definitely-not-a-wasp

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both is good

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look I know it’s supposed to be a joke but that “irradiated wasteland” is the unceded homeland of the Paiute and Shoshone peoples and consists of fragile Mojave and Great Basin desert ecosystems that are actively being exploited and destroyed by mining interests who utilize the perception of desert as wasteland to justify their destruction of indigenous lands and communities. the joke's not funny. fuck off with this.

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Hello, my friends. Book 3 of Long Term Nuclear Waste Warning Messages, This Message is a Warning About Danger, is here, today, right now.

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In fifth grade a boy tried to impress me by swallowing a whole tadpole live and I punched him so hard that he puked and the tadpole was fine.

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Expelled from Word, he is now trying to contact you through other programs...

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The Maximum Ride Movie is a great lesson in character design and why it's important.

Now, I'm not going to pretend to be a costume producer. I'm not going to pretend to be a professional character designer. However, I am a writer and artist, and therefore I have learned some important aspects that go into character design, and the two laws that I live by:

A) a character design to directly relate to who they are, what's important to them, or their situation and

B) in an ensemble cast, you have to make the characters easily distinguishable from each other

Take, example:

Lord of the Rings has a nine-person all-white ensemble, but all of them (save for Merry and Pippin, lower-right, and who are SUPPOSED to look like a matched set because that's how they behave) can be easily distinguished from one another, either by height, hair styling, or clothing. Furthermore, the costume design shows that they are on a dangerous journey, because they're all either wearing traveler's clothing or armor. Let's have another example.

I have a lot of good things to say about the manga, and one of them is that you can easily tell the characters apart. Even when they're in a small frame and thus simplified, the cast is visually distinct enough that you know who's in the scene, and their hair/clothing choices tell you something about who they are. Max's layered jacket/shirt/jeans make her look practical, Nudge and Angel's nicer-looking clothes and hair accessories indicate that they care about their appearance, Fang's all-black wardrobe helps with the quiet/mysterious vibe they have going on. None of the characters are wearing the same outfit.

Now, let's compare that to this:

Now, look at me. Look at me. I know that casting is different than artistry, in that if the best people who auditioned for two separate roles look similar, you should still cast those people, and reap the consequences. However, that is what makes character design even more important. From a glance, I can see:

All of the characters except Angel are wearing tank tops of some sort. All of the characters except Nudge are blond. Fang and Iggy are not only both blond, but they both have the same length of hair (and from other pictures you can see they have very similar styles). All of the characters are wearing the same color palette. Both Fang and Gazzy are wearing sleeveless hoodies. Both Iggy and Nudge are wearing sleeveless vests.

While none of these things are necessarily bad on their own, the combined result is that, save for Nudge being black and Angel having sleeves, this cast looks like a monolith, and the small variations that they DO have in costume design don't inform us a lot about their characters or what they're doing in the narrative. Especially since, in a movie setting, you need variations to be easily noticeable because the cast is going to be moving around with a shaky camera following them, and you cannot necessarily slow down to explain the importance of small accessories, so you have no choice but to be distinct about it.

So, in short: when thinking about character design, think of the Maximum Ride Movie. Think of its pitfalls and why they occurred. And then don't do that.

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I love how it ends on a cliff hanger like they expected to make more of these. I think they should have. It would have been fun.

I’m gonna have thoughts in the morning but for now, that sure was a…. Maximum Ride.

Also they did not say Maximum Ride’s full name OR Fang’s name the entire movie. Amazing.

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie

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My fifth drink is vodka that I found. I think my wife’s friend left it here at one point.

“You looked like you were having a seizure” apt for this movie. Aww they’re holding hands.

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

I think the intrusion of the voice is just what happens to the average epileptic when they watch this movie GODDAMN IT NOT MORE FANG MAX ROMANCE I’m going to write a piece about this.

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie

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Are we gonna talk about how the school is very clearly an industrial grain silo aerial view, or….

Y’know at least it was a better escape plot than the hawks.

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie

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“And don’t bother looking for us Jeb. This experiment is over” *flapping sheet sound effect put over cgi wings*

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

Is the strobing AND angle cuts AND slow motion necessary? You’re using sheet walls. No amount of camera effects will make me take the scene seriously.

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

What are these camera angles and why do they use slow motion like this.

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

APPLE SPONSORSHIP!

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

My fourth drink is milk, molasses, and butterscotch schnapps. I’m dubbing it “The Maximum Ride 2016” and I do not have measurements.

Ari’s acting is sure. Something. It says something that his flashback actor (literal child) did a better job in his scenes than whatever that was.

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

“It was Ari’s choice to undergo unethical medical experiments it’s a part of growing up” is ALSO completely in character. My good sir you are his parent, try parenting.

Hot chocolate finished. Stand by as fourth drink is acquired (yes I skipped the “finish your drink” part for the hot chocolate. I do not want instant heartburn.)

The first draft of LTNW book 3: Complete. The time: 10:30 EST. @aviandaleks' drinking game: on my phone. My current drink: root beer float.

Let's watch the Maximum Ride Movie