see if I can explain what I mean by 'narrative opportunity' and why it appeals to me (and probably others) from a fanwork creator's perspective. Humor me for a minute here.

Let's say you have characters A and B, set in a universe, and lalala the plot happens. A and B are not canon but are the perfect shipbait, are both very fleshed out, they each have defined personality traits and goals and nuances. The universe is also very well established and described. And finally, the PLOT is very well established. These three things are critical. It's a tight story all around: there's few to no loopholes in the timeline or pacing, the characters feel deep and deliberate, the events of [thing] happen in a very specific way/order the whole time. This is a good thing! This is how good stories are often told. When an audience is confused and frustrated and fed bullshit half-answers about a vague world and characters that are shallow or contradict themselves, it typically makes them care less about a subject because there's no cohesion, no common threads to follow. Excessive handwaving is annoying as fuck.

Typically.

I say typically, because sometimes.... sometimes, you end up with what MRF managed to pull off.

MRF has an overall plot which on its face it SEEMS cohesive- such and such happens, the cast goes here then here then here, they do this, the day is saved. It APPEARS to be a tidy story, if all you look at is on the surface. But if you dig into this IP, even a little, it falls the fuck apart. The timeline is a mess. Decisions/plans made are a mess. Some of the beloved characters are one dimensional or are a mess (using tropes or singular traits or hints of intriguing nuance that are never again touched on.) The worldbuilding is a mess. And as a writer, I HAVE to dig into these things. My entire craft is based upon my understanding of the source material, and in the case of MRF, the source material is just. Fucking. All over the place, holy shit.

That said.

It is... a fun mess. This is the most important part: it is a fun mess regardless. For all that MRF falls short in many ways, it is STILL charming and nuanced enough to overcome its abject sloppiness or total lack of concrete lore. It has "good bones", as our friend group jokes.

So back to the narrative opportunity thing.

I typed all that shit up there to contrast a theoretical 'tightly woven' linear storydriven IP to whatever the fuck MRF is, through the comparative lens of creating fanworks off of either piece.

For the tight IP, where everything is laid out and makes sense and things are more 'set in stone', I as a writer have less wiggle room to change things- I have less narrative opportunity. Sure sure, as a writer I can do "anything" as long as I'm good, but realistically.... if the original work did not leave me a shitload of loopholes to exploit, or vagueness of characters/history/lore/whatever, if I want these things tweaked to suit the point of my story, I have to do a lot of fucking legwork. It might not even be feasible. Again, this is not inherently bad- it's good, I'd argue. It means the story doesn't suck, it means thought and effort was put into worldbuilding by the creators.

However- with Metaphor Re Fantazio, there are plot holes in that motherfucker so big I can drive a gauntlet runner through them. This is my delicious narrative opportunity.

Because canon in MRF is already so handwaved and vague, if not outright contradictory- as a writer, I have a LOT of freedom to change or fix or completely negate things without it feeling nearly as 'disruptive' to an audience. Let me give a quick one: electricity. You can't recall if MRF uses electricity, can you? I'll save you the hassle- there is ONE undeniable instance of electricity being used. (Sea monster attack, a lightbulb above the table very explicitly shorts out and dies.)

This opens up so many more questions than it answers. Did Neuras alone discover electricty? Is it just not commonly adopted yet? Was it a fluke by the Atlus studio?

Therein is my narrative opportunity.

And that's just one small example. MRF is full of this open ended shit, ranging from the society, to the physical worldmap, to the food, to the clothes, to the tribes, to the history and religion and 'animals' and magla and prince and- you get the idea. The characters, notably, are not exempt either.

Circling back to the original question 800 tangents later, "what is the best part of the Magnus Brothers/BasWill": I personally like writing and reading Basilio/Will because of this narrative opportunity.

Basilio is incredibly fleshed out. He is, imo, an excellent character on all fronts. His visual design, VA, animations, backstory, interpersonal relationships..... it's genuinely a goldmine. For every one character trait or tidbit a main cast member has, he's got three.

By contrast, Will.... I'm gonna level with y'all here, I think Will sucks LMAO. The game does NOT give that guy more than the barest minimum nothingburger personality imaginable. Will doesn’t say more than a full sentence or single word answers for like half the damn game, and the utter wasteland of a personality for someone who SHOULD have a lot on the line, is... offputting, to me. However, there are still some facts to be gleaned from what little we're given: Will is calm, quiet, to the point, determined, and kind. Generally. Vaguely.

Once we recognize that Basilio as a character is more 'locked in' to believably behaving a certain way given his canon-established facts, whereas Will is NOT- that's where my narrative opportunity comes in. That's where my fun is.

Authors can, within reason, write Will SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS because of this. He's very close to a blank slate, while still showing enough personality that sssssooome things you could still point at and go "uh yeah that feels pretty ooc" but it's much looser. As an author, this means I can bend him into a little pretzel to behave certain ways that suit the narrative of the story I'm telling at that time, and it won't be egregiously difficult to do so nor conflict with canon. As a reader, it means I get to experience other people's Wills and see what THEY wanted to get out of him! And it (probably) also will not feel OOC, even if it's very different from mine! And that is so, so fun.

That is my technical answer.

My personal answer, if we're angling more for a quick bulleted "what do you like about THEM though, Quill," list (keeping in mind this is all personal preference or things that at least captivate ME on some level): size/strength difference, lived experience difference, experiment trauma background, Basilio's accent and personality is fun, his depth of character both in tandem with and apart from his brother Fidelio, his sense of humor and group banter, he's got unique non-human features (humans bore me so much omg), and he's just... a good person. Him and Will are straight up just good people, and that checks a box for me. Boring or simple, perhaps, but I (personally) don't read fanfic to make myself sad and miserable with sad and miserable characters, so Basilio/Will having such massive narrative opportunity to be nice people is pleasing to me and the genres I tend to favor.

That same narrative opportunity in the hands of a good writer can easily extend, though, to making them petty, or reserved, or despondent, or angry, or any number of completely different takes. And again: therein lies much of the fun, because MRF makes it so so easy to twist canon with what it does not give us. It's all in the nuance babeeeeeey.

This is already long so I won't crowd it further with an analysis on the Magnus Brothers- and that would be best under a spoiler tag anyway. But suffice to say, in all regards, it is the depth of character that Basilio has and Will, contradictingly, does NOT have, that makes them fun to write, read, and ship.

#metaphor re fantazio #metaphor refantazio #basilio magnus #metaphor will #baswillio #my writing

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