Xaq (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
xaq_the_aereon) wrote2013-01-22 08:21 pm
xaq_the_aereon) wrote2013-01-22 08:21 pm
Amazing what a difference one comment can make...
Last night I had a rather painful dream; the 5 of us had received invitations to attend a convention as guest speakers for a panel based on Hatoful Boyfriend, which had apparently developed such a fan following that it basically had its own section of the con to itself. Weird, but then, what things associated with this game aren't? In any case, I thought it was going to be absolutely awesome. ...Wish that'd wound up being the case.
When I got there, I tried making my way through the crowds to find you guys. Along the way, I walk past the door to one of the video rooms, where they're showing one of our video streams, so I decide to walk in and have a seat. Some of the things I hear from around the crowd amuse me (apparently one girl who was watching was falling for Raven's Yuuya voice pretty badly, while a few folks were apparently traumatized by Murderbeaks)...then I heard a couple of guys, complete stereotypical nerds, give their opinions on Ryouta. To say they were unpleasant opinions would be an understatement, but I shrugged and left.
A bit later, I came across some folks playing Hatogate on a big screen. "Big" as in the 8-bit pixels of the game graphics were about 4x4 square inches in size. They'd unlocked a number of the achievements, but were having trouble with the Good and Lame endings, so I thought I'd give some help and offered some suggestions on how they might go about it.
They thanked me for my help, commenting on how awesome a game it was and how they hoped David would keep producing stuff like it...then one of them asked why he bothered putting my name in the title screen, completely unaware of just who they were saying that to.
The more the dream went on, the more I got bombarded with this overall opinion of the con-goers that I was basically a fifth wheel on the team; too boring, trying too hard to be funny, giving Ryouta a sucky voice (which hurt especially bad to hear considering that's my own actual voice), stuff like that. But, I tried to shrug it all off, finally found you guys, hung out for a bit, and then the panel we'd been invited to came up, so we made our way.
The con staff introduced us, applause erupted as we came out...right up until I was introduced. A small chorus of boos erupted, and before I even got to take all that in, some jackass threw a soda bottle...still full and unopened...at my head. Broke my glasses and knocked me flat on my ass, and the audience just laughed. The con staff called for a medical team, and I recall Kjorteo telling the crowd off for it while Raven and David made sure I was alright, before we all got our stuff and left...on the way out Budgie grabbed the mic from the con staff's PA system to tell everyone at the con to go screw themselves.
I wish I could say I didn't wake up in tears after that, but...well, I kinda did, and it'd honestly been bugging me the better part of the day.
...Then I saw that comment one of our regular viewers left on the Radio video in response to The Letter From Yogg-Sothoth. I'm just going to say this..
Thank you, heerotomoe. I needed that. :]
EDIT: Thanks guys. I just needed to get that off my chest.
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Keep reading back through the comments, and as I'm sure you've realized by now - you're a vital wheel on this thing, along with the other four of us :) (The vehicle is shaped a bit weird.)
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First off, you're fine; you lend a sort of everyman authenticity to Ryouta without crossing the line into dull and not-really-a-voice-at-all (the problem I had with him in my Livestream run.) And your Albert is amazing. :D
Second, the key to this group has always, always been its chemistry. Can I search around the countless Hatoful LPs and find someone who's technically better at voices than I am? Oh, sure; here's someone I consider good enough to be a professional voice actor, and the complete emotional breakdown of Nageki's ending somehow only makes it better. But that's just some random person on the internet; we don't know her, she doesn't know us. Our group is what it is because we know each other so well, and we're friends, and we're just hanging out and having a good time with pigeons. That warmth and spirit of fun comes across in our videos and is a huge part of why we've been so successful so far.
In short, our team is greater than the sum of its parts, and that's saying something, because the parts are already pretty great. :)
And that's why we're all extremely necessary, even the ones who falsely think they're not as good (which would be all of us.)
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Now that you've said that I'm not sure if I will come off as the group's official smeghead by saying this, but the continued video posts have had the opposite effect on me - through the reactions of the group to everyone's performances and interjections as well as those of our growing audience (and the fact that we have a growing audience), I'm now very confident of my worth in this strange project, and everyone else involved in it should feel the same way :) I love the reaction that I can get by voicing Shuu, nobody could hope to replace Pidgeworth or Yuuya, Xaq's cooing is second to none and "Apparently plan B stands for Boom!" was the funniest one-liner I've yet heard in the series, and BudgieBin holds the whole thing together with her bird facts and her endlessly entertaining take on the protagonist. Perhaps it helps directly seeing a flood of comments in my inbox the next morning every time I post one of these, and it's difficult to pass them all on, but... just look at the comments on the latest few posted videos at any time!
Do you remember when I did my first gameplay video of Snake, Rattle and Roll after you mentioned the game, intending it to be a one-off thing and even making the video unlisted so that nobody but friends could see it, because I hated the sound of my own recorded voice so much? I've been completely cured of that - and it's thanks to you and Xaq and everyone, and a collection of photo cut-outs of birds.
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Let's just say anyone who tries to pull that sort of shit at a con will get to find out what a 'murder' of crows is really like, eh? You do a fantastic job, and you should be proud of it. :)
D.F.
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Oko the Pigeon!
Doesn't really care to fly!
Oko the Pigeon!
Oko! He only speaks in Coo!
Oko! Yeah, he likes pudding, too!
Oko! He's the fastest thing alive!
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I say again, you think you're the weakest? :P Not a chance! :P
D.F.
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I'm chiming in on the "I'm the worst contributor" portion. I use my plain voice for Hiyoko, which I think is very nasally, with a nice side of mushmouth and bad commentary. I've gotten more confident thanks to our rising fanbase, I still feel as if I've got the least variable vocal talents of the group. But, I'm still getting compliments so I've got to be going right somewhere :P
Think about what Ryouta's role is. He's the "straight man" - the one who, when compared to all the others, lives a (mostly) normal life without much intrigue. He doesn't come from abroad. He doesn't lead a double life. He has no quirks and serves as a good foil for his hyperactive best friend. He's honest and hard working. His primary concern is for his ailing mother and he is only known to have a tragic past in BBL because doesn't make a big deal out of it.
Characters like Ryouta (and Hiyoko) are both the hardest and easiest to play, because invariably, you end up seeing yourself in them, and then you become them. The strength comes from the conviction behind the voice, instead of the need to supplement the personality with a silly accent and whatnot.
You gave him a normal voice which has a tinge of hardship and sadness - and this is a good thing. It accurately portrays who he is - an honest bird from a normal background living a difficult life. A character like Ryouta doesn't need to be "hammed up" - he's already plenty strong on his own.
Basically, you're the best Ryouta we could have ever asked for. Don't ever let yourself think otherwise again!