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Re: Canon and consistency: time to stop caring.
By:General Vagueness
Date: 6/15/15 6:06 pm

: This was originally going to be a reply to quirel's post stating that
: forerunner machines shouldn't even need arms. I was going to reply saying,
: "sure they do, because they look cool", but then I realized I
: was making a larger point and it was better suited as a new topic.

The thing is, that's not a need, and moreover they don't look cool. I see this more and more, people defending things, especially in Halo, with the rule of cool. I can get behind that as long as the things in question are actually cool. Obviously my view of what's cool isn't universal, but neither is 343i's or anyone else's, and that should give them pause before they decide to add something because one or two (or three) artists thought it looked badass.

: People on this forum (myself included) often fall into the pitfall of
: thinking everything in a fictional universe has to appear functional and
: be canonically consistent. But that's dumb, and it's a philosophy bound
: for disappointment. The point of a fictitious universe is to entertain the
: audience, and it's a lot easier to do that when you're loose with your
: in-universe rules.

It's hard enough ignoring all the ways things go against the rules of our own universe-- but I do, and I feel it's reasonable, if your argument was about that I could get behind it.
Failing to follow your own in-universe facts is not excusable. It means they were pointless to establish in the first place and you wasted your time and your audience's time in establishing them.
I see canon as a different thing, somewhat. A different chain of events, as long as it's clear what's happening, is basically a different story with the same setting. Reusing a setting without a bunch of baggage can be a good thing.

: So yeah the mantis doesn't make a lot of sense, but it isn't supposed to.
: It's a fun walking tank. Halo has always followed the "rule of
: cool" anyway - just look at the freaking scorpion.

Actually my problem with the Mantis was never that it didn't make sense, I'm totally willing to write that off, my problem was that it immediately sets off a "this is dumb" alert in my head. There isn't much logic to it, it just looks and sounds and feels dumb. That said, it's relatively fun to use, but that's just because it has so much firepower-- it looks like shit and it handles a muddy sack of chicken parts.

: Spartan Vale is ludicrously curvy and that doesn't meet my definition of what
: a realistic supersoldier should be. Too bad, lots of fans enjoy
: fanservice. Who am I to begrudge them that?

I'm torn here. On the one hand, I agree with you, and I've been known to enjoy that kind of thing, and on the other hand, it supports people having unrealistic standards, and it's just plain lazy.

: When it's distressing to you that the chief's aremor keeps changing and there
: aren't any explanations: too bad - he's gotta look cool because it sells games.

What about all the people that thought the old design was cooler?

: I'm definitely butthurt that the sizes and designs of frigates isn't
: consistent between halo game installments , but sometimes you have to take
: a step back and realize that you're never going to get what you want
: (canonical consistency, that is). Ever. The fact that the games (and other
: media) are so inconsistent in that regard should be enough evidence that
: to most consumers, it doesn't actually matter. at all. so we're just not
: their target demo, and we need to be ok with that.

There are stories, and even franchises, even within games, that never break their own rules, and don't suffer because of it. It's not unrealistic to ask that creators be careful about it.


Messages In This Thread

Canon and consistency: time to stop caring.hunt3r6/14/15 9:21 pm
     Re: Canon and consistency: time to stop caring.Apollo6/14/15 9:47 pm
     Head canon is best canon. *NM*Revenant19886/14/15 10:44 pm
     Re: Canon and consistency: time to stop caring.Gravemind6/15/15 1:16 am
           Re: Canon and consistency: time to stop caring.Stephen L. (SoundEffect)6/15/15 7:21 am
           Re: Canon and consistency: time to stop caring.Quirel6/16/15 4:25 am
     I have some sympathy for the rule of coolscarab6/15/15 8:16 am
           And you think I don't?Quirel6/16/15 3:19 am
                 Re: And you think I don't?General Vagueness6/16/15 3:10 pm
                       Re: And you think I don't?Quirel6/19/15 2:02 am
     Re: Canon and consistency: time to stop caring.The Loot6/15/15 8:25 am
           "not that big of a stretch" *IMG*Nikko B2016/15/15 9:26 am
                 Re: "not that big of a stretch" *IMG*The Loot6/16/15 6:06 am
     Re: Canon and consistency: time to stop caring.General Vagueness6/15/15 6:06 pm
     Did somebody just call my name?Quirel6/16/15 4:40 am
           Damn. Deleted something important there.Quirel6/16/15 6:13 am
     Re: Canon and consistencyThe Lionheart6/16/15 11:26 pm

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