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motivatedtale-blog · 4 years

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About Motivatedtale

.:Contents:.

.:Author’s Note:.

.:Summary/Idea:.

.:Characters:.

Motive

Unmotivated

.:Stray Facts and Resources:.

FAQ

Rules

.:Inspiration:.

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.:Author’s Note:.

Hey, so I've noticed this a long time ago but I’m just now confronting it since I got my computer fixed- it seems pretty impossible to reach the “About Motivatedtale” on mobile, even with the literal LINK to the page (I could only sort of access it through some loopholes in a browser- and the link just took me to my Tumblr instead), so I wanted to compile the information that’s in there into a post for any mobile users who may follow this blog. I’ve got more followers here than my art blog-- so even if there’s not much interaction each post, I think there’s at least a few people who might not have access to an about page here. Changes are very likely to be made and things will be added occasionally :)

.:Summary/Idea:.

“Have you ever wondered what happens to creations when a creator gives up?”

Motivatedtale is essentially an abandoned AU with no finished story or a plot. Which, ironically, not having a story is the story itself. It’s a tale about how the lack of motivation (along with other things like self doubt and lack of interest) in a Creator leaves a story unfinished, and with no reason to exist, no story, the AU is crumbling into nothingness, as it is being forgotten by the only one who knows about its existence- the Creator. However, there’s two characters in it that have to deal with that burden of having no ending or reasons to exist. And they’re completely aware of what’s going on.

At least, the first one that was created is aware, because they were made to be that way. They inform the only other character (Frisk/Motive) about all of this when they meet. They’re a Sans of course (which is sort of a self aware joke because a lot of people either start with the Sans of an AU when creating characters, subtly revolve around a Sans of an AU in a story, or the entire story literally and shamelessly revolves around a Sans. This is not an attack on anyone). This Sans goes by Unmotivated, and is quite bitter about existing. These characters have no finished story, no destiny, and no purpose. Being self aware of this can be a great burden on hope and happiness; ignorance is bliss, after all.

What the AU would’ve been if it was “completed” is unsure.

How the story ends is not fully decided or meant to be disclosed (for now), but even if this AU is finished or not, it is already technically complete. It symbolizes a project that is given up on; a project that is abandoned, and what would happen if the characters in these types of projects were conscious about this- if our ideas existed somewhere out there, somewhere where our decisions, intentional and unintentional, have a serious affect.

So, if this AU is abandoned, it’ll be quite ironic.

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.:Characters:.

Motive

Motive is the Frisk of this AU, and one of only two characters that are in this AU. Motive was created after Unmotivated, but the coloring of their design was given up on towards the very end. Their sweater is unfinished because the creator gave up on them due to being overwhelmed with empty and destructive thoughts, but the outline/shape is still there. The sleeve usually is never shaded/effected by light.

Motive is an optimist, and believes that their AU will one day be finished. They have the soul of motivation, which is outwardly visible and tied to the loose hanging strap of their overalls. They don’t have preferences in pronouns (though they/them is usually the default), and calling them by any pronoun is fine (she/he/they/it..it really doesn’t matter, honestly).

Motive acts impulsively a lot of times and does not think of the consequences of their actions…or, they do, but they choose to move forward with their actions anyways. Since optimism is one of their key traits and it’s exaggerated and simplified in their character and logic, it can result in some bad outcomes. The same goes for their impulsitivity. They’re not that serious natured, and act more like a child than a young adult (despite being 18). However, they do make a lot of (sometimes unnerving) jokes that could be considered uncomfortable, but they mean no harm. While Motive is quite intelligent and empathetic, they’re distracted quite easily and might say or do inappropriate things during certain situations.

Since Motive is technically a new character and was not fully developed by their Creator (backstory, powers, etc), their underdevelopment as a character is actually a big part of their development as a character.

(More is to be added later)

Unmotivated

The Sans of the AU, and the first ever character created (which again is poking fun of the idea that people usually start with the Sans of the AU for characters). Unmotivated is bitter and cynical towards his existence and his Creator, and is completely aware of the multiverse and AU Creators. A big fourth wall breaker. He’s apathetic, bored and often paints himself as emotionless and uncaring to hide any hurt/feelings of helplessness. He bottled them away a long time ago. At first, Unmotivated was hopeful about his AU, but he was alone for an unspecified but long amount of time in his AU, and was driven to toxicity and bitterness during that time. He’s seen his universe grow, halt, and then slowly deteriorate- he has seen new ideas come and go, and is helpless to stop the rampant decay of his universe- his home- his story. He’s overall a pretty lonely character.

When or why he got the nickname “Unmotivated” is unclear- but it’s definitely supposed to be a pun. He hates the name but finds it funny and ironic at the same time.

Unmotivated’s soul is held by a string that is woven into his rain coat. He considers this to be poor design choice but doesn’t really do anything to fix it. He often keeps his soul in his pocket for safe keeping. (More is to be added later)

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.:Stray Facts:.

• The AU resets (sort of like an update) each time a new idea is added. This is how Unmotivated is generally aware of Motive when they’re created. • The “Creator” resembles anyone who has abandoned or given up on their projects or ideas. This isn’t meant to put people that do this in a negative light.

•The white of Motive’s sleeve isn’t meant to be shaded since it’s “incomplete.”

FAQ (most are from amino since not many people ask here)

- What was the AU supposed to originally be before it was abandoned?

This is undecided and left up for interpretation. However, based off of the design of the current characters, it can be safely assumed that the AU was supposed to be more lighthearted and cutesy. There are random bits and ideas spread throughout the AU that give glimpses to what it could’ve been.

- Can I draw fanart of these characters?

Of course! I’d be honored to receive fanart and would love to see it! Just please keep things appropriate if you do.

- Is Ink Sans or Core Frisk going to be in the comic?

No.

I’ve gotten asked this several times, and the answer is no. Doing this would completely ruin the theme and point I’m trying to get across with this comic. This story revolves around a Creator and their Creations, and there will be no other characters made by other people.

- Are Motive and Unmotivated shipped together?

NO.

It’s fine as a joke but please realize they aren’t. This isn’t an AU centered around romance and would distract from the goal of the comic if I had that. While I’m not anti-frans in any sense, I still don’t want it in my comic.

- How often do you plan on updating the comic?

Each page is published whenever I finish it nowadays due to stress of a schedule. I post them in bulks of 2-3 on amino and twitter, and whenever I finish the page on deviantart, instagram and here.

- Is the Creator a character?

Yes, and no. The Creator represents not only myself, but any artist that has struggles putting their creations out there due to insecurities or other causes. They’re more symbolic and fluent rather than a structured and identified character. Of course though, if there is any introduction of the Creator, I would have to give them some sort of design- and I do have general ideas of what they’d look like. However, they’re still supposed to represent a broader group of people than just myself.

- What does Unmotivated think about other AUs/Sanses?

Unmotivated has an apathetic mindset when it comes to AUs and other characters like him. He’s incredibly self aware and sees a much bigger picture. He knows characters are just pawns to their creator, and won’t get fazed by any story. Sort of like watching actors in a movie while constantly reminding yourself that they’re just actors. However, he is quite envious of anyone with a complete and happy storyline, since that’s something he lacks but yearns the most. That’s something he wish he had.

Keep in mind Unmotivated and Motive cannot interact or travel outside of their AU, and no one can interact with their AU except the editor/creator.

Rules

• Please do not publicly RP with these characters unless given permission. This might be changed after more of the comic is complete, but I do not want these character’s personalities to be strewn.

• Please do not draw or write NSFW with my characters– I am a minor, and a large part of my audience are also minors.

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.:Inspiration:.

Alright, this part is going to be a lot less formal and more personal. The idea for this AU came from my own self doubt and self destructive attitude as a creator. Doubting my own works and ideas has seriously held me back for a long time, and it STILL holds me back as I’m sure it has for many, MANY other creators like me. Musicians, artists, writers.. Almost all of us have that fear of trying out a new idea or making something you usually wouldn’t. Almost all of us have felt that crushing self doubt when you see someone better than you, and you tell yourself you’ll never be like them, your art will never be that great, you’ll never get that far…so on, so on.

So, while I was trying to come up with an idea for an AU (which I had actually been considering for well over a year), the thoughts crept in.

“no one will like this”

“there’s enough AU’s”

“you’re unoriginal”

“this is a waste of time”

“the fandom is dying”

“you have horrible character designs”

“AU’s are overrated”

“this doesn’t fit your audience”

“people will judge you”

“you never finish anything”

“this is stupid”

“your art isn’t good enough”

“you’re not good enough”

“someone probably already came up with this idea”

“no one cares about your idea”

“no one would bother with your art”

And ironically, all these thoughts gave me this idea.

Even so, these thoughts have still been nagging me every time I even try to work on this, and it’s been taking a lot of courage to take on the heap of anxiety I have over something so harmless. I didn’t join the Undertale fandom for over a year simply because I was afraid of being judged for my interests,, fun fact. Never thought I’d be able to make an AU. I’m still quite nervous posting art of anything that isn’t Mario related for some reason.

Putting all this to side though, I find the concept of what happens to unfinished and/or abandoned stories and projects interesting, especially if there’s an alternate reality that’s actually effected by your decisions. Kinda like you’re a god. I mean, imagine what it would be like if you had a creator and they just gave up on you, and you’re left with no purpose. Seems like it would suck, haha.

So that’s basically my AU, Motivatedtale. If you have any thoughts or questions, I’d love to hear them. Thanks for reading if you did!

#Motivatedtale #undertale au #comic #about page #alternate universe #information #motivatedtale comic #au #au comic #au sans #au frisk #motive #unmotivated

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gayruthven · 6 years

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history and inspiration for the character lord ruthven + the similarities between him in the vampyre vs. tcsov

read a short story that was published in 1816 in spanish class lmao and i decided to write this post for fun its long as fuck but honestly a interesting read if u want to know more than u need to abt lord ruthven

here is a link to where you can read the vampyre. its really good but really outdated and hard to read soooo theres a pretty detailed summary in this post.

a quick backstory for the creation of the vampyre and the man who was used unwillingly as the inspiration for the original lord ruthven:

in the year 1816 a famous french poet named lord byron (he was considered very edgy for his time and everyone thought he was sexy, dramatic and scandalous lmao) rented a house at lake geneva in switzerland for the summer (he fled england due to his divorce to avoid social fallout- some say he was actually driven from england due to the possibility he would be outed as bisexual, which he was). his personal physician john polidori accompanied him and his lover claire clarement made arrangements to be in switzerland at the same time and bought along her step sister, mary wollstonecraft godwin as well as mary’s lover, percy bysshe shelley.

1816 is famously known as the year without a summer due to a huge volcanic eruption in modern day indonesia that caused a majority of the northern hemisphere to be covered in a thick layer of ash. so despite it being summer, it was very chilly and the sun was dimmed due to the fog to be red and it happened to rain a lot. because of the atmosphere surrounding that summer, lord byron spent a majority of his days reading ghost stories and decided to challenge his companions to each write a horror story of their own.

that summer lord bryon worked on a piece published in his collection fragments of a novel. it featured a dastardly, possibly supernatural nobleman. john polidiri, who had previously written what mary wollenstein godwin described as horrendous was about a woman with a skull head lol, and after reading the fragment polidiri was inspired to write the vampyre. its claimed he kinda completely copied the fragment, i haven’t read it and can’t talk abt it cause this is supposed to be abt lord ruthven lmao. he decided to model the devilishly attractive lord ruthven after lord byron himself (which sucked for lord byron cause that really wasn’t good for his public image). the two of them had a thing- this woman macdonald once described polidiris jealous outbursts and tantrums over lord byron. it was sorta like a angry ex demonizing their past partner lol.

before i move onto the differences and similarities between the two lord ruthvens here is a summary of the vampyre:

the story the vampyre tells the tale of a attractive young man named aubrey. both lord ruthven and aubrey appear as newcomers in high class parties in london around the same time. everyone, including aubrey, find themselves oddly fascinated with lord ruthven due to the intensity of his stare, his wicked handsomeness and his strange paleness. after becoming entranced with lord ruthven, aubrey is invited to accompany on his trip throughout europe. already being expected to travel in order to truly be considered to have reached adulthood, aubrey jumps at the opportunity.

as they travel together aubrey starts to notice some REALLY WEIRD shit about lord ruthven. the guy loves to gamble and gives his money away to the people very often, but only people who use the money for their vices who don’t really need it. lord ruthven tries to seduce a young italian girl, but aubrey ruins that for him and decides it would be wise to distance himself from lord ruthven and travels to greece alone.

once in greece aubrey falls in love with a woman. or, well, he likes the fact she doesn’t love him and that it would be absolutely ridiculous for him to ever want to marry him. basically he finds comfort in his attraction to her cause it means he DOESN’T REALLY like lord ruthven lol. she tells him stories about vampyres living the woods by athens, which aubrey thinks is absolutely ridiculous.

after failing to make it to town after tending to something important, he gets caught in the woods after nightfall and has a encounter with a vampyre who kills the woman he was in “love” with and after a close encounter with the vampyre, he is saved by the towns people appearing flares.

aubrey is bedridden after this incident and loses his mind a bit. he curses ruthven quite a bit in a crazed daze, yet comes to his senses one day only to realize he was being nursed to health by no other than lord ruthven himself. aubrey accepts ruthvens kindness and they decide to put their past agreements behind them and travel together again.

lord ruthven gets murdered in a run in with some bandits. upon his death bed, aubrey is forced to swear he won’t tell anyone anything negative about lord ruthven for a year and a day after his passing.

when he returns to england, it’s around the time when aubreys younger sister is finally about to enter society. she is very excited that aubrey will accompany her. but after attending his first party upon his return, he is pulled aside by someone who whispers for him to ‘remember his oath.’ its lord ruthven and that fucks aubrey up.

he loses his mind a bit, which delights lord ruthven, and stays locked in his room mostly. he receives news one day that his sister is getting married and hes absolutely delighted! however, when he opens the heart locket she keeps around her neck he discovered the photo of the person inside of it is none other than lord ruthven.

aubrey tries to get them to cancel the marriage. he fails, dies, and then his sister is killed by lord ruthven on the night of their wedding and he mysteriously disappears.

its a very gay coded story that is REALLY GOOD so heres a link abt that

FINALLY the parallels between the two lord ruthvens relevant in tcsov:

lord ruthven in tcsov is obviously inspired by the one featured in the vampyre. two easy similarities is their lack of one eye and the fact their both highly regarded noblemen. their charisma is strongly attributed to their supernatural powers.

in each piece of media, a young man becomes fascinated with them. while it isn’t as present in tcsov, it’s obvious lord ruthven is attempting to groom noe. which i believe is even relevant in their first encounter, despite ruthven not necessarily being aware of noes importance yet. lord ruthven holds noe against his chest when he melts the ice, forcing them to be in a position one would describe as affectionate closeness.

similar to how aubrey is described as lord ruthvens curiosity, i believe the same applies to lord ruthven and noe. lord ruthven in tcsov’s acts of kindness towards noe remind me greatly of when lord ruthven tended to aubrey when he was bedridden. while i do believe lord ruthven in the tcsov does indeed feel some sort of affection for noe, its pretty obvious their acts of manipulation.

him renting out the entire restaurant he brought noe to forces them to be isolated. he claims it was his favorite and says the reason why he rented out the establishment was because he wanted to have a leisurely talk with noe. this is supposed to make noe feel like hes receiving special treatment, similar to the way lord ruthven in the vampyre lures aubrey into a similar situation when he invites him to travel alone with him.

the way he talks to other people in the series only furthers this point. while speaking to veronika or vanitas, he is incredibly apathetic and when he does smile its devoid of emotion. lord ruthven in the vampyre is described with these characteristics, as a cold, withdrawn man with a dead stare. this is contradicted only by his change of attitude when tending to aubrey. both noe and aubrey are lured into a false sense of safety.

another striking similarity is the fact they both put someone under an oath. while aubrey was manipulated emotionally by lord ruthven in the vampyre to swear he wouldn’t reveal anything that would harm lord ruthvens reputation, we’re all aware of that fun little scene from chapter 19 lol.

this oath ultimately drives aubrey insane that due to it hes unable to save his sister or anyone else who would ultimately become a victim of lord ruthven. while we havent witnessed what lord ruthven in tcsov forces noe to do yet, its easy to infer it will have similar results to noes mental health. perhaps as a result he’ll be forced to witness the death of someone he cares deeply about and blames himself for not being able to save them much like aubrey and his sister??

#the case study of vanitas #vanitas no carte #vanitas no shuki #vnc #lord ruthven #i spent a long time on this shit and its all rambling

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cozypancakes · 4 years

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Hi there! I have another question if you're still up for answering them! I wanted to know who's your favorite character to write/develop in your series.

Always up for answering questions, thank you so much for asking. This sort of got away from me by like 1.8k words...I’d blame the voice to text feature I’m trying out cause it really encourages my ramblings, but this would’ve happened regardless. I also ended up talking about what I would write/develop about every character. My current answer to who my favorite is would be everyone (leaning towards Shirley at this very second, but basically everyone). All of the characters are fascinating so below is the short version of the parts I’d be most interested in developing.

Abed takes incredible precision to get his character right because his personality only changes in subtle ways. Chang has had multiple personalities and roles so now I don’t even know how to write him. Those two are awesome cause I love a challenge. Annie was a drug addict and has serious mommy issues. Addiction doesn’t just disappear. She has to have struggled/relapsed with that. Shirley had serious drinking issues and was a bully growing up. What was her rock bottom that turned her into someone who tries to always be nice and when did Christianity start playing a role in her life?? Frankie came to Greendale to take care of one of her “insane” relatives...nothing more was ever said on that! Britta is a mess but doesn’t deserve to be the butt of every joke. And also, why is she so afraid of herself? Troy’s lack of career ambition is valid so that would not be where I give him personality. Pierce is an asshole but his fear of being abandoned by everyone is not on the list of reasons why.

What lies ahead is a lot of ramblings into every major character outside of Jeff and the Dean. Proceed at your own risk...

So obviously since I write primarily deanjeff fanfic so those are the two I focus on the most. And I couldn’t possibly choose one over the other. I know Jeff has been getting more attention but I think the Dean’s journey is just as, if not more, fascinating. The people I think would be hardest to write about, would have to be Abed or Chang. with Chang it's difficult to really pinpoint his character after season 3. I think I need to re-watch it a lot more because personally I want to keep his crazy antics, that did not involve murder. He was such a narcissistic, sarcastic asshole in the first season and I kinda miss that. But he's really calmed down when he’s Kevin. Then they try to mix the two personalities together? I don't understand the balance just yet. With Abed it feels a lot more like walking a tightrope. You need needlepoint accuracy to get Abed’s character right cuz it's very easy to slip into either incorrect exaggerations or misinterpretations of his personality. So if I'm ever up for a challenge one of those would be the two I'd have trouble pinning down.

As far as who I would like to explore more, that's a really hard decision to make too. It would really be like the entire cast. Annie has so much stuff with her perfectionism and drug addiction that's never really touched upon and her issues with her mom. There's also the whole thing with her sexuality cause obviously I read her as a lesbian, though extremely repressed. Like how does her relationship with her mom influence her as she tries to define what kind of person she wants to be? And that is stressful to navigate by itself but then you have her addition issues. So it like can't really even begin to deal with one of them because they all feed into each other and they all feed into her bigger anxiety about being the best and it's just a whirlpool of emotional trauma.

Shirley is, of course, another character that we just do not know much about. I’d love to dive into her character development. She kind of stays the Christian mom friend who has a troubled marriage for the majority of the series. They never even touched on the fact that she was a black business woman and any of the hardships that must come with that, even being at Greendale. Some of the questions I have is if her early life of excessive drinking is what drove her to Christianity so hard or if that was something she had from childhood? we also see that she was a bully in her childhood because she was bullied. So did that lead her to the drinking or was it strict expectations under a Christian household that made her drink. What was her rock bottom where she suddenly decided to change her entire life and like get sober and be nice all the time? What was her motivation for suppressing all her negative emotions?

With Frankie, it wasn't until my third or fourth re-watch of the first season 6 episode that I realize she says she's at Greendale because she has to take care of one of her insane relatives like what is the story there? How much pressure is she under to take care of her family? How much of that has influenced her personality of being productive and in control all the time? Does she ever get a moment to just be weird or careless or insane herself? Did she have to be the parent when she was a small child? Did she ever get to be free? Does she know how to be? Is she a super private person by choice or because she’s learned to hide her family cause mental health issues are so taboo? What about her sexuality? Was she something she always knew about herself but, like with many other aspects of herself, never really felt bothered or able to celebrate or embrace outwardly? Did she view it was a fact of herself? ‘I have brown hair, light skin, and am pan/bi/lesbian.” Her attitude towards life makes it hard to imagine her having any sort of big reaction to her sexuality. Like, “Oh, I actually find women attractive. Okay then, I’ll have to research lesbian later.” in the most monotone, unaffected voice possible. Maybe it’s a coping mechanism. Like she’s had to deal with a lot of crazy things throughout her life so she’s adopted to focusing on fixing/adapting to the situation rather than reacting to it.

At this point I've done almost every single character so I might as well add in Britta. I will admit I'm having a bit of trouble getting a grip on her character. I would definitely focus on having Britta be dysfunctional but not in such a negative way like the show makes it. Cause everyone on that show sucks in some way or another and yet Britta is the one who's supposed to suck more than all of them? The first time I watched the series I was really confused when they started picking on Britta. She wasn't worse than any of the other characters so why are you signaling her out and coining the term Britta’d it?? She doesn't even need a redemption, she just needs to not be made the butt of the joke unnecessarily. And then there's so much to explore with her white feminism and misguided attempts at activism and the fact that she does things that make her seem to care because she is trying so hard to not be the selfish person she thinks she is. And that's both incredibly sad and incredibly brave. Because obviously she isn't as bad as she thinks since she's making the attempt to be better. I really wonder what happened in her life that made her fear so much being apathetic and if that’s her issue with her parents.

There's also Troy who I've never gotten to write about or in the perspective of since I'm focused on season 6 right now. First time I watched the repilot episode and Jeff said his entire identity was defined by his relationship with a man, I thought that was an exaggeration. But rewatching the series a couple times, it's really true and they point it out a lot throughout the series. Troy's basically just going along with whatever Abed wanted and other than the AC repairman plotline, which he obviously did not enjoy, he never really got his own thing. Which I think is completely valid. So I would love to show that Troy can be one of those people that has no ambition in life and be perfectly okay with that. His biggest goal in life is to be happy. Which in a capitalist society is really hard to admit and/or embrace. So after he comes back from his trip around the world, sure he'll have crazy stories and millions of dollars but I would like him to keep that innocent, carefree behavior. I don't want him to become Pierce in the sense that he's just spending money and doing nothing. But I don't want him to suddenly be anything other than what we've seen him to be. I also love all the posts on Tumblr about how Abed was the one that kind of taught him to be himself. So yeah he kind of adopts Abed’s fascination with TV shows and role-playing but at the same time I think he just loves being goofy and sweet. And maybe that's through a different medium. Maybe he finds love for music and he just makes amazing at it cough Childish Gambino cough. And it’s a natural talent like plumbing/AC repair. And everyone is telling him to go out there and become a great musician or rapper and he's just like this is just what I do for fun, don’t ruin it.

Screw it, let's do Pierce now. I've already written an entire essay so I might as well finish off the one character I've been avoiding. So obviously there's a line of what is Pierce's character and what is the writer's exaggeration for the sake of comedy. Now, in this day in age, there is very little tolerance of old people getting a pass for being racist, homophobic, or sexist. And there's a lot of things that just would not slide where Pierce is concerned. Like if I met the guy it would just be a hard no immediately. You're not even worth getting to know, you're not even worth the effort. Pierce would definitely need a redemption arc (a real redemption arc where he honestly tries to do better not whatever that scene with Jeff tolerating his racism/homophobia in the barber shop was). I also think it's really important to note that ageism plays a role in how Pierce is perceived by the fandom. Because yes, he is an absolute racist piece of s*** (voice to text is censoring me, boo!). But the moments where he is acting out because he does not want to be left out oh, those are the moments where I think he is over judged by both the writers and the fandom. Because those fears are legitimate. They could have been developed and fleshed out. Progress could have been made. It's just a constant of his personality where he keeps being an a****** pushing people away so that they leave and he’ll be justified in his fear. Other characters do pretty bad things and yet are more easily forgiven than Pierce. I am speaking for myself here, of course. And there was this tumblr post that said something along the lines of annoying perks are tolerated depending on how good looking and young the actors/characters are. And I think that happens with Pierce's character that is then amplified by the fact that he is racist and sexist. If I were to write Pierce, I don't know if I would even be able to stomach the racism, but his self-destructive behavior would be something I would find interesting to address. Also, what made him leave all his money to Troy? I thought Annie was his favorite...In what world does he have enough emotional depth to not leave his favorite all the money??

Holy crap that took an hour and twenty minutes...if anyone bothered to read all of that, I would love to hear thoughts or headcanons. And bless you for being just as obsessed with this show as I am.

#community #shirley bennett #troy barnes #abed nadir #chang #britta perry #annie edison #frankie dart #pierce hawthorne #will i ever simply answer a question with one or two sentences?#probably not

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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John Cena Shows His Passion For Animation With Dallas & Robo

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Han and Chewy, Kirk and Spock, Groot and Rocket – the science fiction world isn’t hurting for lovable outer space duos. Now, another intriguing pair is putting themselves forward into the “space buddies” canon.

Dallas & Robo stars the accomplished Kat Dennings as Dallas and WWE megastar John Cena as Robo. The series that bears their name follows the misadventures of Dallas, a sassy space-trucker with a colorful vocabulary and Robo, her bone-crushing artificially intelligent best friend.

The eight-episode series comes from creator Mike Roberts and animation studio ShadowMachine (both of Bojack Horseman). It will be making its cable run debut on what seems to be the perfect fit, Syfy, this August on Saturday’s late night TZGZ programming block.

This past week we had the chance to chat (via phone, of course) to the man behind Robo — the GOAT, John Cena himself. Cena discussed becoming Robo, his love for animation, and how his years in the WWE have prepared him as he continues to further his career in entertainment.

Den of Geek: I could certainly try to describe it, but since you are Robo, how would you best describe the show for all the potential first-time viewers out there?

John Cena: Robo’s description of the show would be different than mine. Robo would say that AI is absolutely equal to or greater than the human species and should be treated as such. I think, as a viewer, it literally is a fun ride, a look at a quasi-realistic futuristic environment. It gives us a chance to laugh. It’s very lighthearted and it looks at the future through freight, which is not a job that’s going anywhere soon. With all the online ordering and all the shipping to your door, this is something that will be around for quite some time. So it takes something that’s extremely important now, but rather mundane and that’s the basis of the show going into the future.

How exactly did this opportunity come about to play Robo? Is starring in an adult cartoon series something you always wanted to do?

Animation is something that I love. I really think it gives you a chance to tell stories and use tools that aren’t possible in live-action or actual film. So it was very entertaining to me and to do something in the animation comedy space. It’s even more entertaining because of what I’ve done for most of my life, regardless of the risks that I take outside of that, it’s very difficult to break those typecasts. Where I was able to be a voice in an animated comedy, man, that was something that I was really interested in and I really have an interest in AI and the development of electronics.

Certainly as a semi-professional future, all of these things hit on certain channels that I really do enjoy. The folks at ShadowMachine have a great track record, and I’m so grateful to Syfy. It couldn’t have ended up on a better network. It belongs on Syfy. It belongs on the weekend animation spot.

You co-star with the amazingly talented Kat Dennings. What was it like recording the voiceovers for the show alongside her?

As with most animation, it’s very difficult to get everybody in the same room, especially when you want to put together an all-star cast. Because of all the outlets of entertainment, everybody’s really busy. It’s a really good time to be an entertainer, which I’m certainly very fortunate for every day. But to be able to stack the cast the way we did, a lot of times you’d have to record without the person being there. Now, Kat and I did record many times together. I wouldn’t see anyone else as Dallas. And she really embraced it.

Animation is realistic yet over the top. And a lot of times you get the opportunity to leave a joke longer. With animation, you can punch home some of the punchlines because there’s stuff you just can’t do without drawing. So she’s incredibly gifted and I think has a brilliant mind for how long to lean into a joke, the correct presentation of the humor, and also giving the character a sense of … you’re very sympathetic to the character, as well. It’s more than just coming in and reading from a paper and she absolutely really did a great job.

I love the chemistry between your two characters. Robo acts as sort of the voice of reason counterpart to his reckless, alcoholic partner, Dallas. Did the dynamic between the two characters come naturally through the script, or did the two of you sort of mold the characters into what they ended up becoming?

Well, I’m pretty straight laced. So I think Robo was easy. It wasn’t beyond my reach. And that’s also what drove me to the character – this kind of skeptical, really logical piece of AI that really just wants to be treated as equal. But he’s also very angular at points, and I hope that that helped Kat let loose because me not pushing those boundaries too much allows her to push her boundaries. And it really gives, like you said, a great comparison between the two characters.

I think if we were both on that same wave of really trying to push the boundaries of personality, I don’t think either one of us would’ve stuck out. So I’m really glad at how everything came out. And for me to play straight laced and logical, that’s kind of right in my wheelhouse. So like I said, I was very grateful to be able to do it.

Throughout the series, we see the two of you fight off cannibal biker gangs, get into time travel fiascos, and compete and speed races on Mars. Without too many spoilers, what scenes or episodes from the show really made you laugh while watching back?

Dude, I like anything to do with Fat Paul. He’s one of my favorite characters. I actually like some of the attempts to be a futuristic entrepreneur because it really just gives a forum for a whole new sense of stories. The series tackles a bunch of stuff like social isolationism, the development of AI. Then it goes to something as commonplace as car racing and it kind of keeps the environment the same and life on different planets and our expansion of the human race and how certain planets are and how certain environments are. I dig that a lot, that’s the stuff that makes me laugh. There’s a running joke about a casino operation that’s pretty decent.

I even like the … I hope I’m not spoiling it for anybody … the hidden bounty hunter element of what’s going on and all. But there is a lot to be told in each episode and I think you really should enjoy them all together. And I think once you watch one, hopefully you enjoy it and we have good characters and good stories. Hopefully you want to see them all.

Full disclosure: I’m a gigantic WWE fan. In honor of the name of our company, (Den of Geek) … I’m totally geeking out having this interview with you. So how have all your years in the WWE prepared you to play these different roles as you continue to venture off into acting and voice acting?

This one I’ll try to not be so long winded. I’ll sum it up like this. After 15 years or 18 years of putting yourself in front of a public audience six nights a week, constantly, with no break, you begin to really know … you’d either go one of two ways. You don’t know who you are anymore, or you really have a great knowledge of self. And that’s really made me comfortable in my own shoes. Doing that, it’s made me want to challenge myself and grow and get better. The WWE has prepared me not only for live entertainment, but life. And I really hope one of these days in the right circumstances, I can thank the WWE audience for all they’ve given me because it’s been really important in the development of me as a human being.

While we’re on the topic, as I was watching some of the fight scenes in Dallas and Robo, I noticed quite a few wrestling moves out of Robo, including some DDTs and what looks to be a move inspired by your finisher, the attitude adjustment. Did you inspire that decision?

I really get excited when I see stuff like that. I think the animators take a chance and cross their fingers that the artist isn’t going to blow their stack or be offended. I’m never offended with stuff like that. That is such a great homage as to the fact that hopefully I contributed to something that left a lasting impression on somebody. I would have loved to have Robo do the “You Can’t See Me.”

What’s great about a good show, is being able to dig into those nuances. If it’s something you catch, like you being a dedicated fan, that’s cool. If it’s something you don’t, it doesn’t ruin the story. I think great animated programs have a way of doing that, where they can shoehorn in little Easter egg jokes. Dallas & Robo, especially those fight nuances, is a great example of there’s a lot in there and you don’t need to get it all. You can still watch it and have a good time.

I know a lot of fans like myself loved your cinematic style WrestleMania match against Bray Wyatt this year that sort of brought us through this John Cena time machine. What was the creative process for coming up with that idea?

That, in its entirety, is a great example of being given an idea and then when asking, “Well, what is this idea?” then the response from those people that give it to you is, “We don’t know.” I can waste the entire day talking with you about that performance, because it means a lot to me and it’s one of those that is really special. But if anything, it’s a great example of just not stopping and continuing to lean into anything and everything to tell the correct story. We weren’t given any direction. We were just given this thing. And then we made this out of nothing because the response of all of our inquiries was always, “I don’t know.” So instead of taking “I don’t know” as mopey complacency and going back and kicking the rock down the road, we took “I don’t know” as an opportunity. And trust me, man, when we were doing this, everyone involved was like, “This is either going to be awesome or it’s going to suck. No one is going to apathetically watch this and go get popcorn.”

It’s not like we knew we had something special. You talk to anyone who was involved in the process and the theme was, “This is either going to be really good or it’s going to suck. And we’re going to go down with the ship, but let’s not err on the side of caution, let’s be brave and let’s do something different. And if they don’t get it, at least we’ll know right away that they didn’t get it and we’ll know why because our audience is very vocal when they don’t like stuff.” We really could have sat on our haunches and done whatever we want and it would have been okay. It might’ve been just another match. But we all leaned into it and came up with some really creative stuff and in the process, used the forum to tell a great story.

It really was a cool thing. And I say it’s important to me because I also like to help and teach and guide younger performers that are looking for answers. For them to be like, “I get nothing. No one gives me any information.” They don’t realize that that’s a goldmine. Now I actually have multiple experiences, when I started rapping, for example, and the choices then, to even now of like, “Hey man, it happens at every level. You are not alone. Take it by the horns and do your best to make something out of it. And don’t be afraid to fail.” I really was happy with the effort and whether it bombed or it went to the moon, literally, I was happy. But I was also so happy that our audience understood what we were trying to say.

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