Author Archives: Liliy

Baccano or The Magical Murder Train

Baccano was described to me as “The Magical Murder Train” by my brother (the nickname created in his anime club).

I honestly can’t think of a better description. Well, aside from “Incredibly convoluded and intertwined plot with a giant cast” – but it’s all good. In fact, it makes giving a review of the series rather difficult. When the plot of a series is piecing together a series of scenes told from about 20 different points of view in order to put together a complete event, pretty much telling you anything about the plot could ruin it.

Baccano is interesting in that it is told in a very complex fashion. I can’t even begin to imagine watching this series one episode at a time. But as stated earlier, you basically have 3-4 interconnected storylines told over the course of 16 episodes from the points of view of about 15-20 characters. It’s intense, but worth it.

Besides, it involves a train, a whole bunch of senseless violence, idiots, crazy people, at least three-four mafia families, alchemists, cultists, chicks with knifes, fights on moving trains, immortals, regular joes who scare the crap out of immortals, guys in oil drums with cement,  and more couples that are matches made in heaven than you can shake a stick at. Oh, and did I mention the mysterious Rail Tracer?

Though, one of the characters put it best – Baccano has no main character. Which means the point is – words just won’t do Baccano justice. Just watch it; it’s worth it. (Unless graphic violence is disturbing to you; then you might want to skip this one – it’s well, let’s just say seeing faces shoved into a railway from a moving train and bones sticking out from a hand that was ripped off isn’t that uncommon…).

The point? Go watch it and have fun – get ready for one heck of a train ride!

Love WP 2.8

WordPress 2.8 Baker was released.

It is a beautiful thing. They took the amazing update that was 2.7 and smoothed it out into a slick, functioning beauty.

I love that I can tell it how many items to show on my categorie/post lists. And well, just the overall feel is nicer. Doesn’t look much different, but you can feel it.

Feel it.

Everyone should update. :love:

Spock And Kirk

Well, I was watching some old Star Trek episodes (for the first time, I’m turning into such a Trekkie) and came upon the episode “Shore Leave” from Season 1. And the first thing I was greeted with was this scene:

No wonder Kirk and Spock are responsible for starting slash fanfiction. XD

Poor Yeoman. *pats her* Kirk’s just not all that interested in you.

Megatron Origin

The Miners oppose the government.

The Miners oppose the government.

Summary

The Transformers: Megatron Origin is a four-part comic series (also available as a graphic novel) from IDW Publishing, written by Eric Holmes with art by Alex Milne and Marcelo Matere. It tells the tale of Megatron’s rise to power from a humble energon miner, to an outlaw gladiator to the beginnings of the Deceipticon army.

I enjoyed this comic imensely. Not only do we get to see the real motivations behind Megatron and the birth of the Decepticons, but it gives us more depth to see just how far he falls from his original goals. It’s an odd place Origin, if only because during this time and this continutity – the Autobots are essentially the ones in the wrong.

The hard working miners find themselves being replaced by automated, thought-less machines and they rather don’t like being out of work. In a rage, Megatron ends up killing a guard and from there, the miners revolt and cause an upheaval. However they are quickly put down and Megatron goes into hiding (accompanied by Rumble and Frenzy, no less.) It is at this point that Megatron starts to see potenial for more and starts building his army to strike back.


Starscream Blushes at Megatron

Starscream Blushes at Megatron

The Love

There are two things I enjoyed most about Megatron Origin: The Artwork. The Writing.

The art of this comic is gritty, detailed and just plain gorgeous. I’ve reread it many a time just to take in all of the detail and structure. In all honesty, there isn’t much I can describe to do the artwork justice. (Well, aside from noting this is the most attractive/sexy I’ve ever seen the Transformers drawn on paper.) The faces are particularl well done, though my favorite is how he draws the energon. The splashes are thick and more remenescent of blood than I’ve seen yet. It drips and clings in a brutal, sensual manner.

A splash of Energon

A splash of Energon

I’m also quite fond of how he draws their mouths and teeth with accented canines to reinforce the raw, more animalistic nature of the Transformers featured in this comic. It’s quite the treat.

Though, I believe comics are where art and writing need to shine together – and Eric Holmes pulls through with moving, and real dialogue. Instead of going into it too much, I think instead I’ll finish off this little rave over Megatron Origin with some of my favorite quotes from the book.

Quotes

“Looks like these guys got no respect for industrial equipment.” -Frenzy, pg.18

“Heh…you [Starscream] can fly?” -Megatron, pg.50

“So…what if the badge never came off?” -Megatron, pg.62

“Heh. Nobody’s perfect.” -Starscream, pg.70

“Wake up, cybertron. Your era is ending.” -Megatron, pg.75

Megatron the Miner

Megatron the Miner

“I’ve heard it said that we only gain wisdom through suffering. And tonight, I intend to make you very wise.” -Megatron, pg.88

Conclusion

If you enjoy Transformers, particularly if you are like me and love the Decepticons, you should take a chance and pick up this book. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Fanfiction Rant 3 – OC’s in Series with a Large Cast

This is more of a mini-rant/gathering of thoughts than anything. Usually when I write these, I’m addressing something I’ve seen prevalent in a single series so I have a case study, today it’s more of a general note with examples mentioned as I go through. I’m also going to lean mostly towards said Original Characters being involved in romantic relationships with the main cast – oh and here’s the full title of today’s subject:

Using Original Characters That Have a Prominent Role for Series that Already Support a Large Cast

I’m going to start by disclaiming that I’m not referring to plot device characters. For example, if you’re writing a fanfic for Star Trek and they go to a new world – a cast of original characters for them to interact with would be natural. What would not be natural would be a new crewman showing up on the ship or relatives showing up out of nowhere with no basis.

This may sound like a rant against “Mary-Sues” and the like, but that’s not quite what it is. If a show has a full cast of 4-6 people that show up regularly, than yeah – there’s not a lot of options for romance or having them interact with different people. An original character playing the part of  a main role could be forgiven in this context.

I have a much harder time forgiving this in series that have insanely large casts. For example – Bleach. There’s no need for an original character in this show. The cast has literally over 50 or so characters already available for use. You want a mousey girl? Try Squad 12’s Vice-Captain Nemu or Squad Five’s Hinamori. The outgoing girl? There’s about six of those. But to make the point short – you’ve got your choice of just about every personality and type already represented at one point or another.

Pick one.

In the sense of romantic relationships, a random meeting of two characters who have probably never met is just as likely to work as a random original character showing up.  Use someone who’s already there and create a new pairing. Make it work and you’ll get more readers. So – I guess my point is that you’re more likely to get new readers by making an odd, unheard of paring work well than if you create an original character.

Another example would be Transformers. Yet another series with hundreds of characters in its cast to abuse and bend to your will. And yet you still see original characters show up and steal the show. Though, this is one case where I’ve seen it done well and badly.

In a particular fic, they used a squad of police transformers (all original characters) that worked very well. They were designed well, intereacted naturally and felt like they fell into the universe. I stopped reading, however, when in the sequel one of them had kids with a main character of the transformers cast. (A decepticon if you’re curious) This is where the original character lost its value as a plot device and supporting role and fell into the land of lost interest.

It’s a fine line, really, and I think I just don’t see the point of creating love interests for series that already provide so much material to work with.