#I may struggle to do animatics for what feels like no reason even if i want to so badly | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

flower-boi16 · 3 months

Text

Why I LOATHE The "Amity Hates Hunter" Headcanon

In the TOH fandom, there's a certain headcanon that's been floating around in the community. You've probably seen a fan comic or two about and even an animatic video, that being, the "Amity hates Hunter" headcanon. After analyzing the show further and gaining a better appreciation for it, I can safely say that this headcanon absolutely sucks. Now there's nothing wrong with people having headcanons or anything, you can headcanon whatever the hell you want, but I really feel that this headcanon in particular spreads a really bad misconception about Amity and Hunter's relationship and kind of misses the thing the show is going for. So in this post, I'm going to analyze this headcanon and why it just. Does not work.

1. What Is The Premise of The Headcanon?

Before I dissect this headcanon let's first establish what this headcanon is about. Basically, the premise of the headcanon is that Amity doesn't fully trust Hunter after his redemption since she hasn't forgotten about the time he threatened Luz's life so he could get the titan blood key from her, and so she still dislikes him and hasn't bought his change yet. She would be more skeptical of him, basically.

Alright, so now we've established what the headcanon is based on, let's now get into the real meat of why this headcanon doesn't work. I'm going to talk about Eclipse Lake, Any Sport in A Storm and Labyrinth Runners and analyze each episode in terms of how they demonstrate why Amity wouldn't hate Hunter.

2. Eclipse Lake

Eclipse Lake seems to be an episode that is heavily misunderstood by the "Amity hates Hunter" crowd to me, as some people seem to forget certain things about Amity and Hunter's relationship here and ONLY focus on Hunter threatening Luz to Amity's face. This is where I bring up my first major point here; that being, Amity relates to Hunter. Amity and Hunter are directly meant to be parallels to each other, and Eclipse Lake does pretty clearly show that. Hunter throughout the whole episode basically does a "you and me are not so different" thing with Amity, with how they both have to live up to the standards of the people they care about and are afraid of disappointing them, and eventually, when Amity sees Hunter literally dig his own grave, Amity realizes that he is right, they are both kids held up to high standards by their shitty parents that they are afraid of not meeting.

And THIS is what people often miss here; Amity relates to Hunter. She's been in the same position and circumstances as him - after all, she knows exactly what it's like to have shitty parents, so she would empathize with him given their similar circumstances. And this could also mean that Amity would realize that Hunter, in some way, is being abused by Belos - which again, she would empathize with given she used to be in similar circumstances to him. She wouldn't hate Hunter, she would empathize with him because she sees herself in him, she knows what it's like to be in his position, to have parents who force you under pressure to meet high standards that you may struggle to meet.

Then we get to the moment that kickstarts this headcanon - Amity giving Hunter a hand in friendship, only for Hunter to betray her trust after he notices the titan blood key, and then threatens Luz's life in front of Amity so she could give him the titan blood key. After that, Hunter flies away with Amity having a disappointed expression on her face while she looks at him. I think some people tend to misunderstand this moment too - now, do I think Amity would trust Hunter after this? Not exactly, but that's until we get to...

3. Any Sport in A Storm & Labyrinth Runners

I'm gonna cover Any Sport in A Storm quickly since there isn't much to say, but it and Labyrinth Runners support my second major argument here; Amity doesn't have a reason to hold Hunter's past actions against him anymore. In Any Sport in A Storm, Hunter disobeys a command he was given by Darius just so he could protect his friends and fix his mistake, and at the end of the episode Willow shows Luz and Amity a group picture of the emerald entrails, ofc they see Hunter in the pic and they gasp and the episode just kinda ends after that.

Now, after Eclipse Lake, it is correct to assume that Amity wouldn't trust Hunter, though she could still heavily see herself in him and relate to his situation. But now in Any Sport, Amity is just given the information that Hunter disobeyed an order he was given and went out of his way to protect his friends, we don't know the exact conversation that happened after that moment but it's still a sign to Amity that Hunter's making a turnaround. "But Hunter kidnapped Amity's friends!" Why yes, he did, but he also went out of his way to fix his mistake and again, disobeyed an order he was given which would have risked his position in the EC. I don't think the other characters, including Amity, wouldn't factor that in. So while Amity still wouldn't fully trust Hunter - she would still see some signs that he is making a turnaround.

Then comes Labyrinth Runners. Now, I want you to pay attention to what Hunter does in this episode, because it illustrates my point of why Amity wouldn't hold any of Hunter's past actions against him anymore. In Labyrinth Runners, he...

Saves Gus from Adrian

Helps save the school

Gives clear information on what's going to happen on the day of unity

I think what Hunter does in Labyrinth Runners does make up for his past actions, which keep in mind aren't the worst things characters in this show have done (Cough Cough Lilith kidnapping and almost killing Luz in her battle with Eda Cough Cough, Amity almost getting Luz dissected Cough Cough), and so it wouldn't be out of character for Amity to trust him, especially when he saved Gus, aka, one of Amity's friends. This combined with the past stuff I mentioned about how Amity sees herself and relates to Hunter AND how Amity could just see Hunter as someone who was just lied to and manipulated by Belos which, I'm pretty sure the whole hexsquad would see him like that, means that Amity doesn't have much of a reason to be an ass to Hunter.

He's fully proved he's trustworthy, the others trust him, and so would Amity. I think it's also worth pointing out that, I don't think Amity would blame Hunter for what he did in Eclipse Lake. She knows why he did what he did, and again, she's been in the same circumstances as he was; I don't think she would blame Hunter for being desperate to gain his abusive parent's approval to meet his expectations since she was in the same position too.

So, in conclusion, Amity wouldn't hold any of Hunter's past actions against him, she doesn't have much of a reason to do so, since now he's proven himself trustworthy. However, a lot of people tend to ignore all of the stuff I just mentioned, and they create fanworks where Amity threatens Hunter in some way, which leads to a certain thing about this headcanon that pisses me off...

4. It Makes Amity into an Asshole

I think this is my biggest issue with how the fandom often characterizes Amity and Hunter's relationship; Amity just becomes an unlikeable asshole in all fanworks that spread the "Amity hates Hunter" headcanon. I am not going to name any examples here because you've probably already seen at least one fan work portraying Amity this way. Fanworks like these tend to ignore all the stuff I previously said in the last two sections and have Amity be an asshole to Hunter, which actually VERY OOC for her.

As if these works try to portray Amity as some kind of girl boss who "Is so protective of her girlfriend and will murder anyone who tries to harm her!", which is fine until you factor in all the outside context, once you do, Amity doesn't come across as a protective girlfriend in these fan works, she comes across as an asshole bullying an abusive victim when she has NO REASON to. Amity isn't a girl boss in these fanworks, she has no reason to treat Hunter like this for the reasons I already mentioned, yet people ignore ALL OF THAT in favor of Amity threatening Hunter cuz it makes her "cool" I guess.

Amity would be the first person to understand Hunter's situation and why he did what he did - she's been in the same position as him, and now, when he's proven that he's trustworthy to her, why should she be an ass to him? Do you see why it's annoying how OOC Amity is made in these fanworks? Really, this headcanon should just be called "Amity bullies Hunter" because that's what it is, Amity being an asshole to an abuse victim when she has no reason for doing so. I don't mind the idea of Amity being a protective girlfriend for Luz, it makes sense for her character, but when it comes to Hunter the fandom flanderizes it to an absurd degree.

5. Conclusion

I could talk about this longer and mention how this headcanon was basically formed from nothing but avatar comparisons and nothing else but I haven't seen Avatar yet so I can't really comment on that. Besides this post getting long enough already (I saw when I've made far longer essays on the internet). In conclusion; Amity wouldn't hate Hunter. Not in the slightest. This idea thankfully is starting to become abandoned by the fandom with more people recognizing that it is just. Does not work. And while that's nice I still kinda thought it was time for someone to fully analyze why this headcanon does not work (and that person was me babeeeeeeeey). So uh ya....bye.

#toh hunter #amity blight #toh #the owl house #toh fandom critical #toh analysis

13 notes · View notes

omensgate · 4 months

Note

i have been asking tumblr rain world artists everywere would saint and artificers be friends or enemies

big text! ill write it out in plain text because its kind of hard to read:

i have been asking tumblr rain world artists everywere would saint and artificers be friends or enemies

its interesting, isnt it? theyre total opposites (kill everything because youre already damned versus never raise your own hand to ensure your ascension) and they intrigue me. it hinges a lot on if you see artificer as internally tortured or mindlessly violent, and the same for saint if you see them as thoughtful and rational or a closeted maniac (if you might be inclined to see saint as improving artificer or artificer as worsening saint). personally, ive drawn them as enemies twice now, actually, in the artificer in the cold/bald saint comic and the tictoc animatic. the way i personally depict them is; artificer is in a lot of agony by the weight of her own emotions and her inability to cope with what has happened to her. it does not make her a good or reasonable person, but her aggression comes from a major source of pain (which is still not forgivable/justifiable (said because it paints a lot of tone when talking about her), but is interesting). i depict her as frantic and boastful but not flat, its to hide and constantly run from how she feels. saint i write as genuinely wholesome in the sense that it is pursuing enlightenment and little else, there is no hook or malice when it moves (as others might write it as delighting in a heel turn), just a cold detachment from the world, it moves on instinct over thought and is only mildly tapped into whatever happens around it. (and in the end, saint is a less than positive figure with how it sticks to the karma system)

i think a major .. light going off when i think about saint and artificer is how interesting it must be to coax someone to allow themself to be killed in repetition with no end in sight (as artificers karma and scavenger reputation is locked) for religious fulfillment to a goal of no longer being extant. its so delightfully ghoulish, how can you look at someone who has lost everything and demand that they remove even their ability to- at this point- defend themself? and to that goal of no longer being (personally, id write saint as pushing for ascension for all others in counter to how its unable to do so itself; do what ive failed and toiled to do, hysterical from my own struggles. it also certainly seems like a cleaner solution to whatever artificer struggles with than whatever she plans for right now). (i dont think, in rebuttal, artificer would personally sway saint to violence. i dont like to imagine it delights in anything, much less harm. it removes the weight of doing what you must or the inexplicable pull to exert extreme violence upon creatures you dont care about except for your own belief in how you move them)

i did plan a good while ago to make a sort of short comic..? not really comic, interconnected images with dialogue- of artificer (in the background depicting her dying in repetition) bemoaning the futility of pressing forward to gain karma. saint assures her she has to keep moving towards that goal and that it will get better than this. when artificer asks how it can know this, in parallel it shows a frame of saint rising and falling in karma as it heavily dismisses her question- its so interesting, to press for someone to pursue something youve failed at. it has seen that yes, there may be an end, because its seen it and fell back. it cannot admit that it has gotten there because if it did get there it shouldnt be here to assure her. in the end its all the same to keep dying as a mortal and to keep circling as an immortal

to circle back to the start- theyre kind of the same, arent they?

#ask

8 notes · View notes

charlemange1 · 4 years

Text

Ranking adaptations of Victor Frankenstein from least to most evil

The character Victor Frankenstein has been adapted many times over the years. Sometimes he’s a heroic YA protagonist while others have him using his clone army to wipe out humanity and take over the world. But which Victor is truly the worse?

After reading several adaptations, I’ve decided to rank Victor’s morality in each one and find out! The gothic lit community doesn’t talk about these adaptations much, so hopefully this list can introduce the fandom to some of the lesser-known interpretations out there!

This is part one, which ranks printed retellings only. If people enjoy it, I’ll do a part two and merge the films into the mix!

Disclaimers (please read):

SPOILERS! Victor’s actions in these adaptations will be thoroughly analyzed with no regard for the spoiler tag.

Some of the more evil Victor’s get into dark territory, and while I will not go into extensive detail (lest I go insane) if mentions of abuse, sexual themes, possessive behavior and murder bother you, don’t make my mistake and turn back! (I will leave an additional reminder when said parts come up)

This list centers on Victor’s actions and NOT the quality of the books themselves—so if you see your favorite title getting a low score it’s not because it’s a bad book—it’s because Victor is a jerk.

This list is by no means complete, just the ones I’ve read personally.

These are my silly personal opinions and if you disagree with my ranking that’s perfectly fine!

Ranking: On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being fantastic and 0 being “run if you see this man in a dark alley.”

10/10 Perfect Sunbeam. Overall great, wholesome guy!

*crickets chirp in a serene backdrop of a Romantic field*

Good dude

Junji Ito’s Frankenstein: 8.5/10

Props to the master of manga monsters for making the twist be that Victor is not secretly evil/insane.

Not only does Victor pity the creature and agree to create a mate for him—but he keeps his word! This is especially touching when you consider how the creature treks alllllll the way to Switzerland to dig up Justine’s head as a face for the bride. (Henry says he probably didn’t know it was Justines, but come on, you just happened to pick up the head of the girl you framed and carried it for miles across land and sea to deliver it to Victor instead of stopping somewhere closer? I don't buy it.)

Victor even goes the extra mile, kindly stating:

Yet the bride rejects the creature (not Victor’s fault) and in revenge, the creature kills Henry, Elizabeth, and Alphonse. In retaliation, Victor follows him onto the ice and relates his tale to Walton before dying.

Victor's actions are nothing heroic, but what more could he have done? He didn’t break his promise and kill the bride like in the original novel and he clearly cared about reanimating “Justine” as shown in the above image.

And did I mention this manga was done by Junji Ito? Would YOU stay in the same room if you created a Junji Ito monster? Didn't think so! After the initial mistake of abandoning his monster, this Victor did the best he could to make amends and protect his family--making him an overall good person.

Decent guy

This Dark endeavor by Kenneth Oppel: 7/10

Serving as a prequel to the original novel, This Dark Endeavor tells the untold story of what leads young Victor Frankenstein to create his monster.

While Victor very much struggles with his angsty dark desires (bad), he tirelessly searches for the alchemic "Elixir of Life" to save his twin brother (good). A brother who is more talented than Victor, has the heart of his love interest, and Victor believes everyone prefers over himself.

Good on you, Victor, for letting the love for your brother override understandable sibling jealousy. If that wasn’t enough to make him decent, letting a few fingers be cut off to save his twin definitely does.

What brings Victor down to a 7 is his relationship with Elizabeth. It’s born out of jealousy from her loving his twin rather than genuine affection. Even if this retelling makes Elizabeth a feisty, pants-wearing independent female (to lessen the possessive undertones Victor exhibits, I presume? Read it and judge for yourself), the relationship does nothing positive for his character. Tricking someone into kissing you is a jerk move, bro.

Ok I guess….

Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel 6/10

The sequel to This Dark Endeavor loses Victor’s careful balance of good and bad traits its predecessor boasted. Victor wasn’t perfect in TDE, but the majority of his negative actions stemmed from trying to save his ill brother and were mostly forgivable. In Such Wicked Intent, his understandable sibling jealously now comes off as petty since Victor’s twin is already dead.

Victor trying to bring his brother back to life (good) is undermined by his growing reliance on supernatural butterflies that increase his abilities despite other characters pointing out the obvious danger. Victor is also not the greatest parent to Twin 2.0 and the previous issues with him and Elizabeth from book 1 don’t improve. He’s the same Victor from TDE, but the plot focusing on his selfish desires makes him more flawed as a result.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (the original novel): 6/10

Depending on how you interpret the events of the original novel, Victor is either a college Dad in over his head and trying his best after an initial mistake, or a misogynistic, irresponsible jerk only capable of thinking of himself. There are enough professional articles to support both interpretations, and I’m not the person to pick one over the other.

However, if the narrative he tells Walton is to be taken as truth (and the creature not correcting Victor's account tells me it is), Victor spent most of the novel trying to fix his mistake (intentions may vary)—and isn’t too bad as a result.

Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel: 5/10

Despite being a crossover with Pride and Prejudice, Kessel tries to be as faithful to the original Frankenstein as possible. However, the few changes he makes hurts Victor from a moral standpoint.

Victor’s not the greatest guy when handling the romantic gestures of both Mary Bennet and Henry. Also, murdering his creature's mate with poison right before they leave to start their happily ever after is awful, but understandable from his point of view.

Then there's P&P's ending, where Walton describes meeting Victor on the ice. It’s revealed that Victor left killing the creature's mate and the Bennet’s out of his narrative. While this is probably Kessel justifying why Jane Austen’s characters and his changes weren’t mentioned in the original text (and who can blame him?) it does make Victor a liar. In the original, the creature never called Victor out for omitting anything—so altering the story on his deathbed places P&P’s Victor a rung lower than his original counterpart.

Ehh….

Frankenstein According to Spike Milligan: 4/10

As a nearly-word-for-word retelling with minor, humorous changes by the comedian Spike Milligan, Victor is more pathetic than anything. He’s a harmless, pathetic, hilarious jerk.

Some quotes:

"I bounded along with feelings of unbridled joy and hilarity. From a great distance my family could see me bounding with unbridled joy and hilarity." (53)

"'I tell you,’ I said, ‘that murderer had his trousers down, was eating fish paste sandwiches and traveling 100 miles per hour.’" (59)

"‘I can offer you no consolation,’ said he.

‘Then piss off.’ said I." (54)

Here’s his jail visit with Justine in animatic form (and me shamelessly plugging my other creative endeavors)

Monster by Neal Bell 3.5/10

Warning: contains mentions of animal abuse

On one hand, Victor wants to conquer death to save his family and is clearly disturbed over Justine's and his mother’s death. However, the man expresses little concern at the possibility of William getting struck by lightning with his kite in front of his mother who had already lost 9 children.

He can also talk to dogs and cats (for…some reason?) who are portrayed as intelligent beings with feelings—yet that doesn’t stop him from eating said dogs in the Arctic and killing said cat after threatening her with a knife. He also flings around Bible verses while being painfully egotistical about “being God”.

Using Henry’s romantic affections toward him to his advantage, briefly forcing himself on Elizabeth, and tenderly caring for his monster only to abandon him after the creature expresses a want to die just makes him an awful person all around. The fact he doesn’t do these things with clear malicious intent saves him from being any lower.

Quotes:

ELIZABETH: A bone. A brittle bit of skin. A tooth—

VICTOR: Would you not be womanish now?

Be useful. Here—hold the Leyden jar,

While I attach the string…

VICTOR: A satisfactory morning, then, Mister Puss—tormenting the dogs?

CAT: God gave me a duty. I fulfill it.

VICTOR: Papa says there is no God.

(He takes out a knife)

Pretty bad dude

WARNING: Please note that some of these Victors get into unsavory territory. If the mention of sexual themes/abuse/murder bothers you turn back:

The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd: 3/10

This one was tricky. The narrative chugs along with Victor being an intelligent, thoughtful guy with only a few obsessive tendencies. He’s chilling with the Shelleys, talking to the poor in the streets and financially supporting Fred’s family along with giving out generous tips. He’s a cool guy. He’s a great dude! He’s….revealed in the final 2 pages to be recounting everything from a mental asylum, the monster was in his head, and he’s actually the one that committed the murders.

Alrighty then. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Having his insanity revealed in the final pages, it’s hard to judge whether there was genuine malicious intent or if Victor truly thought he created the creature and believed he was doing good in trying to “stop” it. No matter his intentions though, the body count remains and a child strangler has no place being anything higher than a 3.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White: 1/10

We all knew this one would make the list. Elizabeth’s first flashback sets up Victor as having serious issues—the question becomes how low will he go? Turns out pretty low.

He’s the one who killed William and framed Justine along with murdering his father, brother Robert and various people at Ingolstadt.

What really makes him despicable is that Elizabeth is the novel's main POV character who only sticks with Victor so she’s not thrown out on the streets. He’s abusive, controlling, dominating, and so possessive that he’ll perfect reanimation so that not even death can take her away from him! Yikes. I can’t stress enough how being in Elizabeth’s POV makes these actions all the more menacing.

Quote:

“There was never another path for you. Consider how much worse it has all been for me. How much I have had to suffer. And how much of that suffering has been caused directly by you!” His face twitched, and his fingers tightened on the pistol. Then he sighed. “It does not do to dwell on it. There is no point in fighting. This is your fate, Elizabeth Frankenstein. I will let no other claim you—not man, not death, not even God.” (279)

Nice guy.

Despite his terrible actions, Victor is trying to "save" Elizabeth from death. In his mind, he wants what’s best for her. It’s a crazy mind that mixed up domination and love, but the fact that his evil actions come from wanting to keep someone he wants to control cares about safe vs. other versions where his crimes stem from wanting to rival god and rule the world, this version isn’t THAT bad. At least his hearts in the right place—even if his mentality is utter garbage.

The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Theodore Roszak 0/10

*insert my screams of insurmountable anguish here*

Caroline: Hey son, you should do NSFW things.

Victor: Sure. I will now do NSFW things.

Victor: *proceeds to do NSFW things*

The reprint of this novel mentions on the cover it’s erotica, but the copy I bought (and to this day have not finished) had no such disclaimer. I’ll break my rule and speak on the quality of this book: there is none. For an alleged “pro-feminism” novel everyone is terrible—and Victor is no exception.

Literally Satan.

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein Series: -��/10

So you’ve read far enough to join me in Hell.

Where do even I start? This is a Victor who extended his life to the present day. Who worked with Hitler, Stalin, Castro and regretted the fall of the Third Reich. Who created an army of emotionally deprived “new race” creations to kill people and assume their identities so he could ascend the ranks of politics. Who, once he has enough of his new race integrated into society, desires to commit mass genocide on humanity and establish himself as supreme ruler of the world—only then can he conquer the cosmos as well because why the hell not?

Oh, and he’s a wife-beater/murderer too! Which isn’t a problem, considering he can create a new wife whenever he sees fit (he was on Erika 5 by book 3). The sheer lack of any positive traits in this man is laughable. Koontz really, REALLY wants to get across that Victor is a bad guy.

And if you’re somehow not convinced by the above description, here are some quotes I pulled from the first 3 novels as a bonus to reeeeeally sell how despicable this clown is:

Regarding Elizabeth:

“Victor had not loved Elizabeth. Love and God were myths he rejected with equal contempt. But Elizabeth had belonged to him. Even after more than 200 years, he still bitterly resented the loss of her, as he would have resented losing an exquisite antique porcelain vase if [his creature] had smashed that instead of the bride,” (3.97).

Regarding Mary Shelley:

“When Mary Shelley took a local legend based on truth and crafted fiction from it, she made Victor a tragic figure and killed him off. He understood her dramatic purpose for giving him a death scene, but he loathed her for portraying him as tragic and as a failure. Her judgment of his work was arrogant. What else of consequence did she ever write? And of the two, who was dead—and who was not?” (1.79-80)

(Author Note: For your information, Victor, The Last Man is considered by some to be the first dystopian novel)

His…ah…"friends”:

“Fire was featured in some of his less pleasant memories. The great windmill. The bombing of Dresden. The Israeli Mossad attack on the secret Venezuelan research complex that he had shared with Mengele in the years after World War Two. Nevertheless, he liked to read to the accompaniment of a cozy crackling fire,” (1.76).

“Victor admired Hitler. The Führer knew talent when he saw it.

In the 1930s and 40s, Victor had worked with Mengele and others in Hitler's privileged scientific class. He made considerable progress in his work before the regrettable allied victory…the problem with the Führer had been that his roots were in art and politics…The future did not belong either to artists or to politicians,” (2.24-25).

Dat ego tho:

“When I die, those cells will be capped descend a signal that will be relayed by satellite to everyone made of new race flesh, to every meat machine that walks. And you will fall down dead,’…Victor smiled, anticipating triumph in spite of their silence. ‘Did you think a God would die alone?’” (3.345).

Civilization would not be remade or sustained by Christianity or by Islam. Neither by Scientologists nor by the bright-eyed adherence of the deliciously solipsistic paranoid new religion encouraged by The Da Vinci Code. Tomorrow belonged to scientism. The priests of scientism were not merely robed clerics performing rituals, they were gods, with the power of gods. Victor himself was their Messiah,” (2.25).

“With Victor's unstoppable drive for power, with his singular intellect, with his cold materialism and his ruthless practicality, and now with synchronicity on his side, he had become untouchable, immortal.

He was immortal,” (3.329).

“How they goggled at him, abashed by his wisdom and knowledge, mortified by their ignorance, over-awed by his godlike power,” (3.330).

“’Murder,’ said the caller. ‘murder…excites me.’

Victor kept the growing concern out of his voice. ‘No, your mind is fine. I don't make mistakes.’” (1.156)

Oh yeah, he has a wife, doesn't he:

“This is why Victor requires …the cruel humiliation of his partner. He has long ago transcended the guilt that committing acts of cruelty might spawn in others...the exercise of raw power thrills him,” (1.244).

“I have given you a life…remember that. I have given you a life, and I will choose what you do with it,” (1.464).

Wives view of him:

“She owned literally hundreds of outfits. Having been created to his ideal measurements, Victor had purchased everything…She hoped that someday she would be allowed to shop for herself. When Victor allowed that, she would know she had at last met his standards and earned his trust. Briefly, she wondered what it would be like not to care what Victor—or anyone—thought of her. To be herself. Independent. Those were dangerous thoughts. She must repress them.” (1.107)

And those are just the PG bits, he does much, much worse.

In conclusion:

So yes, Spike Milligan made Victor a pathetic jerk, Casebook made Victor a madman, Memoirs made him an erotic predator, Dark Descent had him as an abusive boyfriend ruthless in possessing “his Elizabeth”, but nearly succeeding at worldwide genocide while abusing/murdering/manipulating people to achieve his goals makes Dean Koontz’s Victor Frankenstein the worse, more morally despicable Victor Frankenstein of them all. At least from what I’ve read.

Annnnd that’s it! If you want me to make a part 2 and add in the films/plays let me know! Hopefully at least one of these peeked your interest as something to check out during spooky season.

Shameless plug-in: here’s my own Frankenstein adaptation

Bonus!

Ranking the books on how much I liked them personally!

Great:

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein: Nice to see Victor’s villainy stem from family relations and not ego and wanting to defy God for a change.

Junji Ito’s Frankenstein: Phenomenal artwork, fairly faithful adaptation, and the changes serve to put Victor in a better light—which I love! The master of manga monsters himself made the right choice in keeping the creature more monstrous in this version instead of focusing on his humanity.

This Dark Endeavor: Frankenstein characters go on a Harry Potter styled adventure. Need I say more?

Average:

Such Wicked Intent: Victor’s character takes a dip, and pit monsters/life-absorbing butterflies don’t quite fit in a Frankenstein prequel.

Frankenstein According to Spike Milligan: It’s a silly, stupid comedy. Got a few chuckles out of me.

Pride and Prometheus: The concept works way better than it should. However, it follows the original text to a fault and can be boring at points.

Bad:

Warning: contains mentions of suicide

Monster: Victor’s character was far too inconsistent to be likable. He can talk to animals why, exactly?

Casebook of Victor Frankenstein: So, Victor is revealed to be crazy in the final 3 pages? So, the monster was in his head? Alright. But other characters throughout the book SAW the monster and described him like Victor did. So, there’s no way to separate Victor’s POV from reality and that kills the reread value and makes this a waste of time. Don’t get me wrong, the creature being symbolic for Victor’s inner demons is a fascinating direction if done well—and I recommend the essay “Frankenstein: The Man and the Monster” by Arthur Belefant if you want a much shorter exploration of this concept. It’s not perfect, but beats Casebook by a longshot!

Also, taking the real-life suicide of Percy’s wife Harriet and turning it into Victor murdering her and framing it on someone else to mimic Frankenstein’s Justine/William scene is just wrong. You made a woman’s suicide a cheap plot point in your fanfic of the mistress’s novel. That is what you did, author.

Dean Koontz Frankenstein: It starts out good and has great suspense—too bad the actual plot is awful. Victor’s so painfully evil it comes off as comical, the characters are bad/bland, plot holes abound (they state Mary Shelley’s novel is canon, then mention the windmill which was only in the films—so who even IS this Victor? Book or film?). The conclusion in book 3 is one of the most underwhelming finals I’ve ever read, and the creature “cures” a kid of Autism in the final chapter. No really. How this is a book series/comic series/movie is beyond me.

So atrocious I couldn’t bring myself to finish:

Warning: contains mentions of sexual themes

The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein: It claims to be pro-feminist, but the women “good guys” blatantly state they are grooming children for sexual rituals and Victor and Elizabeth are coerced into doing NSFW things by Victor’s mother in the name of “women’s rights”. Here’s the kicker: these awful actions are framed as being positive. I—a woman—loath this novel. Maybe things got better by the end (and if there was some plot twist that changed the entire setup, I apologize for ranting about nothing) but I’m not reading to that point to find out! This will forever stay both my first and last experience with erotic literature. Thank goodness The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein exists to give us a decent feminist take on Frankenstein!

#THIS TOOK OVER 5 YEARS AND I'M FINALLY DONE!#victor frankenstein #frankenstein #halloween #gothic literature #classic literature #frankenstein adaptations #frankenstien au #frankenstein memes #the casebook of victor frankenstein #the dark descent of elizabeth frankenstein #frankenstein according to spike milligan #dean koontz frankenstein #Monster neal bell #this dark endeavor #such wicked intent #pride and prometheus #charlemagne1

117 notes · View notes

let-me-make-you-proud · 5 years

Text

Tangled: The Series Q&A with Kait.

This is a recapitulation from today’s (September 14, 2019) Questions and Answers session with Kait on the Tangled Discord Server.

Q: Which Disney princesses outside of Tangled the series can you see Varian being friends with? Nonfranchise ones included.

A: I think Belle is the first one who comes to mind!! She’s super studious and goes against the grain…not to mention her father is an inventor who’s a little off-base! 🙂 I think he’d be super comfortable experimenting with Belle and her dad and reading awesome stories! (Maybe even sharing the Tales of Flynn Rider with her! …Assuming she hasn’t read it! Haha. ) He could also eat ham sandwiches with Anna. Sorry. Second thought. Lol!!

Q: So Kait, as a storyboard artist on the show what kind of little details, quirks or creative touches did you or any other artists put into Varian scenes you or others storyboarded?

A: Ha!! Any acting scene with Varian I had…I pretty much based off of Anna Lencioni (my best friend/ another board artist on the show.) Anna makes these very specific expressions and she gestures to herself a lot and closes her eyes and creases her brows and says things like “A-huh! Actually…” or “Um!!” Before making a point and it’s always reminded me of him.

She kept a “flynnolium” prop from Halloween with green goo in a vial in her cubicle at work so long it grew mold. She said she was studying it. She found scrap metal in her boot one day. She has a basement lab for her experiments and crafts. She befriended two raccoons at her last apartment. She is the most accident-prone person with freckles I’ve ever met…she’s pretty much him.

Jeremy Jordan’s reads give you so much to work with…and I love that character so much I feel a natural sort of understanding of how he might say something or do something…but Anna would always do these specifically Anna things that I had to use for Varian.

Q: Do you have any specific advice for aspiring storyboard artists or people who aspire to work in animation?

A: Gestural drawings help you learn to draw fast…which is a very important part of storyboarding. I would say storyboarding‘ s biggest requirements are clarity and speed. Lots of productions have different requirements in terms of what they look for from story artists. Tangled‘s leadership cared a lot about drawing skill, animation, layout, etc. because it more strongly informed the animation studio to have those things. The show I’m working on now (Monsters at Work) is a 3D show…so for our production, the emphasis is more on story and speed. We pitch ideas more than we pitch drawings…so clarity is important and acting is too, but we’re far less precious about tying down drawings and animating since we shift into the 3D production pipeline after story. The boards are still very important…but the more technical aspects are a *little* less so. The focus is just more on story and character and what the board artists can bring to their scenes.

So I’d say just practice drawing…maybe try and give someone a prompt or ask a friend for one. Choose a theme! Maybe vampires? What’s the worst thing that could happen to a vampire? What’s the best thing? What’s the funniest thing? What if they were also an alien? Or fused with a werewolf? Or chained to one? What would happen? Giving yourself a starting point for an idea will inspire you to explore all the possibilities for humor, drama, etc. in that idea. If you’re struggling to give yourself a prompt, try looking online…or maybe choosing a song you like or a passage from a book for inspiration.

There’s also this really fun thing you can do to study cinematography and shot composition called a “three tone” exercise. Basically…put on your favorite (live action) film, grab a sketchbook, grab a black and grey marker, and use the white of the page for your third tone. What you wanna do is (as you’re watching or while pausing) sketch a small thumbnail using only three grey tones of what you see on the screen. Draw the shot- where the characters are, try and duplicate the lighting…it teaches you a lot! 🙂 (Phew!)

Q: Do you have any fun non-spoiler head canons about Varian?

A: I think his favorite dessert is apple pie and I think he bakes recreationally very often! He’s probably a good cook. (Though he may have one or two minor accidents……a burnt thing here and there. Minor oil splatters….haha!!)

Q: What’ve been your favorite episodes, both to storyboard and in general? Of course, no specifics if it’s S3

A: Haha! Well…What The Hair and Queen for A Day have special places in my heart because they were such big moments for my favorite character…(Varian, haha.) But I’d say the episodes I had the most fun boarding are all in season 3!!! Which is exciting! I have to start compiling some work to post! 🙂 I think the episode I had the most fun with is one you guys will really enjoy.

Q: Will we get some interesting surprises (In Season 3)?

A: Without any spoilers- absolutely!! The show is always full of those.

Q: So We’ve heard many fans express why they love Varian as a charcter before, I’d love to know what drew you and Anna to Varian as well and why you guys personally found him to be a great character.

A: When Shane Prigmore originally pitched the character to me, he was much younger. He was like 11 or so, I think? Maybe 12? He’s still pretty young…but what Shane said was that he wanted him to go from this wide-eyed kid to this dark, angry person whose bangs fell over those wide, bright eyes…just full of rage. That idea was super interesting to me…it just hit on something in character development that I felt like I’d never exactly seen before? He was so young and it was such an interesting idea to me to make a child the villain and to give that child a strong reason to be angry? It felt like it was taking this child very seriously, which I appreciate. It felt very real and very dark.

The thing that threw me through a loop but also evolved my fascination with the character was Jeremy Jordan’s casting. I listened to a lot of the auditions they had for various actors and I had seen a ton of Shane’s concept art of the character…a lot of them were VERY different than what we have now. One version Ricky Roxburgh (writer) contributed to had Varian cast as an adult in the story. But when I heard Jeremy I felt like I totally understood who Varian really was.

He was a well-intentioned disaster with unchecked emotions. That. Is me! Haha!! I see myself in his imperfections, his emotionality in spite of his creative and often intellectual thinking. He wants to ascend to these levels he may not be ready to ascend to…he feels this need to prove himself and seek validation. I don’t know, I guess I relate to that! And I’m just a sucker for good guys gone bad. The other half of this, of course, is that he’s very charming and cute and super reminds me of my best friend, Anna Lencioni.

Q: Which character do you most like seeing interacting with Varian?

A: It’s a little spoilery for me to reveal that……..but I think you guys are gonna know when it happens! Haha!

I can’t wait to post THOSE boards

That’s actually right out of the episode I think I liked boarding the most, haha.

Q: If there was one prop (furniture, object, the like) from the Tangled series that could be made real and you could keep, what would it be..?

A: I think it’d have to be those little alchemy orbs that Varian throws? They just suddenly clean the whole castle hallway somehow and like…could use me some of that. He also has the one that removes stains from tablecloths, so. I’m sloppy. That’d be a big help. Haha!

Also his staff is pretty cool 😉, I boarded/created that staff…David Lee (prop designer) did its final design…haha

Q: I have a question about a scene in season 1. When Varian got back the first part of the scroll he mentioned that it took him a while to translate it. Has he really been able to read it or has it been a bluff?

A: Varian can indeed translate what’s on the scroll. 😉

Q: Do you have any networking advice for those trying to get into the animation industry?

A: Post your work!! Make it easily accessible, tag it well, just show what you’ve got online! Upload boards, animatics, drawings, etc. Creating an online presence can really help put your name out there. Apply for internships, jobs. I know it’s hard to network because a lot of industry professionals don’t have time to answer specific questions or give portfolio reviews…so it’s sort of important to take some initiative on that and be self-motivated.

For me, I studied the portfolios of Disney feature story artists, CalArts students, etc. and tried to structure the presentation of my work based on that. Also, it helped me get a sense of what pieces of work would best showcase where I was trying to go and what I was trying to do. I’d ask yourself those questions as you develop a portfolio and artistic voice online! 🙂

My first feature job after a trainee program in New York at Blue Sky happened because Doug Sweetland (Pixar animator, feature director, awesome dude) found my work online and liked it. He just reached out based on that!

Shane Prigmore actually reached out to me for Tangled similarly.

Q: Besides Varian, do you have a favorite character that you’ve boarded?

A: I always love Eugene. He’s the second character I think I’m most like. His acting was really fun to play with and I felt like I could push his expressions a lot because he’s so funny. I loved boarding Lance too (I boarded a lot of Lance in S3!!) but MAN was he hard to draw, haha! His face shape is just really hard to draw at certain angles.

Q: With Varian cosplay that is going on, what Disney character would you like to see Varian dress up as next?

A: Jack Skellington! Halloween is afoot. Jack is another well-intentioned disaster. Guess I have a type!

Q: What’s Varian’s opinion on raccoons, are they his favourite animal?

A: I imagine it’s because Ruddiger is always finding interesting things in the trash and giving them to Varian to use in his experiments. Also, they’re fat and cute.

Q: There’s a bit of an argument going on over how many freckles Varian has. Can you confirm how many he has?

A: Ha!!! Yes…one second… 14!!

Q: How big do you think Corona is? Like Vatican City small or Arendelle big?

A: You know, with the wall and all, it actually feels a little on the smaller side to me? I’m sure there’s a little bit of discrepancy between the movie’s version of Corona and our version…but based on where we went within Corona on the show, I’d say it feels on the smaller side.

Q: Are there any non-spoiler Varian scenes or moments that didn’t make the cut that you can share?

A: MAN. Yes. There is one scene that changed after I rolled off the episode and I’m very sad about it. I’ll post it after the episode airs! There was also a line of Varian’s that I boarded to a specific read from Jeremy Jordan and that read was not chosen in editorial later so…I’ll post that one too, haha!

Q: What is your favourite song from the first two seasons so far?

A: All my favorite songs are in season threeeeee…hahahaha!! I think Let Me Make You Proud or the Buddy Song are my favorites. Buddy Song still gets stuck in my head now and then.

Q: What do you think Varian would order at a drive-thru? Specifically at chipotle 😂

A: Chipotle isn’t a drive thru!! Hahaha He’d get the kid’s quesadilla from chipotle. I think Varian is a fries/chips kind of person…something to snack on while he works! He probably also likes milkshakes.

Q: (Continuation from the question above) Chocolate or vanilla?

A: He’d revolutionize by combining them both. FOR SCIENCE!

Q: What is, in your opinion, the most challenging part of varian’s design to draw?

A: His goggles, hahaha. Or just his…hair in general.

Well it’s funny too because when you board these guys, you get used to doing a shorthand for them and then when you go to draw them FOR REAL you realize how complicated that actually is and how wrong your shorthand actually was? Hahahaha

Q: is Varian ticklish at all?

A: I feel like Varian, Eugene, and Lance are all equally ticklish. To the point of absurdity. Cass would fight it as long as she could…but when it finally got to her, she’d laugh uncontrollably. Rapunzel, she’s the TICKLER.

Q: What do you think Varian opinion and belief on magic is now that he’s seen it with his own eyes?

A: I imagine that he certainly believes in it now and no longer underestimates its powers…but I imagine he’s ultimately more comfortable staying in his own lane and working with worldly properties!

Q: If Varian would have been able to meet Demanitus…how would their conversation had looked like?

A: I feel like Varian would have had a TON of questions about his legendary device and whether or not he truly traveled dimensions.

Q: Did Varian have any other friends in old Corona before he met rapunzel?

A: Probably not many…he’s a bit of a hermit. I think Ruddiger is his best friend……. It’s sad but I also think that’s kind of why it hurt so bad when Rapunzel wasn’t able to help him. Also why he was SO excited to have Rapunzel, Cass, and Eugene come visit.

I think the village looked at Varian as a little unstable or worrisome. I’m sure everyone knew he was very nice…but they were likely very unnerved by his inventions.

Q: Do you think Varian ever tried to synthesise gold or the elixir of life like a real alchemist?

A: I’ve wondered that myself!! I think his alchemy has proven to be more about other people…helping others, making people proud. Maybe if someone he cared about was in need.

Q: If you were to meet Varian in real life, what would you say to him?

A: What elixir did you make to get THAT kind of volume? His hair’s so POOFY! Honestly, I’d probably just give him a hug.

Q: How much does Varian know or remember about his mom?

A: I’d say about as much as the photo of her on the wall.

Q: Is there spoiler about his hair streak? Or is it just by design?

A: It’s totally by design. I think it’s safe to assume it’s probably the result of some lab accident!

Q: In what ways is Jeremy Jordan like Varian?

A: I don’t know Jeremy Jordan personally, haha! But I think a lot of these inflections he adds to Varian sort of off the cuff probably come very naturally to him. I know he often wants to do his own pass at the musical arrangement Alan Menken writes…like he’ll want to do something a little different, in his own way, and it will change the song completely!! In an awesome way. That’s a little Varian-esque. In the “Let Me Make You Proud” reprise…Alan Menken had sung that “they are going to pay…they…will…pay” all in a low, downward tone. Jeremy wanted to scream it and make it powerful and angry and loud when he said “PAY” and you could just hear the spite in his voice for the “they will pay.” Genius!

Q: What was the most shocking moment/revelation of the series to you (minus anything season 3)?

A: It’s hard to say because I knew most of what was going to happen long, long ago. I think one of the things that made me go “oh dang!” was something Tom Canfield boarded. It’s that part in Destinies Collide where Lance slices the entire statue down the middle with a sword. What a BAMF!

Q: What were your thoughts on the early concept of Varian having an apple orchard and being a farm kid instead of a young alchemist?

A: He still kinda has those things! Quirin is a farmer as well as the village leader and there are apples on their little farm estate! 🙂 I think that makes Varian very unassuming as a mad little scientist. I’m sure that’s how (Ruddiger and Varian) met! Remember, he used his purple tacky goo stuff to catch raccoons so they wouldn’t eat the crops! And Ruddiger’s favorite snack is apples. 😉

Q: What is his official height and weight?

A: Smol.

Q: How did you guys come up with Varian’s name? And was there any other name suggestions for him before the name ‘Varian’ was chosen?

A: I’m not sure who came up with that name, actually! I’m sure it has something to do with the meaning of the word “variant” which means something that varies, changes in form.

Q: What’s his last name?

A: His last name!! I have NO idea and it bothers me!!! A Disney magazine referred to Varian, Ruddiger, and Quirin as “The Ruddiger Family” and I still haven’t stopped laughing about that.

Q: What sad Disney movie moments would make him cry?

A: Oof. Lion King.

Q: What musicals do think Varian would enjoy?

A: Little Shop of Horrors! I think he’d see himself in Seymour! Or Wicked…you know, that villain arc.

Q: How did Arianna and Fred meet?

A: I actually don’t know off the top of my head!

Q: Would Varian enjoy rollercoasters?

A: I think he’d enjoy how they’re MADE and then scream his head off while riding one, throw up his cotton candy and corndog, and go play carnival games instead. Then get mad that they’re rigged.

Q: So what comes next for you now that the series is almost over? Any big plans?

A: Well the series wrapped for production a while ago! I’ve been on another show for almost a year now! 🙂 I’m working on the new Disney+ show Monsters at Work as a director! It’s an awesome, awesome show…totally next-level…I’m shocked that I’m getting to be apart of something like this. It’s a direct sequel to the movie that serves as an office comedy (a la The Office, Parks and Rec) and has so many characters that fit immediately into the Monsters Inc world. Monsters Inc is my favorite Pixar movie…so I literally come to work and leave work on the same high! It’s an awesome, awesome show with a great crew! 🙂 It’s also just really exciting to be apart of the first original animated property for D+!

Q: How would you compare working as a director to working as a storyboard artist?

A: It’s hard work, just as hard, but in a different way! For me personally, I’m a little easily fatigued by drawing? I get a little creatively frustrated because my thoughts move quicker than my hand. Or because I don’t always feel like I can execute in a drawing what I’m thinking in the way that I want? Part of that is just being an artist…and it’s not ALL the time that I feel that way…but I think I have a certain stamina for drawing that I found challenging to increase.

Directing is just different! It has a lot more to do with managing a team, communication, coordinating, listening, speaking up, problem-solving, being very aware of story as it applies to ALL parts of a production. I don’t draw as often anymore. You have to consider a lot more…more people, more constraints, more difficulties, more opinions, more solutions…it’s just MORE. And you also still have to draw! 🙂 It’s very busy work, but it’s AMAZING and I love it. I feel like I’m contributing to animated storytelling a lot more in this role, actually. I love working with people, I love workshopping, and I love helping! I’m also just spoiled to be working with some great people right now. It’s a blast.

Q: Are any Tangled: The Series crew joining you on that show?

A: Yes!! Tom Caufield and Wendy Sullivan were on it for a minute, but they’ve both moved on to Dreamworks recently! James Suhr (board artist), Isabelle Gedigk (season 3 board artist), Naomi Hicks and Casey Coffey (revisionists), David Lee (props), Ricky Roxburgh (writer), and I are all working together again! It’s awesome.

Q: Does Varian, deep down, blame himself for the amber?

A: I believe he does.

Q: How do you deal with artist’s block?

A: I try to think about the intention behind what I’m doing. Why is the scene I’m working on very important to the story? If it feels unimportant or boring, how can I make it interesting? What can I do on my end to make it more inspiring or fun without going too far off the rails and still serving the scene’s purpose?

If it’s not work-related, I try and start with some fan art or something familiar for me to draw. I have a lot of scribbly Varians in the margins of a lot of my sketch documents. I use him as a warm-up a lot. It helps build my confidence to draw something familiar/ that I think I can draw pretty well.

Q: What’s the hardest scene you’ve ever had to board?

A: Oh God. ANYTHING with action. I’m not an action gal. Lots of stuff in S3. I was board partners with Wendy Sullivan and ended up getting a lot of action to board even though she’s WAY better at it than me!! It was an interesting challenge…but it was very, very challenging. Ben (Co-EP) was a great mentor to me in the scene I did for the mid season. He was very patient with me, despite my shortcomings as an action board artist, haha. I enjoy boarding for comedy much more.

Kait: Anyways, I should probably head off now! Thank you guys so much for all the questions!!!! You’re awesome! I hope you’re all super excited for S3! It’s a great one.

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #varian #Q&A #Tangled crew #Question & Answers #Kait #ruddiger #Rapunzel #Eugene #Lance #Cassandra

240 notes · View notes

the-inept-artist · 4 years

Text

The Next Step

It's my first time doing a Destiel oneshot, I hope to make my fellow shippers proud! I'm also considering doing an animatic to be posted to my Tumblr, but I gotta figure out the tech and get the right software first, so that won't be for a LOOOOONG time.

Supernatural doesn't belong to me, nor does "Angel With A Shotgun", or any other song mentioned.

Anyway, as always, please enjoy and review!

~oOo~

It was over. It was finally over.

Castiel nursed his beer from his spot just inside the library as the sound of happy people washed over him. Conversation and laughter floated out of the war room—

No, not war room. Foyer. They had no use for a war room anymore. Cas needed to remember that.

It had seemed like ages since Chuck had surrendered. Somehow, two hunters, an angel and a nephilim had managed to bring down the almighty creator of the universe. And Dean—intelligent, cunning, wonderful Dean—made Chuck swear on his every creation that he would bring back everyone the four had lost to his little game, along with repairing the dimension that Michael had destroyed.

So that was why Cas was watching Mary Winchester chat animatedly with Charlie Bradbury and Jody Mills. Watching John Winchester stand awkwardly in a corner beside Crowley, tipping back his third beer of the night. Watching Sam nearly double over in laughter in response to Gabriel's joke, Balthazar rolling his eyes in mock-annoyance. Watching Kelly Kline grin excitedly after beating Bobby Singer and Rowena MacLeod at cards for the fourth time in a row that night. Watching Jessica Moore try to explain what college was to Amara. And many more revelers, all smiling and happy and alive.

"Hey." Cas nearly jumped from his seat as he noticed Jack standing beside him, looking at him concernedly. "Are you okay? We won, you should be celebrating."

Cas settled back, idly twirling his beer bottle and watching the alcohol swish around inside. "I know, and believe me, I'm ecstatic. It's just…I don't know."

Jack pulled up a chair and sat beside him. "Not sure what to do now?"

"Yes, that's it. Ever since I met Dean and Sam, there's always been an enemy to fight. Lucifer, other angels, the Leviathans…there's never not been a struggle." Cas sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure if that makes sense."

"No, no, I get it." Jack leaned his arm on the table and shifted in his seat. "I am a bit restless as well. But I say we make it through the party tonight, and tomorrow we figure out what to do next."

Cas mulled over the nephilim's words. "That sounds…doable."

"Hey everyone!" Dean's voice echoed over the clang of the metal door. Kevin Tran peered over his shoulder, bucketloads of Chinese food in his hands. "Lookit what the kid and I got!" The two headed down the stairs. Cas got up off his seat and joined the throng of people, Jack not far behind him.

"A karaoke machine?" Mary said, reading the box Dean held. "Where in the world did you find that?"

"We stopped in a tech store on the way back from the Chinese place," Kevin said, moving to the table to unladen his arms. "Dean insisted."

Dean smiled sheepishly. "I thought it'd be fun. Any takers?"

Charlie shrugged, a smile gracing her face. "Why the hell not, I'm in."

Several others followed the redhead's example, nodding and murmuring their agreements. Crowley and John took a pass, but more or less the majority of the party decided to partake in the fun.

Sam came up to Cas as he was watching Dean set up the machine. "You joining in?"

Cas glanced at the younger Winchester before returning his gaze to the elder. "I may. Not sure."

Sam nodded. "Gabe's definitely doing it. I'd bet all my money that he'll do "Sexy Back"."

Cas cracked a small smile. "That's my brother for you. Do you think you'll sing something?"

"Ah, nah." Sam rubbed the back of his neck as Dean hooked up the mic. "I've never really liked singing, and certainly not in front of people. Dean, on the other hand—"

"I call first!" Dean yelled, quickly straightened up from behind the machine. He grabbed the microphone and started scrolling through the songs, ignoring Charlie and Kevin's playful boos.

Cas nodded sagely, fighting a chuckle. "I see."

For a time, Cas enjoyed the many performances put on. Dean gave a rousing rendition of "I'm Too Sexy", to which Crowley immediately groaned and left the room. Cas found his face a bit hotter than normal as he watched Dean move to the music. But as Charlie took the makeshift stage, he attempted to calm himself and focus on the coming acts.

Charlie sang "One Woman Army", and Kevin managed to stumble his way through "Die Young". Jess ended up being the jewel of the party, singing "I Wouldn't Mind" with the most beautiful voice. True to form, Gabriel performed "Sexy Back", complete with some more than inappropriate dance moves. Funnily enough, as Cas looked around a while later, neither Gabe or Sam were to be seen.

The two finally came back just as Amara was wrapping up "Never Enough". They seemed much more giggly and closer than before, Sam having an arm casually slung around the smaller angel. Though, Cas, noted, Gabe was wearing Sam's coat. And Sam's mess of hair certainly was…messier than usual.

Cas smirked to himself, turning his gaze back to the head of the room. About time.

"Oi, Cas!" Cas was startled for the second time as Dean materialized beside him. "You haven't sung yet, c'mon!"

"Oh, um. I don't know," Cas said lamely. Dean chuckled and pulled him up off his seat.

"Please?" The hunter wiggled his eyebrows, which made Cas's stomach explode into fuzzy bumblebees, tickling his sides and making his head feel light. There was something about Dean's ernest and hopeful expression that made his face flush and he couldn't help a small smile escaping.

"O-okay," the angel timidly agreed, letting Dean lead him to the stage. He waited, awkwardly staring out over the idly chatting audience as Dean bent over the machine.

"Alright, you touch here to scroll up, and here to scroll down," Dean explained. "Hit this to confirm your song, and have fun!" He stepped down the stairs and started chatting with Mary, leaving Cas to his own devices.

Cas looked through the music selection with trepidation. Nothing he saw immediately jumped out. Everyone had somehow found a song to describe them, yet he—wait. Cas stopped scrolling and eyed the song title. "Angel With A Shotgun".

Cas remembered this song. It was one of the songs that convenience store he once worked at had on shuffle. The first time he had heard it, his thoughts had instantly jumped to Dean, much to his confusion and mild embarrassment at the time. Though as he listened, waiting for the next time it would play softly over the store speakers, he realized that there was a certain…pull, to the song. To how it somehow took every puzzling feeling he had and explained it clearly and concisely.

The song had helped him admit to himself and accept that he had a—what did humans call it?—a thing for Dean.

Cas's eyes flicked from the karaoke machine to Dean. He had long ago shoved the small piece of hope to a remote corner of his heart, but now that hope was shining through, almost hurting his chest with its strength and brilliance. They were free now, with nothing to hold them back or worry about. Could he…could they have a chance?

"C'mon, Cas, pick a song!" Dean exclaimed. Cas was shaken from his thoughts as they rest of the party realized who was onstage and began to clap and cheer encouragingly. The bumblebees in Cas's stomach were now rocketing around, pinging lightly off their walls.

He took a breath and before he had time to back out, selected "Angel With A Shotgun".

The familiar opening started, and Cas relaxed a bit. It's not like you're doing this blind, he reasoned with himself as the backup singers sang their parts. You know the song, and you have the lyrics. You'll be fine. Glancing out over the audience, he caught Dean's eye, who smiled and gave a thumbs up. Cas's heart skipped a beat as he cleared his throat and hastily looked down at the screen. Probably.

"Get out your guns, battles begun

Are you a saint, or a sinner?

If loves a fight, than I shall die

With my heart on a trigger."

Cas knew his singing voice wasn't the best. He was a bit too low in pitch, and he was probably holding the microphone too close. But as people listened and he warmed up, he felt his nerves settle down. The bumblebees faded away.

"They say before you start a war

You better know what you're fighting for

Well baby, you are all that I adore

If love is what you need, a soldier I will be

I'm an angel with a shotgun

Fighting til' the wars won

I don't care if heaven won't take me back."

Cas couldn't help bouncing on his toes a bit. Jack whooped, and he felt a slight smile break out. Chancing a quick glance at Dean, he saw the hunter nodding his head in time.

“I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe

Don't you know you're everything I have?

And I wanna live, not just survive tonight

Sometimes to win, you've got to sin

Don't mean I'm not a believer

And Major Tom, will sing along

Yeah, they still say I'm a dreamer."

Cas never really understood who this "Major Tom" was, but he knew that human music could be vague and have odd references. He didn't think too much of it as he moved into the beginning of the second chorus.

They say before you start a war

You better know what you're fighting for

Well baby, you are all that I adore

If love is what you need, a soldier I will be."

He wasn't thinking anymore. He was openly grinning, moving in time with the music, even jumping about a little bit. He felt as though he were invincible. Is this how all humans feel during karaoke?

"I'm an angel with a shotgun

Fighting til' the wars won

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe

Don't you know you're everything I have?

And I wanna live, not just survive tonight."

As the music slowed, so did Cas. He swept his eyes over the audience, landing on Dean. Dean was smiling, the lights reflecting in his eyes like stars over a deep green sea. He's so beautiful.

"Oh, oh whoa whoa oh whoa

Oh, oh whoa whoa oh whoa."

Cas kept his eye contact with Dean. The bumblebees returned tenfold, some appearing in his throat, stinging slightly. Yet he never faltered, never wavered. He wanted Dean to listen and understand what he was saying.

"Oh, oh whoa whoa oh whoa

Oh, oh whoa whoa oh whoa."

Cas stepped down from the makeshift stage, ignoring the amount of eyes that were on him. As the music all but stopped, he set down the mic and strode right up to Dean. The hunter's eyes widened in surprise, and though it may have just been the lighting or alcohol, Cas swore he saw his cheeks flush. He lowered his voice, gazing into Dean's eyes as his lips smiled with the unasked question.

"I'm an angel with a shotgun

Fighting til' the wars won

I don't care if heaven won't take me back."

And Dean—the man who once clung tight to him as they ascended from Hell, the man who always had his back, the man he had fallen in love with—took his hand, smiling as he nodded. Cas's head instantly felt weightless, and he thought his face would split from the size of his grin as launched into the final chorus.

"I'm an angel with a shotgun

Fighting til' the wars won

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe

Don't you know you're everything I have?"

Almost laughing, Cas spun Dean around, pulling him closer. He saw in his peripheral vision people smiling joyously. Sam was giving an approving thumbs-up, and Crowley, Gabriel and Balthazar were going around collecting money from others. But his main focus was on the man in front of him, beaming widely, blushing freely.

"And I want to live, not just survive, tonight

And I'm gonna hide, hide, hide my wings tonight."

Dimly, Cas realized he should finish the song back on the steps. But as he went to reluctantly pull away, Dean tightened his grip and pulled him, if possible, even closer. Now it was Cas's turn to be surprised as Dean gently cupped his face and quietly sang the last few lines.

"They say before you start a war

You better know what you're fighting for

Well baby, you are all that I adore

If love is what you need, a soldier I will be…"

Dean trailed off as he pressed his lips to Cas's. Cas's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he relaxed, nearly melting against Dean. Sure, he had been hoping for a yes, maybe even a hug after the song, but this…this went beyond his wildest dreams. He could even ignore everyone going nuts and yelling in gleeful surprise.

Cas had no more doubts about the future now. No more qualms about the next step, or anxieties over what the rest of his life would be like with no enemies. No, he thought as he and Dean broke apart to grin at each other. I know what I want to do.

I want to be the one to make him smile like that for the rest of his life.

#supernatural #fanfiction #fanfic #deanxcas #deanwinchester #castiel #angel with a shotgun #destiel

21 notes · View notes

cordycep-creations · 4 years

Text

My own “Sides”

I recently got into the Sanders’ Sides fandom, including several fanworks, animatics, etc. It really is a great show(?) and I highly recommend it to anyone curious.

As I was looking into the things the fandom created, I started to get thinking about what my own sides would be like. I tried to go with the factors that influence the core of my own personality, rather than simply doing my own versions of his characters. It has especially been an exercise in self-reflection, and it’s one I may continue to flesh out. As of now, I want to introduce/showcase the two I have completed. Adding a read more so that I don’t clog your dash.

The first is Devin. I can’t rember quite how the word was rooted, but I found it on a list of names based in writing and the concept of words. Devin is one of the most similar to Thomas’ sides, but that’s because it’s a large part of me as well.

Devin at base represents my creativity, and could be considered sort of as a mix between Roman and Remus. As someone who embraces the heavier topics and emotions in my work (and will continue to do so) Devin holds that as a strong part of his character. They’re the side of me that shows when I grin while tormenting a fictional character, or when I watch an incredibly depressing animatic and laugh. However, they’re also the side of me that obsesses over a show or a pairing. The side that shows when I rant for hours about Steven Universe, or how great of a language Esparanto is. They try to act like the happier bits are smaller, but honestly they consume far more of their attention than the torment. (So many ships. So much adorablenessss)

Devin’s emblem is a pen and a sword crossed, with the words “My weapon is my word” written in Latin. They wear it on an emblem on the lapel of their coat. Their main color is purple. (All logos were made by editing free use clipart, so don’t worry)

The next side is Sam. Yes, I know I have a lot of fictional characters named Sam (actually I don’t think you guys do know that yet, as the main “Sam” work right now is the PJO thing that I haven’t shown) but this time I actually have meaning behind the name. It’s rooted from the (arabic?) name “Samiul” which means “Listener.”

Sam goes by she/her pronouns (I usually go by enby because I feel more comfortable in the they/them pronouns and don’t want to confuse people. However I do feel like I have a bit of fluidity, and wanted to use that in the characters) and she represents the social side of me. The jumpy, energetic extrovert that loves group discussion but is horrible when put in a one on one scenario. She’s the one who comes out when I’m talking to my friends, being insane in the groupchat at 3 am, memeing with AJ, et cetera.

Sam is also the side that tries to help people even when it’s better for them to get things together on their own. She’s the part that will try to talk to people when they’re being self toxic, and do whatever I can to help them to the point of putting my own mental health on the line. She struggles with letting go of things, not being able to know when something is truly over.

Sam’s logo is a red chain, which she wears a symbol of on a bracelet. The reason for the bracelet is because it’s something that you willingly put on. The chain does not reperesent shackles, but rather her/my close bonds to my friends. Each friend in the group is a link in the chain, so to speak. However, it also represents her inability to let go of things and move on.

I hope you found that interesting, I really enjoyed exploring myself and framing them in the context of sides. I really do think that I’m going to continue with this, and if you think I should do so let me know. I’m going to try to get back into my writing schedule, so we’ll see how things go! I love you all, have a great evening.

#Thomas Sanders #Sanders Sides #Kinda personal but I'm ok with that #I like how this turned out #Good night

7 notes · View notes

puawarriors-production · 4 years

Text

Week 17 – Alex – I Told You I’d See You Later

My previous post was a little anti-climactic if you ask me, and I didn’t get to recap what I did so here we gooo.

----------------------FIRST, MAJOR DISCLAIMER---------------

As you can see, this post is pretty dang long, so I’m just gonna put evaluation stuff for the class here first, and if you feel like reading on afterward that’s cool, but it’s just personal reflections and final send-off stuff.

So, shockingly, I was one of the main contributors to the rough animation which you can see in the animatic, and can track the progress of throughout this blog’s history. I finished 15 roughed shots in total. I also have 8 shots concurrently blocked (in other words, partial progress,) and 2 shots unstarted. I also made the 3D environment models used for reference in making the backgrounds, as well as handling the editing side (video composition, timing, and sound edits) for the animatic up to this point.

Next, I worked closely with Sophia and our sound mixer Tim to get the voice actresses recorded, their clips edited, and finally integrated into the film. And also, while this hasn’t made it into the animatic yet, I have been creating some original sound design elements as well. Here’s a sample of some:

youtube

I’m focusing mostly on the characters’ Pua powers and transformations right now, and some sludge sounds. And in hand with that, I also did the voice clips/sound effects for the Sludge Monster. Aaand that’s pretty much it from me this semester! Super excited to keep up the work in the weeks to come! If you’re not sticking till the end of the post, then thanks for an awesome class, and awesome semester!

------------------ The Feels Side of the Post -----------------

The Pua Warriors Experience

When I first heard about Pua Warriors, I thought the idea sounded awesome: Magical girls set in Hawai'i using flower powers and sparkles to save the day? Yeah I’m down for that. It felt… familiar to me, I suppose. But at the time I still knew relatively little about the characters, the story, and only had a vague idea of their designs.

As time went on and the Capstone application deadline was approaching, I felt like I was a bit stuck, with the exhaustion of working on Midnight Showing holding me on one side, and having only a vague outline of a plot for my own film idea on the other. And with no crew to speak of, the decision not to make a Capstone of my own was … difficult… one of the most difficult in my time at ACM. Cause in my mind (at the time at least,) not making “your own” Capstone project felt like a failure somehow. But this whole Pua Warriors thing was sounding pretty nice, and I already knew everyone working on it. So I decided life’s better together, and far be it from me to not work on a project of some kind. So I hopped on-board for a little trip into the unknown. And well, here we are, still in the unknown. But that doesn’t mean we’re lost. Not yet.

I have to say, Pua Warriors has grown on me. At a certain point it stopped feeling like a student film, and started feeling more like a potential series: a world with its own storyline, and indeed one that’s worth telling – yes, I would make a distinction between the two. Working on the project has just been the sweetest, most wonderful, enlightening, mild existential crisis inducing, and bizarrely friendly thing I’ve had the privilege of working on, all at once. It didn’t just change how I approach character design, animation, or working on a team – I feel it changed me for the better as a person, and at times I feel almost unworthy to be on this project.

One thing I’ll never forget is the time we spent hanging out in the Keller lab, going to group meetings, and recording at MELE. What silly fun times those were. I admit, not being able to hang out with my friends after the virus shut the world down has truly been one of the most difficult parts of my whole “college era” of my life experience. To feel like something great was forming, only to be ripped away by something so crazy and completely over-the-top as this virus – words just can’t capture the feeling of melancholy. But even when we’re spread hundreds or thousands of miles apart, at times I can still feel near, even if it is only through a screen. And personally, I don’t want that to change just because the semester’s ending. That’s why, in a way, I’m sort of glad we have time to work on into the summer.

Reflections on Life

Some lessons this semester taught me: First is on fitting in. It’s never blending in for the sake of blending in, nor standing out for the sake of standing out. It’s being comfortably unique in your own talents and skills, strengths and weaknesses, styles and tastes - while being happy to share those things with others. Indeed, it’s not about being “good enough” to belong, but rather belonging, in order that may do good for others. Second is on wanting to help. For a long time I remained kind of a loner in ACM, sitting in “my” corner with “my” ideas. It wasn’t until last semester and especially during this semester I realized just how powerful, or perhaps rather how much more powerful the drive to help and serve others can be. That’s true not just for creative endeavors, but all areas of life. The Third lesson: doing things for the right reasons. We do things for a lot of different reasons, and often times we aren’t cognizant of why we act or feel the way we do. Having an understanding of who you truly are and what you really want is critical in exercising self-control, and you may come to realize your desires aren’t always what you think they are. And the Fourth lesson is on being assertive. We all want and feel things, and one of the greatest feelings is being in control. You may doubt yourself when you don’t know where your feelings and desires come from. You may think your mind is playing tricks on you. But the truth is, we’ll never go places in life if we don’t speak up and acknowledge our ideas. We may not always come to the right conclusions, but that doesn’t mean we’re wrong for trying. So try, try, and try again. It’s okay to fail, as long as you pick up something with you as you get up. Take risks, and understand that doubt is often our greatest enemy, so fight it!

So now, at the end, I don’t really know what I feel: I don’t know if this is sadness or happiness? Courage or fear? Maybe it’s none of those things, but something I haven’t quite felt before. Until recently, I didn’t realize there’s an emotion that can make you feel so weak, yet feel strong at the same time. One thing’s for sure, I’m going to miss the project, the crew, and all of Hawai'i. To us, the future is a blank slate: nothing is written on it, yet it holds an infinite number of possibilities.

Honoring my Maker

Now before I wrap up, I have a specific topic I’d like to address.

While I usually avoid discussing my religious life openly in a scholastic context, I will say here and now that God has been my greatest help throughout these past couple years. For the longest time, even before coming to Hawai'i, I struggled with feelings of not fitting in, of low self-esteem, and of self-doubt. There were a lot of recurring battles at my home growing up, and many of the wounds followed me into adulthood. And if nothing else, this semester has brought many of those to the forefront.

As a child back in Washington, I would often just go with the flow of my friends at the time, because it was easier, and allowed me to avoid conflict. Yet I would be lead into instances where I would not speak up or act, even though I felt what we were doing, thinking, or saying was wrong. My family wasn’t particularly religious, or at least they certainly didn’t act like it. And for a while I think I didn’t believe in God. Maybe there was some higher power... maybe, perhaps, but not God. Yet still I felt a crushing weight on my conscience, for both the things I had done, and the things I had failed to do. So I watched TV shows and movies to help me feel safe, to distract myself, and indeed to feel as if I had more power than I actually did.

There came a time in middle school when a big storm came through my life, and when I was living in fear, I turned to God, and He helped me through it. And again in high school, God helped me. And in college, many times more. Through it all, God answered my prayers, and showed me there is a better way. And I came to understand that He gave me a way to life through His Son, long before I was even born. And because of that, I could find comfort and rest by trusting in Him through the afflictions I faced. So the way I see it, God has lead my life in a way neither I, nor any human being could. I have found that He has a purpose for all things, and truly that nothing comes by accident. I may not say it aloud, but I observe it every day in the places He sets me in, and the people with whom He places me. Yes, even in the midst of this virus. So while family and friends may not always be there to support me, and while institutions may crumble and fall, and while I may move away and feel isolated from all I’ve known, my God was, is, and always will be with me. There is nothing more empowering or reassuring than that. And without coming off too preachy, my hope is that people might perhaps look at that reflected in my life - to see the work God has done, and to consider their own relationship with Him.

Roll Call

Next, I have a few shout-outs I’d like to mention.

First, to my wonderful film Director Sophia: What can I say? This project has been simply amazing to work on with you. I think back to the moment I first overheard you talking about Pua Warriors. You were so thrilled to do it, and that’s when I realized I might want to jump onboard as well. Since then, the only adjective that comes to mind describing this experience is “vibrant.” I know there have been a lot of ups and downs, but that’s part of what makes the experience worth remembering. And there may very well be more hills and valleys to go through, but I actually look forward to them every day with you, as we continue to make this film happen. You shine like a star with a brilliant, positive energy I’ve never seen before. And I think you have a much greater potential than perhaps even you yourself realize. Of course, everyone has room to grow, but that doesn’t reflect poorly on you at all. It’s the fact that you’ve been so supportive of your team, and that you didn’t give up on your vision, and indeed, you’ve made massive efforts to grow this semester – that’s what makes you a good director in my eyes. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have anybody else direct the film – certainly at least not this “episode” anyway. It’s been a lasting experience, and I hope you’ll take what you’ve learned from it with you. You have a bright future ahead of you Sophia – all you need to do is reach out to it!

Next, to the Art Director and my good friend Gavin, wow what a ride this has been. Your artistic vision, your stamina, and your work ethic are so very remarkable. It’s been awesome these last few years getting to know you and work with you through all the late nights and long class periods. And especially through Midnight Showing and Pua Warriors. You basically set the standard that I and most other animation students aspire to, and you have such a unique way of looking at things too. Even when you’re feeling drained from all the work, your passion clearly shows, and you know how to communicate both very clearly, AND very, uh, sassily, which makes hanging around you hilarious. You’re also one of the only people on Earth that could get me to watch Clone Wars, and I don’t regret it. You give exceptional feedback in each critique, and though it can be tough to incorporate sometimes, you make listening to you a worthwhile endeavor. ACM simply would not be what it is without you, and I know you have many great things you’ll do with your skills moving forward.

To our excellent Animation Supervisor Chandelle, this semester’s been a tough one, but even in the darkest times, the sun still rises! You’ve always been an awesome animator, an incredibly hard worker, and an exceptionally friendly and helpful member of the group. And what’s more, you never sought to put the spotlight on yourself for it. You do things simply because you care, and you do them with such a level of discipline and professionalism that few in the ACM department could match it. I’m sure I speak for the whole group when I say, we care about you so much, and we’re just thankful you’ve been with us on the project. Never sell yourself short Chandelle! You’ve conquered some major obstacles in the past, and I know you have it in you to overcome this one as well.The light will shine again someday, so hang in there, and thanks for all the help you’ve given!

To my fellow animation friend Jared, man, have I got a lot of respect for you. You really know what it’s like to get down and dirty for the team, or feel stuck in a rut in the middle of a project. This last year has probably tested you the most, and yet you never fell apart. Sure, cracks may have formed at times, but you held together and pulled on through to the end. That proves you’ve got guts, and a great capacity for patience and accommodation especially in times of crisis. And that’s exactly what we need - that kind of boldness and passion, to be able to outlast our worries, especially when there are so many unknowns. I remember back to Midnight Showing; boy, that felt like a big time of unknowns too. We had no idea what was coming. And yet you outmatched it, and sure enough, things worked out in the end. And because you’ve been so humble and willing to improve yourself, I’ve seen you get so much better over these last few years, and frankly, it’s astonishing! You’re a great friend, and a hard worker Jared. Keep it up! You’ve got this!

I’d also like mention my fellow animation friend Kalilinoe! Even though we’re not in the same team this semester, you’re still an awesome and inspiring animator to have in class! Working together on Midnight Showing last semester was a lot of work, but also so much fun! And I love your style of animation using rotoscoping. And I gotta say, the animation in Pua Ka Uahi looks sooo smooth and beautiful. Watching your progress on the film this semester has been super inspiring, and definitely keeps the other teams on their toes! I can’t wait to see the finished film!

I’ll also make a brief mention of Jayme and Bobby from our 320/420 classes! You guys rock, and made the year all the better! I hope we’ll get to hang out again sometime!

PLUS, A big thanks to the whole Capstone class! Stay creative, and best wishes to you all!

And finally, one last big shout-out to Lisette for making all of this possible! You’ve been an awesome teacher not just for this course, but for the last few years in general! You always bring such wisdom and expert film knowledge to us younglings. And you’re so willing to make yourself available to your students; always helpful and encouraging to everyone, and even more so now during this time. That’s just the kind of support we need! I’ll be missing your classes greatly! Thanks so much for all your care and help!

A New Chapter Begins

Well, that pretty much wraps up my blog (for the school-production time anyway) of Pua Warriors. I’d like to once again thank each and every one of you for making the ACM experience so incredible. I think I like posting, so I’ll probably try to keep up with the blogs for the future, or at least make an update every once in a while. Thanks for reading through this epic conclusion of a post.

Until next time my friends! This is Alex(is) Nelson, Ganitine, the Undercover Animator, uncovered! See you next time!

#Pua Warriors #This is the end #Thank You #Capstone #coffeepower #sentimental #The Pakala Kids #Pua Ka Uahi #See you later #Pua Laulima

1 note · View note

killervibe · 5 years

Note

Distracted 😉🤦🏼‍♀️

Here’s 3k of Killervibe, West-Allen and fluff

“Hey, what was it that you saw?” Iris asked him as soon as Cisco got to the Cortex.

He shifted his weight, adjusting his daughter so she could continue snoozing with her cheek pressed against his shoulder as he followed Iris to the monitors.

“It was chaos, like, cars piling up and then this giant thing,” Cisco rambled, trying to remember the bits and pieces. “It was green.”

“No location? Nobody you know?”

“No!” Cisco exclaimed. “Nada. I just know it happens tonight.”

Iris flips on a switch for the coms in Barry’s suit. “Bear, you got that?”

“Yeah. I’m going up the North side, Wally the South.”

“Ugh.”

Ralph swung in his seat lazily, removing his eye mask. “I guess we just wait then.”

Cisco walked out to grab his gear just in case they needed to be on the go. He had to sling his jacket over his shoulder, then bent down to get his shoes very carefully as to not jolt the sleeping beauty. He hooked his fingers into the curve of his sneakers then straightened himself back up, and went back to where the rest were.

“And then she told me she felt like I wasn’t reaching my best potential, you know? So I had to try—“

Cisco dumped his stuff on the table, then glanced at the screens again. “Really. Nothing?”

Iris and Ralph shook their heads.

“Cisco,” Iris said, gesturing a bit wildly, like she was desperate for his help. “You’d say Ralph is an excellent detective, right?” Iris sent him a rather pleading look.

Cisco turned to Ralph who was looking kinda glum. “Oh. Sure, I always liked you better than Sherloque. You knew that.”

Ralph made a deep sigh. “My In-Laws don’t agree.”

“Oh,” Cisco said again, rolling his eyes. “In-Laws. Lord. I know.”

“I don’t have any,” Iris said.

There was an awkward silence.

Cisco and Ralph shared a look.

Iris cleared her throat, and returned to watch Barry and Wally run around.

“Listen, you just gotta tell them what they wanna hear, ‘Yes, Dr. T I’ll consider investing in that company, and maybe next year I’ll get my eyes laser corrected, thanks’, and it gets you off their backs until the next time.”

“Actually that sounds pretty decent,” Ralph thanked, then got up to jot that down. He stretched his hand across the room for his pen and Ralph’s Book on Marriage.

“Where’s Caitlin?” Iris asked eventually after more tense silence. It was never fun waiting for danger, especially when they had no idea what they were in for. Team Flash loved their jobs, they did, and none of them saw permanently retiring anytime soon, but now that they were all settled down, with wives and husbands and children, they had to become exceedingly more careful.

“Pharmacy,” Cisco said, knowing his voice was one inflection away from dreamy. He had a particularly bad case of love drunk he hadn’t seem to have shaken since they found out Caitlin was pregnant again. “She needed to refill her prenatal vitamin prescription. She should be back soon.”

Iris looked up, catching his eye, softening at Cisco’s hand tracing soothing patterns along Amalia’s back. “You two are excited, huh?”

Cisco smiled into his daughter’s hair. “Thrilled.”

“You think baby two will be a breacher like Amalia?”

He settled into his chair and rolled his neck over the back of the leather, closing his eyes and let out a drawn out groan.

Cisco loved his daughter and that she had his powers like nothing else in the entire world, but it was exhausting to take care of a metachild who could more or less teleport. The amount of involuntary hide-and-seek and tag Cisco and Caitlin have to play with Amalia hopping into baby breaches around the house is insane. And he doubted it was stopping anytime soon.

Cisco wasn’t sure he could go through that all over again. “Honestly, I don’t even have the energy to think about it. We’ll worry about that when we get there. We need a vacation. We’re already swamped and Caitlin isn’t even in her second trimester.”

“We’d love to take Amalia if you two would like some time off alone,” Iris offered. Cisco tightened his hold on his little girl, feeling stupidly protective.

Amalia, Nora and Don got together like three peas in a pod, all roughly around the same age of three and a half, but Cisco didn’t want to exchange his daughter for a vacation.

“Thanks Iris, but I think we were thinking more like a family getaway.”

“Oooh,” Ralph goes. “Niagara Falls is a good one. They’ve got this crazy log cabin in Canada called Great Wolf Lodge with a giant arcade room and jumbotron animatic animals who talk and sing to children.”

Ralph pauses to look up from Ralph’s Book of Marriage when he was met with silence. He huffed. “I promise it’s not as creepy as it sounds.”

Cisco tapped against his black leather Vibe pants, thinking.

Iris pulled up an article one of her junior staffers wrote for the homestyle section of the Central City Citizen. “What about Disney World?”

Cisco perked up. “Disney?”

“—GUYS? Are you still there?”

Iris minimized the tab, rolling across the desk back to the monitors. “Just a minute, honey.”

She rolled back, clicking on the article.

“You don’t have to go to California or Florida. There’s also one in France. That seems pretty cool.”

Some cackling came on over the coms.

“Are you guys talking about Disney World?”

Ralph saved iris the trip and flicked on the speaker.

“Yeah. We’re talking vacays. Don’t you think Cisco and Caitlin should go?”

Some wind cut the mic, but then it went still, the woosh of Barry speeding around disappearing. He must’ve stopped.

“I don’t know,” Barry’s voice cut in, giving his two cents. “I think Amalia is too young and it’s kinda pathetic when you can’t go on the rides because of pregnancy. I’d wait a couple more years. Ugh, and the lines.“

Ralph nodded. “Good point.”

“We should all go when our kids are older!” Barry suggested, sounding excited. “Four years from now maybe, when this new baby is no longer too young. 2028?”

They all hummed in agreement, as if they could truly make such a ridiculous plan so far off in the future.

“Whoops. Sorry, gotta check something,” Barry’s line disconnected, but they were all too distracted to pay much attention.

Amalia started to stir.

Cisco checked on her as she grumbled, flexing her curled fingers into Cisco’s skin.

“Hi baby,” he whispered, sitting her upright on his lap. “Good sleep?”

Amalia frowned adorably, taking in her surroundings. She reached up for Cisco’s hair, taking a fistful and yanked.

“Hey now,” he said, jerking his head away and shooting Ralph a half-hearted glare for laughing at him. Cisco grimaced when she smacked her hand over his face.

“She’s being very grabby recently,” he tried to explain, but in all honestly it wasn’t necessary.

He diverted his attention back to her, gently prying her hands off his face.

“Hey mini me. You good?”

She nodded, sucking her thumb. Caitlin tended to give herself an aneurysm trying to stop Amalia’s bad habit, but Cisco didn’t really bother.

“Hey Miss Lia,” Iris cooed, coming over to say hello. She stroked her soft hand. “Is Auntie Iris getting a hi?”

Amalia turned her head, burying her face back into Cisco’s neck.

“Ouch,” said Ralph.

“She’s a grumpy sleepy.” Cisco shrugged. “Don’t take it personally.”

Iris crossed her hands over her chest, pursing her lips. “Mmhmm. I think it just means she needs more toys to remember who’s her favourite aunt.”

“Sue’s her favourite,” Ralph said with pride.

Iris glowered.

Cisco bit his tongue, not wanting to get in the middle of this.

He stood up again and walked around the Cortex, bouncing Amalia a little to wake her up. Amalia’s hair was all mussed, her bangs falling over her eyes, so he gently swept them away, zoning out from the conversation as he focused on being in Daddy mode until—

“I think Sue and I are going to adopt a pig.”

“A pig?”

Amalia immediately burst into giggles, making oinking sounds.

Cisco stared up at the ceiling.

“—Why?” Iris shrilled.

“Okay, first of all, Mrs. West-Allen, I do not appreciate that tone. It’s a thing. Pigs make great additions to a family. Pigs are the new babies.”

“Oink oink oink!”

“And,” Ralph continued stubbornly, “They are very intelligent. You should consider it, Cisco.”

Cisco looked at Amalia, who was very well versed in farm animal noises, which last month he was very proud of but today may get on his very last nerve.

“I’m fine with my baby, thank you.”

Amalia only intensified her pig snorts.

“Is this your idea, or Sue’s idea…?” Iris asked, leaning against the desk with a very amused if not slightly mystified expression on her face.

“Oh it’s my idea but I’m sure Sue would be game. She’s a free spirited woman. I’m sure she’d love a hog.”

“A hog?” Iris repeated faintly.

“A piggie!” Amalia shrieked, beside herself with excitement.

“Yes Amalia!!!” Ralph banged his fist on the table, pumped at his little cheerleader. Amalia only screamed louder, the two egging each other on. Ralph pointed at Cisco. “This kid is going places!”

“Oink! Oink! Oink!”

Cisco and Iris shared a long glance.

“…Uh huh.”

Cisco grimaced at a particularly loud Oink! and held his squirming child out an arm away, trying to set her down. “Okay, Amalia, sweetheart, you’re shrieking in Daddy’s ear.”

She struggled, very opposed to being put down, and climbed up his Vibe pants desperately, digging her nails in trying to latch on, whining when her little socks touched the floor.

Cisco sighed, scooping her back up, feeling a lot like a mother kangaroo. He needed a pouch or something.

“I want a piggie!! I want a piggie like Uncle Ralph!!!”

“You do, huh?”

“I want a piggie!!!!”

Cisco rubbed at his temples with his free hand. “Ralph doesn’t have a pig,” he reasoned.

“—Not yet.”

“I wanna piggie!”

Cisco yanked off Amalia’s right sock, and flung it on the ground in the direction of her little playmat with her abandoned Duplos, tickling her baby toes. “You already have piggies!”

She squealed, wiggling as he played with her, hoping it would divert Amalia’s attention away from demanding a pet that would give her mother a heart attack. Iris stifled her laughter behind her hand watching them two.

Amalia finally wanted to get down, so Cisco let her go and she went running for Ralph.

Ralph met her halfway to him, stretching his arms out to snatch her and pull her onto his lap to chant about pigs as Cisco and Iris slowly backed away—Cisco needing an aspirin—Iris, coffee.

“Hey,” Iris said, “Remind me that I need to leave in fifteen minutes to pick up the twins from my dad’s. Do you think you could breach me there?

“No problem. Think the emergency won’t pop up by then?”

“Probably not,” Iris admitted. “Hmm. Maybe I should call my dad and ask if he could keep Nora and Don overnight.”

They bumped into Caitlin, who had a plastic pharmacy bag twisting from her grip in one hand, and her phone in the other. She was staring down at the device with growing distress, quickening her pace, unaware that they were down the hall.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Cisco said, breaking into a jog to meet up with her. She stopped abruptly when Cisco cupped her face.

Expecting one of her soft glowing smiles, he was very surprised to see her frown deepen, shoving her phone in his face.

“Have you seen the news!?”

“…The news?”

“Barry was kidnapped! Chaos! Pandemonium! All tech was shut down, it was like a Kilg%re 2.0. It caused a pile-up downtown, I was stuck in traffic for a good half hour. Why haven’t you done anything!?”

Iris swore under her breath, grabbing Caitlin’s phone, and sprinted back to the Cortex.

“Are you okay?” Cisco asked automatically. Of course, if the city was in danger he was going to help, but his wife and her safety will always be his number one priority.

Caitlin nodded, leaning into his touch, and he removed his hand from her cheek, to run down her shoulder and arm, then placed them over her stretchy cotton shirt. She was just starting to show.

“You look so beautiful.”

Caitlin put her hand over his on her stomach, her worry disappearing from face as she sighed. “Yeah? I’m finally feeling better. I think the morning sickness is gone for good.”

He leaned forward, lifting her chin to give her a featherlight kiss. She smiled against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck. The plastic bag with her pills shaking behind him. He pressed their foreheads together.

“Good trip?” he asked.

“Yes. Where’s the little one?”

Cisco chuckled. “In the Cortex with Ralph. Putting on an excellent rendition of Peppa the Pig. That’s banned now, by the way,” he joked lightly.

Caitlin pulled backwards. “What now?”

He grabbed his wife’s hand and tugged her along, telling her she’ll see soon enough.

Amalia noticed as soon as her mommy was there, ditching Ralph to run into her arms. “Mommy listen! Oink!”

“Wow,” Caitlin praised, her voice sweet like syrup. “Did you and Daddy go to a farm?”

“No!” she giggled. She lifted her arms up and Caitlin sighed, putting down her purse and plastic bag to take her daughter.

Cisco went to join Iris, who was desperately trying to reactivate the suit signals. Cisco scooted her out of the chair, flexing his fingers to take over.

“Should we be opening a breach and just go on? Doesn’t Barry need us?” Ralph asked.

“Mama, I want a piggie!”

Cisco was trying to outhack the virus, but paused enough to lift his eyebrows, filling his wife in. “Ralph wants to adopt a pig and apparently now so does our daughter.”

Caitlin laughed, and pulled off her left sock. “You already have piggies!” She tickled her toes as Amalia shrilled.

“Been there. Done that,” Cisco commented dryly. “Hey, what are your opinions on theme park vacations? Barry says Disney World is fun but are you up for that?”

“Mama, can I have a piggie?”

“Um,” Caitlin shot Cisco a helpless look. Cisco made a noise of equal exasperation as he hooked back half of Central City online.

“I can’t give you a piggie, love, but what about a baby brother or sister? And Cisco—I don’t know, theme parks are a drag when pregnant. My feet will hurt from all the walking.”

“Where is Barry!?”

Amalia considered Caitlin’s proposition, but alas, no.

“Piggie!! Piggie!! Piggie!!”

“Yeah that’s what Ralph said. What about a beach? Also they have Disney cruises!” Cisco hummed as his fingers flied over his keyboard, then smacked the counter. “Done. We’re online.”

“Oh! That sounds nice!”

Iris stood in the middle of the cortex, about to pull out her hair. “Is anyone going to help me find my husband!?!!”

Yellow lightning lit up the room as Wally wooshed in with a disorientated Flash.

“Barry!” Iris exclaimed, running to him as he stumbled.

Wally panted, putting his hands on his knees. “Thanks a lot guys.”

“Oh,” Ralph said dumbly. “We forgot about you.”

“You don’t think I noticed that,” Wally snarked back.

He flicked on the TV. Every single channel Wally flipped to as he channel-serfed was showcasing breaking news of Kid Flash basking in glory and saving the day.

“How did you not notice our coms went down?” Barry asked, wincing when Iris gave him a bone crushing hug.

Caitlin put down Amalia to check up on him.

“…Uh.” Ralph said.

Amalia started to spin around in circles, barefoot, oinking.

“The satellites, you didn’t use them?”

Cisco cringed and replied truthfully.

“Couldn’t look at satellites if we weren’t looking at all.”

“What,” Wally’s voice went dangerously flat.

Amalia knocked into Wally’s shin. She grinned up at him when he shot his hand down to keep her steady.

“Uncle Wally will you get a piggie with me and Uncle Ralph?”

Wally eyeballed the little girl, at a loss for words.

Ralph stood up, flexing his fingers. “Well as long as nobody’s too hurt…I guess I’ll go home now.”

“Ow!” Barry yelped from the Med Bay where Caitlin was treating him.

“—Would you just—Hold still—“

“Um,” Ralph said.

“What happened here?” Wally griped.

Iris bit her nails, harried, peering into the Med Bay through the glass window.

“Daddy look!”

“Amalia, stop running around you’re going to trip,” Cisco warned her.

“Piggie!!! Piiiiiiiiiiiig!”

Cisco sent Ralph a death glare. “You did this.”

“Oink! Oink! Oink!”

“You made her,” he shot back.

“Piiiiiiiiiiiiiig—Owie.”

“Was that Amalia?” Caitlin called with concern.

Cisco clamoured over. He knew this was going to happen. And now she was crying, but even a bumped chin couldn’t prevent her from whimpering “piggie” between her hiccups.

“She’s fine!”

He sat on the ground and pulled her close, shushing away her tears, and wiping the wetness away from her eyes, pressing kisses to her chubby cheeks.

Eventually Wally stopped crossing his arms, and let go of trying to size them all up, dropping his arms to his sides in bafflement. “Well?!?!”

Iris, Cisco and Ralph looked at each other nervously, scratching their heads as their eyes slid to Amalia, still screaming for a pig.

“We, uh,” Iris said, tersely. “We got…”

“Distracted,” Cisco filled in.

#the flash #killervibe #westallen #the flash fic #fluff #future fic #tkv fic #Amalia ramon #dante stein ramon #suedibny #elongsue

32 notes · View notes

marvelandponder · 7 years

Photo

I Feel Partially Responsible

One of the most satisfying moments of season 6 was when Queen Chrysalis bitch-slapped Starlight Glimmer’s offer of redemption. We would’ve accepted it, I guess, but we’ve had… a number of reformed villains. A very large number.

And admittedly, I’ve talked about this a lot (I’m surprised people aren’t sick of me yet), and I’m definitely not the only one, but the reason we’ve had so many redemptions and the reason I won’t shut up about it are one in the same.

This fandom loves us some reformed, tragic characters.

Go back about 5 years, and Luna was worshiped. Well, Woona was. Or the socially awkward, gamer Luna that became a thing after Luna Eclipsed.

And Luna’s far from the only character who got a boost in popularity once they joined the light side. Some of the characters we’ve responded to the most happen to be reformed characters—and you can argue the amount of reformed villains skews whatever that statistic is, but that’s my point.

It might not just be that we have a lot of reformed characters because the show staff likes reforming them, but maybe, at least in part, because we’ve responded so well to the characters who have been reformed. Well, I mean, for the most part.

But this the best of the best. Or, I guess, the best of the worst, you could say.

Important Note: I didn’t do this on purpose, but after starting my list, I remembered our good friends at WatchPony. And lo and behold, one quick search on their channel brought me to their Top 10 Reformed Villains in MLP. Damn my unoriginality!

But I still had enough to say about my choices, so I did my best to limit the overlap between these their list and my list (although there are two choices that are the same number). I thought it’d be best to warn you ahead of time: WatchPony did it first and you should absolutely support them.

In fact, maybe this’ll make it more interesting.

If you want, you can watch their list or read mine, and then watch/read the other. Comparing the order and the reasons behind them could be fun, I hope!

Or not. Just so long as you know I’m at least trying to differentiate and add some value to an idea that’s already been done (and done well).

Honourable Mentions

Wow, that pout

Nightmare Rarity

The Flim-Flam Brothers

Scorpan

Iron Will

Gloriosa Daisy

#10. Gilda

Here’s someone the fandom never thought they’d like! And for that, she gets extra points. It’s one thing to go from a decent baddie to a paragon of goodness, but to go from making Fluttershy cry and anatoginizng Pinkie Pie to decently decent? That’s impressive.

She also was the first to give us a sympathetic look into griffin culture—how they’ve been defined by their greed and scrupulousness because of the depression they’re in. Gilda herself has to work to leave the place, which makes it all the more heart warming to see her instead work to slowly make Griffinstone a friendlier place. Now that’s character progression!

#9. King Sombra (Comics)

Yeah… as with anything in the comics, you can debate if it’s canon all you want, but the golden rule for B-Canon is that it’s canon until proven otherwise, so, heck, I’m counting it!

This one’s especially awesome because you get not one but two of the more poignant redemptions! The Reflections arc Sombra and the main universe Siege of the Crystal Empire Sombra! That first one might seem like a load of bullcocky, but in the eyes of audience members, the first story is one of redemption, because to us his character goes from bad to good (to bad again).

The Good Sombra himself never changed from bad to good, I know, so it’s a technicality, but that’s why it’s low on the list. It’s a heartbreaking arc because we’re so new to this good version of Sombra, but I digress, that’s not the reason Comics! Sombra is on the list.

I actually think you couldn’t have the second Sombra redemption arc without the first—since they imply that there’s a sort of balance that needs to be struck with this parallel universe. Meaning, because the Good Sombra went bad at the end of the Reflections arc, the Sombra in the main universe had to go good to compensate.

So, yeah, it’s all relevant. Not just talking about it because I’m a sucker for that arc.

The actual redemption arc comes in the form of the story that continues from the Sombra Fiendship is Magic issue to the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc. The story overall may be a bit cluttered here and there, but in addition to giving us the scariest looking monsters they could have in a kids comic (with the silliest sounding name to offset it: Umbrum), it presented another genuinely likeable love story to seal the redemptive deal.

Each of Sombra’s better moments are times when he’s in love. Which, in hindsight, seems rather fitting, given that his origins are in the Crystal Empire, the empire of the Princess of Love.

So, here’s to the sweet-hearted Sombra: may his love always surpass his fear.

#8. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon

Double-whammy, you say? Cheating, you say? All of the above!

Technically putting two separate characters in one spot is unfair, but you can’t really talk about Silver Spoon’s redemption without Diamond Tiara’s. And if I were to separate them, Silver Spoon honestly wouldn’t make the list, so I thought it’d be more fun this way.

With that said, Silver Spoon has by far the funniest redemption on this list. She doesn’t go through some life-changing journey, or has any real foundation-shifting epiphany. Just a sassy, satisfying comeback that shows that she’s not just Diamond Tiara’s loyal follower no matter what. Just funny.

And then there’s Diamond Tiara herself. Loads of people have talked about her redemption before by this point, and in particular how it was generally likeable but would’ve been even more believable and interesting had we seen any flickers of doubt or moments of pause with her mom in prior episodes.

But, what can I say? If it’s done well enough, I’m a sucker for a good musical, and not only did the songs and scenes in between sell the emotions behind her turn-around, it honestly made me root for her. She should still make up for her past, but I can’t deny that it was the perfect bookend to that chapter of her and the CMCs’ lives. Way to go, DT. You made me cry (in a good way).

#7. Thorax and the Changelings

Now, okay, I get the reservation. We never saw Thorax himself be particularly evil, but he did grow up in a society that championed the stuff. He was taught certain values by the culture around him, and was even indoctrinated one way or another as a changeling soldier.

So his choice to find actual honest-to-goodness friendship counts as redemption to me. He’s rejecting evil when he can see that his doubts weren’t unfounded, that there should be another way for him, and ultimately, another way for his people.

He and Gabby both realized what they lacked in their culture through seeing Equestrians and their love, but with Thorax, he had to outright renounce the traditions and ideology of his culture. And he was so cute while doing it!

The changelings following suit shows us Thorax was likely far from the only one who ever had hesitation feeding the way they did. When the opportunity came about to survive and be morally upright, it seems like almost all of the changelings took it. Perhaps a fraction followed Chrysalis off-screen, I wouldn’t oppose a ret-con like that, but the point is, the chose to change under the guidance of a truly worthy King.

Hail to thee, King Thorax. Long may you reign!

#6. Sci-Twi/Equestria Girls Twilight

In true Jekyll and Hyde fashion, the pursuit of knowledge is not always the loftiest ideal, proved by this pick: Mightnight Sparkle.

There’s an argument to be made that because Twilight never intended harm to come to anyone until she got sucked into that glowing light, she was never really “evil,” per se. More a victim of circumstance.

But I don’t know. Her device grew more dangerous as time went on, but she didn’t care. And the less she cared (which in this movie meant the less was cared about), the more dangerous it got, until she couldn’t control it.

I mentioned Jekyll and Hyde not because of the Sci-Twi/Midnight comparison, but because the theme of that tragedy was, as the old saying goes, ‘the path to hell is paved with good intentions.’ Dr. Jekyll’s original intention with the potion was to rid himself of all his bad qualities, but as the story goes on, in the pursuit of science, he loses control more and more until the unthinkable. Just watch Ink Potts’ fantastic animatic of Pinkie in that story if you need a refresher. It was a choice to pursue that knowledge further and further, and that’s what doomed both the titular Mr. Hyde and our very own Sci-Twi.

Since losing that control and accepting Sunset Shimmer’s offer of actual love and friendship, the lonely Sci-Twi has gone on to still try to tackle problems on her own, even her P.T.S.D.

It’s why Twilight gets her big ‘Friendship is magic!’ realization at the end of the fourth movie. Isolation and the resulting obsessions are what made Twilight a villain, and it’s the acceptance that those things don’t have to be real anymore that lead her to make the right choices.

But hey, we already knew Twilight was better with her friendships, didn’t we?

#5. Starlight Glimmer

You knew we’d get to her eventually! As someone who likes Starlight and her delightfully questionable morals, I’ve very much enjoyed her character, both as a villain, and as struggling friendship student.

Although, I do get why there’s such a divide. I don’t pretend to know all the reasons, but I think the main reason—even more than ‘she was instantly forgiven at the end of season 5′ (because most of these redemptions weren’t earned until after the fact) or ‘she’s an actual sociopath/seems disingenuous— is that infamous backstory scene.

Even as someone who can forgive it, I understand. The execution made it seem like that small, if hurtful event was what made her into a full blown villain. When it feels like a character’s main motivation is a gross overreaction, it can be hard to relate to them. You start asking questions like ‘Why didn’t you just ___?!’ or ‘Seriously? That’s so irrational!’

Believe it or not, it’s not a fundamentally broken idea, just one that wasn’t executed well. I mean, yeah, there are logical inconsistencies with her backstory—she could’ve reached out to Sunburst. But I can think of another character who let a tiny event shape their entire world, and who subsequently let their emotions blind them to logical solutions to their problems.

Moon Dancer.

Moon Dancer swore off friendship entirely after Twilight didn’t show up at her party. And I think there are a few reasons why that one worked for so many more people than Starlight’s story did.

Yet both Moon Dancer and Starlight had somewhat of a breakdown to express that their decision was primarily based on emotions, not logic. Moon Dancer’s problems would’ve been solved as easily as Starlight’s, too—if she had gotten in contact with Twilight, somehow, they could’ve cleared things up. But why don’t we question that?

The big differences are how recent these events are, and the severity of their reaction.

Time-Order Moon Dancer: this small event was implied to be the last straw for her, after years of not having very many friends aside from Twilight Starlight: this event was the first straw, if you will, but we didn’t get to see the years in between or how things developed over time, gradually— hence, it feels like an instant overreaction, as if she went from 0 to 100

Severity Moon Dancer: Doesn’t want to be hurt again, becomes a complete shut-in, only ends up hurting herself Starlight: Doesn’t want to be hurt again, _________, cutie marks are to blame/mindset develops, is able justify to herself some messed up stuff

So this is where season 6 comes in, and why there’s still such a divide on this one issue (among others, I’m sure).

For a number of people, Starlight’s character lost a lot of believability because all of this seemed like such a huge overreaction. After losing that trust in her, it’s gotta be hard to give her a chance, even if you wanted to stay open-minded.

Whereas people who could overlook that momentarily, understand enough to shrug it off, or just empathize with her might’ve been able to see the things that season 6 helped contextualize.

Like, the season 6 premiere shows us the anxiety she had reuniting with Sunburst, especially since the whole, you know, dictator thing. That anxiety that she’d be rejected again seems to me to be part of the reason she isolated herself for a long time after losing Sunburst to his school.

And the whole Starlight relies on magic arc (especially in Every Little Thing She Does) shows us she doesn’t just have a fear of rejection, but a fear of failure. She copes by relying on something that came naturally to her, and overcomes that fear along with the fear of rejection once again, in the season 6 finale.

Having that outlined in such great detail throughout the season helps me fill in the blanks between the time Starlight was a child and lost her best friend, to the Starlight we met in the beginning of season 5.

I do wish her backstory was executed better to show that even though that one event was the catalyst, it’s in fact Starlight’s own actions that isolated her.

Really, the order seems to go like this after Sunburst leaves:

Starlight: Doesn’t want to be hurt again, becomes too afraid he’ll reject her to reach out to him and isolates herself, relies on her magic to gain approval, is still alone, becomes good at justifying things/blames cutie marks instead of Sunburst or herself, slowly develops an ideology so she won’t be alone anymore, goes too far because she’s really good at justifying things to herself, etc. etc.

That’s why I’ve really enjoyed Starlight’s redemption. Even though some parts of her development really could’ve been executed better, there’s enough there for me to see that she’s a surprisingly interesting and 3-dimensional character.

Plus, I just enjoy her snarky personality (she will always be Snarklight to me). Not gonna lie, that’s just fun.

Over the course of this past season, I grew to like the reformed Starlight more and more because her redemption has certainly been the most interesting. I think we can agree on that, no matter what tone of voice you use to say it: her redemption has been interesting.

#4. The Great and Powerful Trixie

And here we have a truly flawed character, whose short-comings are what make her so irresistibly adorable: The Great and Powerful The Humble and Penitent Trixie!

Right from the start, the self-proclaimed Great and Powerful Trixie constantly boasts that she’s the best around, but because the world around her seems to inevitably prove her wrong, or at the very least roll its eyes, her lack of self-awareness is… well, kinda endearing.

Her ego-driven claims aren’t taken seriously enough to be annoying—everyone seems to just shake their head at her—so that her continual drive to entertain and prove her over-evaluated self-worth is just fun to watch. There’s something adorably pathetic about that.

Which is why I think there’s a little bit of a lovable loser vibe to Trixie. Just a bit. Something about how she lives in her wagon, trips running away at the end of Magic Duel, or continually finds herself second to Twilight—I don’t know. I think there’s something about the fact that she’s so self-absorbed and not really aware of it that seems immature, but in a cute way. Kinda like a pouty, spoiled child, without ever crossing into irritating brat territory.

Not to say she’s too immature or incapable of growth. In fact, that’s when she gets even cuter! The line “Let’s be great and powerful together” is so ridiculously cute that I still don’t know what to do with myself. Even more than Twilight’s reluctant, but still warm accepting of Trixie’s apology (I always love how Twilight legitimately looks like she wants to tell Trixie no for a second), this was her big moment of character growth: realizing how much Starlight meant to her.

She gone from a pitiable character who seemed like they were too narcissistic to ever change, to someone who would go to the ends of Equestria and back to support a friend. Now that’s a redemption!

#3. Discord

Speaking of, ‘beyond hope.’ Here’s a villain no one particularly expected to turn good. This was before most of these baddies got a second chance, too, so a redemption for a villain this beloved was a pretty big deal.

Especially because Discord was such a delightfully evil villain. He had so much fun with it and appreciated his own chaos so deeply that it was hard not to love to hate the guy. Or just love to love him!

So, like a lot of the contenders on this list, Discord’s redemption felt a bit rushed. The dude was so into causing disharmony and so infinitely powerful that he can snap most any problem away, not to mention being thousands of years old—seems like you could expand on his redemption for a whole season, if this were a serial show.

But all the things that made the initial moment of redemption feel rushed later were addressed in Discord’s backslide into being evil, which where his redemption really shows it’s value.

That whispered line delivery when Discord realizes he actually trusted Tirek to be his friend is so wonderful. And that moment (and his whole story in that two-parter) compliments another from the Luna and Discord Friends Forever comic. I bring this up too much, I think, but only because it’s one of the greatest moments of character development and commentary the comics have to offer, in my mind:

Discord feeling as though it’s inevitable that he’ll hurt the ones he cares about is a bit heart-wrenching. Until, of course, you realize Luna’s right: there’s more to what happened with Triek than just a backslide.

It’s a bit ironic. Here Discord’s afraid that there’s no stopping himself from eventually returning to his evil ways, but in fact, we saw that once he started caring about Fluttershy and the rest, he inevitably looked for friendship. Even if it was in the wrong place at the time.

Discord’s learning to let himself care about ponies. He can never fully change his chaotic, trouble-making nature, but he’s so extremely new to relationships. It really is like teaching a sociopath how to love, except less grim, because Discord is actually capable of learning. Slowly, and with baby-steps.

And learn he does. By the time we get to the season six finale, he will tear apart the fabric of reality (or in this case, go on an adventure where he can’t use magic) to make sure Fluttershy’s safe.

Reformed Discord has been a round longer than the evil Discord was in terms of screen-time, but his has always been an arc centered on trust. Fluttershy trusting him when he didn’t deserve it. Twilight and the girls constantly being skeptical, and Discord constantly giving them reasons to be skeptical. Even Discord struggling to trust himself, if this comic is to be believed.

But in fact, the point has never been to change Discord completely. After all, we as an audience fell in love with his mischievous nature, and delight whenever we get to see it pop up in fun ways. So, while he hasn’t changed in terms of his chaos, we can trust that he’s changed where it counts.

#2. Sunset Shimmer

Oh, pardon me. My bias is showing. I really love Sunset. For some reason, over the past year I became especially attached to her and now she tops my favourites list. It’s a problem (for my poor followers).

But, lucky for me, the fandom as a whole loves Sunset, too, so I can at least say there’s actual reasons to praise her redemption arc, instead of just shoving who I like at the top.

In the interest of keeping my bias to a minimum here, we’ll start by admitting that in the first Equestria Girls movie, Sunset was a really flat character. Pretty stereotypical, outside of an intriguing backstory that was unfortunately relegated to just brief exposition at the time.

Her turn-around seemed quite sudden, and everyone around her was pretty willing to forgive her, it seemed. So, not many people were huge Sunset fans after the first one, but it’s downright shocking how well the writers developed a stereotype of a villain in hindsight!

What I love most about Sunset’s arc is how it builds and builds. Each movie builds off the last, to the point that it feels like there’s a natural flow to her development.

Like, Rainbow Rocks is all about her guilt and the continuing distance between her and her new friends (and the school at large, of course). You can tell she’s really been humbled, which is both endearing and a great story-beat towards the end, where she finally realizes she has to speak up even though she’s not experienced in friendship.

Then there’s Friendship Games, where Sunset’s noticeably closer to the girls and is even the one they look to for advice. Now that’s she’s grown closer to them, though, she’s more protective, and we get to see that her anger problems didn’t just vanish when she was reformed. She’s also instrumental in giving Sci-Twi another chance because of how she’s grown since she was given her second chance.

And in Legend of Everfree, she not only takes on the mentor role, but demonstrates that she learned not to let her protectiveness blind her to people’s feelings. Plus, she’s just a bit goofier, and I think that just goes to show that she’s happier and more secure in her friendships. A healthier person overall.

Sunset’s not perfect even though she’s continually driven to improve herself, and I think more than anything, that’s what makes her such a fan-favourite. Her on-going struggles to be better.

#1. Princess Luna

Well, I think we all saw this one coming, but what can I say? She’s earned it.

The story of Nightmare Moon is like a classical tragedy, in a number of ways. The story of a hero whose hubris leads them to their own, often ironic, downfall. In Luna��s case, a deep, unrelenting loneliness spawned a jealousy and pride that would lead her to becoming Nightmare Moon—which isolated her on the moon for a 1000 years.

From that simple, yet powerful starting point, we start our series and our first ever redemption. It really did set the tone for the reformations to come, didn’t it? At the time, it was easy to accept that rainbow lasers had the power to instantly make a character good and that everyone around said character could forgive them on the spot.

Nightmare Moon and Luna were different entities, but it still didn’t change the fact that it was her fault.

But, like a lot of the redemptions to follow, Luna truly earned that forgiveness later.

By teaching and supporting others through her dream-walking, by adjusting to a time-period 1000 years ahead of the one she came from and learning to have fun with her subjects, and by letting go of her guilt and pain before it caused her to make the same mistake again, with the Tantabus.

By the very nature of being the less beloved, depressed, nocturnal sibling, she was bound to get some love (everyone loves an underdog, right?), but Princess Luna’s growth set the standard for what can be done with a redemption arc. And after all the stories we’ve gotten since, I for one am glad she got a second chance.

Want some MLP editorials? I’ve got the full list over here, and links to the most recent three right here for you:

IDW Comics, Top 10 Cutest Families, and Derpy Editorial

Year of the Pony

Header Image Only Possible Because of…

Nightmare Moon’s Castle by Drakizora Starlight Glimmer by DerAtrox Trixie by Reginault Gilda by AwesomeLuna Sunset by 8-Notes Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon by DashieSparkle Thorax by DashieSparkle Discord by DashieSparkle Princess Luna by DashieSparkle

A whole flock of talented vector artists! Go love them all, they all deserve it! And another special shout out to WatchPony and their awesome videos. They’re the real kings and queens of top 10s for MLP!

I Wanna Get Better

43 notes · View notes

mi6012alexanderprice · 6 years

Text

Rough Treatment 1 - 'Slowing Down'

INTRO

In an exaggeration of the modern world, a woman with too much on her hands has an unexpected encounter with someone that seems to be completely relaxed, with hardly a care in the world. The platonic development that grows between the two leads to greater introspection and self-realisation than she ever expected - or wanted.

CONCEPT

‘Slowing Down’ was created out of the idea that, with a seemingly unstoppable storm of various socio-political issues raging and swirling over the youth of today, modern life is pretty chaotic for a lot of people. My original intention was to subtly frame my film around one of these issues (disguising it as something nonspecific), but I realised it would be far too blunt and ‘macro’ for a short film of this nature, so I adjusted the perspective to something more personal and ‘micro’.

In spite of this, the real focus is still on the relationship between the two characters, how it grows, and how it changes them. The pacing and mood will change as the characters do, both visually and sonically. There will be an emotional climax point (not the end) where the protagonist realises she cannot live like this, and her companion is right. The protagonist has a very overdesigned, extravagant outfit, an outward reflection of her insecurity and fear. An example of her physical change would be her outfit simplifying at the end to represent a change in her mindset.

The environments are also designed to represent a disparity between their attitudes. When outside together, a soft, generally appealing colour scheme is employed, and they are generally seen in an open, comfortable space. When in private, the protagonist’s home is portrayed to be just as dishevelled as she is, conveyed through design, colour, and cinematography.

TECHNICAL

Primary characters will be modelled, rigged, and animated in Autodesk Maya (all 3D). They will have hand painted textures, created in Adobe Photoshop.

Where applicable, 2D backgrounds will be painted in Adobe Photoshop.

In instances where they are required, some 3D background assets will be created in the same ‘3D with hand painted textures’ pipeline as the primary characters.

Secondary characters could be made one of two ways: whichever is more appropriate: either simplified 3D models (rigged & animated in Maya) with minimalist, flat textures, or low detail, hand animated characters (software currently undetermined).

All compositing will be done in Adobe After Effects, since there is no frame tracking that I’d need alternative software (e.g. NukeX) for.

Audio mixing will be in Adobe Audition, and music production will be created in a currently unspecified DAW. (This is admittedly expecting more than what I’m capable of. I am no musician. I only have experience composing music with a chiptune sequencer. However, I don’t think I’d be satisfied looking for royalty free ‘close enough’ music.)

AUDIO

I have different aural themes and genres conceptualised for each character, but bear in mind neither of these are final. [Protagonist]’s aural theme is upbeat, but slightly overpowering music, vaguely equivalent to the more pulse-pounding work of Max Coveri or Hideki Naganuma (or even some coarse FM synth), but slightly softer in tempo and instruments (to maintain sonic consistency and not be too jarring). To summarise, think ‘simplified instrumental Eurobeat’.

[Deuteragonist]’s is something of the opposite. Her music theme is slow and soothing. Existing examples would be the more chill work of Jeremy Soule or Yasunori Mitsuda.

Some scenes may feature even more heavily exaggerated interpretations of the aforementioned general themes, when the film reaches appropriate emotional highs/lows.

RESOURCES

These are all rough estimates based on my skill level and prior experience creating animation-ready characters.

The two primary characters should have their creation pipeline (model - texture - rig) within two weeks, from there they should be ready to animate.

Hand drawn background production time depends on how many shots and scenes there are (I have no storyboard or animatic as of writing, so I can’t accurately determine this yet). However, each individual, full background should take no more than a few hours to illustrate. To offset the amount of backgrounds needed, I intend to illustrate certain assets individually so they may be reused across multiple backgrounds, where appropriate.

Depending on the run time, I suspect the animation process will be lengthy, presumably a couple of months at least. I can’t accurately estimate this until I have an animatic complete.

Compositing should be straightforward, that should take no longer than a week, given the complexity of what needs to be composited.

SUMMARY

My goal in conceptualising and producing this film was to hopefully meet the general audience on their level emotionally. It stands to reason that a lot of people could relate to the protagonist and their apparently futile struggle to stay on top of everything going on in life, as well as teaching/reminding people that they should be open about how they feel (without being pandering or preachy).

0 notes

writtengiru · 6 years

Text

How I Learned to Storyboard in 2 Weeks

Disclaimer: I'm in no way a professional. This is based on my own personal experiences. Storyboarding is used in the context of animation, not live action, even though both may overlap.Step 1: Find Motivation

To learn anything in life, you must have motivation. Simple right?

Nope. It seems so obvious, yet I've seen many people in my life, including myself, fail to do this. Professionals, hobbyists, students, my own teachers, parents...no one is excluded from failing to find real motivation. Why? It's hard. It requires deep self-reflection and brutal honesty. Depending on what you're finding motivation for, may it be a hobby or the purpose of your life, it may take several hours to several years to find meaning behind what you do.

[caption id="attachment_45" align="aligncenter" width="282"]

finding your life purpose is hard[/caption]

There's a reason why people don't stick with diets, get that good grade in Calculus, or achieve any (lofty) goals really. People set goals that they think they want to achieve, but in reality, they don't really want to. They don't actually want to become skinnier--they just want more confidence. They don't want that good grade--they just want to succeed in life. Thus, people eat comfort food and do other things that they deem would help them in life, like spending too much time on a blog.

So how does anyone achieve anything if their goals were never really their goals in the first place? I believe that the most successful people frame their motivations around their goal to begin with (or is it the other way around? Either way, the end results are the same). To continue the analogy, that would mean dieting for your health, something that would last you for life, not something superficial and temporal. That would mean learning Calculus to understand and enjoy the reasoning process of mathematics, not the end result of grades. Finding deeper meaning behind what you do will always make you feel fulfilled in whatever you do and go beyond the protocol.

So the question is, do I really want to learn to storyboard?

I believe in the power of storytelling. Throughout my life, I've been touched by the cinematics at a deep level. Truth be told, I cried during My Little Pony: The Movie that came out this year, and I feel chills whenever I see beautiful art. My parents were always at work, I'm the middle child, and films--especially the animated ones--made my childhood less bleak and more vibrant. Long story short, I've been making comics of my own to copy the magic in my childhood for the past two years. Now, I create to make memes for money have my own voice be heard since I'm not a very vocal person outside the internet. I've worked obsessively to create a style and aesthetic for my comics (I'm a sucker for pretty art), but I feel that they're empty husks if my storytelling isn't very hot.

[caption id="attachment_48" align="alignnone" width="1007"]

A Pixar storyboard for Brave, the movie[/caption]

After these two weeks, I want to be able to make animatics. My dream job is to be an independent webcomist or a storyboard artist of a TV series or feature film. I like having the power to control a story and how it's told rather than simply executing it, and hence why I want to be in preproduction. Right now, I'm in the process of applying to art schools for 2D animation. This took me some years to reconcile with myself that I love art and that I have a passion for cartoons. Through being honest with myself and clearing away other's opinions about my future, I came to this conclusion. I will never give up on art.

Even if I won't make it into an art school or even make it into the industry, I still plan on creating throughout my life no matter what. Storyboarding is unquestionably something I want to learn.

[caption id="attachment_49" align="aligncenter" width="249"]

A comic strip from my webcomic, Toothpaste and People[/caption]

Now, if I weren't this motivated, can I still learn to storyboard? Yes, but it will be a struggle. Can I learn how to make delicious barbeque? Yes, but it will be a struggle because I'm pescatarian.

As Ulrich Boser once said in Learn Better," Meaning is learning."

Step 2: Know What You Know

Alright, I'm ready to become a storyboarding master! Where do I start?

First, I wrote everything that I think I know for storyboarding:

Conversely, I wrote everything that I think I didn't know:

The first approach was inspired by a piece of advice given by Ulrich Boser. In Learn Better, Boser states: "according to experts like Robert Marzano, the benefits of this approach is that it helps people focus on linkages rather than isolated facts. By writing down what we know, we're preparing our minds to make more connections within the body of expertise, creating a more systematized form of thinking--and understanding."

In hindsight, this list was pretty ineffective because I listed things too broadly like "I don't know how to storyboard." It still provided a good starting point for learning how to storyboard, however.

From there, I was able to conclude that my drawing skills are decent enough for me or anyone to know what's happening in shots. I can stop searching up tutorials on anatomy, perspective, backgrounds, and basically all the mechanics of drawing. I can now start on searching up on tutorials about gesturing, expressions, composition, and most importantly, how to storyboard. By doing this, I cut time learning things I already know (sort of) and start learning at a level where I need to be to reach my goal in these two short weeks.

[caption id="attachment_51" align="aligncenter" width="608"]

Some life drawings I did. I think I can draw people well enough that others can identify that they are human, their limbs, and their heads.[/caption]

Here are some of the tutorials I used to learn art when I first started out (there are much more but I don't remember them all right now...):

Color Schemes

Andrew Loomis Books

a lot of deviantART tutorials

Here are the tutorials I used for these two weeks for storyboarding:

Storyboard Secrets

How to Draw for Storyboarding

How to Storyboard an Animation by Howard Wimhurst

The 7 Hidden Patterns of Successful Storyboards

Notice the difference between the two. The former focuses on the fundamentals while the latter focuses on using those fundamentals. Once again, as Ulrich Boser said, writing down what we know would "make more connections within the body of expertise, creating a more systematized form of thinking--and understanding." In my case, it would be using my preexisting knowledge on form and light to apply it and specify it for a shot in storyboarding.

The same would apply to starting artists as well. Do you know how to draw a square? Great, now turn it into a box! Do you know how to draw a box? Great, now turn it into a head! And so on...

Step 3: Eliminate Obstacles

To make this blunt: this is the step where you know you screwed up step 1 (finding motivation).

Don't get me wrong: it's okay to make mistakes. Finding obstacles as you learn is natural and means that you're truly pushing yourself, but to get past them and continue to move forward requires motivation.

[caption id="attachment_52" align="aligncenter" width="593"]

art by my sort-of-art buddy, who's super skilled, The Kao[/caption]

Here are some things that I found I needed to conquer (and how I conquered them...somewhat) before putting my pencil on paper, in no particular order:

Self-doubt

Am I good enough? Will I ever be good enough? Will anyone ever listen to my stories? What if my stories suck? What if people don't like it?

Well, I'll never know if I never try. Besides, creating should be something to be self-fulfilling, not to satisfy others.

[caption id="attachment_53" align="aligncenter" width="500"]

Impostor syndrome is common among artists. Don't let it get to you and just fake it till you make it.[/caption]

Time Management

I'm taking 5 AP classes and only get 6 hours of sleep. From the time I get home from school (4:30) to the time I go to sleep (12:00), how much time do I actually spend on homework/ other club activities? The better question would be: how much time do I spend on Twitter and Discord?

Mmmmm yeah, I thought so. Sayanora, internet. I found the best way to not lollygag around is to set timers. Spend one hour on work, another 10 minutes on leisure (or whatever amount you feel is just enough to satisfy you). I usually opt out for the do-all-your-work-in-one-sitting then spend-the-whole-night-on-leisure, which is surprisingly fine for me. That is until I find tiring work, then I switch to the former schedule. It really depends on my mood and what I'm dealing with.

[caption id="attachment_54" align="aligncenter" width="372"]

Studying and doing art at the same time is hard and cuts my sleep (not if I managed my time well though).[/caption]

I wish I figured this out earlier because sometimes I would spend hours on leisure first before really diving into my (usually last minute) homework. At the end of the day, I have no time to learn more about storyboarding (or do my comics...), and I feel like a failure as an artist. I'm getting better though through tagging my emotions.

According to Boser, "people have far more resilience if they identify their feelings...After people tag a certain feeling, they can begin to think that feeling through."

For example, when I'm on social media, I'm usually tired and need to start on homework.

Great, so I'm tired. I should probably get ready for bed or do some homework to wake me up (yes, that is a thing for me).

Then I proceed to do either of those options. For the former, I wake up super early to do my homework, so all is good. I also use "if-then" plans, another idea by Boser.

I love his example. He states "so instead of thinking, Maybe I'll study later, people should think, If I study now, then I can go out later...clear rules make it simpler for people to manage their emotions because there' less emotion to manage. Instead of feeling or even thinking, people are relying on a type of habit, and that takes less emotional energy...the goal is 'taking the effort out of effortful control.'"

When I first read this, I thought this was so obvious--who wouldn't think this way? Turns out, a lot of people don't...and so do I. This advice was a game changer for me. Call me silly or stupid, but this method snaps me out of my trance, as in my procrastination mode when I don't want to do anything but lay down and do nothing. Time managing is significantly easier to do with this technique.

Pushing Limits

Remember how I said that I'm a sucker for pretty art? In storyboarding, there's less emphasis on art but rather on clarity. I know that I don't need to learn how to anatomically accurately draw EVERYTHING and how clothing flows. I just need to know enough to get my point across; however, I made"Twitter studies" (looking at other people's art on Twitter and trying to copy and incorporate their pretty aspects into my own art)

[caption id="attachment_32" align="alignnone" width="2502"]

I wasted my time on "Twitter Studies."[/caption]

default

...from my insecurity from my own style--or is it because I find comfort in doing things I already know?

I've been too comfortable with creating cute anime girls. The only thing I'm doing is repeating my past actions, things that I'm already decent at, and not contributing to my future pursuit of storyboarding.

To overcome this obstacle, I look at other artists who I think are amazing storytellers like Z-Toon and Leonology to remind myself why I'm learning to storyboard.

I've never had a "Twitter study" since except to brush up my skills of course (I also highly recommend this "Twitter study" method to aspiring beginner artists-- that's basically how I got my art to where it is today. Tracing is good as long as you don't try to pass it off as your own or sell it...more on that perhaps in a future post).

Please keep in mind that it is normal to run into obstacles every so often. Trust me, once you're done with them, they will always come back. In a sense, this is not a step to be done once it's done; learning is a continuous cycle. This step will never be finished, but it is crucial to continue on anyways. Those who continue on will develop their skills more, and that's how you can tell who are the most motivated and who are not.

Step 4: Learn Smarter, not Harder

Now with the motivation, the materials on hand, and the distractions (somewhat) minimized, we can finally start learning!

To ensure that I got the most learning from the short time I had, I always tried to learn something new each time I watched or read a tutorial. Once I felt comfortable with an idea, I would move onto the next. Like I said previously, staying on one topic for too long is not only stagnating but detrimental as well because then you cut off other things you need to learn. Especially if you're stuck on one topic because you have a problem with it, staying with it is just plain stupid.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen artists draw the same thing every day: three-quarters view of the same face each day. And they expect to magically be able to draw bodies? Either that or they whine about how they can't draw some body part.

As a proverb from unknown source states,"insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

[caption id="attachment_46" align="aligncenter" width="500"]

Work hard and learn from life, but don't keep drawing the same things![/caption]

My plan was to go through each tutorial from beginning to finish. As a self-taught artist, I do not have the luxury of having a mentor pointing me to the right places, and sadly I found tutorials that were for the more advanced to the more artistically challenged, ones not quite in my skill range. I eventually found one that I understood and had a grasp on but only after an hour of Googling.

Don't get me wrong: tutorials online are great (and they're free)! It's just the matter of finding a good one. Even though they are good and show examples of good storyboarding, I realized that what I was doing, simply reading the text and looking at the pictures, was passive learning. I believe that in order to learn a skill deeply, one should learn it actively. As you can see, I tried to recreate storyboarding sequences from this tutorial but with my own story in mind. In this way, I wasn't simply copying the source but using the information from the source to create my own scenes.

Most importantly, it's good to cut up study sessions because, yes, I did get tired after 3 hours of drawing. By cutting it up into pieces too, the material becomes less overwhelming and your brain retains the information better. Also, it's short and sweet--you'll actually have fun learning. If you think about it, would you rather have a 5 hour study session with 3 hours of you being tired and not retaining that much information? Or would you have 5 different study sessions 1 hour each and get a kick and a lot of information out of each session?

Step 5: Reflect, Rinse, and Repeat

If you noticed from the drawings above, they're not very clear are they? Yeah, it turned out that I know how to draw people...in 5 minutes, not the quick 30 seconds that storyboards demand. I went back to finally establish a quick figure to do more work for the rest of my storyboards.

Then I would go back to storyboarding, find more faults in my art, and then go back to storyboarding. It's a cycle and one where I am still trying to work a style to storyboard quickly and with more expression.

So yeah, don't be afraid to call yourself out on missing out the essentials you thought you had. According to Boser,"to develop a skill, people need to be fluent in the essentials." Not admitting your mistakes or not touching up on the fundamentals will really impede your learning and development as an artist.

Yes, I know that making and recognizing mistakes is painful, but it's all a part of growth. "Mistakes make us rethink who we are, they're a threat to our being" as Boser once said; however, "metacognition [is] just as important as raw intelligence." Even if you don't have "talent" (which I believe is nonexistent by the way), you can still learn to be amazing as "talented" artists if you target your mistakes and learn from them.

I've seen instances where artists critique each other and one party would get totally defensive. There are such things as unconstructive criticism, but sometimes there are constructive ones and people should listen to them without being so offended by it (once again, might make another post about this separately in the future). Through allowing oneself to maker errors and recognize them, then one can learn to fix them and become a better artist and person.

Sadly, I did not reach my original goal of creating animatics. I guess you could say that I was learning the fundamentals of storyboarding before I would storyboard. As previously stated, it's essential to be fluent in fundamentals before diving into anything anyways.

Luckily, learning how to storyboard is like how I learned how to draw in the first place (and basically everything I've learned in life thus far). I imagine that once I get to making animatics, this step would include people critiquing my work (as per usual in art and life) and see problem areas where I need to fix. From there, I would continue to make works and get feedback. It's a continual loop of learning. I'm still expanding on my drawing abilities today as well. Hopefully, I can update you guys on my progress during this winter break.

Till next time!

0 notes

pa0231bethanmalcolm-joyce · 7 years

Text

Evaluation

The process of creating my final animatic and idea proposal has consisted of a portfolio of short stories and exercises, a series of refinements and even eliminations of ideas entirely. The idea behind my animatic was realised quite late on in to the project, as the previous idea I had was far too complex to fit into five minutes and therefore I had to create a much shorter story that could easy get its idea across in the given time and hopefully be understood by the audience.

The idea came from the flash cards exercise, in which we were given three different cards each with random objects on. From this we then had to create an idea from each object and then a story that contained all three. I felt like the zip idea was most successful as it took inspiration from real life from my own experience, so I could inject more personality into it and it also felt like the most inspired idea of the four. The story is aimed at a children’s audience and follows a day in the life of a little girl who gets stuck in her coat because she cannot unzip it. The original concept seemed basic in its approach, but upon getting feedback from my peers I then decided to add the independence element and idea of the little girl trying to be ‘grown-up’ and do things without her mother, but then realises that she is not as independent as she thinks as she then has to ask help from her peers and teacher and eventually her mum. We are shown in the animatic the little girl having her coat zipped up by her mother, and it is indicated that this happens every day and has done for years before she goes to school. However, on a day when her mother is speaking on the phone and seems to not have time to assist her, she decides to take matters into her own hands and attempts to zip up the coat herself which she does successfully. When she arrives at school as normal, she discovers that the zip is stuck and she cannot undo it, and neither can her teacher, so we see the little girl go from feeling very proud and independent to feeling quite panicked as she is essentially stuck in the coat. As she is stuck she has to go throughout her day wearing the coat, and we see her imagine a series of exaggerated scenarios at her desk, as the girl is supposed to quite young the situations are a bit ridiculous but they exist mostly for comedic effect and are told from a child’s perspective. The story concludes upon the little girl returning home, apparently very stressed out as the problem seems to have been exaggerated in her head, she finally asked her mother for help, who is also unable to unzip the coat. Finally, the mother simply pulls the coat over the little girl’s head, suggesting that the situation was easily solved in the end and that sometimes being independent is not always the right answer, she still relies on her mother but it is also a lesson for the little girl in that problems are not always as bad as they seem.

I think that my final idea was largely more successful than my previous ideas because it followed the three act structure by Syd Field more closely, as my initial idea didn’t actually have an ending and it was difficult to work out the ending. When coming up with the idea for the zip I had to consciously remind myself to split the story into the three sections, making sure each part worked. I feel like the ending is possibly quite weak however, as although the problem is resolved and the girl manages to escape from her coat by the help of her mother, the story wraps up quite quickly but arguably it is a simple solution to a simple story which was the idea. During the second act in the animatic, the little girl attempts to solve the issue by constantly forcing the zip herself in an attempt to undo it but continuously fails, suggesting that her initial attempts to resolve the issue have been unsuccessful, she is only abel to do this later on with the help of others. This is stated in the three act structure as protagonists often go through an initial but failed attempt at solving the issue, as they have yet to gain the skills or understanding of the situation, but ultimately they are a better person in the end. Initially when coming up with this idea, the little girl was going to be stuck in her coat and somehow find a way out of it, however it was only later that I added in the sentimental value of the relationship between the mother and daughter as well as the lesson learned of asking people for help. This was due to referencing the three act structure again, as upon reading through it I realised my protagonist was not really experiencing any sort of journey and the idea of being stuck in her coat was too simple on its own. I am unsure if the protagonist in the story has a higher awareness of who she is from going through that experience, but I think the animatic does suggest she took the monotonous routine of her mother zipping up her coat somewhat for granted, and perhaps this is where the moral lies.

I found the experience of creating the story and filling in the blanks quite stressful and tedious at times, as initially I could not think of a way the little girl would solve her problem. I also struggled with believability within the story, as I was unsure if an audience would think the idea too ridiculous, but ultimately the story is told from the eyes of a child and children do have much more heightened imaginations than adults and are sometimes unable to see reason. Turning the idea from notes into an animatic was also difficult as I was constantly trying to portray what was happening as clearly as possible, at the risk of over simplifying it.

Looking at the project as a whole, I am pleased with the way my animatic looks in areas, but I am less pleased with the idea behind the animatic as it is a genre I am not used to writing in so I am not confident in what works and what does not. The idea was perhaps not as interesting or entertaining when translated into the animatic, although it seemed to work in theory, I feel like maybe some shots are quite dull and repetitive for example when the protagonist walks to school. The scene in which the protagonist imagines different scenarios of her life wearing the coat also did not come across as successfully as I had hoped, as it was supposed to be a slideshow of different situations for comedic effect, but I think in reality it might be a bit slow to watch for the audience. There are also some parts of the animatic that are not completely clear, for example in the beginning when the little girl is having her coat zipped up by her mum each day, which is signified by the weather changing and the plant dying, is quite subtle and could easily be missed by the audience. This is then followed by her going to school and an almost identical scene of the little girl before school however this time her mother is on the phone and unable to assist her, so it may be unclear for the audience to what is actually happening as the scenes are so alike in appearance. I feel as though the story may suffer from ‘deus ex machina’ in which the problem is solved too quickly in the end, as the third act is quite abrupt if you look at the animatic as a whole. I was unsure how to avoid this when writing the story, as I was conscious of the story becoming too convoluted like my previous ideas and I really wanted to keep it as simple as possible so that it could be understood within the time constraints of the animatic.

Now that I have completed the work required for the module, I can say that there is definitely a lot of elements I would have approached differently if I could revisit it. For example, I would have given myself more time to refine my final idea, as although I feel it works better than my previous ideas, it is still quite rough and I am sure there are aspects of it that could be tweaked to make it even more effective. I think I realised this more when actually creating the artwork for the animatic, so perhaps this is a fault in my preparation and I should have planned out how I was going to approach it more effectively. I would have loved to have made it more appealing to the audience, perhaps injected more life into the characters and worked on the comedic effect of the film, even though there are elements of comedy within it, it is quite subtle and arguably to subtle for a children’s audience. There were some issues with the artwork being stretched when brought over to After Effects which meant the final animatic appeared slightly distorted, however I didn’t realise this until it was too late so in hindsight I should have checked this sooner. I think this module has taught me a lot about why an idea works and why it does not, before when planning out story ideas I never really considered a three act structure, and used to find organisation of ideas quite difficult, as my ideas always seemed really fragmented which I think you can see throughout my blog that my ideas go from being ridiculously convoluted to demonstrating at least some level of coherency. I will definitely take away these organisational skills, as well as the exercises that we undertook during the module, for example the flashcards exercise which is a really good device used to generate completely random ideas. I think I would definitely revisit this technique again as it really helps you to not revisit the same idea over and over again, and inspires you to experiment with genres and styles of writing you may have not tried before. I don’t think I would have thought to try a comedy style story directed for a younger audience before this module, and although there are areas I’m not entirely happy with I am somewhat content with the piece of work as a whole as it is an example of myself trying something that I am not totally confident with. There have definitely been aspects of this module that I have perhaps not approached in the best way, but I think the outcome has been successful in that I have undergone a research and elimination process to create an idea that does work in a very loose sense, and that I have responded to criticism and altered my ideas accordingly, so even if the finished product is not entirely polished and still a work in progress, the process of my idea development is evident, and my approach to idea generation has changed almost entirely.

0 notes

pa0231leonedwards · 7 years

Text

Proposal.

My film is the classic story of boy meets girl. If that girl were a serial murderer and that boy was completely unaware of that. We begin, as every short lived romance does, in a bar. Our main man Julian is standing at the bar minding his own business when all of a sudden in she comes, Mia, the girl Julian desperately wants to spend at least the next 2 weeks or so with. Julian decides to make a move and she seems interested. Go get her tiger. So they leave together and while they're walking Julian decides to take a look at his social media accounts because he needs to keep up the appearance that his life is way more interesting than it actually is. Unfortunately for him this means he misses some vital signs that his new companion may be more than she seems. A wanted poster featuring someone who looks awfully like Mia, The screens in a TV store broadcasting a news report of a suspected female killer who has left at least 14 people dead. It's amazing how important a short walk can be, everybody needs fresh air and life saving information.

2 days pass. Julian is assessing a blank space on his apartment wall. Mia has found a hammer that she thinks would look really good embedded in Julian's skull. So she sneaks up behind him and swings down the hammer. At around this time Julian turns around and see's Mia seemingly giving him a hammer, Which just so happens to be what he's looking for, What luck! Julian takes them hammer and uses it to hang the professionally taken picture of himself he had commissioned a few months back. Now his home is truly something to behold. Mia however doesn’t seem too impressed, She needs more time to plan her next move.

A week passes. Mia has observed Julian's behaviour and has a new plan. She goes to the kitchen and finds Julians half filled beverage. She's going to refill it for him, She gets the bleach and her special salt shaker filled with poison (strychnine to be specific) and makes him a 'special' drink. Excitedly Julian returns and grabs his drink. He turns around and trips over his own laces, smashing the glass and spilling the mixture everywhere. Another failed attempt from Mia.

A further 4 days go by. This time Mia is determined, why bother with subtlety anyway? Julian is busy testing out some new headphones, Mia approaches him from behind and lines up her gun with the back of his head. She's getting excited, this can't possibly go wrong. Just as she pulls the trigger Julian reaches for his coffee and Mia misses. Julian somehow hasn’t noticed, how loud are those things anyway? No big deal, she'll just shoot again. So she lines up her shot again and pulls the trigger... Nothing. She pulls again and again, still nothing. No bullets. Irritated Mia throws the gun through a window.

The next day. Mia isn't around but Julian isn't too worried, He's got Facebook to keep him company and he's making himself a delicious meal for one. While responding to a particularly amusing status on his phone he reaches for what feels like salt, applies it heavily to his food and places it back on the shelf. We however can see it is actually Mia's poison from earlier. Julian does not notice and sits down to eat. Some time passes and we see only Julian's cod motionless body sprawled across his couch. Rest in peace.

My idea was subject to a few changes over the course of the module. Originally my idea was darker and more serious which I decided I would struggle to actually write. In the beginning it was about a girl who is attacked by and proceeds to fall in love with a serial killer and she goes to extreme effort to track him down only to be killed upon their meeting. I think the most obvious flaw in that idea is its portrayal of a woman as the victim who is silly enough survive an encounter with and then actively try to date a serial killer. Somehow this didn’t cross my mind until it was brought to my attention in a group presentation so I decided to rethink things. It was suggested that I swap the genders of my killer and my victim around. I like this idea because it lines up with the popularity of the 'Harley Quinn' bad girl type characters. From there on the killers character didn’t change much, her goal was simple. The victim however changed quite a lot. Initially I was thinking about making him so pathetic and so desperate that an attempt on his life could be interpreted as a sign of affection in his eyes. But as a person with no experience with stockholm syndrome or abusive relationships I didn’t really know how to justify the character behaving like this. Due to this I opted to make him completely oblivious to all the violent tendencies displayed in his presence and for some reason I thought this idea was quite funny. I sort of turned him into this character that could not be put down in his own way, somehow avoiding every attempt on his life completely by accident. This decision changed the attitude I approached this project with, I feel really it lightened up my idea and made it far more fun to create ideas for because I like the fun I can have with a dark comedy.

I also shortened the original idea, The first draft spent lots of time having the main character track down the killer which again, I wouldn’t know how to make interesting or how to write it, I've never had to track anyone down before and nor do I wish to. So instead of having some convoluted multi layered plot to predict where the killer could be found I made my characters meet at the very start. This worked well in the new idea I had because it allowed me to get straight to the interesting parts of my film. I feel like this heightened the pace and helped keep my idea at least somewhat entertaining.

When I was coming up with my ideas I wanted people to be on Mia's side. I wanted viewers to want Julian to die. I think I have failed in this. I didn’t make his actions outrageous enough for him to be viewed negatively, he doesn’t really do anything wrong. We know he's vain enough to hang a picture of his face on his apartment wall but other than that he just seems like a regular guy. Maybe a little too distracted by his phone and a little too dense to notice he's dating a murderer but other than that he's not a bad guy, He's just kind of a dope. I feel I should have really exaggerated some of his behaviors to a fault. On the other hand Mia doesn’t come across as likeable enough for people to side with her. She's kind of just a one note character all she does is try to kill him and get frustrated when she fails. I really should have gave her a motive to try and get people to want her to win or at least made her funnier to watch so people would enjoy her acts of evil more than whatever Julian gets up to. Ideally I would have liked my characters to have more of a dynamic, Julian should have been easier to hate and Mia should have been funnier to watch.

I feel I also should have spent longer on my characters from a design perspective. More specifically Julians design because there are slight differences between the initial designs and the way I drew him in the animatic. Even within the animatic I couldn't seem to keep him as consistent as I was keeping Mia. Maybe he needed some more visual quirks or just something to make him more recognizable. There are the proportions of my characters too, they keep changing which makes it a little confusing when it comes to the height or weight of my characters. I also believe I should have settled on a visual style more unique in its appearance, just for the sake of looking a little different to things that already exist. I feel like I also should have spent more time thinking about how the locations they visited would look. For the most part I made them up as I went along and wasn’t sure how these rooms and streets really fit together at all.

The animatic I produced was very short. I believe that it shows my story in a way that is clear enough to get the basics but I think some of the visual gags may go unnoticed. I probably could have stood to make certain shots last longer just so exactly what was happening was slightly clearer. I did however enjoy producing it, it gave me a chance to experiment with storytelling and come up with an idea that I actually really like and I feel shows more of my personality than some of the other work I have produced, which is nice.

My film is fairly easy to break down into the 3 act structure. The first act is fairly short and consists of my characters meeting for the first time and leaving the bar to start the period of their lives together, dropping hints that Mia may be more violent than she lets on. This leads nicely into the second act which immediately confirms these suspicions. Act two is the series of murders Mia attempts to commit on Julian, all the while he remains completely unaware. And finally the third act which is also fairly short. It starts with Julian on his phone while making food and because he isn't giving the cooking his full attention he accidentally applies Mia's leftover poison to his meal which he then proceeds to eat. This in the end proves to be the thing that kills him. His own attention span.

Following the changes I made and despite the flaws there are in my work I believe it would have potential if it were to be made. I'm aware the joke here would not be successful in longer productions at least not without adding more to both the joke and the story itself but I do think the idea at its core is strong enough to entertain someone to at least a substandard level for between five and ten minutes. This is because I believe that finding out how Julian is going to avoid death this time around is engaging enough for a short form film. For instance the roadrunner cartoons are mostly based around a similar joke, How will Roadrunner escape Wile E. Coyote? I'm just using the slightly darker tone of humans and murder rather than animals the food chain. Darker takes on comedy have also proven highly successful in the past among people of all ages, younger people can enjoy films like 'The Addams Family' while there are aso productions definitely not for children such as 'Shaun Of The Dead'. This is evidence that the combination of darkness and comedy can work well. So using this to boil my idea down would result in a darker take on the roadrunner, which sounds like a decent premise to me at least.

0 notes