New pages posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday - would really like to see a lot of feedback comments for them. Feel free to ask if you have any questions about this piece.
Again, labels will be left blank until the entire sequence has been posted.
Hard to comment based on just the first page, but I'm looking forward to something good, as always, from Blackshirtboy.
ReplyDeleteBased on the title, someone's going to turn into a swan, right? (Ha ha!)
Surprisingly enough, that's not actually the definition of the term "swan song" ;p
DeleteLooks cool but like the first post, tough to say with the first page. But it's always good stuff from BsB. Eagerly awaiting the next pages.
ReplyDeleteI do not mean to bother but I saw you guys talking about "Swan Song" and remember seeing a description online of it a while back. Is this close Thrandrall?
ReplyDeleteShapeshifters are showoffs. Even the insidious infiltrators like to use their abilities to inspire awe and fear. It's no surprise then that dying is no exception. When a shapeshifter bites the dust they have a veritable swan song of shape shifting as they slide through every single shape they've stolen throughout the episode or movie. Much like the life flashing before your eyes thing, may be considered a realistic survival reflex.
It'll also happen if their powers are short circuited, they're critically injured or KO'd. After their swan song they'll settle into their original form and body, often to the surprise of everyone else, especially if said form isn't human. Someone will usually go "This Was His True Form", and look suitably mournful if it was a friend they lost to The Virus. If the purpose of the swan song is to inform the audience who the shapeshifter posed as (and that they were, in fact, a shapeshifter) this becomes a case of Viewers Are Morons.
In shows aimed towards kids or ones where especially Genre Savvy, expect the shapeshifter to possibly survive, thus rendering this trope a bit confusing as the viewer wonders why there's the equivalent of death convulsions going on for a character who will later turn out to be fine.
Example:"Stop it, stop it, turn them off! I can't control it! I can't be all of them, not all at once!"
— Clayface, Batman The Animated Series
As far as tropes go...your description makes some sense - haven't dug around that site too much. However, I was going for the more established definition of "Swan Song" here -
Delete"swan song
noun
the last act or manifestation of someone or something; farewell appearance"
courtesy dictionary.com
Nice comment about swan songs and shapeshifters.
ReplyDeleteI'll be watching for the whole sequence...