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?".

( Do you wanna date my avatar? She's a star, and she's hotter than reality by far. )

(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.

There's been so many distressing and upsetting things happening lately, so here's a list of some of the things that have been a happy distraction to keep me from doomscrolling, especially within the last week.

( Some of my happy distractions. )

( Is it Thursday yet? )

My Comments: Critical Role is an actual play TTRPG show, specifically of Dungeons & Dragons, that first started streaming their already ongoing campaign in 2015. It has since grown into something much bigger than they had ever anticipated. This fanvid is more of a celebration of where it all began and why I began watching in the first place, which was for the people involved and how engaging they were at telling this story. It only focuses on the first campaign, and at least midway through the first campaign, which is where I started when it was airing, so there aren't much spoilers. For those who have only seen The Legend of Vox Machina and know nothing about Critical Role, this will be a great fanvid to watch just to see the energy these people put out.

I also added a bonus video that is basically a supercut of all of the characters attempting to say Percy's full name. Just because.

++ The Yuri!!! On Ice movie, Ice Adolescence, has officially been cancelled.

I didn't watch the show, although it's been on my list to and I've only seen some clips (both in Japanese and English dubbed), but I do remember how big it was when it first came out. It gained massive attention and popularity, so when the announcement of a follow-up movie was to happen shortly thereafter along with a teaser trailer fans were understandably excited and happily awaiting for it to arrive. And then nothing. No update announcements for years. I think it's fair to say that while the cancellation announcement wasn't so much of a surprise considering the years wait, it's still disappointing especially for the fans who were holding out some hope that it would happen. What happened behind-the-scenes or why they didn't announce this sooner, we may never know. But it's sad how they really truly fumbled with this.

Speaking of fumbling the ball....

++ Watcher Entertainment has announced they are leaving YouTube for their own streaming service and basically putting their work behind a paywall. The response from the fanbase has been overwhelmingly negative.

( My thoughts on the ongoing situation. )

I don't know. This is still developing so we'll have to wait and see what happens.

++ The book cover art has been revealed for the first volume of the Guardian English translation. I love it! It looks so good. It really captures Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan and their whole dynamic perfectly. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. I only managed to read some excerpts from the fan translation of the novel before this was announced, so I know how vastly different to novel is from the drama. So I cannot wait to get my hands on this. The release date has been pushed back from its original scheduled release, but I'm okay with waiting just a little longer.

++ I watched the second trailer for Dune: Part 2 that came out recently, and my overall reaction is: give it to me now. If I wasn't already excited for it before, this second trailer would've done the job. Especially at the end when Paul yells, "Long live the fighters!"

++ Lately I've been catching up on my TTRPG show watching.

( Critical Role: Campaign 3 )

( Dimension 20: The Seven and A Court Of Fey And Flowers )

++ Watching the gradual implosion of Twitter has been fascinating to watch, in a sad kind of way. The recent "read limit" restriction that was implemented is going to go over so well with the majority of its users.

++ Just as I finished watching the last season of Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural, it has been announced that Shane and Ryan are developing a brand new ghost hunting series on their own channel, Watcher, called Ghost Files. I am beyond happy, also I kind of knew that this would happen considering they're no longer with Buzzfeed and haven't been for some time, and they've been making their own content separately on their own channel/company, Watcher, so it makes sense. The Ghoul Boys aren't gone, they're just revamping in a bigger, stronger way, on their own terms, and just based on the teaser they gave I can already tell that it's gonna be fantastic.

++ It was also recently announced that Leverage: Redemption has been renewed for a second season! I have yet to finish the rest of the first, but it really is a good reboot/continuation of the show.

++ The final season of The Expanse has arrived, and thankfully it will be continuing its streak of releasing new episodes weekly, as there are only six in the last season I'm utterly grateful since I want to prolong the experience as much as possible. I still need to get the ninth and final book, Leviathan Falls, so once I finish the last season I can jump right into reading the books. Technically I could start now, considering the number of books and the slow pace that I normally read, but I had already committed to this goal previously.

++ Critical Role has returned to resume their second campaign after months of unexpected hiatus due to quarantine. Marisha Ray made an announcement video a little while ago about the state of their return and what that means, including their brand new social distancing set and them taking the necessary precautions for everyone's health and safety. Furthermore, it's emphasized that they're returning because they want to, which I think is an important factor here. Anyone who has been keeping up with them over the last several months knows that they all miss each other, and they miss playing their game, and that this was a decision agreed upon by everyone involved with the company.

This of course got me wondering how things are going to resume within the entertainment industry in general, because everything will undoubtedly be affected by adjusting to new health guidelines for the safety of everyone since, y'know, the virus is not going to magically disappear once people are given the okay to return back to work. It just has me curious.

++ It seems that the Furiosa movie is going ahead without Charlize Theron, which she voiced her thoughts on it, clearly heartbroken but states that she respects the decision. Others, however, have expressed their displeasure of this for obvious reasons. I'm honestly conflicted on this issue. Because on one hand it's true that there's an ageism issue in the entertainment industry and that should be dismantled, however this is supposedly a prequel, perhaps during the early days of Furiosa (or when she was a Wife before being discarded), so it would make sense to cast someone younger for the role. Although I think a compromise could be made, have Charlize Theron return but as an adult Furiosa telling her tale. Either way though, I don't think anything will top the brilliance of Mad Max: Fury Road. That was such a unexpected masterpiece that, as much as many wish it, cannot be replicated through a prequel, imho.

++ I don't watch Batwoman, however I have been following the kerfuffle since hearing about the main lead leaving that created quite a stir (whether of her own volition or if she was actually fired or there was some non-negotiable things happening, it's all rumors and speculation so who knows) and with the news that they were essentially casting a new character to be the lead rather than simply recasting the role, and some where unhappy about this but let's be honest, having your main lead actor leave after one season isn't exactly common so it's either recast the role or have another character be in their place. Besides, it's not exactly new for different characters to take on the mantle of a particular superhero identity. With that being said, we now have confirmation of who they got cast, and although we don't know her acting ability, I do have to admit it's quite an upgrade. It might make me curious enough to actually check out the show now. Maybe. I'm not really into the CW anymore, much less any of the DCTV shows that are on there, but you never know. They do have rare gems that come from that mess of a network.

++ A belated Happy Halloween! Mine was rather chill. Also, I had completely forgotten about daylight savings so that fucked me up when it happened, heh.

++ The Legend of Vox Machina, the animated series based on the first campaign of Critical Role made possible by the incredible Kickstarter that surpassed all their expectations, has now partnered with Amazon Prime where it will be shown and it has now gotten second season. This is such a huge deal. Critical Role started off as this little show on Geek & Sundry to try and see if streaming their D&D game was going to be a thing people wanted to watch, and it steadily grew over the years, to the point where it grew way beyond the channel itself and now they've created their own company so they can have their own creative content. It has now become one of the most popular streaming D&D shows online, and with good reason. Which is how we got things like the massively successful Kickstarter which has jump started this whirlwind of a success for the CR cast and crew. I am so, so proud of them.

++ I recently discovered the YouTube channel DUST, which features short scifi films and content. I like looking at short films on YouTube, ideas and concpets that otherwise might not be seen in mainstream media but have the freedom to do so online. Horror and science fiction are the two genres that I really like seeing in this particular format.

++ With the announcement that Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists has been cancelled after one season, I am feeling rather disappointed and kind of sad. I mean, part of me kind of knew that it was a possibility since I hadn't really heard much buzz surrounding the show outside of some dedicated fans, but another part of me was hopeful. I actually really enjoyed The Perfectionists and I thought that it could go interesting directions. Much like with Ravenswood, the other PLL spin-off that was cancelled after one season, it held much potential and I really liked the characters and their dynamic. But, also like Ravenswood, the show attempted to break up a beloved fan favorite couple from its predecessor which I think was the ultimate death knoll of the show. That part is entirely on Marlene King though, since she should have learned from past mistakes. But alas.

Needless to say, I am super bummed because I did get attached to the show. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did. This happens every single time, dammit. Regardless, I'm just hoping that it will get a DVD release. Ravenswood never did, which I never understood and am still bitter about.

++ Anyway, on an uplifting note, I watched Felicia Day's episode of Between The Sheets, a series made by the cast of Critical Role on their channel where they interview various people, and it was hilarious and incredibly wonderful. She is such a delight. I love Felicia, I have ever since seeing her in BTVS and I've been steadily following her career ever since. She's been kind of inspirational, in a way, when it comes to being a geek on the Internet and she's built herself a creative career from that which I've always admired. So watching her talk about her life and answering specific questions about her work and just random things for over an hour was so delightful. Plus, she is mainly responsible for the existence of Critical Role, since she had faith in the project when others didn't. So I really enjoyed hearing her talk about that as well. Just overall, a fantastic interview, like pretty much all the other interviews seen from that series.

++ And in more exciting news of the same line, Critical Role is partnering and collaborating with some brands for some official CR merchandising, and this includes Funko Pop! We will finally be getting Funko Pops of the characters, hopefully for both campaigns. This is honestly so cool, because the cast has received custom made Funkos of their characters sent to them by fans over the years, but now they can get them officially done and sold. As someone who collects Funkos of my favorite characters, you bet I'll be getting them as soon as they're available.

I tend to get all this information as it's coming out, though idk why but it seemed like there wasn't as much happening this year at SDCC? Or at least not much that interested me, personally, since there was a lot of announcements that occurred but it wasn't something that I was that into or didn't care for. But there were things that I was anticipating to come out from the event, and while I may be missing some things, here are the main ones that I'm excited about:

++ We finally have the much awaited official teaser for the fourth season of The Expanse, which will be premiering December 13th on Amazon Prime. I'm excited, for the fact that the show is returning on a new home and will hopefully remain there for a good long while, and also just to see the story unfold and continue on. This show is just so amazing and awesome, some of the best scifi I've seen in a long time, and I cannot wait to see what happens next. For anyone who is curious about the show, the first three seasons are available on Amazon so you can get caught up before the fourth season premieres.

++ There was a sneak peek trailer for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, which includes a little bit of behind-the-scenes of what they did to make it which absolutely looks stunning. I mentioned this before, but I like how there is this equilibrium of using practical effects and special effects, and actually getting to see that here is remarkable. Seeing the puppetry, the built sets, and seeing how they incorporated the special effects to scenes that enhances the experience, it works so well because it's a combination of things that are needed. Everything I've been seeing in regards to Age of Resistance has me very impressed, from how it looks to how it'll be expanding the universe and world, and I'm really hoping that it delivers.

++ As for the MCU, I don't really have much to say about the Phase Four of films coming out. I've never been huge on the MCU anyway, so. I will say, though, that the only film that looks remotely interesting to me is Shang-Chi, because having an Asian-led MCU film, one of the first Asian-led superhero movie? With an Asian-American director and writer? Yes please. Also, hearing how Simu Liu basically championed for more racial diversity in the MCU, especially in regards to Asian-American representation, and that somehow got him the role makes it even better. So yeah, that's basically the only thing I am looking forward to, to be honest.

++ The trailer for the third season of Dear White People was released, which I was wondering when we were going to get it. I'm hoping that it doesn't end up getting cancelled (since that's what Netflix does a lot now after three seasons), or that the show has a nice conclusion regardless.

++ Doom Patrol was renewed for a second season! I was so happy hearing this news, since after the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Swamp Thing and hearing certain things about how DC/Warner Bros were handling things I thought that it wasn't going to get another season. The show has gotten a lot of positive reviews and reactions from people, it is considered one of the better DC shows because it is so different, so unique and fresh, which based on what I've seen it is absolutely true, so seeing it renewed makes me happy to see it continue to thrive.

++ While not revealed at SDCC necessarily, finding out that Katee Sackhoff is going to be in another science fiction series called Another Life on Netflix has me incredibly intrigued. I would've checked this out simply for her alone, but based on the trailer it actually looks quite interesting.

++ And lastly, of course I have to mention Critical Role. Some of the cast appeared to do a live reading for The Adventure Zone comics with the McElroys and Lin Manuel Miranda. I know many, including the cast, want to have these people guest on their show at some point in any capacity. I mean, Matt already has had quite a few amazing people guest, including doing a one-on-one session with Stephen Colbert. So this might be a possibility, whether a guest in the second campaign or doing voices for their animated series. The cast was also there for their Talks Machina panel, and also to promote the upcoming next issue of the Vox Machina: Origins comics.

Was there anything at SDCC this year that was announced or happened that made you excited?