Since tumblr allows pinned posts now for free, I suppose I should put something together so that everyone knows what I’m about.
So usually people lament about some PR stories lacking the edge their Sentai counterparts have, but sometimes I think some humorous moments from the Sentai could work. Perfect example is the Zyuranger episode adapted into Power Rangers episode Food Fight.
Namely how Pudgy Pig doesn't get a boost from Rita's Wand. In Zyuranger it's cause instead of being sick, Bandora/Rita is on a diet. So after the monster is defeat, she is about to throw the Dora Sceptre down to Earth, but too weak from hunger to do so.😄
I see no reason why that joke couldn’t work in Power Rangers. From what I’ve seen, it got so silly sometimes that pretty much any joke could work in it.
That said, I wonder if that joke got changed because at that point in the 90s, there was sensitivity about making jokes about women dieting. But I recall the Sailor Moon dub my brother watched having an episode about dieting, so maybe that wasn’t really a thing.
(I remember it because the episode was called “Slim City” and I was really big into Sim City at the time. I thought it would be more interesting if Sailor Moon became overlord of a new city and had to deal with traffic problems and random Godzilla attacks. But no one asks my opinion of magical girl story ideas, for some reason.)
I finished rewatching seasons 3 and 4 of Legend of Korra. Season 3 great; season 4 boring. Not here to talk about that, though.
I like to imagine that the Order guards at Zaheer's prison haze the newbies by leaving out the fact that Zaheer can float when they brief the person on what they can expect. The new person comes in and they're just...looking at Zaheer, completely dumbfounded as they try to process what they think they're seeing vs what they should be seeing. Zaheer glares back like 'What the fuck are you looking at?' XD The person opens their mouth to make inquiries and the other guards are just like "Something wrong?" No one ever talks about it and they're too afraid to ask.
After being trapped underground for hours with Zaheer, the real horror is that he never shuts up about a long-dead guru and his attempts at scatting are practically a hate crime. And apparently, he's mastered astral projection, so his body remains in chains, suspended in mid-air, but his spirit follows the guard to the bathroom and just watches them...
So the Goldenrod City Bike Shop owner in Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal says his bike can be rode anywhere. But try doing so in the shop or any building Oak still gives the "This isn't the time to use that".
Between that and the supposed picture of Jigglypuff seen from above (Rotate the image on the Pokédex in the Gen 7 games), Game Freak is sitting on a throne of lies.😏
It can be ridden anywhere. But you may not ride it here.
Of course, you’re talking to an engineer with a minor in mathematical analysis. I need to make an effort not to think purely in terms of what’s technically/logically true. XD
i hate seeing people drink the openai/chatgpt koolaid 😭😭😭 genuinely feels like watching someone get seduced by scientology or qanon or something. like girl help it's not intelligent it's Big Autocomplete it's crunching numbers it's not understanding things i fuckign promise you. like ohhh my god the marketing hype fuckign GOT you
leitmotifs never get old to me like holy shit dude there’s this melody that corresponds to this one guy and if you hear the melody it means the guy is there. holy shit. and sometimes it refers to ideas too not just guys. has anyone heard about this
Sometimes something fucked up happens to the guy and their melody gets fucked up too. Sometimes the thing that fucked them up also has its own melody and when the first melody gets fucked up the second melody gets mixed in
no fucking way dude. are you serious
It’s unbelievable that the Maiko Breakup Subplot has lasted for 13 years. It’s unacceptable that the last update we had with Mai and Zuko was 10 years ago. 50% of Maiko fanfics have been the “Getting Back Together” trope. It took over 10 years for them to be cordial after the breakup, so now it will probably take another 10 years for them to begin dating again. Why do you think Bryke is dragging this subplot for this long?
Either it’s the highest priority on their list and most lavish sequence in the upcoming Adult GAang Movie will be the Maiko reunion, or it’s the lowest priority on their list and the Dark Horse team is like, “Ooh, I just had an idea for a comic: Iroh and June faff about for 80 pages! The fans will love that! Better push the next Mai comic out another 6 months.”
But that’s also part of the problem, isn’t it? Monthly comic books are 24-32 pages. The ‘graphic novels’ we’re getting are 80 pages and come out roughly every 6 months, and the stories could honestly often be refined down to a smaller page count and actually end up hitting harder. So even the illusion of progress we’re getting is so slow that the multiple generations of the young target audience have come and gone.
It doesn’t help that this plot is from an era in the franchise when the comics had the priority for the continuing adventures of the gAang, and now we have animated movies and an RPG getting continuous expansions and Little Golden Books and maybe someday a videogame that will tell a real story. So I really do think that Avatar Studios might be rejecting any pitches that don’t have enough faffing about in them.
I do have to note, though, that whatever the reason, I don’t blame the Mike and the Bryan for most of this. I would honestly be a little surprised if both of them even know that Maiko is currently broken up in the comics. Not 'shocked,’ exactly, but I’d actually say out loud, “Huh. They do know about it. I guess they do read those memos.”
I would keel over in shock, though, if I learned they’ve both actually read the finished versions of the comics and not just a list of plot points in approval emails. I can’t get coworkers to read emails directly relevant to the work they’re responsible for, never mind stuff a bunch of affiliates are doing for a relatively tiny customer-base. And Bryke are overseeing both at least one animated and one animated series.
(Which now makes me wonder which has more readers: the YA novels or the Dark Horse comics. Or is the cookbook beating them both? What is the true lowest priority in the entire multimedia franchise? The books, comics, and RPG get a New York Comic Con panel every year, so maybe it’s the statues and toys.)
really glad that I have curated my fandom experience such that every time I see a post complaining about the rampant demonization or hatred of a female character I don't even know who they could possibly be referring to because my dash is 100% support for women's wrongs. I cannot think of the last time I saw a condemnation of a fictional woman even though I am assured that it is happening somewhere. on my dash a woman can literally eat people and the whole chat will still stan her
ALTMai was introduced exactly 19 years ago today, on April 7th, 2006, in the AtLA episode ‘Return to Omashu.’ This also introduced her romantic interest in Zuko.
Mai and Zuko were confirmed as a dating couple in September 2007 with the airing of the episode ‘The Awakening.’ Mai and Zuko broke up 2 months later in November 2007 in ‘The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion.’ They reunited as a couple 8 months later in July 2008 with the airing of the AtLA finale.
A little less than 4 years later, in May 2012 with the publishing of the graphic novel ‘The Promise - Part 2,’ Mai and Zuko broke up again due to trust issues. In a major emotional moment, Zuko attests to still loving Mai and desiring her back, but she refuses to return.
One year later in May 2013, Mai’s situation in the aftermath of the breakup was revealed in the comic book ‘Rebound.’ In this story, Mai dates a boy named Kei Lo but breaks up with him by the end of the issue. She also fights some anti-Zuko terrorists.
Mai is not seen again until almost three years later (September/October 2015), in ‘Smoke and Shadow - Part One.’ In this story, Mai dates a boy named Kei Lo. For the story’s conclusion, 6 months later (March/April 2016), in ‘Smoke and Shadow - Part Three,’ Mai breaks up with him by the end of the issue, and in a major emotional moment, Zuko attests to still loving her and desiring to have her back, but she refuses to return. Throughout the trilogy, Mai also fights some anti-Zuko terrorists.
Mai’s next and so far final appearance is almost 9 years later in March 2025, in the one-shot graphic novel 'Ashes of the Academy.’ In a major update to their relationship status, Zuko and Mai briefly refer to the trust issues they broke up over, but she refuses to return. At the end of the story, Mai fights some anti-Zuko terrorists.
Some real-time statistics:
Mai and Zuko were a couple for 4 years.
Mai and Zuko have not been a couple for a total of 15 years since Mai’s introduction.
Mai and Zuko have been broken up for nearly 13 years.
Mai’s situation post-breakup was first revealed 12 years ago. Since that time, the only change to her character has been to get a new job she seems to like better than the old one.
It has been 5 years since I began to track these statistics. A child born when I made the first Maiko Timeline is now likely to be in kindergarten. In that time, Mai has appeared in one comic book. In the same amount of time, writer John Ostrander wrote his legendary 66-issue run of the groundbreaking comic series, 'The Suicide Squad’ (plus some tie-in miniseries).
The graphic novel plotline about Mai and Zuko breaking up has been in existence for 68% of the existence of Mai as a character, and 65% of the existence of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ as a franchise.
The numbers continue to tell the story better than the franchise’s paid writers.
(Timeline once again made at https://www.officetimeline.com/online. I was honestly shocked they’re still in business.)
Fair enough, though as i said, EVERYONE on this continent im drawing up is very much in the barbarian mold. That's kinda the point.
The dark elves aren't really unique in that regard, it's just their main barbaric cultural aspect is slavery(Which is unfortunately histoically a near universal feature of the Human condition, regardless of ethnicity) nation of this section of the world.
Everyone here used to do slavery, it's just that due to massive religious changes some 500-900 years ago, the continent began abandoning the practise... Which the elves never really did.
The dark elves aren't really the big villain faction of the plot here either, that would be the equivelant of the franks(Basically what you would get if you took medieval france and stripped every single bit of latin out of it, leaving only the germanic roots left), who has their own awfull de facto slave system in the form of a horrible Serfdom system where the nobility rules everything with an iron fist and peasants are effectively treated as chattel, or the universe's equivelant of the forces of Hell.
As the main protagonists will never fail to point out, their "Frankish" rivals who occupied them for 66 years of continous wars and invasions and attempted cultural genocide are only really better by the virtue that the Dark Elves are even worse, and even their reprehensible political system beats the genocidal hellish legions who wants to turn the continent into mordor.
I should clarify one thing though, which is that though i refer to them as the Dark Elves, the "Barbary" nation is hardly the only elven faction or culture on the continent. There have been plenty of other attempts at nations by other elves(All of which incidentally are of the same ethnic origins as the "Barbary" elves, as there are no High Elves or other kinds on this continent), and there are still memories of such and dreams of reinstating them... It's just that at the point though there are different dark elven cultures, there is only one Dark Elf state left at this point, in large part to Barbary gobbling up all others, and enforcing a de facto racial and political hegemon regarding their species for centuries.
"Barbary" and their slaver empire unfairly tainting everyone else's opinion on Dark Elves as a whole did not help either to put it mildly.
Imagine if rather than converting to christianity, Scandinavia united as a pagan empire, who just kept raiding and invading everyone else for centuries. The Viking age would never have ended. For the people of this continent, that is basically the state of things.
Everyone else, Humans, Dwarves, other Elves, Vampires, Orcs, Halflings, gnomes, or others, fair skinned or dark skinned, all are targeted by the Slave trade, just like real life, slavery does not discriminate.
That said, i agree just using "Barbary" or something along those lines is prbably shackling myself way too much to real life.
Yes, the Barbary Elves do match and fill the geopolitical equivelant the Barbary states filled... But they are also very different.
For one, the barbary states were not a magocratic empire ruled by a senate, and they existed and thrived in the age of cannons, and wooden ships, while the Dark Elves live in a medieval one where it's the magical skills that lets them rule the waves as they do.
Regardless, i have a lot of more work to do before i even put this story on the page, for now "Barbary" is as good a placeholder as any before i settle on an actual name.
Thanks for the persepctive btw. I dont always agree with yours, but i find your takes interesting and engaging to read through.
Thank you, both for your respect and the additional context. I agree that this extra info helps mitigate the unfortunate implications, if presented properly. But, like I said, there is a danger, one even Tolkien himself tripped over a few times, so I personally consider it an unnecessary risk. But I do admire the people with the knowledge and skills to pull it off.
And continued:
Also, just a quick follow-up, in case you’re wondering who the main inspiration behind the protagonists of this barbarian dominated continent are, they are very heavily inspired by the Anglo-Saxons, and in turn, their incredibly bitter rivalry with the “Franks” basically being a “what if the anglo-saxons ultimately beat the French invaders?”.
Im not sure if the proffessor would have been interested in such a story(then again, he apparently addmitted to being a fan of at least some conan stories, so maybe he would have), but i think he’d at least have appreciated the concept of Anglo-Saxons successfully fighting back then French then taking on the forces of Hell.
Honestly you can get a lot of mileage out of just a “what if?” For a fantasy faction, and then just expand on it.
Not on this “barbarian continent”, but other such idea from this setting of mine called “27 worlds” include:
What if the conquistadors converted the “aztecs, maya and inca” to their monotheistic religion, but instead of making them spanish instead went native? How would the following culture look like?
What if a subcontinent the size of India was a confederation of every single kind of “germanic people” to ever exist?
What if the “Mongols” successfully became the dominant culture and people in “china” after conquering it, rather than creating a doomed ethnically numerior ruling class that would sooner or later fall?
What if the local dwarves built underground roads underneath the ocean to connect every single continent, and this “under-roads” network was the main way people traveled between continents?
What if a massive and powerfull, sentient, ageless dragon unified a massive continent underneath his own banner and ruled it for centuries unending?
What if a dragonslayer from oveeseas was hired to kill/assassinate said dragon king and threw the entire continent into a massive power vacuum and civil war after becoming a kingslayer?
I could go on, but you get the idea.
One way to go about writing a good fantasy plot, setting or people is to take a simple but intriguing concept, then expand upon that idea to cover every bit of the setting and how the people in it functions.
Hell that is basically how avatar did it, with 4 elemental nations/peoples as the bones of the setting, then asking “How would all that work?” And going from there to flesh out 3 very different cultures with their own history and developments, and wars with each other.
Yup, history and mythology can be a great inspiration for the fantasy realm! My difficulty is crafting the characters who can properly explore that kind of theorizing. I feel like once you have a solid character and a setting, the story starts to make itself apparent, but the key is having enough of a character to suggest a beginning and end. Once there’s that much, the plot pretty much puts itself together.
forkingandcottage-deactivated20
Frog Paints a Water Lily Pond 🪷🎨🐸
𝑓ₒᵣ ⲕᵢ𝑛𝑔 ₐ𝑛𝑑 𝑐ₒ𝑡𝑡ₐ𝑔ₑ
Ok, I adore the Frogs to begin with, but the sheer finesse and dedication of this one boggles my mind.
me: this is cute and precious
my brain: 45 years ago this person could've made a public access television show that ran for half a decade on the strength of this concept with the right framing device and it would've been paid for with federal arts grants and maybe even national syndication rights. now they're begging for a single minute of engagement on tiktok in the hopes that maybe someday the abstract metrics of digital media platforms will translate into a tangible career
me: yeah
me: cute frog though
my brain: it is a cute frog
One common storytelling trope in fiction that i don't think has a name is that of "Family in exile or horrific danger finds refuge with other family, and swears undying loyalty to them" usually involving one side or both being nobles.
Honestly its a great storytelling and can easily be used to vridge gap between two different groups with different backgrounds and cultures while also having a very strong bond from the get go that needs no further explanation.
And you can do it both big and small scale, from nobles such as house Mandarly's loyalty to house Stark, or lowkey like maybe a trader helps out random badass and now they travel together.
Hell, in the context of the original star wars lore pre disney, that was pretty much Hand and Chewbaka's entire backstory(not sure if it still is, i didn't watch solo and know it only through the grapevine).
This trope is extremely popular in Japan, where you see it time and again in media, especially with Ninjas and Samurai where you can get both drama and comedy out of both(A lot of manga have some variety of surviving ninjas and ninja clans getting roped into serving insert protagonist here).
Or kitsunes. Or any magical japanese mythical creature really.
The question im building towards, is an idea i had which i wanted your take on.
Basically, i had an idea for this trope, where a Japanese style Ninja clan ends up in exile to another continent, and through a set of circustances are taken in by nobles of a lesser state... and then ends up completely derailing the entire country's directory by completely revolutionizing the way the spy work is done, plopping down a sophisticated clan of trained spies, assassins and information gatherers into a medieval/rennescaince era styled nation?
All while all the usual feudal politics happens in the background as the suddenly important lesser lordling finds himself dragged into the truly dangerous high risk high rewards part of the game of thrones.
Anyway, your thoughts?
I think it sounds amazing. :)
While the ‘life debt’ concept can be contrived and silly, I think it can be done well, and debts of gratitude can be very powerful. That said, I think the depiction for Han and Chewbacca had its ups and downs, with my least favorite part being after Chewbacca died, when his son and nephew tried to take over the life debt. Isn’t the whole point of a 'life debt’ being that Chewie owed Han his life? And if that life has been lost, isn’t the debt paid?
Anyway, in case you’re curious, Solo kind of played it ambiguously. No debt is formally sworn, but Han’s actions do lead to Chewie escaping Imperial imprisonment, and Chewie later decides to prioritize his support for Han over going off with a bunch of other freed Wookiees. So people can see it how they want, I guess.
What’s your score?
𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐒
Feel free to play along and put your number in the tags. Remember, it's a point for something you've NEVER done (not the other way around...kind of confusing.)
Anyway, I've done them all, so I got 0.
Whats your thoughts on using historical real world place names for nations in fiction?
There are a lot of those, with Warhammer having Araby(arabia), Cathay(Europes old name for china), bretonnia(guess), albion(just an old cletic word for britain), norsca(Norse scandinavia), and so on.
Conan used plenty of real world names such as Numedia(germanic nation named after... North african berber kingdom), Aquelonia(Conan's kingdom, named after a region in france), and many others).
You'll find that a lot in fiction, sometimes meaningfully, other times not.
I just got thinking about it, when I realised im probably going to name the local dark elves(THE slaver nation of my setting), after the Barbary coast, famous for it's slave raiding pirate nations who captured millions of europeans into slavery in the Muslim world, and the fact it sounds close enough to Barbaric or barbarians in many european languages, which fits in with the local setting being a continent where everyone is, or was descendant from barbarians, where the Dark Elves(the most evil faction of all) being the only one who started out as "civilized".
Basic thematic irony, which you see a LOT of in fantasy fiction.
That said, what's you thoughts on this very common fixture in fantasy, as well as my own addition to it for a state of evil slaver pirates?
I have mixed thoughts. On the one hand, making up words that sound like real names is hard, so riffing on real places can help things not sound ridiculous. And referencing real world stuff in a knowledgeable and meaningful way can help make the final product better, reinforcing the artistic intent. On the other hand, if the names aren’t a reference to something real, then it can feel off to the people who know the real version, there’s nothing more immersion-breaking than when a story Gets Something Wrong. Then there’s the people who will be pulled out of the story by any recognizable reference to the real world. There’s a lot to lose with this strategy and not really a lot to gain, IMO.
The other danger is if the story’s reference to the real world contains unfortunate implications. And this is where I answer the second part of your question: while you are indeed referencing real history and Dark Elves being an evil race are an established thing in mythology and the RPGs it inspired, combining all that into having an evil slave-taking race defined by their dark skin based on Muslim pirates who preyed on Europeans, and linking the name to the word ‘barbaric,’ is something that could have some very unfortunate implications.
Personally, rather than referencing 'real’ things, I prefer to draw from mythology and other culturally foundational fiction. I’d rather name something after Avalon than London, basically, even though a lot of real-world places have in turn been named after Avalon.
Imagining this scene playing in Mai’s head while she saves Zuko, knowing the fate she’s about to face. Knowing Azula will best her in combat. I’m sick
This scene makes no sense to describe a militaristic and authoritarian governament.
The lesson should be "be beware that your friend Is faithful and loyal to the March of Civilization, because Your First Friend and Parent is the Country", and "Trust of your friend if he/She Loyal to the March of Civilization", being a repression of Individuality cause "You exist only for the Great March and the Country". All the individualistic thing should be private, or used to inspired competion, but in a indirect way, like Spartans and Bushi, but It should be socially repressed. The only way to be important is Being Strong and Showing Force.
This scene demonstrates nothing of these things.
And I'm italian and I studied History at University, and I know about education works in a militaristic and authoritarian country.
I'm Sorry, but this scene is just Cringe, and clearly the authors, ALL THE AUTHORS, have no idea how militaristic education works.
This is just "these are Azula's Values, and the school exists to confirm how Azula works, because Azula is the representation of the Fire Nation and what doesn't work".
So, they had... "Azula-ed" the Fire Nation.
It sounds very stupid. And Cringe.
This franchise will continue to exist, but not for Di Martino and Konietzko. Frankly, somebody should Fire them and give the responsability of this franchise to somebody else, so the franchise could have a better Destiny than Naruto's franchise.
The scene in context has the teacher Azula is speaking to give an amused expression and say, "Sure, that'll do." So no, the point isn't that this is real Fire Nation curriculum, this is indeed Azula parroting the lessons from Ozai.
Except Mai does explicitly call it a lesson from the academy in the present time to the headmistress so yes it is intended to be a lesson the academy teaches.
Except no? I said “curriculum” for a reason. The paranoia factor isn’t something the school was meant to be teaching. It’s what the behavior of the people running it is, in effect, teaching. It’s why the story doesn’t show Azula learning this lesson, just calling it out. Azula has observed how the world works; it’s why she also never claims the Fire Nation’s war is just or about improving the world. And the old head-mistress, who is also shown to be about self-glorification, is going along with it.
(But I think a key point is that Azula doesn’t realize she’s being patronized in this way. She doesn’t realize she’s being set up for her own self-destruction.)
I mean, honestly, trying to link the Fire Nation’s capital in this era to a properly fascist society is kind of silly in the first place. The original AtLA cartoon showed some of that in the peasant islands, where getting the citizens on board with the militaristic agenda was a thing they had to do. The upper echelons of Fire Nation society has always been shown to be about personal corruption and the glorification of self- just look at Zhao, Ozai, and Azula, etc. There’s no Azula-ification of the leadership happening because Azula had to come from somewhere. Zhao certainly isn’t being retconned, and his most famous act is destroying the moon right after it was pointed out that the Fire Nation needs it, too. (And if that isn’t explicit enough, he goes on to allow himself to die for the sake of pride, and certainly not the pride of the Fire Nation.) This is a society that is in the process of destroying itself, embodied by Ozai, who is the ultimate in self-investment, to the point where he breaks Fire Nation tradition to give himself a cool new title.
april fools day is actually the most sensible day of the year because it's the only day on which people will read something on the internet and stop for a second to consider whether or not it's actually true
They should start calling it April Media Literacy Day.
