Ben 10 True Omniverse Message Reaction

by Iscuseri

I should've done this months ago, but it's my fault for forgetting. This is my earnest reaction to Power Master's Ben 10 True Omniverse Message, which announced the series' cancellation. There's also an addendum to cover any topics that I couldn't cover in my reaction. Rated T for some coarse language

3. Chapter 3: Looking at Other Comments

Looking at Other Comments:

This is just me reacting to the some other users' comments in the comments section/reviews section of Ben 10 True Omniverse Message. Let's take a look, shall we?

23debal01:

i'm sorry for how this made you feel, would love to see how it ends. i'm gonna miss this

Nothing much to say, this is just someone sharing their feelings. There's no need for me to rag on their honesty.

Master Skywalker 121:

Hi. I am sorry that this happened. Particularly people hating on you for a variety of stuff. Personally I really enjoy your stories and I know that no matter what happens, they will always be amazing. I think you should be proud of what you made. If you want to cancel this story that is your choice. I will be sad however understand why. To everyone who badmouthed this writer, I hope that you are happy with yourselves. That is sarcasm. If you don't like a story, then don't read the story. That is all I have to say on this matter.

Meanwhile, here's why Master Skywalker's "don't like, don't read" argument doesn't work, as explained by The Cave of Dragonflies' Review Guide:

"When an author tells a reviewer that, they generally intend it to mean the same thing as the trite saying 'If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.' They are really not in the right if they do this; by posting their work on the Internet and accepting comments on it, they are inviting people to say what they think, and it is really quite ridiculous to think that they can censor comments on their work to prevent people from saying so if they didn't like it. Additionally, if you wrote a good review they ought to be thankful that you took the time to try to help them rather than dismissing your advice purely because it's negative."

I already skewered the "don't like, don't read" argument in my commentary on Power Master's cancellation message, but the gist is that people have every right to continue reading stories they don't like so they can give it constructive criticism later. Also, if reviewers critique about a story without reading it first, then the reviewers will just look like idiots for having an uninformed opinion on the story. Emerald read True Omniverse Season 4 and its seven prequels to have an informed opinion on what problems got carried over from the prequels and to critique any new problems they came across in TOS4. Granted, this particular commenter is obviously not the author, but his usage of "don't like, don't read" is synonymous with "the reviewer didn't say nice things about the author's story, so they shouldn't have read it in the first place." Emerald was within their rights to give feedback on the story since Power Master posted it online and therefore, he invited people to share their thoughts on his story. While Emerald using me as a second person to share their counterargument to the public was an impulsive decision, Power Master having very thin skin and canceling his story (and deleting it on this website but not DeviantArt) over negative critiques was his decision and something outside of Emerald's control. Emerald wasn't even badmouthing Power Master; Power Master twisted their words and deliberately lied about his own role in his story's demise in his little cancellation announcement. Long story short, True Omniverse's cancellation was Power Master's choice and his choice alone.

XxMrV4xX:

… wow … the nerve of those people. I am so SO sorry that this has happened to you. It's sad the story will be cancelled but it is your choice and I'll respect that.

I wish you luck on what you will do next. Don't know if you'll ever do anything else after this but anything to do, you have nu support.

Take care

Yeah, shame on EmeraldKM for trying to give Power Master constructive criticism and calling him out on his two-faced nature. Realistically speaking, Emerald probably would've just left him alone and not called him out for his shitty actions if he didn't try to provoke them over their review over PMs, and if they had any opportunity whatsoever to try and privately resolve things with him. Power Master sabotaged those opportunities himself by immediately blocking Emerald and preventing them from even responding to his PMs.

KunoichiBeastKnightress:

I'm so sorry that someone made you feel like this

I hope that one day you will write again and conclude True Omniverse, cause it was a wonderful series, no matter what these monsters think

…OK? It really was only one person even if they had to use a second person, me, to get their side of the story out to the public in a counterargument. Also, "monster" is a bit harsh for a well-intentioned reviewer, even with Emerald's flawed and somewhat reckless handling of the situation. Plus, it's not like Emerald wanted him to cancel his story, or even thought of it when they wrote their review and counterargument. They could've been a bit more mindful of their wording, but they weren't trying to get Power Master to just straight-up stop writing True Omniverse as a whole. In fact, they were trying to help him improve his writing, which is the exact opposite intention of wanting to get it canceled for shits and giggles.

jjkvanheerden:

Hello, powermaster, you are right about some things. Ban form ban 10 in the storys started unnecessary fights and cause problems and things. And people getting off the hook easily despite the actions done by them And people using legal reasons to get away with what they've done. Like Amanda Waller from DC and tarkin from star wars. Powermaster

Yeah, I agree that people do use the legal system to get away with unethical shit, with that part being a reference to Firebreaker's super-duper-ultra-tragic backstory. You see, Sentinel Zeta Prime—who's cartoonishly evil in TOS4 compared to his more morally gray depiction in War for Cybertron—gave this evil Autobot scientist named Pharma the go-ahead to create the Cybonic Plague and to test it by infecting an entire Autobot refugee camp with it, and Firebreaker's parents were killed by said infection. The reason why Sentinel even had Pharma create said virus was because he wanted to use it against the Decepticons in the war and infect them to end said war quickly, but that plan failed when Megatron caught wind of it, killed Pharma, and deleted all the data pertaining to it after he got the data for its cure and how to create the virus. However, Emerald's explanation about why that retcon was unnecessary doesn't relate to his backstory, as evidenced by this section of their counterargument:

"Admittedly, the stuff about the Cybonic Plague retcon might be subjective, but just to be clear, my real point was not 'the Author should've done plot X instead of plot Y.' The real point I was trying to make by criticizing it was that there was a way to do Firebreaker's later development/subplot—the predictable nature of the story telegraphed it—and backstory without the poorly-written retcon, and it would've improved the storyline. Plus, if someone thinks about how that particular retcon meshes with 'Sick Mind,' it doesn't mesh well at all, despite the story's new explanation being one of many that the Author thought would be an improvement over the original episode's explanation. That's the problem with a lot of the retcons in this story: they're either poorly-executed to the point where it makes the already messy writing even worse, or they're unnecessary for plot progression if one actually thinks about all the other ways to execute said plot lines (like I did)."

And before Emerald's counterargument, we have this section from their review, which showed that they're aware of the whole "people use the legal system to get away with unethical things" part of the backstory:

"Pharma being the creator of the Cybonic Plague and not Megatron is one I'd especially like to mention because of how unnecessary it was. Personally, I feel like Firebreaker still staying loyal to Megatron even after learning that he created the Cybonic Plague because he was raised to be a Decepticon, and then later turning on him after some character development and questioning his indoctrination would've been a more interesting plot. But oh well, that far better plot line will never be realized because 'oh no, Pharma created it because he was an immoral evil scientist worse than Shockwave, and I needed an easy way to justify Firebreaker still being loyal to the Decepticons.' And that plot line would've worked better because Firebreaker having to break free of childhood indoctrination, which is a more subtle and realistic form of brainwashing, is a gradual process and him leaving could've spurred character development from Switchblade too. After all, Switchblade's his adoptive parent and also has questioned Megatron on many occasions."

Like, they were aware of "people getting away with legal, but unethical acts" point, but they also point out that the primary purpose of Firebreaker's backstory were to garner immediate sympathy for Firebreaker, who's an underdeveloped character, and how Power Master played the sympathy card for the Decepticons long after they've become largely unsympathetic characters by making Sentinel a bigger tyrant than current-day Megatron along with having Pharma be worse than Shockwave. Also, one thing that Emerald didn't mention was that Firebreaker's also unsympathetic since he's an ephebophile who's in love with a 17-year-old despite being millions of years old, so that icky shit is the other big reason why Firebreaker's sympathetic backstory doesn't work. Their actual point was that the retcon doesn't work because of how much it fucks with canon, and that it became more unnecessary because there were ways to do Firebreaker's backstory without the retcon.

tl;dr having a sympathetic backstory =/= being a sympathetic character

ArashiNokitsune:

if the story is truly dead can we at least get a summary conclusion please after all you put too much into the story already for it to simply just die at a cliffhanger

Honestly, I pity this person because knowing Power Master, he's the only one who will ever know how his story would've continued and ended. None of his readers—even the ones who are friends with him or on speaking terms with him—will ever know how the rest of True Omniverse Season 4 would've played out.

CalvinFujii:

Sorry for the rough hit on Ben 10 True Omniverse. For what it's worth, I think you were able to write out an intriguing universe and story that both brought something new and captured the tones of the original source materials. While most of us hope that True Omniverse is uncancelled and gets continued one day, we also respect your decision to leave it and (maybe) write out summaries of what would have happened in the future. Stay strong, and take life one small step at a time.

I find this especially hilarious because based on comments I've seen on Power Master's DeviantArt account, my interview with Emerald/their counterargument, and my own research into Transformers and Friendship is Magic fanfiction forums, Power Master's reputation is one of an author who's infamous for having "so bad, it's good" stories that most people ironically enjoyed or that his stories are straight-up horrible. His infamy in FiM fanfiction circles is how I learned about him since I riffed his 3 Transformers/EqG movie rewrite crossover fics myself before moving onto riffing his Transformers: Prime stories, and those 3 EqG stories were part of a MLP: FiM fanfiction forum over on Fimfiction that made fun of stories that tried too hard to be edgy. In fact, Power Master was so infamous over on Fimfiction that a fanfiction riffing group called Fanfic Theater 3015 riffed one of his FiM stories, Spirit of Hearth's Warming Eve Shorts, way back in December 2015. Go search Fanfic Theater 3015 if any of you think I'm lying. That claim of "most of us hope True Omniverse is uncancelled" is false simply based on his infamy in fanfiction circles. It's also false because I doubt that most of FFN's users even know who Power Master is, and based on my aforementioned research, those that are aware of him don't have a high opinion of his writing. That being said, I agree with this user that Power Master shouldn't give up writing and eventually get back into the groove of writing. I'm aware that me wanting to see him not give up writing isn't worth a whole lot because I'm the one who interviewed Emerald, but hey, I'm not heartless.

Guest:

Thanks a lot I wanted you to do me a favor about continuing your miraculous ladybug stories and thanks to your idea of taking negative comments to seriously you ruined it. If you or nobody else will make a kind of miraculous ladybug story with all heros and an interesting crime fighting story or stories than I will never forgive you.

I really hope that this guest user learns about AO3 because Miraculous rewrites that have Marinette's classmates become permanent Miraculous holders and have less messy writing (not that that's a hard feat to do) than the show are a dime a dozen over there. Secondly, Power Master doesn't need your forgiveness over canceling his story because he doesn't owe you any favors. Third and lastly, even with this user acting entitled towards Power Master they do have one valid point: Power Master could've avoided a lot of trouble and continued writing True Omniverse if he had thicker skin about handling negative reviews and taking criticism. It's ironic how the most assholish commenter was the only one to point out what the actual problem was.

dromerosonic777:

That's sad to hear. I was really starting to like it and it was really interesting with Julie being revealed to be a Cybertronian. I was always looking forward to seeing what would happen next. It's a shame you had to cancel that story because of all those mean people. I'll sure miss Season 4.

Julie's new backstory of being half-Cybertronian is just a copy-pasted version of Sari's, except with a long-lost twin sister added to it because Power Master needed some way to hide the fact that he copied off of Transformers: Animated's homework. No, really, I've riffed enough stories of his to know that his creative writing process is the "can I copy your homework?" "yeah, just change it up a bit so it doesn't look copied" meme. As discussed in the commentary, the most apparent example of this is him making Switchblade far too similar to Dreadwing for it to be coincidental. Secondly, said "mean" person was a well-intentioned critic who was trying to help regardless of their screw-ups, and the other "mean" people who disliked the story despite not speaking up about it were well within their rights to. Once Power Master put his story onto the Internet, people forming opinions on it and criticizing it was fair game. Like I said earlier, this whole situation could've been avoided if Power Master knew how to handle getting negative reviews or any form of constructive criticism whatsoever, and if he didn't try to deliberately provoke his critic over a negative review.

Green248:

Awww man I can't believed you canceled it I mean I really like this story crossover it my favourite I'm a big fan of ben 10 and transformers. It was good though it was good.

It's his favorite? I'm not gonna hate on that decision because people will like whatever stories they want to.