#the movie was awesome and I don’t mind it being original rather than adapting canon material

[nekoprankster218]

My heart was literally throbbing in the theater for Hiiro and Towa, I love their relationship…

It’s not often that a ship makes me feel so much, and they’re also great as individuals too. Rlly hoping they make more appearances in other Tensura content. At the very least I hope the fandom doesn’t sleep on ‘em so I can still see them live on in fan works.

[preserving-ferretbrain]

Not Exactly T.H. White

by Viorica

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Viorica's review of the BBC's cracktastic Merlin.~

After what might be called a bitter breakup with BBC’s Robin Hood, I promised myself that I’d avoid any further TV shows that were more enjoyable for their badness than their quality. So when the majority of my Livejournal friendslist began squeeing over Merlin, I swore I’d avoid the temptation. No matter how shiny and cracky and homoerotic it appeared, I was not going to watch it, because I knew that if I did I’d be sucked into shiny-cracky-homoerotic-bad TV land. But eventually the temptation grew too strong, and I downloaded the first season to watch over Christmas break. I expected bad special effects; I got that. I expected inaccuracy; I got that in droves. I expected mediocre writing and acting, and I got . . . something else.

If you assumed from the title of the show that Merlin is based on Arthurian legends, you’d be better off abandoning that idea right now. The series revolves around a teenage boy named - you guessed it - Merlin who is sent to live at the court of Camelot by his mother, because he’s manifested magical powers, and she has an old friend, Gaius who lives at Camelot and who is better equipped to train Merlin than she is. Unfortunately for Merlin, magic is outlawed in Camelot, and has been since the birth of Prince Arthur about twenty years earlier. Yes, Merlin and Arthur and the same age, and that’s only the beginning of the divergence from the original stories. Merlin manages to land a job as Arthur’s manservant, much to Arthur’s chagrin, as Merlin has a tendency to call Arthur out on his bullshit. From there on in, it’s up to Merlin to protect Arthur from various pissed-off sorcerers (Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon has ordered all magic-users burned at the stake, which has naturally rubbed them up the wrong way) while simultaneously trying to hide his own powers and protect innocent people from Uther’s wrath. He’s helped by Guinevere, aka Gwen, a maid at the castle, and her mistress Morgana, Uther’s ward, who disagrees with his policies. Merlin is also mentored by a dragon being held prisoner under the castle, who has an irritating tendency to intone “Protecting Arthur is your destiny, Merlin!” at least once an episode.

If you think it sounds cheesy, you’re completely right. It’s intended as a kid’s show, and filmed with the audience in mind - despite the rather high amounts of violence (at least one person dies per episode) the camera always cuts away from the nasty stuff. The main conflict is Merlin’s need to hide the fact that he has magical powers, and the fact that this keeps conflicting with his need to protect Arthur, which obviously has no basis whatsoever in Arthurian legend, but then neither does anything else. As the series progresses, Arthur and Merlin’s relationship evolves from that of mutual resentment to comfortable partnership, and eventually friendship (which comes off as very, very very homoerotic, probably due to the fact that it involves a lot of hugging and acts of unwavering devotion. The cynical part of me thinks that the writers are playing to the crowd.) The actors playing Merlin and Arthur are actually quite good, and what they bring to their roles - quiet goodness in Colin Morgan’s case and brash testosterone in Bradley James’s - helps establish the boys as genuinely likeable people, struggling to figure out their place in the world. Angel Coulby is incredibly sweet as shy, blushing Gwen, who spends most of her time trying to make everyone as happy as possible. The weak link in the cast is Katie McGrath, who plays Morgana with a maximum of two facial expressions: smug and perturbed. The older actors are obviously having fun with their roles, and bringing some gravitas to the characters as well - Anthony Stewart Head’s Uther is unlikeable by virtue of his actions (this is, after all, a man who ordered all magicians put to death over a mistake he made) but thanks to Stewart Head’s talent, you can see a bit of humanity shining through from behind the throne. Richard Wilson’s Gaius is your standard mentor/father figure, with a dry sense of humour that managed to make me laugh at least once an episode. John Hurt voiced the Dragon, and there really isn’t much to say about his performance - given the fact that all he gets to do is blather about destiny, there isn’t much room to stretch. The guest stars are touch-and-go - Santiago Cabrera, who played Lancelot, was absolutely awful, while Asa Butterfield was suitably creepy as an eight-year-old Mordred. No one is giving Lawrence Olivier a run for his money, but they’re a very talented bunch, especially considering that most of them haven’t hit thirty yet.

I’m not entirely sure what I expected from the writing. Before watching it, I’d heard the show referred to “crappy tweenager fantasy” so I assumed it’d be a lot of rambling about Destiny and True Love and The Power of Friendship. While that is included (see my note on the Dragon of Destiny) it’s not as wearing as you might expect, mostly because the characters point out the stupidity of doing something because it’s My Destiny at least once an episode. No one wants to watch a show about people who do things because they’re told; most of the struggles come from Merlin and his friends struggling with the expectations they’re being held up to versus their own inherent sense of what’s right. My personal favourite episode revolves around a young boy who Uther wants to execute because he’s a Druid-in-training. Merlin, who obviously takes the stance that killing innocent children is wrong, enlists Morgana’s help to hide the boy, and Arthur’s to smuggle him out of Camelot. For this he is repeatedly chastised by the Dragon, because the boy is eventually going to kill Arthur. Merlin and co say “Screw this” and smuggle the boy away to his own people. At the end of the episode (spoilers, obviously) Arthur asks for his name, and the child replies “Mordred.” It’s a deliciously eerie moment (helped out by Mordred’s creepy stare) and an interesting message about Destiny v. Free Will: the choices of Merlin and his friends will make or break Camelot, but it’s up to them to decide what it’s worth. Fortunately, not all of the destiny-related storylines are that gloomy. For example, one of the show’s most endearing points is the relationship between Merlin and Arthur, which begins with Merlin flat-out chastising Arthur for taunting a servant. Although Merlin is repeatedly pushed towards the prince by the dragon (for this reason, he’s acquired the fandom nickname “Slash Dragon”) their relationship eventually becomes that of friends. When Merlin goes to protect Arthur at the potential expense of his own life, he’s doing it out of affection for the prince rather than a sense of duty, and that - the inherent nobility of the main cast - is a big part of what makes the show so endearing.

There is, of course, the problem of the show’s title, which I’ll have to address or risk this article becoming unadulterated gushing. I’m not especially familiar with Arthurian legend - I know the basics, and I’m about thirty pages into The Once and Future King, but I’m far from an expert - but from what I do know, I honestly can’t understand why they decided to tack the name “Merlin” on it at all. There are references to “canon”, such as it is - in one episode, Arthur is wounded by the Questing Beast - but overall, it plays out like an original story with occasional allusions to Thomas Malory or T.H. White. As I’ve said, it’s good enough to stand on its own, and I think the attempts at labelling it an Arthurian adaptation are going to be detrimental in the long run. Instead of being remembered as a well-written original series, it’s going to end up being dismissed as “that crappy Arthurian adaptation that screwed up the stories”. Actually, the fact that they felt the need to try and slap the name of a pre-existing story on it kind of makes me sad, because it implies that they felt they couldn’t market an original series, and that’s just depressing. Aside from the rage-inducing potential for Arthurian enthusiasts, there’s some holes in the writing - in one episode Morgana says that Gaius has been caring for her since before she can remember, then later claims that she came to live in Camelot when she was ten, implying either than she has long-term memory loss or that someone didn’t proofread closely enough. Still, the small slipups aren’t enough to detract from a genuinely enjoyable show. And if all else fails, you can always hit mute and enjoy the eye candy.Themes:

TV & Movies

~

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Wardog

at 10:16 on 2009-01-14Hello, welcome - and thank you for this wonderful review. I no longer need feel ashamed of my secret love for Merlin. When it first came on, I dismissed it after about 10 ten minutes (Uther's first 'by the way, this is the backplot' speech didn't help) but a few weeks later my LJ friendslist also exploded with squee and joy, so I gave it another go and, lo, it was simultaneously awesome and awful and utterly utterly watchable.

You're absolutely right about Morganna not being quite up to speed on, y'know, this 'acting' thing ... but she is very, very beautiful, so I don't mind. And the dragon is a bit repetative, despite being voiced by John Hurt.

The weird thing is I don't really get any slashy kind of vibe from Arthur and Merlin, despite the fact that these two boys finding friendship and making sacrifices for each other ought to be very homoerotic. I suppose I find it slashy in principle but there isn't much a spark between the actors (I mean in terms of teh gay) to make it stick. Possibly I am just missing.

As you say in your conclusion I do find Merlin's status as an adaption interesting - I actually rather enjoyed the complete lack of respect with which they treated the mythos, once I got over myself about it. The Arthurian background does give it all a familiarity and a resonance that might have been lacking if it was just Generic Fantasy Story About Friendship and Valour. Although it is a bit dodgy I have come to think the Arthurian dimension does add something - there's always something joyous about watching people play in the paddling pool of literature and start a water fight.

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Rami

at 10:49 on 2009-01-14Yay! I somewhat guiltily enjoyed Merlin myself, including the not-quite-aside allusions to actual canon / legend (the court genealogist appears to be Geoffrey of Monmouth ;-)). Arthurian legend, historically, has been pretty flexible and as far as I know there isn't any real canon — so I'm all in favor of going in a new direction with it, and I'm quite willing to forgive the writers for taking advantage of all the gravitas and popular awareness that Arthur's story gives you. As you said, that moment when the little Druid boy tells Arthur his name is eerie -- but it would have been meaningless if it hadn't been Mordred talking to Arthur, and / or you didn't know who Mordred and Arthur were.

About the cast — Anthony Head and Richard Wilson are brilliant, of course, I can't disagree, but I have to admit I don't share your reservations about Katie McGrath. (But maybe that's because of the eye-candy factor.)

Perhaps it's my lack of slash goggles but I don't see the "very, very homoerotic" between Merlin and Arthur? I wonder if it's just 21st-century cynicism that makes "heartfelt and sincere" have to mean "Twu Wuv"?

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Rami

at 10:52 on 2009-01-14Oh God Kyra and I have just posted very nearly the same comment.

Resistance is futile

I mean, no, FerretBrain doesn't have a "Collective Consciousness" feature...

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Wardog

at 12:06 on 2009-01-14You will be assimilated....

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Viorica

at 22:18 on 2009-01-14I suppose the slash question depends on what you go in expecting. I was told repeatedly before ever watching it that the boys were the slashiest slashy things that were ever slashed, so I went in with slash goggles firmly strapped on. And I suppose there's an interesting study to be done on the way men show affection v. the way women do and how it's interpreted by outside observers . . . but as far as fandom's concernd, it's all about the pretty and the gay.

As for Katie McGrath, she is pretty, but there's always this irritating feeling that I'd like the character so much more if she could emote properly. As it is, she tends to grate.

Apropos of nothing, have you watched the video diaries? They're screamingly hilarious, and both Bradley James and Colin Morgan act uncannily like their characters. It's a little creepy . . .

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Wardog

at 11:35 on 2009-01-15That's the thing, although I'm not a slasher myself, I do occasionally find myself on the outskirts of fandom enough to have some slash goggles of my own. I was prepared for slash, I looked for slash, I saw ... the motions of slash ... but I didn't *feel* the slash. Sometimes there's a genuine spark between actors or something about the way a relationship is portrayed that makes me secretly believe something could conceivably be going on between them. I was re-watching DS9 (sad bastard that I am) recently and, despite knowing not a damn thing about the DS9 fandom, I became immediately and increasingly convinced that Sisko and Dukat were having incredibly hot hatesex... (Dan holds out for Dax/Kira girlsex, however, - they are certainly very giggly together).

I watched some of the video diaries - Bradley James is so adorably silly. I mean this in a maternal way, not a sick way. I particularly liked his musing on the cockatrice.

By the way, I meant to ask, what caused things to sour with Robin Hood? I never watched it so...

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Gina Dhawa

at 16:04 on 2009-01-16

Arthurian legend, historically, has been pretty flexible and as far as I know there isn't any real canon — so I'm all in favor of going in a new direction with it ... that moment when the little Druid boy tells Arthur his name is eerie -- but it would have been meaningless if it hadn't been Mordred talking to Arthur, and / or you didn't know who Mordred and Arthur were.

This is my justification for liking

Merlin

the way it is. T.H. White took some pretty big liberties along the way (though if you're thirty pages in, I won't spoil that), as have any of the people who have written the story down over the years. The trouble is convincing people there's not really a canon to be followed, that if you take the earliest versions of the stories and put them to what you might find in a modern collection, there are so many differences that you might think you weren't reading the same story at all.

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Viorica

at 19:51 on 2009-01-16Well, it could be argued that there are some basic plot foundations- Merlin being Arthur's mentor, Guinevere as his wife (though they still have time to do that), Morgana being his half-sister, etc. I think the reason some people don't like it is because they grew up on "The Sword and the Stone", so the show is effectively stomping on their childhood memories. I don't have any such memories to get stomped on, so it doesn't bug me.

Re: Robin Hood. It started out as silly fun, but it as it went on, you realized that the people running the show didn't know or care what they were doing. There were no efforts at making the costumes or scenery look nice, and virtually none of the characters were likeable, or even tolerable. Their Robin is the kind of guy who whines at an ex-girlfriend for "betraying" him when she's forced into marriage with another man. The urge to punch the title character in the face was stronger than any desire to keep watching.

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Sonia Mitchell

at 22:16 on 2009-01-16Great article. I didn't catch all the episodes, but definitely enjoyed the ones I did see. I like your point about the gravitas the older actors bring, particularly Head (in what could have been a pretty thankless role given his character's lack of humour).

Interesting discussion about the appropriate amount of reverence for the source material, too. I quite like the way Merlin did it, with plenty there for people who do know a bit about Arthurian legend but not so much you know for sure what's going to happen. I never saw Smallville, but I think of Merlin in much the same way - you know what happens down the line, but these are the gaps in between. And knowing what lies ahead is an interesting experience, because you're watching for it and everyone involved in the show knows you are (of the ones I saw, Lancelot's episode was the most willing to play with this).

It's also pretty dangerous, of course, because unless they're willing to go down the rejected destiny road the main young characters all have to live. I think they've got a nice balance - there's plenty of peril, but the real danger is more often disgrace than death (though I missed the last few episodes, so for all I know there was a dramatic and bloody finale).

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Viorica

at 01:30 on 2009-01-17There was *almost* a dramatic and bloody finale, but it was averted. You should really watch to see why, though- that episode actually managed to make me tear up a bit.

"Great article."

Thanks!

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Rami

at 12:44 on 2009-01-17I never saw Smallville, but I think of Merlin in much the same way

Yes! It's not all that different in many ways -- Smallville takes a lot of liberties with Superman canon (Lex Luthor and Clark Kent being friends, for instance), and I guess one of the reasons that it's more or less accepted is that Superman canon has been retconned so many times nobody's sure what *is* canon anymore. I think much the same is true for Arthurian legend ;-)

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Arthur B

at 15:05 on 2009-01-17I think in comics continuity Lex Luthor and Clark Kent

were

friends until Clark mistakes a controlled explosion in Lex's lab for an actual fire, and horribly injures Lex as he tries to put it out.

Six nerd points for me.

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Wardog

at 19:39 on 2009-01-17I have come late to the party...

The trouble is convincing people there's not really a canon to be followed...

I think this really nails the issue; perhaps, for a lot of people T.H.White is "canon", although it's Roger Lancelyn Green for me, personally - I have no idea who that guy is but basically every book available for kids about anything vaguely mythic, Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Celtic, was written, semi-turgidly, by this dude. Anyway, what I've got distracted from saying here is: a lot of those things we associate with the Arthur Legend today have very little in common with the early source material. Guinevere is barely in Malory - he just wasn't into chicks - and there's a sense that a lot of her bad press comes from the fact he decided to situate the fall of his macho martial ideal in damn women with their lack of appreciation for war, dammit, war. There's very little actually 'romantic' about Le Morte.

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Wardog

at 19:43 on 2009-01-17Also I am now definitely avoiding Robin Hood. I heard it was rubbish but fun, but that sounds like it's moved into "just plain rubbish" territory.

[echodrops]

Louie x webby? (Ducktales reboot)

(I’m going to answer some for the series I haven’t seen in one post because I’ve got so many in the inbox now I’ll never catch up otherwise. I still have a lot of these to go and I will be getting to them over the next week–thankfully I’m caught up on grading so life is good!)

vomit / don’t ship / okay / cute / adorable / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

I theoretically knew there was a Duck Tales reboot because of the KH UX medals lol but I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet. Nevertheless, this seems really cute–I like Webby’s redesign. The character looks more modern and more like a main character now, and I like the nod to Daisy’s design too. She seems like she’s a lot more fleshed out as a character now, rather than just being the girl of the team? (It’s been a long time since I watched Duck Tales, but I feel like I recall her not having as much impact/being as cool as the boys back then.)

In any case, this ship seems really cute!

Putting the rest under a cut to avoid stretching people’s dashes:

vomit / don’t ship / okay / cute / I don’t even know?? / adorable / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

South Park started airing just before I went into middle school, but even though I was getting to almost teenage, my parents were pretty aggressive about monitoring what I watched, so I was never allowed to watch this show in its early years, and by the time I reached high school and would have been able to watch it, my edgy “I want to watch the adult shows” phase was pretty much long over and the drive to watch the show never caught me. I’ve only ever caught a handful of South Park episodes here and there when others were watching it or something. From what I’ve seen it can be quite funny; I just never got the energy to catch up with all of it.

I heard Tweek and Craig became an actual canon thing through tumblr, and my dash was a wall of people drawing Creek fanarts for a while there. But I wasn’t sure if it was a “Hey, we’re putting in gay characters because we want to offend homophobes” or a “Hey, we’re putting in gay characters because we want to make fun of gay people” so I kind of just enjoyed the cute fanarts and then went on with my life.

But hey, the fanarts for this ship are super cute. I hope it stays a positive thing for the fandom!

vomit / don’t ship / okay / cute / adorable / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

Shit, I guess now I have to admit that I haven’t actually see Castle in the Sky. I really like Studio Ghibli, and My Neighbor Totoro, which my parents took me to see in the theatre when I was little, was basically the formative experience that kicked off my love of animation that has persisted today, but I haven’t actually had the means/time to sit down and watch some of the Ghibli classics that I missed over the years. I’m a big fan of Whisper of the Heart, The Cat Returns, Princess Mononoke, etc. but I haven’t sat down and watched Castle in the Sky or Nausicaä. I know, I know, you can shame me.

Still, it’s a Ghibli movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki, so I think I can guess what this ship is like–lots of mutually supportive loyalty, putting their friend’s happiness first, and helping each other fight for what’s right while being generally adorable children together? Okay, I pronounce this ship good in all ways.

vomit / don’t ship / okay / cute / adorable / What is this show, I’ve never even heard of it??? / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

True story, I had to look this up because I knew that the whole Nadia thing sounded familiar but it took me a while to realize I was thinking of the video game and that I actually had no clue there even was an anime before it. My mind is super blown. This anime looks rad as hell–it’s probably not weird of me to say that I feel like shows from earlier decades took way more risks and did way more out there stuff than shows today? I’m so tired of trite harem animes in comparison to anime that apparently relate to Jules Verne novels and have characters from Africa? Sign me up.

I watched a couple Jean/Nadia AMVs while looking for info on this series and oh my goodness they look so adorable. I love 90s anime, everyone was just so much cuter and sweeter back then. XDD I’m putting this on a to watch list ASAP. Um… if I can find the whole thing.

vomit / don’t ship / okay / cute / adorable / My tragedy senses are tingling / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

All right, some of y’all out here are watching some really classy shit in comparison to me. @_@ We go from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to the Count of Monte Cristo? I feel like I’ve been missing out on a whole vein of classic literature anime adaptations. Next you’re going to tell me there’s Shakespearean anime OH WAIT–in any case, knowing how things go with the Count of Monte Cristo, I was already like “Is this ship really going to turn out all right?” and then I made the mistake of reading that shipping wiki and lordy guys, why you gotta do this to me? I won’t ruin it for anyone else who hasn’t seen this series but mannnnn, it’s a good thing I eat up tragic drama like nobody’s business. Ships that hurt are still good ships!!

Gonna put this one on the watch list too.

vomit / don’t ship / okay / cute / adorable / The plot summary of this series is wild / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

So there really is a Shakespearean anime??? Okay, to be fair, I actually knew about this one, at least on the peripherals of my attention. It’s probably pretty bad of me to admit this, as a professor of English, but I’ve never been a very big fan of British literature, so Shakespeare is often hit or miss for me–it’s better seen performed than read. I probably wouldn’t have naturally sought out a Romeo and Juliet anime on my own, but after reading the plot summary of this, I’m just like… “Wait, whatttt???” Space fantasy Romeo and Juliet with vigilante Juliet??? This sounds awesome, what the hell.

Star-crossed lovers gets me all the time, and of course I love political intrigue. Not to mention I am all about that red-headed anime warrior girl trope not because my own hair is long and red or anything, nope not at all.

This seems very cool and different enough from the original story to distinguish it from other adaptations. I just have one question though… do they both still die at the end???

[plumbobpost]

Fanfic Friday: Spotlight on Skell’s Fortune & Romance

Sul sul!

Today Week of Woohoo continues with a very special twist. I have had the opportunity to ask Skell a few questions as part of a new series of posts about storytelling in The Sims community.

Skell’s Fortune & Romance serves as a prequel to the Pleasantview and Strangetown storylines in The Sims 2 from the perspectives of the Caliente sisters, hence the title which references their aspirations. Her story takes place in the time period between the first and second games and fills in the gaps between the contradicting timelines of The Sims, The Sims 2, and The Sims 3. Although the story is largely from Dina’s perspective, it features most of the iconic The Sims 2 characters ranging from Olive Specter to the Tricous to Bella and Mortimer Goth, establishing its own vivid mythology in the process.

In addition to writing, Skell has also created beautiful Maxis-Match content for The Sims 2 and is a frequent contributor to the Totally Maxis Tumblr and the fansite Garden of Shadows.

Without further ado, I’ll let Skell speak for herself.

You’ve said in the past that Fortune & Romance started out as your attempt to make sense of Maxis canon for the premade characters of Neighborhood 1, Pleasantview, and Sunset Valley. How did this evolve from your personal headcanons into a full-fledged story?

“I had played TS2 off and on for years before I was part of the fandom, mostly just goofing around but I had a lot of fun taking pictures and experimenting with posing. One day I discovered Strangetomato’s “Strangetown Here We Come” on TVtropes and was amazed at the way she fleshed out the premade stories from the game. Through her comment section, I discovered the whole fandom and started paying better attention to the premades. Eventually I came up with a backstory for Dina that I really wanted to write and share.”

Why did you choose Nina and Dina Caliente to be your protagonists? Did you ever consider different lead characters?

“It was always gonna be Dina because I was intrigued her backstory with the mysteriously inconsistent Michael Bachelor and the fact that she’s part alien. I wasn’t as interested in Nina until I noticed that she was shy (like me in RL) and also autonomously beating people up all the time. That’s when I realized she was gonna be a co-star and balance to Dina’s antics.”

Instead of ignoring Maxis’ characterization of Dina as a gold digger, you embraced it and made it a focal point of her character. Similarly, you fully acknowledge Nina’s romance aspiration while not making her a heartbreaker. How did you find a balance between their implied “villainy” in The Sims 2 and making them more sympathetic characters?

“I enjoy classic movies where Marilyn Monroe or Thoroughly Modern Millie is like “teehee I’m gonna marry a millionaire,” and it’s quirky rather than villainous. In those stories, she usually falls for a poor guy and chooses love over money (and often he turns out to be secretly rich.) Since Michael didn’t give her a “married a rich sim” memory, I wanted to write Dina the gold-digger as a modern version of that kind of story.”

“Maxis kind of setup Romance sims for “villainy” by not allowing for casual or open relationships, but of course that can be fixed with mods. With Nina, it’s interesting that she doesn’t really fit the “outgoing party girl” type. I think of her as a quiet person with a very intense energy. She needs lots of exercise and woohoo so that she doesn’t explode.”

There are a lot of unconventional relationships in your story. Nina and Servo. Olive and Ichabod. The Tricous. Even Dina and Michael. That being said, there is very definitely a theme of “love conquers all.” What motivated your approach to these relationships? How does that relate back to your attempts at reconciling Maxis canon throughout different games?

“I have a thing for mixed supernatural relationships. Dina and Mike bonding over their hidden supernatural heritages was always key once I figured Michael had a magic side. I knew I wanted to have Nina be intimate with a servo because that’s HAWT, but I didn’t foresee how intimate things would get until I figured out Servo’s character. The Tricous’ happy polyamory was my explanation for all the weirdness going on with their relationships and family tree. And I wanted Olive, Ichabod, and DJ make up this very loving and weirdly “normal” Unholy Family.”

Speaking of reconciling Maxis canon, you created your own version of Michael Bachelor in order to match his appearance in The Sims better and to create a resemblance between him and his famous sister, Bella Goth. Why do you think Michael was depicted so differently throughout the first three games? What did you draw inspiration from in creating “The Ultimate Michael Bachelor?”

“I think it mostly comes down to them wanting to use a familiar name for Bella’s brother/Dina’s husband in TS2, and carrying that forward. In TS3, I saw a boy who had his life all planned out for him by his father. In my headcanon, he screwed that all up and became the graduate of TS1 who had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. His relationship to Bella is the reason why he’s still single by the time he reconnects with Dina, who helps him find direction.”

There is an abundance of strong female characters in F&R, some of which were not originally portrayed that way. Why did you feel that it was important to write them as such?

“Well, because I’m a proud “SJW,” of course! But seriously, it’s less about being strong and more about seeing them as people?”

^Best answer that I could have asked for.

A large portion of Fortune & Romance is dedicated to the mythology of The Sims universe(s) and to supernatural sims. How did you go about the process of world building? Did you draw inspiration from different games in the series and/or from outside sources?

“My biggest worldbuilding is the explanation of where the supernaturals came from. The fairies are sort of fallen angel types who each have an animal form, and their magic rubbed off on human sims to create the supernatural life states.”

“I try to base the worldbuilding off things in game or aspects of game play. The fairy backstory was heavily inspired by fairy tales, in the way they morally test humans for punishment or guidance.”

Aside from premade supernatural sims such as the Smiths, Calientes, and Summerdreams, how did you go about deciding which premade sims were supernatural and which weren’t? How did you decide what life state they were?

“Bella has that awesome bio about being descended from “occultists, decadents, and mystics,” but then in TS3 the Bachelor family is uber-normal, so it eventually became that Jocasta is a squirellier version of Samantha from Betwitched.”

How has Fortune & Romance evolved since you started? Are there things you would do differently if you were to restart it?

“I was such a younger, different person when I started it, and yes there are many things I would do differently. (Michael’s skintone, for example. I tried to split difference between games with a custom skintone in between S2 and S3, but everyone assumes he was whitewashed to S2.)”

“When recreating families for TS4 I came up with a backstory for Dulcinea and Nestor’s relationship as well as a backstory for Don that explains how he got to be the way he is. I still can incorporate these things, but it would have been nice to bring them in earlier.”

With your story having reached a climax, many readers are wondering whether or not F&R will come to an end sooner rather than later. Not to spoil anything, but will the story continue after the party and if so, do you intend for it to last until the events of The Sims 2?

“I never intended for it to last until the events of TS2 because then it would be really depressing. There is more stuff planned for after the party though!”

Aside from writing Fortune & Romance, you have also created a variety of Maxis-match custom content. Why do you prefer working in this aesthetic? How do you feel it complements your writing?

“The game is cartoony, and I like to use that style to tell the story. I prefer to keep things heightened and silly rather than realistic, which very much fits into The Sims aesthetic.”

Speaking of Maxis-match, you have been working on a project for The Sims 2 that involves adapting Maxis-based custom content to blend in better with the game files. Would you mind elaborating a bit on The Maxis Match Repository Project?

“The TS2 repository project is made up of conversions/separates/or otherwise adapted Maxis which pull their textures from the ones that are already in your game, rather than creating new ones. This makes the files much much tinier. I also wanted to create a catalog where you can easily find it all in one place rather than hunt all over the internet. Check it out and don’t miss out on the gems in the back of your catalog!”

You’ve played every main game in The Sims franchise, and you’ve even made some very popular 2t4 recreations of the Calientes and Michael Bachelor. Do you have a favorite game for playing? Creating sims? Making Content? Building?

“I enjoy a lot of things about TS4. The game looks great and CAS and Build Mode are the best of any game. My favorite aspect is making sims, especially that you can share sims with traits/careers/skills so they have their own little story packaged with them. However, it is much more difficult for storytelling since there’s not even a way to pick up sims and move them around.”

“TS2 is still the best as far as premade sims go, and it’s the only one I make content for. I’m a bit of a control freak with my sims, and TS2 has been mastered by fans at this point where you can have ultimate control.”

Why do you continue to play The Sims? Do you feel that the games provide a creative outlet?

“I always loved playing with Barbies as a kid and The Sims really is the ultimate dollhouse. The first time I ever heard about TS1 I knew I HAD to have it. My aunt bought it for me while I was on vacation, but I couldn’t play it until we got home! During the car ride back home and I read that manual from cover to cover multiple times, so many ideas buzzing in my head.”

Any parting comments, teasers, spoilers, public service announcements, etc.?

“I’ve been on hiatus a long while and am just now getting back into the swing of things. I’m currently working on finishing up the chapter I started posting on Tumblr but never finished. It was FreddyAirmail who got me back in the TS2 spirit by asking me to help out with the Crystal Springs neighborhood project. It’s a community hood with houses based on each of the Stuff Packs, and I made the families for Teen Style and Family Fun!”

Thanks again to Skell for answering my questions. To those of you out there who aren’t familiar with her work, go check out her Tumblr and make sure to catch up on Fortune & Romance.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to visit my ask box. If you are interested, give Plumbob Post a follow, and reblog for anyone else who you think would enjoy this blog. Stay tuned for upcoming posts!

Dag dag!

 *Photo Credits go to Skell*

[queenoflit97]

Titans

.........Alright, let's talk.

This show had a bumpy start. Complaints ranged from why Gar isn't green, to the casting of Kory Anders/Koriand'r/Starfire. And of course we can't forget about the wardrobe complaints from season 1. The show was judged before most people even had a chance to watch it. And I'll be honest I did pass some judgement before I initially saw it, but my views have since changed. Then, after season 2 was announced and a trailer was released everyone was excited. Saying how it looked much better than season 1 and the characters looked better. But once we got season 2, the criticisms came back. While some of them are warranted such as certain parts of the finale, it seems as though some people continuously look over all the good parts of this show as well as forgetting other things.

1. ADAPTATIONS

First thing we have to remember is that this show is an adaptation just like every other tv show/movie involving these characters. And they aren't all the same. A lot of people assume that the animated teen titans series that ran on cartoon network from 2003-2006 is the og, but actually the original characters of the teen titans were created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. The New Teen Titans comic series is the og that was adapted into various media we know today, teen titans, young justice, teen titans Judas contract, justice league vs teen titans, etc. Now the live action adaptation is quite different from the others. The first major difference is that we're shown Dick Grayson's life after first stepping away from batman. Second, the titans aren't a team yet, at least the characters we associate with this team. Third, Beast Boy and Raven don't have a full grasp on their powers and thus aren't those heroes yet, just Gar and Rachel. Fourth, Starfire's introduction. And fifth, Cyborg is not part of the team (this is because by the time they cast jovian wade for the role it was already too late to introduce him in titans). But out of all the characters, Rachel Roth/Raven is the most different because rather than being born on azarath and having knowledge and control of her powers, she's a girl that was raised on earth having no knowledge of her demon heritage or powers, only that there's a darkness inside her. Now, first thing I would like to point out is that the writers didn't just pull the name Rachel Roth out of nowhere. It's actually a canon alias that Raven has used in a few iterations of teen titans comics, and particularly the one that the writers are pulling from for the show. Second thing I'd like to point out, Gar not being green doesn't make him any less beast boy. Ryan Potter had been asked this question a lot and said that he isn't green because he isn't beast boy yet. He explained that his character is in a gray area in terms of his powers and his backstory and that it would be explained in future seasons. Back to Raven, while she has no knowledge of her powers and heritage at first, we find out later that her mother is STILL Angela and she is STILL the daughter of interdimentional demon Trigon. However a lot of us were hoping for some mention of Azarath and the iconic Azarath Metrion Zinthos in season 2, but alas she was shipped to themyscira (more on this later). Lastly, the team in general didn't only consist of Robin/Nightwing, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg. There were countless members including Wonder Girl, Hawk and Dove, Aqualad and many others. I know y'all want to see the core four, but remember the teen titans were never just those specific characters. Conclusion? This live action adaptation is just that, an adaptation.

2. Not All Bad?

The positives of this show are more often than not overlooked, as a lot of people point out it's negatives. And that saddens me. I feel that this show has great potential, despite it's flaws. I can see that the writers want to develop and flesh out all these characters, but they're doing it in such a way that is a bit too slow for some people. I can also see that the writers struggled at first, trying to find a good balance of action and drama. It's still not great, but I believe it will improve. I believe the show as a whole will improve as we move into the third season.

3. Season Three Info

-Starfire will appear in every episode this season and will have plenty of screentime along with a new look and abillites: I have nothing to say on this seeing as we all want this.

-Dick will have a lot of weight off his shoulders this season. He will resume his role as the Leader where he directs the team and leads the fights: This will be nice to see.

-Rachel will have a small arc on Themyscira for the first bit of the season before returning to be with the team: Alright, a lot of people had mixed feelings about Rachel leaving for themyscira. Some found it confusing, others said it was just plain stupid and most felt like it didn't make sense. While this was definitely an interesting decision, I wouldn't say it was a bad thing. Some feel as though they're erasing an integral part of Raven's character as they still haven't made any mention of Azarath or the iconic Azarath Metrion Zinthos. But just because they haven't done it yet, doesn't mean they won't do it at all. I just can't see the writers erasing something that important from her character.

-Gar will deal with the aftermath and trauma of his time at CADMUS. He will learn to control his powers better and turn into new animals: Another thing we all want to see. I feel the writers will dedicate more than one episode to this issue. I mean they have to. As for his powers, while yes he seemingly forgot he turned into a snake in s2 ep1, I think it has something to do with the mental block he has up. Because as we know he's only comfortable turning into a tiger and explains his powers as being able to turn into a tiger. That mental block is preventing him from exploring his powers further. But I believe it will come down in season three. As for controlling his powers, maybe that's a hint that he isn't fully healed from being mind controlled.

-The Titans will be operating as an actual team this season: Not much on this either as I am confident that we'll get some awesome scenes from this.

-Connor will be learning more about himself this season and learning to use his powers better: Yeah he's a new character, but he didn't learn much in season two about how to really use his powers and I feel his character deserves this.

-Roy Harper/Arsenal: This character may very well appear in season three. Another thing a lot of us want, despite protests to not add anymore new characters.

(The bolded information above was obtained from a Twitter account belonging to Vullein)

4. Conclusion

The writers DO hear us. They pay attention and listen to ALL of our critisisms, ESPECIALLY the ones aimed at the s2 finale. I believe the writers, cast, and crew work their asses off. This show may have bumps, hiccups, and flaws, but it doesn't take away from its positive aspects, at least in my opinion. Others may think differently and that's okay. I just wanted to point out a few things for you guys to remember before we head into season three this fall.