Romantics Versus Enlightenment[/url posted:

The message of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is decidedly romantic at first glance; emotions and friendship are important, and the Enlightened main character must learn that lesson repeatedly. However, it's not quite that simple; Twilight Sparkle's perspective is shown as having its flaws, but she's far from "always wrong," and her task-oriented character, intelligence and logical skills help save the day at least as often as they cause problems for her. The actual moral tends to be that the Enlightenment needs to give Romanticism its due, but that doesn't make it a bad thing.

Romanticism Versus Enlightenment posted:

Currency: Some Romanticists claim that gold is a historically sound form of currency while many Enlightened see it as Worthless Yellow Rocks, preferring a fiat currency. Some Romanticists oppose all currency in general as dehumanizingly bureaucratic, elitist, and the root of all evil. They may instead prefer a group where necessities had to be shared for mutual survival, ala "Barter" or "Primitive communism". Some Enlightened oppose fiat currency and the Federal Reserve system in general, seeing it as nothing more than paper printed and falsely loaned away to unsuspecting people, causing inflation and making the people think they have to repay debt when there is nothing to repay. Some Enlightened prefer Communism, others opt for Energy-based currency because Equivalent Exchange cannot suffer inflation. Still other Enlightened people think that things such as class and currency are nothing more than necessary evils brought on by scarcity and hunger, that can be disposed off once technology and robotics become advanced enough to eliminate the need for labour.

Thwack! posted:

It has, thankfully, but I still was curious to see if there was even an article for that show.

Apparently, there is one. With 8557 pages no less. Hm.

made of bees posted:

No, see, Heisenberg's hat is a porkpie. Totally different from a fedora.

Count Chocula posted:

Did anyone go through and mock The Whately Universe? http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/WhateleyUniverse?from=Main.WhateleyUniverse
I'm pretty sure it's incomprehensible forum roleplaying, and it used to be spammed on every trope page.

Count Chocula posted:

Did anyone go through and mock The Whately Universe? http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/WhateleyUniverse?from=Main.WhateleyUniverse
I'm pretty sure it's incomprehensible forum roleplaying, and it used to be spammed on every trope page.

Trope Page posted:

The Whateley Universe is a Web Original prose Shared Universe in a Superhero School scenario with elements of the Cthulhu Mythos added into it. It has sometimes been compared to Marvel Comics' X-Men (and was in fact inspired by an X-Men fanfic written by one of Whateley's many authors).

FAQ posted:

What the heck is this?

Stories. Stories about teen aged kids who happen to be mutants. Their powers will lead them to eventually become super heroes, super villains, or perhaps something more complex.

FAQ posted:

During the course of their mutation or school experience, most of them will also have a TG (trans-gender) event that either changes the boys into girls, or girls into boys (although m2f is by far the most common). The changes are usually, but not always, permanent.

Trope page posted:

In one of many twists, between a sixth to a third of the students have a subconscious image of the form that their body ought to take, known as their Body Image Template (BIT). Mutants with a BIT generally gain either a physical or mental package of powers, frequently both. The physical package includes both beauty and brawn, the mental package includes major intelligence boosts as well as memory, etc. A BIT may change any aspect of a person's body, including their sex. In some cases the transformation may turn them into inhuman whatevers right out of a horror movie.

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Transgender: Everybody in Team Kimba and quite a number of other characters in their own stories. A uncommon (but apparently growing more common, see Lampshade Hanging above) side effect of the Exemplar power means you'll be changed whether you like it or not.

quote:

Transsexual: A number of Transgender characters qualify as this since they had felt as though they were the other gender to begin with before transforming. Jade is a more traditional example, being the only member of Team Kimba who has not physically transformed in any way and is searching for a way to become a "real" girl.

quote:

Involuntary Shapeshifting:
Exemplars dance between Involuntary Shapeshifting and Metamorphosis — Exemplars will end up looking like their idealized version of themselves, called a BIT. Unfortunately, BITs can be the wrong gender, the wrong species, etc etc. It's their own powers doing it to themselves, and they have limited if any control over it. (Typically using other powers causes the effect to accelerate.)

FAQ posted:

Did this start as some sort of Role Playing forum?

Yes and no. The initial authors tried to start a round-robin email role-playing game, which quickly collapsed. They junked those characters and started exploring new characters and concepts. They decided to write round-robin comic-book-style stories. "Enter the Chaka" was the first story and pretty well established all the basic concepts. Initially, it was planned to have new submissions coming out weekly, and that each submission would be like an issue of a comic book. Each story line would track a particular character; the stories would be open-ended; you would have lots of cross-overs and giant specials, etc.

FAQ posted:

So if it's not an RPG, I can't make my own character?

Oh, that's not a problem. Check the Crystal Hall Forum. There are periodic attempts to create games. There's also plenty of fanfiction. Fanfiction is usually proceded by a standard disclaimer:
"This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares?

WickedHate posted:

That reminds me of Misfile. It's been so long since I read it I can't remember if it was terrible or not.

BaDandy posted:

...W-what? Why? What the gently caress? I mean, I've seen this before a long time ago: usually in roleplays. Sex-swapping is a pretty common and wacky event, but not permanent, so I'm not sure why the gently caress it's here, and the FAQ isn't saying anything else, so I guess I'll look on the trope page again.

(Also it's pretty telling to me that male to female sex-swapping is more common. This is starting to sound like The Wotch but with mutants.)

The Iron Rose posted:

Misfile is surprisingly good, actually. At least on the trans related things, at any rate. Nothing seems done for obvious sex appeal,

DaveWoo posted:

Nah, Misfile is pretty bad when it comes to handling gender/trans issues. And it churns out fanservicey crap by the truckload.

DaveWoo posted:

Yeah, Tropers really do like their gender-swapping stuff. They've even got a whole index devoted to it here.


Nah, Misfile is pretty bad when it comes to handling gender/trans issues. And it churns out fanservicey crap by the truckload.

quote:

Trans Nature
A person is either part of a certain category (such as a certain species or gender) that they do not feel all right with, and so they want to be part of a different category, or the person was assigned a certain category (often against their will) that they never belonged to in the first place, or some combination of both. Because of this, the person may want or need to change their body or nature or both.

In fiction, Trans Nature can take any form, especially in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Note that trying to regain your true form (after having been cursed, for example) does not count. Starting to identify with your new form does, however.

When a character is a fictional kind of Trans Nature, it is often a big part of this character being a hero or villain: Either he's a member of a oppressive/evil group transitioning to become one of the good and/or oppressed people, or we have a "traitor" who identifies with the "wrong" group.

It can also work as an inversion of Internalized Categorism: Bob thinks men/humans are bad, but instead of denying himself the good things about being a man/human or doing bad things because he thinks that this is what being a "real" man/human means, he instead stop being a man/human — magically changing into something else.

Expect the character to be in a world of trouble if there is No Transhumanism Allowed.

May be caused by Humanity Is Infectious, or inversions thereof. In some cases, Trans Nature leads to Humanity Ensues. Note however that that trope is usually not combined with Trans Nature - instead, the animal resents having been transformed to a human. One very common form of Trans Nature is Pinocchio Syndrome: A robot, living doll or whatever wanting to become a real human.

Supertrope of Transsexual and Pinocchio Syndrome. Sometimes a Sister Trope of Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.

quote:

In the Isaac Asimov novella (and later film) The Bicentennial Man the robot "Andrew" desires to be human, so he gets various implants to change his robotic/positronic body & mind into biologic parts. When he finally becomes fully human he gets acknowledged as such by the government, and then dies of old age.

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In Reaper Man, the soon-to-be-dying wizard Windle Poons says at his Going-Away Party that he's considering being reincarnated as a woman. His colleagues are a little bit taken aback.

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In the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, Princess Ariel of the Mer-people have a fixation with humans, eventually falling in love with a human and becoming one herself. In this version of the story, humans and mer-people are portrayed as equal, so Ariel's transformation isn't about becoming better or worse.

The original HC Andersen version is not so nice. In this version, it turns out that God love only mankind, so the Mermaid is doomed from the beginning simply for being born as a "lesser" species. Since her quest in this version was limited to trying to reach out to her Love Interest, it's not an example of this trope. Oh, and it fails miserably, too.

quote:

There are several versions. For example, trans people are coercively assigned a certain gender at birth that does not match their real gendernote or are simply born in a gender that doesn't match them. There are also religious examples, mostly tied to belief in reincarnation — since men have higher social status, many Hindu and Buddhist women openly hope to be male in the next life, while still having an entirely female gender identity in this life.

Otherkin. To quote Wiki Fur, "Otherkin are those who believe that their physical forms do not define or fully encompass their mental states, personality, psychology, or spiritual nature." See the full article here.
And some furries as well. These most often take the route of reincarnation much like the aforementioned religions.

DaveWoo posted:

Nah, Misfile is pretty bad when it comes to handling gender/trans issues. And it churns out fanservicey crap by the truckload.

Install Windows posted:

There was some point where the original author gave up writing/drawing it and let one of their fans take over the official comic website and I think even got named the official continuance or sequel to the comic. And that fan did a ton of fanficcy stuff with it.

Analysis: Netorare posted:

Why is the genre so unpopular? ...and for some a guilty pleasure?

As one might effortlessly predict, many people seriously detest this genre/trope. It might have to do with the oft-idealised nature of relationships in the anime/manga culture, along with the fanbase's obsession with purity — a phenomenon apparent by the popularity of tropes like Sacred First Kiss, Yamato Nadeshiko, My Girl Is Not a Slut or Moe. That is to say, Otakudom seems to have a strong connection with a specific, sugary perception of romantic relationships, built around pure, sincere, genuine commitment. Hence Netorare, being at the opposite side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism, tends to rub people the wrong way. In spite of all the hate, some people are genuinely attracted to this kind of story, for various reasons. Inversely, most fans of the genre are also obsessed with purity, which is what makes it all the more enticing when that purity is broken.

There's also the fact that much of the genre is the emotional equivalent of Torture Porn, so even people who aren't that interested in purity get squicked.

Lottery of Babylon posted:

Misfile, like pretty much anything else that does the "person is stuck as the wrong gender but it's okay because eventually they learn to enjoy it anyhow" thing (which I'm sure is a trope, or more likely seven tropes),

Lottery of Babylon posted:

Whoever was saying that the Japanese words tropers use are all easy but embarrassing to translate is right - apparently "Netorare" means "cuckold". Somehow the question of why that might be considered gross or might not be super-popular is the thing tropers think is worthy of analysis. And they don't even manage to get it right - as creepy as otaku obsession with childlike (often far too literally) innocence is, I think there might be a more obvious reason why cuckold porn isn't very popular.

Lottery of Babylon posted:

Misfile, like pretty much anything else that does the "person is stuck as the wrong gender but it's okay because eventually they learn to enjoy it anyhow" thing (which I'm sure is a trope, or more likely seven tropes), is almost by definition awful at handling trans issues.

quote:

"Gladiator Beast Gyzarus Fusion Summoned!" (Gladiator Beast Gyzarus ATK: 2400)
"And now, his effect allows him to destroy two cards on the field! So..." he pointed dramatically at Blaine and River, "...your two face-down Spells or Traps, whatever their identities are, shall disappear!" Gyzarus moved with shocking speed, appearing at the two indicated cards to slash them in half with it's arm-blades. River's facedow Mirror Force was shatter, just as Blaine's Royal Decree vanished. The two of them looked at each other, made a 'cheers' motion, and took a shot each.

quote:

The boy that had been pointed out by Blaine earlier decided to finally move from his perch, eyes fixed upon Kizuna as he took strides into the room, flicking his black Duel Gazer out of his pocket and setting it over his right eye. As soon as he reached Ulfric he quietly spoke to him, where the most attentive may catch a whiff of a muddy French accent.
"Ulfric, allow me to deal with this girl. I will require your assistance with a particular issue later on and if this girld happens to do you some damage I will not be able to ask will I?"

quote:

As Marvin was walking around Slifer Dorm, he consulted his PDA. 227, hmm... And Coro Estesia? Name sounds... Full of destiny. Surely, this bright young chap would make an excellent hench— assistant. Marvin decided; he was taking this 'Coro' kid under his wing!

DaveWoo posted:

Three different tropes, to be exact.

quote:

Enter The Chaka

She has the strength of Arnold Schwartzeneggar, the reflexes of Jet Li, the beauty of Halle Berry and the common sense of Lizzie MacGwuire! Toni 'Chaka' Chandler could be a great superhero- IF she can pass High School English!

Sensitive to gender issues! Really! posted:

Fey

Nikki Riley. Georgeous, Magically talented, The very image of a Fairie Princess. What's the problem with that? She's a guy!

Coming Out

Jared finally found a way to fight back against his abusive father. Jinn was a projection of his inner self, but why was Jade a girl? And... Was Jared, now calling himself Jade, EVER going to start growing up?

Away from Home

Jared can summon a ghostly spirit: Himself. If you think that's confusing, imagine how Jared feels! He's beside himself. But an even bigger question is: Why is the spirit female?

Unexpected Consequences

Billy ate the brownie his brother offered. Not a good idea. What followed was a wild mess of transformation, kidnapping, escapes, mass destruction, and hiding out. Also, what's a teenaged boy doing having a period?!

Ayla and the Late Trevor James Goodkind

Trevor James Goodkind has spent his entire life being groomed as a scion of the Goodkind empire. He has devoted his life to Goodkind ideals: responsibility, respect, and protecting the world from mutants. Now he's about to meet the enemy.. and it's him. But turning into a mutant is only his first catastrophe. No one ever said anything about having to wear a bra!

crowfeathers posted:

Your name sounds full of destiny.

quote:

Inspired by this episode of Writing Excuses. Let's share the opening lines/paragraphs of our current project(s), so they may be judged with outstanding cruelty.

Except scratch the last part. Ok, go!

quote:

Sorry, right now the first two paragraphs of my book are the best. Unless something changes, I'm not putting them out in public.

quote:

"Listen up, preach. I will literally crush your rear end into a cube if you don't scurry the gently caress off to whatever rock you skittered out under from right this instant. Don't believe me? I can do it. I can make you square. I have thirty pounds of good miracle lettuce hidden under this coat, it's five million loving degrees out, and, frankly, I wasn't in much of a mood to begin with."

Tollymain posted:

I'm not a huge fan of the comic either, but I feel the need to correct you. It's not part of that "genre". The main character is still pretty definitely not okay with what happened to them, last I checked.

Asgerd posted:

22 Eargesplitten posted:

Yeah, I haven't read it in a long-rear end time (hasn't it been going for nearly 10 years now?) but the last time I read it it was still "gently caress this, I want my old body back."

quote:

The fans, on the other hand, are loving terrible. Which is a tremendous surprise for absolutely nobody in this thread.

Asgerd posted:

And of course:

Asgerd posted:

Arcsquad12 posted:

I want this book to become a massive bestseller hit, alongside such timeless classics as the Inheritance Cycle.

Sham bam bamina! posted:

Am I the only one here who actually wants Major Tom to finish his magnum opus? I want Endless Conflict to be a complete, fully-formed work among such titans as Dragons: Lexicon Triumvirate and Maradonia and the Seven Bridges. Maybe the guy'll even vanity-publish it so I can have a copy of my own on my bookshelf.

CoolZidane posted:

A wise man once said "All things must pass", which means that all things which occur must inevitably pass. Eventually, this thing will pass as all things must. Because after all, all things must pass.

Flesnolk posted:

50 Shades made it, so I guess anything can happen in the current publishing market.

He'd actually have to have some idea of how to market a book though, and overall not be a worthless, gibbering pile of fat.

quote:

In the year 2472, open war has begun between the forces of the Starlight Alliance and the Preyaran Daemonyte. As battles in space and on land erupt, the Cold War of the past centuries boils over in a grand struggle to end the Endless Conflict once and for all.

Or so the sides hope.

Endless Conflict tells the story of Mathias "Mat" Watkins, Tenchi Yamanaka, and a young Terran named Daniel as they live and fight the final phase of the eponymous conflict to whatever conclusion it may bring. Spanning a planned trilogy, the series begins where it all begins early on for the characters, exploring who they are and why they are that way but then thrusts them straight into the action as the universe drags them straight into the conflict and continues on from there.

The series is notable for its Deconstruction of the Space Marine and traditional futuristic military sci while set in a grand Space Opera. Tactics are examined, personalities exposed, and even the lines between sides grows blurred as the story unfolds. Additionally, nothing major about the series is planned and created ahead of time because the author hates outlining though connecting the major events is largely done on improvisation or freewriting.

A labor several years in the making from a design standpoint, and as of yet still far from finished, Endless Conflict strives to be the best it can be or die trying. If I ever get it finished and/or published that is...

This series also is known for being poorly written and eternally unfinished.

quote:

I read From White to Black (a story in The Storm Dragons), even though I have never read or watched anything from the source works of the Inheritance Cycle. This tale is very violent, with a war where Anyone Can Die

quote:

I'm going to recommend Reflections Lost On A Dark Road. The fic is actually a crossover between two fics, Dark Titans and The Road To Cydonia. Consequently, the fic was intentionally written so that readers don't have to be familiar with either of them to understand the story. That said, both stories involved are Ranma ½ crossovers, so while you don't have to be familiar with Teen Titans or X-COM (or Inuyasha, Black Lagoon, Green Lantern, or any of the other series that the fic makes crossovers with), a degree of familiarity with Ranma ½ is assumed. However, due to the divergences of each fic from canonical Ranma ½, Reflections Lost On A Dark Road manages to explain things well enough that even readers completely unfamiliar with Ranma ½ should be able to grasp what's going on.

So if you're a fan of Ranma ½, Teen Titans, or X-COM, I would recommend Reflections Lost On A Dark Road. And if you're not a fan of any of them, it's still a good read, but what the hell are you doing reading Fan Fiction of them instead of reading/playing the original series that the fanfic was based on!?

A word of warning: Reflections Lost on a Dark Road can be very dark at times, and is extremely abusive toward the characters in it. It's not that it bashes them (it doesn't). Instead, it goes out of its way to put the characters in situations that test just how far they can be pushed before breaking. And some of the characters do break.

A second word of warning: The Inuyasha characters are a minor part of the story that could be taken out without much of an impact, yet receive some of the harshest treatment in the story. If you are an Inuyasha fan reading the story because I mentioned Inuyasha, you might want to avoid reading this story, as they are rather horrifyingly deconstructed in chapter 1, and never show up again. If you are unfamiliar with Inuyasha, ignore this warning altogether.

quote:

Fidelity is a Generation Kill slash romance soulbond fic. I haven't seen any of Generation Kill but I like this fic as a romance.

Fuego Fish posted:

I could tear into this with critique, but "show don't tell, you incompetent shitstain" would cover most of the problems.

quote:

There are several stories by this author, but this is among my favorites. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9285729/1/What-Were-You-Thinking It's a more serious look at Nickelodeon's Aaaah! Real Monsters and what drives people to commit Van Helsing Hate Crimes. There's plenty of Continuity Nods as well as Shout Outs to famous horror franchises, but I think it's enjoyable even if you're unfamiliar with the show.

Improbable Lobster posted:

Washout Tom is a writer in the same way that he's a soldier.

Fuego Fish posted:

By TvTropes logic, all you need to be a writer is the ability to put words together into sentences.

Arcsquad12 posted:

I want this book to become a massive bestseller hit, alongside such timeless classics as the Inheritance Cycle.

Flesnolk posted:

50 Shades made it, so I guess anything can happen in the current publishing market.

Smoking Crow posted:

I kind of want him to finish writing it and get it published just to see what the general public thinks of it.

Flesnolk posted:

People will read any loving thing these days.

DaveWoo posted:

Hey now, that's unfair. By TvTropes logic, all you need to be a writer is the ability to put Tropes together into sentences.

quote:

the original idea was conceived when I started wondering what an actually effective system of government that allows for the autonomy of First Nations while still providing them with an amount of infrastructure and greater influence.

quote:

while I strongly disapprove of the morals both demonstrated and taught in the Bible, my approval or disapproval here is irrelevant, as I'm not here to judge them, neither by my standards nor by those of their era.

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Congenitally needing to eat sapient beings is enough to justify a Guilt Free Extermination War, in my book. The only reason to compromise with something so hideous is impotence

quote:

That gigolo story is more and more awesome by the chapter. The clop is very rushed, though. Not that I mind; the characterization is gold.

crowfeathers posted:

That gigolo story is more and more awesome by the chapter. The clop is very rushed, though. Not that I mind; the characterization is gold.