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To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower: Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. -- William Blake, Auguries of Innocence After a long, long hiatus, we're back! For our tenth column, we've got a doozy. When you think "vet" in the context of the FPL, you think of Landon. No other creator has as many characters in the Hall of Fame - heck, the whole damn place is named after him. The quintessential Creator, Landon is both prolific and an excellent writer, contributing as much to the FPL's IC Canon as he has to the the ranks of its Champions. The FPL wouldn't be the same place without him. Here I grill him on topics ranging from #fplnewplayer to IC works to French poetry. Abdiel changes topic to 'Happy Hour in the HexxJo Café' Abdiel alright, we're here with the infamous "HexxJo / Landon entity" to ask some tough questions and get some tough answers. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Hexx. Abdiel You know what the first question is by now, I'm sure: despite what the results of those ubiquitous polls might say... who do you personally feel is your "best" character to date Landon Well... as far as I'm concerned my "best" character is the character that I'm the happiest with personally. That one character that I can look back on and say that I got him right and redoing him in any way would just not do the character any real justice. And for me that's Devyn Soyokzake. MrGraves cheers Abdiel Devyn has a lot of IC story tie-ins. Do you think that's a major element of his appeal? Landon In a way, yeah, mainly because through said stories I've been able to "flesh" him out so to speak. Without all of the stories that I've written about him and others have written about him, he's the most complete individual out of my own characters. He just feels as real as a fictional character can be to me, with motivations, quirks, and so on. Landon That’s always been my main goal when making characters, to make them as "human" and relatable as possible, and with Devyn I think I made my greatest achievement as far as that goes. Of course, I'm sure some people just see him as a shallow "destroy everything" angstyboy, which isn't far from the truth, but I think there's more to him than that. Abdiel Do you feel like there's a qualitative distinction between characters that have IC support and those that don't? Between characters that "need" it and those that are meant to stand on their own completely? Landon Well, I personally prefer characters that lend themselves to stories. Sometimes said characters don't come off as being the flashiest or the wittiest characters on a character sheet just because they're meant to tell a story elsewhere while merely demonstrating the basics of the character on the sheet. Many of my favorite characters are such characters, like DragoonT. Landon He's not the most brilliantly written character, no offense to Tony, but the way he's written he lends himself to a greater story. He isn't cut and dry, "this is my story, now I'm fighting in the FPL" the way most characters are in the FPL, and I just really dig that. Abdiel speaking of FPL stories and plotlines, do you have any particular favorites? Any immediate plans of your own in the works? *wink nudge* Landon My favorite, which seems to be just about everyone else's favorite, is the Apocalypse. Don't think I really need to go too in-depth into that. Other than that... I'd have to say my favorite is Graves' current storyline. It’s about time we had the Age of Graves happen. Go Bad Guys! Landon As for my own stories... I'm sure all the vets are familiar with what I've written, but for the new players... I've been working on my own so-called epic The Crusade for nearly 3 years. It’s a very heavy character-study sort of thing with the occasional sense of extreme violence which basically boils down to a big sappy love story... the sort of thing no one else'd write around here basically. Heehee... Don't expect to ever see it done... Abdiel how much do you like FPL storylines to play into the game itself and have "real" consequences? Like the CoC plotline or the Elim/ME scenarios and such? Landon If the outcome of a match is pre-set, being "If X wins then this happens, etc etc" then I'm all for matches determining the story. But if it’s something like "you lost to me, so I'm gonna kill your character in a lame fight fic," then... ick no, don't dig it. Just so long as the outcome's set in advance in some way and everyone knows the consequences then I'm all for it. Abdiel In the past there's been some ill will generated because of "biased" Elim scenarios and people who don't want their characters in certain peoples' fics. Are people taking their characters and ideas in the FPL too seriously, or are these real factors in Elim matches, and factors in how we look at characters ICly? Landon I always saw Elim scenarios as just little fun bits to entertain everyone, something to spruce up matches a little and make them more than just a bunch of numbers or whatever. Just so long as the scenario doesn't totally mess up a character or insults them in some way I don't see the big deal. Landon As for characters in people's fics... I've probably been the biggest proponent of getting the person's permission for use of stories since the old days. Since these stories are actually considered to be "canon" so to speak whereas Elim scenarios aren't, then it’s someone's prerogative to say they don't want their character being used by someone else and so on. Abdiel A lot has changed in the FPL over the years. Do you feel the basic requirements for a character to make it to the Elims or the Main Event are different now than before? If so, how? What does a character have to do to earn your vote? Landon Nah... it’s the same as it’s always been in my opinion. It’s all about luck. Who you go up against, the mood of the current FPL crowd, if you hit someone with resistances... whether a character gets into the elims or hits the ME is all about luck. Sure, some people have a tendency to make it there more than others, myself included, but I really to just chalk it up to luck in the end. Abdiel I tend to think that there's a little more than luck to it, at least as far as you yourself are concerned, Hexx. ;) Poe SIoK loves Landon Landon Nah... I suck. It’s all about luck. Heehee Abdiel What to you forms the distinction between a truly "great" character and a merely "good" one? Landon A good character can have an awesome concept and great writing, but in the end, I don't give a damn about them in the end. I have no emotional attachment to them. Truly great characters have that emotional attachment with them that makes me want to read about them and care about what happens to them in their stories. Abdiel seeing as you essentially founded Naze Nani FPL, could you give us a brief rundown of the site's purpose and what direction you plan to take the site in? Any insight into things that might not be apparent to a newcomer to NNFPL? Landon Basically, I wanted it to be an outlet for people to discuss the FPL in an intelligent fashion. Sure, we have the boards, but those sometimes tend to devolve into nonsense. Not that nonsense isn't fun, but there's a time and place for it. A lot of people really care about the FPL, and I thought NNFPL would be a good outlet for such thoughts. In the end, NNFPL is FPLers talking about the FPL. Landon As for the future of NNFPL, that's totally dependent on time constraints among those of us that work on it. I have ideas, mostly involving contests and the like, similar to the Martial Artists contest that'll likely never see the light of day, but its totally dependent on what each of us can do with what free time we have. Abdiel What's your take on Powers vs. Writing? I know a lot of creators feel that writing is everything, and others like a cool power combo. Do powers matter? Landon I'm a supporter of the metaphor that either Phil or old school Shallow Guild Chris came up with: The FPL 250 points/powers system is just the medium in which we chose to make a character, sorta like how a person chooses what sort of paint to use to paint a picture. What type of paint really doesn't matter so long as the end product is really good. Sure, you could admire the technical aspect of what's being used, but I just find that dull and would rather look at the whole picture. Landon So yeah... I could really care less about the powers so long as what I'm reading is fun. If I read a character and forget to bother to look at what power this is describing, I consider that a good thing. Abdiel Do you tend to use potent power combos yourself or do you try and focus on taking powers that best represent the characters themselves? (not that those options HAVE to be mutually exclusive, but...) Landon I just take whatever seems to fit the character best. Sometimes that does involve some sort of combo, but its a side effect of making the character the way I want it rather than me saying "hey, that's a cool combo, I'm gonna make a character based around it." Again, I just find that dull. Abdiel Which creators, in your opinion, are poised to have breakthrough characters sweep through the UCs to the Main Event soon? As the first true FPL vet, who's caught your eye recently? Landon Ren's my top pick. He's been getting some bad draws in the Undercards as of late, but no one's impressed me the way he has since... hell... probably since you arrived Abby. Heehee. I don't think his style is meshing with a lot of the current FPLers, especially with the hubbub over his latest one, Matilda Branson and previously with The Contortionist, but again that goes back to the luck issue. Were it another time he'd be blazing up the UCs. But the FPL goes in cycles, and I'm sure sometime in the near future the FPL'll be more receptive to his sort of characters, but I think he'll hit the ME before then none the less. Abdiel As one of the FPL's earliest, most frequent, and most diligent Admins, you've been responsible for organizing many many official and unofficial special Events, such as the CoC and the Student Collabs, and most recently the upcoming Heart of Dios collab. To your mind, what are the IC and OOC elements needed for these kinds of tourneys to be a success? Landon Well... so far we've yet to have one that I'd really consider a success... but that's mainly because we've had things like the FPL closing or personal matters get in the way. In all honesty, it just takes a good solid concept people are willing to go along with that allows for some leeway and personal touches and the luck that nothing happens to keep it from falling apart. Abdiel What can we expect from the Heart of Dios collab - will there be any surprises? What are your goals for the Tourney, if any? Landon You can probably expect it to fall apart... heeheehee... but to be honest I got a MUCH bigger response than I expected. I anticipated maybe 3-4 teams total. I got 11. So right now my goal is to just keep it from falling apart since I don't know if my initial plan can work now that I have that many people to contend with. If it goes the full distance I'll be very happy Abdiel What's your opinion of Collaborations between Creators? What's required to make it work? Happening too often? Not enough? Any favorite Collab or collab characters come to mind? Any favorite dual creator characters? Landon Well... since I was a part of what's considered to be the most infamous collab, at least among the older players, the whole Guardian bit from a couple of years back, I'm all for collabs. The main requirements, in my opinion, are 1) Knowing the styles of the others and knowing you'll mesh with them and 2) Speed. Landon You gotta know the people you're working with fairly well. Chat with them or talk to them on the boards a lot and know their styles. If you don't, you'll just clash and nothing'll get done. And as far as speed... at least from my own experience... if you let it languish too long it'll just fall apart and enthusiasm will disappear. That's what I think made the Guardians successful: we went from initial brainstorm to gallery in under a week. Landon You get all those creative juices flowing and you don't let them stop. If you let them stop, then you've just lost that momentum and it won't be as good as it could have been Abdiel Will we ever see another iteration of the COMING? what about them has spawned so much interest and so many spin offs? Poe HIIISSS!! Evil elitist vote mongering collaboration! Poe runs and hides Abdiel no hiding for you, Perverted One. Landon If there's ever another major installment of the COMING, it'll most likely be the last. I HOPE it’s the last, since I don't think I can remake Landon and still keep him even remotely original too many more times. As for their popularity... you got me. It was just a silly idea ThreeDark came up with way back when to make characters based off of ourselves. Just another silly collab to keep us from getting too bored. Landon For some god forsaken reason it caught on, but for the wrong reasons I think. It was meant to be a way for us to make fun of ourselves, 'cause we're the kind of people that do that. Most of the other SIs to appear... eh... just don't have that same spirit to them. They seem more like "traditional" Self Inserts, the whole "I'm gonna make myself badass and win the story" sort of characters... and that just sorta ruins the fun I think. Poe *cough* all of Threedark's Josh Stone incarnations... Abdiel ooh, he's gonna get you for that one, Poe, heh Poe bah Abdiel without the COMING, do you think the OTHERS and similar characters would've existed? Landon Well... Self Inserts would exist in the FPL for sure. The COMING weren't even the first. Eric, Macho Man's creator, did it first and was actually the inspiration for the COMING. I just think there wouldn't be silly ALL CAPITAL LETTER names for the groups or even groups at all for such characters. Abdiel what do you think of the current situation we have where there are two (some would say three) chat rooms for the FPL? Is #fplnewplayer needed/useful? Landon I just see it as another room for people to go into that actually has rules for people to follow. People can go in there and not worry about getting harassed and can avoid certain subject matter they'd rather not listen to. #FPL is more of a social room for people in the FPL and people loosely associated with it, and in many ways it’s just intimidating for certain people to come into it. New player just gives them a little breathing space so they can get more involved in the FPL. Landon I just know that if I were a new player and I came into #FPL during one of the all too often sex discussions or what not I'd probably up and quit the place. I guess I've just gotten used to it and I ignore it now. Heehee (Editors Note: #fpl is not a cybersex channel, just bawdy sometimes. Landon's a prude ;) Poe it's the filthy worn out old French whore to #fplnewplayers's polite happy friendly virgin Poe =D Abdiel Thankfully the vets vs. newbies tide seems to be waning. What do you think causes problems like we've had in the past with things like that? What can both sides do to not exacerbate the problem? Landon I just think its a few select jerks on each side that start it up, then people start choosing sides after that. Some vet gripes at a newbie, a newbie cusses him out, everyone then feels obligated to back up one or the other then all hell breaks loose. Just your average stupidity you'll find anywhere else except we have a name for it. Abdiel Do you think, currently, the FPL is "better" than it was at its inception and in the past, or "worse"? Give us your "State of the FPL" address. =) Landon The FPL right now, in one word, "BLAH." We're leaving behind the more tense moments of recent history, getting back into the usual flow, and we're just waiting for the next big thing to happen. Things are showing promise, like Pie's Marauders and new Super Hero stories, Graves' project I mentioned earlier, and a few other things on the horizon. What that next big thing'll be exactly, though, is still up in the air. Guess we'll just wait and see. Abdiel Well said. Abdiel A lot of creators, especially newer ones, seem to have this vaunted image of you and your creations as awe-inspiring powerhouses 100% of the time. In fact, you've had just as much trouble with a good number of your characters, "success"-wise as any of us, if I'm not mistaken. If you don't mind, could you provide a few examples to silence the doubters? Poe bah... there are none! Poe sorry, got bored Abdiel Poe = doubter Landon My first two characters, Boeing and La Morte Kawaii, went 1-2. One was a girl that could fly really, REALLY fast and could cut through people just by ramming into them. The other was basically a pop singer who goes mad after she's raped by a rabid fan and goes on a killing spree. Guess you could call her the FPL's first real "controversial" character. I even apologized to people for creating her back then. Abdiel *coughPERFECTBLUEcough* (if it was out then) =) Landon I've had my fair share of such characters since then. Dawn of the Dead... Haruko Kakita (who was written entirely in haiku, no surprise she bombed)... and most recently Wanderlust Kate, who had one of the most annoying, and deliberately so, accents in the FPL. And yeah... she was SO perfect blue, just with more death. Even used a pic of the chick from that anime, albeit it had yet to get released state-side at the time. Abdiel If you could change one thing about the FPL and/or the way it operates, what would it be? Landon Other than my having absolute power over who could create and who couldn't and ruling over everything with an iron fist? I'd probably say bring back the 2-1 fatality margin and the 2 losses and you're out policy. One word: DEATH! Abdiel hehe Abdiel In your long storied career in the FPL, do you have any regrets? Any matches you wish you could have over, or characters you wish you never made, etc? Any matches you wish had taken place? Landon I regret not finishing The Crusade when I could have. I intended to only take a 1 month break back when I halted writing it in early 2000. Two attempted re-writes and a lot of frustration later and it’s the end of 2002 and it’s still not done. Abdiel If you could bring one long gone, old-time vet back and make him/her active again, or just have a good, long, conversation with the individual to catch up, who would it be? Landon Without a doubt I'd bring back Chris, the creator of the Shallow Guild. Easily the most underappreciated creator ever in the FPL and would rank in my personal top 10 creators. It’s a shame that bane called real life consumed him. Abdiel Do you see yourself still creating for the FPL two years from now? If so, how is the place different? How are you different? Landon I don't know... I've been in a big slump this year. My creation rate's dropping and nothing I've written save for Seryph has been really satisfying for me as of late, and the whole Vote Mongering issue that took place while Seryph was in ruined his stint for me as well. So if this keeps up I don't know if I'll be creating 2 years from now. I'll likely still be around; I just don't know how many more characters I have in me. Abdiel We'll have to do our best to keep you interested, heh. Landon And I really haven't changed too much, other than the fact that before the FPL I exclusively wrote poetry, and now I couldn't write a poem if I tried. Heehee... I've lost my snooty artsy writer edge. Heeheehee... Abdiel There are a few who can genuinely say that this place, the FPL, has changed their lives. Would you count yourself among them, and if so, how? Landon Not really. I've made some good friends here, as good of friends you can be with people you've met solely over the net, or talked to for a few minutes at a convention like I did with Dragoon, Graves, and Kane, but for me that just means I have more people to talk to and hang out with. Things are pretty much the same for me. I will say that the FPL and the people around here are the only reason why I'm still on the net. Otherwise I'd just be doing other stuff. Abdiel Okay, time for the "best book/series/movie/entertainment form you aren't experiencing" question. What do we need to get our eyes and or hands on, ASAP? Poe hands Landon a wad of cash and whispers "Plug my book." Landon If you own a PS2 and don't go into convulsions when exposed to Mickey Mouse and company, you SO need to buy Kingdom Hearts. It’s THE game to get this year. Poe goes into convulsions at the mention of Mickey mouse Landon As for what anime I'm currently collecting and enjoying... Great Teacher Onizuka, Princess Nine, Excel Saga, Hellsing, X, and the Lupin III movies. And throw in Revolutionary Girl Utena once it starts coming out next month. Abdiel Any more quick and tasty recipes for us, Mr. Iron Chef? =) Landon Nothing of my own, but if you like cooking shows and aren't already a loyal worshiper of him as I am, you MUST watch The Naked Chef, aka Jamie Oliver, on Food Network. A real fun, no frills, easy to follow cooking show, that is if you aren't like my mom and can't understand British accents. Even if you don't watch cooking shows, check it out anyway or I'll start GSing your characters. MrGraves Naked Chef? Umm... Poe Poe yeah, what Gravy said. Landon He ain't naked, the show's just called that 'cause he throws out all the unneeded parts you see in a lot of other cooking shows. It’s a really bad joke basically. MrGraves heh Poe bah... he'd probably get better ratings if he was naked... or at least it'd be fun watching him burn himself trying to fry something... Abdiel WHAT. Is your name? Landon Chad Landon Smith... Abdiel WHAT. Is your Quest? Landon To find the Slacking Grail.... Abdiel WHAT. Is your favorite color? Landon Oh no... I'm not falling for that one. No way. Nu uh. Too late for me to die. No dying in this interview. MrGraves pokes Landon Landon dies Landon Graves wins MrGraves Yay Abdiel looks up at Hexx with watery eyes Abdiel where do Little kittens go when they die? Landon They go to kitty heaven where they get to torment dogs and kids that kick cats all day long. Abdiel so... Raven, Milo, or K? Landon Oh, they go to hell and BURN! Abdiel Où sont les Neiges d'antan? Landon also wishes it wasn't 5:30 in the morning. The French side of his brain is already asleep Abdiel "Where are the snows of yesteryear?" Poe Poe they're water vapor Abdiel If you could kill any one person and get away scot free, who would it be, if anyone? Landon No one, 'cause I'd guilt trip myself to death and make me doubly guilty. Heehee. Abdiel Do you have a hero? Landon I have three heroes: James Bond, Han Solo, and Indiana Jones. I always wanted to be them, still do. Heehee... never was one to idolize real people. Abdiel Who wrote the Book of Love? Landon Probably Stephen King. It’s why I consider women a subject to be feared. Heeheehee... Abdiel And finally, anything you want to say to the FPL in general while you have the mic? Landon Yeah... Play nice, don't be jerks. Be happy happy. Abdiel Thanks for sticking with us and providing us with an excellent view into the mind of perhaps the FPL's greatest creator. Look forward to seeing more from you (and working with you) in the future, Chad. Previous Rants |
