#directors commentary

[shesahag]

fuck it tumblr reboot bc i need a void to scream into

[finemeal]

After watching the director’s commentary twice (seen the movie a total of six times so far), the detail that is sticking with me the most this morning is the fact that both Earth and Erid planned for the mission to fail.

Earth has the golden records room that is meant to be a history of Earth and what they did to try and save the planet, so if any intelligent creature finds the ship but no one alive? They’ll know what happened and some part of Earth’s history will live on.

But Rocky’s ship had the same thing. Rocky shows Grace, right before he remembers how exactly he got recruited for this mission, his ship’s records of Erid. Erid, like Earth, planned for their ship to be a living record of their planet should the mission fail and their planet dies.

I just…I’m so happy they didn’t fail and I’m hit with emotions over two planets taking a long shot and hoping it works, but planning to tell their story if it doesn’t

[tysonrunningfox]

i'd love the director's commentary on Ripped, specifically anything involving that version of Snotlout (i need to know your thought process behind him getting SHOT)

Coplout is so dear to me, yay.

So, the funniest thing about coplout, is that I was right off of writing a bunch of Snotstrid when I started Ripped, and I was so paranoid. I was like how am I going to act like snotstrid shouldn't be in love with each other? I hadn't written hiccstrid in a really long time at that point and was just really in the snotstrid zone and I was sure that everyone was going to be able to sniff that out and the snotstrid sexual tension would ruin everything. So, as I get back to my airbnb in Tooting from a Jack The Ripper Tour in London, knowing it's a beautiful httyd au, the very first thing I did after knowing "Hiccup is a tour guide and Astrid's apartment is on his route and she's not happy about it" was attack the real question: How do I make Snotlout unfuckable to Astrid?

The Answer: He's a Pats fan. He's one of those Pats fans.

The next thing I did was ask why isn't Hiccup in jail for the trespassing? And that's when I was like chaotic good Cop Snotlout.

As for him getting shot, I think it's just that he's so whumpable to me. I love injuring Snotlout. The deep lore is he was originally going to die, actually, but by that point I loved him too much, and then I got to write high-lout who lays on the floor because of his pain pills, my beloved. I did have a lot of fun figuring out how I could nearly kill him in the most dramatic way possible but also not have him fully down and out for too long so that he could be back in the action. And that basically ended up with me Exsanguinating him through a large vessel, which was fun and led to the delightful line where I realized Eretlout was real in this fic:

“The doctor said the angle of the first shot, the one with the exit wound, indicated he was shot by someone taller than him.” Eretson looks levelly at her for a second and she waits for him to present his case again, linking the truth into a tangled web of a cage around her, but then he shrugs. “So it could have been anybody.”

Yes, it took me until Chapter 19 to see it. People were actively Eretlout shipping in the comments and I was like well, I'm not putting that in on purpose so. And then Eret said this bitchy thing and I was like OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH he has no taste, it's so on.

Director's Commentary

[tysonrunningfox]

Any commentary on Negative space Gobber/Stoick?

The exchange:

“This is becoming excessive,” Stoick mutters after the second iteration of the pattern and Gobber knows he can give him a sharp, judgmental look, because Stoick has stopped periodically flexing against Gobber’s grip.   “You would say that.”   The pause before Stoick restarts flexing his forearm drags on comically long and Gobber presses his lips tight together to avoid laughing when Stoick turns his head towards him, offense obvious even through the rumpled lines of his long beard.  

Lives rent free in my head. Like what do you mean Gobber? That he would say that. Are you calling Stoick a selfish lover. Is this why you're going to go join a polycule of thirty somethings? And Stoick is so offended, it gets me every time I think about it, which is often. Like Stoick is not selfish!! How could his husband say this?!

Directors Commentary

[bonus-links]

Director's commentary mayhaps? Please? I'm obsessed

link to the update here, I forgot I was supposed to be doing that lol

ANYWAY

this bit was actually supposed to be at the end of the last update, but I ran out of room on the page and didn't wanna sacrifice the moment. It's only 3 panels and all they do is look at each other lol but I feel like it says a lot about what War and HW Zelda's relationship is like. people have also pointed out it's a parallel to how they first meet in the game, which i didn't even do on purpose 😂 but yeah it certainly is

obviously the difference in their status is made visual with Zelda looking down on him from the balcony, but it's also worth noting that like. Zelda doesn't get to be a part of the gathering. She's relegated to a painting looking down on high like the goddesses on the ceiling

there was meant to be a scene after this that I cut where War goes back to his rooms and changes into his travel/hero outfit. I really wanted to show him essentially putting the persona back on, but I started to feel like I was languishing in this opening lol. we've got to get to business

this man is hungover. he has not slept. it's 1 william degrees on Death Mountain. he's frying out here he's unwell. excellent mission start

actually on that note I realized that at some point they are standing in the springs talking and that would potentially healing little. so like you can probably barely tell because of the lighting effects but I gave him shadows under his eyes that lighten over the course of the update lol I also made his face flushed :-)

Impa is 10000% just being evil to him here lmao. I almost took that gag in the corner out but was convinced on patreon to keep it in 😂 war works really hard to maintain his good boy face, but we can't win every battle LMAO also war might not like Impa, but rest assured he will do whatever she says.

okay so. this is a completely made up spring of power. I rlly had a rule for myself that I was not going to just make up locations for the rifts bc I wanted it to be places that are actually significant to the games, but I completely misremembered where the spring of power was in BOTW and got myself in this situation 😂 I got it switched with the hot springs, which is where Ive placed this. this time travel shift is gonna be a little bit of a stretch to the next location bc of it but shhhhhhh. That statue is of Din rather than the traditional Hylia one. we now have our three storylines, each starting at a spring; courage, wisdom, and now power

ALSO MISS LANAAAAAAAAA yeah there was no way i was gonna use much of her canon design. heart emoji. love the j-pop idol thing but it's really not the vibe. Ive made the choice to model her clothing design after the Guardians in skyward sword. this is a mouseketool we'll be using later :-))))) tho I did end up changing the tabard thing design to look more like an hourglass kind of in the final update

this is where hyrule warrior's fucked up lore actually becomes relevant, because Lana's (and Cia's) role as this sorceress who watches over time is actually quite useful to me. I imagined that if someone was going around tearing up time, she'd be the first to notice, even if she can't do much about it. There's an implication that they have some sort of ability to how the future is supposed to go, hence this deviation from that foretold plan not being "on the books." There's also an implication that they're not really supposed to interfere with it either, which justifies her kind of hands-off approach of making War do the legwork here. at least in my head HAHA

I am conscious of the fact that every one of these "seeing the portal for the first time" beats kind of goes the same way, and that it might be getting repetitive and expository. but it was very important to me that War is the only one who is specifically ordered on this quest, rather than choosing to make the jump himself, or getting shoved in via some surprise circumstance like at the party. this is not an adventure for him, it's a mission.

going into his little hands behind the back soldier pose lol

now war is 1000% saying this just to be a bitch to Lana. translation: last time wasn't really on the books either and look what happened. remember :-))))) Originally I had him say a line that was much more on the nose, something to the effect of "I hope you've been keeping Cia on a tight leash." I changed it not because that Isn't something he'd say but because I think he'd be a more indirect and snide about it. I like this change also because you can literally go two pages back and see where he learned it from. Impa does it to him, and he does it to Lana

There's no real reason for her to do this, but Impa deliberately places herself behind War, as if blocking the exit. it's not about actually blocking him in any material way, it's about making it very clear that there's no turning back.

I deliberately don't really show what War's face does here when he bows. Lana is troubled overall by his lack of reaction; no further questions, just immediate obedience. One might infer from her reactions in this update that he might not have always necessarily acted this way.

on that note, a lot of people have interpreted War's behavior in this update as reluctance or a "here we go again" kind of mentality, which to be clear I think is true and something I put in there on purpose. But i'd also invite people to try reading this scene like he might actually be excited at the prospect of another war, or another mission, and is trying not to show it. A lot of these expressions where his jaw is tensed, I've just barely turned the corners of his mouth up. it could be trying to fake a smile, or trying to suppress one? My intention was not really one reading or the other but both at the same time.

And lastly some thoughts about this necklace. A lot of people have brought up the pirate's charm, which is actually where I go this idea! this is one of those fan theories that I just kind of hold in my heart and probably doesn't make sense, but I like to think things like the pirates charm, the royal ocarina, and this made-up pendant are actually made of time stones. something something blue crystal that lets u create a pocket in time. gestures vaguely. do u get me

I think that's all Ive got for now, thanks for your patience with how long this one took!

[tysonrunningfox]

director’s commentary: Instructions not Included

Sometime probably in July or maybe August, depending on how my next few weeks of writing go, I will release a chapter of The American Job where Art Thief Hiccup is in his original finest form, sexually. This is not a soggy, sopping in love guy who is trying to deserve love. This is an angry guy who thought he could fuck his way out of meeting Interpol in Ibiza and was probably right. And interpol Astrid, who is deeply familiar with her soggy, sopping boyfriend who implicitly deserves her love but she’s not going to stop him arguing for it because it’s awesome, is kind of like what the hell.

And after writing this scene, I kept thinking about The Some Senza Diente Required Affair and how Engineer Astrid kept slipping into Marlin Sockeye’s DMs. Like that nerd kept coming back for more. And knowing what she was getting, I was like…hmm kind of a freak though. And then I went and reread Some Assembly Required and the pattern continued, like she really did kind of wait for her fellow nerd to boss her around. And I was like 🫵 Bottom. Which I have never said to Astrid before and of course I had to explore that.

And then combined with Hiccup’s confused but he has the spirit feminism, I got to go to the intro to BDSM conference at the Holiday Inn, which is one of my favorite phrases on earth until this day.

[tysonrunningfox]

director’s commentary on The Some Senza Diente Required Affair?

So this started with a comment from @darkmagyk about what if they met, and I was like well, clearly, engineer Astrid is going through it with her miserable crush in her coworker, and she has already turned to the apps and it is deeply deeply possible that a tinder date could be a reasonable cover for some sort of Event for an art thief and you know what? Engineer Astrid has a crush! There’s nothing wrong with that! Of course she’s projecting! Of course she’s going to choose the guy that looks like her crush! And well, he sucks, it’s true, but if he saw her fluffy bed he’d make spending time with him generally worth it.

And then I went insane, because the thing is engineer Hiccup is also not normal he’s just confused because of feminism in STEM and if Astrid was late two times with a hickey, he would figure out how to Alert the Authorities.

And then I got an anon that was like this would be a weird foursome, and that was a challenge just too compelling not to take on. Like Doppleganger foursome? That’s impossible. How does that happen? How does it start? How do I keep track of the limbs?

The answers: not impossible, it starts because there’s something wrong with thiefcup, and they all had their own little distinct lexicons and opinions and it was actually a really fun character study and lowkey the base of starting to recognize engineer bottom-strid

[tysonrunningfox]

Commentary on Senza Diente Affair Negative space newborn chapter

This one was so mean to me, as the director, because my child is a child and not a baby anymore and it made me yearn for the hardest part so much to write that. Also, looking into the future for these two was so fun, especially because I know all the nonsense and shenanigans and tension they’re going to go through in The American Job, it’s nice for me to know that they’re going to be ok eventually with a baby who has a dad that doesn’t really require sleep and can walk completely silently and doesn’t care about eating really, thus making him the most perfect father of a newborn possible.