Plotbunnies/Pastebin/Wishlist!

[robkelk]

Hey, waitaminute...

Sudden thought.

Forgive me if this was thought of before, buuuuuut....

We should really have a complex that is devoted to Black Hat operators - those that operate outside of the law.  People like Lupin III and his crew, Arsene Lupin, Raymond Reddington, Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan, Daniel Ocean and his crew...

Any other additions?

Also, who would be the lucky NPC character to ride herd on this bunch of anarchists and raving individualists?

...

Mal Reynolds has been known to engage in more than the occasional bit of larceny, and he does have experience leading a disparate group of rugged individualists.

And we've been wondering what to do with him and his crew ever since Rajvik left the writers' circle.

Get the NERV staff and Children (and maybe also the more ethical members of the Serenity's crew) out of Pensacola when the ex-SI is kicked upstairs, and let the Black Hat operators move in there?

[robkelk]

R of BlackLagoon - a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the live-action drama Black Lagoon.

No, not really. It's actually a twelve-page doujin, released by Rei Hiroe (the creator of the manga) at Comiket 83, showing what it would be like if Black Lagoon was a live-action drama. In that universe, Rock's actor wears glasses, and Revy's actress ... oh, but that would be telling.

So, how can we use this in TNB? It's identified as "self-parody", but it does come from the work's creator.

[robkelk]

Quoting from the All The Tropes page "Everything Is Big in Texas":

Inversion: Summer Glau, the Trope Codifier for small, waifish girls kicking ass, is fron San Antonio.

So, if the Firefly folks are relocating to Westwoods, how often will River be mistaken for her actress by folks who grew up with her? EDIT: And, considering River's a telepath, how many times will she play along?

[Labster]

I had always imagined that the characters look not-quite like their actors.  If we get back the metaphysics here (and really who doesn't love metaphysics): how are stories taking place in other universes?  Either they take place independent of the writing -- essentially infinite universes exist somewhere -- or there must be information flow between the universe and the writer.  That can either be the writer creating the story (hi Drosselmeyer), or the writer interpreting the story happening in another universe.

I think the last is the most interesting, and the most plausible.  The writer interprets the history of another universe into the story, perhaps through meditation, perhaps through a spirit medium like a muse.  This leads to the same questions as with things like The Bible: did it all really happen that way, or is the writer's interpretation of events making a biased account, or is a part of it pure invention?  We know for sure that a lot of the Bible really happened, based on things like archaeological evidence, or the fact that even contemporaneous writings by anti-Christians never argued that Jesus of Nazareth didn't exist.  But at the same time, are we supposed to not notice the retcon called Deuteronomy?

Anyway, assume the writer is connected to the other universe, getting information from it through <insert greek letter> waves.  I think we can also assume a movie/TV director can also have information flow that way, and take that into account in things like casting and choosing the best shot.  Maybe method acting is even a limited form of possession, of contacting that universe.  But how on Earth is it supposed to make actors look exactly like the character in the story?  Casting is at least as much for competence as looks.  Looks are not an idea, it's a physical fact.  Unless you want to say that somehow the person existing somewhere else makes an actor spring into existence here which is just too much information flow.  And then how could they act in two different stories?

Which is the same point I had earlier about in-story anime people not looking like waifu who escaped from animuland.  Our representation of them can be whatever, but in-story, humans look like humans, because physics again.  40% of our skull can't be eye sockets.  That this part of the story is interpretation.

So that's how I'd deconstruct it.  If you assume it's just a consequence of unlimited universes, then stories aren't really special, and then you can't explain why the Metacontinuity is collapsing in the way it does, around stories.  So it forces the other interpretation, which also forces people to not look exactly like their actors/cartoons.  Of course, it's probably fine and dandy if they look pretty similar -- in a dark room or from a distance, the actor would look the same.  But up close, most anyone could tell the difference.

That said, if Mal Reynolds has a scheme that requires himself to be in two places at once, I'm pretty sure Nathan Fillion would be down for it.  He even dressed up as Mal for a episode of Castle.

On the other topic, I do realize that some people have a reflexive response against polyamory, but I've had a decent number of poly friends.  And lived with a girl and her two boyfriends for a while.  And in that while, I've started to think that the bigger problem to polyamory is human nature, as those relationships are significantly less stable than 1:1 dyad relationships.  The problem is less "what will people think?" and more "how does it even?"  Note that it can even... er, poly relationships can be steady-state.  It's just the onus is on you as a writer to show how that steady-state works.

[robkelk]

...
On the other topic, I do realize that some people have a reflexive response against polyamory, but I've had a decent number of poly friends.  And lived with a girl and her two boyfriends for a while.  And in that while, I've started to think that the bigger problem to polyamory is human nature, as those relationships are significantly less stable than 1:1 dyad relationships.  The problem is less "what will people think?" and more "how does it even?"  Note that it can even... er, poly relationships can be steady-state.  It's just the onus is on you as a writer to show how that steady-state works.

Or doesn't work. I've already left a gun on the mantelpiece regarding that, during my characters' conversation over pizza. (Hint: She was quoting.)

[robkelk]

Well, considering that Summer Glau will be much older than River Tam at this point...  *Goes to check real quick*  Yeah, Summer will have aged about fourteen years by the time the story kicks off.

Really, we'll have more trouble with the others being mistaken for their actors.  At the very least River can be passed off as a really damn-good look-alike who loves playing the character.

True, that. Although River could still be mistaken for a relative of the Glau family, if she looks like her actress...

Aside:

Your mentioning something along the lines of "We gotta get the Watsonian and Doylist reasons for our characters to have harems right if we're keeping this as deconstruction" gave me an idea for the Watsonian side of things.

Shoko Asami - a veteran reporter and the aunt to Misaki Suzuhara - has been tasked with the most ambitious interview of her life: Benjamin Rhodes, the biggest mover and shaker behind the scenes, killing baddies, saving the girls, and getting all the good guys to network.

The interview would, of course, focus on the most controversial aspects of his life - namely how he is married to so many other girls.  Thoughts?

"The laws of the Juraiian Empire and the Abh aren't the same as our laws, and we do spend a lot of time off-Earth."

Shoko frowned - which was the most she was going to allow herself to show of the annoyance she felt over that answer. "I wasn't asking about the legalities, I was asking about the interpersonal dynamics. What caused you to fall in love?"

[robkelk]

Hmmmmm... Arf / Alph can shift between human and canine forms, and can de-age her canine form to puppy age. Fan artist "umekichi" draws a logical conclusion... Any room for this in the story?

I suspect somebody on the animation team noticed this (or came to the same conclusion)... because this is Arf's default form in Nanoha Reflection and Nanoha Detonation.

So, yeah - canon form for her in the movies continuity.

Speaking of the movies...

• There are enough flashbacks to events in the original series and A's that Reflection and Detonation are probably in the main continuity. (Their plot was sort-of lifted from the Battle of Aces game, but they were changed enough that they don't appear to be in that alternate continuity.) The timing is obviously after A's and before the flashback in StrikerS where Nanoha was injured.
  
• Good to see Arisa and Suzuka getting lines and something to do in the movies, even if it's just moral support. Also good to see the mothers of Arisa, Suzuka, Nanoha, and Fate get together for afternoon tea... and show that all of them have careers outside of the home.
  
• The first battle in Reflection has Raising Heart set herself to stun. Yeah, as if she's a phaser.
  

Spoiler

• The final battle in Detonation shows that Nanoha Can Breathe in Space... as long as Raising Heart activates life support.
  
• Nanomachines. Lots of nanomachines. Enough nano for Washuu-chan to be jealous of what it can do. Which means that, as of Detonation, the Bureau is aware of a way to grant powers that doesn't use magic... and it wasn't new at that time. So Lindy and Gil might at least know of the tech.
  
• And I really want end-of-Detonation Iris on Team Blossom. (You can have Yuri for the Wolkenritter; she's literally the same sort of construct as Hayate's Knights, so she'll fit right in.) Maybe a Crystal Millennium ship can find Eltoria some time in Arc 2.
  

[Black Aeronaut]

Argh. I've been kinda avoiding those because, last I heard they were based entirely on the plotline from the games, which diverge sharply from canon in that Reinforce was not sealed and the Defense Program recompiled itself within her.

I'll see about getting ahold of them, just not right away.

[robkelk]

Reinforce is sealed in Reflection and Detonation. They even do a flashback to the scene with her and Hayate - which has been re-drawn so that we can actually see tears in Reinforce's eyes.

The limited edition versions (with the Lyrical Party V and VI Blu-rays and books) are still available at CDJapan as I type this. You're looking at 10,000 yen each for those, though. Reflection and Detonation. (If you want just the movies, they're 6,300 yen each - links to those order pages are on the pages I linked to here.) And, yes, the movies have English subtitles.

EDIT: Can't get the posters any more, though. This one isn't a spoiler:

[Black Aeronaut]

From what I've heard, the "native" English subs are terrible. That aside, I don't have $140 to blow on it. I'll have to use a different avenue, but thanks for checking for me anyhow. I really would like to support them, but the money just isn't there right now.

[robkelk]

From what I've heard, the "native" English subs are terrible.

I've seen worse in NA releases. (And in fansubs.) I suspect that some of the complaints are because the Japanese are using their preferred spellings for some names: Alph instead of Arf, Leti instead of Letti, and so on. (Considering the Japanese created the characters, I'm inclined to say the NA translators are the ones who erred there.)

[robkelk]

Who am I to argue with fanon? Misaka 10046 has chosen her career: hello, nurse. Now all we need is a displacee who want to be a doctor.

(looks at Ami Mizuno, Mamoru Chiba, and Miyuki Takara)

I said "a displacee", not "three displacees"...

[robkelk]

Quoting from the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Wiki page for Quint Nakajima:

Quint is the original user of Shooting Arts, a rollerblade-based magical martial art which she had (learned and) studied about since student age. Ginga learned it from Quint before her death and taught Subaru "on behalf" of her. The mana-driven rollerblades used by Quint have no known name in the series, and may or may not have been a Device.

Presumably, Quint also possessed the Wing Road spell, which Ginga and Subaru inherited from her as an "Inherent Magic" as commented by Shario Finieno; and which Nove gained as an Inherent Skill, i.e. Air Liner.

And we'd already decided to bring the Nakajimas into the Metacontinuity as of Nanoha A's, two years before Quint died.

So... do we have somebody else in the Metacontinuity who uses both inline skates and magic, and is young enough to learn new things easily? (looks at Venice Beach) Anyone? Anyone?

[robkelk]

I just added to the wiki a little something for one-off horror stories:

Unlike the others, Ryoga [Hibiki] actually does get out and meet other people -- mostly by accident. His wandering is mostly limited to the Maritimes in Canada and New England in the USA (and, with the conditions that prevail in Metacontinuity, it's amazing how many Adventure Towns there are in the area -- and between the combined works of Stephen King and H. P. Lovecraft, the conditions in these towns sometimes need the attention of somebody with Ryoga's abilities), but he's made it as far as the Toronto area at least once. This has made him the second-most-knowledgeable person about the Metacontinuity at the place in Nova Scotia, behind Epsilon.

Would anybody care to write a one-off horror story?

[robkelk]

We need Kaleido Stage in the Metacontinuity for this one:

A story featuring Mia Guillem and Minako Aino.

[Bob Schroeck]

Fortunately, we have it.

[robkelk]

It is canon in Lucky Star that Kagami Hiiragi likes Full Metal Panic Fumoffu?! to the point that one of the few decorations in her bedroom is a Bonta-kun plushie, and the only song she sang on her own during the karaoke session that we see in the endings of Lucky Star was the show's opening theme.

She is now in the Metacontinuity, in Montreal... and she's showing up early enough that she can attend the 2016 Christmas Party.

What is she going to do when she actually meets Sosuke and Kaname?

[robkelk]

Can anybody think of anything that the most famous member of AKB48 who never existed could do in the Metacontinuity? Or would dropping Aimi Eguchi into the setting be a case of "cute idea, but what do we do with her?"

EDIT: Besides "Have her sing backup for Hokago Tea Time and the other bands in NJ", that is.

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, eventually any displacee with musical skills are going to end up in the studio at Douglass Gardens... But regarding Aimi Eguchi, maybe she would be a good subject for a story about the first collision between the displacees and their rights holders.

[Black Aeronaut]

If you got your heart set on it, then you can go whole hog and bring in AKB0048.  (Or, as it's properly stylized, AKB∞48)

What's great about this is that all the characters, while voice by members of AKB48, are otherwise entirely fictional.  So this way it will make things a a little easier WRT intellectual property within the setting.

BONUS: This will fit into the setting in that they legitimately have their own freakin' space ship (and it's pretty damn awesome looking, too) from which they conduct guerilla concert performances.

Yes.  I mean "guerilla" in a literal sense.  They will go into authoritarian territories where they are banned by the government (like how the USSR forbade music from Western nations), and put on a show for their fans who are stuck behind enemy lines.

With this, you can not only have Aimi Eguchi there, but have her actually playing a very real part in things.

Other Thoughts: since Aimi Eguchi is artificial, then why not have her be a Piffle Project that got a little out of hand?  This will give her the distinction of being the Forever Pop Idol - she'll go on hiatus for years and years at a time, letting the newer girls have their time in the limelight, then come back from some sort of soul-searching journey, and sporting a bunch of new sounds and new ideas.  This way, her existence as the "Forever" idol of AKB0048 never gets old.  Instead, her breaks from the biz are accepted, and her returns to the stage are eagerly anticipated.

[Bob Schroeck]

From what little I've seen of AKB0048, at least some of the girls also have personal fightercraft, IIRC. And isn't the ship itself basically the stage?

[Black Aeronaut]

Yep, it is that indeed. Swoops right on in, and what would be the vehicle bay on some ships drops down and becomes an instant stage.

They also got an uber-fan club that pretty much plays the role of rodeo clowns with their enemies. They also direct the audience safely through evacuation routes to keep people from getting trampled.

[robkelk]

Quick idea for a low-pressure low-drama story: Shinobu, Janie and Febrie take a short vacation in a rural setting. They meet Professor Tatsuo Kusakabe (an archaeologist), his wife Yasuko, and their daughters Satsuki and Mei, who have moved to a place in the country for Yasuko's health. The story is told from Febrie and Mei's point of view.

If you don't recognize the Kusakabe family,

Spoiler

go re-watch My Neighbor Totoro.

[robkelk]

Here's a plotbunny for anybody who's interested in writing a short story in the setting but doesn't know what to write. (And, of course, who has time to write it.) If you're interested in becoming a writer here and would prefer to "try out" for a spot in the writers' circle, feel free to develop this idea into a story.

Ryouga Hibiki, the eternally lost boy from Ranma ½, gets lost once again. Since he (and the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew, minus Happosai and the Kunos) lives in Nova Scotia in this setting, that means he's stumbled across the border and into Lovecraft Country. And he's found a Colour Out of Space. Not being a complete moron... no, wait. Not finding anything he can punch, he makes a note of it and moves on.

When he finally gets back in touch with the other displacees, he mentions having found something unworldly that was sucking the life energy out of everything around it. That sounds like a job for the Sailor Senshi! So they're dispatched to Ryouga's current location - via Sailor Teleport so that they actually arrive before he leaves. They can destroy or drive off this being that's draining life energy, right? That's what they do in their home universe, after all.

Now, the first problem with this plan is that it assumes Ryouga can re-find a place that he's only visited once before. The second problem is that a Colour Out of Space is an Outside Context Problem, much like Pharaoh 90 - driving it off won't be as easy as the Sailors expect.

[Black Aeronaut]

Easy. Ryoga has a rare moment of common sense and logs the location in his phone using the GPS mapping software.