A Bonus Video About Trigun and other extra RWBY stuff (Patreon)

Hey pals,

I've spent the past couple of weeks monitoring the reactions to the RWBY video, doing research and writing for various videos (including the dreaded prequel project), and editing together this piece of the RWBY analysis, which I had cut out in the editing process.

Originally I wanted to talk about Trigun, and use it as an example of how character design can be used to inform us about a character instead of just abstractly 'looking cool'. I even brought this up in the very early draft of this video I gave up on way back in 2014. By the time the video was looking to be 2 and a half hours long, I started looking for things to cut, and I realised that I had written an interesting segment, but one which felt increasingly out of place in such a long piece with plenty enough asides already.

I think this is a really good example of a 'kill your darlings' moment for me. RWBY and Trigun are linked in my brain as good and bad executions of similar ideas, and talking about one without the other felt wrong in the scripting process. But then, when trying to formulate an engaging video that makes a cohesive argument, it became something that ought to be cut, even if I was personally really attached to the comparison. At the very least, the points were interesting enough that they were worth sharing, even if they didn't contribute as well to an overall argument as the stuff that I decided to leave in instead. I think it's very easy to put work into something and then leave it in a video because otherwise you wasted the effort, but making something really work means being willing to accept when something shouldn't be there, even if you really like the idea.

Also, please find enclosed a bunch of the art I commissioned for the RWBY video from First Recon Lylith (@1st_Recon_Lyl) and Cube Watermelon (@cubewatermelon). You'll notice several of the images were references to shots from the opening of Trigun, a reference which is now infinitely harder to 'get' because I'd cut the Trigun part out, lol. I've also put up Tantacrul's amazing Opening Theme for the video. For those of you who don't know, Tantacrul is a great music youtuber who I tricked into making music for me. He made a video about this whole process you can check out here!

Tomorrow I'm putting up the poll for $10 patrons for what the next full video should be. I'm still working on the Monty video, but I think I should put out something else first. I think I'm in danger of becoming 'the RWBY guy' if I stick to talking about this for several videos in a row. Talking about cartoons is fun and can be meaningful in its own way but I feel a pressing need to talk about something a little more valuable in the present moment. If there's a video you really want to see sooner rather than later, let me know in the comments here and I'll keep them in mind!

Thanks, once again, for everything.

- H.

EDIT: I've replaced the intro song with an mp3 version instead of a .aif that not everyone can use (I forget that music players don't all just play everything now)