You also forgot the opposite end of the spectrum where the townpeople are somewhat responsible for their own troubles. Beauty, Beast, and Mr. Toad troubles are caused by their irresponsible spending. And how the townpeople's distrust distrust(even though it was somewhat justifed) hindered Bigsby from investigating at multiple points.
That being said, this was a well written rant.
You're 100% right, I agree. I did consider writing a bit about that aspect of it but I didn't wanna distract too much from my main point, so it's great that you brought it up. At it's core Fabletown is just a bunch of flawed people trying to make the best out of a bad situation, the government and its citizens both.
And thanks, i'm glad you liked it!
I love it when the moral of the story is that there isn’t always a convenient “big bad” and that you have to actually *work* to make things better. The status quo should not be seen as the default good option
Sadly too many writers talk a big game about major issues but fail to put their money where their mouth is. I’ve only seen a few do it well
I really, REALLY wish there wasn’t always a convenient big bad whose demise would immediately make the world perfect. This is one thing I love about the greater Berserk universe (also MAJOR spoilers:) >!in Berserk’s lost chapter 83, it’s revealed that the prime source behind the Godhand and their apostles is an entity known as the idea of evil. The idea is unique because it was formed out of humanity’s subconscious desire for a reason or being responsible for the suffering and absurdities of life. There’s a big bad in the series because the entirety of humanity demanded that there be one; in short, the big bad villain of Berserk is humanity itself.!<
> In facing off against him as Bigby, you're effectively having a mirror held up to you and the government you're working for. He's a reflection of the flaws of the system, showing how your neglect and ignorance have allowed the wound that is the crooked man to fester, growing more and more powerful
Daaaaaaamn, I never thought of it that way.
I think Bloody Mary is. Crooked Man is a reflection of Snow/govs office in that he gets around the beaurocracy to make things happen but does so in typically illegal ways. She’s pure as driven snow and he’s crooked as a man can be.
Bloody Mary is the right hand muscle that keeps things in order in their world, she’s incredibly strong with an additional form too.
In fairness you could still view Bloody Mary as a mirror character for Bigby, she's a story told to terrify children much like the Big Bad Wolf, but unlike him has remained just as sadistic and evil as ever while he's actually been reformed, so she's like a reflection of who he used to be and what he once was. Plus, they're both essentially the top "enforcers" for their respective groups, Bigby as Fabletown sheriff and Mary as Crooked Man's personal assassin.
Very good review. It's indeed a much more realistic and nuanced take that not all societal issues get presented as being resolved in the end. Since society is complicated and all.
I always found Mr. Toad to be really well written as far as being an asshole who is (seemingly) mostly just an asshole because he's got a boot on his neck 24/7. Though his attitude towards his kid was always portrayed a little too well for me at times, that vitriol is just hard to watch, man.
Yeah, I can understand that. Personally, it didn't really bother me that much because it seems pretty clear he genuinely does love his kid and would never do anything to actually hurt him beyond being a bit of a hard-ass sometimes.
I remember this game, I doubt the sequel will hold up if the expanse game is anything to go by.
You missed a slight point regarding the whole issue of government, and it's the mystery as to why Glamor is getting more expensive and lower quality (As Toad tells you in the first scene of the game). This economic issue is one reasons why the residents have no faith in government.
Bluebeard getting to pass the queue isn't corruption it's literally a trade. Fable town needs money to function and Blue beard being the only with money has a lot of bargaining power. He's probably getting these bad glamour batches too.
Heck one can argue that the crooked man could've used Icabod to worsen the situation in order to expand his influence.
Regarding Greenleaf she ain't no saint. Her "operation" is crooked man taking the only level of control the fable government has over the fable, the access to glamour.
I don't remember much about her glamour quailty or if it has side effects but snow wanting to burn the tree is understandable although a stupid decision.
The crooked man basically needs to sell the product cheaper than the fable government, thus bringing in the rest of fable town, who doesn't have vices to exploit, under his thumb.
Crooked man's death freed a lot of ppl free from debts not their vices that got them into trouble in the first place.
That's if the sequel even ends up coming out lol. Times are tough for us wolf-heads.
Yeah, good point, I could've elaborated more on the specifics of that.
Eh, I understand where you're coming from, but at the same time, I disagree. The fact that the government is pretty much owned by one wealthy man is a pretty major sign of corruption, the fact that they serve his interests first and foremost before the people who actually need help is very concerning. Wealthy people using their riches to buy the favour of politicians and government officials irl is generally looked upon pretty poorly, although I can see the argument that considering the fables desperate circumstances moral compromises such as that might have to be made.
Oh, I don't doubt that the Crooked Man was using Crane to make people more desperate. But based on what we see it seems most likely he already had a pretty sizeable empire even before he started blackmailing Crane.
Greenleaf absolutely isn't a saint, you're right. Her glamour itself doesn't really have any major side effects other than being generally lower quality than the official witches, but the fact that she's using it to disguise prostitutes as other people without their knowledge is definitely creepy and unethical. It's understandable why Snow would want to destroy the tree, she's right to be upset, but she's definitely wrong to try and disguise it as being for the sake of the law when she has no legal basis under the laws of Fabletown to prosecute Greenleaf.
You're entirely right about their vices though, Beauty and Beast did pretty much bring it upon themselves (I honestly think they're pretty well-written characters in that regard though)
>It's understandable why Snow would want to destroy the tree, she's right to be upset, but she's definitely wrong to try and disguise it as being for the sake of the law when she has no legal basis under the laws of Fabletown to prosecute Greenleaf.
Nah Snow has a case, Greenleaf helped the crooked man in his operations and hid info on crane (Harbouring a fugitive) when snow & Bigby asked.
I believe she is more loyale to the crooked man cause of the whole tree thing + income it gets her and less afraid of the consequences of betraying him. In the final chapter after crooked man is brought in cuffs and Mary is dead she still goes to bat for the crooked man.
You could definitely charge her on aiding and abetting a criminal I suppose but on the matter of the tree, Bufkin points out that making homebrew glamours isn't actually against the law, neither is using them to disguise as other people. I could see the argument that Snow was right to burn the tree, or at least has an understandable reason to want to, but in terms of the "law and order" rhetoric she's spouting to justify it she really has no basis.
>Bufkin points out that making homebrew glamours isn't actually against the law, neither is using them to disguise as other people
🤔 Honestly this seem like a legal problem the fable govt didn't see coming like A.I laws in irl.
Aunt knowing helped with the prostitution scheme and all the sales of her product is done through the crooked man.
Yeah, that's a fair point, I can definitely agree that it probably shouldn't be allowed by law, the disguising at least. Still, Snow in the moment doesn't really have the right to just make up laws as she pleases because she's upset.
Make up punishments you mean. I agree that tree burning is dumb, because you are closing an avenue of glamour supply that could help the issue that govt is already facing. Bigby not burning the tree and giving Greenleaf a job is the smart play, similar to how hackers are offered security positions in companies they hack into (broadly speaking).
I believe right after the interrogation scene at the beginning of episode 2, when Snow's revealed to be alive. When they're discussing the body they found that looks like Snow, he points out that it's not technically illegal to make homebrew glamours like that.
I think you touched on an important thing a lot of stories intended as lose to direct allegories/metaphors kind of fail at: systemic injustice.
I think many people are deeply uncomfortable with the reality that individuals, even the rich, powerful and influential, are one arm of complex, obtuse systems. And even those who aren't, well, it's not exactly the easiest thing to write into your story. "Heros slays dragon, day is saved" is a very narrative satisfying structure, but kind of doesn't work without some massaging when it comes to stories where the central antagonist is really the machine itself. Typically, you have to find a way to frame some kind of central climax around a more interpersonal/intrapersonal victory/comclusion for the protagonist that plays into the thematic relavence of the systemic injustice instead, and this can be done in varying degrees of successful ways.
Harry Potter's a pretty notorious example. The conclusion of Harry killing Voldamort is intrapersonally satisfying for Harry's struggle with grief and the loss of his loved ones, interpersonally satisfying as it's a victory over the man most directly to blame for that suffering, but systemically only superficially a victory since not enough is done to bring resolution to anti-muggle bigotry. Made worse in text by the fact that canonically one of the central problems is that this victory over intolerance and extremism was prematurely celebrated before. Nothing is done about Slytherin house or the pureblood supremacist movement independent of Voldemort, or the fact that the wizarding community all but drove the nonhuman magical community into Voldamort's arms. Nothing can be realistically done by just Harry alone, but it isn't even given any acknowledgment this is even an issue. Harry killed snake man, racism over. Made worse with how fundamentally incurious the book is with what drives the Wizarding community into harboring such rampant anti-muggle sentiment beyond, interestingly enough, in the personal tragedy of Dumbledore. Even then, the narrative gives way too much weight to the personal agency of "bad actors" like Tom Riddle, who's just a natural born psychopath with a cult of personality. This is one of the ways the books failed to bridge the gap between their more child friendly beginning and later more adult tone. And, to be fair, I though this has always been a problem with the books, people have been much less charitable about this being an honest oversight and not a deliberate choice on Rowling's part since it became clear how aggressively libertarian she is--- but that does significantly taint the books' conclusion.
Compare this with The Boys TV. Homelander's the narrative focalpoint of the series antagonism towards the powers that be, but the series goes out of it's way to demonstrate he's a victim of the system too. Vought as an absolute eldrich horror of a behemoth cooperation is bigger than him, than Stan Edgar, than Dr. Vogelbaum, than Victoria. Infact, the only reason why Homelander survived season 3 is because Butcher and Maeve put aside their personal war path of vengeance against Homelander specifically to stop Soldire Boy from causing more bystanders caught in the crossfire of the fucked up system from suffering. A lot of people didn't seem to even get that season's whole theme was about taking the L when it comes to your own personal ego. A lot of people are indirectly victimized by both Harry and Voldemort's actions in the Wizarding War, and the narrative doesn't even really entertain the idea to some degree Harry could have some personal responsibility with that. Which, to be fair, he's a minor--- just the point is, that element of the social dynamics of the narrative didn't even cross Rowling's mind in contrast.
What the Wolf Amoung Us really gets right, as you pointed out, is that though the narrative is framed through individual actions as that's how we experience life--- the problems with Fabletown are exponentially bigger than Bigbe and what change he can effect. But based on the players actions, he comes to a satisfying conclusion as to what he wants to do about being an individual in this system himself.
This is a great comment, honestly, I 100% agree with you. Especially about Homelander, I think he's a fantastic villain and the fact that he's just as much a victim of Vought as anyone else is a major part of that.
The conclusion is kind of nonsensical tho. The Crooked man almost got away with the so called murders of the 2 girls, but people forget he willingly attempted to murder Bigby, fucking sheriff Fable fucking town, thrice. This makes no sense. Just throw him for that.
You're right that they do kinda gloss over that, but I wouldn't say that it doesn't make sense in-universe. I can absolutely see the people of Fabletown overlooking that whole aspect since Bigby didn't actually die in the end and Bigby getting his shit kicked in is pretty much just every Tuesday in Fabletown lol.
I think they do try him on those charges and his off-handed defence is just that it was "a misunderstanding". It would be interesting to see him actually make a more in depth defence for his actions in that case, I imagine it'd probably be something like, "oh, I didn't order Bigby killed, I merely wanted to save Crane, an innocent man, from false imprisonment! Bigby got violent with us and we were forced to defend ourselves."
I mean the difference is he very much had the ability to kill him on a serious battle, where getting a bit thrown around by Woody in human form isn’t that big of a deal.
But it’s clearly never a misunderstanding. It’s such a bad defence considering the massive amount of evidence he has. The plot makes a lot more sense if Crooked never made actual direct or indirect violent threats against him, but the game probably needed a quota for action scenes to fit the usual tone of the universe.
The dichotomy between the elegant political worldbuilding and social commentary in Wolf Among Us and something like Attack on Titan is hilarious. Which one is heavily dickriden into oblivion while being the most one dimensional thing ever, and which one is actually intriguing while being stuck as a hidden gem that only cultured people will ever partake in enjoying?
>while being stuck as a hidden gem that only cultured people will ever partake in enjoying
Must you turn any conversation about art into a dick size bragging session?
That's a fair take. Honestly, I'm a fan of Attack on Titan as well so I might be biased, but I honestly think in terms of worldbuilding the first three seasons were pretty good. It's only when they expanded the scope of the story from one island to the entire world and gave it a literal fraction of the time to breathe did it end up feeling underdeveloped, although I did still enjoy the less large-scale character writing.
For full and fair disclosure, I'm an AOT fan, but I feel like there needs to be some nuance. Because of the ending falling flat, people have revised history to say AOT was never good. Even if you write of all of season 4 as bad, I still believe the first 3 seasons are by no means one dimensional?
If you do fully feel like it was flat from start to finish though, I'm very curious as to why.
What you're describing is just allowing the world to be deeply flawed beyond the villain. The commentary aspect is there, but only in that capacity (and the capacity of the depicted problems being bad).
I vaguely remember this game but did it even feature any regular humans? Or were ALL the character from the fantasy world?
From the game's standalone perspective, it doesn't feel like it even needed to be about fable characters in exile on Earth. Fables living in New York could've simply been the natural status quo of this fictional world. Sort of like Zootopia or Cars.
It's sort of like writing a story about some war refugees moving to USA but they NEVER interact with American citizens.
I'm not sure what sort of role regular humans play in the original comics.
An important part of the world building is how the fables miss their previous lives, how people like Beauty and the Beast went from living in a castle to barely getting by in a shitty apartment, besides things like Glamour wouldn't make sense if the Fables were just public knowledge if they were always just there, so the fact that these fables were originally all like the ones we all know is important to several plot points.
There's a few normal humans but yeah, most are just fairytale characters. I can see your point, but at the same time a major part of the story is these characters trying to adjust from living in an idealistic, fairytale land to this gritty, real-life city. They might not interact that much with regular humans but the real struggle is them trying to adapt to this whole new society that's a lot more mundane than magical.
Honestly I have not read the comics yet (although I fully intend to sometime soon) so I couldn't say with full certainty what role they play, but from what I hear the story does still focus mainly on the fairytale characters than anything.
>They might not interact that much with regular humans but the real struggle is them trying to adapt to this whole new society that's a lot more mundane than magical.
This... doesn't sound quite right. :P
Because if they don't even interact with "normies..." the whole "blending in" thing doesn't seem all that important.
They just live in an area of NYC that keeps away from humans. Human cop Detective Brannigan was originally meant to play a larger part in the story, but all of that was cut so now she arrests Bigby, gets mindwiped and then is never mentioned again.
So the things they know at the beginning of the story: An evil emperor hellbent on conquering the entire multiverse has slowly taken over all of the fable worlds. Invading, conquering and killing anyone who resists and anyone whos too dangerous.
What gets revealed: >!It was basically an accident, Geppetto, Pinnochios father, was asked to make a puppet ruler for his kingdom by various nobles since their king was the stereotypical bad one. He did and things got better for nearly everyone, other kingdoms started asking for the same thing and over time he realized that he could govern more effectively if more brutally then others. He made a fake evil emperor who allied with his puppet kings to try to remove all strife and conflict in the world by force. Geppetto is interesting in that while supremely evil and knowing that by embodying certain aspects, still thinks that he is better then anyone else and from his pov its hard to see why not. He is cruel but his armies generally just collect taxes and clamp down on civil strife, the big issue is that hes trampling over other nations to do this and doesnt care who he tramples. !<
The Adversery/Conqueror. Literally.
It happen centuries ago but within the magical realms, someone literally just popped up and started taking over worlds systematically one by one, through conquest of any form (political and warfare). It was a brutal campaign that forced loads of other out of their homes and lands. A good half of the character in FableTown are actually veterans of the wars that fought against the Conqueror and it took a till on all of them.
One of the only reasons why they been hidden for as long as they have (and they aren't, not really) is because both sides sort of realize the importance of the world FableTown is inhibiting (our world) as a metaphysical cross-roads of all their worlds and both sides leverage that precarious situation as defense against the other. The Conqueror isn't moving on them because he has other worlds he has to Conqueror and solidify while also being weary of attacking the origin of all world. FableTown uses the fact that this is the origin point of all worlds as a threat against the Conqueror as way to keep him off them for the time being, with the threat entailing revealing themselves to 'Mundy' world and having that be the catalyst for the new conquest of worlds (with panels joking about how Americans would sign up in the army by the droves just to be able to take/liberate land and such to be named literal lords and regents by their new allies).
Now if I wasn't on my phone, I could put the spoiler tag to give you some more info about but I don't trust my phone skills enough to not screw it up. As minor spoiler/hint: it's a pretty unassuming character behind it all.
You also forgot the opposite end of the spectrum where the townpeople are somewhat responsible for their own troubles. Beauty, Beast, and Mr. Toad troubles are caused by their irresponsible spending. And how the townpeople's distrust distrust(even though it was somewhat justifed) hindered Bigsby from investigating at multiple points. That being said, this was a well written rant.
You're 100% right, I agree. I did consider writing a bit about that aspect of it but I didn't wanna distract too much from my main point, so it's great that you brought it up. At it's core Fabletown is just a bunch of flawed people trying to make the best out of a bad situation, the government and its citizens both. And thanks, i'm glad you liked it!
Very good rant! I need to replay this game.
Thank you! It is a genuinely great game IMO, among the best Telltale games for sure.
I love it when the moral of the story is that there isn’t always a convenient “big bad” and that you have to actually *work* to make things better. The status quo should not be seen as the default good option Sadly too many writers talk a big game about major issues but fail to put their money where their mouth is. I’ve only seen a few do it well
I really, REALLY wish there wasn’t always a convenient big bad whose demise would immediately make the world perfect. This is one thing I love about the greater Berserk universe (also MAJOR spoilers:) >!in Berserk’s lost chapter 83, it’s revealed that the prime source behind the Godhand and their apostles is an entity known as the idea of evil. The idea is unique because it was formed out of humanity’s subconscious desire for a reason or being responsible for the suffering and absurdities of life. There’s a big bad in the series because the entirety of humanity demanded that there be one; in short, the big bad villain of Berserk is humanity itself.!<
> In facing off against him as Bigby, you're effectively having a mirror held up to you and the government you're working for. He's a reflection of the flaws of the system, showing how your neglect and ignorance have allowed the wound that is the crooked man to fester, growing more and more powerful Daaaaaaamn, I never thought of it that way.
There’s a literal mirror monster that gets summoned by saying their name in the mirror 3 times but somehow that’s not bigby’s mirror character
I think Bloody Mary is. Crooked Man is a reflection of Snow/govs office in that he gets around the beaurocracy to make things happen but does so in typically illegal ways. She’s pure as driven snow and he’s crooked as a man can be. Bloody Mary is the right hand muscle that keeps things in order in their world, she’s incredibly strong with an additional form too.
Beetlejuice?
Bloody mary
In fairness you could still view Bloody Mary as a mirror character for Bigby, she's a story told to terrify children much like the Big Bad Wolf, but unlike him has remained just as sadistic and evil as ever while he's actually been reformed, so she's like a reflection of who he used to be and what he once was. Plus, they're both essentially the top "enforcers" for their respective groups, Bigby as Fabletown sheriff and Mary as Crooked Man's personal assassin.
Very good review. It's indeed a much more realistic and nuanced take that not all societal issues get presented as being resolved in the end. Since society is complicated and all.
The wolf WHAT?
sus
#AGHHHHH
I always found Mr. Toad to be really well written as far as being an asshole who is (seemingly) mostly just an asshole because he's got a boot on his neck 24/7. Though his attitude towards his kid was always portrayed a little too well for me at times, that vitriol is just hard to watch, man.
Yeah, I can understand that. Personally, it didn't really bother me that much because it seems pretty clear he genuinely does love his kid and would never do anything to actually hurt him beyond being a bit of a hard-ass sometimes.
I remember this game, I doubt the sequel will hold up if the expanse game is anything to go by. You missed a slight point regarding the whole issue of government, and it's the mystery as to why Glamor is getting more expensive and lower quality (As Toad tells you in the first scene of the game). This economic issue is one reasons why the residents have no faith in government. Bluebeard getting to pass the queue isn't corruption it's literally a trade. Fable town needs money to function and Blue beard being the only with money has a lot of bargaining power. He's probably getting these bad glamour batches too. Heck one can argue that the crooked man could've used Icabod to worsen the situation in order to expand his influence. Regarding Greenleaf she ain't no saint. Her "operation" is crooked man taking the only level of control the fable government has over the fable, the access to glamour. I don't remember much about her glamour quailty or if it has side effects but snow wanting to burn the tree is understandable although a stupid decision. The crooked man basically needs to sell the product cheaper than the fable government, thus bringing in the rest of fable town, who doesn't have vices to exploit, under his thumb. Crooked man's death freed a lot of ppl free from debts not their vices that got them into trouble in the first place.
That's if the sequel even ends up coming out lol. Times are tough for us wolf-heads. Yeah, good point, I could've elaborated more on the specifics of that. Eh, I understand where you're coming from, but at the same time, I disagree. The fact that the government is pretty much owned by one wealthy man is a pretty major sign of corruption, the fact that they serve his interests first and foremost before the people who actually need help is very concerning. Wealthy people using their riches to buy the favour of politicians and government officials irl is generally looked upon pretty poorly, although I can see the argument that considering the fables desperate circumstances moral compromises such as that might have to be made. Oh, I don't doubt that the Crooked Man was using Crane to make people more desperate. But based on what we see it seems most likely he already had a pretty sizeable empire even before he started blackmailing Crane. Greenleaf absolutely isn't a saint, you're right. Her glamour itself doesn't really have any major side effects other than being generally lower quality than the official witches, but the fact that she's using it to disguise prostitutes as other people without their knowledge is definitely creepy and unethical. It's understandable why Snow would want to destroy the tree, she's right to be upset, but she's definitely wrong to try and disguise it as being for the sake of the law when she has no legal basis under the laws of Fabletown to prosecute Greenleaf. You're entirely right about their vices though, Beauty and Beast did pretty much bring it upon themselves (I honestly think they're pretty well-written characters in that regard though)
>It's understandable why Snow would want to destroy the tree, she's right to be upset, but she's definitely wrong to try and disguise it as being for the sake of the law when she has no legal basis under the laws of Fabletown to prosecute Greenleaf. Nah Snow has a case, Greenleaf helped the crooked man in his operations and hid info on crane (Harbouring a fugitive) when snow & Bigby asked. I believe she is more loyale to the crooked man cause of the whole tree thing + income it gets her and less afraid of the consequences of betraying him. In the final chapter after crooked man is brought in cuffs and Mary is dead she still goes to bat for the crooked man.
You could definitely charge her on aiding and abetting a criminal I suppose but on the matter of the tree, Bufkin points out that making homebrew glamours isn't actually against the law, neither is using them to disguise as other people. I could see the argument that Snow was right to burn the tree, or at least has an understandable reason to want to, but in terms of the "law and order" rhetoric she's spouting to justify it she really has no basis.
>Bufkin points out that making homebrew glamours isn't actually against the law, neither is using them to disguise as other people 🤔 Honestly this seem like a legal problem the fable govt didn't see coming like A.I laws in irl. Aunt knowing helped with the prostitution scheme and all the sales of her product is done through the crooked man.
Yeah, that's a fair point, I can definitely agree that it probably shouldn't be allowed by law, the disguising at least. Still, Snow in the moment doesn't really have the right to just make up laws as she pleases because she's upset.
Make up punishments you mean. I agree that tree burning is dumb, because you are closing an avenue of glamour supply that could help the issue that govt is already facing. Bigby not burning the tree and giving Greenleaf a job is the smart play, similar to how hackers are offered security positions in companies they hack into (broadly speaking).
Where Does bufkin point this out?
I believe right after the interrogation scene at the beginning of episode 2, when Snow's revealed to be alive. When they're discussing the body they found that looks like Snow, he points out that it's not technically illegal to make homebrew glamours like that.
>The Wolf Among Us mentioned W
I think you touched on an important thing a lot of stories intended as lose to direct allegories/metaphors kind of fail at: systemic injustice. I think many people are deeply uncomfortable with the reality that individuals, even the rich, powerful and influential, are one arm of complex, obtuse systems. And even those who aren't, well, it's not exactly the easiest thing to write into your story. "Heros slays dragon, day is saved" is a very narrative satisfying structure, but kind of doesn't work without some massaging when it comes to stories where the central antagonist is really the machine itself. Typically, you have to find a way to frame some kind of central climax around a more interpersonal/intrapersonal victory/comclusion for the protagonist that plays into the thematic relavence of the systemic injustice instead, and this can be done in varying degrees of successful ways. Harry Potter's a pretty notorious example. The conclusion of Harry killing Voldamort is intrapersonally satisfying for Harry's struggle with grief and the loss of his loved ones, interpersonally satisfying as it's a victory over the man most directly to blame for that suffering, but systemically only superficially a victory since not enough is done to bring resolution to anti-muggle bigotry. Made worse in text by the fact that canonically one of the central problems is that this victory over intolerance and extremism was prematurely celebrated before. Nothing is done about Slytherin house or the pureblood supremacist movement independent of Voldemort, or the fact that the wizarding community all but drove the nonhuman magical community into Voldamort's arms. Nothing can be realistically done by just Harry alone, but it isn't even given any acknowledgment this is even an issue. Harry killed snake man, racism over. Made worse with how fundamentally incurious the book is with what drives the Wizarding community into harboring such rampant anti-muggle sentiment beyond, interestingly enough, in the personal tragedy of Dumbledore. Even then, the narrative gives way too much weight to the personal agency of "bad actors" like Tom Riddle, who's just a natural born psychopath with a cult of personality. This is one of the ways the books failed to bridge the gap between their more child friendly beginning and later more adult tone. And, to be fair, I though this has always been a problem with the books, people have been much less charitable about this being an honest oversight and not a deliberate choice on Rowling's part since it became clear how aggressively libertarian she is--- but that does significantly taint the books' conclusion. Compare this with The Boys TV. Homelander's the narrative focalpoint of the series antagonism towards the powers that be, but the series goes out of it's way to demonstrate he's a victim of the system too. Vought as an absolute eldrich horror of a behemoth cooperation is bigger than him, than Stan Edgar, than Dr. Vogelbaum, than Victoria. Infact, the only reason why Homelander survived season 3 is because Butcher and Maeve put aside their personal war path of vengeance against Homelander specifically to stop Soldire Boy from causing more bystanders caught in the crossfire of the fucked up system from suffering. A lot of people didn't seem to even get that season's whole theme was about taking the L when it comes to your own personal ego. A lot of people are indirectly victimized by both Harry and Voldemort's actions in the Wizarding War, and the narrative doesn't even really entertain the idea to some degree Harry could have some personal responsibility with that. Which, to be fair, he's a minor--- just the point is, that element of the social dynamics of the narrative didn't even cross Rowling's mind in contrast. What the Wolf Amoung Us really gets right, as you pointed out, is that though the narrative is framed through individual actions as that's how we experience life--- the problems with Fabletown are exponentially bigger than Bigbe and what change he can effect. But based on the players actions, he comes to a satisfying conclusion as to what he wants to do about being an individual in this system himself.
This is a great comment, honestly, I 100% agree with you. Especially about Homelander, I think he's a fantastic villain and the fact that he's just as much a victim of Vought as anyone else is a major part of that.
The conclusion is kind of nonsensical tho. The Crooked man almost got away with the so called murders of the 2 girls, but people forget he willingly attempted to murder Bigby, fucking sheriff Fable fucking town, thrice. This makes no sense. Just throw him for that.
You're right that they do kinda gloss over that, but I wouldn't say that it doesn't make sense in-universe. I can absolutely see the people of Fabletown overlooking that whole aspect since Bigby didn't actually die in the end and Bigby getting his shit kicked in is pretty much just every Tuesday in Fabletown lol. I think they do try him on those charges and his off-handed defence is just that it was "a misunderstanding". It would be interesting to see him actually make a more in depth defence for his actions in that case, I imagine it'd probably be something like, "oh, I didn't order Bigby killed, I merely wanted to save Crane, an innocent man, from false imprisonment! Bigby got violent with us and we were forced to defend ourselves."
I mean the difference is he very much had the ability to kill him on a serious battle, where getting a bit thrown around by Woody in human form isn’t that big of a deal. But it’s clearly never a misunderstanding. It’s such a bad defence considering the massive amount of evidence he has. The plot makes a lot more sense if Crooked never made actual direct or indirect violent threats against him, but the game probably needed a quota for action scenes to fit the usual tone of the universe.
The dichotomy between the elegant political worldbuilding and social commentary in Wolf Among Us and something like Attack on Titan is hilarious. Which one is heavily dickriden into oblivion while being the most one dimensional thing ever, and which one is actually intriguing while being stuck as a hidden gem that only cultured people will ever partake in enjoying?
>while being stuck as a hidden gem that only cultured people will ever partake in enjoying Must you turn any conversation about art into a dick size bragging session?
That's a fair take. Honestly, I'm a fan of Attack on Titan as well so I might be biased, but I honestly think in terms of worldbuilding the first three seasons were pretty good. It's only when they expanded the scope of the story from one island to the entire world and gave it a literal fraction of the time to breathe did it end up feeling underdeveloped, although I did still enjoy the less large-scale character writing.
For full and fair disclosure, I'm an AOT fan, but I feel like there needs to be some nuance. Because of the ending falling flat, people have revised history to say AOT was never good. Even if you write of all of season 4 as bad, I still believe the first 3 seasons are by no means one dimensional? If you do fully feel like it was flat from start to finish though, I'm very curious as to why.
What you're describing is just allowing the world to be deeply flawed beyond the villain. The commentary aspect is there, but only in that capacity (and the capacity of the depicted problems being bad).
I vaguely remember this game but did it even feature any regular humans? Or were ALL the character from the fantasy world? From the game's standalone perspective, it doesn't feel like it even needed to be about fable characters in exile on Earth. Fables living in New York could've simply been the natural status quo of this fictional world. Sort of like Zootopia or Cars. It's sort of like writing a story about some war refugees moving to USA but they NEVER interact with American citizens. I'm not sure what sort of role regular humans play in the original comics.
An important part of the world building is how the fables miss their previous lives, how people like Beauty and the Beast went from living in a castle to barely getting by in a shitty apartment, besides things like Glamour wouldn't make sense if the Fables were just public knowledge if they were always just there, so the fact that these fables were originally all like the ones we all know is important to several plot points.
There's a few normal humans but yeah, most are just fairytale characters. I can see your point, but at the same time a major part of the story is these characters trying to adjust from living in an idealistic, fairytale land to this gritty, real-life city. They might not interact that much with regular humans but the real struggle is them trying to adapt to this whole new society that's a lot more mundane than magical. Honestly I have not read the comics yet (although I fully intend to sometime soon) so I couldn't say with full certainty what role they play, but from what I hear the story does still focus mainly on the fairytale characters than anything.
>They might not interact that much with regular humans but the real struggle is them trying to adapt to this whole new society that's a lot more mundane than magical. This... doesn't sound quite right. :P Because if they don't even interact with "normies..." the whole "blending in" thing doesn't seem all that important.
They just live in an area of NYC that keeps away from humans. Human cop Detective Brannigan was originally meant to play a larger part in the story, but all of that was cut so now she arrests Bigby, gets mindwiped and then is never mentioned again.
I don't know the lore can you tell me what chased them out of the homelands in the first place?
So the things they know at the beginning of the story: An evil emperor hellbent on conquering the entire multiverse has slowly taken over all of the fable worlds. Invading, conquering and killing anyone who resists and anyone whos too dangerous. What gets revealed: >!It was basically an accident, Geppetto, Pinnochios father, was asked to make a puppet ruler for his kingdom by various nobles since their king was the stereotypical bad one. He did and things got better for nearly everyone, other kingdoms started asking for the same thing and over time he realized that he could govern more effectively if more brutally then others. He made a fake evil emperor who allied with his puppet kings to try to remove all strife and conflict in the world by force. Geppetto is interesting in that while supremely evil and knowing that by embodying certain aspects, still thinks that he is better then anyone else and from his pov its hard to see why not. He is cruel but his armies generally just collect taxes and clamp down on civil strife, the big issue is that hes trampling over other nations to do this and doesnt care who he tramples. !<
The Adversery/Conqueror. Literally. It happen centuries ago but within the magical realms, someone literally just popped up and started taking over worlds systematically one by one, through conquest of any form (political and warfare). It was a brutal campaign that forced loads of other out of their homes and lands. A good half of the character in FableTown are actually veterans of the wars that fought against the Conqueror and it took a till on all of them. One of the only reasons why they been hidden for as long as they have (and they aren't, not really) is because both sides sort of realize the importance of the world FableTown is inhibiting (our world) as a metaphysical cross-roads of all their worlds and both sides leverage that precarious situation as defense against the other. The Conqueror isn't moving on them because he has other worlds he has to Conqueror and solidify while also being weary of attacking the origin of all world. FableTown uses the fact that this is the origin point of all worlds as a threat against the Conqueror as way to keep him off them for the time being, with the threat entailing revealing themselves to 'Mundy' world and having that be the catalyst for the new conquest of worlds (with panels joking about how Americans would sign up in the army by the droves just to be able to take/liberate land and such to be named literal lords and regents by their new allies). Now if I wasn't on my phone, I could put the spoiler tag to give you some more info about but I don't trust my phone skills enough to not screw it up. As minor spoiler/hint: it's a pretty unassuming character behind it all.
Among Us
God i cant wait for the sequel. I need to finish the Fables comics too honestly, such a cool series.