Saint Roku University

rockritic answered: Yes, you should !

Your wish is my command.

—-

- Saturday, May 28th, 2011 - Graduation Day

“Well?” the boy demanded an answer. “Would ya?”

Korra blinked warily at Meelo’s crazed expression.

“I-…” Korra was distracted by the sounds of an obnoxious commercial Ikki was watching in the background. She tried to refocus on Meelo’s persistence. “What? I don’t…-” Her face contorted with some irritation at the boy’s perverted question.

Meelo huffed out a loud, forced sigh, heaving his eyes upward in an exaggerated roll. He repeated his question in short, heaving syllables, one at a time.

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So before I’d even finished the last SRU post, and I had already finished a scene from the next one. It’s about Korra and Jinora/Ikki/Meelo. Should I post that today?

greydelisle:

LEGEND has it that certain hard-KORR fans will be getting a treat this summer! Just in the NICK of time!!!!

That Grey DeLisle makes me smile. =)

I’m a sucker for bad puns as it is, but bad puns like this are even better.

The game actually launches the day AFTER E3 ends — literally.

So I’m really hoping Sony doesn’t waste too much time focusing on a game that’s just about to launch that week.

BUT it finally just dawned on me that not as many people are aware as this game as maybe SHOULD be, and by stalling the game until just after E3, they can ride the press buzz of that event, and be able to be like, “AND this game is OUT THIS WEEK GO BUY IT!”

DeviantArt Link - Fanfiction.net Link

SPOILER WARNING
In this story about college students, someone graduates. ~le gasp~

[That was some Sokkasm for ya.]

Odd fact: some of the things Sokka does during his graduation ceremony, I actually did myself, like recording parts of it. xD

Also, sorry. Graduations are actually super boring, you guys. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

But don’t worry. Some stuff will happen in the next story update.

(art above from this comic strip by awesome artist and friend Sakura-Rose12)

What I have learned by writing a graduation scene and in turn revisiting memories of graduations I have been to is this:

Graduations are actually really stuffy and boring and you just kind of want to get them done and over with so you can move on with the story your life.

Hopefully I managed to work in some moments and some bits of foreshadowing/character development that merit how…generally uneventful this event is. >_>;

Really? I feel completely the opposite — I feel like her actress did a great job because there’s a lot of subtleties to the acting. In that scene with the children, she’s actually speaking specifically different than usual, because she is speaking to children (but in a GOOD way, not a bad one). In a lot of video games, characters don’t actually speak differently to kids — and they certainly don’t talk WITH them, they talk AT them.

I can see why some would feel that way about Aqua, but I for one think someone like Terra is actually voiced apathetically (which might be on purpose?), and I would say that Kairi often is, too (which kind of disconnects me further from her character), but I think Aqua is just subtle, gentle, soft-spoken. Sometimes subtle is good. It can convey emotion much better than going too far with it. In the case of Aqua, IMO it makes her feel more human.

Leonard Nimoy did an amazing job with Xehanort because there was a lot of fun subtleties to the voice acting, rather than him being the same old over-the-top villain you’d often see. Even when dealing with the strange writing of the series, he sells his role well (even though it is kind of a caricature).

Voice acting doesn’t have to be melodramatic and overplayed (as it often is in a lot of anime/Japanese video games like Kingdom Hearts and THAT hurts. “GOT IT MEMORIZED?” STFU Axel, I hate you). A character like Aqua serves better from a softer, more subtle performance, I think.

It makes her feel more like an actual human being instead of a caricature, which is what most of the Kingdom Hearts characters basically are (anime caricatures and stereotypes).

I don’t know about you, but people I know in real life are much more likely to talk like Aqua does than most of the other characters in the KH series.

Moviebob’s The Big Picture: ‘The Magic Bonks’

(He brings up J.J Abrams and using ‘mystery’ as a means of drumming up attention when it ironically ends up messing around with the ideas present in the actual movies and works Abrams produces)

I was just talking a bit earlier today about LOST, and how I felt like what was appealing about that series — or rather, what was actually done WELL — had very little to do with the MYSTERY and the SURPRISES and the SHOCK AND AWE and everything to do with the characters, and seeing how they coped with difficult situations. When I think back on that series (and I’ve only seen it once, though I intend to see it again some time), I hardly remember a freaking THING about the twisty plot. I remember things like invisible peanut butter. Like Sawyer’s nicknames. Like Hurley’s golf course. Like Jin and Sun’s emotional journey.

It’s why “SPOILERS” aren’t as big a deal to me (a good story is a GOOD STORY, whether you know how it ends or not, that’s why we re-read books and re-watch things, etc.). My lack of interest in being surprised just for the sake of being surprised is also why I continue to not understand why people are so obsessed with the concept of “spoilers” nowadays. But today, it slapped me in the face: because western culture (at least) seems fixated on shock value, whereas I am fixated on well-developed theming and characters.

People would rather be shocked and surprised by twisty, tangly, shocking plot-twists that leave the hero no CHOICE to make but to rise up and fight-fight-fight than be presented with realistic, genuine, human interactions, and/or watching protagonists make difficult decisions or (gasp) actually be flawed yet still likeable people.

When I go back and think on my favorite movies or my favorite books, I realize that none of them really seem to rely on that tactic of ‘shock value,’ and in many cases I could see the ending coming — and even when I couldn’t, it wasn’t ‘shocking,’ but rather more like, ‘oh, huh, I hadn’t thought of that, but it’s perfect.’

Shock value can be fun and all, and it CAN enhance a story’s impact sometimes. Having plot twists can indeed be totally awesome, IF it is done in the spirit of the themes and characters that are being presented within the story.

For recent examples of stories with plot twists I found to be effective at enhancing the themes and characters, see: TellTale’s The Walking Dead game, Wreck It Ralph, Dexter’s most recent season, and BioShock: Infinite.

For an example of plot-twists that frustrated me upon repeated viewings, the most prevalent example is (surprise), Legend of Korra’s Book 1 finale, which relied almost ENTIRELY on plot twists and shock value and none of it was consistent with the themes and ideas the rest of the season had built or established or led up to. Korra did not rise up against her flaws, she did not make any good decisions (quite the opposite), and magical plot elements (loosely and inconsiderately) resolved the issues at hand, NOT any character-driven, thematic choice on Korra’s part (throwing a tantrum does not count).

And for the record, I’m not saying I’m some paragon of writing, I’ve written imperfect stuff and ‘meh’ stuff and downright bad stuff, and I’ve handled plot twists in varying degrees of success and failure. For example, I’m actually very much NOT a fan of my own plot-twisty stuff in regards to SRU!Combustion Man and the mess revolving around him. Even though I am happy with the character develop it ended up achieving, I’m sure I could’ve accomplished the same effect in a much less convoluted way (and should SRU ever be converted into a wholly original work, that will be one story arc I plan to totally retool)

I’m just expressing my opinion in a very direct manner because this whole trend frustrates me, but it IS just my opinion and I don’t mean it like scientific fact.

I’m just glad I haven’t seen anyone freaking out about “spoilers” for The Great Gatsby movie because that would just epitomize what I’m talking about. Don’t even get me started on the gaming community’s ridiculous notion that watching GAMEPLAY (without story) can be a “spoiler,” because I understand that even less.

If a plot twist is done for its own sake — just for the flash and the bang — if it robs the protagonist(s) of their power to make choices that have MEANING, and ESPECIALLY if it flies in the face of the plot and themes you’ve already presented, your plot twist isn’t…GOOD. And it’s just flash, nothing more.

Mental candy with no nutritional value.

OK. Rant done. Off my soapbox now.