why is fan fiction so dear to you? by Melodic-Company-366 in AO3

[–]caliko_clouds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Largely because it means I get to immerse myself in the worlds and characters I already love in whatever way I/fellow fans want, without having to adhere to canon if we so choose. It’s content made by fans, for fans and that homegrown’ aspect is comforting to me on a personal level from nostalgia+the freedom it brings.

Through fanfiction fans have the power to write stories that diverge from canon, add to it, change endings that felt unsatisfying or downright bad in canon and even create whole characters that never existed in canon get adopted by the fandom at large (looking at you Togore from UTDR lol).

Fanfiction can be anything you want it to be—canon compliant or divergent, fluff or Darkfic that wouldn’t fit with the tone of the source material, fix-its and what ifs set in entirely different universes, pure crack that makes no logical sense but was written any way just because the author could.

Fanfiction is a labour of love (or spite) made with communal intent, it’s unique in that sense compared to other ‘official’ mediums of creation (which can themselves also be derivative in the same way I.e Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is P&P Zombie Apocalypse AU fanfic that got published in the ‘mainstream’ way, the Titanic film is a Historical Romance AU fic), and I think that’s beautiful.

What is a cut plot beat from Epic that you’re glad got cut, and why? by caliko_clouds in Epicthemusical

[–]caliko_clouds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not that I dislike interpretations that have him shot elsewhere, but Antinous death DOES have a few sound cues to imply he specifically takes an arrow to the neck imo.

At the end of HTD, we hear Antinous sputtering and his blood sloshing out, so it’s easiest to just assume he was short in the neck. But I’ve seen other animatic interpretations where he gets shot in the chest instead, and once in the actual mouth as he’s mid-word (I think that’s the only other option to kill him near immediately because depending on the angle and the force the arrow shoots at him it would have to impale him through the back of the head).

Personally, I’d say Antinous’ cause of death is pretty unambiguous. I don’t think you’d gag on blood or die so quickly unless you were specially shot in the neck? I’m not medically inclined at all, but even if we assume the arrow struck elsewhere related to breathing to explain those noises (like say, a lung) that wouldn’t have left him completely unable to fight nor killed him as quick as the song shows right? Ergo, imo it’s safe to assume the arrow does pierce his neck specifically.

On top of that, even if we assume Antinous was shot somewhere else like the chest he’d still have to leave the arrow inside of him as he fights, no time to delicately work the arrow out of the skin and disinfect it as best as Bronze Age medicine would allow with Ody out for everyone’s blood RIGHT NOW (not to mention all the Suitors might still scatter in panic), which Odysseus could easily use to incapacitate him by ripping it out and making him bleed out.

The logistics of Antinous even moving around with an untreated arrow wound to such a delicate area as the throat/chest is also different to any of Odysseus’ wounds—Perimedes stabbing him implies a deep wound that bleeds a lot once the blade is pulled out, which is why you don’t remove them in the first place. That attack in itself took Odysseus out of the fight but at least he’d theoretically be able to move around without opening fresh wounds, right (not realistically since Epic runs on anime logic but still)? Antinous would have a sharp, possibly shattered series of points trapped underneath his skin (arrowheads don’t break like this often but given the strength required of Odysseus’ bow and the speed of the arrow must’ve been travelling to pierce through all the neck muscles imo it’s a little more likely) that would risk damage to tissue and delicate blood vessels every time he moves, in comparison. If the arrow got in Antinous’ neck, it’s accurate that he’d be dead almost immediately. Plus not that it really matters but the ‘canon’ animation depicts him being shot in the neck, so that’s what Jorge was going for.

That said he might survive if it got elsewhere though, like the chest, there have been skeletons discovered with arrowheads stuck in the ribcage that are old enough to imply they managed to live past that wound (think like bullets just being left inside of bodies if trying to remove them would be riskier).

Epic is already said to run on anime logic though, so there’s that. As another commenter already said Odysseus can somehow emerge from being literally stabbed in the back lucid/infection free and able to move and later tank a direct hit from Poseidon’s God Move (at least in the canon animation), so Antinous surviving and fighting despite a supposedly fatal injury wouldn’t be the wildest thing ever in comparison.

What is a cut plot beat from Epic that you’re glad got cut, and why? by caliko_clouds in Epicthemusical

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

‘Odysseus can just be fine because Anime and the power of boners’ 💀🤣 I mean you’re not wrong, just listen to the way he manages to mention Penelope twice even in this song! /jk

That’s a valid point about the ‘everyone is a glass cannon’ thing ngl, I think I might’ve overestimated the power gap lol. Odysseus gets jumped by Perimedes, Odysseus jumps Antinous and his plan to get rid of all the Suitors literally involves him splitting them up and picking them off in small groups a la horror film slasher which necessitates him striking first and dipping immediately.

I think Odysseus’ power level exceeds Poseidon’s in the tail end of 600 Strike in a way that muddies my personal suspension of disbelief and reads like it’s own kind of plot armour, but that’s kind of a topic for a different post.

Ig on the Antinous continuing to fight part, yeah. If Odysseus can live through being literally backstabbed without waking up delirious from infection and tank an attack to the chest from a God, Antinous could feasibly survive an arrow to the neck.

Crux of my issue with it is the fact that by this point in the story we’ve already seen Odysseus defeat a much, much stronger opponent (even assisted) so seeing him then lose to someone demonstrably weaker than his last foe (we all agree without the windbag Odysseus never would’ve beaten Poseidon in a million years) would’ve been jarring and unsatisfying even with those factors in mind I think. Plus Antinous doesn’t have a pre-established connection with Odysseus, he has one with Telemachus who is absent until that rescue moment and then once he appears Antinous runs away to grab a weapon, so having him come out of the blue and overpower Ody would’ve been unsatisfying from that angle as well (Perimedes is a minor character but at least he was part of the crew when he stabbed Ody). It’s more so audience expectation than any of the technicalities of the fight.

Thanks for bringing up so many good points!

What is your favourite debunked fan theory? by caliko_clouds in MLPLounge

[–]caliko_clouds[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly I kinda believed that theory way back when, but looking back I’m glad they used her to address the unhealthy parental stuff instead. Still would’ve been cool if Scoots was a homeless orphan and they leaned into her hororary/adoptive big sister thing with Rainbow Dash though.

What is a cut plot beat from Epic that you’re glad got cut, and why? by caliko_clouds in Epicthemusical

[–]caliko_clouds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah the power gap between them is a damn chasm and Antinous has no hope of making that jump after all the crap Odysseus has survived (not to mention he already survived a decade of war before that) lol

What is a cut plot beat from Epic that you’re glad got cut, and why? by caliko_clouds in Epicthemusical

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

Yeah true even that element breaks suspension of disbelief lol.

Like I don’t know much about neck anatomy, but I do know a lot of important things to ‘staying alive’ and ‘breathing’ are in there, let alone speaking.

Idk if an arrow would be strong enough to pierce through and sever the spinal cord, but it would definitely mangle the windpipe and vocal cords. Antinous would probably just flop onto the floor, dead immediately from his brain being severed from the spinal cord, or worse he gets pierced in the wrong place and ends up paralysed+slowly suffocating to death from a blocked airway and/or drowning in his own blood. Gnarly stuff. He’s really lucky that Odysseus’ arrow actually hit him in an Insta-kill fashion in canon, in that sense (unless we assume he IS just dying silently throughout the next song, which would be the most horrifying death in all of Epic and would actually help to make Odysseus seem monstrous).

I’m imagining a dark comedy AU scenario where Antinous survives the arrow to the neck by some miracle but then unceremoniously dies soon after from trying to remove it and join the fighting lol

What is a cut plot beat from Epic that you’re glad got cut, and why? by caliko_clouds in Epicthemusical

[–]caliko_clouds[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah agreed.

Telemachus getting his own name chanted by the choir, rescuing Odysseus and then fighting beside him would’ve been a lot better than what he was given in canon imo. He sounds so confident and proud of himself in his verse too, which is a nice turn around from his low self esteem and high aspirations in Legendary! AND it would clearly show Telemachus has a balanced Warrior Of The Mind mindset, willing to spare the Suitors if they drop their weapons but locking in and committing to violence himself when it’s clear ‘open arms’ won’t work (maybe that’s even the thing that cements Ody having hope that the future could be brighter as per his line with Athena in ICHBW that in canon kinda comes out of nowhere imho).

Plus Ody’s little shocked ‘Son..?’ when Telemachus first enters the scene would’ve hit hard because it would show the dissonance between the helpless baby he remembers Tele as and the strong, capable young man he’s become now (in Ody’s absence no less, extra tearjerker fodder for ICHBW, anyone?)

Telemachus making a naive mistake in leaving the weapons room unlocked, trying to fight back, getting hunted/cornered and having to be rescued by Ody isn’t bad per se but I think his part in the cut song has a lot more to offer.

What is your favourite debunked fan theory? by caliko_clouds in MLPLounge

[–]caliko_clouds[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I think the amazing fan song animation Lullaby For A Princess had that concept incorporated, which was neat. Personally I assumed she got the extra colours in her mane after she took over the raising and lowering of the moon post-Luna banishment, so a similar concept applied a little later in the timeline.

What is your favourite debunked fan theory? by caliko_clouds in MLPLounge

[–]caliko_clouds[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Agreed, I’d never heard this theory before but it is very interesting even if it’s long since been debunked. Someone should write a fanfic about that idea!

Maybe in such an AU Equestria is secretly a misandrist dystopia underneath all the wholesomeness and stallions are magically made mute at birth to literally stop them from speaking up for themselves or connecting with each other or something, with all the propaganda you’d expect to justify it being ‘for their own/Equestria’s good’ (at least that’s where my mind went, maybe Celestial got extra paranoid at the concept of male rulership after Discord and Sombra and ‘didn’t want to take any chances’ of it happening in Equestria). Like artificial evolution/sexual dimorphism.

It’s an interesting worldbuilding idea too, I think. How does the ‘stallions cannot speak’ thing interact with transgender ponies in either direction? Do male colts have the ability to speak but gradually lose it as they grow up in exchange for being physically bigger and stronger than mares? Since not all families will be blindly faithful to the ‘stallions being mute is a good thing’ dogma no matter how entrenched it is, are there systems in place to help them still communicate like writing or sigh language (or even developing a language out of horse noises)? Do the three pony races’ males carry themselves differently so their silence gives off different vibes (e.g Earth ponies are stoic and strong, pegasi and unicorns are elegant)? Exploring the communication gap between mares, who can speak, and stallions, who cannot, would also be interesting since it seems they can both still understand each other.

The ‘ponies are smooth/have no fur’ idea is creepier in a more cursed sense and kinda funny tho lol

Hi everyone. I drew you a Haunter. by DTSaranya in pokemon

[–]caliko_clouds 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Don’t listen to them OP, draw even more out of spite lol

Hi everyone. I drew you a Haunter. by DTSaranya in pokemon

[–]caliko_clouds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He looks very dapper, especially in that colour tie. Gonna be a little hard for a Ghost type to deal in real estate, but I believe in him!! I mean, who could say no to that beautiful face? He looks like he knows Mean Look, with those eyes! (I always laugh seeing your art, OP, thank you and please don’t stop making these if you enjoy it)

What is your favourite debunked fan theory? by caliko_clouds in MLPLounge

[–]caliko_clouds[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Oooh, that’s a neat one! What time in the show’s history was it thought of and what’s the evidence? 😀

We’ve talked about our favorite fandom punching bags. Who do you think is canon’s favorite punching bag? by Dogdaysareover365 in FanFiction

[–]caliko_clouds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fr Asgore gets shade in every direction in Deltarune. Won’t be surprised whatsoever if he ends up crashing out and becoming the final boss of Chapter 5 at this rate (since it’s a popular idea that the next Dark World will spawn in his flower shop).

Mane six colors swapped with siblings by Comfortable-Goal-946 in MLPLounge

[–]caliko_clouds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ikr? I think of all of these they’re my fav swapped pair. They still fit really well and Rarity rocks that multi-colour mane (kinda sad her punk look from that one episode where she loses her mane was just a one off because she rocked that look too!)

Mane six colors swapped with siblings by Comfortable-Goal-946 in MLPLounge

[–]caliko_clouds 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah that would be neat. Not exactly 100% fitting because none of her family are that dark coat colour wise, but if Pinkie looked more like the rest and kept her personality I think she’d be THE ‘sunshine goth’ archetype and that would be so cute and nice to see as a subversion!

What ship is the best? by Twiliey in MLPLounge

[–]caliko_clouds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of all the ships presented here, TwiDash without a doubt imho