My Apartment Manager is not a Planning Thread, #14

[robkelk]

This thread is for discussion of the My Apartment Manager is not an Isekai Character setting as a whole, and how individual story ideas might fit into the setting.

See the sticky thread Possibly-useful threads, down the line for the previous pre-retcon and mid-retcon planning threads.

[robkelk]

I made a joke in the mid-retcon threads about Kamen Rider walking into Whirlwind to order a bike... and now I'm wondering: Do we include toku in the setting?

Besides Sailor Moon, that is. But that's animated toku, while Kamen Rider / Ultraman / Power Rangers / Mighty Lady / etc. are live-action, if it makes a difference.

This doesn't affect anything I'm working on right now; I'm just curious at this point.

[Norgarth]

Live action sources are already part of the plan, aren't they? Or has the Firefly crew been dropped post retcon?

And Data was going to be hanging out with the Sexaroids as I recall...

[robkelk]

"Live action" and "toku" are not synonyms.

[Norgarth]

ah, my misunderstanding then.

[Labster]

If anyone is rereading the stories I posted today in "Strange Tides", you might feel like you've read some of this before. That makes sense because it combined three old stories, rearranged some text, and added a fourth chapter. Personally, I enjoyed rereading it again as part of the rewriting process, but if it seems a little repetitive to you, almost all of the new content is in chapter 3 "Hacking Things Together".

Of course, based on the lack of reaction to the first story, it's probably safer to assume that no one is reading it.

[robkelk]

I have a couple of stories ready to re-post, but I'll give folks a day to read Labster's story first.

As I mentioned in the sticky "Where can I find everything?"

And, since the plan is to have each story be complete in the first post of its thread, commentary can be posted in the same thread, right after the story.

[Labster]

I wasn't expecting to write that tonight, but I saw something that seemed fun. But that brings up two things -- first, I'm still not sure when the Kaleido Stage arrives. I discussed that on the phone call, but the only conclusion we had was: late November at the earliest.

Second, what are the civilian names for the "Asteroid Senshi"? They kind of grew up in a really weird environment, so nothing from canon. They're going to have to tell HAL something. I did write on the topic before:

Possibly June, Virginia, Athena, ... Miss Granger? Or something in Japanese. On pun based themes for sailors, maybe Ceres is 米野 真 (Komeno Sana "grain's truth") (pun courtesy of Osaka). Or is it crazy to give fan names to characters?

I came at again phonetically this time, and got June, Vesta, Paula, and Kari/Keri/Kerry/Karen. In Latin, that's a hard "C" in Ceres. Virginia is a reference to the Vestal Virgins (or didn't you know that Hestia was a virgin goddess?).

Oh, and it would be cool if their initials formed a RWBY team name. Not for any reason, just cause it would be cool. If I called Juno "Hera" the would be Team HVAC, and there's nothing cooler than air conditioning, right? Right, I'm done for now.

[robkelk]

I wasn't expecting to write that tonight, but I saw something that seemed fun.  But that brings up two things -- first, I'm still not sure when the Kaleido Stage arrives.  I discussed that on the phone call, but the only conclusion we had was: late November at the earliest.

Second, what are the civilian names for the "Asteroid Senshi"?  They kind of grew up in a really weird environment, so nothing from canon.  They're going to have to tell HAL something. I did write on the topic before:

Possibly June, Virginia, Athena, ... Miss Granger? Or something in Japanese. On pun based themes for sailors, maybe Ceres is 米野 真 (Komeno Sana "grain's truth") (pun courtesy of Osaka). Or is it crazy to give fan names to characters?

One bit of trivia: the DiC dub of Sailor Moon renamed the Ginga siblings (Ail and An) to "Granger". There are plenty of opportunities to mis-route owls from Hogwarts here.


Checking WikiMoon's entries for the Asteroid Senshi...

Aliases: Sailor Ceres (manga, musicals, Crystal)
...
English Name: Selesele (dub), CereCere (manga), Cere-Cere (Viz dub)

Aliases: Sailor Juno (manga, musicals, Crystal)
...
English Name: Junjun (dub), JunJun (manga), Jun-Jun (Viz dub)

Aliases: Sailor Pallas (manga, musicals, Crystal)
...
English Name: Parapara (dub), PallaPalla (manga), Palla-Palla (Viz dub)

Aliases: Sailor Vesta (manga, musicals, Crystal)
...
English Name: Besubesu (dub), VesVes (manga), Ves-Ves (Viz dub)

Not what I would call helpful here, except maybe calling Ves-ves "Bess". We're just going to have to make something up.

I came at again phonetically this time, and got June, Vesta, Paula, and Kari/Keri/Kerry/Karen.  In Latin, that's a hard "C" in Ceres.  Virginia is a reference to the Vestal Virgins (or didn't you know that Hestia was a virgin goddess?).

Oh, and it would be cool if their initials formed a RWBY team name. Not for any reason, just cause it would be cool.  If I called Juno "Hera" the would be Team HVAC, and there's nothing cooler than air conditioning, right?  Right, I'm done for now.

"Ginny" for Virginia/Vesta and Hera for Juno would give GHAC. Which sounds better in the original Klingon.

EDIT: If we follow the first dub and call Vesta "Bess", we could get BACH...

[Bob Schroeck]

If I called Juno "Hera" the would be Team HVAC, and there's nothing cooler than air conditioning, right? Right, I'm done for now.

  Little Ba-dum-tiss.png (Size: 95.56 KB / Downloads: 182)

[Bob Schroeck]

"Ginny" for Virginia/Vesta and Hera for Juno would give GHAC. Which sounds better in the original Klingon.

EDIT: If we follow the first dub and call Vesta "Bess", we could get BACH...

But would we be in time?

More seriously, I was going to suggest "Paula" for "Pallas", but that only makes the acronym formation harder.

[Labster]

The acronym thing really is optional. It's not like we have one for the Sailor Team, do we? Inners minus Usagi gives AMMR (you seen my 'ammer, 'Arry?) or MARM or RAMM or ARMM --- okay all of those kind of work.

Juno seems to be stuck with June in my head, but one of the epithets was Juno Lucina, so Lucy would work. Another was Juno Curitis, and June Curtis sounds like a perfectly fine name -- even if it is getting mixed with Jane Curtin in my head. And June Carter too. But yeah, it's probably going to be June Curtis.

Pallas is a bit harder, and she's the only Greek name we have in here. Thankfully, Minerva is very closely identified with Athena Pallas, unlike other Roman gods, so no big deal here. My only options I've found that sound good are Athena, Minerva, and Paula. She's also associated with knowledge... so how about Paula Julie Knowledge? I'm sure that couldn't be confused with anyone else.

For Vesta, I like Bess and Ginny too. Oh well, I'll think some more.

[Mamorien]

1) I'm blowing the dust off my ideas about bringing Team Deathberry and the Spartoi into play; details when and as I get them written. (I still want to bring in Néo et famille, whom I swear I can keep mostly PG-13, but given how often shi got rejected from Dreamwidth RP comms, I'm mentally scouting out alternatives.)

2) In case anyone needed it, I asked Google Translate to put the title into Japanese and got 俺のアパートの管理人は異世界キャラじゃない (Ore no Apāto no Kanrinin wa Isekai Kyara janai), which I would abbreviate (thus translating ManaChara) as either ApaKyara or KanKyara. If I do jump on board, I'll be using it (with variations like 俺のアパートの管理人は死神じゃない)

[Labster]

I have been calling it KanKyara in my head for months now. And using boku instead of ore, which is more unisex for our bokukko, but of course watashi is more gender neutral.

On #1 I can see you used complete sentences but I have no idea what you’re talking about. Except to say that the rating is not a hard and fast rule, but just to make sure other authors are comfortable with it. Very often, gratuitous anything doesn’t make a story better, but we don’t care at all about strong language or smoking tobacco, both of which earn R ratings these days.

[Mamorien]

I have been calling it KanKyara in my head for months now.

Good number.

And using boku instead of ore, which is more unisex for our bokukko, but of course watashi is more gender neutral.

Google spat out ore, and given my protagonists (see below), I think it's actually a little more appropriate.

On #1 I can see you used complete sentences but I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Néo (ネオ) is the protagonist of that ふたなり村 thing I was (and technically remain) a fan of. Team Deathberry is, in case you forgot, Ichigo Kurosaki and his family and friends (those whom Spoiler Man specifically stated his intent to destroy, plus the next generation and a stuffed toy), and the Spartoi are Death the Younger, his last weapon Soul Evans, and the other associated meisters and weapons (and one young witch).

the rating is not a hard and fast rule, but just to make sure other authors are comfortable with it. Very often, gratuitous anything doesn’t make a story better, but we don’t care at all about strong language or smoking tobacco, both of which earn R ratings these days.

I wanted to bring them into TNB; it looks like I got pushback that's been deleted. I can confidently say I'll keep any sex scenes off-camera, and if the Lolos are allowed in, I promise I'll get clothes on them as quickly as possible.

[robkelk]

I wanted to bring them into TNB; it looks like I got pushback that's been deleted. I can confidently say I'll keep any sex scenes off-camera, and if the Lolos are allowed in, I promise I'll get clothes on them as quickly as possible.

I'd appreciate that, thank you. Lime is one thing, and I've written that myself in this project; lemon is another thing altogether.

[Labster]

Néo (ネオ) is the protagonist of that ふたなり村 thing I was (and technically remain) a fan of. Team Deathberry is, in case you forgot, Ichigo Kurosaki and his family and friends (those whom Spoiler Man specifically stated his intent to destroy, plus the next generation and a stuffed toy), and the Spartoi are Death the Younger, his last weapon Soul Evans, and the other associated meisters and weapons (and one young witch).

the rating is not a hard and fast rule, but just to make sure other authors are comfortable with it. Very often, gratuitous anything doesn’t make a story better, but we don’t care at all about strong language or smoking tobacco, both of which earn R ratings these days.

I wanted to bring them into TNB; it looks like I got pushback that's been deleted. I can confidently say I'll keep any sex scenes off-camera, and if the Lolos are allowed in, I promise I'll get clothes on them as quickly as possible.

I don't think there was any pushback that was deleted?  I don't believe I was involved back then, but we didn't actually delete any threads recently.  You might have gotten some I haven't seen, but all I got from that thread was BA saying it was okay with him, and suggesting something even more over the top, to which Bob OMGed, and then you were mostly ignored.  Ideas are cheap, but a few lines of dialogue go a long way towards people seeing an idea as something to be seriously considered.

But I might as well start the pushback.  I actually never knew the Deathberry thing, though it makes sense with him being an Ichigo and all.  I stopped watching Bleach a little bit into the first filler arc; the first arc was great but the show went downhill so fast (IMO) that I just started getting bored of all of the new characters, while ignoring character development on the old ones.  This is the mangaka who famously said that if he doesn't know what to write he just starts drawing new characters.  I've read a few Bleach doujinshi, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone (anyone really) could do a better job with the characters than the original author.

On Futanari Mura, I followed the links that were still working, and found this summary (NSFW) with somewhat annoying pronouns added.  So is that the entire plot, one porn movie?  Or is there other fic/doujinshi in the canon?

If I were to chose anything NSFW to add to the story, it would probably be the porn-with-plot EARTH GIRLS (NSFW), which is basically about a prehistoric tribe of lesbians, who do things like hunting and gathering and making clothes while not having sex.  But like, I don't know, I'm having enough trouble/fun with culture shock from Artoria Pendragon, and adding prehistoric folks in would be even more of that.

[Mamorien]

Néo (ネオ) is the protagonist of that ふたなり村 thing I was (and technically remain) a fan of. Team Deathberry is, in case you forgot, Ichigo Kurosaki and his family and friends (those whom Spoiler Man specifically stated his intent to destroy, plus the next generation and a stuffed toy), and the Spartoi are Death the Younger, his last weapon Soul Evans, and the other associated meisters and weapons (and one young witch).

the rating is not a hard and fast rule, but just to make sure other authors are comfortable with it. Very often, gratuitous anything doesn’t make a story better, but we don’t care at all about strong language or smoking tobacco, both of which earn R ratings these days.

I wanted to bring them into TNB; it looks like I got pushback that's been deleted. I can confidently say I'll keep any sex scenes off-camera, and if the Lolos are allowed in, I promise I'll get clothes on them as quickly as possible.

I don't think there was any pushback that was deleted?  I don't believe I was involved back then, but we didn't actually delete any threads recently.  You might have gotten some I haven't seen, but all I got from that thread was BA saying it was okay with him, and suggesting something even more over the top, to which Bob OMGed, and then you were mostly ignored.  Ideas are cheap, but a few lines of dialogue go a long way towards people seeing an idea as something to be seriously considered.

But I might as well start the pushback.  I actually never knew the Deathberry thing, though it makes sense with him being an Ichigo and all.  I stopped watching Bleach a little bit into the first filler arc; the first arc was great but the show went downhill so fast (IMO) that I just started getting bored of all of the new characters, while ignoring character development on the old ones.  This is the mangaka who famously said that if he doesn't know what to write he just starts drawing new characters.  I've read a few Bleach doujinshi, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone (anyone really) could do a better job with the characters than the original author.

On Futanari Mura, I followed the links that were still working, and found this summary (NSFW) with somewhat annoying pronouns added.  So is that the entire plot, one porn movie?  Or is there other fic/doujinshi in the canon?

If I were to chose anything NSFW to add to the story, it would probably be the porn-with-plot EARTH GIRLS (NSFW), which is basically about a prehistoric tribe of lesbians, who do things like hunting and gathering and making clothes while not having sex.  But like, I don't know, I'm having enough trouble/fun with culture shock from Artoria Pendragon, and adding prehistoric folks in would be even more of that.

I could've sworn I got more pushback at the time. Maybe I was just thinking of Bob's OMG (and BA saying that H-titles should go in a separate apāto) and remembering it hitting me harder than was perhaps intended (the way BA's critiques hit some people harder, and some people's critiques in turn hit BA harder, than either side intended).

The filler arcs in general, and the Bount in particular, are more the fault of impatient Pierrot execs than of kubotite himself, but I cannot, in good conscience, dispute your other points. One either likes BLEACH despite those factors or one doesn't, and there's only so much another can do to prompt reconsideration.

And as far as I know, the movie is the sum total of the canon. As the creator of the linked journal (and its original LJ incarnation), I extrapolated some details of worldbuilding for RP purposes (on the likes of dear_mun, sages_of_chaos and the_love_hotel). I was thinking of having "myself" turn out to have quite a bit of it wrong. (It wouldn't be the first time I reëvaluated the characters and their world; when the Zenra Movie Annex released a version with subtitles, I was obliged to throw out some prior assumptions.)

And I'm pretty sure EARTH GIRLS is beyond what we're bringing in this time around, from the standpoint of cultural compatibility, as (probably) is Thunderbolt Fantasy. Although, in terms of culture shock, part of me wants Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert to go from standing on the shores of Paradis at last, looking toward Marley and vowing to make it fear the Children of Ymir again... to standing on a beach in our world, maybe in Pensacola, maybe in California, maybe even in New Jersey, getting compliments on their Survey Corps cosplay from the first true strangers they've ever met.

[Labster]

I'm mostly responsible for the last major retcon we decided to make to the setting.  Which is not the last in terms of work remaining, since the Halloween party still needs to be moved to (checks watch) New Jersey.  Actually, what is changing is the very name of the setting.

From what I noticed, our conception of the universe has changed, both in terms of our planning, and what is actually published in our eponymous introductory story.  No longer is it a weird or auxiliary universe, or anything to do with a backup state on a divine computer.  It's not a side universe, so the name Metacontinuity no longer made sense for us.  Nor is it weird that people would move to another universe, as universes flowing back together is a normal (super)natural process.

Due to a series of improbable events, the normal way in which universes branch and merge back has been greatly disrupted, leading to a storm that cascades across the multiverse.  Our setting is a universe that just happened to be sitting in a low energy state.  And so other people and stories naturally fell into this energy minimum, which has managed to be safe among the gyre of instability that has been halting other timelines, one after another.  This little slice of the multiverse at the eye of the storm has come to be known as the Refuge.

And no, I didn't come up with the name.  My "best" suggestion turned out to be already taken by a cyberpunk porn game.  We've had the Refuge named for the better part of the week, and it feels comfy already, so I thought I'd go ahead and announce it.

Coming very soon is a document that will get much deeper into the setting and how it works together.  It's not a story, but an in-universe "Bacon Book" that I've written, so that we can stick a book in the hands of each displacee rather than explain everything.  It is really kind of a weird thing, since there's a whole chapter of things that everyone reading this already knows, since you live in a reality so similar to the Refuge.  But some in-universe people would really need to know it, so I couldn't leave it out.  A book written for theoretical readers, not actual readers.  I'm insane, I know.

[Bob Schroeck]

Heh. If you're insane, the rest of us are, too, because we all agreed it made perfect sense and have added our own bits here and there.

[Labster]

Well, to us, it’s kind of a series bible, but from an in-universe perspective. Having that is more useful to a writer than to anyone else.

I just realized today that I need to retcon a still unwritten scene (maybe just con it?), because of news of the past week. It turns out Hasbro has decided to move itself onto the “Dead To Me” board, Papa Colbert style, after they decided to revoke the Open Game License 1.0a after 20 years. They kinda-but-not-really backtracked today after the community went into open revolt, but the new version is still rent-seeking, and the trust has all evaporated.

Oh, anyway, Sakura Kinomoto doesn’t get to play a D&D game after all. It will have to be something else, like Pathfinder. I mean, I can’t play Paranoia with her since Takashi Yamazaki didn’t make it to Aria House. And I’ll have to change the universe it was set in too. It was going to be Eberron, but not any more. Maybe the Silver Millennium would be a cool setting for magitech?

[Bob Schroeck]

May I suggest, purely out of personal interest, GURPS instead?

[robkelk]

If it was Yomi, Chiyo-chan, or Sakaki, GURPS would be a good choice, but Sakura might be overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices she can make during character creation.

If you can find a copy of Big Eyes, Small Mouth, that would be perfect for gaming in the Silver Millennium. Sailor Moon was the first setting licensed for that system, after all. (EDIT: Oh, and Minako wants to play, too.)

[Norgarth]

I seem to recall that BESM had a licensed Tenchi setting too. 8P

[robkelk]

Coming very soon is a document that will get much deeper into the setting and how it works together.  It's not a story, but an in-universe "Bacon Book" that I've written, so that we can stick a book in the hands of each displacee rather than explain everything.  It is really kind of a weird thing, since there's a whole chapter of things that everyone reading this already knows, since you live in a reality so similar to the Refuge.  But some in-universe people would really need to know it, so I couldn't leave it out.  A book written for theoretical readers, not actual readers.  I'm insane, I know.

I'm wondering whether we should also post our Glossary page here...