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s10127470 · 4 months ago

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AU Idea: Nicktoon Fighters

Hey there folks!

For a while, I've been wanting to do my own fanfiction based around the Nicktoons, but I've had a hard time trying to figure out how to make it stand out.

Plus, I want to release it this year in honor of the 25th anniversary of biggest Nicktoons of them all, SpongeBob SquarePants!

(I know that sounds odd, but I figured better now than waiting until 2026)

In fact, when trying to create a premise for this Nicktoons series, I actually looked to SpongeBob, wanting to utilize some kind of element of the show as the basis.

And while rewatching SpongeBob, I noticed that how karate, despite being a favorite pastime for the sponge and particularly Sandy in the past, has weirdly faded into irrelevancy.

Like, I think the last time there was episode that featured karate was all the way back in like 2012.

And thus, it gave me the idea for an AU/fanfic where the Nicktoon characters are fighters.

This is gonna be short one, but I think you’ll all enjoy it.

The AU/series would draw lot of inspiration from fighting-based media. From video games like Street Fighter and Tekken, to anime and manga like Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter and Baki, to even Western animated shows like Xiaolin Showdown and Jackie Chan Adventures.

The setting for this AU is a version of Earth where all the Nicktoons co-exist, including the ones with Earths that don’t align with ours like Avatar and Breadwinners.

Their respective locations (The Four Nations and such) would still exist in this world.

As for the premise, it focus on SpongeBob and his pals entering the annual world tournament of this, well, world.

And in contrast to most other fighting tournaments, this one is similar to a Grand Prix, which there bing different sets of fights that occur on different nights and in different parts of the world.

As for why they're reason, you can thank Mr. Krabs for that.

Essentially, the grand prize for whoever wins the tournament is $1,000,000.

And as we all know about Mr. Krabs....

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Speaking of Krabs, in this universe, he's a longtime fighter (having been one since he was teenager), and was a longtime champion of the tournament for many years (for obvious reasons).

Even to this day, he still participates.

However, he hasn't won the last couple of tournaments.

Reason why: while Mr. Krabs is still a tough customer, he's getting old (he's like in his late-40s to early-50s now) and he isn't in his prime anymore.

However one day after seeing SpongeBob and Sandy doing their usual karate matches, he realized that they and their friends are still in their prime and would be more likely to win the tournament than him.

And that's how they got here.

However, this tournament isn't what it seems.

This year's tournament has a new financer by the name of Sheldon J. Lawrence.

But in reality, he's actually Plankton is disguise.

Essentially, the previous financer had an "accident" and Plankton (in his disguise) was able to take over his role.

As for the tournament not being what it seems.

Well, all locations of the tournament will be taking place all just so happen to the same locations of The Warrior Weapons, a group of mystical weapons that once belonged to some of the most legendary warriors throughout history.

And as you expect, these weapons hold untold, phenomenal powers.

As for why Plankton wants them, it's pretty simple: Revenge.

Just like Mr. Krabs, Plankton also competed in the tournament for many years.

However, he never made it past the first round for....obvious reasons.

Even with his tech, he still couldn't make it.

That, along with the ridicule that came with it, drove Plankton mad.

But shortly after last year's tournament, Plankton would discover the existence of The Warrior Weapons.

This gave Plankton the idea to become a fake financer to he could be charge of the tournament, specifically in the choice of locations.

While the tournament was going on, he would sneak off to find each of the Warrior Weapons.

And with once Plankton has all the weapons, he plans to use them all together to make himself into an all-powerful being so he can become the greatest fighter who lived, get back at those who mocked him, and conquer the world.

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Luckily, SpongeBob and his pals stumbled upon his plans and are now trying to stop Plankton from collecting all the Weapons while trying to win the tournament.

But they're not in this alone, as they made some new friends in the tournament who are here to help!

But before we talk about that, let's talking about the main star of this AU real quick.

SpongeBob is largely the same as he usually is, and he's in this tournament to have fun, make some new friends, and make Mr. Krabs proud! For his fighting style, SpongeBob is skilled in the art of karate. He's not quite a master at it like Sandy, but he does know it well. But what makes him stand out is that he mixes it with his natural ability to stretch his body to incredible lengths. He's basically long-ranged physical fighter ala Monkey D. Luffy. He's not the strongest, but he makes for it with immense resilience thanks to his sponge-like skin. As for his attire, it's basically standard karate garb, but with a brown color scheme with a black belt. His also has two side holders, which he uses to hold two big water bottles. Thanks to being a sponge, SpongeBob uses those bottles to shoot pressurized water from his holes, which can be powerful knock to people back and make dents in the wall.

Now let's talk about the other main Nicktoons.

-Avatar Aang: Aang is what you would expect from him, and he (along with the rest of Team Avatar) are here in the tournament to have some fun. For his fighting style, this is where things get interesting. In this universe, Benders each have unique physical advantages over each other (which is a concept I've had for many years). Waterbenders are naturally flexible and have uncanny reflexes, Earthbenders have superhuman strength and resilience, Firebenders have great stamina and endurance, and Airbenders have superhuman speed and agility. And since Aang is the Avatar, he's pretty much the living definition of an all-around character. But he's more of a speed fighter, due to his main prowess and preference as an Airbender. His style is also more evasive and defensive than others, due to his status as a pacifist. He also fights with his trusty glider staff, giving some more power to his Airbending attacks and to also trip his opponents. As for his attire, it's essentially the same outfit that he's had since Book 3.

-Timmy Turner: Timmy is back to how he was portrayed in the early seasons of The Fairly OddParents, and he's here in the tournament to win that money! For his fighting style, Timmy is what would you call a wildcard fighter. With Cosmo and Wanda, he can essentially create any weapon he wants. But he predominantly has them transform into martial art weapons. Plus the fact that he's also quick on his feet makes him a pretty challenging fighter. As for his attire, he would be wearing a slightly modified version of his hooded look from Abra-Catastrophe, but with the hood being pink, having magic martial arts weapons strapped to him, and his primary outfit would be the same one done by Zigwolf, with the addition of some white fingerless gloves.

-Jimmy Neutron: Jimmy is what you would expect from him and he (along with the rest of his friends) joined the tournament to see who between him and Cindy can last the longest. As for his fighting style, Jimmy is strictly a long-range fighter. He uses a special set of high-tech gauntlets and boots that allows him to fly and blast lasers, electricity, and powerful gusts of wind. Unfortunately, this use of technology also makes him a bit of glass cannon. As for his attire, he would be wearing the same outfit done by kianamai, but with the aforementioned gauntlets and boots (along with a matching helmet and visor).

-Danny Phantom: Danny, like most of the others, is what would you expect from and he joined the tournament (along with his friends and family) to have some fun. As for his fighting style, Danny is a versatile fighter. He's able to fight close range thanks to his supernatural strength (which can slightly enhance with by channeling ecto-energy into his hands or feet). Plus the fact that he's also skilled in boxing and kickboxing, which he learned from his parents and Jazz, doesn't hurt either. He can also attack enemies from a distance with his ectoplasmic energy beams, ghostly fire, ice powers, and Ghostly Wail. Plus thanks to his invisibility, intangibility, and duplication powers, Danny is pretty tough to land a hit on. As for his attire, he would wearing the same outfit done by coffeecakecafe.

-El Tigre: Manny is what you would expect from him and he (along with Frida and Puma Loco) joined the tournament for that prize money! As for his fighting style, Manny is a speed, agility and stealth-focused fighter. He utilizes his feline-like speed and agility to evade attacks from his opponents, and his stealth to get the drop on them when they least expect it. And in addition to possessing superhuman strength and his trusty claws, Manny is also skilled in Tiger-Style Kung Fu. As for his attire, it's essentially the same as it usually is.

-Jenny Wakeman: Jenny is what you would expect from her and she (along with her friends) joined the tournament to have some fun. As for her fighting style, Jenny, like Danny, is a pretty versatile fighter. She has a wide array of weapons at her disposal, has incredible strength and speed, can fly, can stretch her limbs to incredible lengths (similar to SpongeBob) and is immensely resilient. As for her attire, it would be the same outfit from her redesign by drawnfamiliarfaces.

-Tak: Tak is back to his characterization from the original games and he (along with his friends) joined the tournament to have some fun (except for Lok, who's definitely here for the money....and bitches). As for his fighting style, Tak is a mage fighter. He utilizes The Staff of Dreams, which allows him to cast all kinds of magical attacks. Tak's also able to use the staff in a melee style (being skilled in the art of staff fighting) and is pretty agile. As for his attire, it's essentially the same from the games: cape and all.

-Eliza Thornberry: Eliza is what you would expect from and she (along with the rest of her family) joined the tournament as a fun little side quest of sorts. As for her fighting style, just like Timmy, Eliza is a wildcard fighter. In this universe, Shaman Mnyambo not only gave Eliza the power to talk to animals, but also the power to call upon the abilities of any animal, ala Vixen. As for her attire, shs would wear the same outfit from Rugrats Go Wild!, but with red fingerless gloves.

Well that's all I have for now!

This isn't exactly the most detailed or informative post I've made, but this is a part 1.

I promise for the next part, I'll talk about a few other Nicktoons characters and most importantly of all, The Warrior Weapons.

Also, let me know how well you guys think I converted the Nicktoons into fighters.

But until then....

See ya!

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yakool-foolio · 4 months ago

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1, 8, 9 and 17 for the music ask thing? or as many of these as you feel like answering! (also hope your Horrors subside soon, sucks to have those right in the morning :/)

Anxiety is a bitch ass mofo but it is no match for the power of eating a Warhead candy to ensnare the bad vibes and banish them to the furthest recesses of my mind by taking a refreshing walk (in 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but hey at least there was a breeze). ANYWAY, onto the music!

A song I liked as a child

As I've stated in a previous ask game, I grew up with a ton of 80s music thanks to my mom. However, I can definitely pinpoint one artist that defined my earliest memories, especially when I started singing lessons at eight years old. That would be Michael Jackson! I remember my first singing tutor gifting me a whole compositional book that contained all the songs from 'The Essential Michael Jackson' album (and I think I still have it). I honestly couldn't tell ya which exactly was my favorite of his music way back when, but Smooth Criminal stands out most! Maybe this was the first sign of me having an affinity for murder mystery games heh.

8. A song from a soundtrack

It'd be cruel of me to simply choose just one track as an instrumental enthusiast. So, for a lightning round, I'll link one song (as if that isn't hard enough on me) from every personally influential media's OST (and if it's from a media series, then only one installment) that comes to my mind. Forbidden Friendship from How To Train Your Dragon. Connie's Theme from Steven Universe. Love As A Construct from Portal 2. Death By Glamour from Undertale. Theme Of Laura from Silent Hill 2. Closing Argument V3 from Danganronpa V3. Morusque - Eliza from Stray. Scarlet Feast - Malzeno from Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak. Pressing Pursuit from Apollo Justice. Okay okay I'll stop now.

9. A song in a language I don’t speak

I don't tend to actively search out songs in another language, but whenever a song like that floats into my periphery, I'll give it a listen and think 'yeah this is awesome'. J-Pop is the most common of these occurrences. So, I present 想いきり by Indigo La End!

17. A cover song

OH BOY A CHANCE TO TALK ABOUT MY FAVORITE COVER! IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD CANDLE ON THE WATER BY MIRACLE MUSICAL THEN I IMPLORE YOU TO LISTEN TO IT, AND IF YOU ALREADY HAVE, THEN LISTEN TO IT AGAIN!

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The original song is already beautiful, but this one just hits different on an entirely new level of ascension to a higher plane of bliss. It's a song I've loved for many years, and I'll never forget it. The only downside is that it's not on Spotify. If it was, it'd be my number one song every year.

#ask game #ramblings of a music man

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melancholypancakes · 9 months ago

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Hey, so this is going to be a whole rant, sorry I've been gone.

Lack of internet and mainly my job i feel like a workaholic 😭

Anyway, so not many of you know but I've been a TMNT fan for most of my life.

I, unfortunately, grew up with the 2012 series, there are several reasons why that show went downhill.

Donnie x April, writing, the romantic trope is written, the turtles all having a romantic love interest, Leo crushing on Kirai ( his sister may i say) and honestly lost me after the love triangle with April, Donnie, and Casey.

except for Raphael and Mona Lisa, i love them as a couple i wish rise had them in the show or movie.

I have seen the 1980s movies and cartoon shows of TMNT through my dad who is an even bigger fan of TMNT but only the originals.

I'll explain more on, however, 2003 or 2007 i have never seen.

Honestly, I have never loved TMNT more than Rise, I'm in love with Leo and Donnie smart and funny guys count me in XD

I recently started watching the show and when it came out and 15 year old me, did not give it a chance.

At first, i thought it was dumb, i still think they look like frogs lol and i was still confused why April's skin color was changed.

I was used to seeing white April than black April and my dad does not see her as April but as a completely different character.

I'll get back to that later but oh boy i missed out on a good show, given it is still too kiddy for me.

But i love the humor, animation and yes, i believe Leo and Donnie carry the show with the humor :)

Just watching season 1 is making me happy, I'm super into it.

I just love it's the opposite of the old TMNT and less serious.

The old TMNT never really got me into loving the turtles like Rise i just liked them like heroes until Rise..

Usually, Leo is the serious older brother, and leader, Ralph angry fighter, and Donnie is an inventor genius while Mikey is the big pizza lover and fun kid.

While on the rise...

Raph is a giant softie older Brother, Leo is a dumb ninja, Donnie is genius still but autistic in this world which is confirmed and Mikey isn't a full-on pizza lover like in the previous media adaptions but an artist, a fun-loving kid who loves pizza like his bros.

I love the fact Shelldon's voice by the original Michelangelo.

I hope to watch season 2 and the movie soon, definitely won't see the movie til i see season 2.

I recently got into the Rottmnt fandom and made two OCs

Emily & Gwendolyn, i mention them because of the topic I'm going to bring up.

So as far as i will til i upload the drawings of my OCs.

Emily is a half-American half-Japanese teenage human girl, with a mysterious/dark past, best friends with April, and has a HUGE crush on Leo.

Emily lives with her aunt, uncle and cousins it is noting her father is not in the picture and confirmed he is deceased while the mother is a mystery for now.

It's a semi-canon Emily has a large dragon burn mark on her right arm

{...}

Gwendolyn or Gwen is Donnie's human online friend she is surprised that he is a turtle mutant but thinks it is cool, she is a geek, hipster, comic book lover, and mainly chill.

She is basically Ramona Flowers, with the chill vibe, hammer weapon, and dying her hair every day different color.

Gwen is a chubby, Hispanic teenage girl, she lives in New York with her family and is a classmate to April and Emily.

She is known as a smart gal, hipster internet blogger, and gamer.

She is a love interest for Donnie but is not confirmed until later on that they're dating (most likely early season 2 wise)

I recently heard that if you have a cartoon and you have a certain race that character has to be voiced by that certain race.

That kinda sounds like reverse racism, i would go into it but don't want to say anything wrong.

But if i were to choose voice actors for my OCs Emily definitely be voiced by 'Misuki' even though she is only a singer she would be perfect for Emily

Gwen probably would be voiced by Zoe Saldaña, i just see her voice like that :)

Now as for TMNT 2014 & 2016 Bayverse i did not enjoy as much the CGI was just weird and the first movie was alright but the second i wasn't into.

Once again one of the turtles had a crush on April, Mikey.

I dont mind mutant x mutant or mutant x human but it has become weird ever since 2012 Donnie had a crush on April 2014 Mikey had a crush on April.

And now mutant mayhem Leo having a crush on April. What's next Raph has a crush on April.

Personally, i think they should use a different female character to be shipped with the turtles other than April.

As some may tell i didn't enjoy the TMNT mutant mayhem movie, the humor was there but the writing and animation didn't make me fall in love with it, unlike Rise.

However, my dad or i suppose any old TMNT fan, doesn't enjoy the new adaption of TMNT as it become more childish than serious.

Well, from what i seen as an old TMNT fan my dad didn't enjoy the animation or new personalities of the turtles in Rise and the humor doesn't hit him as much.

It's just fun and funny to me him criticizing the show that i personally enjoy XD

I kinda do ship April and Cassandra, not going to lie thought it would be cute :))

Honestly, realized I'm the same age as Raph XD Oh shit, still ship Mona Lisa and Raph though.

This is all i had to rant about, i do love the ROTTMNT series more than the previous franchises before.

Also, I recommend these videos that goes into the deeper dive of TMNT & ROTTMNT all together to get what I mean.

https://youtu.be/bHVB6Ple0bI?si=JB5ump3eYFWFvn1w

https://youtu.be/iBBMxpyLp5E?si=5AqtJLimueLIS1vf

https://youtu.be/_fFXXF051ZI?si=b7jF4SeIJY0Achgm

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2012 #rant post #My ocs #Upcoming chacters #Tmnt 2012 & ROTTMNT #Renew ROTTMNT #it's so good #april o'neil #cassandra jones #casey jones #master splinter

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kihakugato-art · 4 months ago

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While I struggle to art for art fight I wanted to at least share my personal appreciation for the growth of Demauria's design as well as my personal growth in art.

I'm normally unable to see the artistic improvement friends have praised me for, but it never shows more clearly than with Demauria; cause she is one of my only OCs who's been given a reference sheet in the past, and with each iteration the growth is apparent while the ideas for her design retained over the years.

2012 was during the late dawn of my deviantArt days, and Demauria was one of the first OCs I had that happened to create that had a "human" body/form (before her according to dA were Kayla, Terra, Riivar, and Gavial). Back then a lot of my art was done in a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, with me sometimes scanning a doodle from my paper as the starting base.

Even this early on her design ideas were quite clear, as was even a lot of her backstory. This piece was meant to be more a concept piece rather than a reference sheet but I kept it was a reference for a relative while.

2014 would be the next time I would intentionally revisit working over her design, which was for the intent of being a reference sheet for My OC Askblog I first made back in August 2014 (it has since died in use, which is ok; its a nice short archive for a different time, I doubt I could maintain it if it were to become active).

by this time I'm pretty sure I graduated from Adobe Illustrator altogether, but I'm not sure if I was still dependant on photoshop or if I had moved onto Firealpaca (I ASSUME I hadn't started using Firealpaca yet). Still some apparent flaws in proportions/anatomy but you can see the improvement and stylistic shift. This is also the first and only time I drew her dragon form, however even back then I wasn't entirely satisfied with the results, which may have been early signs that my dragon-species/race designs had grown dated (something I wish to eventually fix even now). I think I may have been using a wireless Bamboo drawing tablet by then but I can't remember for sure.

2024, we've now come to this current year, where I worked on getting her reference updated before July, and is which you see at the top of this post.

There are still flaws, sure, but the improvement shines strongly; not only improvement in anatomy/proportions from the previous iterations, but even how the clothes are designed/drawn has improved, no longer clinging as tightly against the body as they once were as I am more aware of how adnormal that'd be for most clothes. While she is still small/petite she has a more reasonable body frame compared to the older iterations.

The lines are rougher, but out of laziness/intention more than anything else to help progress in the piece, since it's much harder for me to get drawing all the way through despite the improvements. Although I've grown more comfortable using CSP, and can even draw without the need to scan a irl sketch (though I still sometimes do- just not for this piece), I am still a bit clumsy with my current workflow when doing a serious digital art piece.

I now use a wired Huion tablet (which was recently begun to show cord connection issues.....) and use the old Clip Studio Paint- I have long since abandoned most of my dependency on Photoshop due to the backstab I got from the product/company years back.

Aaaaand done just on the day before Artfight begins. Demauria's reference sheet redesign/remaster is complete! When compared to previous reference sheets I've really had some growth- which is something I'll rarely say with my art.

For the heck of it I'll throw in the flavourtext from the artfight page;

"Demauria is one of the last of a Clan of monster hunters known as Fallen Slayers that hunt monsters called Fallenbeasts. In the loss of the last of her direct family she attempted to freeze the world in ice to take the Fallenbeasts down with it but was stopped/defeated by Kayla. She fled to far away lands and simmered on her mixed feelings only to be taken in by Riivar as Riivar's official/unofficial "bodyguard". She has been traveling with Riivar ever since, all the while trying to sort out her feelings and figure out the small scraps about her clan. She dual wields battle axes made of ice for melee, and uses a bow of ice to fire explosive ice bolts for ranged attack. She can use other forms of attack using ice/shadow magic. For those curious; yes the ice body armor can be melted off, but is easier said than done if she does not wish it to be melted off. She is a petite 4’6” in stature but makes up for it with attitude. She struggles with facing and compartmentalizing her various soup of emotions and so ends up translating them all into the form of anger."

#ramblings #art progress #Dema #Demauria

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quixot1sm · 3 years ago

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this'll hopefully be my last and most conclusive post on the matter re:isshu(/ferriswheel)shipping discourse. please read this before sending me anything regarding the matter:

what masuda said in 2012 is not absolute word of god, or an unchallengeable truth- at least one person involved with bw's story writing has stated that the protagonists were intended to be 16. hilda and hilbert were advertised as being older than any previous protagonists, and n is, according to pash! magazine, 20 in the anime- during the same arc where cherens bw2 role + design is used.

also, pokemon itself isn't afraid to change around characters' ages to better fit their circumstances. anipoke serena, for example, is 10, while her game counterpart appears to be in her late teens. this is to say that while there is a definite, set range for a character's age to be within, ultimately no singular number is going to be universal.

the reason why i personally use 16 over 14 for the bw protag ages has to do with the contents of the actual game first and foremost. all things considered- unova taking inspiration from america where 16 is typically when coming of age occurs, cheren and bianca having adult designs and careers only two years later, and ns role as a narrative foil to the protagonist, 16 is the age that makes the most sense. to add to that, the protagonist and their friends are remarked to be on the cusp of adulthood at least twice in game:

there's also the matter of the protagonist and n's relationship itself. the two are, by all means, meant to both contradict and compliment each other, to act as inverted mirrors. n checks all the boxes for what would usually be considered a protagonist (his design, his narrative as a hero, obtainment of a box legendary- pretty much everything except being playable), and he has physical traits that mirror both hilbert and hilda. most importantly, he is canonically obsessed with the protagonist. he thinks that they are meant to be his counterpart, so much so that he wholly believes that they will be able to awaken the opposite dragon without issue. in bw2, he misses them deeply enough to linger in the place they last saw each other, and comment on how he wonders if they'll meet again, and that he wants to tell them how he feels.

then, on the protagonist's end, they literally drop EVERYTHING, leave behind all their friends and family, to search for n when he leaves. that's the only thing they do that we, the player, have no control over.

finally, although pokemon masters is noncanon material, there is just. so much. alluding to their dynamic leaning towards romantic. the best badge you can earn from their reunion event is "N-describable Love". n has dialogue where he indirectly states that he loves hilbert-

and hilberts well. hilbert

all these things would be INCREDIBLY uncomfortable and inappropriate if the audience was meant to see the two of them as definitively an adult and a minor. a two year max age difference just works the best in this context, and the ages of 16 and 18 have evidence to back them. i understand any apprehension and/or discomfort anyone may have with shipping them, and i'm also not going to tell you that you can't headcanon them with a different dynamic (because thatd defeat the whole purpose of pokemon and its encouragement of creative liberty) but this topic has much, much more to it than a glance at the first google result.

tl;dr : while masuda is a respectable source to draw from, his claim doesn't align with pash!, toshinobu matsumiya, or the marketing surrounding hilbert and hilda during bw's release, neither does it fit the story of bw without causing some very uncomfortable dynamics and scenarios. overall isshushipping/ferriswheelshipping is fine. who cares

#isshushipping #ferriswheelshipping #trainer hilbert #trainer hilda #n harmonia #pokemon #unova #text #also idk why blbpedia changed ns age from 18-20 in bw to just 20 in bw when the sources have stayed the same ??#is it because they lost the anime's source due to the original account being suspended and unarchived #even so the link to it is still there. whatever #and for clarification i am not a pro/shipp/er and would love to never interact with one. thank you #ok to rb

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recentanimenews · 3 years ago

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INTERVIEW: Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid and the Directors' Legacy

Additional reporting by Kyle Cardine

On July 7th, Kyoto Animation released the first episode of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S, the second season of the Dragon Maid franchise. This marked not only the return of a fan-favorite series, but the comeback of the globally beloved studio as a whole. We wrote on Kyoto Animation’s indomitable spirit in our interview with studio president Hideaki Hatta last year, and now we see that spirit communicated through Dragon Maid’s incredible dual capacity for intricately animated sequences and depth of emotional expression.

On the occasion of both Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and Kyoto Animation’s latest return to anime, Crunchyroll News had the opportunity to talk with Tatsuya Ishihara, the director of the second season of the series, about Dragon Maid’s return, his responsibilities as incoming director and more.

Ishihara the Director

Tatsuya Ishihara is a long-time Kyoto Animation director who has produced some of anime’s sharpest comedy sequences alongside some of the most emotionally resonant, often in the same series. “I’ve had experience with works that combine comical and serious aspects, and I like them,” Ishihara said when asked about this continuing theme. “I find them rather fun and easy to do.” Though it may be humble, his answer gestures towards his immense talent for finding the poignant within the comedic, as well as the comedic within the poignant, a talent we can trace through his entire career with the studio.

In 2005, Ishihara made his directorial debut at Kyoto Animation with the adaptation of the Key Visual novel Air. His philosophy of negotiating his own interpretation of a work with audience expectation can be seen throughout his career, starting with Air and continuing into adaptations of two more Key visual novels—Kanon and the acclaimed Clannad. “I’m not an artist trying to express my own sense of self. I’m thinking of the viewers and their expectations. My job as director is to marry my own interpretation of a work with viewer expectations,” Ishihara would later say in the Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions limited edition box set booklet.

However, the first title in which Ishihara’s incredible talent would truly be embraced by the masses in the West is inarguably 2006’s The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. A series absolutely packed with incredible comedy, supernatural intrigue, disarming drama, and pleasurable slice-of-life, Haruhi is dense with directorial flair. Ishihara’s ability to deftly maneuver between comedy and drama truly struck the zeitgeist in mid ‘00s Western anime fandom, to the point where Haruhi cosplayers and “Hare Hare Yukai” flash mobs were inescapable.

Ishihara’s credits continue on to include a second season of Haruhi, legendary comedies Nichijou (2011) and the aforementioned Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions (2012), and the coming-of-age drama Sound! Euphonium. All of these series embody Ishihara’s talent for balancing drama and comedy as well as his philosophy of mediating between his artistic expression and giving the audience what they want in different, equally affecting ways, and it is this body of experience that Ishihara has taken with him into his work on Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S.

Ishihara and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S

The relationship between Kyoto Animation and the Dragon Maid manga series was formed quite early. According to a Futabasha editorial representative we spoke to in the making of this article, the publisher received an offer from Kyoto Animation to produce the adaptation shortly after the first volume was released. In January 2017, the studio released the first episode of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, quickly met with a warm embrace by fans.

The life that Tohru and Kobayashi build together is one full of warmth and laughter, woven from the comedy and drama that comes from the differences between the humans and dragons of the series. Despite the supernatural beings that make up half of its cast, the true magic of the series can be found in the deeply touching depictions of everyday life, a place where KyoAni is particularly adept. “In the anime, Kanna’s familiarity with everyday life was more emphasized,” Dragon Maid manga author Coolkyousinnjya said to Crunchyroll News. “There were more details, and a lot of things amazed me when I watched it.”

リリイベお疲れ様でしたー　すごくよかったです pic.twitter.com/FW5pkCtiD4

— クール教信者＠夏アニメ「小林さんちのメイドラゴンS」「ピーチボーイリバーサイド」「平穏世代の韋駄天達 (@coolkyou2) July 24, 2021

An illustration from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid creator Coolkyousinnjya

Before we begin to talk about Ishihara’s involvement in Dragon Maid, we must address a painful, necessary truth: Tatsuya Ishihara did not direct the first season of the series. Rather, it was the late director Yasuhiro Takemoto who first helmed the title. Takemoto directed many of Kyoto Animation’s most defining and iconic works, beginning with the initial two episodes of the 2002 Nurse Witch Komugi OVA (the only two that were produced by Kyoto Animation), 2003’s Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu and its 2005 sequel Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid. He then directed the lion’s share of the absolutely iconic Lucky Star (2007), Hyouka (2012), Amagi Brilliant Park (2014), and, of course, season one of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. Throughout all of his work, but especially in Nurse Witch Komugi, Lucky Star, and Dragon Maid, you can see an absolute adoration for and celebration of otaku culture.

“I'm trying to keep the style of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid that the first anime series and the original work have,” said Ishihara. “I'm taking over from the previous series, so I'm trying not to change the atmosphere.” And, as any fan of the first season will tell you, he has succeeded. From the pitch-perfect fish-out-of-water comedy to the jaw-dropping non-sequitur fight scenes to the sudden moments of deeply human empathy between Kobayashi and the dragons—everything that worked about the first season works here, too.

“I think it is my role to take over and convey the ‘feelings’ of the staff from the previous season while directing this season,” said Ishihara.

Yasuhiro Takemoto’s affinity for a specific period of otaku culture is woven through the first season of the series, especially with the protagonist Kobayashi and the characters Takiya and Fafnir. That aspect of the series identity is carried on in Ishihara’s season as well. “I thought I might be able to have an otaku talk with Takiya and Kobayashi-san, but their ages are so far apart from mine that I might not be able to talk with them,” said Ishihara when asked which member of the Kobayashi cast he would spend a night talking with. “That's actually been happening a lot in real life lately, which makes me sad. That's why I think it's Lucoa. She is kind and seems to be willing to listen to me.”

The comedic set up of the question was undercut with a surprising poignancy at Ishihara’s admittance that otaku culture is moving on from the form he is familiar with. That same emotional resonance is coincidentally echoed in the first episode of Dragon Maid S, when Kobayashi says, “People don’t use the word moe very much anymore, but they’ve kept the spirit of those times.”

Ishihara and the Core of Kyoto Animation

When the name Kyoto Animation is brought up to me, I immediately think of Sound! Euphonium’s Kumiko Oumae, her face contorting in frustration as she runs through the streets of her town, unable to hold herself back from screaming “I want to improve!” out loud. I imagine, for many anime fans, similar scenes come to mind—pathos, love, laughter, tears, all written on the faces of characters rendered in ways few other studios can. To quote Clannad’s first ending theme, “All that’s happy and all that’s sad rolled into one.”

The craft on display in Dragon Maid S is, of course, apparent to anyone that watches even a few seconds of an episode. Effortlessly shifting from subtle character acting and loving renderings of scenic everyday life to mind-melting supernatural battles featuring some of the best fight choreography of the year.

How can one team balance the demands of such polar opposite tendencies in a series? “Even in animation,” Tatsuya Ishihara responded, “if the setting of the work is close to reality, the movements of the characters will be limited to realistic theatrics. However, animation is supposed to be freer, and the designs, movements, and theatrics of the characters themselves should be exaggerated. In this respect, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is a fantasy, so it is easy to make use of the original characteristics of animation. By exaggerating the movements and expressions of the characters, I try to make them even more humorous and convey their feelings.” Animation is the medium, not film, and Ishihara and his team are making full use of it.

Animation, no matter how impressive, must be in service of a story to reach something beyond pure spectacle. The staff of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S understands the characters and their feelings, their situations, their histories, and what they care about. Ishihara understands the power that can come from a story about two groups of people with seemingly irreconcilable differences coming together to build a life of found family.

“It is normal that you and others are different, so it is important to accept that and to acknowledge each other's diversity,” said Ishihara. In the age of the Internet, I think we have come to realize that people around the world are not united, but rather that there are people with many different ways of thinking. One of my favorite lines is when Fafnir says ‘The common sense of this [human's] world doesn’t completely mesh with our [dragons'] understanding’ and Tohru responds to him by saying ‘but isn’t reconciling that kind of fun?’”

For the past few years, increasingly, I have felt like we are all living in a broken world; People are divided by distance, ideology, and disease. The climate is changing. And reporting about these topics crashes against us constantly, each day feeling as if it brings more bad news than the last. But I have found refuge in the works of Kyoto Animation, as have many others. In the stories this studio has told, fans are able to see the beauty that can be found in life, no matter the circumstances. Sometimes, in the midst of a reality that seems grim and harsh, you need to be reminded that there is still love and fun to be found. Sometimes, all it takes to bring you to that state of mind is the story of a woman and the dragon that loves her.

TVアニメ「#小林さんちのメイドラゴンＳ」第1話『新たなるドラゴン、イルル！（またよろしくお願いします）』をご覧いただきありがとうございました❣ Illustration：石原立也（監督）#maidragon pic.twitter.com/49wE3HeLrS

— TVアニメ「小林さんちのメイドラゴンＳ」公式 (@maidragon_anime) July 7, 2021

Episode One Thank You Illustration from Tatsuya Ishihara

“I’m sure many of you were worried, but we were able to release Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid without any issues,” said Ishihara. “I would like to continue to create enjoyable works, so please have fun.”

Cayla Coats is the Editor-in-Chief of Crunchyroll News EN. She tweets @ceicocat.

Kyle Cardine is a Managing Editor for Crunchyroll. You can find his Twitter here.

By: Cayla Coats

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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dailyexo · 4 years ago

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[INTERVIEW] Lay - 200819 Rolling Stone India: “How Lay Zhang Claimed The Throne of M-pop”

"The singer-songwriter and producer offers an in-depth look into his latest record ‘Lit,’ his evolution as an artist and finding the balance between East and West

When I last spoke to Lay Zhang in 2018, he was embarking on an ambitious but daunting journey to bring Mandarin pop aka M-pop to the world. “I hope they think, ‘This artist isn’t bad,’” he had said with some trepidation in his voice. “I hope that they find my music special and maybe… they’ll want to learn more about me and Chinese music.” The singer-songwriter and producer aspired to create a true hybrid of traditional and modern music, a sound that defines our generation’s ability to package the past for the future.

Zhang, more commonly known by his stage name LAY, first debuted in 2012 as a member of world-famous K-pop group, EXO. Although he remains a member of the group, he’s spent the last couple of years in China to focus on a solo career and spotlight his own country’s burgeoning pop scene. It’s a process he kicked off with his second studio album Namanana in 2018, but he was still some time away from realizing his dream of pushing Chinese pop to a global stage.

It’s been nearly two years since our conversation for Rolling Stone India’s November 2018 cover feature, and any signs of trepidation are a thing of the past for LAY. We could chalk it up to him being two years older and wiser, but I’d like to think it’s because he kept his promise to bring M-pop to the world. If Namanana was just a dip in the pool of fusion experimentation, his latest studio album Lit is the deep dive.

“It is the evolution of M-pop for me,” LAY explains. “I wanted to take it to another level. When you hear the Chinese instruments, you know it is a different sound and vibe. The style is more pop, R&B, and hip-hop influenced with the Chinese instruments thoughtfully mixed in.” Comprising a total of 12 songs (all written and co-produced by LAY) Lit was released as two EPs instead of one LP; the first dropped in June while the second made its appearance in July. Nearly every track presents a fresh blend of traditional Chinese instruments like the hulusi, guzheng, flutes and gong with modern genres like trap, R&B, soul, hip-hop, future bass, dubstep and more. It’s a complex, refined and intricate record, utilizing production techniques that clearly outline LAY’s growth as an artist over the past two years. In retrospect, Namanana comes across a slightly more naive record–innocent and optimistic with a hope that international audiences would embrace both M-pop and LAY. Lit however seeks to take a different path and carves out the future LAY envisions with cool confidence and fearless production.

The tracks seesaw smoothly from Mandarin to English and back, with LAY showcasing both his vocal and rap skills. It’s an extremely powerful and expansive album, hair-raising at some moments due to the sheer surprises the artist packs in (at one point I hear what sounds like the tabla on “Call My Name” and it catches me totally off-guard.) Some of the collaborators on the record include big names like hip-hop hitmaker Murda Beatz, Grammy Award-winning producer Scott Storch, composer and producer Mitchell Owens and Grammy-nominated songwriter Mike Daley to name a few. For the title track “Lit,” LAY recruited China-native Anti-General who created a vicious and chilling trap/dubstep beat to complement lyrics that decimate LAY’s haters, gossip-mongers and the media, challenging them to come forward and take him down if they dare. The track sees the singer-songwriter rightfully crown himself a ‘king’ and leader in the music industry.

If that wasn’t enough, the music video for “Lit” is without a doubt one of the best released in 2020. With hundreds of extras, dancers, impeccable CGI and a compelling storyline, it’s more movie than music video, portraying LAY as a warrior king who refuses to be defeated. As executive producer, music director and co-choreographer on the project, LAY pays homage to China’s rich history and culture with tons of historical references and traditional symbolism. I tell him I particularly loved the symbolism of a white lotus emerging untouched and pure from the black ink–representing LAY’s rise in the industry–and he shares that the magnificent dragon that appears at the end was his personal favorite. “It was super important that we added it in,” he says. “It represents my wishes, aspirations and my relentless desire to always pursue perfection in the works that I create. I want my dancing, visuals, and music to be the very best it possibly can be.”

Lit is also thematically more complex and layered than any of LAY’s previous works, exploring concepts that revolve around confidence, love, fame, the media, success and more. “The album continues to explore chasing your dream,” the singer explains. “This time it’s about more personal things in my life. Like hometown, family and self-doubt.” A phonetic play on the word for lotus (莲 / lian) in Mandarin, ‘lit’ is a clever pun used to describe LAY’s similarity to a lotus and his prowess as a musician. He named the album after the lotus because of the symbolism of it growing and blossoming from dirt or mud. The lotus also continues the theme of duality with Lit’s two-part release, and, according to LAY’s team, “represents a new birth plus a new sound in the midst of all his past achievements.”

The album’s success more than speaks for itself– when the pre-order for Lit went live on China’s QQ Music streaming platform, nine certification records were instantly broken as it surpassed 1.5 million pre-orders within seven minutes and 19 seconds. This immediately pushed the EP to Number One on QQ Music’s daily and weekly album sales charts. Lit has also made LAY the best-selling artist in China in 2020, with a whopping 2.5 million records sold. It’s a testament to his drive and determination as an artist, the attention to detail and refusal to back down. The record’s international success was no less, hitting top 10 positions on iTunes charts across 32 countries, bagging 21 Number One spots and firmly cementing LAY’s position as the global megastar that he is.

Some things however, never change; brand deals, TV shows, multiple singles, EPs and collaborations keep his schedule completely booked and– just like back in 2018– it’s extremely tough to pin him down for a conversation. He’s currently in the middle of filming a reality show and has several other projects in the pipeline, but still makes the time to catch up and answer a few questions for Rolling Stone India. In this exclusive interview, LAY details his most successful record yet, the journey of finding the balance between East and West, dealing with the dark side of media attention and why the relationship between an artist and their fans needs to be a two-way street.

Congratulations on the release and tremendous success of Lit! It is an absolutely phenomenal record and I was thrilled to see you explore so many new streams of production. Can you tell me a little bit about the process of making this album and do you feel you met your own expectations for it?

For this album I wanted to mix in Chinese traditional instruments and tell Chinese stories. It is the evolution of M-pop for me. I wanted to take it to another level. When you hear the Chinese instruments you know it is a different sound and vibe. It is hard to say if I met my own expectations. As an artist you never ever feel your work is perfect. You can always find spots where you can improve. But I think what I was able to do with my team in the time we had was great.

You dove deeper into the fusion of tradition and modernity on this album than Namanana—there was a larger variety of Chinese instruments used as well as bilingual wordplay with language in the lyrics. In what ways do you feel you’ve evolved as a producer and songwriter since that album to Lit?

I am still trying to find the right style and combination to share my music and Chinese culture with the world. Lit was an example of my growth. I had this desire to include traditional stories and instruments from Chinese culture. Trying to find the balance with the Western music was challenging. I had to think and spend a lot of time arranging the chords around and fitting everything together. Also with this album I am talking about things in a more personal level and taking time to explain with more of an artistic style. I feel like I am growing up on this journey.

Lit is the first part of a series of EPs which will make a whole LP—why did you want to release it in this format and when did you begin working on the record?

I split it into two parts to give time to people to listen to it. I feel like if I released 12 songs at once, people may not give enough time to listen to each track. But when there are just six tracks each time, then it gives people time to listen more carefully. I started this project maybe early 2019.

The title track “Lit” is about your battle with the media, hateful netizens and malicious comments/rumors. Does it get easier over time to deal with this obsessive analysis of your life or does it never really ebb away?

It will always bother you, but over time you learn to deal with it. You focus on it less and less and back on what you love doing. When I make my music or learn dance or do anything I love, I kind of forget about it. Just focus on your goals and dreams and everything else becomes background noise.

The music for “Lit” is, in my opinion, the best of 2020 so far. Can you tell me a little about your role as the executive producer and music director on this project? How did the concept come about?

I was very involved in the project. I oversaw a lot of things that happened and discussed with almost everyone on the team on how to achieve my vision. When I was making the song I was thinking about how do we share Chinese culture. I thought filming in an ancient palace would catch people’s attention. It took off from there when discussing with the director. We started adding more and more elements of Chinese culture. We were trying to tell the story of Xiang Yu, a warlord who rebelled against the mighty Qin Dynasty but wasn’t able to conquer China. I’m Xiang Yu, but I’m trying to change my fate and succeed in my goal.

You incorporated Chinese Peking Opera in the music video version of the track and visual elements of Peking Opera in the album art for “Jade”–What was the motivation behind that decision and is there a particular story that the opera section references?

I wanted to bring people back in time to ancient China. I reference the traditional Chinese story of Xiang Yu and his love, Concubine Yu, so then I added in select passages from the Peking Opera Farewell My Concubine which tells their tragic story.

You displayed your incredible skills in dancing in this music video and you recently talked about how dancing was a way for you to show the audience who you are. Did you feel a sense of relief that the audience can see you or understand you a bit better after the release of “Lit”? Can the audience ever truly understand an artist?

It feels good to know people can see me and understand me more. I don’t think people can ever understand an artist completely. But they can relate to many things. I think that is a challenge for an artist to see how they can use their music to connect with people. It is a worthy challenge.

How do you hope that the artist you are today crafts the Lay Zhang of tomorrow?

I always believe in working hard and improving. I hope that the Lay Zhang of tomorrow continues to keep looking for ways to improve his art. I hope he never gives up his dreams.

Last time we spoke, we talked about Asian traditions represented in global mainstream pop culture. Now as you’ve grown as a megastar, you are one of the leading names in pop filling that space, bringing your heritage to the stage. Why is it important for our generation to see ourselves and our histories represented on these platforms by artists?

It is important for people to remember where they come from. They should know their own history and how their culture came to be. Also, it lets other people know another culture and have a deeper understanding. It can stop miscommunication and it helps people be closer to each other.

Why do fans need to see themselves in an artist? Does it work the same on the other side, do you as an artist see yourself in your fans?

I want fans to be able to relate with an artist. It is important for a fan to see themselves in artist and an artist to see themselves in a fan. When you can see each other you are able to understand each other better. You can connect with each other and really feel things.

I absolutely love the ‘Re-Reaction’ videos you have been doing for years and it means a lot to your fans that you take the time to do it. Why did you want to do this series and what does it mean to you to be able to connect with your fans like this and see them react to your work?

I am curious to know what fans and people think of my work. I want to know where I can improve. I want to keep growing as an artist. But also I want to let my fans know that I am reading their comments and I see everything they say.

Other than releasing more music, what are the rest of your plans for 2020? Do you have any film projects that you’re looking at taking up or are you planning on doing something completely different?

I am busy filming a TV drama and a few reality TV shows for the rest of 2020. A very busy schedule.”

Photo links: 1, 2, 3, 4

Credit: Rolling Stone India.

#EXO #EXO M #Lay #200819 #exo im #exo m im #lay im #p:news #t:news #fs:rolling stone india #comeback:Obsession

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antibioware · 4 years ago

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My final thoughts on Mass Effect: Andromeda (a 3 years late review)

So I spent the past week and a half playing a game I paid 13€ for, one that I promised myself I wouldn't touch but that in the end I gave a solid try to anyway, because I was willing to give Andromeda the benefit of the doubt. Because I'm aware that sometimes I'm a bitch, and that the Mass Effect trilogy had its own problems too, but I still regard it as one of the best gaming experiences of my life.

It wasn't as bad as I had expected it would be, but that doesn't make it good. Above all else, Mass Effect: Andromeda is a game that could have been interesting, had the creators actually cared to make something out of it outside of just “Dragon Age Inquisition in the Mass Effect universe”.

I wanted to write a more coherent post about what I didn’t like about it, aside from just shitting all over it like I’ve been feeling like doing since the canonical bury your gays in the game slapped me in the face. So here it is, an overlong post about a 3 years old game.

Before getting into the main elements that I disliked, I wanna preface this post by saying that I enjoyed parts of the game. The main characters, while not as well characterized as they could have been (no Bioware character ever is), grew on me the more I played the game, and by the end were the main reason why I kept playing. Unlike DA:I, the writers did a really good job building up the found family trope in this game, and while it turns corny at times, it’s very heartwarming. I think many of the planetary settings in Heleus were stunning to look at, to the point that I didn’t even mind all that much having to drive from point A to point B.

I didn’t hate the game, and I’m speaking from the point of view of someone who enjoyed it, but not enough to simply accept its many flaws.

The problems with the gameplay itself

There are three main things that I don’t think work well and are up in your face since the first seconds of the game: the game interface, the fight mechanics, and the open world aspect of the game.

◦ The first impact I had on Andromeda, right from the first 2/3 hours of playing it, was that it was very cluttered and very, very confusing. I had just finished playing ME3 and I had issues understanding how to move without having a proper map onscreen, how to read throught the thousand tutorials for the 100 new, useless elements they added to the game that are either reused from ME1 or taken directly from DA:I. The game didn’t need a crafting system, especially not one DIVIDED IN TWO DIFFERENT SECTIONS, it didn’t need an inventory system, and especially it didn't need to have the sheer amount of sidequest it had.

◦ The fight mechanics + leveling up/classes system is a hot mess. I understand they wanted to try something new, and in part they did make the fighting feel more fluid, but not being able to rely on teammates for necessary stuff like overloads/specific powers that you need during fights severely impaired the strategic element of the game. Now it’s just a third person shooter with teammates dying left and right because you have 0 control on how they fight, aside from putting them in one place or another.

The fact that you can only use 3 powers at the time is a consequence of the confusing leveling up system. Because you can have an endless amount of powers you can give your character, they needed to find a way to make them not too overpowered. The problem is…. You had more powers to use in-game in ME1. It doesn’t work so well.

When the fighting mechanics in ME3, a game that came out in 2012, feel way fluider and more enjoyable than the ones from the game that came out in 2017, something is very wrong.

◦ Open world games are a challenge, because too many developers don’t understand that turning a game into an open world doesn’t make it good, it just makes it bigger and slower. It was a problem with Dragon Age Inquisition, and it’s a problem here with Andromeda - with the only good aspect being that at least Andromeda gives you a decent car to explore the planets.

ME1 had some level of open world-ness, and there was a valid reason why ME2 and ME3 got rid of the concept: the maps you’re given are a big, cluttered mess of nothing. You have several thousands sidequests, many of which incredibly similar to each other, and nothing fucking else. Sometimes you will accidentally stumble upon something interesting, and then return to a 6 hours drive into the nothingness that keeps repeating over and over again.

It got to the point I almost stumbled upon the endgame because I got exhausted of running around doing errands, and I tried continuing the main plot, only to realize I was almost done with it. That was it.

Empty self-referencing

This is the term I used to describe my girlfriend why the way the game made call backs to the previous games bothered me so much. Call backs aren’t new to the concept of the game (the Mass Effect trilogy literally lived on characters returning from previous games, referencing things that had previously happened, etc.), but because this game wanted to be a separate thing from the ME trilogy, it couldn’t use this sort of material. And that’s completely fine! The game wanted to be its own thing, I was happy about it at first, because the trilogy was over and done for. If Mass Effect was indeed gonna continue, it needed a fresh start.

The problem is, it also needed to remind players that it’s a Mass Effect game, the game from which Commander Shepard came.

So, how to solve this matter? Well, instead of referencing stuff that actually happened in the trilogy, it solves the referencing aspect by putting a bunch of relatives of characters from the trilogy in the game. You get Conrad Verner’s sister, Nyreen Kandros’s cousin, a lost illegitimate son of Zaeed Massani, a brief cameo of Garrus Vakarian’s dad, a krogan on New Tuchanka being from clan Urdnot, and so on. And it was funny the first time or so, maybe even the second, but at some point it just turned awkward, and I started asking myself, “is this it? Is this all that’s left of the trilogy, just a bunch of big name characters to remind the player you belong from the same universe?”. The brief way they referenced back to Shepard was also very awkward and felt... out of place, with the rest of the game.

A couple call backs I really liked were:

Liara being acknowledged for her work as a Prothean researcher and being in contant with Ryder Senior, without much reference being done to her time in Shepard’s crew. It was good, seeing her from an outsider perspective.

The fact that Avitus Rix, being a turian ex-Spectre, knew Saren and was in fact his disciple.

Both these elements are things that make sense and tie the game back to the trilogy beyond just going “hey, this x character is the relative of this other x character, isn’t it crazy!”

The plot, and the problem with binary choices

It’s easy to make fun or critique the game struggling to find its own plot after something as big as the ME trilogy was. But Bioware isn’t an indie developer, it’s a huge fucking company, and they could have done better.

While I liked the design of the Remnants architecture and enemies, putting a plot point revolving around an ancient, long lost alien civilization who was much more technologically advanced, sounds a lot like a bad repeat of the Protheans.

I liked the Angara conceptually, but I didn’t like their design all that much and I often found it hysterically funny that angara are supposed to be a deeply emotional race, when the animators left them stuck with those mono expressive faces and unemotional eyes.

And on top of all of this, the kett are boring villains. The exaltation progress is really just a bad repeat of how Reaper indoctrination worked, and the way they talk reminds me of the big bad templars from the Dragon Age universe. It’s literally nothing new, and because of it, it’s boring.

When I was playing the endgame, all I kept thinking was “this is it? this is all they came up with? for real?”. I liked the twins aspect of the endgame, but aside from that, it didn’t feel satisfying.

And now comes the reason why it didn’t feel satisfying: the game got rid of the Paragon/Renegade system from the trilogy, and because of that, they also got rid of the possibility of additional problem-solving solutions during big choices.

In Andromeda, almost every major quest has a binary choice attached to it: choose this or that. Burn the facility or save all the angara but leave the facility standing. Save the krogans or Raeka. Pick Sloane or Reyes. Keep Sarissa as the Pathfinder or not. Etc.

in the trilogy, complete, important binary choices were rare (choosing Ashley or Kaidan is probably the biggest one) and the consequences had long lasting effects. Not all of them did (saving or killing the rachni in ME1 and rewriting or destroying the geth in ME2 didn’t have so many long term consequences in ME3, for example), but a great deal meant big changes in the following games.

The issues with these choices in Andromeda? None of them matter. Characters will get angry at you for going against their will in a single dialogue line, and then never mention it again. The opinion on the Nexus won’t change if you expose Spender, Addison’s connections to the Exiles, or Nexus people targeting the angara. None of your companions will betray you or leave you for going against their will during their loyalty missions.

A Mass Effect game with choices that don’t influence the final result of the game feels like a joke, and while I know in many ways the trilogy also had a problem on this matter on some parts, dead characters stayed dead and betraying a friend’s trust meant losing them in the near future

The unavoidable part where I mention the issue with LGBT rep in this game because I’m a nonbinary lesbian and I can’t detach that aspect of myself from how I consume media

Endless gays and trans folks out there have already written this sort of matter so as my last point of critique, I’ll make it quick. Bioware has a long story with homophobia and transphobia in its character writing - this without mentioning the huge problems with racism in the character writing, too. Many gay/bi women in Bioware games are written by the same homophobic straight cis man with a lesbo fetish, AKA Lukas Kristjanson, and that alone gives a really good feeling on why such issues exist.

The original Mass Effect trilogy had very little gay romance options, out of the amount of romance options: as of ME3, there are two main gay romance options for fShepard (Liara and Traynor, without counting the mini-romances that were put in the previous games for pure fetish fuel) and two for mShepard (Kaidan and Cortez, both only added in the last game).

Andromeda wasn’t... the big breath of fresh air in the representation department they tried to pass it as. There are more romance options, but for once, there add to add another m/m romance option later on because the only gay romance available were with minor NPCs, and there’s an issue with the amount of content gay romances get compared to main het romances.

There’s a single trans NPC, and it's a random person you meet who tells you her deadname and the reason she transitioned right away. Ugh.

And now we come to the bury your gays mission that made me almost uninstall the game: the mission to find the turian Pathfinder with the help of his partner, the previously mentioned Avitus Rix, who also happens to be the first gay male turian character in the game (the first gay female turian being Nyreen Kandros, who dies btw). You invest time to trace back to the turian arc, while listening to Avitus talk about how important the turian Pathfinder is to him, you realize pretty fast they’re lovers, and when you find out the turian arc, it’s all to discover that the Pathfinder is already dead. Not a choice in the game that could accidentally kill him, like with Raeka, or an active choice you make to keep him in his role, like Sarissa. He’s already dead, and you’re left with Avitus alone and mourning.

The game is from 2017. This sort of bullshit is unacceptable, and I will keep screaming it until Bioware manages to pretend like they care about their LGBT fans.

To end this mess of a post - Mass Effect: Andromeda lasted me a total of 50 hours of game, and in a way, I’m glad I got it out of my system. It was a delusion, but at least now I can cross it off my list and go back to playing other stuff. I understand that this is a game many ended up liking, and I’m sad I can’t say I’m among them, and that I couldn’t even fully enjoy the game at times. Also I promised myself I wouldn’t mention this but goddamn the facial animations of the game were so ugly.

DESPITE THIS, I really loved the characters, and I very much enjoyed Vetra’s romance, which was the main reason why I bought the game.

#long fucking post ahead beware #mass effect #mass effect andromeda #me:a

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fyexo · 4 years ago

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200819 How Lay Zhang Claimed The Throne of M-pop

“’Lit’ continues to explore chasing your dream. This time it’s about more personal things in my life. Like hometown, family and self-doubt.” Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Yixing Studio

“I don’t think people can ever understand an artist completely. But they can relate to many things. I think that is a challenge for an artist to see how they can use their music to connect with people. It is a worthy challenge.” Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Yixing Studio

Lit is the first part of a series of EPs which will make a whole LP—why did you want to release it in this format and when did you begin working on the record?

How do you hope that the artist you are today crafts the Lay Zhang of tomorrow?

I always believe in working hard and improving. I hope that the Lay Zhang of tomorrow continues to keep looking for ways to improve his art. I hope he never gives up his dreams.

“I want to keep growing as an artist. But also I want to let my fans know that I am reading their comments and I see everything they say.” Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Yixing Studio

Why do fans need to see themselves in an artist? Does it work the same on the other side, do you as an artist see yourself in your fans?

I am busy filming a TV drama and a few reality TV shows for the rest of 2020. A very busy schedule.

Riddhi Chakraborty @ Rolling Stone India

#exo #lay #t: interview #album: lit

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s10127470 · 4 months ago

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The Forgotten TMNT Villain

In the world of action heroes, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have undoubtedly one of the most iconic rogue's gallery.

And one of the coolest things about it is that in contrast to the rogue's gallery of most other heroes that originated from comics, the Turtles' are always growing thanks to their multitude of adaptations, which have often created new villains for their specific series, comics or movies.

The 1987 cartoon gave us Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady, Lord Dregg, Metalhead, Slash, and Don Turtelli.

The 90s films gave us Tatsu, Tokka and Rahzar.

The 2003 cartoon gave us Hun, Agent Bishop, Drako, and Darius Dunn.

The 2012 cartoon gave us Tiger Claw, Dogpound, Fishface, and Don Vizioso.

And Rise pretty much went all out as just about every villain in that show was wholly original.

But in spite of all that, just about every iterations still uses the villains introduced in the original Mirage comics including The Foot Clan, Baxter Stockman, Karai, The Purple Dragons, Leatherhead, The Rat King, The Triceratons, and of course, The Shredder.

However, there is one villain that is generally seen as the black sheep of the TMNT rogue's gallery (despite how big of a part he played in his debut) and most you probably forgot he even existed!

But before we get to the villain, first we need to talk about the piece of media he originated.

That piece of media is none other than....

Yep. This film.

Fun fact: Next month, this film will officially turn 10 years old (and I'm pretty sure by just saying that, I gave about half of you a mini existential crisis).

But even after all this time, what do I think about the movie?

It's whatever.

It's not the worst thing ever, and certainly not the worst thing in this franchise.

The film does have some merit.

The effects and CGI are really good, the fights are well choreographed, and the Turtles themselves are actually the highlight of the movie.

Although their kinda lacking in depth, they do get the characterizations of the Turtles down to a T.

But that's as much praise as I can give.

The biggest problem with this film is that it doesn't really feel like Ninja Turtles.

It feels like the most generic Michael Bay (which I know he produced this film, but as everyone else pointed out, this film has so much of his style in it, he might've well been the director) film you can think but with a Ninja Turtles coat on it.

You can just tell that the people behind this film didn't exactly understand or had the best knowledge of the franchise.

Hell, it almost feels like an attempt at a more gritty and edgy version of the Turtles.

Which is kinda redundant since they were already like that from the very beginning.

And even then, the film doesn't match the style of grittiness and edge of the Mirage comics at all.

This is shown even more when you look at the rest of the cast.

As apart from the Turtles, everybody else is pretty flat.

April has none of the confidence, charm or badassery of her other iterations, which can be largely thanks to her being played by Megan Fox of all people. Plus, just like any Bay project starting Megan, they objectify her. And not helping her case is that fact that we spend more time with her than the actual titular protagonists.

Vern Fanwick was such a wasted character, especially when he was played by Will Arnett! Like, how do you not make Will Arnett entertaining?!

Splinter was pretty bland. Like, I keep forgetting he was even in the movie.

But the worst of the characters can be seen with the villains.

Like most iterations of the Turtles, the main villainous force is The Foot Clan.

And hoo boy! Were they bastardized!

In fact, this brings me back to my previous point about how the people behind this film didn't really seem to understand Ninja Turtles.

And one of the biggest contributors to that is the notable lack of "ninja".

Everybody's already talked about the designs of the Turtles. From how uncanny they look, to the unnecessary amount of clothing they have.

But one of the biggest complaints against them was their size.

Like, these dudes are 7-feet tall!

It's hard to believe that the Turtles here are teenagers (and their voices don't do them any favors) or ninjas because of how huge they are.

We see them picking up shipping containers and using them like baseball bats.

They have bullets bounce off their chests.

And whenever they land, they always shake the ground.

As GodzillaMendoza pointed out in his review on the film, it's kinda like seeing The Incredible Hulk trying to be stealthy and fighting off enemies with weapons rather than his fists.

But they're not the only ones!

In this film, The Foot Clan are portrayed as a group of gun-wielding terrorists rather than an organization of skilled ninja warriors.

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I have no clue.

I guess because they weren't cool or epic enough for Bay's style?

They're also led by Karai, who typically is an important character in most Ninja Turtles story, usually having some personal connection with The Shredder.

But here, she's just....there.

Hell, I don't think they even say her name out loud.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the film's big bad himself, Shredder!

Out of all the iterations of the character, this is undoubtedly the weakest.

For starters, he's not in the movie for a whole lot of time.

In this out of this 1-hour and 41-minute movie, I think he has only like barely over 10-minutes of screen time.

Which isn't exactly an ample amount of time for your main villain.

In addition to that, we barely get to know this Shredder.

We know he's ruthless like most of his other iterations.

But we're never given anything on his past, how he became part of The Foot Clan, or the reason for the ridiculous evil plan of this film.

Another drawback is his dialogue....or lack there of.

Apart from his out of suit scenes and the fight between him and Splinter (which I'll touch more on later), Shredder barely talks.

Like, in the final battle, I don't recall him speaking like...once!

What is he? Prince Phillip?

It's kind weird how the main villain of the film doesn't have much of a presence while the secondary villain does.

Oh yeah....talk about him!

Ladies and gentleman! Children of all ages! Let me reintroduce you to Eric Sacks!

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It's kinda funny how forgettable Sacks was despite that fact the we see more of HIM (like 4-times more) than The Shredder himself.

Along with that, he contributes more to moving the plot along than Shredder.

He's the one with all the plans.

And reveals to our heroes The Foot Clan's scheme in general!

Although he's an incredibly generic (and once again, forgettable) villain, he weirdly comes off as being more of the main villain than the actual main villain!

And there's a reason for that.....he was suppose to be the main villain.

Time for a little history lesson.

The 2014 TMNT film started production all the way back in 2010, shortly after Viacom purchased the rights to TMNT franchise from Turtles co-creator Peter Laird.

And when it was first announced a few months later, expectations were not exactly high, largely thanks to the reveal that Bay was gonna to be involved in the project.

But things only got worse when in 2012, a script for the film was leaked.

This script was lambasted to Hell and back, and there were two major reasons for that.

First and more infamous reason was that the Turtles themselves were going to be aliens from another planet and not mutated turtles.

Yes, you heard me right.

The second reason was in the case of The Shredder. In this script, Shredder was a white, American military officer named "Colonel Schraeder" (whose armor would've been cybernetic), with The Foot Clan depicted as a black-ops military unit.

This did not sit well with anyone.

The obvious reason being the inherent scuminess of casting a white man to take the role of a Japanese character.

But worse part about all of this was the white Shredder's new name: Eric Sacks.

While this name may sound kinda dumb, when you translate it into Japanese, it'll show the results of a familiar name.

That name being....OROKU SAKI.

The Shredder's real name!

Yeah. This was blatant whitewashing.

The fact that they made Shredder in to a white American man would've been bad enough. But the fact that they went as far as to Anglicized his name was just the icing on this shit sundae.

This would be like casting a white actor to play the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle and changing his name to James Ray.

The fact that the people behind this movie thought this kind of thing was still okay as late as 2012 is just pathetic.

And given that this was produced by Nickelodeon Movies, you think after hearing this, they would've had the crew change that in an instant.

Given that they already have experience with this kind of issue.

But apparently not as if you look at the final film, you can definitely tell that the change to make Sacks and Shredder separate characters was done somewhat last minute.

For starters, let's look at the history of the project.

Principal photography for the film began on March 22, 2013, and wrapped up in August of that year.

However, additional filming was done in January and April of 2014, just 7-4 months before the film's intended release.

This was most likely used to film the new scenes with the man who may or may not be Oroku Saki (along with some changes to the already filmed scenes in order erase any remnants of Sacks being The Shredder).

But when looking at the final film, it's pretty apparent that these changes were done fairly late into production.

There's the aforementioned scenes with possibly Oroku Saki.

But they're in a dimly-lit room, and Saki himself is always shrouded in shadow (making his face barely visible)

Whereas Sacks has light reflecting off him where we can actually see his face.

Also, whenever Sacks and Shredder are acknowledged as separate characters, whoever says it is always offscreen at the moment and it's always done in ADR.

You never see anyone acknowledge the two characters as separate onscreen.

There's also plenty of shots of Sacks looking at The Shredder armor, as if he's planning to put it on.

There's also the aforementioned Shredder barely talking while in the suit, and even when he does, it's an ADR voiceover.

Plus, we never get to see anyone in armor as well.

Nor any scenes of Saki putting on the armor (because there wasn't).

Sacks also walks around dressed in a black undershirt that just screams Tony Stark's clothes under the armor.

And perhaps the biggest of them all, in lot of the official tie-in material, especially the Nintendo 3DS game, Sacks is The Shredder.

Mostly likely because a lot of that stuff started production right before the additional filming was done.

But one last detail towards Sacks being The Shredder comes during the fight between Splinter and....well, Shredder.

For some reason, Splinter acts like as if he personally knows Shredder, when in this continuity, he shouldn't.

Which is already weird to mention since in just about every iteration, Splinter and Shredder have always had some kind of connection to each other.

Seeing them so disconnected from each other just doesn't feel right.

And once again, Splinter having personal beef with Shredder in this continuity wouldn't make any sense as given from what we've seen, these two have no history with each other.

However, if it was Sacks that was The Shredder, then that would make sense.

Since in this continuity, Splinter and the Turtles were originally the test subjects of Dr. O'Neil (April's father), who was also the partner of Sacks.

But after O'Neil found out about Sacks' true plans, he burned all the research they've done.

But while April and the subjects were able to escape, Dr. O'Neil wasn't so lucky as he got shot by Sacks.

With all that being considered, the personal beef would've made much more sense if Sacks was kept as The Shredder.

However, the funniest thing about Sacks is when we look at the far better sequel of this film, Out of the Shadows.

From the get-go, we learn about what happened to most of the villains since the first film.

Keyword: most.

Shredder was arrested and sent to prison, and The Foot Clan have been operating without him.

But strangely enough, despite how present he was in the first movie and how much he moved the plot along, Sacks doesn't appear nor does he even get a mention!

The last time we saw him, he got knocked out by Vern!

Like, they could've easily explained what happened to him in the span of a few seconds.

But no, they don't!

It's almost as if the filmmakers just forgot he even existed like most of us did.

All in all, given how generic and unremarkable Sacks was, top that off with the massive controversy that stemmed from the character, I don't think we'll ever see him again.

I know there are plenty of TMNT villains that have yet to be adapted into other iterations (specifically the 2012 and Rise ones), but they're most likely gonna get that chance in the near future.

Sacks on the other hand, I highly doubt that.

If we're lucky, Sacks would come back in a new iteration....but he would be a total joke villain like The Amoeba Boys, The Toiletnator, and The Box Ghost.

He'll probably be some weirdo who obsesses over Shredder and even wants to be him, as a jab at the fact he was originally going to be Shredder.

Though maybe they could do something cool with that concept and gradually have Sacks go from a total laughing stock, to an actual legitimate threat.

Maybe he starts to built his own Foot Clan, starts to learn in the ways of ninjutsu, and even creates his own Shredder armor.

He would be kinda like a mix between Syndrome and Ludo.

Not to mention, this could also lead to Turtles and Shredder having to work together to take Sacks down.

Which now that I think about it, outside of the comics, we've never really seen that happen.

So that would be cool to see!

Anyway, that's all I wanted to talk about.

See ya!

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2014 #villains #TMNT villains #eric sacks #even putting aside the obvious anglicization #the name just sounds really silly #like dude #his last name is sacks #you are just asking to get made fun of #shredder #oroku saki #whitewashing

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happyzyx · 4 years ago

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(...) “It is the evolution of M-pop for me,” LAY explains. “I wanted to take it to another level. When you hear the Chinese instruments, you know it is a different sound and vibe. The style is more pop, R&B, and hip-hop influenced with the Chinese instruments thoughtfully mixed in.” Comprising a total of 12 songs (all written and co-produced by LAY) Lit was released as two EPs instead of one LP; the first dropped in June while the second made its appearance in July. Nearly every track presents a fresh blend of traditional Chinese instruments like the hulusi, guzheng, flutes and gong with modern genres like trap, R&B, soul, hip-hop, future bass, dubstep and more. It’s a complex, refined and intricate record, utilizing production techniques that clearly outline LAY’s growth as an artist over the past two years. In retrospect, Namanana comes across a slightly more naive record–innocent and optimistic with a hope that international audiences would embrace both M-pop and LAY. Lit however seeks to take a different path and carves out the future LAY envisions with cool confidence and fearless production.

FULL

#zhang yixing #yixing #lay #exo #p: article

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ponett · 5 years ago

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Welp... it’s over. After nine years, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is over. I just got done watching the series finale with Anthony and, just like I knew I would, when the credits rolled, I cried my eyes out

I should probably say something, huh. I’ve been sharing thoughts like this mostly on Twitter lately, but I started using Tumblr to blog about MLP, so I don’t think it would be right to post this anywhere else

I have a complicated relationship with MLP:FiM. It’s a show that got really hit or miss after the second season, and it has a fandom so toxic and so full of edgy libertarians that it scared me off from formally participating in fandoms for the rest of my life. But it’s also probably my favorite TV show of all time. There are other shows that are much better written, that have more to say, that are more consistent, even including several other cartoons from the same decade. But I think I’d be lying to myself if I said it wasn’t my favorite show

No other piece of media has had as massive of an impact on my life as My Little Pony

I grew closer to some of my closest high school friends because of our shared enthusiasm for the show. I started PonyPokey with Jake and Derek and made a bunch of bad videos and got invited to be on a wildly disorganized BronyCon panel with Jenny Nicholson in 2012. (We went on stage immediately after Lauren Faust’s panel. I barely said a word due to stage fright.)

After years of being too afraid to share my art online, I started putting more effort into learning digital art so that I could draw ponies. It started out rough, but with the drive to improve, I quickly got better. I started Fluttershy Replies. For the first time, I had an audience. I had people who cared about my work and supported me. Even as times have changed, many of you have been following me since way back then

Around the time I came out as bi in 2012, I got really into MLP shipping. Writing sappy comics and drawing sappy art became an outlet for my years of pent up feelings, and helped me sort out a lot of stuff. My Little Pony also completely changed the views on femininity that had been beaten into my skull since childhood. Suddenly, it wasn’t this strange, alien thing to be afraid of. MLP, at its heart, is a show about how there’s no wrong way to be a girl. That’s an incredibly powerful message. Rarity wasn’t a vapid snob. Fluttershy wasn’t a background character who got made into the butt of the joke. Pinkie wasn’t a ditz. These were characters written to be empathized with. And writing about my own feelings from the perspective of Fluttershy felt... right. It took me a few years to fully process those feelings, but eventually, I realized the truth. I was a trans woman. And a cartoon about horses was the first step on my path to realizing this

In 2013, one of the roughest years of my life, I decided to download RPG Maker on a whim to give myself a distraction. Naturally, my first instinct was to make a game where Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash kiss. What was initially supposed to be a short, Fantastic Game-esque playground of silly little jokes spiraled out of control and became Super Lesbian Horse RPG, a game that I poured my heart and soul into over the course of a year. And then, a couple years later, my desire to preserve the ideas from my copyright-infringing fangame also spiraled out of control, as all my creative projects do, and became SLHRPG’s successor: Super Lesbian Animal RPG. SLARPG isn’t really a reskinned MLP fangame anymore--it’s more like a new game inspired in part by my old project. The story has been drastically rewritten, the characters changed, the levels and gameplay redesigned. Most of the cast of the new game wasn’t in the original project in any form. There’s much, much, much, much, much more new content than old left in the game. And the original game had already strayed so far from the canon anyway. But I’m also not sure it would exist without MLP

I made a bunch of friends online, including close friends I still have to this day. I met the people like Bee and Thomas who I’m still working with on SLARPG. Most importantly, because we both blogged about MLP and had some mutual friends, I met Anthony, the love of my life. We’ve been together for five years now and supported each other through good times and bad. This is the lamest, corniest, stupidest thing I will ever say in my life, but he’s the Rainbow Dash to my Fluttershy

...

So what about the finale itself? (spoilers, obviously)

I have... mixed feelings on the finale. There were some things that really annoyed me in there. But also, like I said, I cried, so I think it’s safe to say they did good overall

I think the thing that stuck in my craw the most was Discord. Which I guess shouldn’t be surprising. I’ve been saying for years now how I hate Discord, how he spits in the face of everything the show stands for. He’s an obnoxious elderly manchild who constantly causes problems on purpose and torments his so-called friends the second they stop paying attention to him. But they have to put up with him and give him infinite second chances, because he’s a god and Celestia said they had to reform him

The overarching plot of the final season is that Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Tirek, and Cozy Glow (a Darla Dimple-esque filly villain from season 8) had teamed up with Grogar, a “new” villain taken from G1. While this goes on in the background, Twilight is making her preparations to become Celestia’s successor, as we’d known would be her destiny since the day she got wings six years ago. The villain team-up stuff was genuinely fun, and a highlight of the season for me. But then, in the three-part finale, it’s revealed that Grogar was actually Discord in disguise, and that he’d been intentionally trying to orchestrate a big attack on Twilight’s coronation so that she and her friends could save the day and get a big confidence boost going into her reign as princess. This is like... one of the most bafflingly stupid plot twist of all time. It’s literally the end of the show, and Discord has learned nothing. He’s “nice” now, but he’s still intentionally causing huge problems and putting everyone’s lives in danger to solve his problems. He freed four different villains they’d already defeated just so Twilight could beat them again, and in the process they literally blew up the goddamn castle in Canterlot and nearly killed everyone. And yet... they still forgive him, because they have to

I did, however, think that the last two-part adventure episode was fun overall. It tied a nice bow on much of the series, bringing back a bunch of old friends (including cameos from the movie cast!) to band together and save the day. Of course, in the end, they beat the bad guys with a big rainbow laser and sealed them in a statue. You know, even though a previous season finale was all about how solving their problems with a friendship laser and sealing the villains away never worked. Also, Cozy Glow might be evil, but she’s still literally a child? And now her petrified body is on display in the center of Canterlot? What the fuck????

I’m complaining a lot, but again. It was fun overall. It was nice to have one last big adventure, and to have the mane six reflect on how they’d grown since Twilight moved to Ponyville

...

And then we got the actual final episode. And boy did this one hit me HARD

I’m so glad that they ended on a quieter episode about the main cast’s friendships, because that’s what the show is actually about. The two-part adventures to save Equestria every season are fun, but that’s not the real show. We all came back every week for Twilight and her friends

There are things I can complain about here, too. Spike being a buff adult dragon with the voice of a child is fucked up. I’m still not used to seeing Twilight be Celestia’s size. But more than anything, I was always worried that we’d get a Harry Potter ending, where all the characters are paired off into arbitrary marriages so they can all have kids. Thankfully, this didn’t really happen. The only one who had a kid was Pinkie, who apparently got married to Cheese Sandwich (Weird Al’s character) at some point. Like, they literally shared two episodes together, with no hint of romance? But then they got married and had a kid off-screen??? What the fuck???? A lot of people also think that Fluttershy ended up with Discord, and I know I’m massively biased against that ship, but... I mean, they teased the FlutterCord shippers, but there wasn’t really any actual textual evidence that they were any closer than they had been previously. Y’all weirdos who ship Fluttershy with an obnoxious elderly man can interpret that as being “canon” if you want, I guess, but it’s not

The other relationship that shocked everyone in the finale was Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who... appear to be a couple? It’s definitely hinted at. I have... very, very mixed feelings about this. I mean, okay, obivously I’m the big FlutterDash fangirl. But I think AppleDash is cute, too! The problem is that, like... they’ve barely interacted in years? Like, they had a lot of episodes together in the first two seasons, but then the writers barely ever had them interact past that point. I can’t even remember when the last time we got an actual episode focusing on them was. And no, the one where Rainbow takes Granny Smith to pony Vegas doesn’t count

Like... yeah, it’s cute. It’s a nice gesture. Lyra and Bon Bon getting married in the background was also cute. But we can do so, so much better in 2019. We have so many explicitly canon lesbian couples in cartoons. Couples that actually kissed, or got married, or showed feelings for each other. Rainbow and AJ barely even fucking talked to each other in the final few seasons. I dunno, it just feels very hollow to me. Even the Equestria Girls crew admitting they were pushing RariJack felt more substantial to me, because at least they were given on-screen chemistry and lots of canon interaction

But in the end, complaints aside, the finale was about Twilight moving back to Canterlot, and worrying that her friendships would fade because of it. Honestly, I think this is what the finale of the show always would’ve been. It was the perfect story to end on. And boy, it hit really close to home

And then the last song happens, reflecting on how things have changed, but how they’re all still friends. And we see all the other friends they made along the way. And the camera zooms out, and the book from the opening of the very first episode closes, bringing the entire nine-year saga full circle

And then I started sobbing really hard in Anthony’s arms

...

I dunno. I just got done nitpicking a lot, but I still think that the last episode was a good and very emotional ending for the show

I’m going to miss this show dearly. I know it will be back in a new form, and that the leaks indicate that it’ll still star slightly different versions of the Mane Six. I’m also used to shows like this getting rebooted. Hasbro cartoons are honestly lucky to last past three seasons. FiM, on the other hand, got over 200 episodes, a theatrical film, a few specials, some shorts, a bunch of comics (which I still need to read), and a spinoff human AU series that was also really great. There’s no shortage of content, and I’m sure I’ll be returning to the series for years to come. I’m also glad that the show managed to go out on a high note

But still. It was a constant presence in my life for nearly nine years. Even as the quality got really hit or miss, even as they took the premise in strange directions, even as the crew of the show grew more and more dominated by men, it was still a show I could rely on to always be there, 26 episodes a year. I’ll miss it. I hope what comes next is just as good, if not even better. I also hope it’s gayer

I was going to end my ask blog, Fluttershy Replies, around the time the show ended. I’m not sure if I’ll do that just yet. I don’t know. I think that might be a bit much for me to process emotionally. Too many doors closing in my life in quick succession. But I do want to do more with it. These characters will be special to me for the rest of my life

I mean shit, I haven’t even drawn StarTrix yet. I’ve still got a lot of work to do with these horses, folks

#bobby thinks about horses

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msbowser · 5 years ago

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My Top Games of the Last Decade

The year 2020 is here, ushering in a new decade to live in. Instead of looking at the bad events that occurred over the years, I instead want to look at my favorite games over the last 10 years. It’s crazy that back in 2010, I was only in my second half of the fifth grade. Oh how young and naïve I was and an even worse gamer. Now in 2020, I am in the second semester of my second year of university, studying in the psychology field. I feel how I was raised over the last years shaped of how I am as a person and I am still learning, no one is perfect. Those developments shaped even the gamer I am now. Back when I was younger, I just liked games that were fun to play. But now I am a person who puts Character Development and Story before Gameplay. You will see this shift as the years go by.

Well let’s start with 2010. And I will try to limit how much I write each game to about a paragraph each. Don’t want to make this post too long. I can give a more detailed explanation at a future date if someone is interested.

PS. All the games are Nintendo Games. I’m only a Nintendo gamer so sorry if you don’t see like Persona 5 or Last of Us.

2010: Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Gosh this game is too freaking cute for words. I remember the stories about how much I wanted this game when I was younger, even the embarrassing ones. While this game is easy even for Kirby standards, this game is so fun to play. The levels are enjoyable to play, you can get lost hours doing minigames and playing music (Frosty Wheel is still the best), and is just cute. This game is cute incarnate. And if you don't want to play the original version, you can play a port of it on the 3DS with even more goodies on it.

2011: Pokémon Black and White

My favorite Pokémon games and generation even if I started with Pearl. Gen 5 of Pokémon is super special to me as I know it is for many others, being the first game I bought the day of release. I was also pretty blind in my playthrough, finding new discoveries as they came along and finding new Pokémon that I might have not liked at first but became my favorites. Pokémon like the Krookodile line, Emolga, the Leavanny line and so much more. The game also first brought to my attention to how characters can be written well and still is my favorite story in a mainline Pokémon game.

2012: Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure

So I’m kinda cheating with this one since I didn’t play it until 2013 but damn it, I don’t care! This game is awesome. I am super terrible with rhythm games but this game is one that is very enjoyable with an excellent story and characters. Phantom R is such a cool guy that you just want to hang out with and go dancing with and not the fact he’s a gentleman. The rhythm minigames are mostly enjoyable and have a wide variety to play so you can't bored very easily (the gyroscope one can go die in a fire though). All I want to know is where is the damn sequel already Sega?! It’s been 8 freaking years with that teaser you showed at the ending of the game and no I don't count that bad IOS game you made a year later. We fans need our fix and answers now.

2013: Mario and Luigi Dream Team

Bowser’s Inside Story will always be my favorite Mario and Luigi game but this game comes to a close second. As part of Year of Luigi, this game did not disappoint. Luigi is front and center and he is the best of the part of game, with his dream abilities and overall character. The story is also very good with the adventures the bro’s have on Pi’illo Island and the soundtrack of the game is my video game soundtrack of all time. There is also the fact that giant battles return and if anyone knows me, knows I love me those giants <3

I also have two honorable mentions for 2013 that I will give a brief note while I like them

Fire Emblem Awakening

First Fire Emblem game, got me in the series. Characters are great and story left me generally shocked at points. Make a yearly tradition to one playthrough each year

Super Mario 3D World

Favorite Mario platformer, Peach being playable and being a cat. Yes please

2014: Kirby Triple Deluxe

I freaking love Kirby games :D Triple Deluxe was the first Kirby game on the 3DS, using an engine that looks beautiful on the 3DS that was used for the next game they did. The game is super colorful with its vibrate worlds and use of pastel colors. The new abilities is super fun to play with as well, Archer being my favorite. Supernova is also a neat gimmick for the game and glad it was present in many of the levels and used in new ways to solve puzzles.

2015: Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle

Surprise! I said favorite games of the decade and mobile games count. This game means so much to me, being the one of the mobile games I keep track of everyday, even looking at what the JP version gets. I am proud of my account and how far it has come over these past years. Though I was not there right when it released, it has felt like that long as I have had my account for over 4 years now and don’t plan to quit now. One day I will have my full husband team, just you watch <3

2016: Dragon Ball Fusions

This game was my answer to a playable Dragon Ball RPG to play on Nintendo consoles (before Xenoverse 2 got ported over on the Switch). The chibi artstyle gave this game its own identify from other games like it. The gameplay was fun as you can make your own character and fly all across the world fighting characters from the Dragon Ball timeline. The game is all about the fusion mechanic, but with an expanded roster of characters to fuse and the ability to fuse your favorites is a blast.

Brief Honorable Mention to Pokémon Sun and Moon for a fun region to explore, new pokemon to love and pretty good story.

(Lillie is so precious for this world I swear. And Snowy as well :D))

2017: Miitopia

A lot of people would write off this game as a simple Mii game, but it is so much more than that. This game has much more personality than one might think, with its class system, characters even when you chose who is what role and the story as well. The story and characters allows many possibilities of ideas for stories and art for creators to make and enjoy, as this game and Tomodachi Life was used as a template for a rp that me and my bf do. And this game can get hard, like wanting to rage quit hard, so be prepared for grinding. The OST is also a charm of the game, being one of my favorite OSTs ever.

Like with 2013, I have two honorable mentions that I will give a short comment on.

Splatoon 2

Love it more than the original, Aerospray is still the master race and Off The Hook is better than Squid Sisters, don’ t @ me XD

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Amazing story, characters and unique experience from other games I have played. Berkut x Rinea OTP

2018: Dragon Ball FighterZ

As much as I like the Super Smash Bros games, I was more excited for this game to come out. I was glad it did come to Switch so I can play it. FighterZ was my first proper fighting game with button inputs and it threw me for a loop, but eventually I got the hang of it and is still learning. The story is a fun experience if you don’t think too much about it, me loving Android 21. And of course I main my husband that is in the gif above <3

2019: Pokémon Sword/Shield and Super Dragon Ball Heroes World Mission (That’s right, a tie)

I was excited for SwSh since day 1 and was not disappointed even with the dex cuts. The Wild Area has been a blast exploring, finding all the new raid Pokémon to catch and train. The new Pokémon are super fun to use, some of my favorites being Ponyta, Scorebunny and Dreepy. My baby Eevee also got a GMax form and she is super freaking fluffy, big and I want to hug her <3 I’m excited for the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLC when they come out.

This game was huge to us USA fans of the series as this was the first time we ever got anything DB Heroes related here. The cards were fun to make teams with and make even custom cards. It was a full experience without to play the irl game, which would still be fun. Though the game is slow to add updates, I will be waiting for what will be coming. I am glad the game came out so we can finally enjoy all of what the game has to offer. (Though I played the previous game in the series being Ultimate Mission X through Citra, so I got a headstart XD)

This is it for this post. Even though I am late at posting it, better late than never. If anyone is interested, I’m glad to give more detailed descriptions. I realize I have to do better at explain my opinions in a more detailed matter.

Thank you so much for reading :D

#kirby epic yarn #pokemon black and white #rhythm thief #mario and luigi dream team #fire embem awakening #super mario 3d world #kirby triple deluxe #dragon ball z dokkan battle #dragon ball fighterz #dragon ball fusions #pokemon sun and moon #miitopia #splatoon 2 #fire emblem echoes #pokemon sword and shield #super dragon ball heroes #video gaming in the last decade #thanks for reading

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insanityclause · 5 years ago

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Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

A Director Making His Mark in More Ways Than One

LONDON — The director Jamie Lloyd was giving me a tour of his tattoos. Not the Pegasus on his chest or the skeleton astronaut floating on his back, though he gamely described those, but the onyx-inked adornments that cover his arms and hands, that wreathe his neck, that wrap around his shaved head.

When I asked about the dragon at his throat, he told me it had been “one of the ones that hurt the least,” then pointed to the flame-licked skulls on either side of his neck: his “covert way,” he said, of representing drama’s traditional emblems for comedy and tragedy.

“I thought maybe it’d be a little bit tacky to have theater masks on my neck,” he added, a laugh bubbling up, and it’s true: His dragon would have eaten them for lunch.

It was early December, and we were in a lounge beneath the Playhouse Theater, where Lloyd’s West End production of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” starring James McAvoy in a skintight puffer jacket and his own regular-size nose, would soon open to packed houses and critical praise.

Running through Feb. 29, and arriving on cinema screens Feb. 20 in a National Theater Live broadcast, “Cyrano” — newly adapted by Martin Crimp, and positing its hero as a scrappy spoken-word wonder — capped a year that saw Lloyd celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.

In London last summer, his outdoor hit “Evita” traded conventional glamour for sexy grit, while his radical reinterpretation of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal,” starring Tom Hiddleston, was hailed first in the West End, then on Broadway. Ben Brantley, reviewing “Betrayal” in The New York Times, called it “one of those rare shows I seem destined to think about forever.”

When Time Out London ranked the best theater of 2019, it gave the top spot jointly to all three Lloyd productions, saying that he “has had a year that some of his peers might trade their entire careers for.”

Lloyd, who is 39, did not spring from the same mold as many of those peers. There was for him, he says, no youthful aha moment of watching Derek Jacobi onstage and divining that directing was his path. Epiphanies like that belonged to other kids, the ones who could afford the tickets.

If there is a standard background for a London theater director — and Lloyd would argue that certainly there used to be — that isn’t where he came from, growing up working class on the south coast of England, in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain.

The first time I laid eyes on him, chatting in the Playhouse lobby after a preview of “Cyrano,” he was the picture of working-class flair — the gold pirate hoops, the pink and black T-shirt, the belt cinching high-waisted pants.

He looks nothing like your typical West End director. Which of course is precisely the point.

What’s underneath

“It’s quite often said of him,” McAvoy observed by phone, once the reviews were in, “that he strips things away or he tries to take classical works and turn them on their head. I think he’s always just trying to tell the story in the clearest and most exhilarating way possible.”

The “X-Men” star, who put the number of times he’s worked with Lloyd in the past decade at a “gazillion,” calls theirs “probably one of the most defining relationships that I’ve had in my career.”

Yet Lloyd himself is on board with the notion that his assertively contemporary stagings pare back stifling layers of performance history to lay bare what’s underneath.

Like the tiger and dragons that he had emblazoned on his head just last May, though, the unembellished nature of his shows — as minimalist in their way as his tattoos are the opposite — is a relatively recent development.

Lloyd’s first “Cyrano de Bergerac,” starring Douglas Hodge in 2012, was also his Broadway debut. It was, he said, “absolutely the ‘Cyrano’ that you would expect,” with the fake nose, the hat, the plume, the sword-fighting.

There is, granted, sword-fighting in the new one — but the audience has to imagine the swords.

Lloyd’s productions, including a lauded revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Passion” in 2010, long marked him as a hot young director on the rise. But he sees in some of his previous work a noisy tendency toward idea overload.

The pivot point came in 2018, with a season that the Jamie Lloyd Company — which he formed seven years ago with the commercial producing powerhouse Ambassador Theater Group — devoted to the short works of Harold Pinter. The playwright’s distillation of language forced Lloyd to match it with his staging.

That immersion led to what the director Michael Grandage — one of Lloyd’s early champions, who tapped him at 27 to be his associate director at the Donmar Warehouse — called Lloyd’s “absolute masterpiece.”

“I had quite a lot of ambition to do a production of ‘Betrayal’ in my life,” Grandage said. “And then when I saw Jamie’s, I thought, ‘Right, that’s it. I don’t ever, ever want to direct this play.’ Because that’s, for me, the perfect production.”

Playing dress-up

Charm is a ready currency in the theater, but Lloyd’s is disarming; he seems simply to be being himself, without veneer. Like when I fact-checked something I’d read by asking whether he was a vegan.

“Lapsed vegan,” he confessed immediately, with a tinge of guilt about eating eggs again.

Pay no attention to any tough-guy vibe in photos of him; do not be alarmed by the sharp-toothed cat on the back of his head. In conversation, Lloyd comes across as thoughtful and unassuming, with an animated humor that makes him fun company. If he speaks at the speed of someone with no time to waste, he balances that with focused attentiveness.

His father, Ray, was a truck driver. His mother, Joy (whose name is tattooed on his right forearm, near the elbow), cleaned houses, took in ironing and ran a costume-rental shop, where young Jamie would sneak in to dress up as the children’s cartoon character Rainbow Brite.

“It’s very embarrassing,” he said, squelching a laugh.

Seeing professional theater wasn’t an option then for Lloyd, whose grown-up passion for expanding audience access — one of the things he has made himself known for in the West End — grew out of that exclusion. His company has set aside 15,000 free and 15,000 £15 tickets for its current, characteristically starry three-show season, which will also include Emilia Clarke in “The Seagull” and Jessica Chastain in “A Doll’s House.” At the 786-seat Playhouse, that adds up to just over 38 full houses.

Lloyd, who was studying acting at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts when he decided he wanted to direct, found his way to theater as a child by acting in school shows and local amateur productions. Twice he was cast as a monkey; in “The Wizard of Oz,” thrillingly, he got to fly.

The details of his early days have always been colorful — like having a clown as his first stepfather, who performed at children’s parties under the stage name Uncle Funny. But Lloyd is quick to acknowledge the darkness lurking there.

“It sounds a little bit like some dodgy film, because he was actually a really violent man,” he said. “And there were times where he was very physically abusive to my mum. There was a sort of atmosphere of violence in that house that was really uneasy. And yet masked with this literal makeup, but also this sense of trying to entertain people whilst enacting terrible brutality behind the scenes.”

This is where he locates his own connection to Pinter’s work.

“A lot of that is that the violence is beneath the surface,” he said. “And on the top there is this sort of, what I call a kind of topspin, a layer of cover-up.”

Long relationships

Lloyd was still at drama school when he staged a production of Lapine and William Finn’s “Falsettoland” that won a prize: assistant directing a show at the Bush Theater in London. Based on that, Trevor Nunn hired him, at 22, to be his assistant director on “Anything Goes” in the West End — a job he did so well that Grandage got word of it and hired him to assist on “Guys and Dolls.” While Lloyd was doing that, he also began directing in his own right.

The costume and set designer Soutra Gilmour, who has been a constant with Lloyd since he cold-called her for his first professional production, Pinter’s “The Caretaker,” said theirs is an easy relationship, with a “symbiotic transference of ideas.” Even their creative aesthetics have evolved in sync.

“We’ve actually never fallen out in 13 years,” she said over mint tea on a trip to New York last month, just before “Betrayal” closed. “Never! I don’t even know how we would fall out.”

Of course, the one time she tried to decline a Lloyd project five years ago, because its tech rehearsals coincided with the due date for her son’s birth, he told her there was no one else he wanted to work with. So she did the show, warning that at some point she would have to leave. Now, she says, he understands that she won’t sit through endless evening previews, because she needs to go home to her child.

Lloyd and his wife, the actress Suzie Toase (whose name is tattooed on one of his arms), home-school their own three boys (whose names are tattooed on the other). Their eldest, 13-year-old Lewin, is an actor who recently played one of the principal characters, the heroine’s irresistible best friend, on the HBO and BBC One series “His Dark Materials,” whose cast boasts McAvoy as well.

Enter the child

Lloyd’s interpretation of “Betrayal,” a 1978 play that recounts a seven-year affair, imbued it with a distinctly non-’70s awareness of the fragility of family — the notion that children are the bystanders harmed when a marriage is tossed away.

Its gasp-inducing moment came with the entrance of a character Pinter wrote to be mentioned but not seen: the small daughter of the couple whose relationship is imperiled. In putting her onstage, Lloyd didn’t touch the text; it was a simple, wordless role. With it, he altered the resonance of the play.

To me, it seemed logical that Lloyd’s production would have been informed by his experience as a husband and father — and maybe also as a child in a splintering family. How old had he been, anyway, when his parents split up?

“Five,” Lloyd said. “The same age as the character would be.” He paused. “Oh God, yeah, fascinating. I’d not thought about that. Exactly the same age.”

If that fact was of more than intellectual interest to him, he didn’t let on. He volunteered a memory, though — of being a little one “amongst these kind of big giants, and I guess what we can now see as the mess of their lives.”

Blazer-free

Doing “Betrayal” in New York, Lloyd was struck by how eager Americans were to chat about his tattoos. Still, he told me after I texted him a follow-up question about them, he hadn’t expected his appearance to be such a talking point in this story.

It’s not just idle curiosity. It’s about what the tattoos signify in a field where, in Britain as in the United States, the top directors tend to have grown up very comfortably. It’s about who is welcome in a particular space, and who gets to be themselves there.

For a long time after Lloyd started working in the theater, he wore a blazer every day: a conscious attempt to conform in an industry where he felt a nagging sense of difference.

“Every other director at the time was from an Oxbridge background,” he said, “and looked and sounded a particular way. I spent a long time pretending to be like them.”

It was a performance of sorts, with a costume he donned for the role.

It was only about seven or eight years ago — around the time he left the Donmar and started putting together his own company — that he stopped worrying about what people might think if he looked the way he wanted.

“My dad had tattoos” was the first thing he said when I asked him about his own.

“I guess it’s partly getting older,” he mused, “but it’s just sort of going, ‘You can’t pretend to be someone. You’ve got to be who you really are, in every way.’”

The tattoos that have gradually transformed him are from a different aesthetic universe than his recent work onstage. Yet the impulse, somehow, is the same.

In shedding the blazer, in inking his skin, Lloyd has peeled back layers of imposed convention to show who’s underneath.

And should you spot him at the theater, where he is hard to miss, you’ll notice that he looks just like himself.

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Oz the Originator Steps Into the Spotlight

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When Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts was released in January 2020, many viewers quickly became fans of not only the show but the music contained within, particularly that of in-show producer Oz the Originator. The tracks of Oz were especially loved because they brought main character Benson and his crush Troy together, a rare example of queer characters in kids animation. The two bonded over their favorite old world MC, with Benson in possession of several of his albums.

Only small snippets of the songs were heard in the series but it was enough to make the audience seek out the voice behind the songs. What they found was the multi talented Andra Gunter, a rapper, music producer, writer, and skate boarder who called the response from fans “unbelievable.”

In a previous interview with Den of Geek, Kipo creator Rad Sechrist sang Gunter’s praises, particularly for his scriptwriting. Co-showruner Bill Wolkoff echoed that sentiment, adding, “Andra is this amazing talent. Keep your eye out for him. He’s a great writer and great musician.”

But you don’t go from relative obscurity to being on a show and getting the praise of showrunners just like that. I was interested in learning not just about Gunter’s work on Kipo but everything that got him to that point as well. From his 2009 start in making music to his influences and even how his ADHD affects his work, Gunter let me into his thought process and how all that (and skateboarding) lead him to working on Kipo. We also discussed the Oz the Originator character, his new ‘Brave War’ album, and his screenplay work.

Gunter had a lot to say and I was delighted to sit back and listen as he shared both his and Oz the Orginator’s story, the two of which are more connected than you might realize.

DEN OF GEEK: Tell me a little of your story. I mean, this is a huge question, but how did you get to where you are today in terms of music?

ANDRA GUNTER: Well, definitely started music after seeing my brother make music. I always rapped and made music. I have heard numerous stories from my family of me trying to make music on radios and tape decks and stuff like that. But me remembering that I really wanted to do this, it was probably 2009.

What sort of music were you making then? Is it similar to what you’re doing now? What were some of your first big compositions then?

Well, at first, I was just starting off just probably a newb at it. Obviously, that’s how it starts off for everybody; you’re not that good at it. Eventually over time I started just concentrating on it every day by myself. I made my first real song, probably, 2010. I was making just pretty much all types of music, just anything that I could find the beat to and I could rhyme to it, I was pretty much doing it. I just wanted to make music, that was just the point, like, “Yo, whatever they got on the internet, whatever I can learn, then I’m going to do.”

What sort of things were you putting in your lyrics at the time? Was it just anything goes, or was there any specific themes that were coming out?

Well, I mean, 2010 was a really funny era for music. I feel like that time was Wiz Khalifa and Joey Badass, and that was the beginning of Tyler, the Creator. So it was a really expressive form at that time. Anything went. If you knew who Tyler, the Creator was in 2010, man, you knew what the rules were in rapping at that time.

There’s a long span of time between 2010 and now, how did your music evolve over that time? Obviously, it got better, as it does for any creative person, right? But what sort of things did you find yourself zeroing in on, a style that you liked or different themes that you wanted to use?

Well, I can say, in 2011 I was introduced to this type of music called jerk music, It was this really crazed dance called jerking in the black community, and I feel like all over the world. It was everywhere you could possibly think people wanted to dance. I got into making that music for my brother and his little cousin, and that music opened up my ear to just kind of everything, because at that time it was almost like dubstep music or like rave music in a different sense. Definitely doesn’t sound the same. It has the same point of sampling a lot of music, ranging from Anita Baker all the way down to System of a Down.

Samples were everywhere at that time, because it was a lot of new producers just going on the internet, finding something and trying to create their own sound. So that’s what gave me my style of just being all over the board and not really staying in one box. Even though jerk music was definitely one box, I feel like everybody that was doing jerk music had a range of a lot of different things.

And in that, did you find yourself sampling other people, and if so, what kind of samples were you using, or was it just anything goes?

Yeah, pretty much anything went. I mean, in those early days, I wasn’t really sampling because I was still really new to producing. So I didn’t really understand that part of it yet, but once I got a hang of it and I understood, then I was sampling like crazy. I definitely range all over the board too. The first thing I’ve ever sampled was a Earth, Wind & Fire song. Nowadays it’s more of listening to really weird that I’ve been finding through playlists and things like that. All the way from alternative, to deep soul, to punk rock, I sample everything now.

This is the music nerd question, what programs do you use to make your music?

Oh, yes. My favorite question of all. My first time ever using a program was FL Studio. It was FL Studio 9. My brother threw the USB at me, and was like, “Download this on the computer and learn how to use it.” After that, and he introduced me to that program, I never really turned back or tried to really go into a new program. I do know how to use programs because, I mean, they’re all kind of the same, but if I had to choose a program to use, it’s definitely FL Studio.

How did you eventually end up working on Kipo?

I want to say 2014 or ’15, I met Rad Sechrist, the creator of Kipo, through skateboarding. All my life I’ve been skateboarding, and at one point I got really good. I had a group of friends, and one of my friends in that group by the name of Isaiah, he was like, ” Yo, I got this friend. He works in animation, and he does this and he does that.” And mind you, Isaiah’s sort of that friend that you just don’t believe. You’re looking at him like, “Dude, what the fuck are you talking about? Who is this guy?” So this dude pulls up, and we’re 17, 18 years old at this time. It’s Isaiah’s 16th or 17th birthday, and this old white dude pulls up. I’m like, “Who’s this guy?”

So didn’t pay too much attention to Rad at first, but I guess from my personality and the way I talked to people that day, he just hit me up one day, was like, “Yo, I was really fucking with you, just your vibe in the car. So come through and check out some of the stuff I’m doing.” And I was like, “All right.” And then that’s when I believed that he was an animator and storyboard artist, because he brought me to one of his offices where he was working on this movie about a dragon, and it was fucking crazy. I’m in this place and I’m watching him draw on a Cintiq for the first time with all this crazy artwork on the wall, and I’m just amazed.

At this time, there was a company he was running, it was a skateboard company called Plastic Walrus. He was like, “Yeah, I want you to ride for my company and stuff like that,” and I’m like, “Bro, I will do anything you want me to do. Look at the office here.” At that point I just started hanging out with Rad a little bit more. I was going out to Silver Lake, because I live in Watts, California. I was going all the way out to Silver Lake, catching three trains just to go meet up with him and get boards and stuff.

Then, eventually, I checked into college, Los Angeles Trade Tech College. And then that’s when I got into pretty much being a writer because at first I was really uncertain on what I wanted to do, in general. But I got into writing, I got in this English class in college and started writing. I was writing these poems and writing these short stories for class and sending them around, and Brad’s like, “Yo, you’re a writer, dude. You should try to write.” I was like, “I don’t really want to write. I got this music for you though,” and I sent him a whole bunch of music. And then that’s how I got considered for Kipo, him pretty much introducing writing to me and me telling him, “I am already a writer. I write music,” and then sending him my music.

I spoke with Rad before this interview and he mentioned that originally he was just hoping you’d temp on the tracks but then the higher ups at DreamWorks loved it so much they put it into the show. When did you find out about that?

That shit just happened random, dude. Obviously, you don’t know what’s really going on in the office. You just send in an email and you hope for an email back. I sent maybe 30 songs and there was a whole bunch of different years I did these songs. One era it’s from 2012 to 2014, and the others continue to 2015 to now. I wasn’t sure they were even going to consider it. So I’m texting Rad, and I’m like, “Dude, I need to find something else to do.” At this time, I didn’t have a job. I had just checked into college. They weren’t trying to give me financial aid. So I was like, “I need something to do, dude, to get money.” He’s like, “Dude, I got you. I know they have something for you. You can be a writer if you start writing.”

He’s telling me all the things I need in order to get a writing job over at DreamWorks, and I’m not listening to that. I’m just like, “Dude, just send them my music, just please, that’s what I do. There’s nothing else I can do but make music.” So after a hop, skip, and a shove I get an email from the music department over at DreamWorks, and then they tell me they’re considering a couple of songs. I’m pretty sure that shit just happened random. Rad probably was in their ear so much that they’re like, “All right, we’re just going to hit this kid up.”

So was it just that they took what you had existing, or did they ask you to adapt it to fit the show more?

(Of the) 30 songs I sent in maybe two of them were considered. In episode ten when Benson finds Troy, that part where the tape deck falls out of his backpack, that song is an original song I did probably when I first met Rad. It was before he even knew I did music. That song was definitely not altered to fit the show.

There’s another episode where (the characters are) eating breakfast. That song is also an original song that I made in my room, and they didn’t make me alter it, they didn’t make me re-edit it or anything. It was perfect enough to just go inside the show.

I know you were listed as vocal contributor on the credits, did you end up recording more music specifically for the show?

Rad was hitting me up like, “Yeah, dude. They’re loving the shit you sent, and we’re pushing towards putting that in the show, for sure.” He was telling me every step of the way about my original songs. He’s like, “But there’s more.” I was like, “What’s more?” And he’s like, “Well, they’re trying to record original songs because the Kipo script is pretty much musically based. It’s almost like a musical.” So he’s like, “I got this guy that we’re hiring, his name’s Daniel Rojas.” He gives me the whole rundown on this dude, and I’m already kind of fan crazed, because he brings up Hans Zimmer. He told me Daniel used to work with Hans Zimmerman, and I’m like, “Dude, what the… Do you know who Hans Zimmerman is in the music world?” You know what I mean? So instantly, right there, I’m like, “Yo, set me up with this guy. I got to see who this is.” So we set up a meeting with Daniel, and I go to his studio.

You know how Jonah Hill looks like he’s fricking 21, but he’s almost 40 years old? That’s what Daniel looked like. He’s this really young looking older dude. So already I was really intrigued by this guy. I’m like, “Yo, you look like a baby man.” He’s like, “Yeah, we get real cool. We chop it up. I got a couple of songs that I produced for the show, and I want you to rap over these beats.” So that’s when we got to the point where they were trying to get me to make songs for the show.

When you were rapping over it, did they give you lyrics, or were they just like, “Just freestyle over it.”

Oh, no. If they would’ve gave me the verse, I don’t think I would’ve got credit. So, (I) definitely wrote the verses. I was so excited, I wrote those verses in like five minutes.

Oh, wow. Did they give you any directives about what they needed to be about, or was it just like, “go for it”?

At first it was like, “Go for it so we can get a feel,” but once I started showing them and rapping it out loud, Rad’s like, “There’s certain things you can’t say in the song.” During the song they were telling me what I could say and what I couldn’t say, and what I could make it about and what I couldn’t make it about. They didn’t coach me through it. They let me do my thing, but, ultimately, told me there was an outline of what I needed to be talking about.

I was comparing the songs from Kipo to the ones on your recent Brave War album. The Kipo songs feel a little bit lighter. Your own music feels heavier. Can you talk a little bit more about those differences?

I definitely had to tone it down a bit for the DreamWorks songs. Obviously, DreamWorks is not going to let me go talk about what’s going on in my mental health. Kipo a kids’ show. The songs I had originally made; I was younger and my head space was in a way different space from what I’m making now.

Talk to me about the Oz the Originator character that your songs are attributed to in the show. Did they give you an outline of who he was?

His story and his outlook of who he is, (his) songs are supposed to speak for him. Those songs are pretty much saying exactly what he’s going through in those times of whatever he’s going through in his miscellaneous life. Oz is like Tyler, the Creator in an alternative universe. That’s the way I would like to see it.

So then, let’s talk about your album ‘The Brave War.’ You’ve said it’s an introduction to who Oz the Originator is. Tell me a little bit about the kind of songs that you want to have under that name, especially, because I know that you changed your name from what you originally had, right?

I’m Andra, at the end of the day, I’m Andra Gunter, but I definitely have different characters I portray, like Oz the Originator and Tim Lynch and that’s probably it right now. I’ve portrayed so many characters over the years, but those are the two main ones right now that are for sure people.

What would you say is the difference between the Lynch character and then Oz the Originator, in regards to the sound or how you’re going through the music? What are the differences?

Tim Lynch just doesn’t give a fuck about anything. That guy is more of the hard core hijinks that we all love and miss from the early ’90s. I feel like that’s what Tim Lynch is all about, just the hijinks era, and just being free and being able to express yourself the way you want to express yourself. I

Oz is, I want to say, the 2.0 version of Lynch. He’s what Lynch was supposed to be. They’re brothers. Oz and Tim Lynch are brothers, because The Brave War comes from a script, my first script I ever wrote, and technically, The Brave War album that I dropped is the soundtrack to the script. So Tim Lynch and Oz are definitely brothers, and Oz is supposed to be carrying the torch for Tim Lynch, because Tim Lynch is a era that rose and died recently. I let go of trying to pursue the Tim Lynch name early 2020, just because I wanted to concentrate more on writing and stuff. I’ve been Tim Lynch since 2009, dude. So, I was ready to give him his proper burial.

What made you want to switch?

Well, I write screenplays. Right now I’m working on a feature film, but Oz was just… He was just a really cool idea, at the time, and he developed into what he is now. I don’t really think Oz was supposed to go this far, but obviously some things you just can’t stop. The Oz the Originator character is a really dope character, in my opinion. He’s one of the tightest people I’ve ever seen on the mic. The way I see it is, it’s real, but it’s not. Oz is an illusion.

In terms of ‘The Brave War’ album, I love that you said that it was the soundtrack for a script you wrote. Tell me more about either the making of the album or the feeling behind it. What are you trying to put out to the world with that album?

I just wanted you to see the brave war that you would have to go through, inside of yourself. That whole album is pretty much me going through the brave war. As of a year and a half ago, I lost my mom due to cancer, stage four liver cancer. My whole life, obviously, did a complete 360. So what Oz is, is like my afterbirth after my mom passed. Tim Lynch is when my mom’s around, and then Oz is after, to express the original feelings.

Oz is an expressor. That’s what that whole album is about. It’s about expression, me getting people to understand what my mental health state is, and what Oz is going through. The script is definitely based on my life, but it’s not. It’s obviously altered. It’s pretty much me going through my emotions as I get through my life in the script. So it’s just the emotions of the script, just everything you could possibly feel as a skateboarder, as an up-and-coming rapper, skater that just lost a parent and has to be on their own now.

Going forward career-wise are you more focused music, the writing, or skating? Is it all three?

Well, I don’t really want to compare myself to nobody, but I’m going to be one of those guys who does it all. I definitely am inspired and look up to Donald Glover, who is also Childish Gambino. He writes movies, he writes TV shows, he acts in TV shows, he makes music, he’s one of the greatest artists on the planet. So pretty much just the Donald Glover outlook. It’s a little bit of everything.

Is there anything else that you are working on right now that you can talk about, or the stuff that you want to be writing? What’s the big writing stuff for you?

I can say I am going to be dropping some new music on SoundCloud when July comes and the summer starts. Obviously, everyone needs some new tunes to cook some barbecue to. So I’m definitely going to be dropping some new songs as Tim Lynch and some new Andra Gunter songs. I kind of want to retire Oz, but I won’t say I retire him yet. We’re going to throw Oz in the air and say, “We don’t know what’s going to happen with him right now,” but there’s definitely going to be new music.

You said you had retired Lynch before. Are you going to bring him back in now?

Well, the idea of Lynch is that he went off to the Navy. Now he’s coming back, and Oz is… he’s taking a hiatus right now. We have some legal issues going on with the album, so we’re trying to settle those out right now.

What’s the reaction you’ve gotten from Kipo fans? What’s it been like to get that attention?

Oh, man. I’ve been making music for a long time, like I keep saying. This year alone has showed me that there are people who actually like me. As a artist, you go through the motions of everything, who likes me, this and that, and you don’t really know where you are until people tell you in music. For a long time didn’t know my musical worth and where it was going to go. I did know that I was definitely going to have my song in a TV show, just because of personal reasons. I have an uncle, by the way, who was in Afro Samurai. He did the same thing I’m doing, he did a couple of original songs for the show.

I already had a outlook of what I wanted to do in my life, so when this came about, I definitely took the opportunity and I ran with it. The response of all the people showing me love is just… it’s kind of unbelievable. I have actual fans now and people who ask me questions and people who want to actually know what’s up with me, which is a new feeling. This definitely doesn’t feel like it did before, so it’s pretty crazy.

What’s it like knowing that your music is the favorite of a fictional cartoon character that unites this fictional cartoon boy with another boy?

I think that’s just dope, dude. This is some of the craziest things to be involved with. I told a lot of people that this is making history. This show is doing so many things that have never been done in the history of animation. When I found out Benson liked Oz the Originator, I was pretty ecstatic. I was like, “Yo, that kind of changes my life, in a way, because now I have to live up to Benson’s expectations. What are his expectations now?”

What other messages do you have for the people out there?

I am an advocate of kids with ADHD. So, for anyone who’s out there questioning their worth or not knowing how they’re going to get through the mental breakdowns we go through every 20 minutes, I want them to know that our minds are important. Our fast-paced moving minds are very important. We’re important. That’s what I just want to say.

Can you talk a little more about working with ADHD when you’re writing scripts or music?

Working with ADHD definitely is a fucking uphill battle, dude. I struggle, still, every day with a lot of things but I feel like it helps me. My uphill battle is a fun uphill battle. It’s not completely just digging into the dirt. I get to go here and get to go there because my mind has this thing where it hyper-focuses on certain things I want to do. I think working with ADHD is a good thing and a bad thing, all at the same time. I feel like my mind is a couple steps ahead of a lot of people’s at some times, because I’m hyperly thinking at all times. I feel like my ADHD has gotten me to where I am today.

If wasn’t for that, I don’t think I would be in the show. I don’t think I would be able to write a script. There’s a lot of things I don’t think I would be able to do had I not had ADHD, but I’m not going to glorify it. So, it’s a good and bad thing.

Any other messages you want to throw out there?

Yeah. Go check out my music, please.

You can check out Gunter’s music and all his other work here, where you can stream all of his music and more!

The post Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Oz the Originator Steps Into the Spotlight appeared first on Den of Geek.

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