fandomhigh_ooc | meme: pimp your canon!

1. You don't need to know anything about Star Wars to read it. It helps, of course, but the situation is so different than it is from the movies or books that it's much easier for a new reader to get into it.
2. EVERYONE IN IT IS A BADASS. Every time I see someone go on about women being portrayed badly in comics, I want to pat them and give them the first trade of Legacy. Let me put it this way: Sia's reasonably the third most badass female. Add in the boys and she shoots further down the list. Seriously, there is not a weak character in this.
3. Also, for a 50-issue series where not everyone gets a ton of page time, the characters are really well-rounded. Kol's got like 14 pages total after he's dead and I have a clear view of his character. Sia's not in it a ton, Gunner Yage doesn't have enough time, but I can go on and on and on about who they are as characters.
4. The one issue where Roan takes out a Sith barehanded.
5. It's really, really, really good.

... because it's quite a different animal from KotOR I and the comics.

1. It's what happens when a staggeringly creative RPG company (Obsidian) reads every scrap of Star Wars canon out there, then deconstructs the hell out of it. Sure, other branches of the EU can be traumatizing and full of death. But KotOR II goes past that (though it does have plenty of that; the game starts off with the Jedi hunted down to near-extinction): it questions the duality and the necessity of the Force, what makes a Jedi (and if that includes inherent goodness or not), and what happens to everyone else in the galaxy while the Jedi and the Sith fight out their battles.

And it never quite gives you clear answers.

2. It's full of amazing characters. The Lost Jedi themselves are awesome: a bunch of mismatched Force-sensitive freaks who were for whatever reason passed over by a desperate and arrogant Jedi Council, who turn out to be the very people who will rebuild the Jedi Order. I still think it's a shame no one ever picked up the gauntlet of describing just what their Order was like back when they were still alive. I'm clinging to every new scrap of deleted material the restoration mod has managed to patch together - take the awesome stuff about their connections with the tragedy of Malachor V, for one.

But there's also characters like Kreia-the-Sith and Atris-the-Jedi who are intensely complicated people who never quite act according to their assigned mold.

Which isn't even going into the Exile herself, who went across the wishes of the Council, had the Force ripped from her, returned to say her piece, jammed her lightsaber into the center stone of the Council chamber and carved her own path since.

3. It's totally chock full of snark. Seriously. I'm slowly trying to make recordings of all of Atton's best lines alone and it is taking me a LOT OF TIME.

"Between assassin droids, a Sith Lord who looks like he sleeps with vibroblades, and being target practice for a Republic ship, I was better off in my cell!"

"Explain something to me."
"I do not have the years required nor the desire to indulge you."

"Keep the money, and use it to build a statue of me, in honor of my heroism."
"Uh... okay."

4. HK-47's back. Okay, HK-47 is technically also in the first game but he's delightful so shut up.

"You are like a delightful random cruelty generator, master, poisoning all you touch with your presence. You are a testament to all organic meatbags everywhere."

5. That amazing reveal scene where we find out just how Jedi-y the remaining Jedi still are. Spoiler: not very.

6. One of the boss battles involves attempting to best Darth Sion in a theological debate... to death. How is that not awesome?

Edited 2012-11-14 18:42 (UTC)

1. There are a ton of books, but they're super easy to get through. (Some people have problems with the first two or three, but it gets tons better.) There are no chapters and they flow quickly, so when I first started and had no life I could pound out four books in a weekend.
2. It's some of the smartest writing you'll ever see. It's mostly satire, with books taking on different subjects (movies, Phantom of the Opera, Shakespeare, vampires, Australia, etc.) and Pratchett is the absolute best at riffing on/paying homage to things. TV Tropes has to have pages for each book to catch them all. (DO NOT LOOK, WE WILL NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN.)
3. They're hilarious. I have to get paperbacks of these so I can fold over all the pages with my favorite quotes on them. There are some books where it's like every second page.
4. They're sort of divided up into separate groups (the Watch, the witches, Death and Susan, Rincewind/the wizards, and now the industrial revolution stuff), so if you're not a fan of someone, you can just read the other books and not really miss anything.
5. Of all the characters, of which there are about four thousand, there is one I'm not a giant fan of. One.
6. DEATH.

1. Yes, it's a cheesy MTV show that has some bad CGI and cringe worthy acting but it makes it easy to watch! And there's only 24 episodes to catch up on, come on.
2. Everyone is good looking and shirtless. Except for Stiles.
3. The show gives you unexpected feels.
4. The showrunner, actors and MTV seem to really care about the show and following them is almost as fun as watching the show itself. MTV has a portion of their website dedicated to Teen Wolf shirtlessness.
5. Thanks to this fandom I have a gif of raptors stalking Stiles:

1. It's apparently really well animated? Not being very well educated about animation and the difference between well-done animation and less-well-done animation, I can't actually really speak to that personally, but lots of people have said so! There are even videos that break down the animation of what seems like simple shots and point out all the detail and work that goes into it.

2. Songs! Many of which are totally not terrible! But will stick in your head. (Come on everypony, smile smile smile . . . and the type of pony everypony everypony should know!)

3. I'm just going to leave this here

4. Background ponies. One shot ponies. There's a pony for that. Can you spot the Dude in this video? Not to mention the whole Indiana Jones riff. Or the villain that's basically Q. And even voiced by John de Lancie.

5. Pony breakdowns

6. Oh, and love and friendship and tolerance and cuteness and all that. IT'S SO WARM AND FUZZY, YOU GUYS. SNUGGLE IT.

Edited 2012-11-14 18:52 (UTC)

1. It's a show about a girl who has inanimate animals talk to her. That's totally a reason.
2. Besides being just slightly hilarious, the show goes to some pretty dark, heart-wrenching places and does it all well. I think it's the end of Lying Pig where I can't watch the end because it hurts too much. If I could put an episode in the freezer, that would be it.
3. Aaron/Mahandra. Jaye's brother and best friend start hooking up, and they're one of the best ships ever. ("You're like a brother to me." "Are you saying I make love like a black man?")
4. Jaye's relationship with her family is really kind of great and realistic. She's a black sheep who doesn't really fit in but sort of wishes she did but disappoints her family on purpose, her parents try but don't really get her, Jaye and Aaron have a different relationship than Jaye and Sharon who have a different relationship than Sharon and Aaron, and they're all kind of really there for each other when the chips are down. They're just one of my favorite families.
5. It's total crack, in all the good ways.

NGL, 5 makes me wanna watch.

There's a whole Jurassic Park/Teen Wolf gifset! Oh this fandom. Sometimes it embarrasses me and other times it makes me so proud.

I know, I know, it's scary but I love it anyway.

1. ROGUE SQUADRON. Even if the rest of the books terrify you, these books are fun and funny and just really good. Like if you read nothing else, let me shove these on you. (That is not what she said, btw.)
2. While everyone has their detractors, there are some pretty great characters. Even besides the ones in Fandom, you get to Mara and Thrawn and Jag and Tenel Ka and Wedge and Kyp when they remember him and Saba and Wynn Dorvan (and Pocket) and there are a lot of people I wanna keep forever.
3. Matthew Stover's books are amazing.
4. So are Aaron Allston's, for very different reasons.
5. There are Star Wars zombie books. No, really.
6. Christmas, and the spoiler-crazed weeks leading up to it, is a LOT of fun.

1. It's basically what happens when an RPG company famed for its writing skillz goes 'You know, there have been a lot of depressing, grey sci-fi series lately. Let's do some 80s style aspirational sci-fi stuff!'. The games might get darker with ME3 out of necessity, but at its root lies this awesome, colorful space opera with a varied and believable universe. They even attempt to stay on the path of semi-hard sci-fi by basing all of its more fantastical elements on a single quirk of physics (the titular mass effect).

Basically, it's a homage to 80s sci-fi, and it shows.

Except maybe for the part where humans are just some new, upstart reckless species on the scene instead of the Savior of Alienkind, and that's awesome too.

2. CHARACTERS! AKA What Bioware Does Best. Between the three games, Mass Effect builds up an amazing cast of extremely varied individuals. You'll always find at least a couple you love to absolute death. (And then you get to witness Bioware kill them horribly because they're the Joss Whedon of gaming.)

They're diverse, too, and I'm not just talking 'lots of aliens'; gay, lesbian, bisexual, omnisexual, straight, generally people of all races and creeds and (dis)abilities. (They could still use some help on variety in female body types, but baby steps.)

Anyway, these games focus a LOT on building their characters, and it really, really shows. I've frequently replayed games purely so I could take different squadmates with me, because their banter during the levels alone just makes everything come alive.

And the romances. I know they get ragged on a bit in the gamer segment, but I really love the way some of these ships are written. And you can pick which one you pursue. (And sometimes, picking means other characters will pursue one another in the background, which is also fun to witness.)

3. Shepard. AKA, a customizable RPG protagonist who actually has a voice! Which on one hand means Shepard's never going to be fully customizable - he/she has some character traits and character beats that will never change. On the other hand, it's a really fun way of drawing you into the game, whether you're playing a goody two shoes or a jerk.

And, y'know, FemShep. FemShep is awesome. And played by Jennifer Hale. Jennifer Hale is the awesomest. Anyway, they barely changed dialogue from male Shepard to female Shepard, which as it turns out produced a female character who's actually a human being. Who knew!

4. These games touch on so many fascinating themes and they draw you all the way in. Synthetics vs. organics, cooperation vs. doing it alone, tolerance, genocide, genetic manipulation (and the curse of being born 'perfect'), AIs in search of their personhood, the ruination of a civilization where almost all women are born sterile, transhumanism...

5. ... which is not to say these games can't be completely hilarious, trust me on that...

Edited 2012-11-14 19:29 (UTC)

1. It's a sitcom about friends in their early thirties who have phenomenally unrealistic levels of wit and pop culture referencing skills. They're also all amusingly mean people, which is great if you're like me and like watching people who openly admit they have no social skills and somehow manage to bond in that.
2. Brad and Jane. They're basically the Marshall and Lily of this show except EVEN MORE OTP, if possible. Brad is dorky and adorable; Jane is Type A and ruthless. They are the best.
3. This video right here. Max raps, you guys.
4. Instead of going with really common sitcom standbys like wedding episodes and baby plots and crazy things like any of the characters hooking up with people outside the group, its plots tend to be goofy and original, like an ongoing Nerf gun feud with a neighbor across the street, the time everyone decides to invent really complex lies to get out of having tea with an annoying acquaintance, and the not-so-tragic consequences of Dave's V-neck addiction.
5. It's apparently on right after Dancing With The Stars, and I know some of you watch that. Yeah. YEAH.

Oh, and bonus 6. Penny's mom is Megan Mullally. And she sings. Nnnngh.

Edited 2012-11-14 19:44 (UTC)

1. Say goodbye to whatever's already earworming you. We're here for you. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynLlgWbl-mc)

2. Fantastic comedic cast. The 'teenagers' -- who are generally in their early twenties, actor-wise -- are beloved CW/Nickelodeon types, like Penn Badgley and Amanda Bynes. The adults, though? Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson are Olive's parents, Lisa Kudrow and Thomas Hayden Church are her teachers, Malcolm McDowell is the principal, and Fred Armisen is a minister. LIKE SERIOUSLY, GUYS. THIS CAST.

3. The teenagers, despite being played by people in their twenties, are actually pretty realistic. They're foul-mouthed, but good-hearted, and horny, but not gross -- they sound like real kids.

4. The message is actually really positive! I mean, yes, it's all pretty outrageous, but the end result is, "Slut-shaming is bad, be who you want to be, it's nobody's business, whoooo body positivity!"

Edited 2012-11-14 19:31 (UTC)

I'm still so amused that JANE IS DENISE.

Jane is also the secret service agent who was tailing Abed on Community. I choose to believe at least two of these roles are connected somehow.

Oooh, I never made that connection! She somehow just became slightly hotter.

1. It has THE WORST NAME, but the creators know that, so the opening title credits change every week to things like, "We pretend COUGAR TOWN is called 'Wine Time!' or "Why is it still called COUGAR TOWN when she's dating a man her own age?" and so on.

2. Abed on Community loves it, and that's actually because Bill Lawrence and Dan Harmon are friends! Additionally, Busy Philipps (Laurie) and Dan Byrd (Travis -- and fun fact, he's in Easy A too) are in the background on an ep of Community, and Danny Pudi shows up as an extra on Cougar Town, too.

3. SO MUCH DRINKING (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKVj3YrBclo).

4. It's a really feel-goody comedy, but no one's really...sane. Everyone's sort of crazy and/or mean and/or dumb. The only real straight man is poor Travis, who just loves his mom but wants his independence. But everyone is super-codependent and hilarious and always trying to bolster each other back up.

It's also one of those shows where everyone's related/has interesting relationships with each other. Jules used to be married to Bobby but is best friends with Ellie who is married to Andy, Bobby's best friend. Meanwhile, Laurie is Jules' assistant, who doesn't get along with Ellie (except sometimes they do), who went into business once with Bobby, who is EXTRAORDINARILY SHIPPABLE with Travis despite a nine-year age difference, and who accidentally once slept with Grayson, Jules' neighbor and eventual boyfriend.

I don't know how to explain it. Everyone has a different vibe with everyone else, kind of like how Natalie was saying with Wonderfalls.

4. Fun guest stars! Thanks to Courtney Cox's involvement, we've had Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Aniston, once we had Sheryl Crowe, and thanks to Bill Lawrence, we once had this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJnpkOHlN54) amazing moment.

5. SONGS. Grayson writes songs, and so will sometimes write little songs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96nHf5WzmEY&feature=related) to go with the show's theme. This is my favorite, though (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y-kEMjWkJI). So damn catchy.

Edited 2012-11-14 19:59 (UTC)

I didn't notice that one either but JANE COULD FOR SURE BE A SECRET SERVICE AGENT. May have to start crossover-shipping her/Abed now. *nods*

Mmmm, Denise.

Denise dropped out of the medical profession to become a secret agent who went on a long-term undercover stint as a girl named Jane?

It is now your job to help enable

dirtiest_skank to app Jane so we can have pretty Deniseface IG again.

Edited 2012-11-14 20:00 (UTC)

Or Jane is a retired spy, and Denise was a cover identity!

1) They're sophisticated puzzles, so they're pretty accessible even if you're not a serious gamer. (Though they may make you motion sick, but that happens with video games sometimes.)

2) It's pretty hard for a franchise not to pass the Bechdel test when the female protagonist never speaks, and the female antagonist is a sociopathic AI.

3) They've spawned amazingly sophisticated cosplays (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC-kHODhTBk), fan films (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NorZUFfpvC0), and fan crossovers with My Little Pony (http://youtu.be/i5f7zzkX1Nc).

4) End credits songs (http://youtu.be/Y6ljFaKRTrI) by Jonathan Coulton (http://youtu.be/qFeTzCMFaH8), which further prove that Ellen McLain is kind of a goddess.

5) WHEATLEY. (http://youtu.be/QjaWiXWP0rs)

6) GLaDOS (http://youtu.be/a46iW0LogIc).

7) GLaDOS and Wheatley (http://youtu.be/lY_N7nWkujw). It's honestly amazing how much genuine emotional investment you end up giving to these artificial intelligences, because --

8) While Portal is a pretty simple puzzle game with a light storyline, Portal 2 has a fully-developed plot (that ties into the Half-Life games), a storyline that tells you everything about how Aperture Science and GLaDOS came to be what they are, and, I think, a pretty freaking brilliant method of telling you that story.

Edited 2012-11-14 20:27 (UTC)

Busy Philipps is also a regular on Thrilling Adventure Hour along with recurring Community guest Craig Cackowski, and TAH's had Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, and Yvette Nicole Brown all do guest appearances. Plenty of linkage between Cougar Town and Community there! (Also possibly every other show from the last twenty years ever.)

I can't not hear Laurie's dialogue as Red now. I need to fix this.

This girl (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtUMnn0-4zw).
This girl (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScUgeZ-fvvU).
This girl (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxrMxrI6cXI).

Is this the show with the episode of gaslighting? My best friend made me watch that ep for...reasons.

Umm, nothing, never mind, nothing to see here.

I DOWNLOADED THE IPHONE GAME. WHAT IS MY LIFE?

AWESOME, THAT IS WHAT YOUR LIFE IS.

Okay, so it's not technically my canon, but come on, if you haven't seen The Avengers by now, I doubt anything I could say could convince you to go out and rent it. That said, if you like Clint at all, there's a faaaaabulous comic you should be reading.

1. No comics knowledge required: So, here's the thing about the Hawkeye comics: despite their title, they're not actually about Hawkeye the Avenger. This series is about Clint Barton, the average guy with no superpowers who comes home from a long day of battling aliens and sparring with Captain America... and then goes on to continue doing heroic things because, well, that's just how he rolls. There is no previous knowledge of the Marvel universe required to read these comics. Do you vaguely know who Clint is? Will you not be surprised to see him with a bow in his hands? Great, then you're all set.

2. I'm not the only one who thinks it's good: I am clearly not the best source for an unbiased opinion of anything having to do with Clint, but I can easily say that these comics rock because eeeeeveryone agrees with me. I have yet to read a negative review of any of these issues, and it's not because I'm not looking for them. The stories have been sharp and the art is great and the things Matt Fraction (who is pretty amazeballs in his own right) has been doing with Kate Bishop make this a comic no one has to feel bad about reading. ~~Unlike Red Hood and the Outlaws siiiiigh.~~

3. Ahem: I'm just gonna leave this possibly NSFW image here for you. Enjoy.

There's only been three issues so far! The next one comes out next week! It won't take long to get caught up!

Edited 2012-11-14 22:58 (UTC)

Hmmmm, how did I know #3 was gonna be on this list...?

BECAUSE IT'S THE BEST PART OF THE COMIC THAT'S EVER BEEN MADE SO FAR. :D :D

It sure is! Jane and her sister are eeeeevil.

Or, well, Jane is evil and Alex is a ditz.

For what it's worth, I can vouch for it being really well animated! They know what to spend time on and what to cheat, and they do a beautiful job of it. :)

That's what I've heard! It's nice to have it confirmed by someone in the know.

Well there is no good reason why that last video should have made me tear up. AND YET.

YOUR CANON IS THE WORST, FYI. TOO EVIL TO BE ALLOWED.

meme: pimp your canon!

Star Wars Legacy

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II

Discworld

Teen Wolf

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Wonderfalls

Re: Teen Wolf

Re: Teen Wolf

Star Wars EU

no subject

Happy Endings

Easy A

Re: Happy Endings

Re: Happy Endings

Re: Happy Endings

Cougar Town

Re: Happy Endings

Re: Happy Endings

Re: Happy Endings

Re: Happy Endings

Re: Happy Endings

Portal/Portal 2

Re: Cougar Town

Re: Cougar Town

Doctor Who

Re: Happy Endings

Re: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Re: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Hawkeye (Comic)

Re: Hawkeye (Comic)

Re: Hawkeye (Comic)

Re: Happy Endings

Re: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Re: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Re: Doctor Who