Rogue-Penguin - Latest Comments

Re: PC: Back to the Future: The Game

Saul Lapidus — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:49:19 -0000

I think Highly recommended is not a strong enough recommendation. This was extremely enjoyable.

Re: PC: Back to the Future: The Game

Kyle Lippincott — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:22:52 -0000

Added Ps3 version to wish list. I'm not supposed to buy myself anything this month, or something. Bah. :)

Re: Fanfic: Exile, by beeftony [Avatar: The Last Airbender]

Beeftony — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:35:29 -0000

Well, I can't say I didn't ask for this. ;) Honestly, though, I'm surprised you chose this one to review when there are so many better stories to choose from. I was unaware of there being more Ursa fics like this; I guess it's kind of a Sailor Earth situation in that I hit upon a common idea without even realizing it.

You raise a lot of good points, though I should clarify one thing: the spy was not random, though the character did only appear once in the series so I'll forgive you for not recognizing him. He's the Fire Sage that helped Team Avatar all the way back in during the Winter Solstice in the first season.

The reason for the frame story was that this was originally designed as a side-story to a much longer tale called "Where You Lead," which I only published two chapters of before giving up on it entirely. I originally planned to reveal that Ursa had been an assassin working under orders from the Order of the White Lotus who married Ozai to get close enough to assassinate Azulon (which admittedly I practically spelled out here). The intention was not so much to make her awesome as to give her a complicated past that would lower her from the pedestal Zuko had placed her on when he found out.

The frame story does admittedly seem superfluous without the tie-in to the other one, but when I published the story it had been sitting on my hard drive for nine months. It didn't feel right to let it fade into obscurity.

Thanks again! :)

Re: Fanfic: Knightshade by Blackbird [The Batman]

Beeftony — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:37:11 -0000

Backhanded compliments seem to pop up whenever I discuss Blackbird's work, because I feel too sorry for the guy to give him straight up criticism. He's got major self esteem issues and I can never tell how he's going to respond. Doesn't stop me from agreeing with everything you've said, though.

I feel you on the contrivedness of femslash in general, and to be honest that's kind of why I moved over to het pairings. The reason I started reading Kigo stories was mostly to be contrary, and the charm wore off once I realized that not a whole lot of people (you being one of the exceptions) were willing to make them work for a relationship. If I just wanted to see them naked together I'd go to Rule 34.

Romance in general seems to be one of those things a lot of fanfic authors want to write but fail to understand the mechanics of because they're either too young to have been in the kind of relationship they're writing about, or they've been in a lot of bad relationships and don't know how to write a good one. Even people who are happily married have a tendency to only want to write the kind of relationship that they have experience with and don't branch out into others. There are exceptions of course, but it tends to be a problem because shipping fics make up a majority of the stories wherever you go. It's enough to turn a lot of people off of fanfics entirely.

My style really has changed a lot since I first started writing, and your work was a very big influence on me (I find myself doing cold opens a lot). I'd make a suggestion for what to read, but I think I'll let you surprise me. Thank you. :)

Re: Fanfic: Knightshade by Blackbird [The Batman]

TempestDash — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:31:58 -0000

I don't know, that sounds like a back handed compliment. Saying he has good ideas but lacks the strength as a writer to execute on them. I can't entirely disagree though, the ideas are good and he tends to go places others haven't gone before which is admirable. Some days, though, I just want to take his best stories and rewrite them from scratch.

I have read Calico and Villains with Benefits, actually, I just haven't gotten around to writing up reviews for them. They both grate on me a bit, actually, more so than this work because the circumstances become more and more contrived. While the dialog does 'flow' as good as it can, I can' help but feel a forceful hand behind it. It's the same issue I had with Knightshade, it's like the author concluded where the relationship would go so every line seemed to be leaning in that direction even before it was justified.

I think it would be one thing if all these fanfics took place in alternate universes where LGBTQ relationships were embraced or at least not prejudiced against by society, but there is no evidence of that. Certainly the TV series (and I'm talking more than just The Batman here, Kim Possible is included), by never outright demonstrating any such relationships, is passively trying to dismiss them, so when I see them pop up in Fanfiction I always question the ease in which they come about.

In any case, I have a huge backlog of stories I'm trying to get through to review, but I'll see about tossing some of yours on the stack. I've never really read much of your work apart from a songfic or two from when you first started writing. My dislike of songfics initially turned me off and I admit I've never had the time to go back and see what you've done since.

You know what? I'll make sure I get to one of your stories soon.

Thanks again!

Re: Fanfic: Knightshade by Blackbird [The Batman]

Beeftony — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:05:55 -0000

I agree with absolutely everything you said here, though I personally enjoyed many of the concepts at play in this story. Blackbird's real strength as a writer isn't really writing believable pairings (though he does a far better job than others of his ilk), but world-building. In the same manner that Maternal Instinct spun off into a whole universe of stories, there are a number of side-stories that occur parallel to this that give one the sense of an actual world surrounding these characters, which is one thing I do have to give him credit for.

The easy resolution you mentioned was ultimately what left me feeling unfulfilled by the end of this fic, since most of the realizations are reached not by Batgirl and Ivy interacting with each other, but rather long, somewhat boring passages where the characters basically argue with themselves, occasionally to contemporary song lyrics that the reader has to provide music for on their own. His biggest problem as a writer is that he bases almost all his femslash stories around the same scenes, with different set-dressing in between.

That said, he does have a good ear for dialogue, and the scenes where characters actually interact with each other are fun to read. If you have a chance, check out the side-stories "Calico" and "Villains with Benefits" for his other femslash pairing, Harley Quinn and Catwoman. He does a much better job building up an actual relationship between the two, and since they're both villains there's not as many hurdles for them to get over, which helps avoid what happened in this story.

Excellent critical analysis as always. If you ever want to rip one of my stories apart (and some of mine REALLY deserve it), feel free.

Re: IF Comp 2011: Return to Camelot [Po. Prune]

Mr. Patient — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:43:54 -0000

The issue I had with the puzzles is that the parser steadfastly refused to accept my efforts to solve them. Guess the verb, guess the noun, and even guess the preposition. In the Panic Room, I pretty quickly sussed out what needed to be done, and tried a half-dozen variants of the needed command with no success. I came to the conclusion that I was wrong about the puzzle, and only discovered the correct phrasing an hour later. Similarly, I knew what to provide the guards, and even asked the right NPC for the right material, but without the exact wording, I got default replies.

Re: IF Comp 2011: How Suzy Got Her Powers (by David Wyld) [Updated]

TempestDash — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:34:44 -0000

I did go back and update the post after using the walkthrough to get all the points. Unfortunately, doing so did not improve my opinion of this game. I still don't hate it, it just doesn't stand out amongst this crowd. Thanks for the comment, though!

Re: IF Comp 2011: How Suzy Got Her Powers (by David Wyld) [Updated]

TempestDash — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:36:11 -0000

I'll go back and try the walkthrough command. If there is some decent additional content that I missed I'll update the review.

I didn't hate the game I just wasn't impressed. I want to be clear I don't separate things into love and hate, just interesting to me and not.

Re: IF Comp 2011: How Suzy Got Her Powers (by David Wyld) [Updated]

David Whyld — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:11:12 -0000

Sorry you didn't like the game but the maximum score of 22 *is* possible. 11 points is just the most direct path; most of the others are for non-obvious commands. The WALKTHROUGH command will reveal which ones you're missing.

Re: The TITAN Show – Episode 003

Christopher Szewczyk — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:40:08 -0000

Going through all three today, forgot to listen to 'em before. :)

Re: The Science of Story – Premise

Alexander Chapman — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:42:33 -0000

ever wanted to write myself fiction but its hard to come up for a logical story, so the reader does not question some parts why they are happing etc..

Re: TV: Torchwood: Miracle Day (Episodes 1-4)

TempestDash — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:20:31 -0000

It's very disappointing. I suppose we're only halfway through, but they've got a big hole to dig themselves out of. Although I just read a press release that Stars is moving forward with plans to adapt more BBC shows by the same team. I'm not sure which is more depressing, that Torchwood is the shadow of its former self, or that Americans haven't noticed.

Re: TV: Torchwood: Miracle Day (Episodes 1-4)

Saul Lapidus — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 22:43:20 -0000

It saddens to agree with you, but I don't see how it can really get going and get somewhere good at this rate.

Re: Blu-Ray: Robin Hood (2010)

Joel V — Wed, 25 May 2011 01:00:03 -0000

I liked Robin Hood a
lot, but there was so much that was pointless in the movie that there were a
lot of parts where I was trying not to fall asleep.But certain parts were very
good. Lets hope that there is a sequel and it is better. Anyways, I just finished Robin Hood on DISH Online, and it was pretty
cool. I like being able to choose from different movies and shows whenever I
want. With DISH Online, I can do that. Also, because I have an account, I have
access to thousands more shows and movies at no additional cost! HBO is something
I also subscribe to, so since I have that, I have even more to choose from! The
possibilities are endless! I am an employee of DISH as well, so I have had a
lot of time to play with the site and it is great! I definitely suggest taking
a look at dishonline.com because I know it has something to offer anyone and
everyone!

Re: Blu-ray: The Other Guys

gps jammer — Mon, 09 May 2011 01:26:04 -0000

I still scratch my head over the French love for Jerry Lewis, but
they're entirely correct about Leslie Neilsen -- who was ever bit as
silly as Jerry Lewis, but who maintained his deadpan.

Re: More Essays on Such-and-Such

Christopher Szewczyk — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 10:11:55 -0000

I like Eliezer's saying "that which can be destroyed by truth, should be."

Re: Slayers Revolution & An Anime Retrospective

montessori gold coast — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 02:34:55 -0000

In this sequel to Remake, Max Guy returns to seek revenge and undertake an epic adventure, with echoes of video games and anime, with his comrades, ...

Re: Best of 2010 — Video Games

TempestDash — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:57:48 -0000

If it's just a straight up port I probably wouldn't waste my time. I got
interested in PoP because of the supposed benefits of it being 'remastered'
in high def, but that turned out not to be much of a change. Now if someone
went an remastered Xenogears, or, better yet, Vagrant Story (which is also
listed in that news article) then I'd be interested in playing again.

Re: Best of 2010 — Video Games

Kainsin — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:16:21 -0000

PSN release of Xenogears!

http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q1...

Re: Blu-ray: Ponyo

TempestDash — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:11:10 -0000

The environmentalist message was not the only message of Mononoke Hime, but the only one relevant to my review of Ponyo.

Also, I recommend looking up the concept of Intentional Fallacy, as authorial intent is not the only valid interpretation of a literary work.

Re: Blu-ray: Ponyo

diebuster — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 07:41:48 -0000

lol way to completely misunderstand princess mononoke. I never thought that would be possible considering how blatant its themes were.

Re: BlogTalkRadio show ‘FemSlash 4 Fans’ with host Allaine (and a bit about Utena)

TempestDash — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 11:23:07 -0000

I am indeed. The axiom goes: Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw... and, as such, Allaine's show is often filled with female guests.

The two times I have been on his show, however, it's been all male guests.

I don't know that means. :)

Re: BlogTalkRadio show ‘FemSlash 4 Fans’ with host Allaine (and a bit about Utena)

Phaser — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 11:16:33 -0000

You are a reverse magnet for female guests??