#painted rambles

However, I can’t help but wonder a few things. Firstly being that the survivors all entered the Constant at different times, and from different places; do they return to the time and place they left or do they come back to an Earth that has changed because of the months and/or years they’ve been gone, but at least they all returned together? I saw some examples of both, but both have heartbreaking consequences. Should the characters return to when and where they were taken, it makes it so those that left someone behind like Warly get to have their reunion. But the trama of remembering the dangers of the Constant, surviving that for years only to come back like nothing happened? Trama center right there. And it’s made worse by the fact that the survivors, who if we follow the lore as well as fanon headcannons, have become extremely close, and one can argue trama bonding has probably occurred at some level. For those that didn’t escape either their time in the Constant without being changed physically or were changed/cursed/altered shortly before they entered, adapting back to a normal life gains an additional challenge, and while their fellow survivors may have accepted them, will those they left behind and the rest of society do the same? Even if they return together, time has now passed. Loved ones left behind may have perished, and the world has moved on after their disappearances. Sure, they are together, but adapting to a world changed to such a degree, how could they ever begin to explain what happened to them? But they’re together right?

Which brings me to my second point; not all of the survivors are from Earth. Would those who were born in the Constant like Wurt and Wartox to name a few go with the Earthlings? Or would they stay behind, because as harsh of a world as it is, it’s supposed to be home right? Even if they never see their friends again, even if they feel lost and alone because the experiences they had with their found friends and family have forever changed them, and the thought of going back to how things were is a strange and hollow feeling. But would they even be able to go to Earth? Would their nonhuman forms become simply another form of feeling different from those around them? Or would they find enough solace and peace with their friends who accept them for who they are dispite the rest of Earth’s mistrust?

And what of Charlie? Is she doomed to be the Night Monster forever? A shadow in the night stealing every spark of light? Or does she get a chance to come home, changed yes, all of them have been, but she can hug her sister, and come home?

It doesn’t have to be canonically accurate all the time. Sometimes changing a character’s personality, choices, or design, a story setting or world building rule, or putting characters that normally wouldn’t interact with each other, be it within the same story or as a crossover, can be a fun and interesting way to experience the fandom for your media of choice, and for some fans whose base media isn’t necessarily as detailed or perhaps was cancelled on a cliffhanger or even in a case where there’s a beloved side character who just simply didn’t get enough attention, fandom is their preferred way of interacting with the media.

Being aware of the source material is an important part of fandom for some, for others it’s not, sometimes you see a mutual posting fanart of a blurbo from a show you have never seen but enjoy it nonetheless. For some, canon adjacent or canon compliant fan works are preferred over canon divergent works or complete AUs. To each their own when it comes to taste.

But seriously, and I’m not calling out any particular person or fandom, but I swear I’m so tired of the constant negativity towards fan works that deviate significantly from cannon. I personally find it extremely present within the cosplay community, and it’s exhausting. It’s discouraging, and frankly it’s kinda rude.

You don’t have to LIKE everything you see, especially when you are navigating a creative space, which yes, fandom is a creative space, however, making callout posts directly or indirectly criticizing a trope that’s frequently used, getting annoyed that a specific character is being portrayed in a different way from cannon (be it appearance or personality) or how ‘no one reads/respects the source material’, or even worse, people who directly comment on other fandom creators works criticizing their choices because it’s not to their taste, is just unnecessary spreading of negativity at best and just bullying at worse.

First off, its in almost perfect chronological order. If I remember correctly only one or two verses are off, and not by much. I think I’ve seen one make an attempt at it, but not even close to what Joel did.

Billy Joel wasn’t simply stating events; he was using top headlines to make the lyrics. It was inspired by a comment made by a younger person in the studio shortly after he turned 40, implying that ‘nothing really happened in the 50’s’. He purposely adds more verses per year as time goes on because more stuff was happening, and because its in part a chronological timeline of his life; things seem to speed by faster when you get older.

So much shit has happened since then trying to cram everything in is a hard ask; but lots of folks try to add things in that really weren’t that significant; remember the original song was based on actual newspaper headlines, which definitely helped, but modern day internet news can junk that up real fast.

The song is made from events starting when Billy Joel was born (1949) to the end of 1989, the year the song was released, for a total of 40 years. Fall Out Boy is the first that I can think of that purposefully picks up at 1989 and continues onwards to the present, which I have to give credit for.

Billy Joel himself doesn’t like the song; musically/melodically its not much, so you either have to over exaggerate it or embellish it (which tends to ruin the original charm) nail down the perfect set of chantable lyrics (I’ve yet to see someone succeed doing this) or somehow pull off both.

When asking Billy Joel if he’d ever make an updated song he’ll reply with something along the lines of “I’ve already written one, it wasn’t even that good, no thanks”

Finally, I think anyone who tries to remake the song will suffer from being compared to the original, and get judged fairly harshly because of that. I personally don’t think the Fall Out Boys one is too bad, I’ve certainly heard worse.

Something that has greatly helped me counteract that is this part in the legands Jedi Path book, which talks about how a Jedi must take care of their appearance because it reflects the Order as a whole and also because looking clean and kept can help in doing one’s job as a Jedi.

Mandalorins also consider hygiene to be important, as a culture of hunters that used to be (and some still are) nomadic, keeping one’s body clean, tidying up after yourself, keeping your hair tidy enough to stay under your helmet, it’s important to them, enough that plenty of their insults are just calling you dirty or untidy.