That's a story of one man--one might call him a patron--analyzing the present situation and deciding upon the development of how to improve the primary tool used to address that situation, doing so, deploying that new version and forcing all his rivals to freak out and scramble to keep up before he can exploit his advantage to conquer them.
Am I talking about pre-Great War power politics or Patron-level play in RPGs?
Yes.
Just like the medium itself, learning how to #winatrpgs starts with learning how those that did it for real, in the real world, with real stakes approached these situations- to break down what they did, how they did it, and why they did so.
Even though you're dealing with furries and fireballs, you're still dealing with scare resources and logistical trains when dealing with your fantastic geopolitics. Studying the real stories will inform how you go about creating the Defurniator 9000 KillGolem, especially if you're playing with a castrated ruleset that doesn't have solid procedures for doing Research & Development as AD&D 1st Edition (or D&D3.x) does.
Now imagine that you're "Jackie" Fisher and that you're witnessing your brainchild take to sea for the first time. There it is, floating there before you, now something you can touch--that you can stand upon--and you know now that you have changed the game, seized the initative, and forced your rivals and enemies to react or get crushed.
That, folks, is what it means to #winatrpgs.
Don't shy away from the Patron game. Not as a player, not as the Game Master. That's where the magic happens.
Hell, even the song had a sort of serendipity to its creation. Enjoy.
This dropped yesterday, and it is the first time that Sabaton History released a video about something other than Sabaton or the events that inspire their songs.
As Sabaton has become to history, Manowar is to fantasy and myth- specifically the heroic adventure fantasies of Robert E. Howard and his ilk and the mythology that inspired them.
It is not at all hard to see the words of Howard, Homer, etc. when listening to Manowar, especially as they solidified into their iconic presence. These latter-day bards and skalds--and I think "skald" fits better--live up to that label as they turned their focus upon singing the songs of glory and heroism, the virtues of the warrior, and the necessity of struggle to make achievement worth anything.
They are dismissed as clowns, as cringe, as cheesy, but their fans don't care and they don't either. They are still going, and they are still worth seeing live so do so while you can- especially if you read the literature that Manowar celebrates- be it the Eddas, The Illiad & The Odyssey, Queen of the Black Coast, A Princess of Mars, Beowulf, or many more besides those notables.
On the off-chance that you need to find their site, it is here and their YouTube channel is here.
Hobbyists making music videos out of their favorite anime films or series is nothing new. As with most creative endeavors, many of them are middling and few of them truly stand out. Today I present one that does stand out for all the right reasons: pairing of music with visuals, timing thereof for maximum effect, and the synergy thereof promoting both media to each others' audiences. Readers, I present an AMV for Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up set to Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.
Mr. Astley does not worry about paying his bills for the rest of his life thanks to goofy little things like this, as the now-ancient Rickroll meme proved quite conclusively years ago. This video is just going to make certain that his estate will have evergreen revenue, because that song and this romantic comedy are too good not to cross-promote in such a fashion.
Remember that 90 minute retrospective about Getter Robo posted in the wake of its creator's death? That was Mr Cheese, and he just posted another big video.
Again, Mr. Cheese put in a solid piece of work. This is well worth the time to watch, and it leaves the viewer inclined to seek out these media while making certain that he neither fellated the subject nor did a hitpiece on it; this is a well-considered and nuanced retrospective that you wouldn't expect out of an Establishment outlet (when they bothered to do this stuff), and I'm endorsing it.
On a side note, it is no surprise that all the best anime has a fantastic original soundtrack- and so do a lot of shows that suck, and need that music to carry it like Atlas shouldering the world. If you'd like to find a good independent channel with a lot of it, this one here should be on your list; the music videos sell their shows or films might as well as be extended trailers in their own right, and they're in 4K so if you're watching on a big screen that supports it you're in for a treat.
It's been a while, but Indy and the boys are back to talk about the start of World War One and the failure of the Schlieffen Plan.
Naturally, this is promoting song and the rest of the new album.
This is your reminder that, in addition to their excellent World War Two series, Time Ghost has a channel dedicated to World War One. It is "The Great War", and you can find it here. A quick search reveals two videos on the Schlieffen Plan, so watch those if you want more information.
Sabaton History returns with the story of one of the most remarkable men of an age long gone now, Adrian Carton de Wiart.
One may well describe de Wiart as a madman who only felt alive when fighting in war, but I don't think so. He was a man yearning for adventure, which was most easily found in war at that time, and he got it good and hard- and gave back in equal measure. His is a story more of us ought to learn, and learn from, considering the questions of what to make of our lives and how to handle the changes life wreaks upon us when we err.
And yes, Indy is right; this man's life story should have been dramatized as a feature film or a premium series many years ago. I wonder where there might be some enterprising authors and artists looking for some material to turn into a pretty profitable project of particular importance culturally as well as creatively? This man is up there for real men of action whose deeds were equal parts awesome and terrifying, and the perception of which serves as a good filter for sussing out the r-select from the K-select.
(Hint: No rabbit respects a man like him, and won't be able to hide their contempt for long.)
As for the video, here you go- and get the new album as soon as you can so you don't need to rely on platforms controlled by people who hate you to listen to it.
The boys--including Indy--are back with another Sabaton History episode.
As usual, most people--including those currently living where this action went down; failures of teaching aren't confined the US--know little or nothing about this incredible story, so it is to the credit of Sabaton and Time Ghost to uncover this history and return it to popular attention and they again affirm why I respect and support both part of this collaboration.
As for the song itself, of course there's a video.
I recommend that you read more about this for yourselves. This is quite the gripping tale, full of drama and pathos, as is much of the Great War.
This is a Japanese virtual talent agency, Riot Music. They're in the same sphere as Hololive, Nijisanji, and VShojo; they hire people to give voice to a fictional persona, which is used to attract and retain an audience. Riot's relatively new and is focused on virtual singers, so they don't stream live much; most of their online offerings are music videos.
That means that they're using covers of well-known anime opening and ending theme songs, many of which feature English-language subtitles as Closed Captions, and creating original videos to accompany those cover songs.
Remember what I said about anime music videos being good starting projects? Here's how low that bar gets; these videos are little more than motion comics on a loop much of the time, with the one embedded below being one of the few exceptions (because they are trying so hard to invoke the Sheryl-Ranka dynamic of the original).
Take a look at this video. How long would it take you to make something like one of Riot's videos? If you're an illustrator--not an animator, an illustrator--you have a client market out there that you may not have considered previously because you don't need to come up with 90-600 seconds of animation cells, but rather a dozen or less (often a lot less) static images that get some half-assed motion effects added.
(Saki's the blond doing the Sheryl role; Cocoa's the brunette doing the Ranka role.)
And this is typical of Riot's stuff to date.
Note that there is no half-assing the music. Riot knows its core business isn't animation; they know that they can get away with motion comics for videos so long as their covers are rock-solid, and to date that's what Riot and their girls have delivered upon. There are three other girls in the stable, and they tend to get the softer-voiced songs to cover and do the softer roles in collaborative songs like the main anthem of Sakura Wars.
(Alas, no ENG CC yet.)
Now, why this video talk?
Friend of the Retreat Rawle Nyanzi's pointed this out in a few chats and blog posts of his own in the last couple of weeks that A/V media is where Normies live and breathe, as most Normies don't read unless they have to. Therefore, while writing our novels and comics is necessary, it is not sufficient to replace the culture that hates us.
That's why we need a path that incorporates transitions from the written word and the static comic page to film and television, both of which inevitably mean incorporating music into our media creation projections, and that means learning how to work with video. Music videos are the place to start because (a) they're video media, (b) they're music media, and thus (c) a perfect staging ground for making our A/V media where we tell the tales where we win.
A word for you folks aiming to do video and want something to consider as a learning project: fan music videos still exist.
It's exactly what it says. This is a fan--you--making a video to promote a specific song. For many of you regular readers, you are likely familiar with AMVs; these are fan music videos for anime opening, ending, and insert songs. Yes, this tends to run afoul of Japanese corporations sooner or later; that's not the point. The point is that you, Beginner Video Guy, need only find a way to use the footage relevant to that song's series or film to highlight both in a synergistic manner.
And why am I pointing out anison in particular? Because they are routinely cut into two lengths, usually referred to as "TV Size" (i.e. the actual length used to open or close a TV episode, typically 90 seconds) and "Full Length" (averaging 4 minutes, but duration typically varies between 3:30 and 5).
For you, BVG, AMVs of the TV Size are perfect projects; take a look at the existing OP/ED footage and see if you can do the job of that OP/ED video better. That's the goal of a TV Size AMV, and it will be perfect to learn how to not fumble about a video editing suite like a deer in headlights. Once you get your bearings, move up to doing Full Length videos, and allow me to show you how good a well-done video can be in selling a film or series even decades after the fact.
Maybe you never heard of Brain Powerd (sic), or you forgot about it; it's one of Tomino's--yes, "Kill 'Em All" Tomino--non-Gundam works and he was not face-down in depression when he made this series, and he got Yoko Kanno to do the music which is why it's good stuff that holds up (and man, this particular song is as subtle as a brick to the face). I bet you're interested after this video.
That's the power of a well-done video, and now that the tools and the knowledge are readily available--not free, but definitely cheap--it's within the reach of people who formerly had to prostrate themselves before film school professionals or spend long apprenticeships (defacto) in TV studios and thus waste years of one's life (and a small fortune in the case of film school) to learn and hone those skills.
And if you need to know what a good TV Size looks like, allow me to dig up one of the best--and most faithful--remakes of recent years.
The difference between the two is not just the duration. The TV Size is what plays at the start of every TV episode; it's job is to get the viewer to stop what they're doing and focus their attention on the program between it and the first commercial break (typically about 10-12 minutes). You don't need to sell the series in a TV Size video; they're already sold. You need to prod the viewer into the right frame of mind; this is also why OPs (and their intro videos) tend to change over the course of a series' run, at least when done honestly (and not as a cynical ploy to pull Hollywood Accounting tricks). Yes, this means that Ending Themes (and their credit sequences) do the reverse and change for the same reasons.
For you, BVG, these are good places to get started. You have two short, yet very different, projects to use for practicing your skills; you can add commercial break Eye-Catches (the blink-and-you-miss-it clips used to go into and return from commercial breaks) if you need to mix it up.
There's a reason for why I'm suggesting this, of course, and that's because damn near every well-known (if not famous) long-form director started on shorter projects like this. You, BVG, if you persist and master these skills, will become tomorrow's legendary filmmaker- and we who write the tales will be hitting you up in the Direct Messages looking for a collaborator.
Oh, and if you need a specific prompt: the theme song to Super Robot Wars 30, Drei Kruz by JAM Project. Do a TV Size and a Full Length version using only video from the game.
You knew this was coming when the new single got released a while back, so here it is.
The history of the tank clearly exhibits how technology, when put under the pressure to develop due to competition, swiftly matures.
Compare the crawling landships of WW1 with the swifter armored cannons of WW2, especially after the peacetime or early-war (in the Pacific) models proved insufficient to meet the needs of combat operations especially as air power also matured alongside it and the two interacted accordingly.
Now compare those tanks to the armored tanks of today. A late-model M1 Abrams is as superior over the tanks of WW2 as the T-34 and the Sherman was over those of WW1. If not for the even larger changes in the likely battlefields and conflict forms of the future--I refer you to everything involving "Fourth Generation Warfare" for that--then I would think that the only changes for tanks in my remaining lifetime will be iterative (unless they can get railguns to work on the thing, which isn't likely).
And if you were not expecting World of Tanks to not throw money into this in return for some brand power, Pär put that to bed with a very open discloure of the game's involvement.
Now, if only we could get them a cameo in a future Girls Unt Panzer film or something.
Filed under "Can't Rain All The Time" is this silly item.
Macross Delta is noted for being the unfortunate step-down from the excellent Frontier, but there's a reason for it and that reason in the unfortunate fact that some of its songs are straight lifts from American classics of yesteryear as this video shows.
That's the clip. A full version seemlessly blending the two is here.
To my knowledge, there has been no negative consequences for this as its been overshadowed by the overarching Macross issues with regard to global distribution until recently resolved. The music may or may not make it out of Japan in commercial form (i.e. live concerts outside of Japan, albums domestically sold); folks who remember when GundamInfo allowed Zeta Gundam to be streamed from their channel will rememeber that they had to replace the OP for legal reasons due to a similar issue.
It could have been prevented, but I am not surprised that this slipped through. It's not like Earth, Wind, & Fire have been a going concern; they've been gone for decades, such that only Boomers and those subject to their music for most or all of their lives (i.e. Jonesers, Gen X, Gen Y) recall them at all.
But, ultimately, this is harmless much as Vanilla Ice lifting a David Bowie line (lifting a bar or so from "Under Pressure" for "Ice, Ice, Baby") proved to be.
So remember today that the rune sparkles when she sings.
We take this break from me talking about RPGs to talk about the history of heavy metal from that collaboration of historian collective Time Ghost and Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton, and today they're talking about Judas Priest.
First, let me link you Razorfist's excellent Metal Mythos on the band from 2017.
Second, are we at all surprised that this band's story follows the very common Rock and Roll narrative? More-or-less working class roots, grind away at the local scene and get a following but due to pop culture trends aren't there yet, are in the perfect position when the zeitgeist changes to get noticed by a major label, explode with the vigor of youth backed by said label's finances, take up booze and drugs to cope with the relentless stress to produce commercial product and satisfy the label on top of their audience, get caught up when the labels decide to fire the current trend/genre for cheaper new talent (the metal-grunge shift), and almost collapse entirely coping with it.
Only, in Priest's case, they came back as strong as ever. Not quite the survival story of Iron Maiden, but a fantastic one nonetheless. They will be missed when the time comes, whatever else their collective and personal faults, as they were a band that was all about tenacity in adversity and that is admirable whatever else may be said about them.
And no one can sing like Halford can, not even Geoff Tate of Queenryche at his peak (and he came very close). Much like Heart's Ann Wilson, Halford is a singular singer and will be remembered long after he is gone- and with him Judas Priest.
Influnces being the oft-indirect things that they are, don't be surprise if you're a young man now to see Judas Priest show up in unexpected places down the road--like, say, in a popular manga series or two--before you follow Halford beyond this life.
Never have I see Yoshiyuki Tomino look so happy, despite his (well-deserved) reputation.
Granted, the context for the video clip likely has nothing with him consigning yet another cast in a series or film to a (nearly) Total Party Kill, but I laughed and now so can you.
What, you were expecting me to pontificate about something? No, not today. It's nice outside, so I'm going to step out on the backyard patio for a while.
In the meantime, check out this cover of "Fly, Dunbine!"--one of Tomino's non-Gundam works, Aura Battler Dunbine--by a woman out of the Phillipines calling herself "Jhona".
She's got a lot of covers of anime and tokukatsu theme songs on that channel, and it looks like she subtitles lyrics often. Enjoy.
As for my pontificating: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward will be reviewed tomorrow.
"From the devastated battlefield of Poltava to the long exile in the Ottoman Empire, Livgardet never abandoned their King. Even when King Karl XII. found himself surrounded by thousands of foes, the remaining four men of his Royal Guard stood by his side. Pistols raised and sabers drawn, the Swedes fought through smoke and fire in the Kalabalik at Bender, protecting their King's life with their own."
You'll find the videos for Livgardet and The Royal Guard here and here respectively.
Indy tells the tale very well, some you see weekly on his World War 2 channel, such that I am astonished that no one's bothered to make a film about it yet- not that Current Year mainstream Western media could be trusted with it. It's as thrilling a tale now as it was then. The only issue I see with making a film adaptation is that neither Sweden nor Turkey would be keen on doing so given their present political establishments; both groups, for their own reasons, want to avoid this story like it had the Plague.
But, because it is a matter of historical record, that story can be told in narrative format without legal concerns. A solid book is good, but given the visual media dominance of global pop culture I think it would be better done as a comic, and by "comic" I mean Manga.
An enterprising mangaka, looking for safe (in Japan) but real subject matter, could follow the example of the creator of Legend of Galactic Heroes and The Heroic Legend of Arslan as well as the man behind Vinland Saga: dramatize this event (not that you need to here), deliver on the aesthetics, pace and plot for effect, and wait for the money and acclaim to roll iny. We're still talking about Arslan and LOGH, and of the latter new adaptations are still being made. A similar thing happens with Japanese history far enough back to be safe to engage (e.g. Rurouni Kenshin, Golden Kamuy).
And since so munch anime and manga builds off light novels, a solo creator working through Japan could start there instead of trying to do manga immediately- just get ready to make that leap when you have the demand.
And that is a process indies in the West can follow--and have to--if we want to rebuild when the pozzed mainstream finally collapses.
A new Sabaton History episode, covering the new Sabaton cover of "Defense of Moscow" by Radio Tapok (a Russian band that often covers Sabaton songs into Russian, good stuff).
Pär and Joakim talk about doing this in three short videos here, here, and here. This is a good fit for the band, and it allows them to return the favor that Radio Tapok did in spreading Sabaton's music into Russian and the wider Russophonic world, as none in Sabaton do speak Russian. Radio Tapok has performed with the band during Russian legs of their tours; they are legit.
While we all wait for Sabaton to return to North America, or release a new album, I can recommend Indy Neidel's work with Time Ghost in their coverage of the World Wars and the interval between them. I've posted about the World War Two channel previously; their Great War channel is just as good, etc., though with the caveat that they do adhere to the mainstream narrative- stuff like Stalin's War has yet to make itself felt.
Yes, it's unfortunate that this is now just infrequent specials, but they're still good- same as with the boys doing The Grand Tour. It is what it is.
It's that time again. Here's your Sabaton song for today, since you're going to see it spammed everywhere. This version is done by a Russian w/ archival footage.
And the official video, made w/ the cooperation of World of Tanks.
This marked the beginning of the end for the Nazi regime in Western Europe. Between the Western Allies pushing East from French landings and Soviets pushing West, well, it took a year but it did end the war in Europe.
There's be plenty more said and done between this point and that end, and for the official narrative you can rely on the Time Ghost crew to give it to you week by week until the war ends. They're not at D-Day yet--just getting to Midway in 1942 as of this post--but you can see how things went down, officially. Below are the main playlists by year of the main WW2 series; specials are on their own playlists, like the Pearl Harbor one.
You can expect their coverage of D-Day to be a special in its own right when they get to it.
What the Official Narrative about the war says is that this was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Given what has come out of the former Soviet Union archives after the end of the Cold War, that should be reconsidered and the reason is that the Soviet push against Germany proved plenty sufficient to wreck the Nazi regime by itself. Much like the American industrial machine proved against Japan, the Soviet machine--once up and running in earnest--cranked out men and material that could, and would if required, choke out the Nazi regime by bleeding it dry of resources it could no longer replace fast enough.
In both cases, the leadership didn't help, but Stalin proved less incompetent than Hitler.
Taken from Twitter, and reproduced below, is a thread by a user named Feez on Yoko Kanno and her relationship with Yoshiyuku Tomino--yes, "Kill 'Em All" Tomino--that you may find interesting.
A thread about Yoko Kanno's involvement in Brain Powerd & Turn A Gundam and her professional relationship with director Yoshiyuki Tomino. pic.twitter.com/bzdKY5pLf5
I've mentioned The Five Star Stories before and I stand by my endorsement of this epic work. Its one OVA is one of the best artifacts of Peak Anime, and its one big single is still something worth having on rotation to this day. However, I noticed that a lot of AMV featuring "Far Away In The Eyes" didn't have the lyrics in subtitles. Below is, at last, a video by a user called "Movie Panda" who did just that and--turn on CC--put in a commentary that you should see if you're not familiar with the story's setting.
Movie Panda has plenty of videos like this, where he does commentary and analysis in addition to translation, and he's not just doing Japanese animation. Give him a chance.
My thanks to Movie Panda for this translation and commentary. I would like this to drive more people to Nagano's fantastic work, which--alas--usually means reading it online in a fan-translated scan of his manga because the OVA only covers the very beginning of the story.
It may be on an irregular schedule now, but Sabaton History is not dead. Today they're on a song requested by the Swedish Army for the 500th anniversary of modern Sweden.
And yes, you do have a separate music video for it.
As Pär notes in the video, this is not a usual Sabaton song in that it is a commissioned request by an arm of the Swedish state acting as a patron. They usually create their work entirely in-house with, at most, some fan suggestions for topics. Yes, that didn't work out, but what came about is a perfectly good song to add to any setlist focusing on the other songs about Sweden that they've got- again, as noted in the video.
It may surprise people to see that (a) Sweden has a military--you'd be surprised at how many think it doesn't, especially given its government and self-inflicted immigration-related violence--and (b) that it maintains continuity with past incarnations of itself specifically because it is a cultural institution in its own right. Whatever else may be wrong with Sweden today, it does right by maintaining continuity with the past in as many ways as possible; that is key to maintaining a separate and distinct national identity.
Good on Sabaton for this. I look forward to the next album and a new US tour. As for Time Ghost, they're still active; the new WW2 video is here and from there you can find the rest of their work.
