Co-Writer credit to thedeadlymoose. Special thanks to Kain Pathos Crow for insight into his character and the story.
New Tricks (or: Youth Culture Killed My Dog) / Discussion
Forum
» Per Page Discussions / Per page discussions
» New Tricks (or: Youth Culture Killed My Dog)
This is the discussion related to the wiki page New Tricks (or: Youth Culture Killed My Dog).
Fuck. Yes.
I was a noob (I'm still pretty much a noob, but whatever) when I read the Olympia stuff. It pissed me off that nothing was done with it. Now something is getting done with it. Hells yeah, man. Hopefully, this isn't all just buildup and we actually get something really cool out of it.
Neutral. It's another set-up tale that doesn't necessarily provide new insight into any characters involved. The nose with Kain is quite interesting, but other than that there's nothing in here that isn't just set-up. It's not new. It's just leading to new things.
EDIT: Ok, Changing: I don't care for it because none of the characters or their interpersonal relationships strike me as particularly insightful or something I can really sink into. There also isn't any real imagery that impresses on me in any particular way.
EDIT EDIT:
e.g. Kain: There's nothing in here that I wouldn't already largely conclude by the initial premise of "a smart man who is a dog". Kain fundamentally percieves reality with different senses, but none of this is gone into, he is just a smart man who is a dog and gets around the dog-body because he is a smart man.
e.g. Clef: There's nothing here that made me think, "I haven't thought that about Clef before". Sometimes characters just need to be what they're already established as, but there isn't anything "new" that would justify having static character.
Living the dream, or dreaming the life?
…That all makes sense.
This still works really well for me — honestly, this is my favorite tale of the storyline so far. That's probably partly because of my bias — I created the structure of most of this, and wrote a few of the internal interludes, but I couldn't figure out the dialogue or most of the actual execution. So when Clef just went and did it — and wrote dialogue I really enjoy, with characters I adore (especially Kain) — it was friggin' incredible.
But honestly, I would have loved it anyway: the characterization, the fun dialogue, the character relationships, the intricate references to the wider universe… all this is stuff I eat up like candy.
…But those things won't work for everyone. And what you pointed out are issues.
(Side note: the justification for having a static character is always entertainment value. But that goes to the same point.)
So even though this is still my favorite tale in the storyline so far — we'll try to keep it in mind for future pieces.
EDIT: Though as an aside, given that most people know nothing about Kain beyond "he's a dog who is a researcher", this does have the benefit of giving him a more modern and in-depth introduction for people who don't know who he is. In that context, going too much into the dog stuff could be an issue — but that doesn't invalidate your critique, it's just another angle.
(account deleted)I concur with these critiques.
It's just more "getting the crew back together" stuff that we've seen for the past eight tales. It's well done, but it doesn't feel like anything's going much of anywhere. It's well-written, and the part about Gears becoming a vet was kind of neat, but overall, there's not much here.
Man, if anyone got majorly forgot in the Great Forgetting, it's KPCrow. Glad to see him back.
"Hah. Heroes," Kain said bitterly. "Not many of those left in the Foundation these days."
"Not as many psychopaths either,"
Also, I am treating this as the foundation of the Resurrection series.
Also, I am treating this as the foundation of the Resurrection series.
This was the first tale conceptualized for the series, and the second to actually be drafted beyond the basic concept. (The first has not been posted yet, and is… well, you'll see. Mann's writing it. It's… "different.".)
So… in a very real way, this is the foundation of this series.
And just like that Crow is my favorite character on the site. Absolutely fantastic.
Time for some nitpicks!
"Hah. Heroes," Kain said bitterly. "Not many of those left in the Foundation these days."
This sounds like something a shitty pulp novel hero would say.
"Is that supposed to be a metaphor for us old farts?" Kain asked.
I think it'd work better if you just ended it at "metaphor".
OLYMPIA. Fuck yes.
Y'all just made a shitty day a little better.
+1
/forum/t-1161502/new-tricks-or:youth-culture-killed-my-dog#post-
page revision: 2, last edited: 15 Jan 2023 15:06
