#there came this false impression that a pilot HAS to be the template for a show

[jonniechill]

okay not to come of as a hater for a second but i'm thinking about this again and kind of want to get the thought out...

is it just me or is the way people discuss pilots online a little... odd? don't get me wrong, it's honestly really cool to see people get so hyped up and invested in something based on the pilot alone, but from how some people discuss them it belies a bit of a misunderstand of what a pilot is supposed to be and do.

a pilot is a proof of concept for something, not the finished product. this is most evident with pilots produced the traditional route, where the final series may be wildly different from the initial pitch (the first one that comes to mind is the gravity falls pilot, although it's still pretty similar to what we did end up getting).

so it's... i'm a little concerned for the inevitable fallout when a popular pilot becomes a series that's different from it's initial pitch, i suppose

#like i really enjoyed the amazing digital circus pilot #and im excited to see how it changes and grows... but it seems like somewhere along the line #there came this false impression that a pilot HAS to be the template for a show #as opposed to the first 'complete' version of what an episode has the POTENTIAL to be #i remember noting a lot of odd discussion too when the lackadaisy pilot dropped... #and again dont get me wrong VERY EXCITING and LOTS to talk about even before the series was funded #but i remember the discussion centering around the pilot in a way that was like... treating it as if it were the finished product #less like a test run and more like a full short film? #idk i just worry someone somewhere will get in a kerfuffle and i hope it doesnt happen #jonnie's thoughts

[mitigatedchaos]

Isekai Iterations (III)

The baseline model isekai “The Man My Grandmother Mistook for a Hamster” has been omitted from this summary file.  Please contact a company representative if it is not included with your fiction template distribution.

The Death of Aliynuur (Novel)

As foretold in the ancient prophecies, the boundaries that separate the laws of the world of Aliynuur from the laws of all other worlds begin to break down as the end of the world draws near.  VRMMO players from multiple Earths are trapped as their characters.  Demon Overlords are summoned from twelve different dimensions, armed with everything from self-replicating undead to steampunk attack helicopters.  Random humans and historical figures are pulled from throughout the timestream.  Alternate universe NSDP Germany declares a local forest folk kingdom to be lebensraum and invades interdimensionally.

What is to be done in the face of such a catastrophe?  Well, if you're Clin Maplok, professional gnome thief, it's time to plan a *heist.*

The total interdimensional clusterfuck has gathered multiple highly-potent, artifact-level magical items to one world, and created an environment of chaos where it will be unclear who stole them.  This presents an excellent opportunity to break in to Aliynuur, steal them all, and break back out again.

Twist: Despite his disguise, Clin Maplok is not a thief-who-is-a-gnome, but a thief-of-gnomes, and all the other artifacts are a distraction from the true object of the heist, which is to steal a very specific gnome.

My Dream (Manga)

There is no 'real world' that an 'isekai protagonist' entered from.  Rather, the demon overlord's genius-yet-distractible deputy chief wizard created a very elaborate worldbuilding scenario for fun and when pressed for a reason as to why, came up with a circuitous plan involving replacing the heroine's memories with false ones in order to make her ineffective.

Long story short, the heroine's memories and surface personality have been replaced with those of a perverted otaku NEET that thinks 'he' is being subjected to an isekai as a result of a failure in a VRMMO.  This causes a confusion where the kingdom believe the heroine to be a fake created by the demon overlord, and eject her - compounded by, shortly thereafter, a permanent change of appearance imposed by the demon overlord's more competent chief wizard.

Only a handful of party members remain with the heroine, and she'll have to work her way back up to defeating the demon overlord and remembering her true self.

Twist: The true genius of the demon overlord's world-building advisor was overlooked by the demon overlord at the beginning of the book - but it isn't about halfway through the main arc, when he realizes that the advisor has provided him with the means to revolutionize war.  It isn't long before others realize this as well.  As a background element, the entire world plunges into brutal industrialized conflict, but somehow sword-wielding adventurers are the ones to win anyway.

If I'm A Mobile Suit Pilot, Something Has Gone Terribly Wrong! (Anime)

An ordinary high school student is struck by a truck and wakes up in a space colony!  So cool!  He's a member of a special test squad of psychic pilots, including a number of enthusiastic and patriotic young women, and he has psychic powers and an impressive giant killer robot all for himself!  

There are only a few, uh, problems.  The first being that he never wanted to pilot a giant robot in the first place, the second being that he never wanted to get into a war.  And the third?  Well, if the anime he'd been watching when the truck plowed through his living room was anything to go by, he's on the *losing side*.

Twist: While never clearly explained one way or the other, it's hinted that his memory of this world as a television show may actually be an artifact of his psychic abilities, and the predictions never seem to line up 100%, diverging farther and farther from the "original" timeline as the series goes on.

Hang 'Em High (TV Show)

An ordinary midwestern high school student is suddenly jumped into the body of his ancestor, a cattle rustler and bank robber out in the old Wild West with a mighty-high price on his head.  Only... there was no such rustler.  In fact, this world behaves as if it were a television western, right down to everyone positioning themselves so as be better visible by the camera - and the other 'characters' insist that he go along with it.  After all, manipulation of the narrative is the key to survival.

But he wants to walk off the set... if only he could figure out how.

Twist: [REDACTED]

#mitigated fiction