On updating a classic (Off-Topic)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Friday, April 19, 2019, 19:17 (2043 days ago) @ Avateur
edited by Ragashingo, Friday, April 19, 2019, 19:21

One of the things I've always wanted was for the things I enjoy, be it a single great song, or a long running tv show, or a beloved video game, is more of that good thing. Why couldn't the fantastic last minute Chicago's Hard To Say I'm Sorry go on for an hour? Why couldn't Avatar: The Last Airbender have four more seasons that were just as good as the first three? Why couldn't Halo: Combat Evolved have another 10 excellent levels?

I've felt that way with a lot of things and agree. On the other end of the spectrum, I've also sometimes felt that things are so good with a particular game/movie/show/comic that I'm perfectly fine with no more.

Oh, sure. There are various works I'm completely content to have left alone. For instance:

- There's a recent anime called Land of the Lustrous. In it, humanoid living gemstones struggle against strange creatures called Lunarians that come from the moon, appear on clouds, and try to shatter and steal away the gems for an unknown purpose. (Yes, it sounds odd... it practice it is really good...) The show ends on a cliffhanger mystery in that the sensei who taught each gem how to talk and to perform their duties has something ominous to do with the Lunarians. Normally, I'd want more of a show I consider to be good, except I know from the manga where the story goes next... and I don't like it. So, I'm super content to end on a nice stopping point.

- Toy Story. Both 2 and 3 did the impossible. They continued Toy Story but equaled or surpassed their predecessor. And Toy Story 3 ended on a perfect note. I've loved the various shorts Pixar has put out since then (like Toy Story of Terror) but I am nervous as hell about Toy Story 4. I'll see it near opening day, but can that perfect winning streak continue a 4th time? I'm just not sure...

- Puella Magi Madoka Magica. - This anime was only 12 episodes but it made the absolute most out of those 12 and has one of the most satisfying endings of any show. It has a follow up movie (Rebellion) that I also like a great deal... but which did move beyond that perfect ending. This one is kinda strange, in that I both never wanted more but was happy when more came... except the more ended on one heck of a cliffhanger. So now fans like me are stuck with a perfect show, a really good follow up movie that ends in a cliffhanger... and that same sorta Toy Story 4 level of trepidation of whether or not a second perfect ending can even be achieved.

- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. - One of the very very few perfect games out there. It had good gameplay, the best of the best acting, and a perfect ending. As much as I wouldn't mind more, I'm very content to leave it's well told story alone and have the developer just go do something else.

- Speed Racer. - People laugh at me when I tell them it is one of my all time favorite movies. It's goofy. It's dumb. But it is also awesome and thrilling and heart warming. It is the perfect example of an anime -> live action movie, but trying to ever do anything else would never be as good.

It's great that you named Avatar: The Last Airbender. That show right there is one perfect example on a personal level that I feel lasted precisely as long as it needed to, and it was perfect. More might have sullied it. I just couldn't ask for anymore or anything differnt, you know? But it's so damn good that I completely get why you or others would want more! Especially if they could somehow provide more that's just as perfect and satisfying and doesn't ruin it somehow? But in its entirety and its ending, I feel it ended as perfectly as it possibly could. I'm content.

Sure. A:TLA is another perfect show. And then they did a four season follow up in Legend of Korra that wasn't as good. Some of the concepts in Korra were interesting, like moving the time frame forward into a sorta industrial revolution era... but the show never completely worked out for me. Mostly... Aang was just a young kid who had to grow into his powers, so there was a good reason for him to be on the run or be outmatched, or occasionally be defeated. By season 2, Korra was a fully realized Avatar. She should have been unstoppable, instead she spent a whole lot of time struggling against her enemies. Some of the plots and stories and characters in Legend of Korra were very good, but, in my mind, it never reached the heights of The Last Airbender.

And using comics as another example, Geoff Johns did a run on Green Lantern (fleshing out not just the Green Lantern Corps but the whole color spectrum of lanterns) that culminated in one of the best comic book events I've ever read. Once he finished his run and it was time to pass the torch to someone else, I dropped Green Lantern. It was all I could have ever hoped for, imagined, and needed. And I'm totally fine with it continuing with someone else's stories and another perspective on Hal Jordan and the many other Lanterns doing awesome things informed by the previous run or unrelated to it, but I'm okay finishing off that story for myself in the state that I saw it.

I don't really read many superhero comics at all anymore, but I've been on Amazing Spider-Man for well over a decade and probably will never drop it. I assume it's like Cody with his Sonic comics (though I'm not sure if he actually reads them). With Spider-Man, people hated it a little over a decade ago when Marvel did away with Peter and Mary Jane's marriage and changed/started all kinds of crazy situations, but it follows with being in the service of the new, daring, and providing a character a chance for growth and to explore new stories that couldn't have happened otherwise. Dan Slott just spent a decade of some of the best Spider-Man comics I've ever read (and there's so many people who absolutely hate Slott's run all because of the aforementioned changes). Slott's run just ended and we're on to a new writer who has definitely re-established some of the older things that got brushed aside, but he's also fully continued and built off of Slott's character arcs and stories for a multitude of characters. The universe continues to push forward in new and interesting ways (while also showing some of the repetitive things that Cody hates about comics). It can be hard to find a balance with the new and the old in something so long-running, and I really appreciate how it's being handled.

Cool. (Not trying to be snippy, comics just aren't something I know a ton about. I'm glad you liked the stuff you talked about, though! Sounds like good examples.)

But to get back to your point in a way, with Spider-Man, I'm really loving the fact that I can have my cake of a thing I love that keeps going while also getting to experience things that Cody wishes comics as a whole presented, even if it's filled with the things that Cody readily acknowledges can hold a character or an IP of any sort back. And when all else fails, we get fantastic movies like Into the Spider-Verse that know exactly what story beats and characters and situations to zoom in on that allow a different showcasing of characterization, growth, and in-universe perspective. Yay fandom!

Yeah, exactly. There is a ton of good Spiderman out there to enjoy. And they are making more. The current MCU Spiderman is pretty good, in my opinion, and Into The Spider-verse... It rightly won the academy award for Best Animated Feature Film in a year that included The Incredibles 2.. It was Amazing.