#because that's why the og series is so formulaic

[autism-alley]

hi originally posted this at the end of a long thread of back and forth, here’s the og post if you want full context but i feel like this needs to be its own post especially bc i keep seeing this argument being made—the argument that the kids (in this case it was annabeth) SHOULD just know the monsters are monsters and who they are and how to defeat them before ever encountering them, that it’s a problem if they don’t.

the problem is not if 12 year olds should recognize a trap when they see one, even if they’re smart 12 year olds, and if that’s realistic. that is entirely beside the point.

the problem is rick riordan wrote a book series whose formula is bringing myths to the modern age and he’s not sticking true to that in the show—percy jackson and the olympians’ Shtick is taking these classic, ancient threats and giving them a new face. these traps work because these kids are not walking into a cave marked with Get Out and getting ambushed by monsters—the monsters are disguised as harmless mortal human beings, in harmless mortal human being places (for the most part) and i think we—and more importantly, the show—are all forgetting the mist, the magic involved here. it’s not just that medusa is a “creepy lady with her eyes covered” it’s that there is ancient magic at work here, magic that, like the systems of abuse pjo exists to criticize, has been evolving and continuing its malevolence for millennia. it’s formulaic, that’s the point. it’s the same trap you’ve learned about all your childhood, the same trap a thousand children before you learned all their childhoods, and still, it works. you fall into the trap. because that’s how generational abuse works. it’s a trap. it isn’t enough to learn monsters exist, what they look like from a second hand story that originated thousands of years ago. if you want to escape alive, you have to adapt as quickly as they do, recognize their face, and ultimately, beyond any individual trap, the game itself has to change. real, generational change.

so. the problem is rick riordan wrote a series with a formula for action that perfectly captures the overarching, systemic conflicts he was commentating on, and then threw that formula out in the show because it was “unrealistic”. i don’t give a damn about realism when it works to the detriment of the story. this is a story about generational abuse, yes, but it’s told through ‘a tale as old as time’ and that’s why it works so fucking well. and when it comes to basic storytelling, if your characters know the threat before they even walk in and you do practically nothing to then make up for the stakes you have removed, that’s a flaw. now you’ve lost the entertainment value for your audience, on top of also lessening your themes.

something else that is so. honestly soul-crushing as a writer and a creative, is that to me this is reflective of the way we are now afraid to tell earnest stories. stories where we care not for listening to the people who want to pick apart fictional, mythical, fantasy stories for not being “realistic” instead of aligning with our target audience who acknowledges reality is not what makes a story. think of your favorite movie, show, book, comic, what have you—has the reason for your favoritism ever been because it is the most reasonable, the most grounded, the most practical out of any you’ve seen? or is it because of the emotion? the way it speaks to you, to your life and the person you are? the journey it takes you on? is the percy jackson and the olympians book series so good because it’s inherently realistic?

the secret to storytelling is, very simply, focus on your story. everything else is secondary. if it’s written well, it doesn’t matter to me that the characters walk into a trap that, to the audience, is obviously a trap. because i can understand how the characters don’t know it, and how the story falls apart if the narrative just tells the characters it’s a trap from the jump. that’s what dramatic irony is—first used in greek tragedies! this is literally a tale as old as time in every sense except for the end—where it’s happy. and it’s not earned if we don’t first see, over and over, the status quo as a tragic trap.

it’s not about if annabeth (or the other kids) is “smart enough” to not walk into a trap, or about if she’s just too prideful to not walk into what she knows is a trap (or any reason that could apply to the other characters), it’s that annabeth, at the end of the day, is a character. she is a storytelling tool for the messages of the narrative. that doesn’t make her any lesser. in fact ignoring it reduces her, because it reduces what she represents. it’s about how rick riordan, or whoever else at disney, has fumbled the storytelling bag so ridiculously hard that they can’t take the simple, effective formula outlined from start to finish (by good ol 2009 rick himself) and adapt it to the screen without answering the most unimportant, derailing, anti-story questions.

[uraberika]

AreOri and nostalgia

I read a hot take the other day on Twitter that said something along the lines of "AreOri isn't worse than all the other series, y'all all just blinded by nostalgia", and after a lot of pondering, I have to agree. I have not seen the later part of Ares, nor Orion but I think the way they utilised nostalgia was what made it kinda flop. Objectively speaking Ares does a decent job at being a soccer anime, but by so heavily bringing in elements that aim to make fans nostalgic and then fails to handle this nostalgia well is what makes the series lag behind all the others in the franchise.

Ares wanted to do too much all at once by making it into an alternate universe with the og cast included. While at first I was very excited about the reappearance of some of my faves, they did a poor job at handling characterisations. The og characters became bland and uninteresting because obviously the plot had to favour the development of the new main characters. This also ruined many Ares characters since it immediately invited the viewers to compare and contrast Asuto's gang with the og guys; and not only Asuto's team had more personality (which made fans who were hoping to see the og characters disappointed) but they seemed to have eerily similar traits to guys in the og series. Asuto, the sunshine boy, Haizaki with his anger issues and sick-loved-one-in-the-hospital problems, Nosaka the genius, emotionless tactician etc. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with using a formula that seemed to work in previous installments, but the development of Ares characters 1) came at the detriment of the og character's development who just seemed to be background actors standing around without any real advancement of their own character or of the general plot and 2) was impossible not to compare and contrast the two groups of characters and find way too many similarities which makes the viewer (i am myself included xd) unable to appreciate the Ares characters as their own.

While this was going on, Ares also tried to use some tropes and themes that were already familiar to the audience. Yet again, a great move if executed correctly. My biggest issue with the execution here is that these tropes never fully made use of the full potential of Ares being in an alternate universe. We learn of Akane pretty early on in the series, Akane and Haizaki basically being the equivalent of Gouenji and Yuuka (or Gouenji and Yuuka with a different sort of relationship). Making a slight change in the trope of having a loved one in the hospital (like Haizaki and Akane being childhood friends) should have been enough, had Ares been a series on its own. The audience would have acknowledged that "haha this is a nod to the og series, how clever". But when Gouenji is right there, having gone through the same thing (especially if we considered how similar Akane is to Yuuka and Haizaki to Gouenji) the opportunity for these to bond (or hate, or whatnot, just to interact in any way) over this fact offers itself on a silver a platter, yet the series does not do anything with it, depriving both Haizaki and Gouenji from a potential character development.

The anime decided to create an alternative universe yet it was hesitant to harness the full potential of its alternative universe-ness. They could have used og characters to help them build the main character's personalities through interaction which they seemed to be doing, but at the same time, the og characters only seemed to be hollowed out shells of themselves, only there for a three minute appearance to draw in fans who started watching only to see this one character.

I think that's why I like Victory Road's premise so much. It seems to handle nostalgia much better than Ares did: the characters seemed to be very distinctly unique so far, no og characters to compare them to and a change in the protagonist's general attitude will also serve the game well, in my opinion. It alludes to previous series just enough for it to make fans want to pick it up while also introducing new, unique characters and a plot that replicates but also goes against the established story arc of Inazuma series. (I am aware that the fact that all the charas of previous series will be playable is also a big drawing force and that is the main reason that ppl are excited about this game haha).

So, in my opinion, the main reason people find AreOri the worst series in the franchise is because it establishes that it is going to rely on nostalgia and then does an abysmal job at making use of this nostalgia of the audience. It relies solely on the fans' dedication to their og characters - putting in og characters in the series as dummies with no real purpose, just so fans can say that their fave is in it - and completely forgets about the potential that fans can grow fond of new characters, can appreciate a storyline that is different from what they are used to.

I have to make it clear that I don't hate Ares, I just think that it was not well executed, due to in part in the way it relies on nostalgia, but I myself had enjoyed some parts of it when I was watching. And at the end of the day, it is a soccer anime which is mainly concerned with fancy hissatsus and high-stake matches and not the intricate details of their characters' personalities. I am also grateful for Ares because it was successful in making me nostalgic and indeed pulled me back to the franchise. Despite all the issues I think it has, a lot of characters turned out decent and I was very invested in the story when it first came out. What I also love about Ares is how it revived the fandom here on tumblr: the sakka fridays of watching the new ep without understanding anything, the long analysis posts, the fanarts and fanfics, I will always be thankful for its community-building.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. xd

[meret118]

I love Agatha's dramatic twirl of the coat each time she tries to get the others follow her down the road. She definitely tried that out in a mirror before buying it. :)

Alice: What spell did we cast?

Lilia: Why is the print so small?!

LOL! I hear ya, Lilia.

I loved the first two episodes, but I'm finding the trials episodes a bit boring. It's a little too formulaic for me.

The leaves on the Road match the challenge - blue leaves last week for the water trial, and flame colored ones this week.

At first I thought the pictures on the wall were just of witches being burnt, hung or drowned like was mentioned when Agatha and Rio were arguing earlier in the series, but perhaps Lilia was crying at scenes of the spanish inquisition, or they at least reminded her of that. Is that how her coven died?

Beautiful message from Alice's mother. Ali Ahn is a good singer!

Rio: I get the pleasure of watching you do what you do best."

Agatha: "Which is?"

Rio: "Kill all the witches around you. One by one."

Agatha: "Then what?"

Rio: "You get your power, and I get my bodies."

I'm going to be pissed if Agatha ends up being EVIL at the end of this, rather than gray. We also better get more than unresolved sexual tension from Agatha and Rio. I don't expect an actual sex scene on Disney+, but at least a real kiss.

The male doctor in the lab coat bound Jen, a midwife, like women healers were eventually prohibited from treating people by male doctors who thought bleeding people was scientific. While some women accused witchcraft were midwives, most of them weren't according to records.

I kept expecting something to attack during the scar scene like in Jaws.

[lilmissasap]

percy jackson brain-rot as i begin the books again

as someone whos hopelessly devoted to the workings of rick riordon i absolutely never understood percabeth

like,

they're literally 12, children, CANNOT LEGALLY DRIVE OR CONSENT TO SEX at the end of the og series (chalice of the gods) and niggas really out here shipping the fuck outta them

shit dig hard enough on a03 and there's prolly smut of the two of em

never understood it, like i get a cute lil mutual pining thing where they both like each other but a whole ass ship never made sense. like no, the two don't make babies. why? CUZ THEYRE BABIES THEMSELVES

edit:

okay to clear things up cs people are in the comments saying i don't know what a ship is (i'm literally a fanfic writer on here but okay)

i'm just saying that these are literally little kids in middle school. i'm not saying that middle school kids don't have relationships, but it's still weird. and from, i'm boutta geek out about this incredibly obscure topic i'm sorry, a developmental standpoint middle grade children are nowhere near psychologically ready to be in a relationship which is why it's extremely rare to see couples who have been together since middle school (that one episode of abbott elementary). if you go on tiktok and look for people who broke up with someone they were in a relationship with from middle school- high school, those breakups are traumatic

all breakups are traumatic in some way, but there have been several people who have developed traits of borderline personality disorder because they broke up with someone they had been romantically involved with since middle school.

also let's not forget how warped your view on intimate relationships go (fucking. imma say it the way you think about fucking is skewed). the people i've spoken to who broke up with their middle school partner in their older parts of high school have recounted just how awful their view on sex was, some have even pondered if they were asexual because they couldn't picture themselves up under anyone else.

like i get it, it's cute to see little kids who like each other, but most of this fandom are of age to drive, to study for the SATS/gsces, some are able to legally drink in the united states, or applying to college. these are little baby children that high school students and young adults should not be playing match maker for. ALSO WALKER SCOBELL IS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL/ HIS FIRST YEAR IN HS HE WAS BORN IN 2009.

anyway,

i get it, we all have head canons, but shipping two middle schoolers who a) may or may not have started puberty b) did not stay at one school for too long c) don't know trig formulas d) may or may not have had their first period/ voice dropped/ you get the picture.

SO

i don't understand percabeth as a whole romantic ship, but mostly as a fluffy little middle school flirty thing (prolonged eye contact, stealing hats, asking if they can hug/kiss at a certain time, etc.)

i love love love the concept of seaweed brain and wise girl, smartwater, percabeth, whatever, I THINK THEY'RE ADORABLE but i don't understand the draw of why people feel the incessant need to make it extremely romantic. like why why whyyyyyyy. can we js let them be kids, because lets be real a lot of the newer additions to this fandom only know about the show (and its okay we love you guys anyway its just that some of us have read the books too, its not required for you to love the show that you need to read the books) and are already talking about 'annabeth and percy need to just kiss already' no they don't. cs percy just lost his mom (i know something you dooonttttttt) and our cutie patootie annabeth is still lowkey a mystery (i'm guessing?? idk i haven't watched the show yet i think im gonna pirate it soon or smth, im js assuming because idk what point the show is at in relation to the first book), etc. can we maybe not make them a whole ass ship until the show is in relation to the last few books of the series. lets js let them be kids for now.

AND THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT I DIDN'T LIKE WHEN THEY WERE AN ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP IN THE LATER BOOKS OKAY ITS NOT TO SAY THAT im just saying that i didn't understand the concept of percabeth within the first few books because it was a little wonky to really really want two twelve year olds to be in a relationship. they're cute when its in the last few books but come on yall. lets not ship them yet. also report any smut you see of them that's not cool or rick riordon approved.

theyre still babies, even if some of the fandom has read all of the books and others didn't.

does this make sense?

xoxo,

rae <3

[absolutebl]

Hello, let me begin by saying that I love your posts and I love your opinions, analysis, and point of view, I think you have a rare mind and I'm glad you're covering BL as I think it's a very complex and dynamic genre in today's industry.

I work as a middle management business consultant, related to management of PR and marketing although not for film industry, but i've had experience in handling products as a brand manager so i imagine the case with GMMTV and other TV productions are smiliar if we can replace 'product' with 'artists' in this case.

I have some questions relating to the branding of First and Khaotung as a CP by GMMTV, for the life of mine I just could not understand the business reasoning behind it for several reasons:

1. They are both versatile actor with good experiences on their belt and so far has chemistry every other actor they played with. it might be a bit of a waste for GMM to lock them both in a pair.

2. At the time it seems Gawin and First was more popular than FK, it should be easier and less risky to market and sail this pair, this pair also have the advantage of being in a more well known series (Not Me).

3. Both First and Khaotung relationship dynamic seems to not fit any existing mould that current BL pairs have (e.g. there's no clearly defined S/U between them), this seems risky and might not be well received by typical BL fans (esp. Thai Fans).

4. GMM has been trying to replicate OffGun formula a lot, all of GMM other CP seems to follow OG formula to an extent, which is not the case at all with FK.

5. All of the series that both acted as a pair in (Eclipse, Moonlight Chicken, and OnlyFans), are series that i think contain mature themes and not generally something that caters to the taste of Thai BL fans.

This question has been bugging me for awhile. The funny thing is: I am personally a SomSom, an FK stan :D I love them both very much and I absolutely love them together, but the decision to pair them together just doesn't make sense to me, I don't understand what GMM is trying to do here with both of them.

Sorry it's a bit long and thankyou so much if you decided to answer this :)

Hi! Thank you!

(As usual I did this and then Tumblr ate it. I am so tired of this bullshit, why can't they fist the undo bug in the new editor? OR stop forcing us toe USE the damn thing.)

1. They are both versatile actor with good experiences on their belt and so far has chemistry every other actor they played with. it might be a bit of a waste for GMM to lock them both in a pair.

I don't think they will in the long run, I think they are just co-branding at the moment, probably because of all the sponsorship offers. And because they've been recast a few times as a pair since The Eclipse.

They seem to be having a good time with it.

I could be wrong. I picked K a while back as one of the GMMTV stable who was too versatile for them (and valuable to them because of that), and they'd never co-brand him in a big way (after the failure of Tonhon Chonlatee). Then The Eclipse happened.

But to be frank? From the actor career perspective? If they can co-brand into consistent leading roles... F & K are probubly gonna - it's better money than character work and solo or side couple gigs.

2. At the time it seems Gawin and First was more popular than FK, it should be easier and less risky to market and sail this pair, this pair also have the advantage of being in a more well known series (Not Me).

Gawin doesn't co-brand. Never has. Seems like he never will. He clearly doesn't like shipping culture or anything about it. (Doesn't like reality TV shows or variety or anything like that, either.) Which I get. Oh boy do I. I wouldn't be surprised if it's in his rider that he won't cater to performative ships. I've always suspected this is because he's half American. (And East Coast to boot.) He's... tough.... reads as a little grumpy and reserved. Won't soften his IRL image to cater to the public. It's a very individualistic attitude.

It's certainly clear he's turned down sponsorship gigs (as a co-brand), and if he took one in the future it'd have to have a dump truck of money attached. I was legitimately shocked he took on Be My Favorite.

So far as Not Me is concerned? Now it's too late, that ship has sailed. So to speak.

3. Both First and Khaotung relationship dynamic seems to not fit any existing mould that current BL pairs have (e.g. there's no clearly defined S/U between them), this seems risky and might not be well received by typical BL fans (esp. Thai Fans).

Yep, they are more like Nanon & Ohm. I'm actually pleased that GMMTV is letting them do this and not trying to force seme/uke on the brand.

It's a model set up somewhat by TayNew. I mean GMMTV tried to force that one, but as Tay said, "Just look at him, he's huge."

They always managed a very brotherly casual fun ship.

4. GMM has been trying to replicate OffGun formula a lot, all of GMM other CP seems to follow OG formula to an extent, which is not the case at all with FK.

Yes, because it's the most profitable formula. Especially in country. I would put EarthMix in as their clearest successors.

Parent houses always lack imagination.

Find a money-making formula. Repeat it until the audience gets tired or supersaturated or both. It's how market capitalization works.

To change is to impact the bottom line and that is dangerous. Generally speaking, it takes small upstart companies to truly effect change in this regard.

OffGun is an interesting case because Off was so resistant to the brand at first. He's come around, but it took a while.

5. All of the series that both acted as a pair in (Eclipse, Moonlight Chicken, and OnlyFans), are series that i think contain mature themes and not generally something that caters to the taste of Thai BL fans.

Yes, it would be interesting to chart their sponsorship gigs. My guess is it's more global brands or those with an eye to the global market that use them.

I'm thinking it's a lot more like KARD in Kpop (performing better outside of country than in-country). Or the way Ukiss was for Japan. (An expansion intended group tailored to that market).

A country with an active and intentional soft power usually has subdivisions of effectiveness in the ranks of that power's product (in Korea's case Kpop, in Thailand's case BL). Stars that do better overseas - individuals, couples, groups. Ones that do better in specific countries.

A clever product manufacturer looking to contract with one of these branding elements, tracts this (popularity figures and market reach) and picks their representatives accordingly, and in accordance with their expansion interests.

[watermelonsloth]

Boruto Shipping Opinions

I’m gonna put a brief aside here to say two quick things to keep in mind before reading:

I am not going to go into great detail or analysis here because I’m holding off on that until the manga wraps up.

I am caught up with the manga, I am not caught up with the anime. I have watched up until the arc the new team 7 infiltrate a prison, the second chunin exams, and whatever clips/moments I’ve stumbled upon being discussed. I am not an avid fan, I do not know all the ins and outs of character dynamics, and I don’t even keep up with that part of the fandom. I have no horse in this race.

BoruSara

I don’t like this ship, and I don’t know if that’s an unpopular opinion. I’ll try to avoid saying “they have sibling vibes” or “they’re just friends” because, coming from someone who has used that excuse in the past, it is very difficult to explain/defend argument. So much so that now it just comes across as cheap to me.

I will, however, say that I don’t like it for the same reason I don’t like NejiTen. It comes across as “he was a boy, she was a girl. Can I make it anymore obvious?” It feels like it stems from the idea that boys and girls can’t just be friends. If the dynamic was introduced with an edge of romance (like how Naruto and Sakura’s dynamic was introduced with Naruto having a crush on her), maybe it would be a different story. But as of right now, it feels like the fandom reading into something that doesn‘t need to be read into.

KawaSara

I hate to say this, but I’m guessing this ship stemmed from SasuSaku fans reading them as “next gen SasuSaku”. Look, everyone can ship whatever they want or choose to refrain from shipping, but I’m sick of the fandom projecting old ships on new dynamics. I have seen BoruSara compared to SNS, NaruSaku, and SasuSaku (for some reason). I have seen BoruSumi compared to NaruHina. I have seen MitsuSara compared to SasuSaku and SuiKarin. I have seen KawaSara compared to SasuSaku. Every single time I thought to myself, “The manga starts with Boruto asserting that he’s not his dad and this isn’t his dad’s story.” I get that comparisons will naturally arise since it’s a sequel series, but these kids are not carbon copies of their parents and they don’t have the same dynamics their parents did.

Now that my rant is out of the way, I think a hypothetical child between them having black hair with pink highlights would be cute and that’s about it.

MitsuSara

I wish these two had more of a dynamic. Both characters have interactions with Boruto and clear dynamics with him, but they don’t really have much going on with each other. They both have recognizable personalities, but they mellow each other out whenever they interact and it makes them boring (I’m guessing Ikemoto isn’t interested in them together). They also only tend to talk to each other about Boruto (at least in the manga). Say what you want about them, but at least Sasuke and Sakura had a dynamic.

Anyways, funny ha ha, Orochimaru gets an Uchiha in the way they least expected.

MitsuBoru

Gayer than any of the Naruto dynamics and that is saying something. However, I struggle to like the ship because I’m just so confused.

First, why does Boruto have so many lancer/foil/rival characters. Kawaki, Sarada, and Mitsuki all act as lancers. I get that writing doesn’t have to be formulaic, but they aren’t even all lancers to each other, having dynamics that bounce off of each other, they’re just lancers to Boruto. At least for me, it’s already gotten really boring and ends in the three’s dynamics with each other falling flat.

Second, the sun and moon symbolism makes no sense to me as a writing decision. The obvious problem is that it’s redundant; it’s already been used for multiple Naruto dynamics. The less obvious problem is that it contradicts Mitsuki’s manga introduction. Mitsuki was introduced as the middle between Boruto and Sarada’s two extremes, taking up a role similar to Sakura’s in the og team 7. If he’s supposed to be the moon to Boruto’s sun, why is he introduced to us as the earth? The admittedly more minor problem that distracts me is that Orochimaru was the one that Mitsuki down this road. Why? Orochimaru wasn’t redeemed by Naruto and has never shown interest in him or this philosophy before now. My best guess is that they’re fascinated by Naruto’s affect on Sasuke, but that still leaves me with questions.

It makes me think that the writer didn’t have any ideas when they introduced these two.

BoruSumi

I don’t like how the fandom is making another love square, but I doubt there’s anything I can do to stop them.

This ship is boring because Sumire is boring. That one anime arc made her interesting, but it’s referenced and relevant so rarely that she goes back to being boring. I’d like this more if the story let Sumire be morally gray or treated her like a redeemed villain more. As of right now, I think the only leg the ship has to stand on is writing tropes and I do not care.

KawaSumi

This ship feels like the product of the same people who ship SasuHina/SasuIno/SasuKarin/KibaHina out of spite. My last post/reblog went into why this happens but the short of it is that it’s easier to ship something in peace if the biggest “threats” to it are paired together. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I have a feeling most KawaSumi shippers also ship BoruSara.

KawaHima

Please… just stop. If not for yourself, then for me. I’m already barely coping with how popular NejiHina is. Why have I seen this as much as I have??? This feels like a personal attack on my sanity. They’re siblings.

Other

This is the section for all the ships I have little/no opinions on. I think MitsuCho is too boring for how popular it is, I think ChoSara should be more popular, I’m disturbed by all of the Eida x next gen ships because she looks and acts like an adult (at least how adults are portrayed in Boruto), and I’m surprised Code x Eida isn’t more popular, but I also think that Code has gotten the Kabuto treatment and isn’t very popular in the fandom.

The ships I haven’t mentioned I either have so little fucks to give or so little information on that I have ZERO thoughts about.

[yellowocaballero]

I'd be interested in those writing shortcuts 👀 (don't feel pressured though)

Yeah sure! This is in reference to this and this posts.

These are all pretty 'fic style' stories, because they scaffold off pre-existing canon. It's like you're walking inside of a pre-built house and you're putting up new wallpaper and designing the rooms. Novel style is like if you're building the entire house. So these are really great for fun and if you have writer's block or have problems starting a story. They're also really good if you're practicing your dialogue, scene composition, characterization, etc - they are not good for developing skills on how to build the house, but if you're trying to work on actually making a readable story they're great methods to practice. They're also a lot easier to make good lol.

While writing these out I realized that they're almost entirely AUs. This is because I like AUs. You don't have to do AUs, you can adapt these however you want if you just like writing canon. Loser. Anyway, these are my low-effort stories:

A series of disconnected scenes that take place over a long period of time. If you have an idea in mind (or you just want to use the OG work's timeline), then you can show scenes or moments over a long period in time. For example, ages ago I wrote an AU story following the life of one character. One scene for 2008, one for 2010, one for 2012 etc.

Rewriting canon. If you have an AU idea or have a way in mind to change canon to something you think fucks harder, then you can use pre-existing episodes or season plotlines and just add your own flavor to what already exists. If you write for BNHA you aren't allowed to do this. That's the rule. How is all BNHA fic 600k AUs where one extremely minor detail is changed. God they're boring.

Alternate viewpoint/missing scene of a story you have. Like you can do this for canon too but that sounds super boring. This is actually something I do in order to help the quality of the main story - if I'm finding myself writing a super complicated character, I write another story about him from his POV to help give me a handle on him. Or write her parts of the story from her perspective. It's a writing exercise to help me figure out the character and it is also easy and fun.

"X Meets Y". Do you really like Legally Blonde? Do you think your favorite character being Elle Woods would be really funny? Stuff like that. Would it be really funny if your blorbo was Sharpay Evans? Yes it would be. Yeah I DID write a story many years ago that was "X meets Teen Beach Movie", why?

I don't know how many other people out there have extremely convoluted entire AU ideas, but if you have the whole AU in your mind then it is incredibly easy to write little stories or snippets from the AU. Like, so easy. A stand-out scene in your mind, the life of one supporting character, an alternate POV, whatever. Literally whenever I want to write something absolutely 0 effort whatsoever I go back to one of my 3 bugfuck stupid AUs and write something for them again.

This is actually something I think everybody should do, because it is basically how I learned story structure: find the trashiest, most formulaic genre you can. Watch or read something from that genre, or just collect genre conventions. Use the pre-packaged and pre-written formula to structure your own story and fill in the blanks.

(Also, these aren't very tropey or reliant on shipping/romance beats, which is nice if you want to get away from that stuff)

Nowadays, I find all of that helpful when I feel like doing something 0 effort. When I was a less experienced writer and I deadass did not know how to build a house, then these were really helpful for learning what wallpaper looks good and what arrangement of furniture creates good fung shui and what couches go best with that coffee table. They're also good passing. Seriously, these are like the most popular stories on my AO3. People eat this shit up. Why. They're so lazy.

IDK, these are what I do because they're the kinds of stories I like to write! What you find easy to write will be different. This is all a very personal list. I can see my personal thumbprint (no romance, AU central) really clearly. I'm kind of curious now: what are y'all's favorite low-effort, easy, fun stories to write?

Also as a heads up if your story doesn't have any sort of conflict in it, then it will actually very difficult to write. Trust me. Conflict makes you voom. Do it. Please. Love of god.

[sapphire-weapon]

Hi! Sorry if this counts as shitstirring... But you got me thinking... Do you really think that someone really needs to play the games in order to fully understand the story? Or is watching them and reading up on them enough? Thanks, and sorry!!!

Don't be sorry. This is a valid question that deserves an honest answer.

There's nuance to this. This isn't just a simple "yes or no" question.

Do I think that you need to play the games to understand the story? No, I don't. Resident Evil's story is not difficult (though, you'd never know that, looking at the fandom). It's very easy to watch the games and movies, go "ok I got it", and move on.

Do I think that you need to play the games to be considered an authority on the canon? 100%, absolutely. And I'll tell you why.

We spend a lot of time talking about narrative direction and storytelling devices and the use of tropes and cinematography here on this blog, but the one thing that we really need to keep in mind at all times is that Resident Evil is a game first and a story second. This has been the design philosophy since the series's conception. This is why RE4 OG's story was slapped together in three weeks. This is why RE5 was the way that it was. This is why RE7 is what RE7 turned out to be.

The narrative of Resident Evil is not something that exists separately or divorced from its gameplay. In fact, the opposite is true. RE's story is not only influenced by its gameplay, it actually -- in some cases -- is directly written as a result of its gameplay.

I've talked about the story behind RE4's development before, but.

Was RE6's story borderline incomprehensible, and did it jump approximately sixteen sharks? Yes. Was that the main reason why RE6 failed? Absolutely fucking not. Not even close.

RE6 turned out the way that it did because RE6 was developed and released during a time in which the biggest moneymakers in the AAA game space were brown & bloom multiplayer shooters. Capcom wanted in on that gravy train.

RE5 sought to take the award-winning formula that RE4 developed and add a multiplayer element to it in order to initially chase that trend, and RE5 for a very long time was the highest-selling Resident Evil title ever made.

Capcom looked at that and took it to mean that it was RE5's added multiplayer element that made it so successful. They weren't exactly wrong, either. RE5, for a lot of people, was like a version of RE4 that you could play with your friends.

Wesker was not killed in RE5 because Capcom thought it was an appropriate time narratively to kill him. Wesker's death was a symbolic one -- it was the death of the "old" Resident Evil -- the death of the slow, plodding, single player experience that the entire AAA industry had convinced themselves was no longer viable monetarily and not what players wanted. This was especially true for RE, after the unprecedented success of the more action-focused RE4 changed the entire third person shooter genre forever.

By the time we reach RE6, Capcom is all on on this. Three campaigns, all with co-op, all of which play differently. Chris's story is what Chris's story is in RE6 because Capcom knew that most players were probably going to reach for his campaign first, considering he was the protagonist of the most recent release and, therefore, the most recognizable to players who maybe weren't necessarily super familiar with RE. They specifically wanted Chris's campaign to feel like a traditional third person shooter in order to get new players hooked, because Capcom was convinced that that's what a majority of gamers at the time in general wanted.

Leon's story is what Leon's story is in RE6 because it was designed specifically to cater to people who loved RE4 and would reach for him first over Chris. So, they gave Leon a female partner (Helena in place of Ashley) and a slower, more traditional horror setting (while still being action-oriented), and they tried to kill two birds with one stone by having Ada running around and also being the damsel in distress, so to speak, to replicate the "save the princess" plotline from RE4.

But the biggest issue with all of this was that it turned the design philosophy of the game into "how can we sell this?" over trying to just make a good horror game -- and it showed. Capcom cut a hell of a lot of corners in terms of pacing and level design and enemy design and enemy variety in favor of focusing on the combat system (which was never adequately explained and had its nuances lost on approximately 80% of the playerbase), the netcode, and making the game's story as easy to consume and digest as possible while chasing specific market trends.

RE6 didn't go super hard on Aeon because the writing staff was just so ~dedicated to the ship~. RE6 went hard on Aeon because they wanted Leon to look heroic and save the girl just like he did in RE4 but didn't want to create another Ashley after how universally hated she was. Knowing that is how I say so confidently that Remake is retconning Aeon -- it's because the ship itself was never the point. They used it as a gameplay contrivance that they thought would help sell RE6, and it blew up in their faces. So now they're trying something new.

The actual experience of playing Resident Evil 6 was downright miserable to a vast majority of the fanbase because it was a soulless, hackneyed mess that didn't even have the decency to bother giving itself a spooky atmosphere. It was an uninspired series of long hallways filled with bullet sponge enemies and literally nothing else.

So, when the story was stupid and fan favorites like Leon felt like they got screwed over on top of all of that because the same design philosophy of "make this as mass marketable as possible" bled into the story from the gameplay, that was just the shit icing on the shit cake.

People probably would have been much more forgiving of RE6's story if the game design itself was better. Or, conversely, people would've been much more forgiving of RE6's game design if the story was super compelling.

But RE6 was neither.

And so RE7 was Capcom's way of trying to re-learn how to do pacing, level design, and atmosphere. The gameplay was the most important thing. That's why they didn't even bother using the legacy characters and created Ethan and the Bakers. The legacy characters would've been a distraction. They had to fix things one step at a time: gameplay first, story second.

That's why RE7 is RE7 and why we have only seen Leon in CGI movies and not games since 6 (Remakes not withstanding). RE7 fixed the gameplay, and Vendetta, ID, and DI served to reconfigure and redefine Leon's character, and I'm more than sure that they're going to try to finally blend those things together in RE9.

And if you don't play the fucking games, and if you don't fucking understand how the games industry works, you're not going to have any of that fucking context going into your meta analysis.

That's why braindead motherfuckers in this fandom look at that stupid remark made about how the one director thought that Leon and Ashley holding hands during RE4make's gameplay made them look "too close" and they read way too much into it -- it's because the spoken words of the directors are all they have to go off of, and they don't realize what a bad gameplay decision having Leon and Ashley hold hands would have been.

If you don't play the fucking game, you don't know that the half-second it takes for Leon to switch from his knife to his gun can mean the difference between taking a hit or not -- and so you would have no reason to think of how annoying it would be to add yet another half-second delay to Leon drawing his gun if he had to disengage from Ashley first. If you fuck with the normal gameplay loop with something that only happens when Ashley is with you, it will make the player start to resent Ashley, and that's the opposite of what the devs wanted to do -- which is what the fucking conversation in the interview was about in the first place!

That is far more likely the reason why the handholding was cut. And while that decision was being made, it was probably pointed out that having them hold hands made it look like they were on a date -- and that's absolutely not the tone/atmosphere that this game was going for. That is far more likely what was meant by "too close."

It had nothing to do with ensuring that the players perceived Leon and Ashley's relationship as platonic. It had everything to do with tone and atmosphere and the pacing of the normal gameplay loop. It's just that "*juts a thumb in his direction* This guy thought it made them look too close" was a way fucking easier explanation of what they probably thought was a really fucking unimportant anecdote about a character animation that didn't matter.

But if you don't play the games, you won't know that.

If you don't play the games, Word of God is all you have to go on. That's why people who don't play the games insist on all Word of God being explicit canon. It's because they can't use the games themselves as a baseline -- and that gives them a skewed, fucked up perspective of what Resident Evil is trying to do and be and accomplish.

This kind of shit is constantly in my head when I'm writing my meta and trying to predict where a game's story will go next.

I pull my meta directly from the games, because that is what Resident Evil is. It is a series of games that are trying to be good games first and interesting stories second.

And if you don't understand that, you have no business calling yourself an authority on the canon.

[stop-watches-and-sorcerers]

Thanks for answering my ask before....If you don't mind me asking (again), can I ask, what are your top 7 (or top 10) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc) and your top 10 favorite (fictional) characters from any media? Why do you love them all? Sorry if you've answered this questions before......

I love this question, thank you for asking!! I will talk forever about my favorite things!! The descriptions are going to be short because if I go too much into why I love the media/characters I would literally be talking forever.

Favorite media (in no particular order):

The Magicians (tv show) - I have not read the books but the TV show is just very well done imo. A lot of things change season to season and it does not follow the typical formula that I'm used to which makes it very interesting.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (tv show) - Truly one of my favorite shows of all time. I honestly don't think I can summarize what makes it so good; you just have to watch it.

His Dark Material (book series) - This is about the book series. The movie is bad; the HBO TV series adaptation is decent. The writing is what makes the book series stand out for me; it's phenomenal and has cemented it as probably my favorite book series of all time. It's beautiful and tragic and I'm a sucker for biblical themes. I wouldn't recommend reading unless you're okay with a little sacrilege.

Lord of the Rings (book series/movies) - I'm mainly talking about the movies. The books are great too but for me it's a rare instance of the movies being as good or possibly better than the books. Amazing casting, costuming, scenery, cinematography, and practical effects!! They still hold up 20 years later as some of the best movies of all time.

The Left Hand of Darkness (book) - I read this recently and it became one of my favorite books. It's a sci-fi book about an envoy who visits a planet that is always cold and the people there have no gender. I'm not gonna say much more about it but I really cannot recommend this enough; it stayed with me in a way that not many things have.

Trigun (manga/anime) - I still haven't read the manga (i'm going to) and I've heard that the manga knocks the anime out of the park, which is impressive because the anime is one of the most moving things I've ever seen (both the 98' and 23' adaptations). It's very character driven and it very quickly became on of my favorites of all time.

Avatar the Last Airbender (tv show) - the OG series is one of the best shows I've ever watched. I know it's for kids, but it is truly an almost perfect show to me.

My Hero Academia (manga/anime) - I'm biased because this is my current hyperfixation but I've become very attached to the characters and I think it's a really interesting look at society and the way it elevates some people and breaks down others.

Favorite characters (in no particular order):

Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - She's just… character of all time. She works so fucking hard and goes through so much and she can barely hold on but she still just keeps fucking going. See the season 2 finale "Bargaining part 2" for a full understanding of why I love her.

Vash the Stampede (Trigun) - He's so old and isolated and has gone through so much but he still has so much faith and hope and love and peace. His ideology has flaws but he is just so good at his core and I love him.

Quentin Coldwater (The Magicians) - He's so fucking depressed and sad and he wants to be good at things but he's just not as good as he wants to be but he still tries and people still love him because of/despite it. God I fucking love him (I relate to him a little too much).

Nico Di Angelo (Percy Jackson) - He has a lot of darkness in him and is scared of it but still keeps trying to be good and you know what? He's succeeding. I love him.

Bakugou Katsuki (My Hero Academia) - He has extreme anger issues and starts as a huge asshole but betters himself because he can't stand to be that way anymore and I really respect that.

Natalie (Yellowjackets) - She's a fucking mess in the real world but extremely helpful in the wilderness. Something about her needing to be useful and handling it very poorly when she's back in a situation where she can't be just really speaks to me.

Adora (She-Ra) - Much like Buffy, she works so fucking hard and is literally the chosen one against her will and she still stands up and fights no matter what.

Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who) - I think I'm biased on this one because I watched David Tennant act his ass off at a formative age, but man. Once again, characters who are very lonely/isolated but still try their best to help people who won't get it and won't thank them just really get to me.

Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - An extremely complicated character. I think the main thing that draws me to him is that he kind of breaks the rules regarding vampires/vampire souls within the Buffy universe.

Zuko (Avatar the Last Airbender) - Best redeption arc of all time. Idk what else to say.

Merlin (Merlin) - I think this is number 11 but I have to include him. I've never seen a better example of someone whose moral compass is exclusively being loyalty to one person. He disregards everything else. His entire existence is solely devoted to Arthur and the realm and also Colin Morgan's acting is extremely compelling to me.

[kellodrawsalot]

so wanted to post a fast review of a series, I did not expect to like, people I followed pretty much called it a trashfire and there were jokes all over social media over the quality of it's story and it's lackluster animation, so I went in with the mindset not too expect too much and well...

it''s pretty good?

wait no wat, it's pretty good, i myself am confused I enjoyed it alot, did I watched the same show as the people who hated it?

don't get me wrong the series has problems, the swearing gets a bit tirdesome and the pacing is all over the place. The show takes a lesson from spiderverse and lego movies by not giving its viewer any room to breath, Every scene is important to one of the major plot threads, episode 4 is a triggering episode that you should read upront on, that i can't comment on. The character desings are a hit and miss and not all the jokes land. But when the show wants to tell it's story, wants you to get to know the characters you can't help but get so invested and wanting to learn more. The different plot threads that it starts are all major good that you want to keep following the story. But what I like most about the show that it's not a cast of a ''nuclear'family or a group of high school teenagers or a group of super heroes. No it's a weird mixed of very troubling (sinners) adults in a found-family situation.

The story is about the Princess of Hell named Charlie who opened a Hotel in the hope she could redeem Sinners so they can go to heaven and avoid slaughter by the angels, that happens once a year, but due to angel Adam (yes that Adam) being a dick, the slaugher will happen again in just six MONTHS.

and that's all i need to tell you, a big theme about this series is Redemption and that it does it nicely well. The interaction between the characters is also majorly fun and let's just say there is a reason the Ost of Hazbin Hotel has been trending on Spotify it's freaking good.

The pacing doesn't bother me too much myself because Hazbin remindds me of a musical/stageplay and I love those.

(the Seramyu musicals are btw really good. give them a watch too)

regardless if you don't like HH that's all fine but I think one of the best things about it' being a hit, (it's one of the top shows on prime in over thirty countries) that in a time where big studios play it safe by having most adult cartoons follow the simpsons formula, try to copy the rick and morty style of storytelling, or in case of Disney and Marvel today, with Bob Iger saying they be focussing on big franchises and sequels for now, trying to shift the blame on original stories on why their movies aren't doing good. (despite them not even promoting said og movies and making the writers play it super SAFE) we have Hazbin Hotel, an animated show for adults that is so Unapologetic, Queer! Doesn't follow any save formula, is such an obvious passion project and is a huge hit! Last time I was this impressed was with Netflix Pluto and Nimona. HH is also a series I would love to see on stage! Hazbin Hotel is not for everyone but I would suggest give it a chance instaed of letting social media decide for you. (which i know you can disgard my post too, but I just wanted to say, I'm glad me and my friends watched this series and just ignored most of the hate, because we all enjoyed it and are playing the songs on repeat lolol)

[doom-nerdo-666]

( Reposting from r/Doom) Perhaps a big reason why anyone would want a campaign with an ARC soldier

One reason could be just exploring a gameplay formula like Eternal's with new ideas for weapons, enemies, stuff since i even wrote a bunch of ideas i think could work if there's an expansion etc.

But another might be because of Doom's premise and how it changed since 2016.

It went from "UAC soldier that has to clean up the mess they started" to now there being stuff about the Sentinels.

It's why i compare Doom to Planet of the Apes in a sense the setting changed a bit more than most people realize but the new stuff is good while D3/Tim Burton's Apes movie are both seen as "technically closer to the OG premise but not as liked".

Doom as a series can work with changes like these because:

It's a setting that wasn't always taken seriously.

The old games are still getting modded to this day and with lots of good stuff.

The new stuff is good.

But it's also said the Sentinels are inspired by medieval stuff in Army of Darkness, when at the same time, that could've lead to Doomguy go back in time to medieval Europe if things were different.

I have some theories on why the Night Sentinel exist.

Could've been for Quake

Specially since Quake always had knights and the Ranger looks like a barbarian viking.

But there's always cases of Doom and Quake overlapping and how one was always viewed as the other "but in 3D".

A response/overcorrection to the cancelled Doom 4

The cancelled Doom 4 would've been about a "resistance" army on Earth fighting demons and from what you see in concept art and footage, it looks a bit "unexciting" for a supposed heavy metal series.

So maybe the idea of tech knights with energy swords was done to make Doom "more badass" because the alternative seemed boring.

When at the same time, they could've always thought of a buff dude out of the UAC simply being cool and make Earth locations take notes from Build Engine games.

It seems like what people expected out of a modern "Hell on Earth" could be seen in fanart and mods, but that leads to another point

Things that could've been part of Doom as a series are instead part of its "fanon"

You could say Doom fans were already "expanding the Doomverse" specially the classic version when looking at some fanart, some attempts at "remasters" and all those Realm667 assets.

People theorize that id themselves take inspiration from mods but put ideas like a fire themed Baron under a new art style and lore.

Not the same as exploring what could be more of the classic art style or formula (otherwise, maybe Romero could've been allowed to share more stuff).

This means The Dark Ages being Sentinel focused means they won't show stuff like Doomguy having a flashback to beating up his superior like it's mentioned in D1's manual: That would require forgetting what you set up for UAC in 2016 and imagine exactly what could suit the aesthetic of D1. Otherwise, look at the D2 skin and compare it to the D2 box art. Even the QC armor based off classic Doom doesn't seem that different, despite using the box art as a ref instead of Adrian's model.

Again, this can be justified with the notion that "Doom's setting is a mess lol" but it also depends on where it comes from, when the reboot games made by people not involved in the originals are the ones focusing on lore and worldbuilding.

Lots of Doom fan content feels like an alt timeline where the series stayed a bit more consistent and certain wishes or ideas are realized.

Even the D64 official release might owe its existence to fan ports, since the lead dev of a popular fan port worked on the official one.

But it's also not like we'll have any of Andrew Hulshult's remixes of classic Doom songs being owned by id.

The versatility of Doom's premise

I always view Doom's premise as a blank canvas where you can add a lot as long as it's "Doomy enough", hence why i think a lore could limit certain opportunities that could be cool.

In general, 2016 and Eternal introduced ideas that could've been done differently in a new game or something.

It's also why it's cool to look at cut content or concept art: As in, these ideas deserve to be revisited and be used in something.

It's also worth noting how Doom went through different looks, leading to questions like "what if Sentinels or Mayks were in other games but different?".

UAC wasn't always "gray base on orange Mars" since you used to have a "terraformed" Phobos with blue carpets and a weird low tech aesthetic.

And Hell had a variety of looks and themes, somehow they weren't really explored later on.

For a series with a seemingly limited setting, the idea of reinterpretating something seems fun and it's even seen in some fan works like fanmade redesigns.

Sometimes, you even wonder what it'd be if the Sentinels didn't exist: Would you make the Slayer like a UAC super soldier program? Would you just have everything be either weird UAC tech or demonic artifacts? Would Marauders be medieval knights from Earth? Because if any of those happened, i can't imagine someone going "what if there was a world of knights with tech and cool mechs?" due to everyone getting used to UAC and Hell in that scenario.

But this is also why i think it's cool if each setting/theme has their version of an object or item: We even see a Sentinel take on the Plasma Rifle, so imagine their take on medikits.

(also why people didn't like Eternal having glowy videogame pickups, when the life pickup could've been some artifact)

I guess people would like an ARC soldier campaign just to balance things out: If we can pilot a mech dragon, we could've piloted a UAC military helicopter.

But you need to make that seem cool and fun.

Speaking of "reinterpretations", i even think of "alternate lores".

What if the Sentinels existed in Earth's medieval ages and were forgotten by time until UAC archeologists discovered their demons?

What if they were descendents of some of Earth's survivors who colonized a planet similar to Earth and suddenly developed better tech and went with a medieval inspired culture?

What if Doomguy was still a UAC guy but the Doomslayer is a transformation/form he has where his UAC tech/armor is turned into Sentinel stuff and he gets more powerfull even with some limits like time?

Maybe these ideas are less cool but seem like examples to what can make Doom interesting.

I always thought different Doom's could coexist: At some point, have a Slayer type game and a different kind of Doom both being made, even if one is a spin-off.

[gunsatthaphan]

Hello, let me begin by saying that I absolutely love your blogs and all your posts!! I am an FK stan also and absolutely love them to bits, but I have a topic about them that I hope you'll be willing to share your opinion on.

I work as a middle management business consultant, related to management of PR and marketing although not for film industry, but i've had experience in handling products as a brand manager so i imagine the case with GMMTV and other TV productions are smiliar if we can replace 'product' with 'artists' in this case.

So relating to the branding of First and Khaotung as a CP by GMMTV, for the life of mine I just could not understand the (business) reasoning behind it for several reasons:

1. They are both versatile actor with good experiences on their belt and so far has chemistry every other actor they played with. it might be a bit of a waste for GMM to lock them both in a pair.

2. At the time it seems Gawin and First was more popular than FK, it should be easier and less risky to market and sail this pair, this pair also have the advantage of being in a more well known series (Not Me).

3. Both First and Khaotung relationship dynamic seems to not fit any existing mould that current BL pairs have (e.g. there's no clearly defined S/U between them), this seems risky and might not be well received by typical BL fans (esp. Thai Fans).

4. GMM has been trying to replicate OffGun formula a lot, all of GMM other CP seems to follow OG formula to an extent, which is not the case at all with FK.

5. All of the series that both acted as a pair in (Eclipse, Moonlight Chicken, and OnlyFans), are series that i think contain mature themes and not generally something that caters to the taste of Thai BL fans.

This question has been bugging me for awhile. The funny thing is: as mentioned above I am personally a SomSom, an FK stan :D I love them both very much and I absolutely love them together, but the decision to pair them together just doesn't make sense to me, I don't understand what GMM is trying to do here with both of them.

Sorry it's a bit long and thankyou SO SO MUCH if you decided to answer this :)

hi anon!

first of all thank you for your kind words!! 🥺 I'm glad that you enjoy my content!!

thank you for sharing your thoughts, however I can't say that I understand all of these concerns lol. here are my thoughts:

I would never call anything related to them "a waste" lol it's actually the opposite; pairing them was a very wise decision, especially because they're both highly experienced actors. They're versatile and talented on their own and they bounce very well off each other. And as I mentioned before I hope to see them act separately as well, as being in a fixed pair can limit their opportunities. But to call pairing them a waste is an insult dfkjgdf sorry. .

Not really. DanYok and GawinFirst were very popular at the time but it was kind of nipped in the bud by gmmtv; I still don't know why they never bothered with them but since they never gave them a platform or any sort of promotion, you can't really compare the 2 pairs imo. But if we still look at their general reception then no, they were not more popular than FK are now. I don't know what would have happened if they had fixed them back then but I imagine Gawin would not have been on board lol. He avoids the big spotlight so I don't think they would've gotten anywhere tbh. They were undeniably a hot moment though lol. .

Disagreed. A pairing shouldn't fit any "mould"; if they have good chemistry and work well together then that's all the premise they need. And speaking of which, what is the "mould of current bl pairs" anyway? The S/U dynamic sure isn't one and should not be a factor with any pair to begin with. But since we're on the topic, Gmmtv has never thematized this with any of their couples which I highly appreciate lol. And they don't need to because the Our Skyy lineup is fairly popular as it is. They're pushing the bro-narrative over the T/B-narrative but that's another can of worms lmao. The S/U thing might still be something that some fans care about but there are enough other couples in the industry which make use of that lol. .

What's the "OffGun Formula"? I've never heard of that lol. If this is about the same dynamic again then idk what to tell you. This should not be an issue. .

Nope. The times of bland high school vanilla shows is long gone and the fandom is not the same as it was 3-4 years ago. I've been on board for almost 6 years and more mature plots is something that is greatly appreciated, so shows like Not Me, The Eclipse or Moonlight Chicken and also other non-gmmtv shows got an appropriate amount of popularity because of that, not in spite of it. .

Generally I don't think any pair has to fulfil a purpose or "make sense" - if they work and have a good and healthy dynamic on and off screen then that's all that matters. at least to me. Just because they don't fit a certain stereotype or whatever doesn't mean they're an odd couple. They don't have to comply with anything. So that ideology seems a bit outdated to me.

However - I'm repeating myself again - the fixing should not get in anyone's way. gmm likes to overdo it with the promotion and the events etc. and especially with A-list actors like FK and some others, I fear that the overexposure might have a negative effect on their careers, i.e. typecasting and other issues. Which is why I hope they can find a balance between their couple works and their individual projects. And this goes for the other pairs as well.

xxx

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

sorry I’m nerving out over video games again… bc reading the developer intentions behind the fire emblem games is genuinely so fascinating. they were among the earliest in the strategy RPG genre like they started on the og NES and the reasons behind why they went with the strategy RPG formula are so interesting bc the lead dev at the time mr shouzou kaga had the design philosophy of immersion in mind. like he was trying that in 1990 on an 8 bit console. so like the fundamental core gameplay of fire emblem exists as a way to merge the story and the gameplay as much as possible despite limited technology.

the characters can’t have much personality due to space limitations but the level up system is designed to make units feel unique and get you attached to good units. the idea was that it’d make every players story unique! they'd get attached to certain characters and even if they couldn’t do that from limited dialogue the players would end up projecting personalities onto their favourites based on gameplay and their brief lines. and because the game has permadeath any death would be a genuine tragedy- not only are you attached to that character, you now have to fill their role with a worse unit- and then, you might end up getting attached to them too.

it’s genuinely genius use of limitations honestly. like they got around the inherent difficulty of telling an intricate and personal story on the nes by designing the game specifically to generate an emergent narrative. and the series only iterated on it as it developed! fe4 i often see described more as an interactive storybook than a game, bc the idea was basically for it to be told through the mechanics where the SNES didn’t have space. even more modern games without kaga are about it. even if characters are more defined their arcs and ending depend on player choice. the narrative of the story you get is as much about who fought together in the game maps and who you poured exp into as it is the actual plot bc you will be reading more support convos than seeing cutscenes. and the gameplay is still designed to tell a story! these characters dying cuts their arc short and the hole they leave in the roster is as much a tragedy as ever! even if you’re on casual units who die constantly will fall behind and end up being abandoned it’s not as hard hitting but it’s still there!

[digitalgate02]

@neorukix tags just got the gist hehe~

Yeah, you see, the whole Kamen Rider AU thingy has influence of those two toku stuff as well! And Digimon, because those characters are from Digimon in an AU mixed with the toku Rider formula.

Still, all of those have some... overlaps imo. Xros Wars' head writer, Sanjo Riku, usually writes for Rider (there might be the reason as for why Taiki's room has a poster possibly mimicking Kamen Rider, and maybe why Shoutmon King version in Hunters has a scarf -- the OG Kamen Riders had scarves! Also Double/W and Skull -- from Double series -- had scarves as well.) Oh and he wrote a Sentai series before too, if i'm not wrong.

And Fresh Precure main writer was also the one of the head writers for 02 -- and if you watched Fresh you will recognize Love and Setsuna being pretty much a yuri version of Daisuke and Ken lol (but they're still different from them, yet their roles as protag and antagonist/group's latecomer got the same vibes imo)

And Frontier is the most toku-esque series so far, since the kids turn into digimon like toku characters turning into their titular series' heroes. And possibly bits of Magical girl stuff too (i mean, the head writer in this series is the same for Wedding Peach, and i'm glad one of my friends showed me this series recently!)

So i'm just using a ton of those influences to build this AU thingy~

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

(i want to work on MORE but i'm busy to draw more stuff for this...)

[lol-jackles]

twitter /CWshows/status/1657127106545942532> So if all shows on CW are capped at 13 episodes, which Jared seemed ok with, does that mean the actors are exclusive during their time off or can they do other television projects? I wonder why they didn't run Walker and Independence end to end to make a traditional year's length? And, in your opinion, will it still be possible to reach syndication? Sorry. I just miss your opinions and voice in the conversations that are swirling around now.

Actors can work on other projects as long as it doesn't interfere with their OG shows. If actors started working on another project but gets a call that OG shows have additional filming like reshoots, then they are obligated to drop the new project and return to the OG show for those additional filming. It's where term "scheduling conflict" come from.

Yes it's still possible to reach syndication. We've seen 13 episodes before, on cable networks, it just took them 7 years instead of 4 years to reach syndication. Under the old model, getting a series solidly into syndication hinged on getting at least 88 so that local TV stations and cable networks can air the episodes daily from Monday to Friday.  If you don’t have enough episodes, you’ll start repeating too quickly.  Four or more seasons gives you at least five months of airtime.   When cable network changed the formula to 13-episode seasons, then it took 7 years to get enough episodes to land in syndication heaven. 

Streaming services changed the formula because it was more about offering bulk lists of titles.  So shows with 13 episodes per season is part of the new trend where streaming services are looking to increase their subscription count.  Having more shows means more opportunities to reach different sets of potential subscribers.  Networks will order 4 shows with 13 episodes instead of 2 shows with 22 episodes because, in theory, when the 4 shows are sold to the streaming service they have four times higher chance to attract somebody to subscribe to their service.  In theory.  And once streaming have fully integrated Advertisers in their business model, then networks and studios can now count on digital second-run syndication money for shows of almost any episodic total.

[dans-den]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review

Hey what's what going on everyone?! Dan here and today I'll be reviewing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3!

Now this is the last MCU movie directed by James Gunn and people were curious wondering how this movie would do since lately the MCU movies and shows have been...lackluster to say the least. I'm also told this was the first MCU movie to drop the F bomb which upset numerous parents but then again they should have known that a PG-13 movie is not suitable for kids. Then again, these are the same parents who buy M rated games for their 10 year old kids. Now with those tangents out of the way, lets dive into the movie review.

Spoilers Warning: it has been a week since it's been out but I'll still give warnings

The plot is one last ride for the OG Guardians, however you once again won't fully understand unless you watch the other two Guardian movies, along with Infinity War and Endgame. Besides that oversight, the plot itself was great, there was personal stakes to save Rockets life after he was severely injured and the Guardians will have to face a being with a god superiority complex and a warlock named Adam. At first the movie was kinda fast with the plot but as the movie progressed it flowed better. Now people have been critical about the MCU formula where the characters are all quirky or "funny" and honestly it is annoying. However, the Guardians were the true quirky characters of the MCU, they popularized that formula and they have been the ones to make it work. Characters like Thor or Captain America can't be quirky the same way since they were established to be honorable and morally grounded characters whereas the Guardians have always been the Misfits of the MCU. This formula works best for them and that's why I didn't mind the quirkiness here because it works for the Guardians, it's hilarious especially for characters like Drax.

My favorite and I think everyone's favorite in this film was the backstory of Rocket Racoon. If you've been paying attention to the Guardians and other MCU films he's been in, you'll notice he has been the main focus for the Guardians team. His story was hinted in the first Guardians movie and from then on his story has been subtly been revealing itself each installment and his character growth has been subtly developing just as much. This movie has amped it up by revealing his backstory and including his former love interest Lylla Otter and his tragic loss of her along with his other friends. I'm glad we finally got to see his backstory and it explains plenty about him that we already had a feeling about but this film confirmed it all and it was emotional and hard to watch with the animal cruelty moments. They did Rocket justice here and I'm happy.

I will say the weakness part of this film is definitely Adam Warlock. I remember when they revealed him at the post credit scene in Vol. 2 and was hyped AF! If you've read the comics, you'll see Adam did play a role against Thanos and had the Infinity Gauntlet ready at his side. I was speculating he was being saved for Infinity War but unfortunately he never came to be and that was a let down. So I figured he would show up in Vol. 3 and he did but he had no real purpose in this film. He was just there to further the plot and wasn't necessary. We thought he would be the main bad guy here but no he was just a henchmen to some other bad guy (who I enjoyed since he was just unapologetically evil and that's refreshing to see). He had only one real moment and that was towards the end saving one of the Guardians from dying (even though he almost killed one to begin with). Adam warlock was disappointing in this film but hopefully we'll get a better story with him in the future or perhaps a mini series involving him on Disney plus.

Now I did watch the post credit scenes and to be honest they're nothing special and I am just gonna leave it at that. The first one is basically an epilogue to the film and callback to Vol. 1 music while the other scene is just a little callback to the recent Christmas special, nothing you need to stay after the movie for where you can just look them up on YouTube. This is why post credit scenes aren't really worth staying for anymore at least to me, they're not like before where they connect and amount to anything major in the future.

Overall, Vol. 3 was a great sendoff for James Gunn in the MCU and it is clear he wanted this to be his swansong before his departure. He pulled out all the stops here and were grateful for it. I feel this is definitely one of the better MCU movies in recent years next to Spiderman: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. I doubt we'll get great quality like this in the MCU for a while but I'm glad we have this.

Rating this film I am giving it:

9/10

This was a fun time and emotional roller coaster thinking this could have been the last we see of any of these guys and James Gunn gave us a truly lovely sendoff from the MCU. I highly recommend watching this film and that is about it.

See ya!