@MikeQ youtube.com/watch?v=2hETSkQMlsc in case you've never seen it

It's double edged. It was the biggest source of trash and repeat questions but also the biggest source of people who wanted help.

@Carcer Yep I regularly watch that channel

I'm not sure if it's a problem but I don't go on SFF these days because a large part of my most upvoted answers were complete conjectures.

@MikeQ Do you listen to Caldwell's D&D podcast, too?

To draw a parallel, it'd basically be guessing at designer intent.

@Carcer No but I probably should

@MikeQ It is very good, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it a lot if you enjoy drawfee

@Yuuki I also got tired of having people argue about Harry Potter who wouldn't know an unreliable narrator if it bit them on the fundament.

@Yuuki Having known you passively for a couple years, why do i suspect you have a highly voted "Darth Vader did nothing wrong" comment with a buncha upvotes?

@BESW but is bumbledore eeeeevil, BESW?

Oh man never debate Harry Potter.

That stuff is RELIGION to some fans.

New SFF question: "Is My Immortal considered canon?"

@Maximillian Hmm... lemme look through my history. I don't think I've made that comment, but I dunno.

Probably not, but I can't rule it out with your whimsical nature.

@Carcer Oh boy, I have a strong distaste for HP fanfiction community for this particular reason.

woe betide anyone who has to analyse HPMoR

@Carcer Mumblecore is a ruthlessly ambitious con artist who thinks that having achieved a position of institutional power gives him a mandate to sacrifice people for his vision of the greater good.

I think another one you simply don't ask anymore is: "Is X considered part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe canon these days?"

@Maximillian That one is easy to answer: No (for any X)

His passive-aggressive radicalizing of Harry Potter is masterful.

@GreySage Imaginary comment: "No no but X was referenced in Rogue One, so that means Y, and Z are re-legitimized!"

@Ash Kids grew up with it, Ash. Basically what it is

(I do not, however, think that JKR is fully cognizant of the character as she wrote him.)

@Carcer I was 10 I think when HP came out and I read them all. I still don't get it.

I grew up with He-Man and I didn't get that zealous over it, though I do believe men can keep pretty short hair and maintain it through the most hazardous villain encounters.

and it was popular around the time that children were starting to be on the internet a lot, so you got community forming around it that way

so you tie nostalgia for the work itself with "being a harry potter fan was socially important to me growing up" and hey presto

Bleh. I got all worked up talking about Stack issues. Time for a short breather.

@Maximillian Perhaps the ginormous hamster will lift your spirits

@MikeQ maybe it's meant to be a dwarf-giant-space-hamster?

I can only think of the big hamster from Overlord. He's kind of a vicious bugger.

@BESW I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, I'm not entirely certain that Dumbledore did that all on purpose.

@Carcer It's like... why'd they even bother drawing the tiny wheel and tiny house

Where are you getting those from?

@Maximillian I think it's the power of jeff

@Yuuki it's probably safe to say that JKR did not write dumbledore as doing that on purpose but that as an interpretation of dumbledore's character it is not inconsistent with what is written

anyway, didn't we start this conversation by specifically saying how awful it would be to have it?

@BESW Thanks for the source! I will share this with friends.

@Maximillian It is affirming!

@Ash oh yeah, I read HP as a teenager myself and I certainly didn't get obsessed with it. I can just understand why a lot others my age (and maybe a bit younger) did

@Yuuki I cite Drabblemore's conversation with Minvera in the first chapter of the first book as evidence that he TOTALLY knew what he was doing.

Closing thought on the problem with stack as a whole is a joke I made on Arqade that is perhaps less of a joke now. "The solution to all of stack's problems is to stop allowing users to ask questions." If the solution to the problem is to not use the solution, you need to rework it.

Okay dinosaur, then tell me how attack of opportunity works in this situation using the Mobility feat and these four foes, two of whom are large.....

I'll get the markerboard. You may want to get a snack. This could take a while.

I don't know whether I'm considered obsessed with Harry Potter. I mean, I read fanfiction yeah but I read fanfiction for a ton of stuff. I am, in fact, reading fanfiction right now about a work I have yet to actually experience (I have not watched a single episode of RWBY). There's something about how people create stuff from work that isn't their own that fascinates me.

Hey, He-Man had beautiful blond hair and a kingdom to run as Prince of Eternia. He's not gonna do everything right so you can doubt him a bit. But he means well.

@Yuuki I'm moderately fascinated by how fanfiction became... niche. Because it used to just be A Thing People Did And Sometimes It Was Even Published and now.... I blame the Mouse.

It's always interesting to see how people interpret an author's work and how their characterizations might differ from the original over time.

But you'd be right to tell He-Man to his face that he can't solve all problems as Prince Adam by raising a magic sword and being someone else. Cause he's still gotta be Prince Adam later.

Fanfiction about an ongoing work is especially interesting to me.

fanfiction is for SHIPS

@Maximillian (source)

@Yuuki Also, zines.

@Yuuki RWBY is fun, but the story is lacking.

@GreySage I have many questions and issues with Ozpin.

Someday I will set aside a few months to do a deep dive on zine history/culture and let myself just roll around in the awesome.

And while Prince Adam has escapism issues, Skeletor has very real HR and logistics issues.

[mumbles about anime]

@GreySage So I gather that I'm better off just reading fanfiction and continuing to not watch a single episode?

@Yuuki I enjoy watching it, I just wish some episodes/seasons were condensed into about 5 minutes or less.

@Ash Yeah, because like how is this not functionally identical to a well-edited AU fanfic, except that it's for an out-of-copyright work?

I'm going to clock out and go apply Adventure Time logic towards making dinner.

Interesting if exhausting conversation this afternoon, thanks.

It also has the "Everyone would be solved if people actually thought to talk to each other once in a while" problem.

@Maximillian Spend 8 years serving various dishes, slowly building up a side dish, and then pull a surprise switcheroo with the dessert?

@MikeQ Uh, no. Just make fun excuses to apply bacon.

@GreySage oh, I hate that kind of drama. There's only one thing more annoying than problems caused by people just not talking about stuff for no good reason

And that is problems caused by love triangles and obligatory monogamy

But wait we don't have to talk to people if we SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS first!

@Carcer Conflict by Miscommunication is one of many forms of Idiot-Ball-fueled drama

@BESW Wait, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? As in former NBA player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

@Ash my husband and I are prone to just declaring "another problem solved by polyamory" on a regular basis when we watch stuff together

DO YOU TAKE THE APPLE OR THE ORANGE? YOU MAY CHOOSE ONE.

Former two-time NBA Finals MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

@Yuuki the link suggests yes, that one

@Yuuki His wiki has a Bibliography subsection

@Ash I am incredibly intrigued.

@Ash yeah, it's just the way that nobody ever considers it seriously, and if someone does suggest it it's because they're a horny pervert, lol

I know three different partnerships amongst people I went to university with that settled into happy long term triads

@Carcer What if the real horny pervert was the friends we made along the way?

@Yuuki the horny pervert was inside you all along? Wait, no

@Yuuki It's a pretty good book! Not something I'd probably read again but I'm glad I read it.

Okay, the polyamory discussion's interesting and all, but I think we've all glided a little too quickly past the whole Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fanfic part of the day!

@nitsua60 motion to combine these topics somehow

I'm so lucky to be one of today's 10,000

my phone has let me know it is time to go to bed

g'night folks.

@Carcer Has Kareem Abdul-Jabbar written a fanfic about himself in a poly relationship?

@Yuuki No, but with the power of fanfic, you can write that story

@Yuuki if you write a polyamorous fanfic about Kareem I think that counts

[me goes for real]

Summary: Sherlock's brother Mycroft, in his younger days, helped his black friend prevent slavers from staging a coup in the Carribean.

Side note, the fact that real person fan fiction exists is both interesting and somewhat disturbing to me.

@Yuuki Ever since Plato's Dialogues.

@BESW Or its prequel, Plato's Monologues

I'll see myself out

@BESW XD

PSA: please note that we're in the "up next" group in the list of sites which will have a new design/theme applied to them:

There will be an rpg.meta post when it happens to us, but since many of you help field questions in realtime I thought it'd be good to give a heads-up.

@nitsua60 I want wondering when we would be up. Thanks for the heads up!

@Ash same, I think I found one when I was first exploring Fanfic as a thing,.. and it was like,.... the people this is about could read this

it makes it way more uncomfortable than stuff about imaginary characters

@nitsua60 lol

as far as that "oh lets not talk about this till one of us gets really really mad" thing,.... that is the reason I stopped watching at least a few shows

like Supergirl most recently, like last year or so

a couple different love triangles, no talking, pursuit of someone who moved away because your relationship didn't work, wild assumptions that WILL what is assumed into existence somehow

Yeah... one of the reasons the CW's best DC show is Legends of Tomorrow is that they're all SUPPOSED to be dysfunctional broken people with no idea how to negotiate social relationships.

So there's a lot less disconnect when the writers drop the ball on that sort of thing.

Legends is the best DC show?

lol

The plot makes no sense and the premise is constantly being contradicted

it's being compared to the others, so yes

XD

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot about Supergirl and I think Black Lightning was pretty great, but Legends is the most consistently fun.

still have not watched Black Lightning

"We have to use time travel to change history and assassinate someone. But whatever we do, we can't use time travel to solve our problems, or else it could change history, or result in someone dying!"

did I mention I stopped watching Legends for entirely different reasons?

@BESW I want to call this "the sitcom problem"

Eh, physical logic was never an advertised feature of the show; it's about emotional logic so I only expect it to be emotionally consistent.

I think Heatwave / Mick Rory is fun but the rest of the characters are kind of insufferable

Rory and Snart are absolutely the best.

were*

I don't dislike the characters too much, but I hate that they had to tie the show in with the other shows in the most confusing possible way

@trogdor I learned to just skip the 4-way crossovers. Much easier than trying to watch them and figure out what the heck was going on.

and the contradictions about how things work also gets me

@MikeQ I am not great at ignoring things like that

I got a certain metanarrative joy out of watching Arthur Darvill visibly fighting the producers/directors in the first season; it was so obvious that they were trying to get him to act like Matt Smith as the Doctor, and he was having NONE of it.

@trogdor Oh then you'll hate the Flash past season 1

@MikeQ ding ding ding we have a winner

I actually really liked that show in season 1

but it went downhill after that

For the most part, these shows are soap operas full of characters incapable of development

that seems to be more or less true

Which, you know, kudos for perfectly capturing the DC aesthetic.

@MikeQ way worse than that

XD

Arrow is probably the worst one

@MikeQ Subplot: Oliver chastises a friend for killing a single villain while he murders a building full of innocent rent-a-cops.

yes that too

also everyone dies and then just comes back, and then they expect you to feel something the one time someone doesn't immediately come back, but oh wait she did come back in a different show

wtf Arrow

@MikeQ Subplot: Iris forgets that she's a reporter with skills which could have solved the case, and instead does emotional labor for the men.

@BESW Skills are irrelevant. All problems are solved by 1. Believing in Barry and 2. having Barry run arbitrarily fast

(Second subplot: the writers love having Tom Cavanagh do his character-actor routines, so they shoehorn in as many different roles for him as they can.)

@MikeQ lol

ooof

[rummages through old conversations]

> This week in "The Flash's writing is too stupid for words," the episode's two morals are "Barry treats everyone, even villains, with kindness and respect," and "Barry needs to admit that for years he was a massive jerk to this one guy he thought was a villain."

A consistent problem across all the Arrowverse shows is that the writers believe righteousness is derived from who performs an action, rather than from the action being performed.

The designated hero is the hero, therefore what they do is heroic.

Wait, are we talking Arrowverse or ancient Greek literature?

both are applicable in this context I think

Heracles, is huge jerk, hero in the story, so hero

to be fair, as I understand it the Ancient Greeks had a different definition of what hero meant

@trogdor I think you are thinking of a gyro.

;)

if he was that he would be a really bad one

he did kill a lot of things

and some people too

@trogdor Basically, if you were related to a god, you were a hero.

And if you were related to a sheep, you were a gyro

@Yuuki that pretty much seems to cover it yeah, mostly Zeus but yes

because boy was Zeus horrible

@MikeQ Hey I already made that joke! :P

(yours was better)

Gotham is best DC show because it's its own thing

:P

@V2Blast From what I understand, that is a pretty hot take lol

I'm assuming were talking about live action shows here.

I assume so

Because if animated were included I would say Young Justice might be the best DC TV show running period.

Well not running again yet so probably doesn't count lol

And if we're talking about ever, the Adam West Batman is still unbeaten.

The camp of the Adam West Batman is delightful for sure.

@Ash I mean Marvel is pretty light tone-wise. DC brings it to super grim-dark though.

Marvel movies are fairly campy

And howdy!

@Rubiksmoose ....I miss pre-52 Jaime.

Ha @Rubiksmoose

@BESW I'm only really familiar with him from YJ. What did they change pre to post 52?