Welcome to Classy Critique 3! Today’s topic is…

Storyline!

Tons of seemingly-complicated and advanced stories can be boiled down to simple basics! This guide will go through those basics and build up on them in attempts to help you come up with a new understanding on how to create your own storylines!

First: What is a storyline?

According to Dictionary.com , a storyline is the plan, scheme, or main plot of a literary or dramatic work. A storyline essentially defines all the events of a tale in a DRAMATIC FASHION. This is the main reason why a STORY is different than a STORYLINE. While storylines can also be considered by themselves stories, the basic story is typically in chronological order. Storylines and plots, however, are made in a way to provide dramatic effect, flare, and conflict. They can jump back and forth through time if they need to so they can heighten dramatic effect. (Flashbacks, time travel, etc.)

Why are storylines important?

Storylines highlight EVERY SINGLE EVENT IN YOUR STORY. Everyone has a story, but the storyline is the way in which you tell it. There can’t be good characters without storyline to create who they are and what their personality is like. Storyline is an intrinsic aspect of any animation; nothing can exist without it. However, you can determine whether this storyline will be good or bad. So why not make it good? After all, storylines are required for pretty much any animation that you make provided it’s not a test or fighting-centered.

What is a good way to organize and start a story?

Some people are naturally more skilled with developing stories in their minds, but for those who have more trouble, there is no need to be upset or discouraged. Simply come up with an idea, and organize it using one of the various story graphs or charts out there. One of the easiest to use, but also one of the most useful, is the “Plot Diagram.”

The Plot Diagram:

According to readwritethink.org , “The Plot Diagram is an organizational tool focusing on a pyramid or triangular shape, which is used to map the events in a story. This mapping of plot structure allows readers and writers to visualize the key features of stories.” Plot diagrams allow animators to organize the events of their story into a simple yet effective diagram. The Plot diagram starts at the “INTRODUCTION,” which is explained by the name. The scene is set, history/important events are told to the audience, and the characters and conflict are introduced. Then, the diagram enters the “RISING ACTION” stage. After the conflict is introduced, the Rising Action shows how the characters interact with it. That conflict could be a psycho-murderer, a power-hungry tyrant, a destructive robot, or even just an illusion of the mind. The rising action highlights all the events that happen because of the conflict, with the exception of the final, climactic conflict. This leads to the “CLIMAX” stage. The final confrontation of the problem is at hand. At this definitive moment, a choice by the animator needs to be made. Will the protagonist triumph, or the conflict? After this stage, the “FALLING ACTION” occurs. Instead of building up to the climactic moment, the story instead wraps up the remaining story and ties some loose ends. Endings do not have to be either good winning or bad winning. There can be multiple ways to style it, with perhaps the good winning at a cost, or evil triumphing but without the glory. Falling Action eventually leads to the final parts of the animation, or “THE RESOLUTION.” The resolution is the conclusion of the animation’s story. Remember that “resolution” doesn’t mean it has to be a happy ending. It simply means the story IS ending. You, the animator, decide how it ends. Also remember that such a curve exists in most episodes of series as well. (exceptions are cliffhangers and flashbacks, etc.) This diagram can be used to highlight plots as a whole, smaller story arcs, or even just one episode. In fact, it would be wise to use this diagram for every episode, with the exception of cliffhangers, for its efficiency in organizing plot and creating suspense.

Next up, The Heroes Journey!

Storylines can be exciting for their interesting events and subject matters, but another equally important aspect of this is the story of the characters focused on. Protagonists and antagonists should receive plenty of storyline attention (unless your goal is to make them mysterious) in order to cement their contributions to the Plot and solidify their important status in regards to the story. How exactly does one set up the storyline arc of a character? They can use a simple outline of the Heroes Journey!

Essentially, the Heroes Journey is a rather standard diagram of how a hero progresses through their quest or destiny. These don’t happen every episode, but rather take place through the course of multiple episodes, or even through the entire story itself. This timing allows the audience to bond with the…[Read more]

Hello Everyone! Welcome back to another Classy Critique! This time, we talk about characters that either are not unique or are just overpowered, and we will also talk about general “design crazes” in the community! This is one of my efforts to encourage more original characters in the community!

The topic of today’s Critique is Unoriginal/OP characters, and trends!

Oh boy, this one might be a bit of a doozy, so buckle up!

First Off, What is an Unoriginal Character and an Overpowered Character?

First of all, an unoriginal character is any character that isn’t… well… Original. It’s a character that takes heavy inspiration in terms of design, personality, storyline, etc. based on ANOTHER character. Basically, instead of a creator taking another creator’s design and making something new with it, they will essentially recreate that one character but add minor differences. Unoriginal characters are cliche and they don’t bring anything new to the table. An example would be someone making a new character that is exactly like YoYo, but has a different name and a different color. Unoriginal characters essentially copy an existing design and replicate it with some changes. Unoriginal characters also don’t need to completely copy a design, but they can take so much inspiration from one to the point of where it isn’t really a new character, but an edited version of an old one. Unoriginal characters can also be characters that don’t copy off others, but instead are incredibly generic and dull. Basic powers, basic personality, basic goals, a literal personification of lukewarm. They don’t copy off a specific character, but rather off a general trend of characters. These characters don’t have a “spark” to them. They’re uninteresting and boring.

On the other hand, an Overpowered character is a character who has little to no competition in strength and power. Essentially they outshine all the competition because they are simply too powerful to have a fair fight. Now, this isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, since Overpowered characters can actually be very beneficial to a storyline or character arc. This specifically focuses on DUELISTS that are Overpowered. Duelists and characters that are specifically created to fight other characters typically have set rules they must follow in order to be considered fair. Some people create their duelists to be extremely Overpowered, resulting in an unfair fight that isn’t fun to watch at all, and that is assuming the duelist even gets accepted in the first place. Overpowered characters are typically boring and unfun to watch unless they’re contributing to storyline, and they have a likable personality. (This doesn’t necessarily mean a do-gooder, just a character that people can find interest in.)

What is a trend?

A trend, in terms of the StickNodes community, is a specific fashion of the time. The design in the community that is currently the “craze” and whatnot. Some specific trends in the past have been scarf figures, demon forms, and super saiyans. Trends are problematic because, while they may be cool at the time, many members of the community will try to imitate that style. Such trends will quickly become overused, and therefor unoriginal because of the community. Because of this, demon forms are generally looked down upon, super saiyans are ignored, and scarf figures are treated with disgust. Only a couple of people can actually pull these off well, but the general community has taken these trends to a direction where it’s hard to use them without criticism.

Why are they a problem?

The problem is this: if we keep following the “popular” trends and not stick to our own original and unique ideas, the creative aspect of StickNodes will decay. This is a slightly over-complicated example, but it suits the topic well. Think of all the character creation like scientific research. One scientist finds something interesting and makes a theory on it. Everyone loves the theory, and they think it is very interesting. However, instead of using the theory to reach new places and boundaries, many other scientists just make their own theories that paraphrase the original. Essentially, they state the exact same thing in a different way. Without anyone exploring new methods and theories, no discoveries will be done, and no interesting findings will be released. That’s just what op/unoriginal characters and trends do to the community. Instead of making cool and interesting characters, many creators simply follow the trend to get popular instead of branching out and making something new. And if there’s no one to keep the creative juices flowing, if there’s no one to keep searching to make something new…

The StickNodes Community will die.

Let me explain why. New ideas are supposed to be refreshing and original. They push the generations forward. They instill thought into the minds of others. If people just keep creating unoriginal characters that are dull and offe…[Read more]

Classy Critique No. 1: RHGs!

Hello all! I’m going to be starting a series of amino posts talking about specific things in the SN Community, and pretty much the stickfigure community in general. Some of these can be applied to other animation softwares as well, so feel free to read no matter what software you use! Also, many of this is my personal opinion combined with real facts from sources. You can disagree/agree with what I say, and I encourage discussion in the comments!

The topic of today’s critique is: RHGs!

Buckle up guys and gals, because there’s a lot of stuff on this!

History

RHGs have been an important part of stickfigure history in general, and have made an incredibly noticeable impact in the SN community, as well as other animation software communities. (Notably Pivot, Flash, etc.) RHGs were originally created and used on the website http://www.rockhardanims.com, but was later transferred to FluidAnims, due to hosting service issues. This website is where the term “Rock Hard” originated from. FluidAnims soon merged with StickPage, and the RHG system was moved to Stickpage.com. It still remains there to this day, but unfortunately, it is very inactive. If it hasn’t been made clear, RHG stands for “Rock Hard Gladiator.”

How did the RHG System Work?

First off, and just to clarify, the RHG system was not restricted to animators. (Despite popular belief) Artists could also participate in these battles through creating comic strips of their battles. Now that that’s out of the way, here’s the main gist:

Animators/artists would design a gladiator in accordance with the rules provided to become accepted. They would animate/draw a fight demonstrating the powers of that gladiator. That fight would be submitted to the RHG forums, where mods would determine if the gladiator should be accepted. If that character is accepted, they become an official RHG, and can participate in Official RHG battles. RHG battles function like basic dueling battles. Two different animators make their own versions of their characters fighting, and the community votes on who is the victor.

Some official RHG characters include Mr. Pix, Andre, Oxob3000, Morion, Terantella, Jomm, Chuck, Nhazul, Tentionmaru, Umbrella, Alfa, and many more. Alfa (FLLFFL) is arguably the most recognized RHG Fighter, with the highest win rate and win score in history. The StickNodes user TB34 also has an official RHG: CapPop.

Important note: RHGs were not normal characters. For an OC to become a RHG, there were many requirements and applications needed to be made beforehand, including a demo tryout.

I’ve left some RHG images for your fancy. 😀

What did the StickNodes community have to do with it?

There aren’t really that many SN animators that have official RHGs as of now, just to put that out of the way. The big battles of the RHGs of Old inspired a generation of animators and artists. People discovered that Stickfigures could actually be considered cool, and there was a community where no one would judge for making animations of them. This, combined with the release of StickNodes, prompted a new age of characters. StickNodes is an animation software available on mobile devices. It is easily accessible compared to the prices of legitimate flash, and the risks of viruses with pivot. These people were finally given something to create what they dreamed. However, problems arose.

The term “RHG” became misunderstood.

Instead of creating and submitting a fighter to the roster, many would simply create a fighter and name it a RHG. The lack of information confused the community on the real process of making a RHG, and soon enough, the term became a replacement for calling a character an OC. (Original Character) Battles with the title of RHG seemed to have more importance than just a battle without, and people quickly jumped on this bandwagon. Some people just didn’t understand how to really create a RHG. Even I fell victim to this, creating my own “RHG” Razor. I now call him unofficial. However, the problem of making a RHG without actually following StickPage rules is still a problem. Awareness has been spread, but it hasn’t received much attention. That’s why I’ve decided to make this my first Critique.

Is this a Problem?

In my eyes, yes. Some may argue that it shouldn’t be taken all that seriously, and that it’s simply creating a character for fun, but I believe it’s an injustice to the people that worked to make their characters official. Rock Hard Gladiator was a system that had blood, sweat, and tears put into to refine it. Think of how difficult it must have been to create the first mainstream dueling system for animators. The work must have been painstaking. If they were to see their work misused, it would feel awful, would it not? While I heavily encourage creativity and participation within the SN community, I also believe that the original system should be given justice. Also, I’m not saying that anyone who has created an u…[Read more]