Thread "2 Quackcast ideas" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 8:02PM, Feb. 21, 2022

- Back scabbards for swords that are longer than your arms can reach.

- The Heimlich maneuver is the standard scientifically proven way to stop choking and it always works… XD

Posted at 12:02AM, Feb. 24, 2022

About the second one, not really. Life is not all sunshine and rainbow and stories should relect that. Sometimes hero suffers or just fails and as long as the story is good, I don't mind that. This is actually reason why I enjoy more Eastern storytelling - when you know that at any time member of "team hero" can die, and it's not just some trash caracter designed to be killed, is more interesting to read/watch the story. There's true tension and you for real don't know how it's going to end.

Posted at 12:02PM, Feb. 24, 2022

Wildcat Arren wrote:
About the second one, not really. Life is not all sunshine and rainbow and stories should relect that. Sometimes hero suffers or just fails and as long as the story is good, I don't mind that. This is actually reason why I enjoy more Eastern storytelling - when you know that at any time member of "team hero" can die, and it's not just some trash caracter designed to be killed, is more interesting to read/watch the story. There's true tension and you for real don't know how it's going to end.

I love Eastern storytelling for the same reasoning, and honestly something that does bother me about Western fiction is that the characters are flawed, but seem to have this weird plot armor that prevents them from facing consequences from their actions, and showing the character overcoming those flaws and consequences.

A kid's show example is Bloom from Winx Club, who on paper has this impulsive nature flaw but seems to only some kind of punishment in the first season, only after doing something very public to a very powerful authority figure at a very big event. My memory is fuzzy, and it has been a while but let's be honest Season two on she's just untouchable. And I heard it was because she lacked flaws, but honestly the problem I see with Western writing is many doesn't want to address that it seems it is the writer who really can't come up with something that could challenge or affect said character beyond "needs beating".

The adult show example is Rick from Rick and Morty, who on paper is just a horrible human being to be around in real life but is the best ever at everything, no matter who or what calls him out.

What I'm saying it feels like modern Western writers focus so much on flaws and "not being OP" they tend to over look everything else like growth, challenge, interactions and intrigue. Some times even sacrificing them for flaws.

Posted at 8:02PM, Feb. 24, 2022

Kemonokomic wrote:
The adult show example is Rick from Rick and Morty, who on paper is just a horrible human being to be around in real life but is the best ever at everything, no matter who or what calls him out.

What I'm saying it feels like modern Western writers focus so much on flaws and "not being OP" they tend to over look everything else like growth, challenge, interactions and intrigue. Some times even sacrificing them for flaws.

Love this. Great insight!
Basically it means characters and more powerful than the world they live in.
This is super common… It means that characters have enormous freedom do do anything but it also makes for very flat worlds.
Interesting… It means that the most powerful character in cartoons isn't a fight between One Punch Man, Goku and Superman, rather it's between Rick, Stan from American Dad, and Homer Simpson XD

You're right- Flaws that have no really affect on a character are meaningless.
Rick being drunk all the time isn't even well conceived. It just looks like he has chronic acid reflux and a ditzy, grumpy personality.
I love the show and the character, but his flaws are stupid.

Posted at 4:02AM, Feb. 25, 2022

Flaws that do nothing and having this kind of plot protection from consequences are great examples of character being Mary Sue/Gary Stu, when writer doesn't really want to give character flaws or is just treating them like a point on a checklist. This leads to something like he/se being too good, too kind, or saying that the character has some flaw, but it never really comes into play during the stroy. When you say that a character is afraid of drowning, but entire story takes place on land, without even a stream in sight, what is even the point of mentioning it.

I only watched some early episodes of Rick and Morty, but I heard from other people that in latest episodes they overloaded Rick with all kind of bullshit powers, including some project that will bring him back to life. He seems like a character that started well designed, but the writers broke him over the time.

The example of character that was overloaded with the good stuff I can talk about for a while is Rey from new Star Wars. A girl like her could have some basic knowledge about fighting, robots or spaceships, but her skills and powers quickly reached "over 9000" level as writers kept adding more. And they had opportunities to do something interesting with her. She could be drawn into the dark side because she used Force without knowing what she's doing. Or she could have killed Chewbacca, but no, it was some other ship she destroyed, nothing to think about here, dear viewer, just sit and watch some explosions.

Posted at 4:02AM, Feb. 25, 2022

Love this. Great insight!
Basically it means characters and more powerful than the world they live in.
This is super common… It means that characters have enormous freedom do do anything but it also makes for very flat worlds.
Interesting… It means that the most powerful character in cartoons isn't a fight between One Punch Man, Goku and Superman, rather it's between Rick, Stan from American Dad, and Homer Simpson XD

You're right- Flaws that have no really affect on a character are meaningless.
Rick being drunk all the time isn't even well conceived. It just looks like he has chronic acid reflux and a ditzy, grumpy personality.
I love the show and the character, but his flaws are stupid.

Just a thought, isn't that a problem with episodic characters? Like the whole world resets after each episode so nothing actually does change especially not the characters who do not learn from their mistakes. How many times Lucy or Ralph pull the same stunts? Then the catchphrase/punchline.

Like Groundhog Day, but doing the same thing that character did change– an important distinction.

Posted at 4:02AM, Feb. 25, 2022

bravo1102 wrote:

Just a thought, isn't that a problem with episodic characters? Like the whole world resets after each episode so nothing actually does change especially not the characters who do not learn from their mistakes. How many times Lucy or Ralph pull the same stunts? Then the catchphrase/punchline.

Like Groundhog Day, but doing the same thing that character did change– an important distinction.

You can do something like that in an episodic story, where episodes can be watched out of order. I wouldn't really call this a problem. Just be aware that this is what you're doing and don't try to make it also about character growth. The problem appears when you try to build too much stuff on top of original design, which ofter results in everything falling apart.

Posted at 9:02AM, Feb. 25, 2022

Wildcat Arren wrote:
bravo1102 wrote:

Just a thought, isn't that a problem with episodic characters? Like the whole world resets after each episode so nothing actually does change especially not the characters who do not learn from their mistakes. How many times Lucy or Ralph pull the same stunts? Then the catchphrase/punchline.

Like Groundhog Day, but doing the same thing that character did change– an important distinction.

You can do something like that in an episodic story, where episodes can be watched out of order. I wouldn't really call this a problem. Just be aware that this is what you're doing and don't try to make it also about character growth. The problem appears when you try to build too much stuff on top of original design, which ofter results in everything falling apart.

I know it can work that way. But more times than not it doesn't. Look at any number of classic episodic comedies going back to radio. The characters don't learn, there is no continuity. Sure it's fun to see the greats in action but too many try to imitate it and not everyone can do Seinfeld or I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners.