Topic: UYRemix

[sidzero]

First, I have a little confession to make. For the past... 3 weeks or so, I haven't done a single bit of work on UYRemix at all. I just haven't had the motivation to work on it. Actually, the main reason I was even doing it was to get myself back into the practice of drawing all the time, so that I'd be able to better work on my other comics ideas (the ones with the original... or at least somewhat original stories). To tell you the truth, I've been spending most of these past 3 weeks or so working on one of those somewhat original stories (a little project I'm calling "Ultimate Superhero", which, as one could imagine from a comic with such a title, is a semi-parody of the entire Superhero genre that's so prevalent in American comics, done in a sort of American-Japanese fusion style). Turns out, it's a whole lot easier to come up with ideas for my original stories than to take stories that have already been written and reinterpret them (quite the opposite of what I was expecting).

So I've decided, that for the time being at least, I'm going to shelve the project (at least until I get motivated enough to work on it again). It's not that I don't want to do it, because believe me, I do, UY is just too cool for me to leave alone (even if there are better stories to be told, I sold myself on doing this project when I started on it and it's not something I can put down forever). This is the reason I didn't want to really say much about it, but you know, things happen. I just wanted to let people know what's going on with it and why it seems like I never actually put anything out (even though I do have a pretty decent amount of work done on the beginning). I'm also not putting out what I got, because I know I'm gonna pick it back up again sometime.

So yeah, this is where you can insult me for not finishing it, or plea bitterly for me to pick it back up, or just say "um ok whatever".

[UruseiNeo]

Not gonna insult, not gonna plea bitterly, not gonna whatever either.

I agree that if you can't get in the mood to write it, you shouldn't write it yet. Wait, take your time, it makes it better. Dunno if you do this, but when I'm not writing, I occasionally think about what I am going to write later.

Also I've paused on working on a project for a few months and then got back into it. It feels so much better when you start it up again.

Bottom line, forcing yourself to write something you aren't ready to write won't make it any better. Take your time, that's what I always say.

[sidzero]

Aye, and I agree completely. That's why I'm doing this. Trust me, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it well, even if I was planning on doing it as just practice.

And yes, I do occasionally think about what I'm going to write later. I keep a lot of "idea" documents in my working folders on my computer. Any time I get a new idea about any of my projects (whether comics, music, games, whatever), I usually make sure I put those ideas down so I don't forget them. That way even if I go with a different idea, I still have the original ideas stored away somewhere in case I want to change my mind again (it happens a lot). Waste not, want not and all.

And holding off on a project for a few months in order to wait for inspiration to hit is nothing... my latest CD that I've been working on, has been on hold, getting worked on a little bit at a time, for the past 3 years because I haven't hit the inspiration to finish it. With any luck, I'll finish it this year so I can move on to the next idea I've been kicking around for my music project that pretty much concludes the whole thing.

[UruseiNeo]

I too use a word document to keep a record of my episode ideas. Here's that list:

1.   Pilot
2.   Lum’s birthday episode
3.   Ataru gets a job
4.   Mendou loses money
5.   Christmas episode
6.   New Years episode
7.   Obnoxious Rangers
8.   Valentine’s episode
9.   Contest! Get Money
10.   Ataru’s birthday
11.   The Wall comes down! (don't ask)
12.   Urusei Yatsura Nibunnoichi part 1
13.   Urusei Yatsura Nibunnoichi part 2
14.   Virtual future part 1 – outside virtual
15.   Virtual future part 2 – inside virtual
16.   A week for a gesture
17.   Week without Lum or Ataru

Also last two episodes I had I wasn't sure whether I should wait until season 2 to use them. The bold episodes are the ones I've already posted. As you can see I gave 16 and 17 and early debut. I did this   so I'd have more episodes before Christmas.

I also have an episode idea where they play strip poker and Ataru ends up losing most of his clothes only to have Lum save him. Then Lum asks if he would like to play against her. XD I've elaborated more on that but won't spoil it. It's not really enough for a full episode that's why it's not up there.

[kyo]

wow... Sidzero Nice to see you human lol.  Writing, drawing, Its so hard, why can't it Ever be easy ? You had a good Idea and Pop ! you Don't have the willpower To do It. (signs) But I went through A stage When I almost gave up fanfiction. Dark times.... But I found a way to Keep working on it :

1) Read old Stories, Poems, comics/manga, or Watch Old television movies

2) Grab your Local phone Book and Copy every Thing in it ( Yes trust me Its Works)

3) Sleep on it, Than when you Wake up Pretend you know What you doing.

4) Think about why you doing It and remenber past projects,

that all I got (and I own you some advice anyway). So dont' get Twisted over UyRemix Thing, Just do that superhero thing, which remind me... I Gotta work On Silverwing

[UruseiNeo]

some of those are good points, another good point is to take ur time on writing. so far I've written half of my next chapter, I plan on writing the other half later. In the mean time I go over some of the possible ideas for the second half in my head.

[sidzero]

Of course I'm human... did you think I was some kind of cyborg or alien or something? Just a guy with a brain that works on rapid fire. And it's not so much that I don't have the willpower to do it... I just don't have the inspiration. My muse has been feeding me nothing but Ultimate Superhero ideas for the past month, and I can't concentrate on trying to force ideas for UYRemix. It's not that I'm stuck, it's just that my attention is elsewhere right now... and on the thing I really wanted to do all along.

[UruseiNeo]

Then express your writing skills on Ultimate Superhero. Eventually you will begin to run short on ideas for that and your brain will have more room to think about other things.

It's only logical, right?

[sidzero]

Indeed.

[sidzero]

So hey, guess what, since what I want to type here is pretty much directly related to what I created this thread for all those months ago, I'm raising it from the dead. So yeah, I had talked about working on Ultimate Superhero and my UYRemix project. That's what I'm going to do again.

First I'll talk about Ultimate Superhero. I gotta say that since the original idea, the story and it's presentation has evolved quite a bit. It's biggest change being that it's gone from comic book, to regular, good old-fashioned prose. That was probably the biggest change. Yes, this is the book I mention in my signature. I pretty much realized that I'm never going to be satisfied with my ability to draw (far too much of a perfectionist plus the fact that I was never a great artist in the first place, decent, but not great), so I figured I'd concentrate on what I do best... writing. It's also not really much of a parody anymore. More like I'm writing it so that it exudes awesomeness. I've also managed to get a lot more done now that it's a novel instead of a comic. Which is good, aside from my video game binges, development on the book is coming along quite well.

Bringing me to my next topic, which is what I really wanted to talk about. With the way my brain works, I think development on Ultimate Superhero might come along better if I stopped distracting myself with video games all the time, and started distracting myself with another creative project. So here's what I'm thinking (at least today, what I'm thinking). Despite the fact that I'm not really doing comics anymore (unless I somehow find an artist that can tolerate my temperament), thinking about UY again as I have for the past day or two, I kinda want to pick UYRemix back up now. So I figured I'd throw this idea out as bait and see what kind of bites I get. What if I decided to do my reimagining of UY as a series of short stories (kinda like I guess what you would find on any given fanfic site, but retelling the original story instead of trying to continue it, at least at first)? Considering all the changes I was planning on making (such as changing the tone to something a little more serious, making a few changes in the characterizations, cutting out a lot of the original stories that wouldn't fit with other changes, even altering and adding to the original stories I'm keeping so that it all fits together a little better), would the fans of the original be accepting of this as a fresh new look at their favorite series? Or would they reject it as me bastardizing the original series by trying to modernize it a little (or a lot)? Or would they, as I would prefer, look at it with an open mind, more as a tribute to the original, but something new and wholly different, influenced by the original (think like how the newer Battlestar Galactica series is treated in comparison to the original)? Really what the fans of the original are going to think ultimately doesn't matter because if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it anyway, but it doesn't hurt to get some early reaction.

By the way, I just want to make clear that in doing UYRemix, I in no way intend to let it get in the way of working on Ultimate Superhero. I just want to have something other than mindless video gaming to distract me on those days (and several-day stints) where I need to step away from Ultimate Superhero so that I can come back to it with a fresher outlook. Something that will still make me poke into my creative ability would be perfect, so as to keep that ability exercising.


Thoughts? Comments? "I hate you and hope you die"'s?

[UruseiNeo]

0_0 sry but I tend to not read paragraph posts.

I might slowly read through it one bit at a time which may take a day or so.

[sidzero]

Congratulations UruseiNeo! For posting what could best be summarized as "I'm not even going to read your post, let alone respond to it, but I'm going to reply anyway cause I'm cool like that!" I hereby award you with the:

"MOST USELESS POST EVER!" award!  _/-\o_

Again, congratulations!



So I'm going to rewrite it in easy-to-read, "summarize it cause I'm lazy" form, for those of you with the attention span of a baby squirrel on crack, who needs crack, because it's a crackhead.

1) Ultimate Superhero has changed forms from comic to novel. It is coming along nicely.

2) It changed because I'm a perfectionist and can never be satisfied with my own drawing ability, and I doubt I'd find an artist that could put up with working with me.

3) I'm considering picking up UYRemix again, but like Ultimate Superhero, doing it as prose instead of comic, in the form of a series of short stories.

4) I would like to know what people think of the idea of a reimagined UY. Would they see it as:

a) A bastardization of UY,
b) A fresh new look at UY, or...
c) A tribute, but something wholly new and different.

5) Before answering that question, I want them to consider some of the changes I intend on making, such as:

a) Changing the tone of the series to something a little more serious,
b) Changing some of the characterizations of the characters,
c) Cutting some of the original stories that I don't like and don't think would fit well with the new ideas I'm bringing,
d) Going so far as to alter and add to some of the stories I'm keeping to make it more interesting, and...
e) (though I didn't specifically say this, it's one of the big things I want to change) Removing the infinite time loop,

6) I prefer it to be seen as the tribute, but something wholly new and different option, much like the newer, reimagined Battlestar Galactica.

7) I'm doing this because I want something new to provide a distraction from Ultimate Superhero when I hit those times when I need to step away for a little while and do something else, and something creative is better for keeping my creative skills sharp than mindless video gaming.


Sometimes, I just love being an asshole.

[UruseiNeo]

That was really rude, you didn't have to go out of your way to insult me like that.

[sidzero]

I thought it was more funny than rude, but you know, that's just me. I acknowledge that some people don't have the patience to read long paragraphs on the internet. That's why I summarized it like that. I wouldn't have gone so far just to insult someone.

But I also did want to point out that if you're not going to say anything, then you just shouldn't respond. I'm going to try and be nice when I say this, but posting like that makes it look like you think things revolve around you. Seriously, why post if the only thing you're going to say is that you don't feel like reading what I'm saying. If you don't feel like reading, why are you responding.

Now that I've gotten that out, perhaps instead of continuing to turn this into a flame war of sorts, lets get back to the topic at hand. Now that I've made it easier for you to read, do you have anything to say in response?

[UruseiNeo]

just to answer the question: I was bored, it's that simple ^_^ but reading makes me more bored.

It looks pretty much like what you told us about it before, which I was fine with.

Nobody likes the infinite time loop, EVER. A lot of people would very much like to see aging in characters kinda like how DBZ did it, but whether or not years are skipped is a matter of personal preference.

[sidzero]

I also want to add one more thing to the list of ways I'll be changing the story. This is another kinda big thing.

When the story takes place. Instead of taking place in what I guess would be a rather timeless anonymous time setting, I'll be setting it in the near future. Specifically I'll be setting the date that Ataru is issued the first tag match challenge as August 23rd, 2016.

There are a few reasons for this specific date.

1) I wanted to modernize it, and setting it in the very near future, I think I can safely predict what the world will be like without being too far off.
2) It makes Ataru the right age for the storyline and still agrees with the fact that he is supposed to be born on a day that is Friday the 13th, April, and Butsumetsu all at once (which would have only happened recently in 1954, I think, and in 2001, I know).
3) August 23rd fits into the time schedule I have planned for when certain events are going to happen in the UYRemix world, and would be the relative beginning of a new school year, giving me plenty of time to work with for fitting the events of the overall story into any kind of realistic time frame.


And just so anyone knows, I'm also using this thread as a means of helping keep some of my thoughts organized, so if anyone feels like contributing to helping plan things, feel free to post whatever you got in mind.

[UruseiNeo]

yeah, you told us that part before too and I agree with it

[sidzero]

Ok, maybe I could get someone else's opinion..... I'll wait.

[UruseiNeo]

something wrong with my opinion? I said I liked it cause unlike in the anime, it makes more sense and is actually  correct.

[sidzero]

No, it's just that I want the opinions of others, too.

But somehow I think I won't get them.

[dak]

let that tag game as the symbol of friendly relationship between two race: Oni and human, it's better than old UY ( didn't want to say that, who could let a game decide a entire race's fate )

[sidzero]

Are you serious? The tag match is the entire foundation of the series. Sure, it can be made better (my original comic script for the remake of that story made certain minor improvements I intend on keeping, like better announcers and covering all 10 days of the tag match without some kinda lame montage), but turning it into some kind of peace, love and hippie-ness thing? Not a chance, buster!

[dak]

ok if you said so but it not peaceful as you think

[UruseiNeo]

I don't think he said he that thought it was peaceful...

[sidzero]

A symbol of friendly relations between Oni and Human. That sounds like some peacenik hippie garbage to me.

Think about it from this perspective... if Ataru had lost, under your idea, what would have been the consequences? With the threat of being taken over by aliens looming, and the fate of the entire world in the balance, it makes it all the more important that Ataru win. Without that, the only consequence to be suffered is hurting Ataru's pride. It's a whole lot less interesting that way. As it is, the entire world is watching him with bated breath. With your proposed change, it'd be no different than watching the Olympics.

[UruseiNeo]

you also have to point out that he probably wouldn't have been motivated enough to win. Without the consequence, Shinobu might not have agreed to marrying Ataru, without that Ataru wouldn't have gone so low to win the tag race.

[sidzero]

All very true, but I wouldn't say he went so low. More that he used strategy.

[UruseiNeo]

So in summary, dak's idea (sorry if this sounds too critical) would result in a totally different, if any, plotline, where Lum probably doesn't cling to Ataru.

THAT WOULD BE DISASTROUS!!! *Dibs on Lum in this specific alternate timeline *

[sidzero]

I wouldn't want Lum, myself, but that alternate timeline is just boring. If you're going to write an alternate timeline... write one where she won. At least that could be interesting.

[UruseiNeo]

I forgot that you don't like Lum very much... you're still gonna try to keep her in character for you fic right?

[sidzero]

Of course. And it's not that I don't like her, I just find her personality extremely unattractive. She's still a great character, though. And as essential as she is to the whole series, I HAVE to keep her. It wouldn't be UY without her. It'd be like... "The Misadventures of Ataru Moroboshi" or something like that.

[UruseiNeo]

keep in mind though that, (at least as I recall), Rumiko Takahashi originally wasn't keeping Lum. Something fans wanted I believe.

Anyways "The Misadventures of Ataru Moroboshi" is exactly what she would have written in this case XD

[sidzero]

Yes, well, the fact is that she DID keep her. Without her, do you really think the story would have lasted as long as it did? Or would it have gone the way of such other comics she had done up until that point as "Those Selfish Aliens" or "Wasted Minds"?

[UruseiNeo]

Never said it would turn out better, just that when you said "Misadventures etc" that's what I thought of ^_^

[sidzero]

I was just saying that UY without Lum would have went the way of the dodo real fast.

[UruseiNeo]

Not disagreeing with you there