magnuskn

Holy... is that a bedsheet you can buy, Kresphy?

Sheryl pantsus!

I think the definite answer is "Yack Deculture". Where he sees Sheryl first.

Eh, I also thought the pacing was off in some regards, but it worked for what it was. I won´t go into the details, I got enough shipping stuff going on on other boards.

Actually, so far the series has followed his approach to a T. Foreshadowing, plot and character development, it´s all there. It just seems unlikely that they will be able to pull it all together with only four episodes left, so the next logical conclusion is that there should be a season two in the works.

Funny, because the mayority of people I´ve talked with about the episode thought it was too rushed. ^^

Sorry, you are wrong. I am going to post a part of a column, which novel writer Robert Weinberg wrote a few years ago for a X-Men fansite named X-Fan, when he was writing the comic Cable ( for which he won one Bram Stoker award ). He also taught "Writing Thriller Fiction" at Columbia College in Chicago for 3 1/2 years, so it´s not as if he is talking out of his behind. It´s called "How to write" "Second rule: A story is like a human body. Your basic idea is the heart of your body. The plot is the skeleton. Without a skeleton, people are nothing more than mush. Without a plot, a story isn`t anything either. You take that basic idea and look at it with a writer`s eye (read my previous column) and say to yourself, "What does this imply?" or "What`s going to happen because of this event?" or one of a hundred other questions. You study your idea and look at what happens next. You have a heart, but now you need someplace to put it. You need that skeleton, the plot, for that idea to develop and work. A story needs a framework to work right. Don`t let anyone tell you otherwise. Character development is extremely important, as is setting, but a story that is all character and no plot, is not a story. It`s just a sketch. A story that`s all scenery and no plot is a landscape. A true story has events that follow logically from one point to another. Please, please note that word "logically". You can`t write a good story if the story doesn`t make sense. As you`re developing a plot, you need to ask yourself again and again and again (!!!) "does this make sense? Would anyone act this way?" The problem with so many terrible stories we see on TV or in the movies is that the people act so dumb. Why go into the basement when you know a serial killer is on the loose and you`re home alone? Wouldn`t it make more sense to call 911 then end up with an axe in the middle of your forehead? If your plot doesn`t read true, then readers aren`t going to believe your characters. And, if you want to keep someone reading your story, you need them to believe your characters are intelligent, not idiots. Now, let`s go back to the skeleton for a minute. There`s a reason I compare a story to a human body. As I said, the basic concept is the heart, and the plot is the skeleton. (next column, I`ll discuss muscles and blood - no kidding!). The main thing that you need to remember about a skeleton is that all the bones are attached - to each other. That`s another basic rule of storytelling that you can`t forget. Your plot has to flow from one point to another and everything in your story needs to be attached. Everything in your story needs to be there for a REASON. I type that in big letters because it`s a fact that many writers - amateur and professional both - seem to forget. A story is exactly like a skeleton. If halfway through a murder mystery, you spend a chapter describing the hero going for a swim in the swimming pool, later in that book that scene better have a reason. Otherwise, you`re just wasting the reader`s (and your) time. A well-told story does not contain material that is not relevant to the plot. Sure, it has sections that develop character and setting, but those are important elements to any story. Sure, if it is a mystery or suspense or adventure story, it might have elements that seem unimportant but that help establish a specific point that you need to know. However, a story filled with scenes that have no explanation and no tie-in with the story are filler. They might make the book or story longer, but they serve no useful purpose. And, the goal of a good writer is to construct a story that ties together perfectly. Comics are somewhat different than regular novels or short stories in that they are a continuous medium - that is, the adventures continue on and on, like a soap opera with super heroes. So, sometimes there are glimpses of things to come - events that happen that are not explained in the story, or sometimes, not for several stories to come. That`s foreshadowing, a standard practice in fiction that works as a continuous medium (not only comics, but novels that feature the adventures of the same characters, or movies like the Star Wars epics, etc.) That`s allowable, but within limits. If you`re going to use foreshadowing, one of the basic rules of writing dictates that you don`t begin a plot thread and leave it dangling until the readers have forgotten it. Otherwise, you`ve done nothing than waste space. Foreshadowing is fine, as long as you keep hinting from time to time that sooner or later that mysterious stuff that seems to make no sense is going to be discussed and hopefully will be exciting. Again, it`s all common sense. If you get the reader interested in what might happen next, you don`t postpone what should happen next for two or three years when they`ve totally lost interest in that plot thread. How can you tell if you`ve written a good plot? Play doctor. If your plot works, it should be just like a skeleton. Remove an important bone from a human skeleton and a person is permanently damaged. Remove an important scene from your book or your story or your comic and your story should be permanently damaged! In other words, every major scene, every major twist, every major turn in your story has to be there for a reason. If you can cut five pages from your story and it still reads exactly the same, then guess what? You`ve written five pages too many. A tight plot is one where every event matters, and if someone is reading your story and they skip a few pages, then they`ll need to go back and read them again. Watch The Sixth Sense. Or The Matrix. Or Dark City. Every scene in those movies is there for a purpose. Cut out a scene and the movie doesn`t make sense. The plots work and they work well. Then watch most Hong Kong action film (I admit I like them - a guilty pleasure). Cut out any scene other than the beginning and the final fight. No difference. Because the plot isn`t important, it`s just an excuse for a lot of action. It`s eye candy and it looks great. But, give me the choice between The Drunken Master and Dark City, I`ll take Dark City every time. " I find your lack of imagination disturbing.

Linn Minmeeeeeeeeyyyyyy.

Are you for real? Okay, I´ll need to ramble a bit. First off, you don´t introduce random elements into a series which in the end turn out to be for basically nothing, if you have any skill as a writer. If you have a scene in a room where a sword hangs on the wall, it better damned get used somehow somewhere! If Galaxies AIs have no bigger bearing on the series than to take up one episode with their chatter, then they should´t have been used at all. The time they took up could have been better used to make the Vajra something else than a faceless bug army, who have shown no personality at all during the whole series. The same goes for Mr. Bilrer and his galactic railway. At the end of episode 15 he was introduced to us as some sort of big revelation, and I don´t think the impression the creators wanted to give us was just "Gee, it´s a Zentraedi advisor in a wheelchair! And he likes trains! How EXCITING!". The scenes screamed "Set-up for an important character!" back then, but so far there has been no cash-out on that investment. If no further development on those two fronts would have been planned, then it would have behooved the creators to give us more background on the Vajra. So far, we know that they were somehow connected to the 117th and that the queen of Gallia IV could make a vision of Rankas mom. I have no doubt that we´ll get more on them in the last four episodes, but for the vast mayority of the series, all they have done is attack Frontier, then attack Frontier some more. No motivation, no negotiation, no personality. The only reason that they haven´t become the most boring enemy in Macross history, is that we know that there is another faction manipulating them. And that faction, Macross Galaxy, cannot be dealt with in another Macross series 10 years down the line. They either get defeated decisively right now, in the next four episodes, or they should get theirs in a second season. You cannot introduce a bunch of characters into a storyline, declare them to be the "real game" and then drop them like hot potatoes. At least not if you are a writer worth spit. As for the main characters, I don´t think we have scratched the surface of them yet. Yes, the love triangle is nearing its conclusion, but there are still many things which could be done with them. Characters can be more complex than a one-liner about them. Now, with the numerous colonization fleets out there, who knows how many of them are purely human and how many are cyborged up. If the cyborgs feel that they are now superior to the norms, then I do sense a conflict coming up. Macross Galaxy is not afraid to push that button, if it serves their ( still nebulous ) plans, so why don´t do it in a season two? And this brings me to my final point: The Macross universe must move a bit away from another enemy who just needs a beautiful song to be won over. We have had now three or four such antagonists? The Zentraedi, the Protodevlin, the Birdmen and now the Vajra? Wouldn´t have some people already said "Enough of this!", if it weren´t for the interminably long time we had to wait for another Macross series? You can only repeat a story so many times, before it becomes stagnant. Or are we all really just waiting for the Supervision Army to show up, and humanity just needs a new special songstress. To repeat the same story all over again? Let´s rather tell a new story in the Macross universe. How the inner conflict between the human and cyborg colonization fleets threatened to extinct humanity, and that conflict needed to be overcome. Preferably with good music.

Uh, Linn Minmey?

Which, uh, means you approve or disapprove of my suggestion of the theme for a S2?

I disagree profoundly. There is great potential for a pure human vs. cyborg conflict. Galaxy obviously chose Frontier as a target, because they are a fleet where implants are forbidden. Also, the whole sub-plot about Mr. Bilrer and his dream of a galactic railway ( which seems to be in opposition of whatever Graces faction wants to do ) would also have to be sub-developed or dropped, if everything finishes now. There has been much build-up of a greater plot than "Raaaahr! Another Vajra attack!", for the whole series. Unless they *somehow* manage to wrap that one up satisfactorily, it´s easy to find how they could expand upon it for a S2.

That may have been so, but that doesn´t make it easier on Leon from Cathy and Ozma.

The gg sub is out.

That would actually explain his call to Mr. Bilrer in the first episodes. Although, killing Cathys father in that case was a *bad move*, it put him squarely on the "Kill as soon and painfully as possible" list of Ozma.

Of course they can resolve this all pretty quickly, but then it would miss that care to detail we had for the last 21 episodes. So far the creators dont seem to be rushed with the plot, so I think they are already planning for S2 If all the plotting of the Galaxy AIs doesn´t comes to more than being surprised that Ranka returns as the queen of the Vajra, rescuieng Frontier from an attack by Galaxy, then I declare that side-plot deeply stupid. They could have easily done the series without involving a deeper conspiracy that comes to nothing in the end, so I think it needs to be the set-up for a S2.

Now, that isn´t something nice to say about your friends over there, Mike. ^^ At least not in reference to that obvious troll-post.

I am thinking about beginning a collection of quotes like this one, just for the case we do get a second season.

I think a season 2 is in the works. While we are hurtling to a conclusion of some kind to the Vajra, the build-up for Macross Galaxy so far has been too minimal to come off as a big "Bwuh?" if they´d have them turn out to be the endboss in the last episode.

It was just last episode that his best friend was offed by just one of the buggers who looks like Ai-kun. For him the Vajra have been so far mercyless, nameless bugs... what did you expect him to do? He didn´t have the benefit of getting a vision of Ranshe Mei from the Vajra queen, and Ranka so far hadn´t told anybody.

Klan is still alive, but, yeah, that did put my estimate that the spoilers are true a bit down. But with the Zero earrings, things are again falling into place. You can of course willfully ignore that something is a-coming... it worked well for Togo.

You don´t read spoilers, do you? I refer you to the last news thread. Or look here, third post from the bottom: http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php...621&page=63

Without a handy micronization chamber, Basara would only have counted as a very animated vibrator during the time they had. ^^

That´s because gg hates the VLC player. That the others failed, I mean. Although some times watching their subs on VLC can bring unintended hilarious results, like a certain unkind reference to Ranka, for example. Try Media Player Classic for their .mkvs, that one works perfectly.

It´d probably enough pandemonium to open the Eye of Terror. <rimshot Warhammer 40k reference>