Announcement Regarding Spectrum · 8:45pm May 20th, 2017
Hello all, I am TheIdiot, and I am here to talk about The Conversion Bureau: Other Side Of The Spectrum.
Today is an important day, just like how the 9th and 10th of May were. For those aware, a lot has happened, and many things have occurred. I know you’re all wondering a similar question to this - “what is the status of Spectrum?”
The answer, is that we’re not done yet. While it has been a troubling year or so for everyone, I can safely say that we’re going to rise back up and stand together. The original Spectrum main story will have the last of the Reveries arc completed, and it will remain up on FIMFiction. Our next step, is also why I’m here today.
We are going to start over with a new story, and a familiar direction. Some of our best (and available) Crew members have come together and laid a foundation as we all recovered and reconnected. I am proud to say, thanks to them, that the new main story - SPECTRUM - will be up and running this Thursday at 5:00 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time with a prologue. We aim to correct most of the noticeable flaws of the original story in this reboot, and we hope you’ll be happy with our efforts. The characters you like, the situations, the world - all will be as intact as we can manage and then some.
We will see you all soon, and I shall leave you with a gift in the meantime.
Til then,
TheIdiot
I am glad the original story will get a sense of closure, but I can't wait for the new version.
Let's get it.
I will wait and see...
But my message to all of those whose fault is that the original died.... the people who pretty much abandoned redskin and stole from him... *insert a shit ton of insults and all that stuff*
Fuck... you...
4540464
You should always dig deeper than only listening to what one person tells you, for there are two sides to every story...
4540536 And in this case, the story is that Red had become damn near impossible to work with. It was either work with some of my best friends on something that we could all agree we liked... or work with an asshole who would message me like every ten seconds on facebook to tell me what a stupid fucking libtard I was, all while claiming I was one of his best friends. While also treating Jed, Sledge, and Vox like shit. It was draining all our joy, even Red's, which didn't do us any favors.
Do you have any idea how painful it is being with a guy who claims to be your friend, even as he treats you and almost everyone around you like shit? It hurts. It hurts like hell, guys.
Thank you for posting. Let's see how this works out.
4540592 I know I'm looking forward to it. May have to do a little rewriting for my work, but nothing major.
Well that's a very good news, especially since I have yet to finish reading the story and to receive a new one will be to die for.
4540464 ...did you actually bother to read past Red's viewpoint or nah? It's in Vox's blog or if you'd rather not read the 'enemy' view, see Jed's.
4540653 And mine. I also wrote one. It wasn't as good, but I figured I needed to make my thoughts clear as well.
I wish you all the best of luck in your future exploits. This story has always been on my radar and I can say its been a joy to follow. Looking forwards to the fresh take.
I wish you luck with it, but I won't be reading it.
4540542
4540653
As far as i'm conserned... i only care about what the ORIGINAL AUTHOR AND THE OWNER OF THE FIC thinks
Sorry, but that is what i think. You can be offended by it, but i don't care.
4541014
Once you're in a collaboration the idea of "the" owner is a little sketchy. But even assuming arguendo that red was "the" owner, being the owner gives him the right to take his ball and go home. It does not make him a paragon of virtue that is incapable of telling anything but the objective truth.
4540536
Three sides: person A's story, person B's story, and the truth. Of course, that's only if there are only two people. Add more people, get more stories. Such is life.
4541032 Nor does it give him the right to humiliate any one of us on the spur of the moment.
4541032 true. But the idea for the fic was redskin's in the first place if i'm not mistaken?
4541068 Whether the idea was his or not, he invited collaboration, and many of us put our own souls - and many hundreds of thousands of words - into it. Even if you don't think that having created many characters and ideas for the story - at Red's behest - granted us a say (a say, mind you: check the blogs of myself, Vox and Fluffy on the matter if you really think we controlled the whole thing and "stole" it) on the direction of the story, "owning" the story did not grant Red the right to the unpleasant behaviours he displayed, culminating in a public attack on VoxAdam that invited Cyber-bullying upon Vox (which happened: there is still a racist piece of cyber bullying entirely related to this affair on Vox's page to behold if you're so inclined).
I don't care if Red owns the story. He didn't have the right to be like that. No one, under any circumstances, and especially not under circumstances as essentially trivial as a bloody pony fanfic, has the right to be like that.
4541074 hmm...
Good point
4541074
Considering he nearly did something REALLY stupid in real life, I think you guys should back off just a tad. I'd say talk to him, but I can see that would likely make things worse, and frankly he needs to get his own shit sorted out.
Though it does seem like he had some influence upon this current direction, considering the current plan seems to reflect my suggestions to him.
4541175 We've tried talking to him, and talking to him culminated in the situation that we've just been involved in. This situation was a culmination of breakdown in communication, it didn't happen in a vacuum. To the best of my knowledge, he doesn't wish to speak to us about this. I hope he does "get his own shit sorted out", even if I don't believe he truly will. Regardless, he has my best wishes in that.
Regarding this current decision. He has not spoken to us. We reached this independently, making any resemblance to discussion he has had with you or anyone else coincidental.
And with respect, he's not the only one who's nearly done regrettable things because of the stress of working on Spectrum in the past. I have every sympathy and indeed empathy for a state of depression, you may believe me on that, but depression is not - I say again, not - an excuse for absolutely intolerable behaviours towards other people.
If by "back off" you mean that I should cease saying his actions were intolerable, I will not, not when we are subject to insults and accusations still, because of his words and accusations. I will continue to explain and defend my friends from insults that are, in my opinion, uncalled for.
Red's actions were unjustifiable, and the manner he went about them uncalled for, and he has not apologised to any of us in any way, nor do I believe he will, nor do I expect an apology for any of us, nor will I seek one from him. The best thing he and we may do for one another is leave each other alone entirely.
4541175
Despite everything, I can still sympathise with any sense of despondence Red might have felt, as this is not an emotion desirable for anybody. However, if you're talking "doing something REALLY stupid", consider it only fortunate that I'm not so susceptible as that, because cyber-bullying and bullying in general have driven many a person to "do something REALLY stupid" over the years.
Hence all that's left me for is to wish that he will find his way.
4541181
...For ten months. With no noticeable advancements where he didn't backslide, ignore us, or both within 2 weeks.
The original story went off the rails, it lost its focus with umpteen "Wouldn't it be cool if" side plots and characters that would have been better served with well thought out self-contained side-stories. Beyond that, my biggest issue was the obvious face-heel turn that Chrysalis was being set up for; It was stupid, ham-fisted, and painfully obvious. Take a risk and do something different. I'm not saying she needs to be redeemed or some such, she can stay antagonistic while still being pragmatic enough not to tempt genocide via trans-dimensional not!Satan possessed sun goddess.
Personal shit happens, and I feel bad for all that are involved, especially as this touches on the rights of a content creator, but mostly I don't care. Tell a good story, man, it's neither more complicated nor more simple as that.
4541494
Yeah, Redskin definitely needs professional help. And honestly I'm starting to agree with you guys more and more. Redskin seemed willing to repair bridges in my own conversations with him, but just today he dropped a comment on his blogs where he pretty much ripped you all a new one, and not just Vox.
While this whole situation still strikes me as a "it takes two to tango" situation, and it still seems like Vox was the first to start shit, frankly Redskin has crossed a line. Luckily, he's moving on to a new project, so this likely marks the end of this conflict for good.
Question though: are we flat killing the old EU? Cause it contains a number of stories I'd like to see completed.
4542128 We're working on avoiding the whole umpteen plots thing. Trust me, almost everything in the reboot has gone through rigorous discussion. As far as I can tell, broad strokes, everything is still canon - we're just trying to streamline things and make it work more.
4542136 Nah, we're not going to go the same route Disney did. Far as I can tell, everything (except possibly Case Files) will still be canon. Light and Snowbound will definitely keep going, as I totally wouldn't know what to do with myself if I left Light unfinished. Expect some rewrites to the first chapters to bring them up to date with our current writing skill, a few changes to the worldbuilding to make it more lore-compliant. As far as I know, nothing will truly be invalidated by the rewrite.
That's how he always is. At best, acting like he's going along with the attempts to play peacemaker right up till he stabs someone in the back, or even as it happens.
It may seem weird coming from me - someone so disaffected - but I hope he is happy on the new project.
4542193
So, are we going a two universe route here?
4542252 I'd reckon some of the less intertwined stories like Joy to the Worlds and A Sun in Winter would be easy to transplant into the new continuity.
In spite of the fact that I'm supposedly one of the few Red isn't angry at, let's just say that there's a very good reason why I'm staying with the others.
4542136 I won't comment further on Red, save to hope that if he does need help that he gets it. And to express my lack of surprise that he doesn't want to reconcile.
On the more pertinent topic: the general edge of discussion on the matter of the side stories seems to be that a lot of the stories of the old EU will be adapted to fit the new one. That's certainly what I hope to do with mine, and Doc's doing so with Light. Certain stories need very minimal adjustments to fit - Joy to the Worlds seems to be one that fits either way, and A Sun In Winter can have slight adjustments made where necessary. Given the changes we want to make, rewriting some works will be... well, tricky, but it can be done. I suspect we shall keep you (and everyone else) updated as we go.
4542409
Honestly, I think a two universe solution is better.
4542439 Honestly, you might be right. This is still a very early-stage kind of thing, and a lot of the details are yet to be worked out. But I suspect we'll come up with something: we've got a good team.
4542136
I could have been more diplomatic during the Fimfiction PM chat with Red which preceded all this, but I had trouble staying patient as he insisted on messaging me after I'd said that I wished for a day's rest to unwind following the pressure of exams and the French presidential elections. This latter detail is also what led Red, who previously had shown no particular interest in my French bi-nationality - and he was quick to express in chat how little he cares for the world outside his corner of America - to employ those slurs in his journal.
4542128
Though the story got cut short before the full setup could be laid out, Chrysalis' motivations were more along the lines of Erik Lehnsherr's in X-Men: Days of Future Past; the fact that an enemy comes around to the heroes' side in one timeline doesn't mean they will in another. Prime!Chrysalis was a separate person from her counterpart for not having lived the same life. And Pina, for reasons of her own, was busily stoking the Queen's paranoia that mankind would turn on her once she was no longer needed.
I've yet to see if this is a plotline that would work or be well-received, but it's different than Chrysalis betraying everyone out of mere evil.
4542494
Be that as it may, regarding your Chrysalis-Lehnsherr comparison, the fact remains that Chrysalis has no genuine motivation to work for Tirestia. I could see it if she had not been informed of the fate of her other self. I could see it if she had not experienced the Manhattan simulation. However, she has experienced those things. She understands that Tirestia’s ponies create a toxic environment for her species. She’s seen the brutality of a city being dosed with potion. Unless you’re either willing to make the case for her being a completely irrational actor or you introduce some kind of leverage that outweighs an existential threat, Chrysalis’ actions do not make sense and her behavior is driven by extra-narrative priorities. It’s just lazy. It’s lazy, obvious, and hackneyed in a story that has done a fair job of being anything but.
Your story, your decision, but that’s my take on it as a reader.
4542585
It still has the capacity to surprise me that people can read how this Chrysalis behaves and assume she'd join forces with Tireklestia, when she could be doing her own thing because she doesn't like being told what to do.
4542585
4542617
I'm gonna have to second Vox on this one - sure, Chryssie might be out for herself, but there's genuinely nothing to imply that she's going to join "Tireklestia" (good portmanteau, incidentally) rather than simply act according to her own self-interest. It's frankly a bit of a leap, and in turn dismisses how multi-faceted the situation in Spectrum is, and how many factions are at work.
I just came here for the first time to check out TCB The Other Side Of The Spectrum and I see that the story is cancelled, yet from what I understand you're still planning to finish that story and also reboot it with a new one.
so I'm a bit confuse, was the cancelled tag posted after this blog or before?, are you still planning to finish it or just scrap it and reboot it altogether?
Two last questions, what changes are you planning to make in the reboot? how different it'll be from the original?
4544839 So:
1: The original Spectrum had the "cancelled" tag pretty much from the moment it swapped. I don't know if that was changed by TheIdiot or Red, or merely instigated by TheIdiot afterward. What I do know is that the original story will have the finished chapters that were still in progress - the Reveries Arc, chiefly - completed, and hopefully there will be a sense of resolution of some kind, though the exact manner of that resolution is yet to be determined.
2: Without spoiling anything, the rebooted story will change certain key elements about the mythology of "Classic", as well as changing and re-emphasising certain characters' roles, traits and political positions, not to mention reimagining organisations to explore new facets of them. We're hoping to be able to go full hog with some things that were only in nascent-idea stage for "Classic", given that we're starting from a much more advanced stage of our writing, our abilities, etc, and given that unlike when Red and TB3 began, we now have a full mythology to cherry pick the best aspects from to work, rework and generally have fun with.
I'm confident that Spectrum 2.0, as we informally call it, will be a fun and rewarding reading experience. We've got a good team, some of the most talented people I've been privileged to know.
4545083 Thanks for the answer. I might look into it when I have the chance.
4545083
4545098 I put the canceled tag on it after I got the story.
4566758
To answer your point about the reboot. In simple terms, there was a significant disagreement between the majority of the writing team and the original "main" author. It's a tawdry mess and I'd advise reading only if you feel the need desperately to try and understand the complexities.
As for the reboot itself, that's simply a matter of us all having grown as writers, and the aforementioned disagreement granting the majority of us the opportunity to engage in such a reboot.
As for the crossovers, some of them will stay.