#like literally the only other story driven cartoon this century i can think of that didn’t kill off its big bad

[iamdeltas]

I apologize for being a huge butthurt SU fan on main today.

It will happen again. Probably whenever another story driven cartoon's finale occurs and people use that to bash SU too.

Honestly the only thing making that a "probably" is that I can't think of any current story driven cartoons right now.

[nomadicism]

I read that one posts. I agree with Sol. I think it's more likely that Dreamworks crunched the numbers, figured it wouldn't be profitable and just canned the project than them cancelling it because of a very small section of the internet. p1

“p2 Mecha is just a dying genre as a whole. Even in Japan, isekai has taken it's place and there are hardly any new mechas outside of Gundam. That's in Japan! In the west, mecha is even more niche of an interest and general audiences don't gravitate towards it. I don't think that any mecha movie wouldn't do well at the box office. I'm even worried about that Gundam movie bombing at the box office.”

Hi Anon, thank you for the Ask!

Yeah, I agree with Sol too—and at risk of repeating what I’ve said in other posts about the movie thing—it’s really hard to convey just how incredibly unlikely a property like Voltron or Robotech will ever be made into a live-action movie. It really is about the numbers, as it always has been. Since the 80s, there’s this whole persistent and stupid element of the cartoon industry that continues to delude itself that promises or interest from Hollywood will ever pan out. There are so many scripts sitting in production limbo, that it’s almost criminal.

No one wants to risk money on a live-action movie based on children’s media IP that won’t bring in rated PG-13 or R dollars from adults, and no one wants to risk repeating the 80s He-Man film. The exceptions are live-action films made from children’s media IP that are fully owned by the company paying to produce the movie. I’ve got more to say about the complexities of royalties, but that’s awfully long-winded when I get into it, and I’d rather be long-winded about giant robots. (◕ᴗ◕✿)

The topic of mecha genre dying out is what really interests me here. It’s a topic that I think about a lot, as the beginnings of the mecha genre had a lot of deep cultural time-and-place stuff behind it, even if the stories were just kids and teen boys hopping into a giant robot to beat up other giant robots and monsters, in what were essentially 30 minute long toy commercials.

Isekai will come-and-go as all genres do. It’s not a new genre, but right now the types of themes driving the isekai stories being made speaks to a lot of interesting things happening in the youth of Japan’s relationship with digital gaming and role-play escapism. It’s fascinating, even though the focus of the genre as it’s done today hasn’t really grabbed me in the same way that isekai of the 80s-90s did.

Mecha isekai exists, and it’s only a matter of time before someone either remakes Vision of Escaflowne, or does a more mecha-focused isekai story similar to Magic Knight Rayearth. I doubt anyone would revisit Aura Battler Dunbine, or Super Dimension Century Orguss, but an otaku can dream.

Before we can say the mecha genre is dying, let’s briefly skim over the genre trends of the past +40 years. Every decade or era of mecha anime has a trend that reflects cultural concerns built into it, in a way that I don’t think any other genre of animation can touch (until now, with Digital/Virtual/Fantasy RPG World Isekai).

Late 60s-70s was: Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

Mid-70s – early 80s was: Combining Mecha Sentai Team Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

80s was: Real Robot + “how many sci-fi/fantasy settings can we put a robot into?” + the death-throes of Super Robot (e.g. Dairugger XV, Golion, Baldios, Godmars)

Also 80s: What the hell was Super Dimension Fortress Macross about? Cold war tensions of escalating end-the-world arms race meets an alien species whose only culture is fighting. Where songs about love, and the culture of love, are what win the day, not just transforming robots and big guns. Macross is deeper than it lets on.

Fun 80s: GoShogun happened. The first parody-satire mecha anime that still feels more serious than they intended, but is actually hilarious once you get past the dated gender roles humor (which was also kind of intentional satire).

WTF 80s: Space Runaway Ideon broke everyone’s minds.

Still not done with 80s: Gunbuster happened. The first angst-driven parody-satire mecha anime that blew everyone’s minds.

Late 80s-early 90s OVA mecha was a mix of Serious Cyberpunk-influenced Real Robot for older teens and adults + Mecha with Tits & Tentacles for Adults (see also space elf lesbians).

90s was: The Franchises Will Survive With Prettier Pilots, and Super Angst-Bot That Was Way More Influenced By Drugs And Ideon’s Ending Than Anyone Wants To Admit (aka Neon Genesis Evangelion) + “Since Gunbuster was a success, how many parodies of Super Robot and Real Robot can we do?”

Mid 90s isekai gems: Magic Knight Rayearth and Vision of Escaflowne

Late 90s: Brain-Powerd (not a typo) happened and it’s a shame no one remembers it. I’ve seen it’s influence come up in the 2000s – 2010s.

The 00s seem to be filled with a lot of re-treading of everything that came before but with different cross-genre influences and some of it really damn good but hard to remember because it all kind of blends together.

The 2010s-today: I have no idea what’s happening now b/c I can’t keep up with anything that isn’t Gundam. And why bother when there has been a flood of classic 70s-80s mecha releases—many for the first time in the US—to binge watch?

Knights of Sidonia was cool.

Since I haven’t kept up, I can’t speak to what new mecha anime is like, or why it's less popular (though I have an educated guess). It was gonna happen eventually, and I suspect that the kinds of post-nuclear and Cold War existential dread that informed mecha anime of the 60s-80s has moved on as target audiences grew up. Those lates 80s OVAs, where the stories could be more adult, reflect that growing up (and also Blade Runner’s influence).

I see the 90s as very transitional, includes reactions to the prior eras, but also reflects a lot of angst by Japanese teens and young adults caught up in the after-effects of 80s stagnation, and the constant test-studying to get into the best school to get the best job (if it exists) and figure it all out before you’re 14 so you can pick the best school to test into. Also, salary-man dad works 120 hours a week and is never home. Get in the Angst-bot Shinji.

Excluding the stand-out brands that survived their respective eras: Gundam, Macross, Braves series, Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Evangelion; there’s not much other ground that can be covered right now that would warrant a series. The franchise mecha shows are grounded in their respective niches. It’s kind of odd that there isn’t an isekai mecha franchise, b/c that’s a niche that hasn’t been owned in the way that the other niches have (unless maybe Machine Hero Wataru is still a Thing?)

It’s worth mentioning that Sport Anime has really been having a moment for almost a decade now, and that’s super interesting to compare against isekai. Isekai about dungeon slimes or whatever vs literal horse-girls racing each other like high-school track. Thanks Japan, are y’all all right over there?

A few last things:

The success of Super Robot Wars tells me that mecha genre isn’t dying. Consider the ages of players. How many of them actually grew up watching Yuusha Raideen (aka Yūsha Raideen / Raideen the Brave)? There is an SRW manga anthology series, and loads of gachapon and collector’s grade mecha figures from old mecha anime get released with regularity. Someone’s buying that all that shit.

SRW is nearly 20 years old now, and they are still making video games that do one thing really well: rotate a 40 year old cast of everyone’s favorite robots into a battle strategy game held together by a duct-tape plot that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The games are fun, and it’s cool to put all these mecha into the same field. It’s really great to see older shows that will never be remade have little cut scenes in a newer animation style that still feels like the originals.

There’s also the old staple that started it all: the tokusatsu genre of live-action Super Sentai shows (e.g. Power Rangers). They’ve been making the Super Sentai Series since 1975, and there’s still fun to be had watching color-coded warriors use special powers/tech to summon forth some combining mecha to do battle with rubber suit monsters from outer-space. The effects are much better these days, but it’s the same formula, year after year and people still love it.

So with respect to mecha, I think what’s died or dying, is that people are afraid to have shameless child-like fun with giant robots. The genre got too serious and too angsty (and too horny without the grown-up edge of 80s OVA Tits & Tentacles mecha). The franchises carved their niches and aren’t going anywhere, while the genre survives in video games and collectables.

A lot of that shameless fun has moved into other genres, because nothing else explains a title like: “Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girl’s In The Dungeon?” or the nearly-ecchi concept behind the sports anime “Keijo!!!!!”. But that kind of fun is less child-like and more self-deprecating or pervy-humor. Both sports and isekai anime have their serious side, but seem to be dominated by stories that don’t take themselves too seriously, or like Yuri on Ice, aren’t afraid to take a concept that no one ever saw coming, and shape it into a good story.

I eagerly await a mecha sports anime (wait, no, I think that already happened), and I’d love to see a knock-out isekai mecha anime again. I think it will happen eventually, but probably not from Toei or Sunrise. If Tatsunoko could get beyond Moe Idols In Space, then the Macross franchise already has everything it needs to do a isekai series. That would be rad.

[future-critical-blog]

How Pacing Fucked Steven Universe

Note: this is anonymous because I know what will happen!

Steven Universe is without a doubt one of the best shows I've ever seen. It's certainly the best cartoon series I've ever watched. The first four series, and a large amount of the fifth, are truly wonderful.

So, I'm going to be entitled and complain about the last little bit that didn't work for me. I got all those hundreds of episodes, and I’m just going to take a moment to really honk about the stuff I don't like.

Because we live in an age where Nazis are back, feminists think trans woman are the biggest threat they face and the world is burning - at this point, a bit of a moan about Steven Universe/Future will get lost I think.

Bear in mind: this comes from a place of love. I care about Steven and the characters because they took me on an amazing journey that really had an emotional impact on me. Then they tripped me right at the end, and now they're fuck-twaddling around taking up space in my brain that should be used for thinking about how great the show is.

This is about how the inability to wrap Steven Universe properly sucks and undermines all the amazing work the creators put into it. Now, that work hasn't gone anywhere: I can, and will, re-watch the series to reminisce about it. About what could have happened. Nobody has taken that away from me.

But still, there's nothing worse than a story that buggers up the ending. Worse yet, that ending is still going in Steven Universe: Future.

So what's the problem? Let's start.

Pacing, pathos and atmosphere

Things used to be teased, hinted and slowly revealed. Steven Universe used to a slow-burn that really built things up with the even-hand of a masterful storyteller.  Remember that long shot at the end of 'On the Road', after the characters leave? We see just the empty, sinister kindergarten whilst a discordant note builds in the background before... bang, credits. It builds atmosphere and tension.

What happened to that? Slowly building a feeling, weaving a narrative, and taking us on an emotional journey? We got a very rushed pay-off to all this with Series 5. The crew thought the show wouldn't be renewed, so they made the executive decision to wrap it all up.

·       Everyone’s fixed now. Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Steven.

·       Diamonds are friendly now. Blue got sad, Yellow got angry and White got… put in her place by a comeback?

·       The bubbled gems/corrupted monsters are all fixed.

·       The Off-Colours and Lars just got home.  No further adventures, they just got home.

Bits got missed out. Things got rushed. Homeworld, the Diamonds and five series of build-up got dealt with in the space of 40 minutes. For comparison, just Series 1 alone was 8 hours long.

Yeah, the network created that situation. You're cancelled! They seemed to say. No you're not! HA! They continued.  But it still sucks, narratively, and the creators are now compounding that problem by trying to go back and add in the bits they missed.

Worse, there's no pacing now because there’s no more overall story.  No atmosphere. Fundamentally, post Change Your Mind, everything is done. The series was wrapped up.  All we have left now is some loose-ends and Steven being moody.

It came back mostly just to tie up random ends. But more of something isn't always good: Series 1-4 and about half of Series 5 are amazing. We shouldn't clap and applaud we get more just because it's more for its own sake, we should cheer things for being good in their own right.

I don't just want more meep morp, I want the morp to have something to say and to mean something. Victory laps and adding unnecessary lore is pointless: characters and emotion are what drive stories.

This isn't about 'filler' episodes as such, nor is it about breaks and hiatuses. It's about spreading the story arc (and the individual elements within that arc) correctly over the allotted time. A story that takes 700 pages to set up, only to be resolved in 3 pages feels badly unbalanced - I'm looking at you, Stephen King. And that's exactly the problem Steven Universe has. The set-up is incredible, and the payoff is badly disappointing. That's pacing.

Being the Underdog

This was covered nicely, if ironically in hindsight, with the episode ‘Historical Friction’.  The play about olde-time mayor William Dewey was utterly uninteresting until Pearl rewrote the play’s script to make him an underdog.  This is part of pacing. It's dull to watch a winner win constantly. The characters need to be in situations where they're facing actual threats, otherwise we're just watching a series of foregone conclusions unfold.

What would Lord of the Rings look like if the Hobbits just marched from The Shire to Orodruin, with no setbacks or problems, and then just lobbed the One Ring into the fire? What's the point of the story? It'd be like a grand-scale version of watching someone go out for groceries.  Nobody wants to watch that, not really: you can go to the supermarket and see it if you’re that interested!

This couples with suspension of disbelief. Usually, the good guys win. We know they're going to win. We need to be able to suspend our disbelief, and that's something that the pacing and storytelling need to enable. We need to be able to get caught in the story, even though we know everything will probably work out by the end.

When you get it just right, even the creators don’t know for sure everything will be alright.  Remember when Picard was assimilated by The Borg?  Even the writers weren’t 100% sure how it would play out, because Patrick Stewart was playing hardball with the studio at the time over his contract.  There was a chance this could have been the end of his character.

But Steven isn't an underdog anymore. He's a bossy, self-important grump with a martyr complex. He wins all the time, not least of all because of the pacing problems. By this point:

·       Steven has healing powers that can literally bring people back to life

·       He has all the powers of a Diamond

·       He has the backing of the three other diamonds

·       He now has an army of friends who will fight at his side

So where is the story to tell? Consider, in Steven Universe: The Movie, Greg's arm gets hurt by the injector. There's no danger, no worry. We know Steven has healing powers. So why bother showing it? It's about as relevant or interesting as watching Greg brush his hair.

There’s no danger.  There’s no suspension of disbelief because the hero is now so super-powered.

This is even worse when coupled with the uneven pacing: when something takes so long to be painstakingly set up, only to be knocked down in a heartbeat, then why get invested in it?  The 21st Century reboot of Doctor Who falls into this trap a lot: multipart episodes about a Dalek (or whatever) invasion… but luckily their Evil Machine has a ‘reverse’ switch that fixes everything. Dust hands, job done. All that build-up utterly squandered on an almost supernaturally fast resolution.

You Need a Story to Tell

The first five series have a definite story. It gets rushed, badly, come series 5 but there is still a story. That is done now: there's no grand, overarching tale now. We're very much into 'oh, what if...' territory.

What's the problem with that? Things get missed, because they don't need to fit into a cohesive whole. They just happen because they're cool.

Consider The Movie:

·       Spinel goes from a cuddly, professional buddy to a would-be mass-murderer

·       Spinel knows where to find a stupidly powerful injector

·       She knows how to work it

·       It is tuned to work to her 'trumpet' sound

·       It is shaped like her gemstone

·       She knows specifically where Earth is

·       She knows how to fly a massive injector, with no obvious engines, to Earth

·       This all happens in an afternoon

And the explanation we're given, after the event in a Q&A session? It's because Spinel and Pink Diamond were close. That is supposed to explain the entirety of those bullet points. It rankles me because it's not truthful. Those questions aren't answered by that, they're answered by 'because we thought it would be cool'. It's an unsatisfying explanation, but it's true and they’ve tried to handwave it into something else.

It's also what happens when you run out of proper story. Sure, you can still come up with little adventures but there's no big narrative anymore. There is no large picture for everything to fit into.

That’s dangerous territory. Not only does it lead to weird scenarios, but it also starts generating new lore at a maddening amount. The fans don't help this, it seems to me that some people purely watch Steven Universe to demand moar fusions, moar songs and moar lore.  Even when that’s all they get, it’s not enough.

It's like demanding more swimming pools in your home because you're bored with foundations.  Sooner or later the whole structure falls down because swimming pools can’t hold a house up.  Neither can lore hold a story up: stories are about characters.

Similarly, the concept of 'fusion' relies on characters otherwise it's nothing more than the character dumps we used to get in toy-driven franchises back in the 80s. Songs have to have an emotional resonance otherwise they're just empty pop.

Remember the X-Files? How they got into a rut just generating series after series with no pay-off, but lots more wrinkles to an already convoluted story? Then it got to the end and... you can't end it. It's too sprawling, too stupid and too contradictory. That's where lore without a story takes you. Lore has to serve a vision, not the other way around.

Filler

Not filler the way it's come to mean to SU fans. I like the 'boardie' episodes - they're full of interesting characters and ground Steven's world in something resembling ours. No, I mean filler in terms of stories that don't mean anything: the characters don't learn anything, the world isn't made any more interesting. Things just happen in a self-contained bubble with no payoff or consequence.

In itself, that's fine. Some episodes are like that. If that were the only aspect to 'filler' episodes in SU, then who cares? The problem is the pacing. After glacial teasing, hinting and laying down groundwork... things get wrapped up so fast it'll make your head spin.

·       The cluster? We talked it into staying bubbled.

·       The Diamonds? They're fine now.

·       Bismuth? Steven chatted to her.

·       Lapis? She's sort-of fine, but not really.

·       Spinel? Sent to live on a farm.

These are all things that took many, many lines of dialogue and building to create and were knocked down in the space of a couple of sentences.

This is where the 'filler' comes in. Instead of another story about Onion being weird, why not devote it to tying up the plot in a way that feels paced properly? Instead of answering questions about Watermelon Stevens, why not draw-out a little more the actual conclusion to a big story point?

Why do I think Onion and Watermelon Stevens should be singled out for Calvary? Simple: they have no explanation and don't matter. They don't matter to the day-to-day lives of the characters or the world. They serve no narrative purpose. They don't advance other characters' arcs. They don't ground the world they inhabit. They turn up, do 'stuff' in a little bubble and then go back into the toybox until the next Onion episode.

As a side note, I would lay a lot of money that Onion will never get any sort of pay-off. He doesn't age. He's deeply bizarre. He's apparently a wanted criminal. He's terrifying. And I don't think for an instant he will ever get a reason for being any of those things: he'll just carry on as a quirky in-joke and take up episode space because apparently that is a story-telling priority now.

Songs

Songs are sung when something is too important for the characters to just say it. The song needs an emotional resonance, to show what a character feels effectively. Contrast 'That Distant Shore' to 'Independent Together': one is about a deep longing and sadness for a home the character has never had. The other is a soft-rock ballad about how great stuff is when you can be your own self but also be with other people... or something.

See the resonance that the former has, and that the latter lacks? Whether you like Lapis or Steg, or the songs, is irrelevant to the story and the characters. One song has something to say, the other is there for the sake of giving fanservice. Independent Together isn't something so important to say that the characters feel they need to sing it.

This really kicks off around the middle of Series 5. Previously, songs were a special event. Now, they're commonplace. Even in Mr. Greg, a fully musical episode back in Series 3, the songs have so much emotion. Plus, Mr. Greg is an experiment: 11 minutes, mostly held together by 6 solid songs:

·       Don't Cost Nothing: how much Greg and Steven just love one another.

·       Empire City: how excited they are to go on a trip together

·       Mr. Greg: Pearl almost lets her guard down, then realises and shuts down.

·       It's Over Isn't It? : A heartbroken character sings for a life they never had.

·       Both of You: A child shows the two adults they have something special in common.

·       Don't Cost Nothing: reprised as a coda.

I won't pretend that all those songs have a huge emotional impact, but they do all serve part of the story arc. You can see it there: the status quo, the trigger, the choice, the quest, the showdown, the resolution and the new status quo. Couple that with the fact that at least 4 of those songs (counting Don't Cost Nothing and its reprise) do have a very real emotional punch, you've got a great episode.

All in 11 minutes.

That's the level of truly amazing, genius storytelling we're working with. Now contrast that to the 1hr 20m of Steven Universe The Movie:

·       The Tale of Steven: A prelude to a re-cap song

·       Once Upon a Time: a re-cap song

·       Let Us Adore You: The Diamonds are emotionally disturbed and co-dependent! How adorable!

·       Happily Ever After: The status quo. Also another bloody re-cap.

·       Other Friends: The trigger! Not huge emotional resonance, but up-beat and plot-relevant.

·       system/BOOT.PearlFinal(3): The quest.

·       Who We Are: NICE. This one has emotional impact and says something important.

·       Isn't It Love?: A Garnet re-cap. So at this point we're recapping what we re-capped when we recapped the re-cap. Lost yet?

·       No Matter What: Again, NICE. Emotional relevance and says something about Amethyst and Steven.

·       Disobedient: Kate Micucci hadn't been given anything to do yet?

·       Independent Together: Aimee Mann brought a friend! Can he have a job and some dollarydoos?

·       Drift Away: CHARACTER. PUNCH. PATHOS. It's here, folks. They can do it!

and so on.

See the pattern? For every one song that brings what we saw in Mr. Greg, there are at least four that are there just because. Because we thought it'd be cool. Because we needed more tunes to fill the runtime. Mr. Greg achieved more in 11 minutes than Steven Universe: The Movie achieved in over 80 minutes.

What's the reason? The Movie doesn't really have a story to tell. It's a victory lap. It's not bad: it's fine. Bits of it are simply excellent. But this is what happens when you stop having a big, cohesive narrative arc that you're trying to bring together.

Characters

Characters grow and evolve. Specifically, they have arcs. Just like the plot as a whole, and just like the subplots that compose it.  Generally, the stages are:

·       A status quo (Luke on Tattoine)

·       A trigger (his Aunt and Uncle die)

·       A critical choice (he leaves to become a Jedi)

·       A quest (the adventure)

·       A climax (the fight at the Death Star)

·       A turnaround (the Death Star is destroyed!)

·       A new status quo (the Rebels are ready to take on the next challenge)

SU gave most of its characters arcs broadly representative of this. The problem is, once those arcs were done the characters got put back in their boxes. They were 'fixed' and that was it. Amethyst's arc probably worked best: it spread over most of the first five series and felt like a real progression. Hence her fusion with Steven (Smokey Quartz) felt 'earnt'.

Pearl doesn't really grow or evolve much at all until Series 5. Ditto Garnet. Lapis is basically the same throughout the show: she broods, runs away and then comes back because of Steven's coaxing.

So, it’s back to my main drumbeat: its pacing is badly off. Some things take their good time and evolve naturally, others are wrapped up quickly and cast aside. Examples:

·       Peridot worked to become friends with the CG. She had a character arc that took half a series.

·       The Diamonds: it mostly turned on a sixpence in the 2nd half of Change Your Mind. Off-screen they then became annoying relatives, rather than murderous galactic tyrants.

Why does this matter? Well, most of the characters are now 'done'. Pearl is no longer co-dependent. Ruby and Sapphire know they're together (as Garnet) for love. Amethyst no longer hates herself. Peridot is a sweet (albeit socially clumsy) sidekick. Lapis is... well, the same as she's always been but seems happier with it now?

How do you tell more stories when your characters are already done? When the veg is cooked, you can't put it back on the hob because you've decided you want dinner prep to take longer.

SU keeps wrapping things up, believing they're 'done', then getting more time and needing to draw it out. This means either dawdling around with characters not going anywhere (which feels like either a smug victory lap or just something for its own sake) or actively unpicking their development.

Scrubs, in my view, is the poster child for the latter option: the show's cancelled, quick wrap up JD; Elliot; Dr. Cox; Carla; Turk etc! Oh no, we got another series! Undo the happily-ever-after so we can do more stuff!

That's why the pacing, particularly around characters and where they're going, matters.

Fusion

Fusion is the absolute biggest muddle of a metaphor. Is it friendship? Understanding? Sex? All? None? In any case, it used to be meaningful. Fusion meant something, even if that something would vary depending on the characters and the circumstance.

It took special effort to do: characters had to synchronise themselves through dance, to bring their thoughts together to fuse.

Now? It happens at the drop of a hat. No synching, no dancing. Fanwank it away any way you like: the characters are all 'fixed' now, they all trust each other, whatever. Fusion now doesn't mean anything because it takes no effort: pop here's Sunstone, pop here's Smokey, pop here's Opal. The fusions have just become like alter-egos that take no more effort than a quick-change in a phone booth.

And then there's Steg. Yeah, I get it: he represents the familial love between father and son. But why is he so built? Why does he look like some sort of sex-god? I'm a long way from a prude - it's just weird is all. A 16 year old boy + his middle aged father + the memory of the mother/wife shouldn't create a weird Adonis! But let me set that aside: the true problem with Steg is we had no build-up. Greg and Steven didn't talk about it, Steven just suggests fusing (through whispered dialogue we don't hear) and then it just happens.

Steg also isn't saved by being an interesting exploration of either Steven or Greg. He's fanservice. Fans wanted more fusions and more 'what if so-and-so fused!!' so they got it. He has 0 character. Just like Sunstone has no character beyond being an 'after school special'. Rainbow Quartz 2.0 has no character, aside from being chipper and cockney.

Contrast that to Smokey Quartz. Smokey is a delightful, self-deprecating scamp. She has a definite personality and stood up to a full interview with Sardonyx.  Smokey has enough of a character that it would be possible for her to act out-of-character.  What would out-of-character look like for Rainbow or Sunstone?  Provided it was cartoon-English and early 90s cartoon dialogue (respectively) it could be anything.

What happened? Fusions used to be characters, they used to have personalities that couldn't be written down on a postage stamp in luggage marker.

The answer is the story ran-out. The characters are all fixed now - so there's no emotional or narrative drive for their relationships. Hence the concept of fusion is now just serving fans who want to see 'what if' combinations of characters.

Too Many Endings

I’ve touched on this already, but here it is again.

The problem with wrapping up a show is you put all the pieces away as well as you can, and implicitly make work for yourself if it is not the end. You've just set up a load of strawmen you need to kick over if you decide you've got more story to tell.

That's what happened here. Change Your Mind ended it. Except it didn't, so we went back and unpicked what we could. Even though everyone is basically fixed now and the characters have no real growth or underdog-fight. Then The Movie ended it. Except it didn't, so we went back and unpicked what we could. Even though everyone is still basically fixed.

Will Future be the end?  Probably not.

That's why Steven is now a moody little jackass with a hero complex - we needed some conflict to drive what little plot there is, which exists only as a vehicle for tying up loose plot threads (Jasper!) we left out because of how rushed the first ending was.

It's a bit like when you misspell something, then you go back over it with your biro. But now it looks unclear. So you go over it a few more times to make sure it's clear. But now it looks like someone took a biro and leaked half the ink onto the page. The very act of trying to tidy it has made it less clear.

A Special Note About Garnet

This isn't about pacing, but whilst I'm on the moan I'll leave this here.

I feel wicked for this. Garnet is a brilliant character. I love Estelle: she brings Garnet so well to life. Any LGBT representation in a cartoon is rare and amazing, and we need more. But Garnet also sucks.

Why?

She's a metaphor. She's a metaphor for being gay and together in love. She is a symbol of a same-sex relationship.  On a side-note: yes Gems don't have gender technically, but let’s not be wilful here: they have female-coded designs and the subtext is so obvious as to barely be subtext.

It's nearly 2020. We're now 20 years into the 21st Century. 2001 A Space Odyssey was set 20 years ago.  First contact between Zephram Cochrane and the Vulcans is now only 43 years away.  And we can still only talk about gay (or, God forbid, bi or transgender) characters in children’s' media through metaphor. I cannot emphasise enough how utterly shitty that is, and how glacial progress has been.

Now, that isn't SU's fault. However, what is SU fault is their clever (and I mean that genuinely) ploy to sneak a same-sex couple into the show means that we don't see them as a same-sex couple 95% of the time. They're hidden. Ruby and Sapphire's love and relationship literally lives under a disguise called Garnet.

And that sucks. It makes sense as a plan. It's great we have Garnet. Garnet is still amazing. But she also sucks, because she acts as invisibility for the lesbian couple she represents.  Yeah, that’s some tough mental gymnastics to work that cognitive dissonance but I managed it.

My God, I Get It: You're a Cat Person

This is also nothing to do with pacing, it's just a creator conceit that bugs me. I freely admit it's also piddly and petty.

So: I'm not a cat person. And no, it's not because I haven't met your adorable little Tiddles or whatever. I don't hate cats, it’s just that most of the cats I've ever met are simply ghastly little shits. Their owners, through some mental blind spot; ancient Egyptian curse or brain parasite have become convinced that these hairball-gobbing, furniture-shredding, wildlife-destroying little cunts are angels. Somehow they've convinced themselves everything they do is adorable.

No amount of murdered birds or small mammals change their minds.

I've met, officially, two nice cats in my life and I treasure their memories. The rest can go to hell.

Why does this matter to SU? Cat Steven. Lion. Peridot and Amethyst doing little kitty-mouths when they're being cute. My God, crew, you love cats. I got the memo.

Why does that work me up? Well, do you know what I'd like instead? If a tiny amount of that 'cats are brilliant!' energy went into a proper wrap for Pumpkin. Created by Jessie Zuke and obviously a puppy metaphor... what happened to her? The crew don't care, because they won't tell us. If they cared even a jot it would have a story around it. Instead, we got some half-arsed bullshit from Joe Johnston about 'pumpkins don't last forever' and... scene. That's it.

But Cat Steven, OMG, yes we have to make sure to include him. Whenever we're at the Beach House. Especially if Garnet is there. Because... lesbians all love cats? Or something? Just... CATS. MOAR CATS.

Couldn't you show a little more respect for a character, albeit a not particularly important one, rather than worrying about how much airtime the various cats all get?

In Conclusion

It bears restating, this is mostly ire directed at Series 5 onwards. The other series are all still there, and I can watch them to reminisce. I can still enjoy some truly wonderful episodes of just about the best cartoon I've ever seen. This show is incredible... but the endings kinda suck. And that's down, mostly, to pacing. And how it kinda fucked Steven Universe.

[whenimgoodandready]

(ancient Chinese background music plays) Long ago, a grand temple stood in China, in it, held the most powerful artifacts unknown to man, the miraculouses. They were under the reign of a group of monks known as The Order of the Guardians. A young guardian was chosen to watch these magical items, but during their duties, caused a destruction that would soon lead to an even worse fate. The guardian survived protecting the Miracle Box, but lost two in their escape and the grimoire. The guardian lived with the guilt of their actions. They feared it would one day come back to haunt them............and it did! The story continues here:

*Feast-What has been seen in the Louvre that we haven’t already seen? The Mona Lisa being stolen (“Copycat”), Alya almost becoming a sacrifice (“The Pharaoh”), that big rock thingy with some kind of Chinese symbol on it. Wait! What’s that about? Well, let’s look that up............on the Ladyblog! According to our aspiring journalist, Alya has been researching the secrets of the miraculouses and how they’ve been around throughout the centuries! All the way from the Renaissance to the Ancient Greeks where all the great heroes were secretly miraculous holders and Alya discovered that through all of them bearing the same symbol like on the Miracle Box! (and that big rock thingy).

That’s pretty good, but let’s go ask someone who’s living proof of all this, Master Fu! Alright Wang Fu, we’ve been in this fandom for a few years now and we deserve to hear some God damn answers already! Now spill! Ahem! (sits down cross legged and tells the tale) When Fu was around Marinettes age, he was the chosen one to guard the Miracle Box, but like any (pre) adolescent, he hated the responsibility of the job especially since he was taken from his family and forced to sit around watching the box for 24hrs w/out food. Yeesh!😬 Fu used (out of all the miraculouses) the peacock one to create a sentimonster and have it fetch him some food. Unfortunately, it went outta control, due to Fu’s angst about being a guardian, ate the temple, the monks, the other miraculouses (wait! There’s more!?), so Fu ran away with the Miracle Box, as it had a craving for miraculouses, and he accidentally lost “you-know-which” along with the grimoire (the miraculous book) and the sentimonster fell into a lava pit. The End!

Um Alya, Sweetie, I think maybe you should stick to your other blogs cuz all that info you just put out there about the miraculouses, it got Hawk Moths attention! Now no thanks to that, Mayura (yes, Nat is still doing this, but this was before the “Ladybug” ep) is gonna unleash whatever’s in that big rock thingy (actually a lava rock) containing a “special surprise” inside! (P.S: it’s not a chewy caramel nouget). It’s the sentimonster! It’s name was Feast! It survived for centuries! And it’s still hungry! He was a small blue frog-like thing with a Chinese symbol on its head and no face, but a mouth and that tongue! Oh God! That tongue!😱👅. Hawk Moth promised it all the miraculouses (after he’s done with the two most important ones) and his and Mayura’s as a bonus if Feast fetched ‘em for him. Huh, you know, that’s actually the nicest thing I’ve seen Hawk Moth do. Really!

Driven by his extreme centuries old guilt, Master Fu takes back the heroes miraculouses and we have a very bizarre street chase that involves Marinette in a motorcycle suit/helmet (her signature disguise look) and Adrien in a banana suit!?............where the f*ck did he get that!? And yet, they believed they were their crime fighting partner cuz, Hey! Who else knows a tiny hundred year old Chinese man?

FINALLY! We got a backstory on what Master Fu’s biggest mistake was and how it all happened! Well it’s about damn time! (for f**ks sake, it’s Season 3!). He’s mentioned it in “The Collector” and he’s lived that nightmare in “Sandboy”, but the truth comes back to bite him in the a**. So, you mean to tell us, that the reason why the temple was done, why the peacock and butterfly miraculous were lost, why Emilie is in a coma, how Gabriel’s start of darkness happened, why we have the love square and how this whole show started was because Master Fu-HAD THE MUNCHIES!? WTF!? Are you f**king serious!? “This” was the cause! Okay, I get it! Fu was just a teenager when it happened. He was stubborn and selfish (just like our heroes) and of course, he didn’t know any better. He never asked for this! He was just a kid. He wanted to have fun and hang out with friends and not be put through a life changing experience from higher ups! Sure he made a huge a** mistake that caused a chain of events to happen, but he learned from those mistakes. We’ll get back to that, Alya meant well, she was only trying to help Ladybug unmask Hawk Moth cuz after 3 seasons already, they need to start tracking him down. First clue, he’s in Paris. Nathalie sensed an amok in that lava rock cuz Feast was in it and ate the staff where Master Fu put the amok and it caused her “dizzy spells”. Hmmmm, same as Emilie before her.......... “nap” (Gabe, get a second glass coffin). Something we learned in this ep, Hawk Moth can akumatize sentimonsters! Whoa! And Ladybug can “de-evilize” both an akuma and an amok at the same time! Sure it was wrong of Fu to take back the heroes miraculouses w/out their permission (especially after that sweet piano duet Adrien and Plagg had that was straight outta “Looney Tunes”/“Tom and Jerry” cartoon), but he did so out of safety concerns cuz Feast would’ve eaten them. Speaking of which Ladybug took up the role of Jonah again and this time w/ a sentimonster! And w/ Cat Noir! Lol! He was so done w/ that sh*t! Feast also ate Cats “stick” (Badum-tish!🥁). Mwah! Good-night everybody! Hey! Like Tikki told Marinette, “(Marinette) are Ladybug, w/ or w/out the mask!” (“Antibug”). Wayzz points out how determined and devoted the heroes are to help Master Fu and stop Feast despite their lack of powers cuz that’s what makes a true hero. That’s what made Fu realize he should stop giving himself a (literal) guilt trip and let them fight back! Sadly, no Jade Turtle transformation once again. Ugh! Why bother showing us the art of him when you don’t even show it! All we got was “Bikerbug and Banana Noir”! (still don’t know where he got that suit). After 172 years, the temple is brought back along w/ the monks and the rest of the miraculouses in Tibet thanks to Ladybugs “Miraculous Ladybug” fix-up (so it was 1844 when all this sh*t happened?). The Chinese miraculouses were the only ones left, but now that we know there are others (like the fandom OC-ed), we’ll be seeing ‘em! Like that Brazilian miraculous holder in Season 4 I heard! Hmmm, I know that there’s a Chinese zodiac and there’s also a Native American and Celtic one and last, but not least, the Western zodiac (with our own five elements) that includes a lion like how Hercules/Heracles was symbolized from what Alya said. Hmmmm, wasn’t there a concept art of a lion miraculous we saw? Marinettes training as Ladybug is fully complete and now, as was promised in “Backwarder”, Master Fu makes her the new guardian of the miraculouses!🎉Congrats! Marinette!🎉 Gabe/Hawk Moth will eventually realize Fu was Adriens Chinese substitute teacher (“Syren”) like how he almost figured out Adrien was Cat Noir (“Gorizilla”) from his discovery (“Simon Says”) now that he knows what the guardian looks like as well as his name (“Backwarder”). Watch yourself, Fu! Don! Don! Don!

[roguexunited]

Wtf Star Wars: The Last Jedi, W.T.F.

“Wtf Star Wars: The Last Jedi, W.T.F.”

DON’T READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE, IT CONTAINS SPOILERS.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Just coming out of the movie theater I still find myself with a sense of discontent after watching the newest installment of the Star Wars saga. Unfortunately for the franchise, Episodes I-III made me jaded about the whole affair, and I came to expect very little out of it, just with the exception of Rogue One, which till this day I think is the best the franchise has to offer, but more on that later. After the fiasco of the last one ― which was a carbon copy of Episode I, which itself is a carbon copy of Episode IV ― I was not expecting the story to deviate that much from the jewel that is The Empire Strikes Back, nonetheless, I found a very different Star Wars than what I expecting.

           Different is good, it means that we are not getting dealt the same story over and over again and that the writers and producers understand that times have changed. In particular, I think that stories, even Disney stories, have come to understand that even though there is good and evil nothing is as black and white; Zootopia, Moana, and Brave have been some of the examples in which this dichotomy has been challenged and questioned, bringing forth a richer plot. Kudos for Star Wars for realizing that times have changed, but the execution of set change was deplorable, especially coming from a cinematic universe which foundation is precisely this dichotomy, light vs dark, good vs evil. Making the plot askew from this preset would have shifted the entire basis of the Jedi/Sith relationship, and shaken the galaxy as we know it. They tried, they really tried, most of the movie is trying but not doing anything to achieve change, falling Yoda's teachings in every step.

           Let’s begin with the First Order and the dark side. What is up with that? It is understandable that, after one faction has taken out the opposition, the mentality and remnants of the fallen government doesn't just simply disappear, but apparently they didn’t disappear at all but thrived, grew and overtook this new Republic in record time. How? We don’t know. Why? We don’t know either. Mimicking A New Hope, where the story beings a medias res (literally as it is Episode IV), The Last Jedi takes off fighting a force which is not really explained, they are simply the bad guys. There is a rebellion, which should actually be the ruling government, but if it is seen as trying to silence the voices of the opposition then it becomes a new empire. So all the heroes we love needed to be forced into playing the role of the underdog once again. The First Order, with its religious and programed fanaticism, is unexplained and uncontested at the moment. At least, through the second trilogy (Episodes I-III) we so the rise the empire, explained through a political intrigued that showed that the battlefront had two fields: the political one, that was never the Jedi’s strong point, and the actual war, which was just a diversion to take over the Senate. In that regard, the second trilogy was very intelligent in paving the way for the original trilogy. Now, after two trilogies it is ludicrous that they present a villain in such an old fashion way. This is a nod to the original foundation of the Star Wars universe, the First Order represents darkness, and darkness rises from nowhere.

           I also find it hard to believe that history is just that, old tales that don’t mean anything. Having heroes who fought in the original war are still alive and well (although in some cases dying), it is unbelievable that they didn’t see the signs and tried to put a stop to this whole dark side shenanigan. But yet again, they can’t be seen as the oppressors, so once more they are driven to become rebels, repeating the same hubris as the Jedi Knights before them, and so hope can only rise when the safety of the universe is in peril and when the good guys are backed up into a corner.

           Now the same thing happens to Kylo Ren as a villain, just like Darth Vader before him, he was really no backstory, just that he is the son of two of the most beloved characters of the saga, but that for some reason he was corrupted. Unlike Vader, who we had to wait years until the second trilogy to find out the hows and whys of his downfall (which made The Revenge of the Sith tragic but necessary) I doubt Kylo Ren is going to get Episodes VII.I to VII.III to endear him to the audience just to break our hearts with his turn from the light. All we are left with is with some small insights to his character from a very detached set of parents and uncle, leaving Kylo quite un-humanized in that regard. With Rey, we see how they somewhat mirror each other, playing with the idea of the Ying and the Yang, but still a connection that at this moment seems forced and superficial. His struggle is mostly internal, we kind of see hints of grey, or at least Rey helps us point out those hints, but in the end, even when the writers tried to drag Star Wars kicking and screaming into a storyline that questions who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, they just couldn’t shake off the foundation of their universe, and so most of the movie is pointless in that regard, which is one of the reasons this rant was spurred into life.

           Then we have General Hux, who is a cartoon villain with blind ambition, a short temper and a fragile male ego. I really don’t have much to say about him. He’s just there. Serving as an example of why this First Order needs to be taken down, sometimes as comedic relief, but mostly his just there fulfilling his role in this universe of unshakable black and white presets.

           And where Oh! where do these almighty Sith Lords keep sprouting out of? This is a question that has been baffling me for years. Where? How? There was just supposed to be two, a master and an apprentice, yet they have been lying to the Jedi for centuries now because clearly there are more than two. If the Jedi would just admit that fact, then they wouldn’t be so surprised every time a Sith Lord takes over and darkness rules the galaxy. They should learn to be always on high alert because those guys are like cockroaches, they are the proverbial hydra that is invisible and will never be truly dead. But now, they are taken by surprise every time. Well, no, they were not taken by surprise, Luke knew, but what did he decide to do with the knowledge? Hide, that’s what he did.

           Now to the good guys, The Republic/ The Rebellion. As mentioned before, they forced the characters back to the place where we found them back in the 70´s, fighting from the trenches (literally this time), the underdog, the last beacon of hope, and it’s starting to get old. How stupid can they be to let this happen a second time, after those poor folks in Rogue One gave their all to bring Leia hope, and the put everything into action! I am upset in their behalf. One would think it might take at least two or three generations to shift the balance of power, not just a couple of years. I guess what they are trying to achieve if to show that armed rebellions are not rewarded with steady long lasting governments, and then suddenly Star Wars gets too real.

           Rey, Finn, and Poe. They are okay, but just okay guys. I mean, Rey is struggling with both light and darkness within herself, but just like Kylo’s struggle it is just a fleeting moment and ends up being superficial. Finn, was heroic the previous movie as they used him to show us that, against all odds, Stormtroopers can think outside the box! Who knew? His struggle, I think is the one that questions the dichotomy in the best way, as it shows how good and evil blur in the world beyond an individual, and how their balance affects the whole world. It is through this former Stormtrooper’s eyes that we begin to see beyond the Skywalker horizon. Let’s stick to it, let’s see where it takes us. And so all we have left is Poe, AKA, reckless, trigger-happy, stock hero that is just coming to understand those heroics have a human cost. Hurray for character growth (this is sarcasm by the way)!

           Now, unfortunately, I am comparing The Last Jedi to Rogue One, which, in the blink of an eye, became my favorite Star Wars movie, right along with The Empire Strikes Back. In its core, Rogue One showed us the human side to both the Rebellion and the Empire. In the span of a movie, we were introduced to complex characters that were not black and white, but that stuck to their belief, even for a brief moment, which translates into knightly honor and another building block of the Star Wars universe. Their struggle was plagued with character flaws from both sides, we saw hesitation from members of the Empire as the pulled the trigger of the Death Star, we saw Bodhi and Galen Erso, who showed as the reluctance of some members of the Empire and that some had a choice and decided to do something about it, now Finn joins their ranks. We also so Cassian who was not a boy scout and who struggled with the difficult decisions being at war brought him to. We also witnessed that not everyone in the Rebellion’s command was completely trustworthy and good. All in all, we saw Star Wars done well. And now this. THIS.

           The Rebels we found in Rogue One ― whose flaws made them endearing and, to me, even more heroic ―  are lost, all that’s left is the carcass of a rebellion that has lost its light and pins all of its hope on Carrie Fisher, who we literally have lost. I understand why Leia is the beacon of hope, she is the lady of light that has guided the Star Wars universe since the beginning. But now that we have lost Fisher in live all I have to look forward to is a CGI Leia, which breaks my heart, the technology hasn’t been developed to the extent Sim0ne promised. Now, with that beacon of light dwindling, we no longer have a general to guide the way. Rogue One was powerful, their suicide mission to give it all in the name of the Rebellion was pure perfection, but Leia’s appearance at the end just sealed the deal and made it greater. Now all is gone, and we have to wait and see how they will solve this problem now that they literally placed all their eggs in the Leia basket.  

           Now, to the grey areas. The only character that showed an inch of complexity, perhaps a little more profound than questioning of a couple of beats, was DJ as he was the only one that understood that things are not just black and white, but he is despicable because he has no true honor, or so we’ll see. As I said before, knightly honor is another building block in the Star Wars universe, and because he has none, his teachings will go unheeded until he either chooses a side or dies a horrible death, will just have to wait and see.  

           Finally, I’ll write about my pet peeve. There was an astounding lack of decorum in this movie, and some of the jokes (most of them actually), were lame, VERY lame. In past movies, we’ve seen that the comedic relief is up to the droids and the non-humans, and in some cases the heroes, but this time the jokes, to my perception, were very poorly timed. Yes, Luke Skywalker I’m talking about you, you know what you’ve done! I miss the days when Jedi masters were either true knightly gentlemen or completely batshit crazy, but not something in between. Luke, “You are the celery of desserts, be ice cream or be nothing.”

           I will not delve into the rest of what caused me pain about this movie. Although, as my friend WiseCube pointed out, the amount of Pokemon was astounding now that they’ve discovered CG, but that is a rant for another day. All that is left to say is that if Rogue One hadn’t come along this rant would be much shorter and probably more private, what that movie showed me was that there are possibilities for the Star Wars universe, possibilities that can be executed well when their goals are well scripted. And so now, the rest of the saga needs to step up, no more slacking!

[scrawnydutchman]

Why “Boyscout” Characters are Underrated

In any given narrative in any genre, be it film, novels, comic books, video games, cartoons or stage plays, having a likable main character is important. Very important. One could argue it is the most essential part of the puzzle of storytelling in fact. After all, a story is all about following the adventure(s) of a person or collection of people who go through trials and conflicts and drama to fulfill a goal. Whether it’s a wannabe superstar tenaciously working towards glory or a strong man in tights seeking justice and apprehending criminals, we’re going to be sticking with this character for a while, so by all means the last thing you want is to make your character somebody who the audience is uninterested in or, even worse, neglectful to follow. 

But that said, opinions on what makes a strong lead can very among different audience members. It’s only natural; all art is subjective and has an appeal not everybody will appreciate. But sometimes certain tastes can trend; and that taste comes with a bitterness to it’s alternative. In this case I’m talking about the hardening and darkening of heroes, the promotion of moral ambiguity . . . and the mocking of “boyscout” characters. Characters often criticized for being too unrealistically moral and upstanding, “perfect” is the word often used. Superman is the prime example of this: for years people have been calling him boring because he’s so impossibly powerful he can resolve any situation and he’s so morally upright that his conflicts with bad guys become rinse and repeat. Even with the character gaining significantly more depth over the years the sentiment has been the same; Superman is just too good and powerful to be interesting. The same has been applied to other heroes, albeit to a lesser extent, such as Wonder Woman, Shazam and Captain America. Meanwhile, those characters more favored by a larger audience are more flawed individuals; people who make mistakes, whose acts of selfishness have consequences, whose good nature is often challenged and will go to a farther extent at apprehending criminals then boyscouts, perhaps even going as far as killing. Batman, Wolverine, Spawn and Lobo all have these reputations. The “Badass” of the crew is always the top seller: because it’s not enough for a reader to be morally upright and just. They also have to be badass and edgy.

Now I didn’t type up this long winded article to bash anybody for liking brooding gritty characters. Far from it; I understand the appeal of them perfectly well and am also a fan of these characters. It’s not a bad thing to have leads who feel broken from loss and torment, and thus distance themselves from others and have a hard time trusting people, putting up a tough guy attitude to hide the fact that they are actually quite sensitive. This is a very real thing that many people in the modern world feel. Plus zealousness and confidence along with the capacity to back up such bravado is very endearing. If anybody is proof of that fact it’s the late Muhammad Ali.

But the question I want to ask is; are these characters naturally superior in likability to boyscouts? Are non problematic, morally upright people in fiction just not interesting? Again, this stuff is subjective, but if more people gravitate towards the gritty brooding Batman then the sunny, happy go lucky Superman, so much so that DC has been essentially making Superman out to be a tortured alien soul, then does this give us a window into what it means to be an objectively likable character?

My answer is: Not really.

Think what you will about Superman, but consider how long he’s been around and how much he has shaped our culture. The character has been around for over 80 years now, and he’s gone through many changes and adaptations to be sure (most comic book characters go through the same process) but his core elements and ideas have remained in tact and, to be honest, his franchise has told some of the finest stories of the 20th century. He’s still the highest selling comic book superhero franchise of all time. I think it’s safe to say there is something about this boyscout that sticks.

So in defense of these boyscout characters who I have an admitted fondness for, I will be pointing out the main criticisms against these characters and giving a retort against each.

1: Morally perfect characters aren’t interesting. 

 I disagree. Often times this criticism comes from a misunderstanding of what a “morally perfect” characters conflict really is, because it isn’t as simple and clear cut as “will this guy defeat this guy?”. Superman often comes under criticism for resolving his situations and defeating his bad guys way too easily, and as a result bad guys always resort to either repetitive weaknesses or are absurdly powerful themselves to even compete. But here’s the thing about Superman: It’s not about whether he’ll win or lose. It’s about whether he’ll do the right thing. He’s already proven time and time again that he’s the most powerful character in all of comics, possibly in all of fiction. His dilemma is whether or not he’s managing those powers responsibly, and whether he still belongs to the human race in spite of those powers. He may be on the level of a God, but he’s still a Cansas born farmboy raised by Christian locals, works on a reporters salary, is in love with his attractive female co worker and has an affinity for beef bourguignon. That sure as hell sounds a lot more relatable then a boy born into wealth and fortune, most likely went into private school, who traveled the world to study under the greatest masters of martial arts on earth after his parents were suddenly murdered, but that’s just me ;). Captain America’s conflict is also commonly misunderstood. He’s all about being a fish out of water who has to do his best to do the right thing in a world where other heroes such as Iron Man represent the modern age far better then he does. Superman and Cap are quite similar because they hold onto traditional values and morality. Make no mistake, traditional =/= perfect. Both of their ethics have been challenged and shaken time and time again in comics.

2: Boyscouts aren’t relatable.

 So let me get this straight: You DON’T relate to trying to be a good person as often as possible? You DON’T relate to just wanting what’s best for yourself and people around you? You DON’T relate to seeking justice and hope and love? Maybe not everyone does; again, subjectivity is a real thing. But just because you may not aspire to higher ideals doesn’t mean nobody does. If nobody ever did I don’t think superheroes would even be a thing.

But that said, relatability isn’t objectively necessary for a main lead to have anyway. Don’t get me wrong; it’s always a nice and welcome touch. Depth is NEVER a bad thing. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be the thing that drives the story nor does it have to be the thing that defines what makes the character so likable. What’s more important then a character being relatable .  . .is a character being motivated. For evidence of this claim, look no further then some of the most popular VILLAINS around in pop culture. Relatable villains can occur and get popular, certainly, but more often then not the villains that become the most romanticized and trend the most are villains who are so malicious, so intent with their evil, so driven to make everything around them miserable that you can’t help but get involved with the chaos they’re bringing. Perfect example: The Joker. EVERYONE loves the joker, but I sincerely doubt anybody would say they relate to him. Moreover I think people are just invested because HE’S invested, and we’re interested to see just how far he’ll go to carry out his goal . . .whatever the hell it is.

Heroes can work in very much the same way. How far will they go to seek out justice? What are disciplines they set for themselves? How committed are they to their cause? Will they ever break their code, and if so, can they be redeemed? I don’t buy the idea that good people don’t invite conflict because doing good even when it’s hard and having restraint even when people disagree with you is a conflict in and of itself.

3: Good guys don’t lend themselves to conflict.

 Allow me to repeat what I just said: Doing good even when it’s hard and having restraint even when people disagree with you is a conflict in and of itself. You don’t have to be flawed to invite conflict: matter of fact, heroes are literally DEFINED by their desire to seek out conflict because they would not be heroes if they remained indifferent to tragedy and crime. I know what you’re thinking: “What people mean when they say this is INTERNAL conflict”. People are interested by tortured souls who all too often do morally ambiguous things. Again, I understand the appeal of that, but on the other hand, if you aren’t convinced that people wouldn’t want to enact good in the world unless they learn first hand the consequences of evil when it strikes them, then I’m sorry, that’s a very cynical perception of reality. Wanting to do good can be propelled by wanting to SEE good in the world, and not wanting your powers or whatever it is you do to fight crime to not go to waste. Characters do not have to be defined by tragedy to be compelling: they can be defined by how they define themselves. What disciplines they set for themselves, what their code of honor is and how it conflicts with others. Personally I think it’d be really refreshing to see a character who didn’t learn the hard way that crime sucks and that’s what convinces them to take responsibility for once, because that’s just really selfish when you think about it. You don’t give a shit about what goes wrong in the world unless it effects you. I can’t assert this enough: I understand that writing characters in such a way can instill more drama, but I disagree that they have to be written in such a way every time.

4: Dark and gritty is more realistic.

No, it’s not. dark and gritty =/= more realistic. Matter of fact it’s just as much a fantasy as a light and upbeat world. Goodness and kindness is just as  much a part of life as cruelty and sadness. It is not “realistic” to highlight either extreme. It shouldn’t be necessary for entertainment to be “realistic” anyway. If you wanted realism you wouldn’t devolve into fantasy; you’d just go outside. Fantasy is about escaping realism and fulfilling a need to feel certain emotions by indulging in a particular genre. Every genre is valid for that reason. We watch comedies to laugh. tragedies to cry, romances to gush and horrors to scream. If you like your dark and grittiness more then other themes then by all means go for it; but it’s unfair to say lightheartedness and peppiness is any less valid of fantasy fulfillment, especially under the fallacy that it’s “less realistic”.

Conclusion:

So I’m hoping this article broadened the readers horizons a bit about what  it means to be an interesting character, and in particular I’m hoping they’ll be more open minded about “boyscouts” and “goody-two-shoes”. A good character is not always defined by tragedy and is not always defined by things they can’t control. A good character is defined by what motivates them, what actions they take, what disciplines they hold for themselves and what they do with their capacity for either good or evil. A likable character is one clearly defined and adds to the stakes, and in that regard good guys are no less valid.

[yingqilin]

Where Do I Even Begin?

Well, first of all, I’ve LOVED LOVED LOVED Qilin ALMOST as much as I loved Unicorns, and Dragon. I say ALMOST because I first saw a unicorn on TV when I was 4 years old in the EARLY 1980s! But, I’d never even heard of a so-called “Chinese Unicorn” since about the mid-late 1980s when I saw a children’s magazine called “Cricket” which had a WHOLE SPREAD about UNICORNS, including the Chinese & Japanese versions.

(I don’t believe this was the actual cover. I can’t remember what year the Cricket Magazine issue was, just that it was in the 1980s. This issue was cited in many books written about Unicorns as well, following its syndication. It had a full on spread including many kinds of unicorns from many cultures... if I recall correctly, there might even have been an French Unicorn story as well.)

When I was a little kid, I actually didn’t like to read (which was an issue by the late 1900s, and even the government would talk about it, the trouble was they’d demonized comic books in the 1960s-1970s, which resulted in that problem, because even tho’ “correlation doesn’t equal causation” they didn’t know that and thought that the act of reading comics made you into a criminal. My experience was the exact opposite, because I read super hero comics a lot and was more interested in THAT than things like doing hard drugs, vandalism, and shoplifting which was rampant in NJ where I grew up.) So, by the late 1980s-early 1990s children were encouraged to read, read, read. Well, I liked pictures, and I LOVED: unicorns, dragons, and dinosaurs, ANYTHING FANTASY, but also Sci-Fi. (I also loved Marvel Comics/X-MEN, and Disney Adventures Magazine, and nearly all the Jeffrey Katzenberg hit Disney Films)

So, whenever it was something of interest to me, I would read a lot, and I had stacks of books, which I also used to practice learning art, and I was self taught. (I have A.D.D.)

I graduated in May 2001 from the Art Institute of Philadelphia (Majored in Computer Animation AKA CAM). And, by the GW Bush Era, I had already been active online since 1994, and had been blogging, and using many various art websites.

By late 2001, and most of the early 2000s (2001-2007) I spent months and even years sketching and drawing Qilin, interacting in the Furry/Anthro Fandom, and published a lot of my works to GeoCites/Yahoo, and had even created my own message boards, and so on. I even had one called “Qilin Savanna” Altho’ much of these sites are gone, my original works still remain on DeviantArt in my gallery HERE. (I also LIVED IN CHINA many times in the GWB Era often.)

Since that time I’d also written a lot of things, multiple times over, about my research into Qilin (which are not all unicorns, just some).

If you were to type in “qilin cartoon” into Google you can actually see the many many photo images that come up since the time I’d first started publishing my work ONLINE, FOR FREE, you can actually see how my works have influenced people. Back then, there was a MAJOR mix-up with the term, because MOST information available in ENGLISH regarding CHINESE EVERYTHING was often inaccurate, used the dead Wade-Giles Chinese language, or were often confused with JAPANESE. Another issue was that I actually could speak standard Mandarin Chinese, but many people wrote the Cantonese names, or FREQUENTLY confused them with Japanese name for the exact same character (AKA kanji, AKA Hanzi), which is “kirin” in Japanese. Also, the majority of NON-Chinese speaking persons don’t know how to pronounce Mandarin pinyin. (Example: Can you pronounce?: chi, qi, shi, xi, zhi, zi, qu, chu, er, ri, ren, si, ran, yu, you, bo, po, zhou, zhu, cao, zui - Most Non-Chinese speakers CANNOT pronounce these correctly at all. “Chi” sounds like “Tcher” and “Qi” sounds like “Tchee”, “Shi” sounds like “scher” and “xi” sounds like “schee”. There are also variations on pronunciation.)

But, I still stuck to the facts. my father-in-law in China,The late Wang Zimin, actually had special access to a restricted library, and wrote letters to me about Qilin, and the 4 major Chinese magical deities: Qilin, Long/Dragon, Fenghuang/Phoenix, Bixi/Dragon-Heard Tortoise.

Back then, mostly you needed to search “kirin” especially because M. Peña called her artwork “Kirin” but still also called them “Chinese Unicorns”. Her gorgeous sculpture works were sold everywhere for years, nation wide, from the boardwalk to Spencer Gifts, to Flea Markets, and Christmas season mall kiosks.

But, as you scroll through all the works produced since that time, not only the ones titled or tagged as "kirin” but over time “Qilin” starts to replace this as more and more people growing up actually start to study Chinese, especially artists and customers, and many of these young artists are either my fans or students, but fans or students of my students... after a while, people forgot who I was... but my work BECAME PART OF THE CULTURE.

You can SEE that many people emulated my poses, my styles of doing hair, and many other details. Over the years, a number of my fans, and friends would send me private messages FREAKING OUT that either someone stole my work, stile my style, or ripped me off...

That’s actually NOT TRUE. No one ripped me off. THOSE ARE MY STUDENTS.

You guys ASKED ME things like: How do you draw _____? so I made countless cheat-sheet style tutorials (because paid classes don’t ACTUALLY TEACH). Also, if someone wants to learn, (like myself) they try to draw from WHAT THEY LOVE. That means ME. MY ARTWORK. How else will they learn if they don’t copy, ask questions, etc.?

I have many many open source materials in my DeviantART gallery (which are STILL MY MOST POPULAR WORKS OF ALL TIME despite the hours of work I’ve produced artistically.) I have also licensed much of my line art works FOR FREE for people to practice coloring with wither digitally, or to print them out and color with real media like markers, color pencils, pastels, or whatever because people kept asking me.

Actually, I would like to credit a number of artists whom are my biggest influences as well:

Susan Dawe

Glen Keane

Alan Davis

Those are my biggest ones, but I also loved artworks by Burne Hogarth,  Auguste Rodin,  Edward Degas (I especially love his ROUGH sketch work), Frank Frazzetta, Boris Vallejo & Julie Belle, Fred Moore, Vladimir “Bill” Tytla,   AND the film The Last Unicorn was especially the #1 thing that got me actually DRAWING when I was 4 years old.

SO much of my work, especially ANYTHING with unicorns, has been tattooed onto people bodies. Many people personally asked my permission, but I honestly DO NOT MIND. I have found over the years more examples of my artwork tattooed onto people than I can count. It’s LOVE.

However, I’ve also many many times been the victim of theft FOR REAL. Many people have tried to rob my sketchbooks, and many companies have illegally robbed my artwork online. It was the cause of MUCH online fights, wars, and battles. There’s also impersonators: People pretending to be ME, or claiming THEY did my work: also the cause of much much online fights and flame wars.

-Then, of course, there’s LOTS & LOTS of kids online that “rob” my work for RPGs, and fan pages... Honestly, I’m NOT going after children, or fans, for harmless things like that... I’m NOT Metallica.

So, where am I going with THIS?

Well, for one, there’s both ART and PHILOSOPHY which are BOTH a MAJOR part of my life.

I had a number of setbacks, delays, and many other strings of very unfortunate events in my life. Needless to say, I was very depressed. However, I did find myself back in college, first for Philosophy, and then for Art, especially Video... which somehow saw me thrust forward into Animation HEAD-FIRST. Suffice it to say, I’ve worked through, blew threw, and past, all of my blocks, and have been doing animation again. (lots more long stories, but not writing them here)

Many many times, you can’t always reach, yet, what you want. Other times, other persons, or groups want to change you, or make you something else.... and not you. But, it kills you inside...

At some point, you need STOP listening to everyone, and everything else, ESPECIALLY if that’s not FLOWING in the direction are are INSIDE.

I’d already WANTED to produce at least 2 series/films of my own. (”Eyewitness” and “Zenith Beyond The Dragon’s Rue”) Well, THIS is a branch off that tree. This stems from my concepts for “Eyewitness” but sort-of... I had ALWAYS wanted to produce my own small animated shorts, especially with music, like the old 20th Century animated works such as “Silly Symphonies”, “Merry Melodies”, and even Disney's “Fantasia”, but also a number of influences from Far East Asia including PR China, and Japan.

I’ve been multiple times inspired by Socrates, Plato, Laozi, Bruce Lee (Li Xiaolong), and many fusion artists/dancers on the American West Coat including my teachers: Zoe Jakes, and Alyssum Pole, as well as Rachel Brice, Carolena Nericcio, Jamlila & Suhaila Salimpour, but also Matahari, and Kerli Kõiv. People that think differently, question things, or create their own ideas, or even fusion artists.

Well, this project has been on my mind since at least 2001.

In fact, my actual name (Ming Zi) in Chinese is: 任思麒 (Ren SiQi)

It literally means: Duty/Task [to] Think/Contemplate/Dream of Qi[lin]!

Also, as an artist, there are a number of things I believe in, whereas other things I’ve shed like a snake molting its skin. I’m a fusion artist, an eclectic artist, but I still firmly believe in art fundamentals like life drawing, practicing one’s skills, and I use bot digital and real media. I LOVE TO DRAW. I firmly believe in Quality OVER Quantity, yet, in some instances I also think too much detail is overdo, and somethings look better less refined. I like realism, stylization, cartoons, and beautiful things.

I want to create content that is LESS about “being a big success” or ego driven ideas of “stardom”, and lavish money making, but more about THE LOVE OF IT.

I do NOT want to be part of any establishment groups, crowds, clubs, or institutions, and DON’T want to be mainstream, NOR corporate. I have found all of those things to be negative and destructive to my life and therefore regret pursuing those avenues. I’m NOT interested in walking those paths, nor dunking helplessly into those turbulent or stagnant flows, but RATHER Flow my own way, because I have my OWN PATHS. I don’t need to buy their metaphorical light bulbs, because I have my own light that I can shine inside of me.

And, if I am being completely frank & honest, another MAJOR influence on me WAY BEFORE HE WAS EVEN POPULAR was Bernie Sanders. I am a Berner. Sanders actually GAVE OF HIS HEART & HIS TIME FOR FREE. He crowd funded for what he believed in with SMALL MONEY because he was against BIG MONEY.

I have no care for being in exclusive film festivals or galleries. People whom already LOVE my work find their way to it. People HAVE found value in my efforts and work.

Therefore, I wish to begin producing this animated short. It is not cheap tho’. But, I will gladly share my process, my concept work, my practice work, and everything FOR FREE. Free to ALL ARTISTS, and people whom just live beautiful things, art, and QILIN.

I wish to pursue an independent direction in my art. But, I would very much like to include people, if not the world or those in it that care about these things, to interact with me. A long time ago I’d created my “Qilin Savanna” site to interact with people whom also loved Qilin, Unicorns, Dragons, and other things, but also a love for art, or learning art.

This year (2017) while interacting with MANY MANY young people, and young artists, I often found that people WANTED to learn to DRAW, to improve their techniques and practice them, but despite having paid money to attend art classed (including “drawing classes”) they did not actually get what they paid for, did not actually get instruction for what they wanted to learn, but either had to fend for themselves, try independently, or got resources online for free... so, why then were they paying for it?

I have many many times, spent just a short moment with frustrated peers, students, classmates, friends, and fellow artists whom couldn’t draw what they wanted to, and teased me for being some kind of special person... when in fact, whatever I do, others can too. I sat with them, explained, and demonstrated (AKA Using The Feynman Technique) and after that moment of AHA THEY COULD DO IT. And, they didn’t need to come back. 

I did THAT FOR FREE.

I did THAT FOR LOVE.

And, NO, I DON’T HAVE A MASTER’S DEGREE. Honestly, at this point, I don’t feel I actually want one. I DON’T want to be a part of that club, nor establishment either. In this way, I’m somewhat like Socrates, Diogenes, or Bruce Lee... only NOT. I’m ME. 

I have a lot more to say, but I think I will leave it here for now.

[taiblogcomics]

Fifty is Nifty

Hey there, granaries. Well, here we are. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has been running as an ongoing title from IDW for 50 issues. Fifty issues. That’s damn impressive for any comic, let alone a licensed book based on a children’s cartoon. And this comic knows it, too~

I mean, check out this cover:

Sure, it doesn’t have anything to do with the issue, but if you can’t have a nice celebration of your milestones, what good is a cover? Maybe in that way, it has everything to do with the issue. Also, Applejack, c’mon. Everypony else has a party hat, including the princesses. You could at least try~

So, if you recall our ongoing story--and no, they have the artistic integrity to not interrupt the narrative for their milestone, which is nice--Discord had reinvented himself as Accord, spirit of order and brainwashing. Canterlot’s on its last few free minds, and even Luna and Twilight have become part of the hivemind, which is where we join the story now...

Everypony’s suitably creeped out and disturbed by the two brainwashed princesses, who are at least non-threatening physically, and allow the rest of them to escape on the train. Now, see, that’s worrying. When the villain just lets you go after taking two of your most powerful members, that means that he knows he can get you at any time in the future. It’s very worrying.

While the remaining Mane 6 take time to make sure all the refugees are entertained--and I can’t believe I just used “refugees” in a description of a plot in a My Little Pony comic, but here we are--Starlight Glimmer takes some time out to talk with Celestia about the recent events. Her pupil’s pupil, you see. Celestia’s quite distressed, what with losing her kingdom, her pupil, and her sister--and this nagging idea that Accord might be right.

Celestia’s worried that Accord’s successes have proven his attempts at bringing order prove his way is better, but Starlight protests that tyranny and manipulation are never the better option. And Celestia recalls the time where she faced a tyrant version of herself from another universe, back in the “Reflections” arc, and Accord reminds her a bit of that version of herself. Starlight points out that chaos and order aren’t the same as good and evil. Order is a goal that can be achieved through good or evil means. After all, she tried to enslave a whole town in the name of order, but she knows now she was wrong to do so. Or how about that time magic water exaggerated everypony’s personalities in negative directions? Or that evil book that made Rarity go nuts over design? Point is, this happens a lot. But even when driven to opposite extremes, their goals remain the same. So.. what do Accord and Discord have in common? What’s their shared goal?

Okay, so here’s a twist: once in Ponyville, they decide to bust out the Elements of Harmony. Apparently they can just go and pick them off the Tree whenever they like! Like, what the heck. But never mind. Accord shows up, finally having figured out how to pop out of nowhere like Discord, and sincerely invites the attempt to “Harmonise” with him, as it were. Celestia passes around the Elements, taking the Element of Magic for herself, and they blast the unholy order out of him.

Except that it doesn’t work.

Except that without Twilight, the Elements are practically useless.

Except that in the failure of the Elements, the six of them are now also under Accord’s thrall.

In fact, at this point, Starlight is the last free-thinking being in Equestria, which at least shows how impressive her shielding magic is. Thinking fast, Starlight convinces Accord to play fair--that is to say, to convince her he’s right with words rather than force. Finding the idea amusing, he agrees to the challenge.

Accord is convinced he’s already won. After all, Starlight’s friends are now his. Starlight, however, disagrees. See, friendship isn’t about order. Friendship isn’t about being the same. It’s about being different and being friends anyway. After all, Discord was different from everypony, but still managed to find friendship. He’s faked sick, travelled through time, and resorted to every trick in the book just to keep said friendships. And all these ponies? They’re puppets. They’re him. Not one of them is a friend.

Accord admits defeat, and bows out gracefully to Starlight. And suddenly, just like that, Discord is back. The minds of all the ponies are clear, and even more than thanking Starlight for saving them, they instead thank Discord for being him. The way Discord is is just the way they like him. After all, friendship isn’t about order. Friendship, my dear readers, is magic~

Oh, you thought we were done? No, not quite, my friends. I mean, we have to do something a little more than just wrap up the story, right? It’s the fiftieth issue, after all. So, how about a second entire story? How about it’s illustrated by Jay Fosgitt? Yeah, here’s a book that contains both Jay Fosgitt and Andy Price art. What more could you ask for~?

So, how do you start such a story? Well, it’s Celestia’s birthday. Is that enough of a fiftieth issue milestone for you~? Anyway, everypony’s invited, even Discord. Fluttershy gently chides him for not getting her a present, but frankly, he’s right. What do you get somepony like Celestia? What could be a suitable enough gift? Fluttershy slyly challenges Discord to find out~

At the party, Discord pretty much blatantly asks what she’s missing in her life. And she has no idea what to tell him. Instead, she basically continues to solve her guests’ problems instead of taking the day to relax. She even gives up the last slice of cake to a filly who was late. Discord continues to observe her.

Discord comments on his observations of Celestia’s unfailingly self-sacrificial attitude towards even her party guests, frustrated. Fluttershy comments that it sounds exhausting to put yourself out there so constantly, and you can see the lightbulb turn on over Discord’s head. In fact, I’m surprised that didn’t happen literally~

Celestia collapses in her room as the guests file out, finding a package addressed "For The Pony Who Has Everything”. Fortunately, inside is not a Black Mercy flower, but instead a little music box with a statue of Celestia on top. She winds the box, and while it does play a nice tune, it also seems to be full of sleeping gas, and sprays a puff in her face, knocking the sun princess out.

When she comes to, she finds--to her shock--that the sun is already up. Discord appears and announces that he did that for her. See, here’s the thing. He found out what she needs most: a day off. It’s all taken care of. There’s three other princesses to handle things, and the failsafe makes the spell only work for as long as she wants it. She’s even completely diguised as a fairly average-looking pegasus, so nopony will try to give her preferential treatment.

So where’s a princess to spend her day of freedom? Why not Ponyville, the town of the true average pony experience~? Discord agrees that this might be interesting, and transmogrifies himself into a pony as well, though he’s still rather odd-looking. They land in Ponyville, and are greeted in the traditional way~

And by “traditional way”, I mean a long, loud gasp by Pinkie Pie, followed by a parade. Once the celebration ceases, they move on to Sweet Apple Acres, interested in learning to applebuck from Applejack herself. While she doesn’t quite master it on the first go, an apple nevertheless does fall from the tree and performs an Isaac Newton on Celestia, to her delight. They drop in on Fluttershy for a literal bear-hug, and get some flying tips from Rainbow Dash. After removing herself from the ceiling, she then asks for a dress from Rarity. Something daring and unexpected, in black perhaps~

As Discord reunites with the princess over a bowl of ice cream in Sugarcube Corner, she comments that Discord was right on the money. She never would have admitted to herself that she needed a day off, even. Discord replies that it’s a friendship lesson he’s known all along: it’s all well and good to take care of others, but you also have to take the time to take care of yourself. As they head into the sunset, hoping to catch the train back to Canterlot, Celestia thanks Discord for his present and his friendship, then warns him if he ever pulls a stunt like that music box again, he’ll spend the next century as a bird feeder. He says he knows--after all, that’s not really the sun setting, but a balloon full of lava monsters he rigged up. Oh, Discord~

What a lovely way to have celebrated the 50th issue of a great comic. I don’t think I need to say anything more, other than both stories were very satisfying reads. Here’s hoping for another 50 issues more~

Yeah, this big celebration is only a simple milestone. Next issue, something very mysterious seems to be going down. I honestly can’t tell you more than that~

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Solar Pons, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jurrasic Park, Topps Monster Stickers

Cinema (Pulp Curry): Simba also depicts the various perspectives on the Kenyan side. In particular, is an amazing scene in which locals are inducted into the Mau Mau guerrilla movement, a ceremony that is replete with boy’s own voodoo type histrionics, but also shows that while some locals were keen to join the rebels, others simply dis so out of fear. Key to the local perspective is the character of Kenyan doctor, Peter Karanja, a white educated black man who is the subject of vicious racism by the British and mistrusted by his fellow country people. Karanja’s good intentions are also fatally undermined, unbeknownst to him, by the fact that his father is secretly the leader of the local Mau Mau.

Science Fiction (Superversive SF): Cartwright’s Cavaliers takes place in a universe of relative anarchy, where a an interstellar Union rules with next to no laws. (The only one I can think of being mentioned is “Are you attacking a planet? Any ships involved in the fight can be no farther than ten miles up.”) Mercenary companies represent an enormous, galaxy wide industry, fighting for both defensive and offensive reasons, with some races more suited to the role than others. Earth, with its war-wracked past, produces some of the finest mercenary companies in the galaxy and 18-year old Jim Cartwright is the heir to one of the most famous of those groups, Cartwright’s Cavaliers.

Pulp Fiction (Pulp Net): While many may not be familiar with the name Johnson McCulley, we all probably know his most well-known character: Zorro. Zorro started off as a pulp character before moving to serials, movies, comics, and more. To keep things in context, Zorro was created in 1919, and if you read the first story, it seems clear that McCulley intended him to be a one-off character. When the 1920 movie came out, Zorro became very popular, and it wasn’t until 1922 that he followed up with the second Zorro novella, and the next didn’t appear until 1931!

Fiction (Black Gate): These days, in intersection with my Conan gaming (I enjoy both Monolith’s board game and Modiphius’s roleplaying game), I have been reading a lot of two things: weird fiction from the turn of last century into, maybe, the 1940s; and sword & sorcery — anything that, on its cover, features a muscled male wielding medieval weaponry — predominantly from the ‘70s or ‘80s.  These works offer various levels of quality. Early-last-century weird fiction is in a class of its own, and, though writers of that era freely borrowed tropes, themes and elements from each other (they very much appear to have been in conversation, literally or otherwise), the form of the weird tale is not as calcified as that of sword & sorcery appears to be by the ‘80s.

Fiction (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Jason M Waltz is the editor at Rogue Blades Entertainment, a company that focuses on action-driven Fantasy. His latest anthology is Death’s Sting—Where Art Thou? The book features Gothic Sword & Sorcery tales about immortals who return from Death, victorious over its sting—or horrifyingly despite! Inside this heroic anthology are stories featuring protagonists in the vein of Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane, Barry Sadler’s Casca, Steven Erikson’s Rhulad Sengar and Kallor, and Dennis O’Neil’s Rā’s al Ghūl. Dark tales of Death defeated, held at bay by willfulness, and desperately sought, its peace denied.

Tolkien (Jon Mollison): How am I just now learning about the Feanor Did Nothing Wrong memes? For those who don’t know, the story goes a little something like this: So the Valar (kind of like the gods of Middle-Earth, but maybe like archangels or something in-between) started out by making literal heaven for the elves, and they lit it with two magic trees.  An elf named Feanor caught the light and poured it and part of his essence into three amazing gems called the Silmarils.

Edgar Rice Burroughs (DMR Books): Edgar Rice Burroughs was born the son of a no-nonsense brigadier general for the Union Army who served during the Civil War. Ed’s father held a dim view of his young son’s imaginative musings–deeming all of it “lying”–and punished Ed for even entertaining such frivolous thoughts. Upon reaching adulthood, Burroughs knew the pain of failure after failure. Of not meeting his father’s expectations. He had gone out to work his brother’s ranch. He had chased Geronimo with the Seventh Cavalry. He sold pencil-sharpeners. None of it with notable success. Then, he sent “Under the Moons of Mars”–henceforth to be known for all eternity as A Princess of Mars–to All-Story Magazine… and the entire world changed.

Edgar Rice Burroughs (Frontier Partisans): Burroughs lays a stronger claim to Frontier Partisan lineage than just about any other writer. The man chased The Apache Kid while serving as a cavalryman in the Arizona Territory in the 1896. That’s right — while Frederick Russell Burnham was dueling with the Matabele in Rhodesia, Burroughs was riding the rough country chasing an Apache outlaw ghost. He was the real deal.

RPG (P. C. Bushi): When I started playing Dungeons & Dragons, the full Alignment Chart was the norm. Good vs Evil, Law vs Chaos.  Lawful Good was a straitlaced Bible Thumper (even though “Christian” wasn’t really a concept in the game), Chaotic Good was Robin Hood, Chaotic Evil was a serial killer, and Lawful Evil was Fascism. Law = Order, and Chaos = Randomness, in the way our group understood it.

Popular Culture (Mojo Bob): These are Topps Monster sticker designs from 1965, the artist being (probably) Basil Wolverton. I remember these sorts of things cropping up here and there in my youth; they were all part and parcel of the style that produced the Rat Fink hot-rod cartoons and the like. Somewhere in the AD&D DMG there are some random generation tables for creating demonic critters from the infinite planes of the Abyss. These guys would suit quite well as pictorial resources for the sort of nonsense that results from those tables.

Cinema (Blog That Time Forgot): Already folk are speculating over the meaning of Jurassic World: Dominion, which has supplanted Jurassic World: New Era. It isn’t the first time in the franchise we had such a significant name change: the Malusaurus became the Diabolus, which became the MURDERSAURUS Indominus we all know and hate. But it’s one that’s worth exploring.  Dominion itself is a fairly common word nowadays, but if you look, you can find all sorts of possible allusions.

H.P. Lovecraft (DMR Books): Like most stereotypes, this is generally true, but certainly not one hundred percent accurate. REH wrote some yarns where the protagonist–after witnessing unspeakable horrors–either died, went mad or killed himself. HPL penned some tales where his protagonists actively fought back, sometimes even winning–for now. Those are the Lovecraft stories I’ll look at today. I should note that much of the violence that takes place in the stories I’m examining occurs at–or near–the end of the tales in question.

RPG (Tenkars Tavern): Dear members of the Chaosium tribe, Many of you – like us – may be staying put at home over the coming weeks. We’re all in this together, and to help keep spirits up and minds occupied, the Chaosium team is working on some fun and engaging diversions we can enjoy while staying in, working-from-home, in quarantine, or in self-isolation. To start things off at #homewithchaosium, we’ve made the Gold ENnie award-winning Call of Cthulhu the Coloring Book available as a free download (FREE).

Detective Fiction (Pulp Net): I’ve posted several times about Solar Pons, a popular character inspired by Sherlock Holmes that was created by August Derleth, continued by Basil Copper and more recently by David Marcum. (I think calling him a pastiche doesn’t do him justice.) We’ve gotten reprints of the original works and collections of new stories, and now we get the return of the scholarly journal on Solar Pons: The Pontine Dossier.

Sensor Sweep: Solar Pons, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jurrasic Park, Topps Monster Stickers published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/