Villains are tremendously important for a story. They set the framework and standard for a lot of things in an unsaid but definite manner: how far your villain is willing to go sets up audience expectations for how big and how dire the stakes will be in the story.
If ...
The Slippery Slope (Or How to Make a Great Villain Origin Arc)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, May 6, 2023The 1990's Whiny Slacker Protagonist
Banes at 12:00AM, May 4, 2023
In rewatching some 1990's movies, I saw quite a few of these Protagonists show up - they're these disaffected types, usually quite intelligent or at least verbose, who are wrapped up in their emotions and sort of spinning their wheels in life as they analyze their problems and face ...
Planning for the 2023 Drunk Duck Awards is Underway
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, April 3, 2023
Photo: “Casual Group Photo (Right Side)”. 2022 Drunk Duck Awards Community Project. (2022)
Niccea has spoken—The planning for the 2023 Drunk Duck Awards began last Friday, March 31, 2023. The two categories currently accepting volunteer sign-ups and art submissions in April 2023: Planning Committee and For Your Consideration (FYC ...
Frank Frazetta, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, March 4, 2023Tough Love vs. Abuse
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 18, 2023
Tough love is so cool, eh? It's going to magic the “whining” right out of you, won't it? You just need to stick out through the harshness, and then when you reap the benefits, you'll realize your tough loving benefactor had the right idea. You'll be ...
Toxic Positivity, Toxic Acceptance (Part 2)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 11, 2023
So last time, in Part 1 of this discussion of …sunnier villains or antagonists, we had left off talking about how toxic positivity is all about the toxic person's comfort. And that this need to impose a certain behavior, dogma, and/or approach to reality in their environment leads ...
Overworking in webcomics
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Feb. 4, 2023
With the ever expanding influence of Webtoons, more and more people are flocking to webcomic sites to read comics. I say read, but really it is “consume”. In this day and age where content is being inhaled at an unprecedented rate, creators are being pushed further to create more. Longer ...
Character trait: Toxic Positivity, Toxic Acceptance (Part 1)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 28, 2023
Usually, antagonists or villains are emo and gloomy, angry and aggressive, suave and sly, or any combination of that. They are not generally associated with positive traits in their personality, or at least positively-associated traits.
And that's a shame, because real life sure does have a lot of variety ...
Meet the Found Family
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 14, 2023
Last year (har har har obligatory New Year's Joke done) I'd started talking about Found Family, one of my favorite tropes in pretty much any narrative work, from movies to novels to comics and webcomics. Found family is when a bunch of characters, usually unrelated and mismatched, end ...