A few days ago, my sister (a soon to be UTAU user) and I decided to poke around in the fanfiction side of Vocaloid. We were mainly there to find the good, the bad, and the ugly and see if there weren't a few fics we could favorite. I was surprised; aside from the hundreds of shipping fics, the rest seemed to be of fairly good quality! They were certainly something I would read.
Although, I went a little deeper after that... And found the UTAU/Vocaloid crossover section.
As expected, there was the obligatory "Teto and Miku meet," "Haku falls in love with one of the Vocaloids," "Neru and Rin," ect... VIPPAloid fics were to be expected. And then there were a few fics with your Average Joe UTAU meeting up with one of the Vocaloids.
The comments/reviews section frightened me.
Apparently, according to the UTAU/Vocaloid fans, aside from the Vippers, UTAU and Vocaloid should never meet because it will always devolve into a Mary Sue, OOC fest where the writer lives out their fantasy of meeting their favorite Vocaloid.
Because all UTAUs are glorified self-inserts.
Right.
And believe me, after finding this, I didn't stop at one site. I scoured the internet in search of more tales of the famous characters meeting our own humble little mascots. And everywhere, the story was the same: either the fic was bad or the reactions were bad.
So now that I've ranted on and given this a bit of context, I'd like to know: do you guys think that it's possible to write a "good" UTAU/Vocaloid crossover? And if so, how? Any ideas in particular?
What do you think are some of the better plot points/interactions to include? And some bad ones? What turns you on/off a Vocaloid/UTAU fanfic? What ruins them? Anything you keep in mind when writing them?
Seeing as I started the topic, I'll start with my opinion. Spoilered for space. You can kind of ignore it seeing as I've been jumping in and out while writing this and have kind of lost my train of thought.
Although, I went a little deeper after that... And found the UTAU/Vocaloid crossover section.
As expected, there was the obligatory "Teto and Miku meet," "Haku falls in love with one of the Vocaloids," "Neru and Rin," ect... VIPPAloid fics were to be expected. And then there were a few fics with your Average Joe UTAU meeting up with one of the Vocaloids.
The comments/reviews section frightened me.
Apparently, according to the UTAU/Vocaloid fans, aside from the Vippers, UTAU and Vocaloid should never meet because it will always devolve into a Mary Sue, OOC fest where the writer lives out their fantasy of meeting their favorite Vocaloid.
Because all UTAUs are glorified self-inserts.
Right.
And believe me, after finding this, I didn't stop at one site. I scoured the internet in search of more tales of the famous characters meeting our own humble little mascots. And everywhere, the story was the same: either the fic was bad or the reactions were bad.
So now that I've ranted on and given this a bit of context, I'd like to know: do you guys think that it's possible to write a "good" UTAU/Vocaloid crossover? And if so, how? Any ideas in particular?
What do you think are some of the better plot points/interactions to include? And some bad ones? What turns you on/off a Vocaloid/UTAU fanfic? What ruins them? Anything you keep in mind when writing them?
Seeing as I started the topic, I'll start with my opinion. Spoilered for space. You can kind of ignore it seeing as I've been jumping in and out while writing this and have kind of lost my train of thought.
Keep in mind that I am in no way ordering everyone who wants to write an UTAU/Vocaloid crossover to follow what guidelines/unspoken rules I happen to somehow establish. This is just MioDio ranting. This is merely my opinions and what structure I will follow in the future if I ever end up writing.
[sub][sub][sub]Argh, why do I know that I'm going to come off wrong and offend someone? I'mincrediblysorryinadvanceifIdooffendsomeone.[/sub][/sub][/sub]
Now, I know from looking at all of these crossovers that an UTAU/Vocaloid fic can go downhill very easily and very quickly. It's a slippery slope because UTAUs are essentially original characters, something that's not very well accepted in fan fiction. No matter what, you're bound to do something that upsets someone, whether it's making two characters get too close, making the UTAU do something just a bit too heroic, or even going against someone's ship. But like I said, that's bound to happen and that's not much a problem. Haters gonna hate, am I right?
But keeping this in mind, it does mean however that you do have to be a bit careful when writing a fic. If the characters and interactions aren't believable, people tend to get bored and frustrated. For instance, nobody really wants to read a fic about Miku loosing her voice the day before the concert and calling on her very best friend, Kuroine Kokoro (I apologize if there's an UTAU out there named that) to cover the concert for her. Ms. Kuroine does so, becomes a star, and marries Len. The end. Boring.
Now I feel that there is a way to quote, "properly" write a fiction in order to get the best possible reaction. I've been contemplating this for a while now, wondering what it would be like if the two platforms met. As far, I've come up with a few scenarios that I think might be a bit more accepted than "UTAU A meets up with Vocaloid B and becomes best friends."
Among those scenarios, I've managed to pick out what (for me) tends to make or break these plots.
Various Points MioDio Keeps in Mind when Imagining UTAU/Vocaloid Crossovers:
[/list]
So yes, there sits MioDio's list of things that make her like/dislike a fiction. It's probably missing a lot of points and I doubt it has any sense of flow. I've been writing this over the course of a couple days, popping in when I've had the time.
And just a quick note: been using the Cryptonloids because they seem to be the most popular for this sort of thing.
I hope I didn't offend anyone and that this post has some sort of coherent sense of thought. ovo;;
[sub][sub][sub][sub]And I may or may not be starting this thread because I've contemplated writing one of these fics. Pleasedon'tkillme[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]
[sub][sub][sub]
Now, I know from looking at all of these crossovers that an UTAU/Vocaloid fic can go downhill very easily and very quickly. It's a slippery slope because UTAUs are essentially original characters, something that's not very well accepted in fan fiction. No matter what, you're bound to do something that upsets someone, whether it's making two characters get too close, making the UTAU do something just a bit too heroic, or even going against someone's ship. But like I said, that's bound to happen and that's not much a problem. Haters gonna hate, am I right?
But keeping this in mind, it does mean however that you do have to be a bit careful when writing a fic. If the characters and interactions aren't believable, people tend to get bored and frustrated. For instance, nobody really wants to read a fic about Miku loosing her voice the day before the concert and calling on her very best friend, Kuroine Kokoro (I apologize if there's an UTAU out there named that) to cover the concert for her. Ms. Kuroine does so, becomes a star, and marries Len. The end. Boring.
Now I feel that there is a way to quote, "properly" write a fiction in order to get the best possible reaction. I've been contemplating this for a while now, wondering what it would be like if the two platforms met. As far, I've come up with a few scenarios that I think might be a bit more accepted than "UTAU A meets up with Vocaloid B and becomes best friends."
Among those scenarios, I've managed to pick out what (for me) tends to make or break these plots.
Various Points MioDio Keeps in Mind when Imagining UTAU/Vocaloid Crossovers:
- Go a ways as to introducing the characters. It's a bit flat when either the Vocaloids already know the UTAU or they're introduced in one paragraph and are best friends ever since. I personally like to read the relationship (if any) grow over time. It's incredibly rare for two people to meet and be friends by the end of the day.
- And on the topic of relationship, treat romantic relationships the same way. I know that many people wouldn't want to read about "Oliver saw the most bootiful UTAU ever so he fell in love and theymadebabieskthxbai." Take time to introduce feelings.
- Keep it realistic. When it comes to vocal quality, not all UTAUs can achieve the Vocaloid standard. So when you're writing, know this. This may just be a pet peeve of mine, but if your UTAU has a metallic tinge (as most do. Darn you, resampler), it means that they won't necessarily be serenading the Vocaloids and sending tears down their cheeks. Not to say that you can't have the Vocaloid say, "Oh, you have a nice voice." This may just be a pet peeve of mine, so you can ignore this point for the most part. orz
- Please, for the love of all things UTAU, don't write a Sue fic. No, nobody wants to read about how your UTAU saved the day and was forever loved by the Vocaloids. No, we don't want to know about how your UTAU rose to fame and killed Miku. No, we don't want to know what you'd like to do in bed with Kaito via your UTAU. Just... Think before you write.
- Let me just say, if you make a bit of an AU or take a different interpretation on the software, MioDio will worship your fic. I love it when people stray from the path a little when writing fics. Perhaps instead of actual human singers, the Vocaloids are what they are in real life: computer programs. Maybe you've turned all of the Vocaloids/UTAUs into pocket size USB robots. If you take the universe in a different direction, it makes everything so much more interesting. ;u;
- Consider your UTAUs personality with that of the Vocaloids. I know for a fact that a lot of people pretend that no matter what personality anyone has, UTAU and Vocaloid will be buddy buddy. I know that the Vocaloids don't have much personality to begin with, wich means that you can assign whatever you want to them. Perhaps Rin thinks your UTAU is really annoying because of how spastic they are. Maybe Meiko is suspicious of them. Perhaps Miku wants nothing more than to braid their hair. Forever. Just make these interacctions more interesting than "OH HAI. WANNA SING? OKAEI."
[/list]
So yes, there sits MioDio's list of things that make her like/dislike a fiction. It's probably missing a lot of points and I doubt it has any sense of flow. I've been writing this over the course of a couple days, popping in when I've had the time.
And just a quick note: been using the Cryptonloids because they seem to be the most popular for this sort of thing.
I hope I didn't offend anyone and that this post has some sort of coherent sense of thought. ovo;;
[sub][sub][sub][sub]And I may or may not be starting this thread because I've contemplated writing one of these fics. Pleasedon'tkillme[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]