Assessment: Professor Icognito

In what I read of the passage I feel it's read as an email (i.e the headers "RE:"). I don't know if I would consider it a symbol, but it goes hand in hand with the apology and the Professor's character. I find emails to be rather methodical, and associate his use of it as a form of communication to fit him perfectly. It's also different than speaking in person. You are hiding a part of you when sending an email. The recipient, in this case the reader, isn't able to see the Professor. We aren't able to see the real him, just like his lover was shown a different side of him.

I felt a connection more towards the person he is talking to in his passages. It was more so on how the reader is at a point in which they lived a happy couple life to find out their lover had a double life and practically lied about their persona. I was in a relationship in which the person I dated felt the need to change their character to impress others and make friends. Also the way this is written is like a similar experience I have had the past few days in which my ex has reached out to me. It may seem heartfelt on the outside, however, I feel with some of the points he makes (falling asleep on her shoulder and dreaming of creating other means of destruction). It is an apology but it's not heartfelt. It's mechanical.

I think this would work extremely well as a short film. Something in which it's more of a video recording, rather than a passage. Especially if it were recorded of their time together. To see his character progress throughout their time together would be a better way of story telling, rather than telling us how he felt after all these events happened. The viewer would be able to really understand his character better with this device.

The inspiration of Anime

The thing about anime is that many of us who love it often like to hide it from those who don't know it/hate it. Many artists shun it and believe it not to be an art style or something to really inspire one. The argument mainly revolves around the fact that if you "aren't Japanese" that you shouldn't be drawing anime/manga. People associate the style with a specific race therefore it must only be for said race. The thing is, many of us are so inspired by anime and manga. Hell, most of us probably drew it not too long ago.

The above image is from Bee and Puppycat, a cartoon about a girl and a mysterious cat who can transform her into "magical girl" to fight or help creatures of other dimensions. Natasha Allegri was actually a storyboard artist for Adventure Time and you can even see in the art on her blog the love for bows is clearly shown. What is it about bows? It's commonly seen both in magical girl transformations and their "costumes". We also get a glimpse of Puppycat's past in lullaby about a Space Outlaw who loved Princess and planned to run away with her. When he went to meet her, it was a trap and he was cursed by the Space King's army of warlocks and was turned into a monster instead of just being trapped. 

There is even a French anime called "LoliRock" that has the theme of magical girls. It's definitely a theme that many of us gravitate towards, specifically females. We grew up watching Sailor Moon, wishing that one day we would be chosen to save the world from other worldly creatures while transforming into a cute outfit. It was every girls dream. LoliRock follows a similar style of shows like Sailor Moon and Mermaid Melody. The main character is a normal girl who happens to be a princess of another world. She loves to sing and goes to an audition to be the new member of the band LoliRock. Little does she know, the 2 members are also princesses and she's thrown into a confrontation right after meeting them. 

I think using Anime to inspire artists isn't bad. It's not something to be taught in schools, though. I think if people want to like and be inspired by these works, they would do so on their own. We grow up taking in things we watch constantly, things that we don't always learn about in school. 

Being a Fan

Most people like to think about Bronies or Superwholocks when they hear the word "fandom". The ones that get butt-hurt if you talk bad about their beloved show. Even will try to threaten you, which is both hilarious and totally uncalled for. Think i'm lying? Look at the image below:

And it keeps going. It's actually like that in any fandom, no matter the size. However, one can say that there are groups within these fandoms. I like to classify them as follows: the outsiders, the lovers, and the fans.

The Outsiders: Those who sit on the outskirts and look in. They tend to keep their opinions on subjects within the fandom to a minimum but will often showcase their love when it is brought up in conversation. 

The Lovers: The ones that love every aspect of the fandom. Mainly those that wright fanfiction and/or draw fanart. A few items in their room are from the show, such as posters, jewelry, apparel, appliances, etc. Maybe a tattoo? They aren't in the closet about their love for the work. I feel cosplayers would also be included in this group, but that can vary.

The (super) Fans: Now I bet you feel this one would be similar to the lovers of the fandom. Sorry, but that's not the case. I feel fans are the worst of a fandom. They eat, sleep, and shit their favorite show/game/etc.. They honestly live it. It's like you took the lover group and gave them cocaine. If their opinion isn't considered canon or even believed, they will throw a temper tantrum. 

A great example is my experience as a Bioware fan. Well, lover in the above case. I love Mass Effect, and eventually got into Dragon Age last year. The thing is I would consider myself also an outsider. I've seen people get pissy about their not being more gay/bi characters in the game. Let me pull back for a bit. In both games you take on the role of a customizable (or default) character. You can be Male or Female and have the option to romance one of the many characters in the game. Sounds fun, right? Well it is. You get sucked into this world and fall in love with these gorgeous characters that Bioware has created. I have about 8 characters made in Dragon Age: Inquisition. 

Anyway, some of the characters swing one way or keep their options open. In the first games it seemed to be more about having a female or male only option and then a bisexual character. In Dragon Age 2, all characters were bisexual besides one, who was a female only dlc. The only problem was that I didn't really feel the need to replay the game. I could just have multiple saves in which my same character ended up with the romance choices. Which is sad, as personally I would love to replay it. Not saying I wouldn't. These games have multiple decisions that need to be made that shape your gameplay. However, with the Dragon Age Keep, I'm able to change these decisions with a single click. 

I'm getting a bit off topic now. 

Both these games are playable on PC, which opens up to the lovely add ons called mods. Ah yes. Want to run around naked? mods. Want dragons to be Thomas the Tank Engine? mods. Want your non-caucasian characters to have whiter skin? mods. 

What? Why would you want to change your characters skin? The same reason why there are mods to make the male party members butt's jiggle. People want to. Of course, you can still get these mods and those in the fandom tend to just ignore the fact that they exist. However, once a mod came out for Inquisition to make a female character roman-cable for a female protagonist, the fandom went wild. People sent threats to the creator and those that supported the mod. How horrible of someone to do such a thing! Eventually the creator deleted the mod and their tumblr blog. That didn't stop some from posting it for those that missed out. But why couldn't the fandom just ignore it if they didn't like it? People like to ruin fun for others. 

Then there were those that actually hounded the game's lead writer, David Gaider, about why a male character wasn't available for males. They believed he had a thing with the gay character because of one scene in which they play chess. That makes total sense. The writer left it vague with a simple "because we didn't feel it fit his character" or something along the lines. That didn't go well with those who were all for having him gay. People kept attacking the employees for a further explanation. Saying that it's simple to change the sexual orientation of a character. Then that led to attacking others in the fandom for not liking the idea... The list of things the fandom bicker about goes on.

What I learned from these moments is that if you don't like something one side of the fandom is doing, ignore it. Don't push your opinions onto others who think the opposite. I stay quiet about the things I don't like in the fandom unless it's something that actually deals with the story. I could care less if someone hates the game. I got a few friends into series. However, I also advise people to actually play the whole series. That's the only time i've forced my opinion onto another, and they didn't take it. There were other things I advised them about when they were getting their PS4, but I still hound them about playing the series instead of the latest game just because the graphics and (concept) art looks amazing. Especially since it's a game based on choices you made in the previous 2 installments.