Fandom Snowflake Challenge: Original Canon

[rogueslayer452]

Challenge #6: Share your favourite piece of original canon.

In 2007, the comedy webseries The Guild premiered. It was created by Felicia Day, who also starred as the leading character Cyd Sherman, aka "Codex". The series focused on an MMORPG gaming group and them navigating both their online gaming activities and real life, showing the varying ages and lifestyles of the character, all unique in their own way, never mind the shenanigans that occur. The series was heavily inspired by Felicia's previous real life addiction to World of Warcraft. The webseries ran until 2013, having a total of six seasons plus some other extra content, all which can still be watched on YouTube, plus you can also purchase physical DVDs of the webseries.

For the promotion of their third season, The Guild filmed a music video, "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?".

Watch on YouTube

They would end up making a couple more music videos in relation to the webseries, "Game On" and "I'm The One That's Cool", however "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?" was not only the first but it's also one that has them looking as the MMORPG persona's of their characters, and it's one that I associate with the series the most. Felicia has stated that Cyd created "Codex" to being a more confident version of herself in real life, we see this demonstrated in one of the seasons where Cyd does communicate with "Codex" when trying to defeat a rival guild. So the music video sort of reflects this, as well. It's such a well-produced video, the costumes look incredible, and the song continues to be a banger to this day.

(Sidenote: Maurissa Tancharoen appears as a dancer in this video.)

Bonus: You can watch Felicia Day and a couple of the cast perform an acoustic version of the song taken at a w00stock performance years ago.

Comments

[author_by_night]

Ooh,The Guild! That video is how I found it.


I think I only really watched the first season in full, then bits of later seasons. Might have to rectify that. I certainly related to a certain extent, being in fandom and all of that.

st. Felicia has stated that Cyd created "Codex" to being a more confident version of herself in real life,

Interesting!

[rogueslayer452]

I'm finding that I relate to Cyd a lot now that I'm older, especially with feeling lost and aimless and using a fictional world and the connections found there to escape. Although this was specifically about gaming/MMORPGs, you can apply a lot of that to online fandom.

The webseries does have a lot of "of the time" humor that doesn't really translate well to today's climate (S5 features a brief appears of Neil Gaiman at a convention which knowing what we know now, yeahhh....) but once you keep that in mind it's still entertaining and funny all the same. It features a lot of Felicia's writing style and her brand, which I watched a lot of during that time on Geek & Sundry.

[author_by_night]

I'm finding that I relate to Cyd a lot now that I'm older, especially with feeling lost and aimless and using a fictional world and the connections found there to escape.

Yeah, I can certainly see that. We would have been closer to Tink and Bladezz's ages, although I'd say Cyd and I are the closest in personality, from what I can recall.

And yeah, I definitely get online worlds being an escape. And how some people have completely surprising lives, like Tink being in med school (which I know later changes).

The webseries does have a lot of "of the time" humor that doesn't really translate well to today's climate (

Yeah, and Zaboo's introduction is hella problematic. IIRC, even in 2008 I remember feeling a bit iffy about it, but it definitely rings differently now.

The only other thing is that unless it changes, it strikes me as being one of those shows where few of the characters are likable? Does that change at all? It's fine if it doesn't, some shows are what they are, but I'm curious about that.

[rogueslayer452]

Yeah, and Zaboo's introduction is hella problematic. IIRC, even in 2008 I remember feeling a bit iffy about it, but it definitely rings differently now.

Yeah, his character was quite immature and borderline creepy with stalking Codex and wanting them to be together, or believing them to already be together, based on their interactions in their game. Granted his backstory of his upbringing is somewhat of an explanation for this, he just didn't understand healthy boundaries or knew how to survive out in the real world. He does do some growing up, though.

The only other thing is that unless it changes, it strikes me as being one of those shows where few of the characters are likable? Does that change at all? It's fine if it doesn't, some shows are what they are, but I'm curious about that.

It's been a hot second since I've watched the series all the way through, but from what I remember some do have some good developments for their characters, at least having some interesting places they went to to explore them a bit more. Whether or not they are likeable or unlikeable at that point depends on your view of them, I suppose.

[gingicat]

Oh, fun! This is a new one for me. Thank you for sharing!

[rogueslayer452]

You're welcome! :)

[silverusagi]

I watched a few seasons of The Guild, and I remember that video fondly!

[rogueslayer452]

It's such a good music video, and I have the song (and all the rest of those songs, really) on my playlist that gets repeated often.

[elizalavelle]

I bought The Guild on DVD last year. It's such a delight. I'm glad Felicia Day figured out a way to do her own thing and make it work. She was very quick to pick up on how the internet could work for her career.

[pianogurl330]

I remember that video! That's when I discovered The Guild and it was so fun to watch!