#but of course this was the choice in how to adapt the source and without that creative choice we wouldn't have this

[fideidefenswhore]

[twinsarekeepers]

I’m curious as to your honest thoughts on the show? Like I love pjo and all but the show was a bit of a let down writing wise. There’s always the point of “it’s an adaptation, not a carbon copy” like yes but this new writing isn’t exemplary better than the book just because it’s rewritten by the author himself

I think the show is well-written not because Rick is attached to it, but because I actually like the way the writers are approaching adapting the source material. I have a lot of issues with the original books in terms of writing quality because frankly speaking, I don’t think Rick is a very good writer. He has a lot of interesting things in those books that he never explores or drops within the first two and this fandom gives him and the books too much credit imo.

This is why I’m not very moved when people try to ascribe meaning to a certain scene or choice he made in the books to get mad at the show for changing. As an example, one of the main things people were upset about was the kids “knowing everything” in the show when they were getting tricked left and right in the book. Many posts were dedicated to how the book version is superior because it illustrates how they’re just twelve years old kids so of course they’ll make mistakes and get tricked by monsters.

That’s a perfectly fine interpretation but I was twelve years old when I first read tlt and I was able to anticipate almost every single trap, despite being pretty gullible and naive at that age. My knowledge of Greek mythology consisted of Disney’s Hercules, maybe two Google searches, and my second grade teacher’s reading of the kid friendly version of the Odyssey. No where near the level of Percy who’d been learning for a whole year in an established class on the topic with Chiron or Grover who was literally a satry born into the world or Annabeth, who spent the majority of her life dedicated to studying specifically quests and Greek mythology and was also on the run fighting monsters for a good portion of her childhood. Like twelve year olds can be dumb but those three stumbling into every trap was asking me to suspend my disbelief too far. I remember being upset that they weren’t able to figure it out because it was obvious that Rick wasn’t making that choice to show any personality flaws or character dynamics (because he would’ve had them learn and grow but they never did they just kept being not smart), he just wasn’t able to figure out a way for them to fall into those traps organically so he had to dumb them down.

I think the show was able to get across the characters’ childishness without compromising their established backstories. Yes, Annabeth knew it was Medusa right away because that makes sense for a kid who has experience with running into monsters. But, she still acted very much like a child in her interactions with her (and throughout the episode and season). She lashed out and called her a liar and wouldn’t listen to her side of the story because it painted her mother in a bad light. That’s peak twelve year old behavior.

Yes, Percy figured out Kronos was behind everything, but it makes sense because Percy knows Greek mythology and where Kronos resides. He still very much acts like a child when he asks Hades to give him back his mom in exchange for nothing because it’s the right thing to do.

There are dozens of examples like this for a lot of complaints of the show. And this is not me saying that the show is perfect: every single show has flaws. For me, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the dialogue or the exposition dumping. It didn’t hinder my enjoyment though because I don’t think it was egregious (and wrt the exposition dumping, I expected it because the book did it and there’s really no way to “show not tell” Greek myths). I also didn’t like that we didn’t get to really see the huge clashes between Zeus and Poseidon in the weather (we got references to it through news reports but I would’ve liked something more). I was able to look past it because I really liked the storytelling and the themes the show was pulling out of the original source material.

I loved Medusa-Sally parallels and Medusa-Annabeth parallels. I loved the juxtaposition of Pan’s quest to manifest density. I loved Percy and Annabeth’s opposite trajectory in respect to their relationships with their godly parents. I loved exploring Sally’s choice to send Percy to school instead of camp. I loved explicitly coding Annabeth as autistic. I loved Luke’s backstory being brought earlier into the story. I loved the deadline passing and Poseidon surrendering to save Percy. I loved Persues-Andromeda and percabeth parallels. I loved fleshing Grover out. I loved glory vs home seeking being the central theme of the show.

And lastly, I was able to understand that with a limited number of episodes and run time (due to the nature of child labor laws!), they did the best they could and I feel like they did a pretty good job for a first season.

These are not ALL of my thoughts on the show because that would be a very long post. I gave one detailed example of why I think the show succeeded in something the fandom tries to ascribe the books and it was like three paragraphs lol. Anyway this is not the post to try and convince me that the show is bad for whatever reason you have cooked up. I’m not going to change my mind and I doubt I’ll change yours. Here’s to a season 2 that builds on a solid season 1!

[crimsoncold]

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE IN THE HOTD FANDOM RIGHT now as someone who is disappointed in the show's handling of team green and really just critical the show's writing in general

Team Green Stans and/or HOTD critics:

"I know I'm going to get a barrage of criticism or even hate/harassment for saying this but...

HOTD's writing is rather biased and strays from the source material in ways that are frequently ridiculous, fails to actually improve the story, and totally ignores the anti-war and the general targ/ruling class critical tone of GRRM's writing.

Yes villain or dark character centric shows can be really good even when the purpose of the story isn't to condemn their actions- BUT purposefully changing an adaptation of a story so that it no longer contains the original message/themes that did criticize the characters and their actions is at the very least a questionable writing choice.

The characterization and the messages of the show are inconsistent in a way that doesn't feel intentional or in order to make a point- instead it just doesn't make sense. ALL characters suffer due to the choices of the writers/showrunners- including team black- but team green is obviously getting the worst of it (seriously its cartoonishly bad). It's all so nonsensical and frustrating that it's getting harder and harder to watch- really at this point its no longer even a fun bad! show that can still manage to be entertaining even when the story itself sucks.

Much like with d&d with the later seasons of GOT it's disappointing to see the poor quality of work coming from paid professional writers, this could have been a show about a tragic and dramatic conflict between characters who are mostly bad people yet are still compelling or sympathetic and instead we got ...well...this."

Some Team Black Stans:

"Come on people HoTD is an adaptation so of course things will differ from the books but the show still stays true to the heart of the book, the changes were not a big deal- in fact some were good choices by the showrunners making more disturbing and violent aspects of the book more palatable for the audience without lessening their emotional impact... B&C was toned down not to whitewash team black but because no one should want to see the multiple child homicides from the book take place on screen...and the violence here really isn't as important to the plot as it was for say GOT's red wedding... toning the violent or horrific nature of these deaths down and having it occur off screen is the right thing to do! It's still sad- and this way we didn't need to traumatize the actors OR the audience!

Really people just stop complaining... both sides of the conflict are presented as EQUALLY culpable and in the wrong as the other side, team green stans are just missing the subtle points being made in the show and are exaggerating when they criticize the writing or supposed inconsistent characterization and accuse the showrunner's of being biased.

These TG stans are just being so mean and should stop criticizing the writers/showrunners-who are just doing their job!- and even if they feel they have to criticize the writing it's really just so inappropriate to ever specifically name the writers/showrunners when doing so! It's one thing for fandom to anonymously criticize other fans- especially since TG Stan's takes are so misguided that they obviously need someone to explain to them how they are misinterpreting things- but criticizing the professional writers and showrunners through tumblr posts is out of line! Its not the writer's fault that Alicent and TG are hypocritical or less likable than TB- that may just be how they are in canon- to say that the storytellers are purposefully changing things to make TG less sympathetic or competent than they were in the books and to set them up as the unlikeable antagonistic opposite to the now more tragic and heroic TB is a ridiculous accusation!"

Other Team Black Stans:

"Daemyra is just the best ship, they have loved eachother since she was a teenager and now after years of pining and being kept apart they are finally free to be together, you never see supportive or healthy relationships like this in asoiaf, we stan a man who will do literally anything and kill anyone for his niece wife.

Lucerys was just an innocent baby when he sliced up Aemond's face, he was just protecting his big brother, it only happened because he was afraid for their lives! Viserys made the right choice not to punish anyone since the team black kids only attacked Aemond after he stole Rhaena's dragon and Lucerys was only using self defense when he used a knife on Aemond. Most especially Lucerys and his mother didn't deserve to be attacked by that bitch Alic*nt. And Rheanyra trying to have Aemond tortured for calling her sons bastards was just her being a rightfully protective mother! Team Green means her family harm and no way will a bamf like Rhaenyra let that slide... this is what a good mother does not like that terrible Alic*nt! Lucerys' death was so tragic can't wait to see a grieving mother get her revenge... TG believes in an eye for an eye don't they? Well how will they like a son for a son?

TG stans keep saying that Rhaenyra is just as violent entitled and problematic as anyone else on hotd! They are so wrong! They are just delusional haters that can't stand to see a woman have sexual freedom and be in a position of power! She is the better daughter/wife/mother and the only people she hates are the ones who deserve it!

See she isn't evil like the Hightowers- B&C was an accident and the book description was exaggerated to be used as propaganda against Rhaenyra- she didn't even know it was happening. It wasn't even team blacks intent to kill little Jaehaerys only to kill Aemond- but he's a kinslayer so them sending someone to assassinate their nephew/brother is totally in the right and not something any character in canon would judge them for!... Rhaenyra is just too good of a person to wish harm on any of her innocent family members. Everything that happened to Rhaenyra, Rhaenys, and Meleys is just so tragic... they are the only true queens in this series ...god i wish all of their pain was only experienced by team green lol.

You know what ...are TG stans children or something? Why do they keep complaining that team green is being unfairly villainized to make team black look better? Don't they know they can just watch a show where the characters are flawed/bad people without needing the story to spoon feed the audience the message that bad people need to be condemned? Why do they take things so seriously? Why is this their whole personality? Get a life and stop overthinking a book/tv show -not everything needs to be deep you know so just shut up and enjoy watching the dragons destroy things.

But for real how can you people stan misogynistic women haters like team green or a trad wife/women for trump like Alic*nt? Like yikes what does your fictional character preferences say about you as a person. Hey EVERYBODY look these weirdos are really out here defending and woobifying violent predatory and sexist characters like team green! This fandom is the worse i swear lmfao."

Meanwhile...

Showrunners/Writers:

"What if the civil war, brutal violence, and tragic kinslaying that happened in the dance of dragons was really just a series of accidents and misunderstandings?

What if Rhaenyra and Alicent were friends who never really hated one another, and Alicent was pining for Rhaenyra's friendship and acceptance for the last 20 years, what if neither of them even wanted to go to war?

Who cares about house stark or the pact of ice and fire, or Jace's interactions with Cregan or Sara? You know what Sara Snow doesn't even exist, Jon i mean Jace would never betray his betrothal/loyalty/vows to his dragonrider soulmate and future wife for some stark girl! This whole stark side plot isn't important lets just go back to the dragons!

What if Rhaenyra wanted the throne because she knew that from her descendants the prophesied saviour/prince that was promised would be born? What if instead of her surviving son Aegon being so traumatized by the horrors of this meaningless war that he actually hated and feared dragons afterward- and supposedly was even responsible for killing the last one- it is Rhaenyra who was actually responsible for saving Daenerys' future dragon eggs- and thus she the one who ensured the return of dragons to Westeros! It will be Rhaenyra through her choices and her descendants that will be responsible for saving the entire realm and defeating the others with dragon fire!

What if Alicent pushing her son to be crowned was all because she was a fool who misunderstood the words of her dying husband NOT because she felt her son was unfairly robbed of his birthright by his father?

What happened with Daenerys in the later seasons of GOT was so unfair- just terrible writing -she NEVER should have been made out to be a mad queen and i bet Rhaenyra wasn't actually a cruel or violent ruler either! I bet it was the men who slandered her, and the men who were pushing for war and violence while all the women were actually trying to keep the peace.

Wait...wait.... What if everything in the book that criticized Rhaenyra was actually propaganda made by her enemies to ruin her reputation!?!!? Yeah B&C and team black arranging the horrific murder of a child? That story was TOTALLY team green exaggerating the violent murder of their child/grandchild. Daenerys I mean Rhaenyra deserved so much better... and all the injustices that happened to her will be the most impactful and tragic element of this show.

What if TG didnt actually have strong bonds with their dragon or spend much time riding them?... just more propaganda! Yes! CGI is expensive so this also means we dont really have to show their dragons unless they are fighting the blacks. Team Black's bond with their dragons is much more powerful and important though so we should still show them spending time together and riding them.

What if the book description of the respect and loyalty team green had to one another and the terrible grief they felt at the loss of their family members was ALSO just team green propaganda? What if Alicent only ever struggled as a mother and failed to connect with her kids and actually didn't even like or respect her children? How many kids did she have anyway? Three? Yeah that sounds right. Oh wait! Wait! What if none of TG got along with or trusted one other? No...no...What if they actually hated and betrayed each other? YESSSS!!!!!!!

Team black and their descendants are the true Targaryens, no one is really interested in the boring team green anyways so at least these changes will make them more interesting and better foils for team black! This type of story is exactly what people want I just know they are going to love it."

NOTE: (because i know idiots will be lurking in the anti tags to complain or harass people)

this is mostly meant to be very critical of the showrunners and somewhat critical of a specific type of stanning behaviour and the weird criticism or harassment that gets directed at people who like team green or who criticize hotd - sure i may be exaggerating slightly for effect but l'm STILL pulling from real posts/comments/opinions that I see from TB stans ...Like sure they aren't putting ALL of this in a single post but collectively this is definitely the type of attitude and language many TB stans have

Fandom is just about enjoying a special interest - I dont actually care about or want to police who you stan or ship. I DO care that some of you purposefully and directly harass real people because you disagree with their opinion on fictional characters and that some of you leave uncharitable, ignorant, critical, or unpleasant comments on properly tagged Team Green/anti or TB critical/or hotd critical posts.

Most of all i just find it really funny the juxtaposition there is between how underwhelming and juvenile the show's storytelling choices are compared to how eloquently, persistently, or vehemently fans will write up either criticism or defense pieces for these characters, this objectively bad show, and it's deeply unimpressive writing... like sure some fans put more effort into understanding the source material and comparing it to the show and some put more effort into criticizing or defending the show,the writing, or specific characters but collectively nearly all of us are putting in more time, effort, and thought into hotd than ANY of the showrunners/writers.

In conclusion Guys just like or dislike whatever show/characters you want...you don't have to justify the things you like by being willfully in denial about what canon sources say/the nature of certain characters/or the quality of the show's writing. You definitely don't need to be disrespectful or attack people on behalf of fictional characters or the well paid hbo showrunners/writers.

[bestworstcase]

the more i think about it the more convinced i am that dust is a grimm thing

first: dust predates the moonfall.

in a setting where it’s been very firmly established that a) dust is a naturally-occurring magical crystal that grows on the surface in formations like this, and b) the present-day land of darkness is still very rich in dust, the most plausible explanation for what these luminous crystalline structures in dark’s domain are is dust. it’s identical to the stuff salem used to make monstra fly, too.

second: grimm can and DO use dust.

our most notable example here is the geist in V7, which is a) overtly shown to incorporate dust ore into its armor body, and b) not under salem’s control [ergo this is natural behavior]. and of course there’s monstra, which uses dust to fly—salem’s handiwork, yes, but it means that the magical properties of dust can be activated by grimm.

bearing that in mind, consider the ice-encrusted grimm of solitas. grimm aren’t cold-resistant by nature, but they’ve adapted to the harsh polar conditions… somehow. the mechanism of this adaptation is, in-universe, unknown; we can infer that it is probably not an evolutionary process because grimm do not breed. but: solitas is rich in dust, and—well

when hazel slams raw dust crystals into his body, it sort of—fuses with his flesh in some way; in particular note the pebbles sprouting around his right shoulder. so when the mysteriously cold-hardy grimm of solitas are encrusted with frost… you see what i’m getting at? i think their resistance to the cold derives from dust.

we have several examples of grimm (the feilong, the sphinx, the leviathan) breathing blasts of energy which happen to be identical to the energy blasts fired by cordovin’s mech’s dust canon. which might be a budget-conscious design choice, sure, but it’s also a similarity that can be explained quite simply by concluding that it looks the same because it is the same, that these grimm swallow dust and weaponize it just as people do.

third: you can’t walk ten steps in the land of darkness without hitting a massive formation of natural gravity dust. the lancers in V5 appear to be nesting around the huge gravity dust formations keeping those islands afloat over lake matsu (note the queen lancer seemingly in a dormant state before she’s woken up by the jostling). the mine in V7 is crawling with grimm who, like the queen lancer, appear to have been in a dormant state until they were roused by the geist scuffle.

so there is an apparent correlation between places where the grimm live—not hunting territories, but places where they just are—and the presence of enormous quantities of naturally-occurring dust. and we know, thanks to the lost fable, that dust grew around the pool of grimm in an era when humans did not need dust to perform magic. and of course, dark identifies magic as his gift to humanity.

(although i will point out that dust is described as an energy propellant and in modern practice people do magic with it by channeling aura through it; thus while ancient humans had innate magical ability, i don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that they might also have used dust, not as a power source but as an amplifier. that ozma topped his staff with some sort of crystal and seems to have done all his magic through the staff in contrast to salem [<- presumably self-taught] slinging magic around with her hands is interesting.)

so…

if dust existed before the moonfall, the questions of where it came from, what it is, and how it came to be are moot; one of the brothers had to have created it and because it’s growing in dark’s domain we can be certain that it’s his thing, especially because he’s also the brother who gave ancient humans innate magic and dust is thus obviously in his wheelhouse.

but: why?

ancient humans didn’t need dust, because he gave them magic.

what happens to the grimm in a world where every single person has magical power akin to the maidens? they die. humans, not grimm, were the dominant form of life on the planet during this era, because humans had magic. “kings and their kingdoms were plentiful.” in a contest between a human with maiden-level magical power and an ordinary grimm, the grimm is going to lose. we’ve seen cinder blast through four layers of reinforced steel with a single fireball effortlessly! you can kill a grimm by hitting it really hard with a stick!!

the grimm were, at least according to myth, dark’s first creations and he cared for them. in ‘the two brothers’ his staunch refusal to eliminate the grimm is the central point of contention that brings him into conflict with his brother, and the history laid out in V9 supports that characterization; he refused to unmake the jabberwalker, too. it follows that dark would have wanted the grimm to have a fighting chance against ancient, magically-powerful humans.

hence, dust.

it wouldn’t give the grimm an overpowering advantage, but it would be enough to balance the scales… and of course any grimm who did survive long enough to grow to massive size, empowered by dust, would pose a serious threat to ancient humans, magic or no. it grows in grimm territory because it was meant for them, originally.

dust is a grimm thing that humans adopted.

[backjustforberena]

Do you have any thoughts on GRRM’s blog post about season two that he’s since deleted ?

Yes, I do. From what I've seen, my thoughts and feelings on it are a lot less violent than quite a whole host of people on social media, but of course, I have feelings about it. I'll try and articulate them here.

I sympathise with both sides: it's a hard needle to thread, in adapting this book. The major change, early on, was the one to change the ages of the protagonists and condense 30 years of history into roughly 20 years. That has a knock-on effect. That has, as GRRM would say, butterflies. A lot of the changes have butterflies and the job of the adaptor is to control the amount of butterflies or the impact of such butterflies, and that's where we come into conflict.

But, no doubt, Ryan will have been faced with things beyond his control. There may have been real intention to include Maelor in the second season, for example, and so he was being 100% honest with George when first discussing it, but then things came up that made sacrificing that inclusion the viable choice. Whether that's coming from the studio in terms of changing from 10 episodes to 8, or it's just a safeguard due to a looming writer's strike or it is just one of many choices concerning budget, I don't know. It's similar to discussions regarding Deleted Scenes. I don't like to assume and I definitely don't like to prescribe intent.

I think that GRRM is very valid in his feelings of frustration and worry. I think he has a right to his opinions on how he might have preferred things to go or if he likes an event better in the book than in the show - we know he's expressed the opposite opinion on things as well, where he's enjoyed changes from the book to the show. He's not been without praise for the series, even if he speaks out about particulars now.

But I also think this is the tip of the iceberg and even this blog post is not the whole story, even in the specific examples cited. GRRM says he doesn't know what/if Ryan has planned but he's also not gone to the writer's room in recent times. There are multiple interpretations there. I don't think we can fully understand the situation and I don't think it's up to us to necessarily try because that's a fool's errand. We're lightyears away from being in a suitable position to try and understand or grasp it. It's a journey that's been going on for years now and, at the end of the day, all we have is a lot of conjecture and opinion and perspectives.

You know, we talk about butterflies and a lot of people say that X was sacrificed for Y or that they got rid of X just so Y could look better or to prop up a Z plot or whatever, and the fact is we just don't know with any sort of certainty. It could easily be that Z was decided and so a natural consequence of that would be changes to X and Y. Or a choice about X was made but it's only until they come to telling Y that a problem rears its head. And so on and so forth.

And some times it is just a case of the practicalities of storytelling rather than outright hostility towards the source material.

A case in point is that we have The Heir's Tournament in Episode 01. It's a big set piece, it's great for introducing the majority of characters or having little moments with them, and showing the court in its splendour as well as framing the theme of violence and contrasting a certain masculine violence with the horror that is Aemma on the birthing bed.

And because of the inclusion of this tourney, they changed the story so that Joffrey doesn't die at a tourney in Episode 05. Instead, we get the wedding feast and the mob and the beating. To have another tourney would be too repetitive on screen, probably too big a cost, and it'd be a lot harder to include certain story beats (like the various entrances, changing allegiances and conversations). This has butterflies which garnered some criticism, especially in regard to Criston keeping his job, but it's an example of a change that was done because this is a TV series. It's motivated from a practical perspective rather than an emotional one. And it largely works, as a change, in my opinion.

Something I have an opinion on is that whilst I don't necessarily agree with the way the Dragonpit sequence actually told it's story and it has flaws in the way it's scripted (but also, we know, it was scripted and storyboarded differently and faced quite a few changes, I believe) - it is an event that symbolically had to happen. By which I mean, you can't end it on a Green victory. You can't end that episode with the Greens thinking that they've won and it's all hunky dory. You need a throughline into the next episode and you need all of those characters aware of the conflict they're inciting. They need to be left (because this is the last time we see most of them) fearing something or readying themselves for something. They have to end on a loss, just as the Blacks, in the next episode, will end on a loss. Then you have parity. It's just that for the Blacks, their loss or their "Dragonpit", if you like, is losing Luke. It's Aemond's actions. They think it's all great, they've crowned Rhaenyra, they've got a plan, they've got Velaryon support. And then the table is upended.

So all the storytelling reasons for having Rhaenys make a defiant escape or stand and be the one to go and tell Rhaenyra make sense, to me. However, that comes with sacrificing Aegon's flight. Now, there's nothing to say Aegon didn't HAVE a flight, but we just don't see it. Just as we don't see a lot of things.

I, too, fear the butterflies. I've expressed it on this blog before. I have frustrations about the handling of changes: specifically when a change has been made and seemingly nothing is done to cement the alternative choice (prime example being the Hull boys's parentage and Corlys's affair) and we're left with a lack of answers that should really be there in order for us to be grounded in the series and in character motivation, especially if you're dealing with time jumps.

From my perspective, if you make a choice, you need to have a plan on how you are going to see it through and you need to have that from the time you make it, as much as you can. Again, whether Ryan has those sorts of plans, I don't know. I've yet to be given confidence. But, overall, I think it's a shame that GRRM has to post this.

I think it was, if not unprofessional, then it was rash because, from the language, I would say he broke an NDA. And I think there are ways he could have gone about it without having done so. I'm curious what he wanted to achieve and if he does manage to achieve it, but that's not really for me to know and I'm not in a position to ever know it so... yeah. It is what it is.

[cillyscribbles]

🎁 and 🔥 for the ask game!

thanks so much for writing in and an even bigger thanks for coming up with the game, it's great fun sending out questions and writing answers :))) gratitude all around!!!

🎁 If you could give any of the ensemble cats a song, who would it be? What would it be about?

ooph, hard to decide! i think i'd like to hear from jellylorum or asparagus jr - i mostly headcanon them as a member of gus' family somewhere, so i think it'd be fun to hear what it's like maybe trying to live up to your relative's greatness, or managing adoring kittens, or just overall being gray little cats that run the show without having spotlight on themselves, you know? like jellylorum in particular is there all the time, singing for jennyanydots, singing for gus, singing bewares for grizabella - what's that like? is she happy with her small role? does she feel like it's rewarding? this would totally throw off the whole groove of the musical but i'd love to hear a post-ball song with jellylorum ushering away kittens, telling mistoffelees to put away the sparkles, telling munk and tugger to quit running around and sit with old deut because she's got this handled and has run cleanup on more jellicle balls than most of them have attended combined, hahah. great question!

🔥Share one (1) hot take/opinion about the show/fandom/etc

ooh! you know, i think i can share a thing i learned in adaptation theory! it'll definitely make it into that essay i'm working on (one of its main points, actually) but my Hot Take(tm) is that a lot of folks don't realize the grip that nostalgia can have on them when they're looking at adapted media (cats, cats the book, cats the movie, cats the insert production here). this is by no means meant to be a criticism because it's not something you can unlearn or avoid - i feel it, you feel it, most folks feel it, it's often the default! it's just something you can become aware of and consider on purpose, and i believe that it's very important when criticizing (and trying to be objective, of course - anything goes when it comes to subjective opinions and that's good!) this sort of media. you need to separate where you believe a change (be it reduction or addition) to be ill-fitting because it doesn't work for the purpose of the media, and where you believe a change to be ill-fitting because you have seen The Thing done differently and believe that was a better/more fun/more impactful way to do it.

to take an example, whenever i hear about a cats production where cats aren't Actual Cats, i feel less inclined to seek it out because the animal element is what i particularly enjoy about the musical. that being said, changing this element to better suit the purpose of an adaptation can be an important or even necessary choice for what the production is trying to achieve! it's all about the Purpose. you'd be shocked how many things are about the Purpose. this doesn't change my inclination to enjoy cats!cats More, but recognizing this subjective-objective separation can in fact help me enjoy not-cats!cats adaptations More because i know what the nagging ">:(" feeling is and so can discard it as source supremacy sinking its long sharp nails into my heart, lol. i hope that makes sense!

[lowliest-manifestations]

Finally watched the Granada adaptation of The Golden Pince Nez. It might be one of my favorites now!

I could have done without the suffragette red herring, though I liked her actor, and some of the lines seemed overdubbed strangely, but overall it was strange and dramatic in a really fun way. I of course love how faithful Granada is to the source material, but it was fun to see some bolder/weirder choices this time. Mycroft constantly taking snuff (and also him being there at all), Holmes’ whole thing with the scarf and the bloodstain, all of the crazy lighting and cinematography decisions. I also absolutely loved the older Anna actor. She was so good. Shout out.

[liaragaming]

Definitions of "Rook" & implications for DAVe

noun - a chess piece

noun - a gregarious Eurasian crow with black plumage and a bare face

verb - to cheat or swindle someone (usually at cards). Also, to defraud, swindle, or scam someone (especially out of money)

entomology - Arabic, German, old English, middle English, old French

deep dive under the cut

What exactly is a Rook in chess?

The modern Rook chess piece is believed to come from the Persian word, rukh, which means "chariot." Persian war chariots were heavily armored, carrying a driver and at least one archer. The sides of the chariot were built to resemble fortified stone work, giving the impression of small, mobile buildings, causing terror on the battlefield.

Essentially, the Rook in Chess isn't a castle. It's a siege tower. We've joked about how a pair of level-ones destroyed Solas' ritual. But Rook was the one taking charge and shooting off ideas. Rook initiated the ritual's destruction. Rook acted, in essence, as a siege tower against Solas' efforts. A siege tower is meant to aid attackers in breaching castle walls, and Rook litterally brought the structure of Solas' ritual down.

What makes a Rook a powerful chess piece?

The Rook is the second most powerful piece in chess behind the queen. Rooks can dominate open ranks and files when unopposed. Rooks play an important role in supporting the movement of other pieces, especially pawns. Rooks are effective in cutting off the opponent's king and have the ability to force a checkmate to the king without assistance.

There's so much about this that I love. Rook could be both a highly supportive character in our party or rather powerful on their own - both from a mechanical and story perspective.

With Solas representing the enemy king, Rook has the power (if they play their cards right) to completely ruin everything Solas has set out to achieve. But they aren't as powerful as the queen.

And of course, I'm going to suggest the Queen is our Inquisitor. Perhaps Inky will be able to make choices between aiding or hindering Rook (or their past actions will have a similar effect).

What is Rook the bird?

Like other corvids, Rooks are sociable and intelligent. They are highly adaptive and able to thrive in various environments. They are omnivores and opportunists, eating almost anything. They nest in tree tops in social colonies, called rookeries.

Not a lot to unpack here, but I find it interesting that Rooks prefer to nest high up. It makes me wonder about The Lighthouse, which will be our base to gather and speak with the party.

What does the Rook bird symbolize?

Rooks can represent good or bad luck in certain situations. For instance, a large group of rooks arriving in an area is said to be unlucky. While well-established rookeries are deemed to bring good fortune. However, rooks deserting a rookery is said to signal a calamity.

Rooks are also associated with trickery, likely due to their tendency to steal nesting materials from other birds.

It's worth noting that "trick" is synonymous with "cheat" (one of our original definitions of the word). For someone to be rooked meant they were tricked, cheated, or swindled. Rook is also the name of a trick-taking card game, played with 2-4 players.

There's some obvious conclusions to draw with Rook being a source of good luck for their allies (an established colony) and bad luck for their enemies (a sudden arrival). But I'm most interested in the themes of trickery and the devs stating the game will revolve around themes of regret.

It's possible Rook is intended to act as a parallel to Solas. In the gameplay reveal, Rook disrupted Solas' ritual, causing the release of two evanuris and a possible beloved character death. It may be that Rook is a tragic character who means well but makes continuous mistakes throughout the game. Their regret and the regrets of our party members could serve to foster understanding with Solas' cause.

I'm not sure what to ultimately conclude with both Rook and Fen'Harel symbolizing trickery. Perhaps it is another shared quality bridging the two together. But it's also important to remember that Varric chose Rook as a key player in standing against Solas. Surely, we need a trickster to understand a trickster. The Rook in chess, after all, has the ability to isolate and overpower the King.

[bdzonthareel]

Wicked part one

So here we go again, another Broadway to Hollywood adaptation. If you have been following the blog long enough, you know that I have some strong opinions and that goes double for anything theatre related. It’s a special interest of mine and one I take very seriously as there is no shortage of misfires in this subgenre of movie musicals; however, that doesn’t mean every single was a faceplant, look no further than the works Lin Manuel Miranda with the adaptation of his first show In The Heights, and his directorial debut with Tick Tick Boom. It is possible to do the source material justice, which is why I was trepidatious about Wicked, so let me spin you a yarn about my experience with part 1.

For the uninitiated, Wicked is an adaptation of author Gregory MacGuire’s first novel in a 4-book series that reimagines the lore of the Wicked witch of the west (who given the name Elphaba, a nod to Oz creator L. Frank Baum). The musical itself reimagines the book significantly as well, focusing on the relationship Elphaba and Glinda the good witch of the North, who are both college roommates and eventually best friends.

So if you’re familiar with the source material, then you’re going to nitpick quite a bit, I mean with a nearly 3 hour run time how could you not? A handful of scenes ran long in the tooth and the padding was painfully obvious, but it didn’t really hurt the end product.

And allow me to put my fan boy goggles on, and what a product it was! I was mesmerized by stunning visuals that made each and every scene come alive! Even that darkest forests felt alive, which is fitting for the wonderful land of Oz. Many of the set pieces felt like they cast members and they felt like they had their own stories to tell, much like how a theatre actor has to make the characters which they play their own.

From the costumes to the props, they all excel at visual storytelling.

Casting was filled with obvious choices such as Cynthia Erivo, Arianna Grande and Jeff Goldblum, and unexpected casting such as Michelle Yeoh… who I had no idea could sing.

Yeoh’s gift for playing both graceful and stoic characters, really shine as the intimidatingly strict Madam Morribel.

Jeff Goldblum was a pique as the Wizard.

Fiyero is one of my dream roles, and Jonathan Bailey of Bridgerton fame, encapsulates why I love the character with his natural charm and swagger. He had many in his numbers questioning their sexuality (and maybe a few audience members...)

Ethan Slater was a lovable simp as the pathetically lovestruck yet kindhearted munchkin Boq.

Marissa Bode was delightful as the tragically beautiful Nessarose, and as I applaud Universal for casting an actual disabled actress for the role as many know how I am a huge champion for representation.

And of our leading ladies own these roles; the outspoken and at times controversial Cynthia Erivo put every ounce of talent into the role of Elphaba, being Broadway Royalty I would expect no less. Grande, who I think is an amazing comedic actress channel her Cat from Victorious/Sam & Cat into the role of Galinda/Glinda, however there were instances where it felt like she was trying to impersonate the original actress to play Galinda, Kristin Chenoweth. But they worked brilliantly as a duo and their chemistry bled over into real life as they became thick as thieves after filming.

And what’s a musical without dancing? Because OH MY GOD was that dance choreography legendary! I was in love and if I had paid for the screening it would more than make up for the abhorrent prices of movie tickets! And besides, this is the filmmakers’ style.

And of course, the most important ingredient being the music, every song is here with little extra, and I am delighted by this fact because adaptations tend to cut songs, characters, etc. To get the full affect I highly recommend watching in IMAX or whatever equivalent your theater has.

This shouldn’t have worked, but Director Jon M. Chu a man who has dance coursing through his veins was determined to bring the modern legend of theatre to life, and this goes for the set pieces, performances and so on. I love his work and if part two is anything like this, it could be his magnum opus.

It won't change anyone's minds about musicals, but for people like me who had to fight the urge to sing out loud, you are going to have a Wicked good time! (I'm sorry)

I give Wicked (part one a 4 out of 5)

[roskirambles]

Horror Movie of the day: Frankenstein (1931) The myth of Prometeus tells the story of hubris. One, where an act of defiance to the divine order costed a man eternal punishment, for the former god changed humanity forever by giving them a gift that arose both progress and destruction, sometimes thought as a cautionary tale against arrogance in the face of discovery. But apparently Henry Frankenstein didn't get the memo, because he's just doing that: playing with life and death by trying to create human life from dead organic matter. Indeed, the reanimated corpse in front of him is a lot of things, including an impossible break through in science.

But one thing the monster isn't.. is in his control.

Directed by James Whale, this incredibly loose take on Mary Shelley's masterpiece is arguably the most iconic out of the classic Universal Monster films. The reason? It's quite grandiose. Having equally powerful vistas but a bolder cinematography than it's predecessors helps, as well as the use of sound just being that much more refined.

The adaptation of the core narrative is quite captivating as well; in spite of some drastic changes, not only does it manage to keep the central themes of the boundaries of science going awry and self destructive obsession, but the relationship between the Doctor and the Creature is engaging by being viewed from a different, less cynical but still fundamentally tragic angle. All courtesy of the performances of Colin Clive as Henry, and Boris Karloff as the creature in what would be his apotheosis in the world of horror cinema. There's a reason that makeup by Jack Pierce is to this very day THE benchmark of how a movie monster looks.

To say it is the least faithful to the source material so far would be the understatement of the century(well over half the iconic things from this movie have no precedent in the novel), but on its own terms, it certainly blew what was already a solid horror film lineup so far out of the water.

When I said this was a loose adaptation, I feel the term "loose" is on itself. Granted, it's based on a 1927 theatre play by Peggy Webling over the actual novel, but that doesn't change the fact it has created a fairly misleading image of the entire story. The way the creature looks and moves, the electricity used to create it, Dr. Frankenstein having a hunchbacked assistant, the resolution of the conflict being a massive fire, all of these things have no root in the original novel, as the way things play out have fundamental enough differences to think of this as a different story with the same starting point. One that covers many of the same themes and ideas, mind you, but what used to be a fairly slow, moody tale of mysteryand a melancholic tone gets hit with a strong sense of spectacle leading to a fairly explosive finale.

And for once... I don't think that was a bad choice. The novel is one of those stories that are enjoyed the best in written form thanks to its epistolary format, and any worthy adaptation would have to inevitably make pragmatic shifts to adequate its contents to a different medium.

And of course, I'm almost legally obligated to talk about ·the fumble".

Remember Bela Lugosi? The guy who played Dracula in the movie that came out that very same year? (...yeah, movie production didn't take entire years on average back then, go figure)

Well, he was the original candidate to play the creature, but reportedly dropped the role when he found the monster in question would only growl or vocalize without talking was beneath his acting skills. This mistake would cost him his stardom, as Boris Karloff absolutely displaced him as Universal's go to scary guy with a performance (and makeup) that just completely stole the Hungarian's thunder, not helped by the fact Karloff wasn't restricted by his accent to play more conventional and varied roles.

The rivalry between the two seems to have been exaggerated into a legendary feud, but the reality doesn't seem to suggest there was true animosity between the two, even if Lugosi would have every reason and then some to resent Karloff for displacing him into eventual mainstream obscurity at the time.

[crowcaws]

I've had some thoughts brewing ever since I finished NATLA, and watching Friendly Space Ninja's review of PJO really brought up a lot of feelings after sitting on it for a month so I'm going to try and articulate those thoughts here.

It's very interesting this fixation on the "word of god" and its involvement making or breaking a screen adaptation, to the point where you get unwavering devotion when a creator is on board, and outright disdain when a creator isn't on board. Both are completely reactionary takes that are unhelpful, especially when adaptations can be, sometimes, excellent without their original creators involved, and awful (cough fantastic beasts cough) when they are involved.

Regardless of whether or not NATLA was bad (it wasn't, it was just fine) I love that people are going "HA I bet Netflix regret losing BRYKE!" as a sort of gotcha, as if Korra didn't prove like a decade ago that Bryke are not infallible screenwriters. As if those same people, when the show was first announced and Bryke were on board, didn't even think to consider that Bryke are just two of the writers that made a great show.

Because fandom has a problem where it doesn't actually care or consider if the original creators are a good fit or not, if their involvement will harm the adaptation or help it, or if their recent work is still up to scratch with their original work. Fandom just wants a security blanket in the form of a name on a credits list, to the point of almost cult-like devotion that makes or breaks their opinion of content before it's even released.

This devotion is how you end up with fans doing logical backflips when their perfect book accurate Percy Jackson adaptation that "Uncle Rick" promised is now changing a bunch of stuff for not very good reasons, and now they have to either do mental gymnastics to justify questionable choices or admit that Rick can be wrong.

Percy Jackson had Rick Riordan on board and that series, let's be honest here, was just fine too. It wasn't groundbreaking, it did not surpass the source material on most points (I say most because all that Sally content was inspired) and fell short in a lot of ways that have been outlined by critics more articulate than I. Some of that, I suspect, was due to Rick's fixation on this adaptation being the antithesis of the 2010 movies to the point where it feels like they refused to let the show be fun and colourful in parts where it should have been. His involvement, as a book author delving into screenwriting, cannot be proven to have been more beneficial than if he had simply consulted and set boundaries and left it at that.

And of course Joanne is a fuckwit. But even creatively, you can't tell me that the fantastic beasts movies were better for her meddling.

But back to PJO and NATLA: I genuinely feel like we got very similar end products with both shows. An underwhelming foray into live action adaptation that suffers from too few episodes and disappointing characterisation save for a few standout roles (In this case, Sally, and Zuko and Iroh), and some problems aside that each show varies on, but ultimately still delivers something entirely and completely watchable. Percy Jackson has at least a tiny bit better characterisation overall, but cannot hold a candle to the fight choreography and special effects in NATLA (partly because in PJO they had a bad habit of cutting away or writing out every time anyone was mean to do something heroic or actually fight.) And yet you cannot speak a bad word about PJO, but NATLA is torn to shreds.

Back to NATLA and the Bryke: Almost nobody, in this whole time from the NATLA announcement to airing, has made comment on the absence of Aaron Ehasz, who was not involved with Korra either. They were happy to celebrate when Bryke was involved, and mourn when they departed, but you should have been mourning Aaron this whole time, if anyone. Aaron wrote Tales from Ba Sing Se, if you weren't aware. Arguably the most memorable episode of the Last Airbender, so emotionally rich and captivating that even hearing the instrumentals of that song in NATLA brought me to tears.

So why wasn't Aaron's absence ever felt? Well, that is because the fans saw "original creators" in headlines and ran with it without question as a sure sign of victory (and then failure when Bryke departed). Because fandom doesn't really care WHOSE name is in the credits, fandom just wants that sense of security -- and it's a false sense of security, because Annabeth and Katara both still ended up gutted of their depth at the end of the day. The presence of Rick didn't save Annabeth any more than the absence of the ATLA writers doomed Katara.

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ep.22 thoughts

[If I Was Green, I Would Die]

(Contents: praise)

YESSS!!! THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WANTING!!!

GREAT ACTION! INTERESTING INTERPRETATION OF THE SOURCE MATERIAL! FOUR CHAPTERS WORTH OF CONTENT IN ONE EPISODE WITHOUT FEELING WEIRDLY PACED!!!

That said there were a few cuts here and there, like we didn't actually get to see Fuuko jumping ahead through the book as Victor killed her, and Victor sadly didn't start insulting Fuuko when she asked how she and Juiz were alike, but if it meant we didn't have to spill over into another episodes, I'm perfectly satisfied with what we got

The fact that we started the episode with Victor's conversation with Juiz about reincarnation was an interesting choice which I assume was there to save space for the second half, but even more interesting was the reveal that Juiz was the one who put the card in Victor's head! That's not supposed to be revealed until the 120's! I guess that would be around...episode 60-ish, at the current pace? Though if we were getting 4 chapters per episode like this, even my original estimate of episode 44 would have been a bit slow...

As for the scene where Victor was killing Fuuko, the way they interpreted it was really interesting; not only were they showing it in a shockingly subtle manner, using ripples in water (which has been a symbol of Andy's consciousness this whole adaptation) instead of loud bangs, but they had Fuuko defiantly take the shot rather than being blindsided by it repeatedly and crying as she ran through a crowded Shinjuku. Now I do think that taking the people out of the equation was...a bit deflating, but whatever. Seeing Fuuko stand up to Victor makes for an interesting take on where the director feels she should be mentally (I'm not sure if this was Yuki Yase or someone else), and kind of makes up for not letting her point a gun at the Shueisha lady

The bulk and main attraction of the episode was of course Andy vs. Victor, which was sick as hell! It really helped that it didn't have a glaring red gel over it this time, though the green was a little distracting at points. That said, if they were going to pick a color to filter the whole fight through, green was a great choice! The blood popped off the screen with that contrast! I have to imagine they put the filter over everything but the blood, as otherwise the blood would have come out a really muddy and unattractive brown.

The bit right at the end with the book closing was a little drawn out for my taste, I think they could have used some of that time for Victor being mean to Fuuko (my wife was so excited for that part, just like I was for the gun) but I imagine that that was a pretty expensive sequence to make, and aside from it feeling ridiculously slow, it was executed very well

Two episodes left, and six chapters to go. Now that we've covered four at once here, I think we could swing three each and be fine. It certainly makes the throughlines for each episode a lot clearer! Without spoiling anything, 23 should get all of the remaining preamble for Autumn out of the way, and 24 should be made up entirely of the Autumn fight, maybe with a little extra thrown in to tease season 2 or, if we're lucky, the entirety of ch.53 to give us some falling action. It's clearly possible to get four chapters without cutting the theme songs, so if we do cut them, then a dialogue-heavy chapter like 53 would be easy!

We'll find out soon for sure, and if the last two episodes are nearly as good as this one, I think we're in for a good time!

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[2n2n]

I feel so suddenly validated by the world at large for once wtf.... well I've gone off about the distinction between a franchise name & actual creatives making something, which Little Nightmares really puts a pin in, but it shouldn't be the first time in anyone's life they're having to decide how they feel about. It happens in all kinds of media.

but honestly LN fandom as far as I saw anywhere was BLISSFULLY completely without scruples about any of this, I only ever saw people EATING UP everything LN3, the podcast, the comics, the app games... nobody ever seemed to even stop and say "hey, this lore contradicts this game's timeline" or delineate a preference for one writing team over another,, or art style, or frankly even address the concept of different creative teams. Occasionally someone would kind of go, "is this game/comic still canon?" and maybe quibble in confusion about it, but I never really saw anyone resolutely rejecting any of it!!!

BUT SUDDENLY it's like REANIMAL did FORCE people to actually PERCEIVE the gap between LN3 and the previous two games??? So is it a matter of people being.... unable to really put a pin in stylistic & storytelling gap without direct contrast? But honestly I would think the gap in quality between the writing/presentation of things would be apparent... even within what was already LN. Did it really all feel so equivalent?

But wtf suddenly so validated by so many people suddenly able to say "the designs of LN3 don't fit the world & feel clumsily put together" ... like yeah man!!!!!! What, so many people at once suddenly chiming in to ARGUE that DEVELOPERS MATTER and give Tarsier their due credit for making something with integrity & impression.... like whoa!! Yeah it matters a lot....!!!! There's a kind of pride in the work isn't there!!!

Kind of a little ? sorry.. mean but, amused by all this "two cakes" stuff; how do I say, the two cakes here are more like a Walmart sheet cake some employees at a bakery have to put together for a quota, VS a handmade & homemade wholly original creation. I feel like everyone talks about "evils of capitalism" but we don't often bring the creation of art into that... almost too respectful of the act of any kind of creativity? While I can say when it comes to some things like most book packaging or franchises like Star Wars or ,, idk Disney's Frozen, I definitely hit a point I wouldn't call it a 'cake'. But in this world, I also do think that kind of call is one's own to make ... at what point something feels disconnected from passionate creativity, and travels from art to commodity. Of course the separation isn't so clear and sometimes things you like even by 1 consistent author make that journey [as a creative becomes dispassionate or forced to continue to make something which originally WAS personal, suchas Tove with Moomins] <- much attentiveness required towards 'voice' to really track something like that, and up to you to decide how to engage with.

But ah, I'm honestly just happy when anyone discusses this kind of stuff at all. I'd like people to think about the source of any art they enjoy, and not just a franchise name.

To me it can be as egregious as discussing a movie adaptation's choices as synonymous with a book author's choices. Different creatives making something different.

[bloodboundsiege]

out of curiosity, what made you decide to make this into a full fledged visual novel instead of just writing a fic? esp since afaik there hasn't been a demand/outcry for more bloodbound

(this ended up being rlly long, so I'm putting it under a cut. if you don't want to read all of that, the tl;dr is I've been working on an spec adaptation of Bloodbound since 2021, I've been making edits with Choices assets for a little over a year now, and I started messing around with ren'py during my stint in the now no longer active @nightboundthesecond project, and this spinoff is the culmination of all of those things bc I wanted to do something w them).

Anyways, here's the long version:

So...I kind of already did. Sort of.

In summer of 2021, I was going through a pretty bad depressive episode and ended up rereading Bloodbound (which got me back into the fandom as a whole, more on that in a sec). When the dust cleared, I began really heavily reconsidering what exactly I was doing with my life.

I'd been toying with the possibility of doing a film MFA of some kind, but I was worried I didn't have the skillset to get into any grad programs. So, I began teaching myself how to write screenplays by adapting Bloodbound into a spec TV series. From August 2021 to April 2022, I wrote twenty-eight episodes, with three rounds of revisions, which really strengthened my abilities as a writer. I'm currently at a T10 film school getting an MFA. I wouldn't be where I am without doing that. Part of my love for Bloodbound stems from the fact that it quite literally changed my life.

The very nature of turning a book into a screenplay/teleplay is that you have to restructure a lot of plot points so they fit in better with the new medium. With a TV adaptation, you also usually have to build onto the source material. For Bloodbound, that meant fleshing things out and creating new characters to move the plot forward. It also meant exploring things that either happened offscreen or were only brief scenes.

And so when it came time to write episodes for the book 2 adaptation, the huge aspect of that was going into New York City and seeing what Gaius was doing during his hostile takeover. And since I had very little to work with from the source material, I had to come up with a lot of stuff off the cuff. And as I put those storylines together, I was like there's actually some pretty interesting stuff here. This visual novel is based off of that stuff.

@clansayeed and his fantastic reimaginings of Bloodbound and Nightbound had been on my radar for a while at this point, but I wasn't aware of the fake caps he made until I actually checked out his tumblr account. I thought they were really fucking cool. As a little private celebration for finishing the third round of edits for season 1 (and to let myself take a break), I decided to teach myself how to make fakecaps and recreate a few scenes from my adaptation in the Choices format:

I found out that I really enjoyed reworking assets into new outfits and character designs--lowkey, putting on a podcast or a video essay, opening up pixlr, and just making stuff became one of my go-to ways to unwind in the midst of mfa apps and life in general--, so I started making more fandom service stuff for fun and posting them on Reddit. I made a variety of stuff: role reversal AU edits, general dress up stuff, and of course... "on the set of [choices book]: the tv show" fake caps.

I feel like you're not really supposed to say this, but it was kind of validating to me that a lot of those posts did like. Decent numbers. And that kind of motivated me to get better at doing it, especially in the beginning.

And then...It Lives Within dropped. And I think that shifted a lot of how people--myself included--considered what they could do within a fandom space like Choices. Like, if we could make our own shit, why not? I was really intrigued by the idea, and so when there were calls for writers and sprite artists for a Nightbound project, I jumped at the opportunity.

(As a side note, I think the fact that now there are people within the fandom making their own sequels/spinoffs/whatever is gonna be rlly interesting for the general ecosystem of the Choices fandom and its future, but that's a convo for another time lol)

While the team I was on is no longer working on a sequel, being part of that group did a lot for me, and I look back on being part of that really fondly. I think we all were kind of picking up whatever we needed to do, regardless of if it was what we signed on for. For me, that meant teaching myself how to use Ren'py. The thing was, this was still in the really early stages of development, which meant I didn't have a lot of story to play with. So...

I was kind of like. Fuck it. Let me try my own thing out.

The original idea was actually a prequel set in the 1910s, as I'd done an MC set and an LI set based on that very premise, but the problem was that there are so few assets from that time period, and asset creation has never been my strong suit. But then, I thought back to the adaptation I'd been working on.

Some of the strongest writing I think I've ever done was in the episodes where the primary storylines were following Gaius's takeover of New York. I think a lot of the themes of the second book came out in those moments. And as cool as it would be, as much as I've fantasized about it, I don't think Bloodbound: The TV Show is ever happening. So it made sense for me to rework that into a visual novel spinoff.

In terms of the actual framing of this story, I spent a lot of time in the Bloodbound tags in the early days of working on my adaptation. I was deep in those tags. And it's really interesting to see what people expected it to be before its release. Part of it was the assumption of a Clan sorting system. Obviously, that wasn't actually the case.

Additionally, I think a lot of people were frustrated by the fact that Bloodbound's MC isn't really given the option to just. Be bad. Which then makes moments like this super jarring:

So, I decided to put everything I'd learned together. I was working on the GUI/character creation features for Nightbound (side note, the GUI in this game isn't an absolutely perfect replication of the Choices GUI yet and won't be for the demo, but we're getting there), I had a ton of edits I'd made that I wasn't using for anything, and I had a story that I knew could be reworked into an arc about a new vampire in New York City during Gaius's coup.

But with this project in general, it's less about a demand for a sequel/midquel/spinoff within the fandom and more like. I noticed that there were some things people wanted out of Bloodbound and didn't get, and trying to give it to them, because I wanted those things too, and I felt like I had the means to create that. When I've talked to IRL friends about this project (non of whom play Choices), I've just been like "yeah it's a visual novel fanfic" because...it's a visual novel fanfic.

So. That's why.

(This was super long (and felt a little self centered, sorry!), but if you read all of that, I hope it all made sense. All of this is to say that this has been a labor of love for a book series I've been living with for a year and a half, and I want to get part of what I've done with it out of my head. I hope you all like it.)

[fzzr]

There Can Never be Another Anime Like Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (Legend of the Galactic Heroes, henceforth "LOGH") is a 1988-1997 OVA series adapting the novel series of the same name. At 110 episodes, it's the longest anime I have ever watched outside the interminable shonen like Dragon Ball. Rather than a source of Saturday morning spectacle or vehicle to sell you the next round of merch, LOGH is literature. In this regard, it is Perfect In Every Way That Matters.

Plot

LOGH tells the story of the end of the 150 year long war between the Galactic Empire and Free Planets Alliance. The Empire is a germanic/nordic flavored monarchy that only doesn't call itself the Fourth Reich because everyone has forgotten about its predecessors. The Alliance was founded on freedom and equality and all that jazz but practically speaking it dedicates all excess production to the military, with social welfare a distant afterthought.

There are far, far too many characters to go over here, but the key ones are the foremost military minds of each side. The Empire's strategic military genius is Reinhard von Lohengramm. By his side is Siegfried Kircheis, his childhood friend and moral compass. Together they are motivated with a passion like wildfire to end the unjust system of the Empire and bring it and the Alliance both under Reinhard's command. The Alliance's answer to Reinhard is the tactical magician Yang Wen Li. He is only in the military at all because that's the only way to pay for an education - his sole ambition is to reach a rank that offers a good enough pension to live on, then retire and fulfill his dream of being a historian. He is accompanied by Julian Mintz, his ward and our window into every corner of the military system.

I say "each side," but LOGH features far more than a binary conflict. Each polity is internally fractured, with multiple forces rising and falling over the course of the story. To name a few: the aristocratic Goldenbaum dynasty, the economic powerhouse Phezzan, the Earth Church, and the Alliance civilian government all spend time as antagonists for one or both of our protagonists.

Against this vast backdrop, we watch how countless choices made by many individuals weave together into a story about war, politics, and the things people do to other people in those pursuits. At times you may think you know where things are headed, but from battle tactics to strategic and political twists and turns you will never find the path itself predictable.

Politics

It is impossible (and undesirable) to talk about LOGH without talking about its politics. LOGH is not afraid of putting political speeches in its characters' mouths, and it certainly has some opinions to share.

At the beginning of the story both the Alliance and the Empire are deeply corrupt in their own ways. The Alliance is a democracy faced with increasing political violence and authoritarian character. The Empire is ruled by a monarchy and aristocracy with no connection to or empathy for its subjects, where the only real way to move up as a commoner is through the military. Both sides' great military leaders are aware of the need for reform. While Reinhard seeks to bring it about with his own hands, Yang considers using drastic means to be so antithetical to those goals that it's worse than the status quo.

Pacifism and nonviolent resistance are presented as highly honorable but ultimately futile in the face of force used by those with no empathy for its victims. It doesn't matter how many elections you win if the KKK with a different color scheme can keep your politicians in hospitals or graves while police are ineffectual at best. No number of strongly worded complaints will keep soldiers from burning your house down if you resist their occupation. Even economic warfare, no matter how intricate and subtle, may ultimately fail when faced with the barrel of a gun.

This is a war story, and there are many honorable masters of the profession of arms among its protagonists. The central philosophical argument among them is when and how it is moral to use force. At the beginning, the rulers of both sides see military force as a tool to be used without consideration, dispassionately throwing away millions of lives for marginal gains or even pure political expediency. LOGH doesn't shy away from depicting war crimes, from torturing prisoners of war to willfully starving or slaughtering civilians. It also never fails to show the consequences of such actions, on both the moral character of those who carry them out and on their long term strategic objectives.

There are many explorations of democratic and autocratic forms of government. It has particular disdain for religion as a political force, either as a theocracy or just as a tool for cynical politicians. The Empire was founded on I-can't-believe-it's-not-fascism-because-it-literally-is-complete-with-eugenics. The Alliance is nominally based on the ideals of a government for and by all people. LOGH looks into the forms democracy can take, and how a democracy can be no better than an autocracy when taking lived results into account. Autocracies in turn are assessed not blindly for being of undemocratic nature but also for the results of their rule, good or ill.

The ultimate political message of LOGH is that a government which is disconnected from its people has no legitimacy, no matter what form it takes, and is invariably doomed to failure and collapse. It is the responsibility of the people to make that a reality - to take hold of their own sovereignty, and keep it.

Conclusion

Score: Legend of the Galactic Heroes is 10/10. It is one of the greatest stories ever told in the medium, and the questions it asks are as important as they are unsubtle.

Recommendation: Just about everyone should watch LOGH, time allowing. It is less than half the length of the current entirety of the MCU, and still has more minutes worth watching (haha gottem). Watch it two episodes a week over the course of a year and change if you want - but I'll bet money once you get started you won't want to wait that long. The only caveats are it does not shy away from blood and guts (with a number of on-screen suicides) and it has some language that's not acceptable today, so steer clear if those are dealbreakers for you.

Comparisons

It's hard to think of any worthy anime comparison for LOGH (and I'm saving a few for later) so let's look at something else - Star Wars. The first novel was written in the wake of The Empire Strikes Back, and most of the series was published after Return of the Jedi. It has giant spherical space stations with superweapons on them, fleet battles among capital ships and fighters, speeder bikes, the works. Even the energy weapon sound effects even seem to be based on if not directly sampling those of Star Wars. Hell, the opposing sides are literally called the Empire and the Alliance.

To narrow down the comparison, let's look at their respective giant spherical space stations - Iserlohn Fortress and the Death Star. Iserlohn seems almost like a direct answer to the Death Star in the details of its design. First of all, it's not a planet cracker, but rather a defensive emplacement on a critical choke point. It's designed to withstand a siege indefinitely. As such it's properly a habitat, with a civilian population in the families of the soldiers stationed there and due attention given to that. It has a radius less than half that of the DS1, but different scifi handwaving means its volume is dedicated to support rather than weapons systems. In lieu of solid armor or an energy shield that might be deactivated, its surface is self-healing "liquid metal" that obscures any potential weak point. Given the station's immobile nature, the Thor Hammer superweapon components float on the surface and are aimed by physically moving around. Secondary weapons likewise can be surfaced and moved where ever they are needed to concentrate fire. Like the Death Star, it can dock an entire fleet, but it has no conveniently visible docking bays to be targeted to deal with that issue. Both the Death Star and Iserlohn Fortress are well-designed for the story their creators wanted to tell, it's just that the stories in question required the Death Star to be super cool looking and Iserlohn to be full of details to be used in multiple tactical and strategic scenarios.

So how do they compare in total? Star Wars has better spectacle and of necessity more aggressive pacing, but when it comes to telling a story they're not in the same galaxy (pun absolutely intended). A New Hope is 121 minutes long. LOGH takes that much time (almost exactly!) to get set up for its own infiltration of a giant spherical space station, which starts toward the end of episode 6. Don't get me wrong, A New Hope is a masterpiece in its own right and one of the most groundbreaking films ever made (don't @ me). LOGH is just better all around at nearly everything but spectacle, and it's no slouch in that department either.

Final Thoughts

I got this far without talking about the music because for once it truly doesn't matter. The openings and endings are slow and thoughtful, feel free to skip them if they're boring to you. The background music would feel at home in a symphony hall (and some is actually just pre-existing classical music). No notes here, it's a good match for what the series is and lands where it needs to land.

[millsheat]

i'm really glad that people behind this adaptation truly care and respect the source material. it does makes me happy that we got neil to team up with someone like craig who's a huge fan of the last of us. however, some of his comments and creative choices sometimes rub me the wrong way.

i absolutely do not think he's doing or saying it with wrong intentions considering how much of respect and admiration he has for neil and the games.

but i'm a little nervous after the last episode. especially when it comes to ellie's character and craig's depiction of her relationship with violence. i agree that some people twisted his words from the first behind the episode video, said he called ellie a psycho or something and ran with it. craig mentioned in the last podcast episode that he does not consider her to be such person.

i know he's probably trying to prepare the new coming fans for the adaptation of the second game and ellie's inevitable descent into her own darkness but the comment about her having a violent heart left me a little confused.

video games and tv series are two different medias, yes of course. however, there are a few significant details that make the character the way they are. ellie is a kid who grew up on her own, without any proper type of parental love and care until she meets joel. she's trying to look tough, when in reality she's someone deeply afraid of ending up alone.

her encounter with david scars her for the rest of the life, changes her character entirely—which is absolutely justified. ellie kills david in self-defense. i like what neil said ages ago—each strike she made there was for each person she lost.

but ellie is not accustomed to violence the way joel is and we see that clearly in the second game when she sets off on her revenge quest. ellie is not built for this and each hit she takes, each strike she makes, it takes something from her.

take the scene with nora for instance. this is a huge moment for ellie's character. she dives into the deepest and darkest places of her soul as she quite literally beats the living soul of her enemy. and then she comes back to theatre, crushed and traumatised by her own actions. she breaks down to tears. that just does not seem like a reaction of someone who has a violent heart.

i know the adaptation is not going to be 100% the same thing, get that. if i wanted a carbon copy, i would play the game. i'm just not quite sure where he's headed with her character.

considering craig's words, i'm wondering how they are going to adapt ellie's descent into darkness that she faces throughout the events following the first game. it's made clear multiple times that she's not like abby nor joel when it comes to violence. she does not have that inside of her.

i believe he cares for the characters. i'm just not sure about his depiction of ellie's relationship with violence.

also, just so we're clear. this is absolutely not a hate post. just wanted to summarise my thoughts regarding this since it's been on my mind for a while.

thank you for coming to my tedtalk.