#okay but. /gen about this topic rq

[eatingbugsanddirt]

listen I dont follow the dsmp anymore and don't intend to get back into it but god that shit should have ended a long time ago. Not to say 'that shit' as in it's garbage, and not 'a long time ago' as in as soon as it started. I'm stating a neutral fact. This series, and I dont know when's the right time, should have been concluded a whiiiiiiile back. Please. Please dear god. From the standpoint of building a solid narrative, holy shit.

It happens pretty frequently in media that forcing something to continue for the sake of milking its content, no matter how much the fans want it, will kill the series, the franchise, the creative work, whatever the fuck said media is. Superfans will keep watching it for the title it has and the characters it manages to retain, but even they understand a lot of times that what they're watching isn't what it used to be. Whether that be because content has actually changed, or the production has simply gone on for too long or become lackluster.

Think The Adventure Zone: Balance. I'm NOT talking about the quality of one story versus another, but just how that quality was improved with how one handled its ending. Balance was and is a series people adored, characters people adored, a setting and story people adored. Sure, it had to take some time to pick up and fully realize what it was, but it created a narrative, and it ended definitely at episode 69 (nice). Afterwards, Balance continued, not in its main plot, but as fan content, as one-shots during live shows, as mentions from the creators, as a graphic novel series and a board game and a campaign setting and, possibly, maybe an animated series at one point. But all of these things are either an extension of Balance's true story or a transfer of its story into different media.

The show Centaurworld was so much fun and had so much color, but it had a story, and it ended, after only two seasons. The show Gravity Falls eventually got a solid grasp on where it was headed, fulfilled that path, then ended, after only two seasons (and Alex has told his fans not to worry about it being 'canceled' - because it never was.) The webcomic Snarlbear, however small of a piece of the internet it was, and however short it was in and of itself, was beautiful, and it had a story, and it ended.

Do that, please? This is mostly guided towards independent creators and storytellers, but popular media too. I won't touch on the MCU in fear of being grabbed by the throat and shook around, byt if you want to continue to 1) monetize or 2) give fans the official content that they love straight from the creators' hands, do so by continuation or replication in different forms AFTER the story has actually concluded.

I'd also like to add that a story that is short and neat does not equal a good, complete story. If your story takes more content to tell, takes more time or breaks for hiatuses in between, requires a couple of different attempts to get it just right, or if your story is -> NOT COMPLETE YET <-, you don't have to end it for the sake of simplicity! Don't cut yourself short! Complicated stories are worthwhile ones too! But there are some times where it's pretty damn obvious that something is being shredded to its last thread and unraveled and torn apart and perversed to such an extent that the new content is an obliged, forced, awkward attempt at bringing back the spark of what it used to be.

Your story doesn't have to be simpsons-long to please the crowd. I promise. You're doing yourself a disservice.

anyway kill dream or w/e is happening right now and cut this thing off god fuck. It's gonna slowly fizzle out and everyone who still enjoys the series will leave or drift away unsatisfied.