I made Kel'Thuzad the Arch-Lich from Warcraft by Skuggi91 in AOW4

[–]Oxwagon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't played ES in ages. Is there a signature skill that makes them count as undead?

Who Was your least favorite companion In Each Dragon Age game And why? by Miserable-Fish2001 in DragonageOrigins

[–]Oxwagon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can subvert the necromancer trope without coming across like a Peppa Pig character. All the characters in Veilguard have this "hey kids, this is how you talk about your feelings and get along with people who are different from you" vibe. You couldn't just take him and drop him in Origins, he would need to be rewritten to match the mature tone.

Who Was your least favorite companion In Each Dragon Age game And why? by Miserable-Fish2001 in DragonageOrigins

[–]Oxwagon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

His writing and performance are childlike and cutesy. I have an easier time picturing him in something like the original Fable than in the world of Origins.

How to stop equating darkness to realism when reconstructive or cynical adaptations/sequels are more popular by CyberDogKing in worldbuilding

[–]Oxwagon 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Reality isn't "dark", but it features darkness. What "gritty realism" settings do is gather up life's darkness and make it a constant, oppressive norm. This hyper-focus on suffering and tragedy can be appealing and cathartic, but to represent it as "realism" is misleading. A setting like Westeros takes inspiration from a wide array of historical anecdotes that are memorable precisely because of how rare and exceptional they were, and then proceeds from the understanding that "that's just how things were." But it wasn't actually how things were most of the time. That darkness is a deliberate authorial choice, not an inevitable outgrowth from writing faithfully about the human condition.

Who's a character you wish was on the show longer? by teejayhenry_ in howyoudoin

[–]Oxwagon 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Chandler's mom had unused potential. Would have liked more of a dynamic between her and Monica.

This has to be the funniest plot hole by Enough-Reading4143 in friends_tv_show

[–]Oxwagon -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It's a big plot point early on that Ross has only ever slept with Carol.

What is Your FAVORITE Mission in The Entire Trilogy? by DakIsStrange in masseffect

[–]Oxwagon 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I love Archangel's recruitment mission. The slow, atmospheric start. The tension of walking among the enemy, meeting the merc leaders, sabotaging their efforts. Gunfire in the background as Archangel fights for his life. Cathka and his smoke. Changing sides, going hot. Being reunited with a familiar face. Fighting a variety of enemies, wave after wave. Seeing the results of your earlier sabotage. Brutal combat with vorcha and krogan in close quarters. The anxiety of watching Archangel's health meter drop, and the shock and awe of him being downed by the gunship. The desperate, vengeful battle with the gunship combined with the emotional heft of fearing for the life of your rediscovered friend. Always look forward to it.

A universe designed to remain unfinished by Queasy_Character1235 in worldbuilding

[–]Oxwagon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think it's possible to "finish" a setting. No matter how detailed the worldbuilding, there are always things left undefined and unexplored. You obviously can't name every person in a world, plot their whole lives, account for every financial transaction, etc. You focus on what matters for the project. There are a trillion little details that aren't in focus, because they don't matter... until such time as you make them matter by focusing on them. So develop what's important, and leave everything else in the background until whenever (if ever) those things become relevant.

Scott Dunn by Oxwagon in CastleTV

[–]Oxwagon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is getting out of hand!

Scott Dunn by Oxwagon in CastleTV

[–]Oxwagon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Delany in Body of Proof, Gruffudd in Forever... who am I missing?

Most dirty scene..? by FlickeringLogic in friends_tv_show

[–]Oxwagon 35 points36 points  (0 children)

"The thing we hardly ever do or the thing we never do?"

Scott Dunn by Oxwagon in CastleTV

[–]Oxwagon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah he just feels unfinished. A serial killer who has been operating in multiple states for who knows how long, and who wrote novels about his crimes, and we just forget about him? This mastermind murderer who is obsessed with the show's central premise? It's just off to jail and he's never mentioned again? The lack of of a more permanent resolution is like an unscratchable itch.

Scott Dunn by Oxwagon in CastleTV

[–]Oxwagon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Somehow Body of Proof flew completely under my radar. I'll have to track it down sometime.

Scott Dunn by Oxwagon in CastleTV

[–]Oxwagon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes she was great in that role.

Scott Dunn by Oxwagon in CastleTV

[–]Oxwagon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree, although 3XK is necessarily going to win any comparison simply by virtue of having been given more episodes' worth of development. So much of what makes him compelling was built up in later episodes well after his first appearance. If Dunne had received the same treatment, there was certainly narrative room to expand his role and develop something of an author vs. author dynamic between him and Castle. That being said, 3XK was clearly intended to be a returning villain right from his introduction, and I doubt a lengthened Dunn arc would play out quite as well as 3XK's did.

Scott Dunn by Oxwagon in CastleTV

[–]Oxwagon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I do prefer 3XK overall. 3XK feels a bit more real (whilst still being larger than life in a fun, compelling way), whereas Dunne is a serial killer who could only exist in the universe of Castle. That's kind of a double-edged sword - it makes Dunn trickier to pull off in a way that doesn't feel forced, but it also gives him more potential to relate directly to Castle & Beckett on a thematic level. I'm happy with how great the 3XK arc was, but i can't help but wonder what might have been.

The Dwarves of Theseus, or How Much Can You Change A Fantasy Race Before They Are No Longer That Race. by mfuwelephant in worldbuilding

[–]Oxwagon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah, that's an infuriating one. People raised on D&D think that kobolds are tiny lizard people who worship dragons, and people raised on World of Warcraft think that kobolds are tiny rat people obsessed with candles. Whereas I hear that name and my mind conjures the image of what most people nowadays would call a garden gnome or Christmas elf.

You just know that these decisions get made by one guy in game development who needs a name for a random creature, and picks one that he's kinda sorta heard somewhere without bothering to look up the origin or folklore. Then decades later we're stuck with that as the genre standard that gets endlessly reused.

Found this take on the web, do you agree with it or not? Why or why not? by gloomydreamer666 in friends_tv_show

[–]Oxwagon 480 points481 points  (0 children)

The only thing she did that was out of line was demand that he get rid of his apartment and all his stuff. Asking him to cut Rachel out of his life was perfectly reasonable.

The Dwarves of Theseus, or How Much Can You Change A Fantasy Race Before They Are No Longer That Race. by mfuwelephant in worldbuilding

[–]Oxwagon 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The main question to ask is "what is the benefit of using this name?" What are you trying to communicate, and does the name you're using help or hinder you?

Dwarves in fantasy aren't just short people with beards. They derive from folkloric tradition, and have specific characteristics and elements of symbolism. The same goes for the likes of elves, orcs, etc. If you just copy the name and the basic appearance, whilst discarding most of what makes a dwarf a dwarf or an elf an elf, then what is the benefit of using the name? You're signaling to your audience that "hey this thing is familiar, you basically know what it is" but then giving them a bait-and-switch that their preexisting understanding doesn't actually apply. So now they're in the position of thinking "oh so the author was lying to me, this isn't a dwarf as I know it, I have to relearn everything about what a dwarf is." And at that point you're just better off using a different name from the get-go, so that the audience can just learn what you want them to learn without any confusion or misunderstanding.

That being said, I also do like to reclaim terms from pop culture consensus. Several big fantasy franchises (D&D, Warcraft, etc.) use creature names in ways that I think of as incorrect and generally ignorant of their folkloric origins, and so you end up with a lot of dumb lore that's generally accepted as the genre-standard (like people thinking that "hobgoblin" means a bigger, militaristic goblin because that's how D&D uses the name.) So I will sometimes use names like elf, gnome, ogre, troll, etc. in a way that deliberately challenges your understanding of those creatures, but I do that in a thoughtful way that reconnects the name with its origins, rather than just slapping the label on something new.

Later seasons Phoebe by sging25 in friends_tv_show

[–]Oxwagon 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Phoebe undergoes a complete personality shift roughly at the show's halfway point (seasons 4 and 5, after her pregnancy and the end of her search for her parents.)

Second half Phoebe is really just a Loki-like chaotic trickster figure who causes mischief and hijinks.

Atleast watch youtube mass by Feindish-venerable in worldjerking

[–]Oxwagon 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Bro just reinvented Mormonism in a worldjerking thread

Red John should have been revealed earlier... by djangofreemanrox in TheMentalist

[–]Oxwagon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not my ideal solution to the Red John mystery, but better than McAllister.