Once again on VocaRant we are brought to the upcoming Vocaloid 3 Oliver. I did a first impressions article and then took a look at his reception. Today, we will be discussing Oliver as a character and the various design decisions around his artwork.
Probably the best place to begin is his bandages. They were both controversial and expected at the same time. Controversial because when they were revealed people were drawing parallels to VocaTone staffer Sango's UTAU Neko Kanochi . Expected because after his silhouette was revealed the odd outline on his foot drew much speculation.
While there were various theories on what they might be, including a hilarious 'winged feet' theory that drew some amusing fanart, probably the most plausible and one that stuck with me was the idea of bandages. While hindsight is 20/20, for those familiar with PowerFX and their 'horror film' theme it just seemed to make sense.
Speaking PowerFX's monster theme it seems once again it is a point of contention. While not as bad as 'Frankenstein Al' or 'Horror Ann' Oliver's mummy-rific theme drew attacks from the fanbase and sparked confusion from the non-English speaking Vocaloid fanbase who weren't familiar with PowerFX's history and weren't exposed to his design notes.
Looking at some of the Japanese blog comments we find some posts like:
Showing posts with label oliver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oliver. Show all posts
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Rant: My Love, Hate, and Fear of Oliver
In many ways I have a love-hate relationship with Vocaloid and its fandom.
I loved the Engloids but many times find myself at odds with parts of fandom. With the debut of Oliver the fandom's reaction was diverse. He received a wide range of reactions ranging from for fangasmic gushing to barely considerate shrugs.
That being said some reactions made me RAGE and sometimes I forget how young, and sometimes immature we can be as part of a fandom. I was seriously upset and disappointing in some of the comparisons and extreme reactions people were making with Oliver.
No, I am not talking about comparisons people had with Len, we will get to that later, but rather the parallels people were drawing with VocaTone staffer Sango's UTAU Neko Kanochi. People were saying that Neko wears and eyepatch and Oliver has one too! They must OBVIOUSLY be related amirite? [/sarcasm]
I loved the Engloids but many times find myself at odds with parts of fandom. With the debut of Oliver the fandom's reaction was diverse. He received a wide range of reactions ranging from for fangasmic gushing to barely considerate shrugs.
That being said some reactions made me RAGE and sometimes I forget how young, and sometimes immature we can be as part of a fandom. I was seriously upset and disappointing in some of the comparisons and extreme reactions people were making with Oliver.
No, I am not talking about comparisons people had with Len, we will get to that later, but rather the parallels people were drawing with VocaTone staffer Sango's UTAU Neko Kanochi. People were saying that Neko wears and eyepatch and Oliver has one too! They must OBVIOUSLY be related amirite? [/sarcasm]
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Opinion: Vocaloid3 Oliver
For those of you not already in the know PowerFX & VocaTone have released the official art and two audio demos of their upcoming Vocaloid 3 Oliver.
Oliver is an enigma in many ways. While not necessarily a "shota" he seems very much like the Engloid equivalent of Kaai Yuki in that both of them have a soft, innocent, and cute voice. Both of the demos seem to be of the 'slower' variety and it would be interesting to see how he performs on something more upbeat or uptempo.
One thing for sure is that the western Vocaloid fandom is really eating him up. His news thread on VO has almost 1,800 post and spans over 120 pages. Some might attribute this to the VocaTone staffers being part of the community but I think the fact that he is an Engloid the only Vocaloid 3 Engloid that we have really solid details (and now demos) has a lot to do with it.
While I, personally, am not super hyped, I am pretty pleased with his demo, particularly Scarborough Fair. Circus Monster left a bit to be desired but it was more the song than Oliver himself. If I had to describe my feelings it would be 'cynically optomistic' in that while I like the character I wonder about his musical application.
With his voicer supposedly being a 13 year old British male I have serious qualms about how exactly he can be applied. Will he be forced into a niche like the Zero-G Opera-loids, will he be limited to cute jungles and the odd horror song like Yuki?
Only time will tell.
Update: Upon further reflection...
His samples are crisp, that alone will make him a desirable voice but for those of us across the pond American English will likely be out of the question. He will have a lot or similar limitations to LEON and his English. The phonemes will just sound weird to those of us across the pond.
Oliver is an enigma in many ways. While not necessarily a "shota" he seems very much like the Engloid equivalent of Kaai Yuki in that both of them have a soft, innocent, and cute voice. Both of the demos seem to be of the 'slower' variety and it would be interesting to see how he performs on something more upbeat or uptempo.
One thing for sure is that the western Vocaloid fandom is really eating him up. His news thread on VO has almost 1,800 post and spans over 120 pages. Some might attribute this to the VocaTone staffers being part of the community but I think the fact that he is an Engloid the only Vocaloid 3 Engloid that we have really solid details (and now demos) has a lot to do with it.
While I, personally, am not super hyped, I am pretty pleased with his demo, particularly Scarborough Fair. Circus Monster left a bit to be desired but it was more the song than Oliver himself. If I had to describe my feelings it would be 'cynically optomistic' in that while I like the character I wonder about his musical application.
With his voicer supposedly being a 13 year old British male I have serious qualms about how exactly he can be applied. Will he be forced into a niche like the Zero-G Opera-loids, will he be limited to cute jungles and the odd horror song like Yuki?
Only time will tell.
Update: Upon further reflection...
His samples are crisp, that alone will make him a desirable voice but for those of us across the pond American English will likely be out of the question. He will have a lot or similar limitations to LEON and his English. The phonemes will just sound weird to those of us across the pond.
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