Leaderboard

Wow, it's been a long time since I have popped back on here~ No one probably remembers me, but it's Kirry. Things are a lot different~ O: What's up, peeps?

Howdy to you. One question... Why is it everytime I check on the online members, 95% of the time you are online? Are you some sort of wizard? What witchcraft allows you to stay that much time awake?

I second that. Many writers fail to understand what makes the cliché so great, or the trope. (Trope and cliché are two different things. A cliché is an overused trope. The Oh So Evil Business Man is a trope, then it was overused for third grade films and now its a cliché. A cliché is usually a trope, but not vice versa) Let's look at a one clichés - The Dark and Ever So Evil Lord. Tolkien, who, I think, invented this trope (though heavily inspired by mythology) created the Dark Lord Sauron, with the understanding that the most alluring thing about the overpowered enemy is, that the Dark Lord is only effective as long as he is also mysterious. The Dark Lord is so powerful (but often restricted to one place, e.g. tower/castle..), he only needs to send his (also rediculously powerful) minions -think of the Nazgûl-. For most of the LotR book we don't even get to see Sauron, only the description "He has only four on the Black Hand, but they are enough" - that's mysterious and terrifying, and the reason why Tolkien's Dark Lord works. The enemy is unkown, mysterious, evokes a primal fear, and often not even confronted directly. Some writers don't get that and let the Dark Lord appear and monologue frequently. We know who he is, what he thinks, his powers (which tells the hero exactly how strong he has to be), etc... I'm not saying that this trope of the Dark Lord doesn't work when the hero has to directly confront and fight him, but it should be the last epic showdown - no monologueing, no revealing of masterplan until he is defeated. For this trope to work, the Dark Lord has to stay shrouded in mystery and needs to strike absolute fear into the minds of the heros (nothing is more offputing than a hero certain of victory - that's a great way of killing off the suspence) With this as an example, I think the sentence "Clichés are not bad, poorly used clichés are bad." holds a lot of truth, and is deeper than it seems at first glance. The great thing about tropes and clichés is that they are simply and easy to understand. (everyone understands what a Dark Lord, a Destiny, the Epic Sword is) In case of romance anime, we also often have the argueing 'couple' shouting at each other in front of the entire class - this cliché is often just used for comedic effect, but IMO also a lost opportunity for some great (and possibly funny) dialogue which could be the foundation of some good love story. Shouting and isnulting each other isn't romantic -possibly funny, but not romantic- but at the same time, nothing is more suspicous than a couple than never argues. Or in case of the phone going off right at the moment of the kiss at the riverbank? The point of the trope was probably comdic relieve, or to ease the tension, but can be used to highlight that the kiss is more important, OP has showed. But you can also use it as a good plot device. Throw the phone away but later the MC finds out that the phone call was important, maybe his mom wanted to inform him of a deceased family member, maybe an invitation for a job interview he wanted, etc..., and now he has to live with this, which could be the opening of an entire arc. I think, just throwing away certain tropes, like Beocat wrote, doesn't solve the underlying issue - that writer's don't put effort in using the trope effectively. Why does a harem full of people that don't fit together live in the same house? Rather than deleting the this trope, one should try find a good explanation, and maybe try to actually write some good and plausible character interaction (I know, a shocker!) Someone made a pantyshot when the wind (for one reason or another) raised some woman's skirt? Now he gets reported for sexual harassment, and could be the start if some redeption arc of a hopeless pervert. Some girl slaps guys for every glance at her - well, definitely gonna meet the law and why does she even do it? Give her a backstory that explains it, and then have her some carthasis at the end, eventually making her a better person. So, this has less to do with tropes and clichés The idea of character development is very well etablished in japanese literature, even in older ones. The naive and brutal swordsman who eventually learns to finds the way of the sword as a more spiritual thing after a live of violence at hardship is a common trope in older japanese literature. Yes, there are stories of a perfect hero who has already all his skill and knowledge, especially in fairy tales, but we have the same thing in almost every culture. (While there are many interpretations of the Athurian legends, Lancelot is in many if them already a perfect knight without much character development needed) Joseph Campell argues in his book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" that for any longer story, the hero -the MC is alway referred to as the hero- has to undergo character development, for the mere fact that it is almost impossible to write one where this is not the case. Short story can have heroes without development, long arching tales can't, otherwise they fail as a long story - and he came to this conclusion after studying tales from all around the world, including asian literature. His concept of the "Hero's Journey" is famous , studied and used by many authors. (and halso been used by authors centuries ago throughout the entiry world) Thus, I fear that the overpowered is in a new fad in anime (and also video games - power fantasy is becoming more and more popular...)

ever tried studying, and notice what you're studying is kinda basic things ? i have, and its making me lazy on studying it, couse im sure we tackled this already >_> ..maybe i need to study/remember the temperatures..? well, whatever the case, 12 pages left, and im lazily finishing it today, while playing on item tower in alchemist code, cant wait for round two, and get laharl-sama "fan girl screaming of IYAAAAA" also, obligatory song post~ did i post this already .. ?, i forgot, but nonetheless its neat~

I just had a wonderful birthday, (Shout out to @Roxeg for the sweet message!) and finished Attack On Titan S2!

I do not remember, but let's create some memories *reaches out dramatically* Haha, much simpler times.. Things are much different now. I'm still readjusting. But it seems if anything has remained true, it's that AF is still a friendly place as always. Thank you for the warm welcome.

Ayeeee~ Thanks. Also, neat avi.

Lol, cutting your teeth. That's a good way to put it. either way I hope you love the game. Just remember that when it comes to art. for every piece of art that you see that is amazing and great. there were thousands of pictures before it that sucked. No one starts off amazing at art. But everyone can learn. It's one of my favorite things about it. It's just learning how to teach yourself in the best way that works for you. I mean I started with the stick figures. And people complain all the time "Well I can't even do that, or this" I have no sympathy for them though. They don't even want to try, just wanting to complain about it. (he said as he's complaining about complainers) Well if you need any assistance, let me know.

That's interesting to know, it's been a series Ive been interested in trying to get into for a while now but I haven't really had a chance to try it cause I mainly play on PC and PS consoles (never had a PSP for it) so hopefully in the future I'll get a chance to get into the mainline series well assuming I enjoy cutting my teeth on this one. Oh ok so it's something that's stuck with you ive been thinking of trying out drawing as something to do, I enjoy gaming and videos well enough but I found that the act of activity doing things like working out, reading and cooking all kind of have a different pay off too them, but I guess I'm a little intimidated with it, maybe scared to suck would be more honest.

Monster hunter world. Is actually the most player friendly game in the series. But how do I put it. It's like monster hunter lite. It's more like it's not a monster hunter game but a different animal of the same species. If that makes sense. (Not sure if this will be your first game in the series. I hope you enjoy it when you do get into it. As far as drawing. I've been drawing ever since I was kid. I would draw a lot. Mostly neglecting school work for doing art. So that's really how I managed to get into it. started with stick figures and built up a skill set from there. ages 4 to 31. I wouldn't really say I actually had any influence other then that. Well besides the cartoons I grew up on. But I don't remember watching cartoons when I started drawing.

:d *winks back* It's a naughty little trait of his ya (honestly XD I never looked at the buff that enemies had when I started playing and lost really hard cause I used too many) What VN are you reading ? The first one is really good, has some classic *scenes*. XD I don't know what to do to change my text size on mobile but I'm not worried about my blood I'm worried about me. a disgaea cross over ?!! <_< I kind of wish I stuck with it then cause I love that series. Nothing wrong with liking gender Bender, though missing is flonne tragic or etna. :P its a good thing. @Beocat @Roxeg @Miiyell thank you for the welcome. That's just what someone who is trying to get you into a death trap would say Hey and thank you, this seems like a pretty cool place with a lot of interesting people, hoping I can make some close friends. The class shows I've been really happy lately to see a kind of revive of classic shows I enjoyed as a kid coming back into the lime light a bit, it's been kind of getting back into rewatching some of them. Nintendo 64 ate up so much of my time as a kid but weirdly enough I never played any of the popular games for it expect for starfox 64. Funny enough I just picked up monster hunter world (though I have such a massive amount of games I want to finish that I'm not sure when I'll get to it) Also question what got you into drawing ?

BFV beta time!