the most life-changing customer i’ve ever had at work was a guy who came up to me and my coworker when we were at cash and said ‘hey kids…. wanna see something?’
and I said sure because why the fuck not, i’m here for a good time not a long time, and this motherfucker pulled a railroad spike out of his pocket.
A GODDAMN
ANTIQUE
RAILROAD
SPIKE
It was a fucking foot long chunk of steel that weighed about five pounds on its own so i was like ‘huh….. neat’
and he said ‘wait. there’s more’ and he took out a screwdriver. inlaid into the head of the spike. ‘things aren’t always as they appear’ he said as he unscrewed the bit and pulled out of this goddamn railroad spike
a statue
a tiny, tiny golden statue stood on the base of this flathead screw. it was a tiny golden man standing next to a tiny golden flower with gemstones in the petals. the whole thing was smaller than my thumbnail is tall. it was detailed enough that the tiny man had facial features. it was amazing.
‘oh my god,’ i said. ‘how long did it take you to make that?’
‘here’s a word of advice,’ he said, ‘never answer that question when people ask it. it devalues your work. you’ll get faster and better at things, and be able to make more art in less time. they don’t need to know about the process, just the product’.
and he left and that’s the one artistic piece of advice i definitely wanna hold to.
A big problem with fandom, is that you often don’t realise that animated series are pre-written. The writers pitch a plot with some base work done, the company approves it, the full season script gets created, this gets passed on to the story team were it goes through several processes of storyboarding, character and layout concepts, design finalisation, storyboard finalisation, and like SO MUCH MORE i’m skipping over. But, by the time you’re watching Season 1. Season 2 is already in the pipeline for production.
Think of it like a book. You have a book. That book has 10 chapters. (Aka: You have a show, that’s been contracted for 10 seasons.)
In Chapter One you meet the main characters, and you meet the Call To Action of the plot.
Initially you have mixed thoughts: You’re not sure how to feel about Character A, but you love Character B, and you don’t know where this plot is going to lead just yet, and you need to read more, because you need to know more!!
So you turn to Chapter Two.
Only… with a TV series. There is no Chapter Two. It’s still in the production process and will be released in 4, 6, 12 months time depending on that companies release schedule.
So suddenly you’re left with this large gap in between chapters. You wonder more about these characters, the plot, the interactions, and you get Ideas.
You start to create your headcanons, your ideas of what could happen, what you’d like to see happen, where you’d like the story to go. You create fanart, and fanfics, and share your theories, and some of those theories get really popular. And everyone gets excited because What If!?
Then, at last!!! Chapter Two is released.
And… it’s nothing like what was in your head. You’re a little sad, a little annoyed, but that’s okay because new content! New theories! New characters, and plot developments, and so much more!! You can’t wait for Chapter Three to find out what’s next!! You’re super excited!!!
Only… Chapter Three won’t be out for another 6 months.
And the cycle begins again.
Eventually, you have so many expectations that you’ve created, so many ideas you’ve built up, and put hopes on, and invested yourself into, and you’ve created this whole version of this world in your head.
That by the time you reach Chapter Five, or Chapter Eight, or Chapter 10, you’re already disillusioned, pretty annoyed, and pretty fed up that the writing isn’t going the way you so strongly believed that it was going to.
And it develops this culture that, “Oh, the writing is bad”, or “Oh, that’s out of character”, or “Oh, that’s not how that would have happened.” When… you can’t say that, because you’ve never known that.
You forget that these story lines, these plots, and these arcs. Were all pre-written. Some Chapters may have hit a rough patch and needed re-writing because the company suddenly changed their mind, and the writers had to scramble to fix it. Or the budget got cut, and suddenly they had to cut out plot lines and episodes just to make sure they could even complete the story at all. Or the show isn’t getting enough viewers, so the network is aiming to cancel the show and the writers are scrambling to tie up loose ends before the plug gets pulled. (And yes, sometimes you do just get bad writers and/or directors.)
But whatever the case is, at the end of the day, the bulk of the story was long written out before the animation even began. And definitely before you had your fanon.
Whilst you’re watching Chapter One, the writing for Chapter Two was already finalised, and the production process has already started. It takes a year to make one episode, those episodes are staggered out across a pipeline. The script needs to be finalised before storyboarding can begin. These things are always done in advanced. And your comments as viewers do not influence the writing during the production process, nor do they cause changes to the script because by the time you’re already discussing something, the production for the next season is well under way.
So if you’re judging a story solely on its Chapter One, or hell, even Episode One. Or judging a story based on the expectations you created in your own head prior to a new Chapter. Then the problem lies with you. And not with the story.
Because you either: Never went into the story with the idea of giving it a chance, or, You went into the story with preset ideas of what to expect.
Fanon, and headcanons, and fan theories will never be canon. If they are, it means you made a lucky guess. That’s where it ends.
The more you start watching a new show, with an expectation of what it SHOULD be based on different shows you’ve watched, and not to watch it for what it IS. You’ve already disappointed yourself, and from there you’re only going to have a bad time because it’s not what you wanted.
Now, do not misunderstand me at all. This is not a conversation about representation. (That’s an entirely different conversation for a different post.)
This is a conversation about story production, and the fact that so many people in fandom complain that they haven’t been given all the answers, that complain about characters who make complex choices, that complain about pacing despite having only seen a few episodes, that complain there’s not enough plot when they’re only in Chapter One of a ten chapter story, that complain about animation styles and character designs when something is made by a completely different creative team to the other shows they watch so of course it would be different.
You have to wait for information. You have to have variety in style. You cannot have every ounce of plot, and every ounce of character development, all happen within Chapter One. You cannot have the whole thing spoon fed to you. If you get every answer, every interaction, and no complex characters and tough narrative choices? You will have a very short, very boring story.
And when you build up your own imaginary expectations of what might happen next, and start viewing that expectation as a Definite Truth. You won’t enjoy the show any more. Not because of the writers, but because you put too much belief in your headcanon, instead of letting the actual canon unfold. You crushed your own dreams because you believed they were real… rather than using them as something to have fun with, and play with, and explore.
Learn to separate fanon from canon and you will have a much better experience.
And most importantly. If a new, or old, show is not something that you’re enjoying, then stop watching it. It’s really that simple. Not every writer or director or artist is going to produce something with the narrative or the style that you enjoy.
Find something else to watch with a style, or a type of directing that you like better, and go enjoy that. And have fun with that. You don’t need to keep watching things that make you unhappy. Change the channel, pick up a new ‘book’.
Weak Trope: Having a character’s driving motivation be REVENGE up until the last second when they pull the “revenge won’t bring my wife/sister/town/three-eared dog back” and leave the bastard they’ve been hunting down alive.
Strong Trope: Hello! My Name! Is Inigo Montoya! You Killed My Father! Prepare! TO! DIE! *corners count rugen* Beg for your life *slashes cheek* Offer me anything I want in the world! *slashes other cheek* I WANT MY FATHER BACK, YOU SON OF A BITCH. *stabs count rugen to death*
Hey guys. I wanna thank you all for enjoying my little text post. It means a lot to me that something so silly resonated with so many of you.
But it’s November 16th, 2018, about 10 pm, and I just learned that William Goldman has died. Goldman was the author of The Princess Bride, which I’m paraphrasing in the Strong Trope up there. He wrote the book and the screenplay to what is one of the most amazing films ever, and one of the most hilarious, loving parodies/pastiches of historical fantasies.
If you’ve never seen The Princess Bride, I highly recommend it. Show it to your whole family. Show your pets. Revel in the swordfights, giants, monsters, games of wit, death, and true love. Join the rest of us in incessantly quoting one of the most quotable movies ever. The book is a little different from the movie, but the core themes and charm are the same.
Thank you, William Goldman, for creating such a lasting, charming legacy with The Princess Bride, an incredible, wholesome story that transcends generations. Rest in peace.
I was thinking of beginning and managing a MAP (multiple animator project) for red vs blue to the tune of mr blue sky by elo,, and I was wondering if anyone would be interested! I would be storyboarding the whole thing and animating a chunk of it, but if I could get a group of 5-10 other artists on the project, it would make it a lot more achievable. Even if only a couple other artists were interested, it would still make it a lot more manageable!
It would span the whole song, including the ending instrumental, and cover arcs bloodgulch, re, some freelancer (s10), chorus, and 15
Please reblog and spread the word, and feel free to drop an ask or message if you have questions!
I’ve never done anything like this (MAP or animating) before but I’d be interested, depending on whether or not you’re looking for people with experience in animation
Hey, hi, hello. Can you please stop scrolling for a minute and read this? This affects us all, not just the people in Europe. I know that it’s a long post, but please read it and share it.
I know that people don’t like Mat Pat for various reasons, but this is serious. This is an excellent video explaining what Article 13 is and how it will affect us.
If you can’t watch the video, here’s summary of the main points and some discussion.
All websites rely on Fair Use and SafeHarbor (these are key)
The US Fair Use Doctrine allows people to use content that is not their own without explicit permission, so long as it is for review, education, news reporting, commentary, research, etc.
The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (aka SafeHarbor) lets media companies issue takedown notices to a hosting site so that the site takes down the content. Example, Disney doesn’t like that someone uploaded the full Mulan movie on YouTube; they issue a takedown notice and YT takes the video down and issues a copyright strike to the person. However,thanks to SafeHarbor, YT isn’t responsible for the copyright infringement, only the removal of the content.
The problem comes into play when you take into consideration that these two laws are only in the United States. In Europe, it is called Permitted Use, which means that you need a permit (or explicit permission) to use copyrighted content.
Permitted Use does not allow people to use copyrighted content unless it is for parody, quotation, private copying, and education. And these four things are it- anything that doesn’t fall under these four items are not allowed by Permitted Use.
Article 13 plans to hose the concept of SafeHarbor.
Why is this bad?
In particle 2a of Article 13, it states, “online content sharing providers and right holders shallcooperate in good faith to ensure that unauthorized protected works or other subject matter are not available on their services”. Therein lies the problem:
What does ‘good faith’ mean?
The language in a good law is purposefully very specific so that people know what it means and that there is no abuse of said law. ‘Good faith’ is incredibly vague. Does it mean that both companies agree on infringement? Does it mean that the right holder gets to boss the provider around? What does this mean?
The words ‘good faith’ can be abused so thatanything vaguely infringing (example, an image of a starfish with yellow-green shorts edited on it) can be taken down because it has the potential to be infringing.
What else does this mean?
This means that if Article 13 gets finalized (it already has been passed; it needs to be finalized) the way it is written, this means that content hosting sites can only post things from the people that hold the rights. SafeHarbor will be hosed in the way thatcontent hosting sites will be directly responsible for the copyright infringing content.
How does this relate to the US?
Here’s the thing: other countries have their own laws regarding copyright, Fair Use, and SafeHarbor. However, because of this, companies will cater towards stricter laws to avoid infringing on the stricter law. If Article 13 gets finalized the way it is, all countries will comply to Article 13 and apply it to everyone.
If companies can take down creators in one area, they will want to take everyone down because they have that power.
So, what can we do?
The biggest point is to spread the word. The more people that are aware, the more potential there is for change. We aren’t talking about this because it’s so complicated, but once it has been simplified, it’s easier to understand and share.
Make your own content. This pairs up well with point one, but raise awareness. Show people how Article 13 is a problem with how it’s worded.
This especially applies for those in Europe, but contact your MEPs. Find out why they support if, if they do. Convince them that Article 13, by the way it’s worded, is a huge issue. We need them to understand that’s going on and what the consequences are. Explain to them in a reasonable, logical way that the way that Article 13 is worded will cause problems. No one believes that the the creator’s rights should be infringed upon. That is not what we want. The problem is that it is too vague and unclear. Because it is unclear, media companies can, and will abuse the law to get what they want.
We need to do these three things immediately because Article 13 has already been passed. It just needs the language to be finalized. If nothing is changed, then it could spell the end of the internet as we know it.
Please spread the word. Please boost this post, and please, please don’t let this problem die like we let Net Neutrality die. Net Neutrality likely opened the door for Article 13. Do not let this happen.
Use the tag #saveyourinternet to raise awareness for this looming problem that affects us all.
magicalbluelightning 