#but also comics is mainly a storytelling medium

[rustedbread]

A huge portion of my problems would be solved if I was a member of the literature club Oh yeah, back when the rot was REAL bad [I'm talking the ultra-fixation rot, not the other kind, I'm well versed on the other kinds, but I wasn't doing that in this instance at least] yeah back when the rot was real bad, I was playing through sidestories..? I think? and I stopped playing midway through Natsuki and Yuri both arguing about whether or not manga should be considered literature to just rant, and I went on for like ten whole minutes describing why Yuri was partially wrong I know my main argument was that you can still appreciate and have good writing if it doesn't require you to visualize the scenes yourself, and that the difference between visual novels and traditional [?] novels is mainly just that the authors vision is more clear, with art being able to show exactly what the storytellers WANT to be shown, which can lead to some subtle details that can't quite be perfectly replicated in traditional novels. I don't think that visual novels are lesser than traditional novels in any way, because they both serve slightly separate purposes, and just because one might be a bit easier to digest doesn't mean it isn't literature because like, then I'd have to explain that [to my knowledge] the idea of literature itself mostly extends to media as a whole if it has good writing and merit to it if it serves its purpose well, truly it doesn't matter if the medium it's contained in has a higher wordcount in it or not, because it's still media, in a way it is literature [?] but the main point is that it still has substance even if you don't have to directly involve yourself with creating the world you wish to observe the main reason written works might be seen as more sophisticated is that it may take more effort to actively immerse and vision the world you're reading about, which personally to me a very forgetful and distracted person, is fairly hard to do and I do see why it'd be more preferable for someone to like novels to be compared with media that uses visual aid in storytelling so fairly I can get why Yuri would think that, but honestly, the main thing I feel she's REALLY arguing about when she was saying manga is lesser than regular novels and that manga can't have substance or usually doesn't have substance which entirely is up to the novel itself, and it's a shallow view to have about stuff, to be honest! just because something might be easier to digest doesn't mean it DOESN'T have substance, and if something is so out of grasp for most people, if it still has good themes, but is much harder to access for ordinary people because of confusing writing, it defeats the purpose of writing it in the first place, yknow? that's a bit out of my main point, so let me try to get onto some sort of actual point here, I guess one moment yeah literature and media as a whole shouldn't be about what is the best type of media there is, no, it shouldn't be about if comics are immature or that they won't ever have substance everything has lows, the medium you get in doesn't matter, what matters is the substance itself, and if it's easier for someone to get into something that requires less mental work, good on them! it shouldn't be about what's the most mature way to read a book, all that really matters is if the story you're going to be enjoying itself is good or not [also I feel like literature can be replaced by media as a whole, because like, all media IS literature, but I also know literature is mostly defined as just novels usually, but that's not really what I'm using it as? be assured I feel the definition of literature should be more broadened, but that's what media is for, I'd say] .... no I didn't intend to write this much

[partyhorn]

If it helps at all, I mainly follow you for MFM, since it’s initial run! (And your other art as well ofc bc that is also epic) One can always tell how much effort you put into your comics and you’re really good at structuring fun and dynamic panels and colors! If u used MFM comics to explain quantum mechanics to me it would still be impossible for me to get bored. Does that make sense idk lawl

Thank you so much! I don't feel bad about it, it's just how things are. Comics just aren't as popular but I'll keep sticking by them. I'm honestly pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who like MFM as just a comic alone, and I can't be thankful enough for all the support! Comics are definitely not easy to make, but so much more doable by a single person or small team... which is why I wish more people would look into them as a medium of storytelling instead of jumping into something huge and over ambitious. Comics have tons of potential!

[cuubism]

If you don't mind me asking - what do you think Dream's attitude/reaction towards Tolkien's works (including the legendarium!) would be? (I'm asking a lot of Sandman bloggers this, because I'm extremely curious regarding your takes on this.)

oh! hang on i gotta brush up on my tolkien because i haven't actually read any of the books since like. 2011.

i guess my main thought would be about how dream missed like, 95% of his work when he was stuck in his Jar. my understanding (read: google search) is that tolkien was building up the mythology for his stories before 1916 (when dream was captured), but most of it was not finished/published until a while after.

(this became an insane and mostly unrelated rant i am so so sorry)

i think a lot about how much of his own... area of work and power dream missed when he was trapped. the 20th century, generally speaking, was a time of rapid growth in storytelling methods and media more generally. dream missed almost all of radio, particularly radio as it became a medium for stories. radio was invented in the late 1890s but didn't see a proper rise into a storytelling medium, rather than mainly a direct communication one, until around the 30s. so dream missed the creation and growth of the first, i guess you would call it, networked storytelling, and technological storytelling, and what was... probably? the biggest return to an auditory type of storytelling since the original oral tradition, folk tales, great epics etc, for radio at its peak of cultural relevance (at least in the US and probably the ""West"" more generally, alas i can't speak as knowledgeably for other parts of the world, obviously plenty of other parts of the world had radio in the early 20th century and onward, but i don't know much about its use as a fictional storytelling medium versus for news and government broadcasts. something to look into! part of why radio became such a medium in the usa was because of our rampant capitalism and commercialism lol, so less capitalistic places might have approached it differently - here, advertisers wanted to figure out a way to monetize radio better, but obviously people aren't going to just listen to hours of ads, so they packaged them around stories, live music performances, and variety shows. that's where soap operas as a form come from -- they were originally sponsored by soap companies! also serials, though of course books have also been serialized in the past. and sponsored radio programs also birthed the sort of episodic comedies that eventually evolved into the half hour TV comedies we know today)

which also means - as a direct result of missing radio, dream also missed the rise of television as a medium - it grew directly out of radio, even the big networks we know today, CBS, NBC, and ABC were originally radio networks. television has ended up being a huge change in visual storytelling, not only in its inception, but especially in its more recent years - it's probably the only long-form audiovisual storytelling medium, which is something that didn't really exist before. huge shift in storytelling possibilities. he also missed the development of comic books, and the internet, and the resulting increased accessibility of art and storytelling to both artists and art lovers. he missed an absolutely huge, HUGE shift in the democratization of art and the ability to share it. and, once again, the development of totally new methods of storytelling in the form of internet video! not to even mention the accessibility of MUSIC, music recording and sharing was still in its infancy when dream was imprisoned and now you can get, and make, and share pretty much any music imaginable! and the new genres! and the intermediality of everything and the cross-cultural awareness!

this is not even getting into the new ease of photography, or film, which was also relatively new in 1916. imagine going into a coma when there were only silent films, and waking up to everyone and their mother making tiktoks. the last film you saw was one of chaplin's or something and then you come back and see interstellar in imax 3d. i think i'd explode. (dream would love film, too, it's very dreamlike)

dream returning to the waking world in 2022 and immediately having the entirety of tiktok beamed directly into his head:

(another thing i think about a lot but won't get into because i'm already rambling - hob witnessing the entire development of accessible writing from the printing press to fucking social media. insanity. i want to pick his brain on it

what pushed hob over the edge, do you think. what's the one thing he saw written online that briefly made him regret ever getting involved in printing at all and wish everyone was illiterate again. it was not porn, btw, mr. monsterfucker gadling can handle anything, ok. no, it was something much worse...)

anyway. rambling over. this is all to say that i am not a tolkien expert and haven't read much of his stuff anywhere recently - though i was quite obsessed with it in middle/high school - so my main thought is in relation to dream getting cut off from all of these great stories. it must have been like, to put it flippantly, your favorite tv show getting cancelled halfway through after a cliffhanger XD. he has all these stories from great storytellers - tolkien included - storytellers who are building their whole own worlds in his realm, storytellers he's nurturing and supporting in his own way - and gets ripped away from them. and when he returns, they're all gone.

here's hoping someone who knows more about tolkien can give you an answer more specifically relevant to that. that's all i got for now 😂

[rialynne]

Spider Man: Across the SpiderVerse Review

I have not felt this compelled to put my thoughts about a movie out there into the world for a while. The last time I did so was before the pandemic and a lot in my life has happened since then but I love it when I finally decide to watch something from a never-ending backlog of movies, especially for animation which is probably one of my first loves. 

So I lied. It’s a review of 2 films; Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse and its recent sequel Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse. Both from Sony pictures Animation, a studio which prior to me watching these 2 films, only released disappointing to bad films in my opinion (looking at you emoji movie). I finally felt compelled to watch them recently mainly to watch Across the spiderverse in theaters. 

First, I’ll make my thoughts on Into the spiderverse relatively brief. It truly is a game changer of a film for the would of animated movies. Amazing that it won an Oscar.  The animation alone really pushed the boundaries of what the medium could do, and the story was well contextualized and wrapped up. I loved the nots and references to comics throughout the film. Miles’ growth throughout the first film is truly a masterclass of storytelling of a young teenager finding his place in the world and taking on new challenges in his life. In the meantime, working to develop better relations with his supportive parents and carve out his own version of Spiderman. This is probably the best use of the multiverse concept that I have seen so far in film. The animation styles between each spider hero is great at defining characteristics. I loved how they went in the direction of Spider-Gwen for this film, it makes her more bad ass for sure and more of a character than a tragic plot motive. Her scenes with Miles are also so cute (Put a pin in that we will get into that more later for the 2nd film). Mile’s relationships with the men in this film, his dad, Uncle Aaron (aka the Prowler), and Peter B Parker are great representations of mostly healthy male relationships that I feel like isn’t as well represented in media these days. Each one of them helps Miles evolve over the first film to come into his own with his powers and with his feelings and interpersonal relationships with people. Loved the involvement of Aunt May and Penni, Peter porker and Spider Noir. Wish we got to see more of them, which hopefully we will in Beyond the Spiderverse (Put a pin on that too). I also love the influence of hip hop and the urban influence of Brooklyn in this film, the sound track is fire. Honestly what are you waiting for please watch this film.

Ok time for the big kahuna; Across the Spiderverse. WOW. Just wow. Into the Spiderverse is amazing in its own right but wow was it kicked up a notch tenfold for Across the Spiderverse. Starting off easy, the animation in this film once again is PHENOMINAL. But one element that really stood out over the previous film, the use of Color Theory, especially with Gwen. Holy Cow they nailed it with expressing subtle emotions through out this film using color theory, every single frame in this film should be in the Louve, I’m deadass. I loved the introduction of Spider-India and Spider-Punk. Loved how Pavitr literally called out Miles and Gwen having a thing lol, also the use of his bracelets, similar to a type of toy, being used in his web slinging is such a fun touch. Hobie really be that surprise MVP, who was actually punk this whole time, probably is the only one Miles trusts at this point, who loves chaos and taking down the Miguel influenced spider verse society. Also, him calling Miles Peter Pan and GWENDY…fucking iconic lol. I wish we could have seen more of Peter B Parker but happy to see him embracing Dad life with his little anarchist baby Mayday, who also helps confirm that the spider powers can be genetically passed on.

Some other notes before I get to the gushing part of this whole ass review. I loved how Miles’ parents and Gwen’s Dad evolved over the course of this film. For Rio and Jeff, they had to learn not to be helicopter parents to Miles, while also coming to grips that he is becoming an adult and still worrying over their baby. The parallels between them and my parents are astounding and the conversations very similar to what I had with them growing up at that age. Also exhibited in Gwen’s Dad, him falling upon duty as a police officer when he discovers his own daughter is Spider woman, thinking she killed her buddy but then its actually his daughter, and he resorts to being an officer. She was wicked lucky Miguel and Jess were willing to allow her through the portal, which makes sense because she did not have a home to go back to.  Also I really enjoyed all the easter eggs and the meta commentary on what Cannon is and the idea that a spider person has to suffer in order to be a spider person; and Miles being like FUCK That I’m not an abnormality and imma save my Dad and do me. Which comes full circle with what Rio talked to him about the world being harsh against him and to know that family will always be there and to nurture that inner child. Miguel clearly is drinking his cool aid too much on maintaining cannon but will he remain the enemy until all the spider people turn against him? Spot turning out to be the guy Miles threw a bagel at from the lab escape in the first film is wild. Also Spot over the film slowly becoming more powerful and will probably do something really bad to mess up the multiverse. Hopefully Miles and family are safe from all this. Also the fact the spider that bit Miles came from Earth-42, and Miles G Morales is the Prowler in that dimension. There better be an epic fight sequence in the beginning of the film between those three. Curious to see if Miles G will be an antagonist or not along with Aaron.

However, what ultimately really made me fall for this film is the decision narratively to make Gwen a significant part of the story and the relationship between Gwen and Miles. I can’t help it in a sucker for teen angst and pining. But let’s start off about dear Gwen. Good lord I feel terrible for her. She was put through the ringer in this movie. She is brought up to almost/Basically co main lead in this movie. We really get a much more fleshed out backstory of hers, dealing with how her Blonde Peter Parker died and dealing with hiding her identity from her father while he is unknowingly hunting her down. She, along with Miles are both struggling with hiding their secret super hero identities to their parents, main difference being Miles told his alternate dimension Mother, while at the end of the film when Gwen gets banished by Miguel back to her universe, she is forced to confront her father. The Color theory used on Gwen to convey her true feelings that she doesn’t state in the film is such a genius decision and it creates some of the most visually striking images in the film. The colors blue used to express her sadness and loneliness and the color pink, to express her happiness in her surroundings was a brilliant idea. I also loved how her Earth was just filled with water colors it’s like a painting I love it. Throughout the film, we see her struggling with dealing with her shitty home life, dealing with the cannon knowledge about Miles, feeling the need to follow the cannon timelines, believing she will die if she deviates from the timeline and her father would die as well, while trying to protect Miles but also having the desire to see him. She’s dealing with so much and is really put in a rock and a hard place, that in the process of trying to protect Miles, she unintentionally betrays him (same can be said for the other spider people Miles made friends with besides Hobie). Could she have told him the truth sooner, probably, but I think the outcome would be similar. However, after finally communicating with her Dad, taking the leap of faith if you will, like Miles, she is able to get through to her Dad and he breaks the Cannon event of himself dying on duty by quitting being a cop. This gives her the resolve, along with Spider-Punk’s wicked helpful homemade dimension watch to start looking for Miles and go from leaving a band and distancing herself from everyone around her, to getting people together who know Miles to help find him, and of course take down Miguel and Spot. What a beautiful arc for her, which I believe is not over yet, she still has some work to do to make up with Miles in the next film. But she’ll do so, she down bad for him lol.

Speaking of which, what really gave me life in this movie was the relationship between Gwen and Miles. Lord it is oozing young puppy crush love and I’m so here for it. It was clear from the 1st film Miles was into Gwen, and its only solidified further a year and change out from then. I mean stating you want to go to Princeton for Quantum Physics and dimensional travel…like boy we know why because you want to see all the spider homies again, especially the girl 15 months older than you that you draw from memory filling up almost every page of her, and adding her to your graffiti mural where you got bit. Looking at better photos of the note book he even drew her dancing like a ballerina, he drew her fresh drip, including new sweaters and chain chokers, and he drew her eating ramen like MY BOY you’re in a crush deeper than the deepest cervices of the ocean, you have it down so bad for her. Meanwhile Gwen while being sad, managed to still keep the half-buzzed hair cut from the 1st movie because Miles liked it. She’s shown to be constantly thinking about him, including the beginning drum sequence which is “Trust by Megadeath” (Look at the lyrics also btw, they honestly do foreshadow Gwen and Miles relationship as it stands at the end of the film), and throughout her universe missing him the one person she considers a friend. Also, she printed out a selfie of the two of them and looks at it every time she goes out as spider woman. That photo might as well be her social security card she treasures it so much. The only reason she is interested in joining the spider society also is to literally see him, which she doesn’t get to do until she convinces Jess enough to do an assignment in his world. And after finding out about his cannon events and getting an important assignment to go after Spot and stop him from messing up the universes, one of the most important missions to save the whole universes, and being warned to stay away from him, what does she do???? Ports straight to his bedroom, peroidt. She basically said Imma risk the universe for Miles; like im sorry that love bitch. Anyways she finds grounded Miles and he shook clearly. Gwen immediately goes in for the hug, and Miles be short circuiting, and trying to hide everything in his room. Gwen looking at all his drawings of her and very sweetly being all like “I missed you too”, only to slyly get Miles out of the house. They are so carefree swinging through Brooklyn and finally feel like they are their true selves. The sky also has a pink hue. And then when they get to the bank tower, their upside down talk is just so precious and done beautifully. Everything from Gwen being like I miss talking to you and Miles being like we the same. Miles inching ever so close to her about to Touch her hand MY BOYYYYY. Gwen going into how the Gwens fall for spider man, sees his hand inch closer, and then gives a very pained look mentioning that it doesn’t end well. Miles being the emotionally intelligent guy he is, respectfully pulls back and is all like “there’s a first time for everything” she gives him that look, you know that look of like I’m falling for you look, and purposefully LEANS INTO HIM. GIRL. She soooo into him but holds herself back due to all the bs she dealing with behind the scenes. At the rooftop party for Jeff, these two talking on the water tower, Miles almost finds out about Gwen tracking Spot, she gets briefly mad but apologizes, and then these two are so awkward teens to the point of like confessing a crush for real, and im sorry Is he looking at her lips wow. But before anything happens the parents show up. Gwen fumbles the bag by going on first name basis, and Rio is like “found a sweater, dis you?”. The parents come on to hard so I just feel second hand embarrassment for the both of them. Gwen makes an excuse to leave due to her tracking Spot you know the guy trying to destroy everything. She wanna touch Miles so bad she goes for the awkward hand shake. Damn. And of course what does Miles do later, he follows her to Spots portal hopping location and sees the exchange of Jess and Gwen, but Gwen before she leaves, looks out to the water tower, all the while Miles is invisible Upside down a la the spiderman kiss position. I cant yall. Also Gwen freaking out over Miles in Mumbatthan, and being all like “your amazing” to him after he changes the cannon event. That was so sweet. Its so painful to see how the ending of this film plays out with the betrayal. And his final sad goodbye to Gwen. She decides to talk to his parents, while using his jacket to hide her gear a la girlfriend vibes, to tell them how much he loves them and that she gonna find him. She is so determined and falling in love with him its not even funny. What really sealed the deal that these two I think will be end game, The fact that she can spidey sense he’s in danger IN A DIFFERENT DIMENSION!!!!! Oh My god, this is also similar to the first film where she had that spidey sense to go to the visions academy. Like lord if that’s not love idk what is at this point. They will need to work out some feelings which I hope comes up earlier in Beyond the Spiderverse so we can get back to some wholesome moments before all chaos breaks loose and hopefully, they will be endgame, and still alive.

TLDR: I love both of these films, go watch them please and Sony pay your animators better

ITSV: 4/5

ATSV: 4.5/5

[lavolamp]

Too late to make a blog?

Hello. In a conversation with friends I decided to start using this Tumblr blog as a means of, well, blogging. I would use some website like Wordpress, Neocities or even Blogspot, because those tend to have features that make organizing blogs by tags a little easier, but I will admit I am a bit vain and don't want to feel like I'm screaming in to a void when I could instead reach out to the remains of Tumblr's userbase post-porn. This is absolutely the best website for it at the moment. And this would also make it easier for people to reach me for whatever reason. I kind of thought of blogs as outdated, because everybody's lives have become so consolidated in to websites like Twittex and Instagram and even this one that leave little room for larger scale personal thoughts and travels. I remember the Myspace or Geocities or Blogspot days where everyone had their own cute little website, and the internet was much smaller so it was easier to find people posting things that fit your interests. Nowadays things are just too huge, so apart of me thinks blogging might be a little ridiculous. But I think there is still a use for these, because I would ultimately like to use this blog to organize my thoughts on things and document my progress on my projects, mainly so that I don't just end up bothering my friends on Discord about stuff, because I'd feel bad. Maybe one of the goals of this blog is to find out if there is a reason to blog in 2024.

I suppose I should introduce myself. I've posted a few pieces of art on this blog before, so as you could guess I'm somewhat of an artist. The medium I primarily work with are comics, because not only are they a very accessible medium to work in but I also just have a deep appreciation for the medium. I'm working on many comics at any given time, but at the moment I'm focusing down on two. A comic made for the Webtoon platform and one that I would like to be published as a book. I'm more enthused about the book than the webtoon. Maybe I'll make a post about that later. Otherwise I'm big into cinema, animated cartoons and especially video games, and one of the two things I pretty much only think about is storytelling. Whenever I am not thinking about that and the other thing, everything in my life kind of feels like a dream. So I suppose this blog will primarily be focused on storytelling, but that's just a means about talking about my opinions on art in general. Otherwise, I think people would tend to describe me as very passionate in my beliefs, which is to say when I like something I really like it, and when I hate something I suddenly transform in to one of the world's leading professional haters. And I guess I'll make you know it. I'm bad about making impulse and useless purchases and I really like chocolate. Don't ask me how many video games I have on Steam or how many tubs of chocolate ice cream I've had stacked sitting in my room at some points.

Anyway, to kick things off I'd like to talk about the last thing I did, which is beat the game Alan Wake II from Remedy games. They've done a few things like the Max Payne games and the critically acclaimed Control, but the Alan Wake series in particular holds a special place in my heart. It was one of the first "triple a" games I ever played, because at that point I had mostly played Nintendo games on GBA, DS and Wii (I played Gamecube games too, don't worry) and adventure type games on my computer. Games outside of PC classics and Nintendo games were a new frontier for me. Earlier in 2010 I got an Xbox 360 in order to play Modern Warfare 2 with the other kids at school, in which afterwards I found out that they all had PS3's instead. But at least I could play Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing with Banjo Kazooie, whom I didn't even like or even ever had played his games but his design is fun so whatever. By the way, no spoilers for Alan Wake or it's sequel here aside from me saying how I felt about the ending.

The original Alan Wake game came out in mid May of 2010. I was about 11 at the time, but I was about to turn 12 as my birthday was at the end of the month. Around when the game came out I ended up catching a lot of press footage and playthroughs showing off the game, and I was just enchanted by it. It was a game that was really nothing like I'd ever seen before. It was dark, gritty, moody, realistic, and revolved around shooting but unlike other 360 games it had this incredibly unique and eerie vibe that pulled me in, and while I didn't really understand the story very much, I thought Alan was a really funny protagonist because he just kind of came across as a dick. Kid me's mind kind of rationalized it as Sonic but he's basically just in the real world. I also thought the main mechanic of the game was also really cool. I guess it sounds too convenient to be true, but I've always loved flashlights. It's a device that's just a beam you can turn on to dispel darkness. I feel like a detective. It's fun to wave them around and point at things, I always kind of thought of them like a really cool sword. I especially love the big ones because it feels like I'm holding a cannon in my hands.

But anyway, everything about the game was just really interesting to me, and in a way it also kind of made me feel a little more adult because of the graphics and tone. So with my birthday at the end of the month, you can imagine what I asked for. In the days leading up to my birthday, I was kind of obsessed with the game and I spoiled much of it for myself. But eventually my birthday came and I finally had the game in my hands! I've still got that copy next to me as I type this. It's in far better condition than my other 360 boxes too, cause my Sonic Unleashed box is in real bad condition. Maybe it's an object of power. Anyway, I played through the game, loved it, loved the twists, scares and turns, surprisingly hilarious characters and utterly beautiful music, and how unique of a protagonist Alan was. But then, I beat the game. I won't spoil the ending, but it's the kind of ending where I'm still not sure how it's designed to make you feel. It's basically a cliffhanger, (and while there eventually was DLC that continued the story I never got around to playing it and none of it really took the story anywhere) and it left a longing in me. I wanted more. I wanted to see what happened to Alan and the people in his life. But the game didn't provide any real closure. Afterwards I scoured the internet for answers, reading other people's theories and consuming all the lore in the game that I missed, obsessively trying to get a a straight answer, any kind of meaning. I desperately wanted someone to tell me anything so I could know how to feel. Nothing else before really left me like this! You know how a lot of people, especially in the past decade enjoy watching videos that explain the lore of their favourite games, like Dark Souls or Five Night's at Freddy's? That was me with this game. But it wasn't just for the sake of consuming content, I needed closure. But I couldn't find it. I guess like Alan I was left wandering in the darkness fruitlessly searching for a way out of this headspace this stupid game got me in. Sonic had fucking closure. I was happy I had the experience, but other games had closure!

By the way this is kind of irrelevant, but in case you're wondering why my parents would let me play games like this at a young age like that, I think my dad stopped caring after I had a little argument with him in 2008 when Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out and it had a T rating but then he saw the game was fine. Or maybe he just thought I could take it, or maybe he just didn't care. He let me play No More Heroes, which, for the uninitiated, is not a child's game.

Anyway, I eventually got bored of searching for answers and my interest in the game eventually faded into the background. As I grew older I didn't forget about the game. I still listened to the music from time to time, but it definitely became a second thought, and sometimes I felt it might have been because of the ending. Sometimes though, periodically, I would revisit the game. Watch the cutscenes, look at the ending again, try to formulate a theory. It was still a game I liked, but I couldn't kick the feeling of a giant blueballing. But as you grow up, you change, and experiences you just had become a nostalgic memory. I don't think you change as much as people say you do, I think it's more like you realize things about yourself as you're able to better articulate your feelings into words. As I grew up, and now I think I almost fully realize, is that I kind of love not knowing some things. Maybe not in like a, hell yeah I love not having answers kind of thing, but I find it's utterly intoxicating. Witnessing the rise of Dark Souls and Five Nights at Freddy's in the 2010s and also being able to think about storytelling on a deeper level, I realized something that seems kind of insane to me. Alan Wake is a video game with a definitive beginning and a definitive end. At some point, the game runs out of content to show you and you will have inevitably seen and done everything. But what if I told you there was a way to keep the game going even after it's exhausted it's digital limits?

You probably know where this is going, but I realized that it wasn't the fact that Alan Wake had an ending with a ton of closure that kept it going in my mind, it was the that it left a ton of things unanswered! There are so many pieces of media I've played, or watched where it just ends, and while I enjoy them I never really paid a second thought to them afterwards. They just fade. But Alan was a light that continued to burn bright in my mind. This feeling of longing that I had after beating it, in a way that's better than just a happy ending. Other works of fiction have used this to their advantage. I don't think it's any coincidence any time David Lynch gets his hands on Twin Peaks, which Alan Wake is teetering very close on being a ripoff of sometimes, it ends on things that leave you with a billion more questions than you came in with. Sam Lake and Lynch understand the power of planting a seed in your head. Because that not only lets the work of art live far past it's expiration, but that's where the imagination also flourishes. There are so many other people who come up with theories trying to interpret these works of art, and because of this I don't think they'll ever truly die. Now, I don't think every piece of art should do this, because I will admit, most of the time it is nice to just have a neat bow placed on something. But like every device in a story, it is merely a tool that is waiting for the right time to be used. Even in stories with closure we can use this to keep things going, the possibilities are never ending. It's so exciting to think about.

But like I said, as time passes other things take precedent. Other works of art and stuff, so these things, even Alan Wake will eventually fade in to the background. The game if I recall sold well and became a cult classic through word of mouth. Even some of my normie friends know about the game. But I never really thought it would continue. Mainly because of the open ended nature of the ending and the fact it isn't an uber popular game that exists in a gaming environment where the maximum amount of money needs to be pumped in to every game in order to make the maximum amount of money back, which is why to my absolute jaw dropping, during the Game Awards 2021, a fucking Alan Wake II was announced. When the trailer first came on, I had my suspicions it might be Alan Wake II, because even in my faded memory I could still recall the layout of the main town in the game. And then he showed up, it was fucking Alan Wake. Rocking a beard and looking very conspicuously a lot more like John Wick, but still, it was him. The title dropped and I couldn't believe it. It was actually happening. Now, this was already kind of insane year for me in games. Because it just so happened not one, but THREE other games I liked a ton as a kid got sequels I thought were utterly impossible earlier that year. In the same week no less, Psychonauts 2 and No More Heroes 3 came out! And then a couple of months later, a Metroid 5! Hell, Mega Man 11 also came out in 2018. What the hell was going on? Why are all these old ass games that I thought were just made for me getting sequels? Now, of all times? I guess nostalgia plays a big part in getting these made, but it's still kinda weird. Hell, even Shadow the Hedgehog is getting his own fucking game this year. If a Portal 3 happened, I think that might just be a sign of the end times. But, regardless, because of this, I also have to wonder if, just like starting a blog in 2024, if it's just kind of too late to make sequels to these kinds of games.

Admittedly, I don't think about this topic a ton, because at heart I'm a consumer of media and much of the time I like to see things I like get continued, but the adventures of Alan Wake is a weird one. This is a game that opened me up to the idea of never getting closure, but here we are with a sequel. It could either do two things, give us closure and kill the vibe or continue not giving us answers and leave us feeling the exact same way the original game did.

Because I'll finally cut to the chase, I think Alan Wake 2 is pretty much a perfect video game. The new survival horror gameplay that is apparently just ripping off Resident Evil 2 now was great, the puzzles were great, the scares were legitimately good, the music was still amazing, the game was funnier and had even more quirky characters and moments than the first one, and the story was very well thought out! I would recommend it instantly. Despite all the differences from the original game in gameplay, tone and even featuring a new protagonist, it still felt like a perfect followup. But I beat the game, got to the ending...and to what I suppose is not justified shock, I felt exactly the same completing Alan Wake 2 as I did completing Alan Wake 1 all those years ago. I feel a longing. Maybe not as painful, but it's still there. But for the record, I think this is a really cool thing, I think that just proves Sam Lake and the team at Remedy haven't lost it, that they can make a game that feels just like the original. But....is that even a good thing? It makes me feel good, on some kind of dopamine level to think that they haven't lost it, but do we actually want those exact same vibes? Is it healthy? Playing the game, I was ready for something different, something new, but instead I kind of just got exactly what I paid for...I got more Alan Wake. Like, you feel me, right? It's intoxicating to have a perfect recreation of those same feelings, but I'm also really conflicted here. From a consumer point of view, it's great that we just got more of what we like. And in a lot of cases, this is what a "good" sequel is considered to be. But here's my thing about that; I've never felt like that is sustainable. Assume a franchise keeps going forever with the same vibes, eventually it's just going to get stuck in it's own tropes and formulas and themes. You need to introduce new elements to the story to keep things exciting, I think that's just how it is. Some people might tell you that it's possible to do something new with a franchise while sticking to all the same things, but I think that's total bullshit.

Eventually, you will hit a wall where there isn't a new topic to be explored without introducing some kind of tonal shift or alien plot element. I think that's just how stories fundamentally work. Everything is a runner that eventually runs out of track to run when it reaches the end. Why do you think so many sequels to things end up so repetitious? I think many creatives at heart are aware of this, and in today's environment of nostalgia and IP centric mania we have people attempting to do new things with certain franchises, but sometimes that just ends up pissing old head consumers of those things off! But we're not allowed to make anything new so what else are we to do?? Everything these days like fucking Star Wars or Batman needs to be beholden to it's own internal logic and rules and established characters and themes to work, but if you don't do anything new it's just not interesting! But if you be different you'll just make people mad! It pleases nobody! Hell, an example is Psychonauts 2. I've seen several people complain about Psychonauts 2 (one of my all time favourite games for the record) because of the tonal shifts from the first game (granted, a few other things too, like not focusing on the previous game's characters more, but that's also another thing that contributes to my argument). It's an incredible game that I believe is a true work of art, but would it have just been better if it were a new IP rather than a sequel? Maybe so. I think it manages to build upon the established lore, themes and rules of the first game magnificently while still retaining the same twisted sense of humor, but for some people, they just wanted a goofy cartoon game with interesting looking levels and instead got a careful examination of several individual's deeply held personal trauma. It's just a like, a different thing!

We don't need new IPs...no, new worlds, NOT because of new characters, or even new storylines. We need them because we need new rules for stories to function under. We need them in order to elicit new, different feelings in us.

I'm conflicted. I think having the same vibes as the original thing is truly intoxicating, but I worry that it's not healthy. I worry that this definition of a "good" sequel just creates a negative trend where we just can't allow anything new to be done with established franchises. If we will just hit a point where any change is instantly disagreeable on the basis of not fitting some perceived version of the original product. Like, it gets even more insane when everyone just has their own version of something in their head, it all depends on taste. I could probably go on about what I think makes a sensible evolution of something, or if we should even respect the notion of evolution in favor of a new creation, but this post is already excessively long so I think the easiest way to put it is that I think we just need a healthy balance of the old and the new In both established series and new series, and in what the big slop corporations feed us. I look forward to the day this trend of sequels pass and companies seek out new stuff again. Despite my complicated feelings on Alan Wake 2, I think it is almost an exception to this, because I feel it is a true work of art that came from a place of passion and hard work. It thoughtfully takes elements from the original game and expands upon them in ways that are fresh and interesting while also introducing crazy new elements that make it feel fresh! But I guess this sentiment could also vary from person to person depending on what the work of art is.

The point is, Play Alan Wake and Alan Wake 2!

and uhh, Alan Wake's American Nightmare. You can play it, I think it's cool too. Anyway, as a reward for getting to the end of this post, here's an old sketch of the main character from the comic book I'm working on meeting Alan Wake. Your reward is more reading.

[fiddles-ifs]

ok got a fun one for you fiddles. as someone who dual wields art and writing how does one thing affect the other for you? does either of them affect the other in some way?

TOOK ME AWHILE TO COME UP WITH AN ANSWER.

I say the two are mutually entangled with each other!! I mainly use drawing as a medium to decompress/as a state-mandated enrichment activity while writing is my Main Thing. I do love comics (which are a perfect blend of storytelling and art) and often times when I draw it’s in response to a story or snippet I wrote. More of a writer who draws sometimes etc.

I also think I use art as a vehicle to promote my writing LOL. Watch this space for the werewolf book series with full color illos. Twitter won't know what to do with itself.

[bartibit]

Introductory Post

Uhhhh... Hello! Greetings! and Salutations! random person of Tumblr! You've stumbled either on this post, or you decided to check on my Blog in whichever case, Hi, make yourself at home.

I am Bartibit, or Barti - A random internet person who wanders around the interweb, trying to find the place that suits them. Shy in person, Introverted from hell and back, trying to find non-toxic side of the internet. I've only recently stumbled on here, quietly watching to see if this site is to my liking after... whatever the fuck is happening on Twitter / "Nobody will call it 'X' Musk". Yes, I'm a Twitter Refugee (woe me). And from so far I've observed, I really like it here, so this post is more for me, finally breaking ice.

I actually have a lot of interests, so follow me at your own discression, I will be unapologetically me, I will vent, I will post about my interests, I will make typos, I will share my accomplishments, I will post random sketch once in blue moon. I will randomly fixate on some series, I will post about my thoughts. Maybe you'll find something new, I don't know. I will be fucking random because my mind does not know how to segue naturally. I will probably have reflex on liking instead of reposting which I'm sorry about, I will fight the demons of not reposting.

I am a digital artist, mainly doing some silly doodles and seldom full pieces. I drawed comics in my addolecense instead of studding, making me also interested in storytelling. I dabbled in flash cs6 animation, video editing, writing reviews/video essays (i'm kinda bad at them) and making source maps for TF2 and CSGO.

I also play a lot video games, like I am obsessed with this medium; I love it, it's my entire personality because it carried me through a lot of hardships. I mainly play on PC, as I find it the most comfortable, most flexible and I already have most of my hobbies be tied to computers.

Some of the games I'm obsessed over, in non specific order, more will be added probably:

Disco Elysium

Undertale & Deltarune

Hollow Knight

The Binding of Isaac

Ultrakill

Doom

Omori

OneShot

Bloodborne

Sekiro

Hi-Fi Rush

Persona 4 Golden

Lisa the Painful

Metal Gear Solid

Half Life 1 & 2

Silent Hill 2

Darkest Dungeon

Portal

Hotline Miami

Fallout New Vegas

Celeste

Wandersong

Pyre

Risk of Rain 2

I also have interest in computers and coding (I can do basic C/C++ stuff), currently studing computer science, I like math. Maybe want to make games one day; I am interested in game design, design decissions and discussion - I just find it neat!

I like stories, like everybody else lol Movies, Series, Animation, Anime, Webcomics, I even look after good unique stories in video games.

Movies or series I'm obssesed over? here they are, again, in non specific order:

Mob Psycho 100

JoJo Bizzare Adventure

Dungeon Meshi

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

One Piece

Saiki K.

The Good Place

Arcane

Breaking Bad

Bojack Horseman

Adventure Time (currently watching)

Infinity Train

Amphibia

The Owl House

Over the Garden Wall

Captain Laserhawk

Knifes Out & Glass Onion

Spiderverse

Everything Everywhere all at Once

D&D: Honor Among Theives

John Wick

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Emperor's New Groove

Hope you will find the stuff I do here at least interesting Here, have random sketch be upon yee:

Oh also, LGBTQ+ rights are cool. Queerness is cool as fuck and you're welcome here - bigots, get lost to the void >:)

[dracula-adaptation-reviews]

Well I can't think of a clever title so I think this blog is pretty self explanatory lol

This started for personal research purposes, but I figured other people might be interested and it would be cool to have it all in one place. I will mainly be reviewing comic adaptations, I’ll do them as I read them and in the order I read them. I might do some films (and other misc) too but there’s a lot out there (and I kinda have a compulsion towards being chronologically comprehensive) and I don’t know if I can commit to that lol, but I will be reblogging reviews and discussion by others! The main focus will be on direct adaptations of the storyline, not spinoffs/characters inclusions/things that are clearly their own stories, though they might show up sometimes.

I’ll be reviewing based on accuracy and creativity, looking at the work as an adaptation (plot, characterizations, tone/style, themes, changes, effectiveness and originality) and as a piece itself, whatever medium that may be (art style, character design, visual storytelling, or cinematography, casting, etc).

Disclaimer: I am in no way an expert, historian, or professional critic. I’ll try to be objective but I will also be expressing my own subjective opinions colored by my own interpretations of the book and characters (which are still being informed btw). I'm just one person, and my knowledge is limited, so by all means correct me and add your own views into the conversation!

[z-h-i-e]

ohh, 5 and 14 for the fanfic writer asks?

~ maglor-my-beloved

But of course! And thank you for the questions!

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

I have this personal little Bunniverse thing floating around that I very much doubt I'll use--and I'll drop it under the cut for spoilers, discussions of pregnancy, abortion, and probably other things I should warn for but can't immediately think of right now...

I have this concept of Maedhros and Finya conceiving a child, unsure exactly if for Finya it is a temporary or permanent transition, but some amount of time into said pregnancy, Finya (for multiple reasons) comes to the conclusion this is the opposite of what she wants, and seeks out Elrond demanding termination of the pregnancy (or, more of a panicked 'get it out now' sort of thing). And there's Elrond, having an ethical crisis, and someone (probably Feanor) wanting options, of which one is, well, we'll call it 'elven magic baby transplant', because, if they can make lembas, how hard is baby transplant? But, need a carrier--oh, look here, we've got everyone's favorite able to somehow change appearance/form Valinor resident, Finrod, who, well, he'll try anything once, right?

And then dilemma as things progress of, who keeps the baby? And there's assumptions it will go to Finya and Maedhros, but kind of at the last minute, Finya declines, and suddenly Finrod goes from surrogate to now raising the baby.

But, it ends up not being the end game. 'Maybe I'll change back next week' turns into next month turns into next year turns into 'Maybe the little one should have a sibling' turns into just not changing back, and much self reflection, and less anger management issues, and finding peace accidentally, and coming out of it with a couple of unexpected but adorable kids.

But it feels a little heavy for Bunniverse, so I don't think I'll ever write it down.

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick?

I think either Tusk or Citius, Altius, Fortius would be good candidates, mainly because there's nothing ambiguous about the scenery, and they're both NaNoNovels (Tusk in 2010; CAF in 2008) so they're in that 50K range, making them concise enough on one side, but with enough to film or draw out into something. They also both follow fairly classic storytelling with the rising action and climax and such, and they are both relatively contained stories, though CAF is moreso because it's YT content that tries to be canon-adjacent, while Tusk includes Elrond/Gilraen, happens concurrent to The Hobbit (following Glorfindel and Erestor so that they miss the players of The Hobbit, and there's only one mention of 'hey, there's some Dwarves here', plus has things like the infamous 'elf poop' scene that Smaug helped me come up with. Oh, and Gildor's unicorn. We can't forget Gildor's unicorn. So while Tusk would probably be my first choice, CAF might actually be easier to adapt.

[blueflipflops]

Love that. Thank you. I enjoy our talks so much!

Oh thank god I can say it. The thunder saga low key disappointed me. A lot of things were going on that was vital to our boy's character. The siren song wasn't even about mainly Penelope but his want to know. His thirst for knowledge. The hades saga was missing Agamemnon (that bastard. I finally started reading illiad and i finally understood why people hate him) which, in a storytelling standpoint, was a very vital keypoint in the story, along with Anticlea which emphasizes and urges Odysseus to get off his ass and get back home or else.

Or else something bad will happen. Them emphasis on a ticking clock, a hard deadline. The amazing and deliscious foreshadowing in homer's narration is so good.

I might not know much about the odyssey and greek myths but i DO know about contemporary and emergent literature and adaptations. The thing is, that every adaptation is different and will always ALWAYS mess with the original story in the name of "Creative Liberties". Every bard tells the story differently. It was done often enough even in the past as we have discussed last time with Aeneas and the seperate plays that influenced the public's POV on Odysseus. Those are adaptations with Creative Liberties. The famous Wooden Horse thing wasn't even expanded on (if I remember correctly) if it weren't because of a seperate play adaptation cuz that was easier than making up an original story when they could have had a play with characters people ALREADY liked and cared about. (Also why sequel, trilogies, franchises and even remakes WORK. Because we already know of this character we gotta at least check it out right?)

From the Cyclops Saga on foward, the main point of the storytelling aspect is focuses on the morality trope that goes apparently hard for the modern audience. Which. Is. The. Point. for Adaptations. To adapt the stories for the modern palate. The modern majority of monogamous and 'high' moral upholding audience is not gonna care as much about a character that is not beholden to the apparent moralities we have. And we just LOVE characters that are "just like us"! Thats why there are people out there calling random characters "problematic" when it its actually just thematic storytelling.

This is also why, when I got into epic the musical, I immediately read thru the Odyssey before the Thunder saga is released BECAUSE I knew it was gonna be different as an adaptation and if theres something I like doing most, it's analyzing and comparing adaptation vs original. ESPECIALLY if it's using a different media from the original. (ex. Book to movie, novel to comics, etc etc.) So after reading thru it, I suddenly became uhhh kinda disappointed in the storytelling aspect of the musical. Although in the musical aspect it is very impressive. Nice beat. Catchy. Orchestra is on point. Singers are very talented. Its hard to use music as a medium for story telling although now that I typed it i remembered that the odyssey was originally supposed to be sung so...huh.

Kinda disappointed that they never explained WHY exactly Poseidon is beefing with our boy Odysseus and the very funny and cleverness of the 'Nobody— Odysseus, son of Laertes, King of Ithica' when it is EXACTLY when and why our boy's extended voyage became from "Unfortunate Events Yeah We Can Deal With This" TO "Series of Unfortunate Events WITH Divine Intervention (the bad kind)" and how he's fated to go home at some point but not without suffering and losing every man that he brought to war and only coming back on a foriegn ship. Which I think is very vital in the storytelling standpoint.

The thing that FLOORED me was the existence on Polites like where tf did you come from lil dude? Which is in the storytelling aspect, supposed to a thematic foil and symbolism of when all things gone to shit. But, reading thru the Odyssey, why would they need that when the story already had Agamemnon? Anticlea? Polyphemus? Why would Zeus be against him personally when in the story he is somehow someway 'on his side'? With the eagles and the law of xenia and such and such.

But I'm still ultimately game for creative liberties. I love seeing how people make the story their own. That is why we love telling the same story over and over and over. Give a little twist. A hey what if's. A little personality. Outside POV stories. Humans just love telling stories and i love hearing them even if i have to wince a bit at some points. Which part of the musical disappointed you the most?

EPIC THE MUSICAL:

Zeus: I am gonna appear personally to you because why not and now choose my dear fellow! Yes I know I didn't give you a REAL choice years prior but now I am being clear this time so you choose them or your sorry ass?

Odysseus: Please don't make me do this! (Because the same thing worked wonders before!)

Zeus: Nope I think I will!

Odysseus: I'm sorry guys my wife waits

Them: Wtf?!

Odysseus: Sorry guys you must now join the other souls we so dramatically saw a few songs ago in the underworld. Bye!

The Odyssey:

Zeus: *never appears personally but he works as divine retribution against Odysseus comrades because Helios Hyperion wishes justice for his slain animals*

Odysseus: Makes one last attempt to save his men by sailing out of the island and actually TRYING to go home with them despite the fact he knows they are doomed from Tiresias's words and from Circe's warnings because he ACTUALLY CARES and he doesn't want to suffer the sea by himself and he wishes once more to try the inevitable and change fate even though he knows is impossible in a way adding more to the hubris thinking he can challenge fate.

[pridoo]

Thank you so much 4,000 followers! Gosh! There was a good couple of years that I was kinda offline (not really) so I think it's a time for an updated Meet the artist!

Hi, I'm Pridoo!

I'm a full time artist and teach graphic design in university. I study art majoring in film and television studies.

I'm an early 90's bby and hang out under the rainbow flag. 🏳️‍🌈 My pronouns are they/them. I'm also engaged to be married!

I'm way too into Star Wars and The Mandalorian considering that I know nothing about SW. Whoop! I'm really interested in visual storytelling like comics.

My hobbies include watching telly, crafts, playing video games and weekly DnD! Irl I actually like dark academia and goblincore, but I don't really make art around those subjects.

I work fast and use agile methods in my work, mainly because I struggle with depression. I have an assistant who colours my comics and supervises my work.

My username comes from the first page of the novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré, and my pfp is from a painting by Hugo Simberg, named Garden of Death.

My dreams include getting about every academic degree level there is and having a greenhouse. I don't like pickled foods and the colour purple.

My favourite animal is European badger! 🦡 I also like bees, brown bears and rabbits. Irl I prefer cats and medium sized dogs.

Nice to meet you!

[sleepnoises]

Hello! I’m in the midst of a crossroads in my artistic journey, and I was just wondering: what keeps you inspired and connected to the fellows you make, vs more traditionally storytelling type visual art?

this is such an intriguing question! here is a very very long answer.

i have less ego attached to clay than visual art, because i've been doing it for less time and (at least with how i use glazes) it's a process where you lose control of the finished product

in turn this unpredictability encourages quantity and iteratively exploring ideas... better odds of good results!

edit: both of these above points are powerful wards against perfectionism!

fellows have no expectation of a whole narrative. narrative is pretty much like pulling teeth for me. instead, i make characters and people attach their own meanings to them. it's basically only doing turnarounds of your OCs and never a comic :)

fellows are informed by my sense of humor, which is a natural inspiration! and it's great to work on things with their own personalities, which i think are all enhanced by an unpredictable medium.

ALSO people are enthusiastic about them on social media and want to pay me money for them, i will say that's a factor in staying connected to them.

HOWEVER the presence of an audience can encourage speed over innovation and i'm deliberately trying to buck that right now!

love you all though

i do do a bit of storytelling type visual art sometimes but usually it's fanart, for similar no-expectations-of-narrative reasons. i would like to explore more with original 2D work but i'm rusty and right now i don't have enough hours in the day.

i'm using the verb explore here a lot... clay has a lot of surprises and things to learn in it! i think that curiosity is a great guide to keep in mind.

to sum up, it's mainly the quirks of the medium, the personality and humor i can work with in it, and how those all combine to make the process fun for me. HOPE THIS HELPED.

[keimaybee]

⭐️

BTW "Pixie Changeling" is such a cool concept LOVE IT ! haha

I already answered that one over here

But I will ramble about all of my vtuber goals rather than just the biggest! In no particular order:

1.) I want to learn how to make song covers. I'm working on this, and have given myself a deadline of New Year's. Unfortunately, google isn't being helpful about the process, so I'm a little ????? 2.) I want an original song! This is a long term goal, mainly because I do not have anything specific in mind.

3.) I want to learn how to make 3D models, and make myself one! Vroid doesn't allow for chubby characters last I checked, so I'd have to learn how to do it myself. I would still mainly use a live2d model for streaming, but like there are times where I wished I had the flexibility of switching between the two.

4.) I want to make and finish original comics! I'm including this, because I plan on publishing them under the same brand as my VTubing. I have many ideas, and am laying out the ground work for one rn! 5.) I want to be able to make this+commissions my full time job. I'm disabled and how it had affected my life has made finding and keeping a job.....difficult. I'm still looking, but considering I can control the environment I'm in from home, it would be nice to one day be able to stop looking. (I do look for wfh jobs, just never got an interview for any yet) 6.) I want to have more confidence in myself. I'm a rather anxious person, and it gets worse around people I don't know. Mainly because I'm used to people at best giving me weird looks, and at worst outright bullying me. But like. I'm a gem. Most people who take the time to get to know me agree. But growing up with that kind of rejection makes it hard for me to be willing to be myself around people I don't know. But I don't want that to be the case anymore! So I'm trying hard to push past my anxieties! And to that end, a lot of my irl stuff is baked into Keimay and their story/concept. 7.) I want to explore Vtubing as a creative and storytelling medium. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I want to approach that, but ever since I got introduced to Vtubers, I've thought that it would be a good way to tell stories. 8.) I wanna make friends. There are a lot of interesting people who are into VTubing as well, and I think it would be nice to be able to make friends with other people who share that interest with me.

Also thanks! When I started with "pixie changeling in the magical girl genre" I was worried it may be too much? (I say magical girl genre/mahou tsukai over just magical girl because I am not a girl, so its a bit more comfy, yknow) so it's nice to know people like my concept ;w;

[maxwell-grant]

Speaking of Tod Slaughter... any thoughts on Grand Guignol theater..?

Looking back on it, the first time I encountered the term Grand-Guignol was also the first time I looked at Fantomas, when I picked up the book above titled The Theater of Grand Guignol, which is all too fitting as Fantomas is Grand-Guignol to it's core. It's also a term that I've seen applied a couple of times to The Spider as well as some darker fan reinterpretations of Batman. Like film noir and sword-and-sorcery, it's a term for a type of storytelling that's associated with dime novels and pulps, influenced and was influenced by them in return, but isn't really the same thing and is, in fact, a separate "genre" (not quite the right term).

Indeed, if the common cultural association of pulp is that of something trashy and violent and darker than it's contemporary culture, one can see Grand-Guignol as perhaps the darkest of it's adjecent family, the Dario Argento to pulp's John Carpenter, the cracked mirror to all that exists.

Short and full-length plays were based on the hot topics unseen onstage at this extent before, from graphic scenes of murders, tortures, sexual violence to psychological thrills like resurrections of the dead, incest, suicide, characters being hypnotized, trapped or guilty of their loved one’s deaths. In most cases, it was a combination of several of those themes in one piece, which of course, multiplied shows’ popularity - AngryFishTheatre's article

‘At one performance, six people passed out when an actress, whose eyeball was just gouged out, re-entered the stage, revealing a gooey, blood-encrusted hole in her skull. Backstage, the actors themselves calculated their success according to the evening’s faintings. During one play that ended with a realistic blood transfusion, a record was set: fifteen playgoers had lost consciousness. Between sketches, the cobble-stoned alley outside the theatre was frequented by hyperventilating couples and vomiting individuals.’

Despite of its scandalous nature, for France Grand Guignol was more than a theatre: it was a tradition, an institution, and an attraction like the Eiffel Tower or the Folies Bergères, and Maxim’s... It was then highly fashionable. Celebrities of the day, South American millionaires and errant royalty went there assiduously to be scared out of their wits.

Going to the Grand-Guignol was less a social act than a private one and certain audience members preferred not to be seen. Some witnesses reported that the iron-grilled boxes in the back of the theater encouraged a certain ‘extremism.’

The cleaning staff would often find the seats stained - — Mel Gordon, The Grand Guignol: theatre of fear and terror.

It lasted almost the exact same time period as the American pulp era (from the late 1880s to 1950s), and even in it's origin, as the theater itself was built out of the ruins of a church, and it would attain fame and legacy as the shadow opposite to Moulin Rouge's glamour and spectacle. It's original intent on being focused on naturalistic theater led to breakthroughs of horror that made it the whole selling point, and much like the pulp lords of terror I talk about, their staged and spectacled terrors were still no match for the horrors of reality that followed.

“We could never equal Buchenwald,” the Grand Guignol’s final director, Charles Nonon, told TIME magazine that year. “Before the war, everyone felt that what was happening onstage was impossible. Now we know that these things, and worse, are possible in reality.”

And of course it goes without saying that the Grand-Guignol's influence on storytellers long transcended it's original lifespan. Gore for gore's sake is hardly something I enjoy, but I've definitely enjoyed many, many films that reached to extremes of horror and violence and gore for horror and comedy alike. I would not claim the Grand-Guignol started this because I could very well be missing out on something, but they are undeniably a huge part of the history of horror as we know it, along with the German Expressionist works of the 1910s that were as well both inspired by, as well as influential, on the Grand-Guignol.

Time and time again we see the pattern emerge, of creators or outlets or mediums that emerge as cheaper and less critically-reputable alternatives to the mainstream attain extraordinary and influential success both in their circles as well as those who would never admit to looking at them for inspiration otherwise. In fact, you could very well argue that it’s alive not just through films and comics and so forth, but in newfound forms of media created by people with all the freedom to put together whatever their imaginations and limited resources and lack of restraints can create.

Like Youtube Poop.

Now maybe I'm biased here because I grew up with YTP, but really, the main intent behind every YTP is to twist the media it's using to provoke a new reaction from you, every YTP is varying levels of a rollercoaster of jokes and edits and little narratives stacking up and flowing together, references and poop jokes and murder jokes and slurs and parody and criticism and SuS and literally anything the creator thinks is gonna get a reaction that wasn't in the original material. And it doesn't even have to be exclusively about jokes, there's a lot of YTPs that are centered on horror or drama or even are just completely original narratives using the assets at hand, sometimes even clocking in at almost movie-length.

There's no filter or censors or teams making sure it's tested to the audience, it's just as much chaos as someone with video editing skills can manage to create, and more so than anything else nowadays, it's the medium that abides and amplifies the same principle that ruled and defined Grand-Guignol: "The Hot and Cold Shower"

Grand Guignol, was not the inventor of this concept, but probably the first performing arts company that used it as its main programming principle. Every evening at the theatre was programmed with plays heavily contrasting in their nature. In the 6 plays presented on a regular night, every 2 horror plays were followed by a light comedy and the light comedy by another horror play or two. Using this contrast the creators aimed to give their audiences a fuller range of emotions. They called it a "hot and cold shower".

You could also make a similar argument for creators that used Garry's Mod or Source Filmmaker to create Youtube content, many of whom either followed the styles of YTP or created their own which ended up influencing others in return, and you can definitely see how YTP as well as these have influenced our current generation's taste in comedy as well as the editing styles of many prominent creators. It even seemed for quite a while that GMOD and SFM content of this type was dead, but it definitely seems like it's gotten a revival recently, and really just never went away. Likewise, a lot of people think YTP died circa 2012 or 2015, which is completely false, it just changed a bit, as things tend to do if they are to stick around.

The entire approach of extreme hot and cold, extreme horror and comedy shuffling per second and extreme absurdity overriding is something you definitely get nowadays a lot more out of these newer forms of media than anything that film and television's capable of giving, and just as Grand-Guignol started out relatively ordinary (focused mainly on naturalistic horror) before it completely spiraled into a perpetual race for excess, we've gotten so desensitized so quickly to surprises that you can see in real time the growing needs for content that's faster and more chaotic and funnier and more dramatic and more absurd and more well-produced but also worse produced and, yeah.

I definitely wonder how we may see future filmmakers and cartoonists and creators be influenced by, not just the above, but also the rapidly changing landscapes of meme culture and social media and the gradually less-funny theater of the absurd that reality's become. I definitely imagine we'll be in for some interesting times.

Y'know, if we make it that far.

Alternatively you could also argue Jackass is also a modern Grand Guignol and they just cut out the narrative middleman to get straight to the "people getting fucked up for your amusement" part, but at this point I'd just be inviting a retread of all the "Is -X- pulp" questions I got for "Is -X- Grand Guignol", and I may have stepped straight into a rake with this one.

[aquillis-main]

Isn't Iizuka also supervising Sonic Frontiers and a creative consultant as well? According to him, Sonic Frontiers will bring Sonic to another level, what are your thoughts about that?

I'm... iffy on it, and it stems from one contributing factor: Ian Flynn. It's mainly because Flynn's not a Game Writer. He's a comic writer, and Comics are entirely different from Video Games, from the medium that they use to the fact that games are interactive storytelling, and not passive storytelling. With Comics, you have a set story, and you follow through up until the end of the book. Video Games, on the other hand, while they have a set story, the things you do in between you can make yourself.

The other stuff: the Open World asthetic (which I feel isn't entirely Sonic, but they seem to be taking steps to make it work for Sonic), a new combat system (which the interview suggests that they'll make Sonic like, whether they go for a BotW-esque design or a DMC/Bayonnetta-esque design isn't stated), I'm cautiously optimistic for. I say cautiously, because I'm not sure how it'll all be tied with whatever story Flynn plans on making for the game.

If the story is shit, but the gameplay is good, there's going to be people who'll blame SEGA/Sonic Team regardless because 'How DARE they chain Flynn up and toss him aside like this!'. Even though it's highly likely that most of Flynn's short-comings will be on full display.

[dandylion240]

All of the story asks please :) (Character specific ones I'd say up to you, but would love to have them be Jonah/Cecil or my usual favorites ;) )

what’s the last screenshot you’ve taken for your story?

2. describe your story in three words or less

Family, Angst, Drama

3. describe (insert character here) in three words or less

Jonah - unassuming, brave sensitive

Cecil - insightful, supportive, caring

Evan - self-sacrificing, helpful, innocent

Jayden - protective, stubborn, active

4. how did you choose the name of your story?

I try to use titles that is kind of thematic of the story I'm writing. It takes me forever to come up with a name and sometimes the name changes multiple times before it gets posted.

5. how do you choose your characters’ names?

It depends upon the story. For my Reagan family stories (TS4) I use the parents names. It's kind of a family tradition. For instance Jonah/Ethan. All boys will start with E and the girls will start with J. In my TS3 stories I sometimes choose a theme for names and use that. Like next gen of NSQL the theme is nature.

6. how long have you been working on your story for?

Well it depends on the story. With my Reagans I started writing for them in the summer of 2019. For my TS3 legacies I started in 2014 I think.

7. whats the biggest risk you’ve taken with your story? did it pay off?

I think my biggest risk is my current story Into the Depths of Darkness. I wasn't sure I could pull it off and the story has changed from what I thought it would be and the hero of the story has changed from first conception. I'm happy that Jonah is the hero of his own story and it's given him so much character growth and he's becoming more of what I always invisioned him being. I owe a lot to @mahvaladara to how the story has progressed and the ideas she has contributed. It wouldn't be what it is without her.

8. what about your story are you proud of?

There are many things I'm proud. Mostly that I continue writing even though sometimes it feels like I'm ripping my heart out to write some of things I write about and also that I don't quit even when it's hard.

9. what about your story are you looking to improve on?

There's always things that can be improved. Writing is a process that the more you do it the more you learn and get better. I could say pictures but I'll admit the storytelling will always come first over pretty pics and sometimes I just can't find the right pose to fit. Maybe one day I'll be able to make my own poses but I'm not there yet.

10. is your story fully planned or are you still working things out? is there a definitive end?

It's a work in progress. I start writing from an outline of how I think the story should go but it's loose enough for me to rearrange things or remove/add things to it as the story evolves.

11. why have you decided to tell this story? are there any messages or meanings within it?

I just like to write. If there's any message in my stories it's that family is important and no matter awful things you might face in life if you have people who love and care for you that you can endure it. But mostly that you can rise above your circumstances and still be a healthy, functioning person despite everything even if you have a mental or health problems, you can still be happy, loved.

12. do you actually play the game or do you just use it as a storytelling medium?

It's mostly a storytelling medium for me. I do play it sometimes but tbh though TS4 lacks so much depth and gameplay I find it boring after a while. I've gotten into playing TS3 again now that I have a better computer that it doesn't lag as much.

13. from basic planning to a finished post, how long does that take you?

I don't honestly know. I've never stopped to consider how long it takes.

14. do you have any regrets about your story so far? if you could go back in time, how would you fix these?

No I don't think I have any real regrets. Sure I go back and think I could have written that better or edited that picture more but for the most part I'm happy with my stories.

15. what have been the highlights of creating your story?

The highlights have always been the people who become involved in my characters lives.

16. what about the process do you enjoy?

Seeing my stories come to life. How my characters change as the story progresses.

17. what about the process do you hate?

When I struggle to write a scene and it doesn't flow the way it should. It's generally because I'm coming at it wrong. Once I figure that out than it flows. Sometimes the seeming lack of interest in what I write from the readers is hard to overcome and I feel like quitting. But the few who comment I thank because that always revs up my motivation to continue.

18. choose a song that reminds you of your story

Just one song....that's really difficult say. There are so many songs out that fit my current story. This song fits Into the Depths of Darkness because where there's a lot of darkness there's still hope to be found.

19. choose a song that reminds you of (insert character here)

Ok I'll do this for Jonah - Fight Song

20. choose your favourite shot from your story so far

21. choose your least favourite shot so far

22. choose a favourite character from your story so far

Jonah is my baby. It may not show it by I love him.

23. choose your least favourite character so far

Hmm this is difficult because there were characters I created purely to be hated. Currently my least favorite is Ethan but it's not because I don't love him but it's because of his roll in the story.

24. are there any characters who remind you of yourself?

Not really. There are certain aspects of me in all my characters or people I know in them but none are an incert of myself.

25. what inspirations have you drawn on for your story?

There are so many. I draw inspiration from people around me. From movies and TV shows I watch. The books I read. Sometimes from the people I interact with on here mainly @izayoichan @mahvaladara @jenpants and @legendofsim They've let me bounce ideas off of them and their input helps me in my stories.

26. have other sim stories inspired you?

Yes they have. See above. All their stories have inspired me.

27. what genres would you describe your story as?

Modern fantasy drama??? I have no idea if that's a thing but it best describes what I write.

28. if you could reproduce your story in another medium (movie, novel, comic, etc.) what would you choose and why?

Hmm I'd say novel or maybe series. A movie would be cool too.

29. what would your story’s rating be? (G, PG, M etc.)

Hmm interesting I'd like to say its somewhere between PG-13 and mature just because of some of the topics.

30. if you were leaving simblr and had to choose another creator to continue the story for you, who would you ask?

I think either @izayoichan or @mahvaladara for my TS4 stories since they've helped me write some of them and they would keep true to the characters as they love them as much as I do.

For my TS3 stories I would say @legendofsim since for a long time our stories had been intertwined.

31. drop some random trivia about your story

Ethan was supposed to die trying to save Jonah

Caiden was supposed to have played the part of the hero instead of Jonah

Cory was going to heal Jonah's broken heart over the of Ethan.

But as they say the story changed...

32. give a light spoiler

Someone will be heartbroken at the end of the story.

33. recommend another creator’s story!

There are so many: @izayoichan @mahvaladara @nikatyler @justkeeponsimming @amuhav @legendofsim @simlit @lilyshadowwriter @wannabecatwriter

Please don't be upset if you weren't listed on here. I love everyone I follow but these are my favorites. I have others but some aren't active anymore and stuck with the ones I'm always waiting for the next installment, even if I'm behind on a few of them.

Thank you for asking!