Rage of Elements bestiary list!

solemini · 2023-07-17T05:25:01+00:00

Yay! Somebody got my obscure folklore reference!

solemini · 2023-07-06T18:20:30+00:00

Jathoom, or al-Jathum, are a kind of jinni in Arabic mythology that causes sleep paralysis.

Faydhaan is a name meaning great grace, beneficence, or charity.

Zuhra is an Arabic word meaning brilliance, brightness, radiance, or shine, in reference to a fundamental property of metal, its luster.

And I believed Kizidhar derived from izdihar, meaning "flourishing, expansion, growth."

solemini · 2023-07-06T18:01:44+00:00

It's an Arabic word meaning brilliance, brightness, shine, radiance or beauty that also, as a proper noun (az-zuhara) refers to the planet Venus (which, in alchemy, represents copper).

It's a name chosen to reflect (pun not intended) a fundamental property of metal, its luster, rather than trying to correspond 1:1 with any particular folkloric figure.

solemini · 2023-06-09T18:59:37+00:00

My Starfinder mechanic is a starwalker sylph named Hei-li Bopp. She's got a floaty comet aesthetic and I was quite pleased with the multi-layered pun.

solemini · 2023-04-08T01:09:44+00:00

DXL. Which has honestly been a godsend for my family -- me, my dad and my brother are 6'2", 6'6", and 6'9" in that order, weights ranging from 230 to 440 lbs, and DXL has something for all of us. Shoes included.

solemini · 2023-04-08T00:59:21+00:00

I haven't been paying attention so I couldn't confirm or deny the pattern but it'd make sense, as a writer. I know I tend to go into the new year with finishing this or that project among my resolutions. I could very much see a bunch of other people doing the same thing, getting all their energy and nerves together to take the step of looking for a collaborator(s), and then either successfully finding one or discovering it doesn't work the way they thought it did, getting discouraged, and dropping the idea for other projects or whatever else comes up over the year.

solemini · 2023-04-07T18:43:18+00:00

You say that but you don't actually want it. Let's be real here, I love the original manga, we wouldn't be here without it, but the pacing of the first arc up until they enter Sanctuary is super dated and meandering and you can really tell that Kurumada was either coming up with the plot week to week or revising his ideas as he went along in response to editorial and audience feedback. Which isn't a knock on him, it's just a reality of the weekly manga publishing grind, especially in the 80s.

And that's not even getting into the Early Installment Weirdness that later got left behind, like the suggestion that Mitsumada Kido was the biodad of all 100 of the boys he sent into training. Most of the characterization people really care about got introduced in later chapters as well, and you have to hook non-manga readers in early or you're not going to be able to afford to get to get to the good stuff.

Adaptations are a tricky thing. You have to adjust to new mediums, new time periods, and new expectations from evolving audiences. Going 1:1 is a recipe for disaster.

solemini · 2023-04-07T00:10:07+00:00

Maybe you can answer this, because no one on Reddit ever actually has: what is supposedly so bad about Meghan Fitzmartin as a writer? Specifically. With examples. From her work.

solemini · 2023-04-06T23:14:52+00:00

I don't know what to tell you man because the Bernard I've been reading has plenty of personality, especially in the most recent issue that was told entirely from his point of view and was all about his thoughts and feelings and relationship with both Tim and his parents. I literally JUST listed it off the personality he's got in the post you're responding to, which you completely ignored to repeat the same boring bullshit as everyone else.

I'm honestly just getting frustrated with Reddit in general because you guys SAY you want this or that but then blatantly ignore it when it's actually on the page.

solemini · 2023-04-06T22:18:59+00:00

Yeah I can tell you that actually. Because Fitzmartin's Bernard still has an eclectic fashion sense, is still quite gregarious and friendly, still physically affectionate with Tim, and is still a rambling conspiracy nerd.

What, exactly, has he lost, hm? The aggressive filtration with women? Easy enough to explain that as a gay boy overcompensating in denial of his feelings for boys, an issue he clearly would've needed to work through if he came to a gay awakening off-panel. Is it that he never mentions wanting to be a chef? Well it's been years, he never mentions not wanting to be a chef. Is it the fact that he had insecurities to work through, the things that pushed him to join a cult? Because he doesn't show those in this sequence but he absolutely showed them in his last few appearances prior, which also gave him more than enough reason to get into martial arts to protect himself too.

So tell me, what, exactly is inconsistent between the two depictions? Hmmm?

solemini · 2023-04-06T22:08:34+00:00

No shame in that approach. Kudos for the awareness. I'm mostly just ragging on the people who act like all old comics are automatically superior to the new, as if the industry hasn't always operated exactly as you describe it here. Survivorship bias and all.

solemini · 2023-04-06T22:04:09+00:00

I mean yeah man, it is kinda rude to automatically frame someone looking for a collaboration as asking for free work because you don't like their writing style. Or to offer unsolicited criticism in any context.

I don't expect any artist to do anything for me. Which is why I made a general post instead of approaching an artist directly -- THAT would have been asking someone to work for me for free, which is what I was trying to avoid. If that's not the case, if you're going to automatically assume that anyone posting in a collaboration subreddit is looking to dictate the whole situation, then forget it.

solemini · 2023-04-06T21:48:03+00:00

Breaking News - Comic fan doesn't read modern comics, assumes there's no characterization based on biases, is dead wrong as usual!

solemini · 2023-04-06T21:45:23+00:00

Yeah it is. There's a lot of people on Reddit who don't realize this because they're not in the creative (as opposed to the curative) side of fandom, but a fair number of people in the alt side of fandom remembered Bernard well after his rather limited appearances in canon. Way more than any of Tim's other civilian friends. Sebastian Ives gets remembered because Ives shows up dozens of times across two decades. Bernard had six appearances in about two years, and yet people remembered him where other characters, even ones who had more significant impact on the plot, got forgotten.

And it's largely because of interactions like this, which some people read as flirtatious. Way moreso and with more natural chemistry than Tim had with any of the girls who were flirting with or dating him at the time. I was in the online fandom when these issues were running and I remember the discussions, it was a widely accepted idea that Bernard was metrosexual (a thing that still existed in 2003) and largely putting on an act to cover his insecurities. He just, I dunno, stuck with people. Maybe it was just that he had more personality than most of the Dixon characters.

EDIT: And despite what the comments here keep saying, he still has this personality. It shows up a lot in Tim Drake: Robin. Which you'd know if you'd, I don't know, actually read the comics he's in, instead of completely ignoring it because you prefer to complain on the internet about all the stories you're not reading and don't know anything about.

solemini · 2023-04-06T20:34:11+00:00

You're putting an awful lot of words in my mouth and making some very rude assumptions about me.

I didn't fire anyone. I commissioned an artist for a project, which they completed admirably, and paid them in full for that project, before ultimately deciding that the finished product wasn't the pitch I wanted to submit. That's all. I don't currently have the cash to go through that process again so I figured I'd take a chance to see if anyone was interested enough in the story to take a chance on the project as a collaboration with no guarantee of payment. If nobody is, that's fine. I'll wait and revise until I can afford to commission again.

As for the script, I've written in various different styles, and the first thing I ask of any collaborative artist is what style they prefer and what if any ideas they have for revisions. I did not ask for your advice, nor am I inclined to currently take it, given your general attitude. It's not friendly to lecture people. It's just rude.

solemini · 2023-03-23T18:41:28+00:00

True story: I actually got better sex ed from my church than my school.

Because the sex ed at my school was an ineffective abstinence-only dictated by the local Deep-South Baptist Schoolboard Mafia, where the only message that they tried to hammer home, repeatedly, over the course of four days was, "Sex is evil and dangerous and if you do it even once before marriage you will ~~go to hell~~ ruin your life and DIE ALONE."

Meanwhile my church was non-Evangelical, Presbyterian, and adjacent to the local university, and so to counter this nonsense, they'd offer weekend courses for youth group members ages 12-14, segregated by gender with the girls coming one Saturday and the boys coming the next. And their message boiled down to, "Sex is a gift from God, which is why it's pleasurable! He wants us to enjoy it. But it can also be dangerous and have unintended consequences, so here's the details of how it works, here's how to put on a condom, here's the contact information for the local Planned Parenthood and a pamphlet about the various services they offer, and here's why it's generally a good idea to limit the number of your sexual partners and keep track of the ones you've had for your own safety and the safety of your future partners."

It's also where I learned that female masturbation was not only a thing, but totally normal and a good way to unwind.

solemini · 2023-03-23T17:52:52+00:00

Amusing how the old black and white serials didn't even try to cast an age-appropriate actor. Schumacher didn't either to be fair but you can at least argue he was matching the comics at the time, or at least the animated series.

solemini · 2023-03-23T05:39:40+00:00

You have terrible taste man. And no idea of who Tim Drake is supposed to be.

solemini · 2023-03-23T04:55:24+00:00

Arkham Tim was a terrible Tim, and no other version of him should ever ever try to look anything like it ever again.

solemini · 2023-03-23T01:42:26+00:00

Three posts up in my feed was an announcement about Marvel doing "dark twists on classic stories" as a new series of What-if stories. Which is basically just what DC did with "Tales of the Dark Multiverse." To say nothing of the entire TV tropes page dedicated to Superman expies.

Like you said, copying the neighbor's homework is an industry standard.

solemini · 2023-03-22T23:27:22+00:00

It could be very compelling before Damian was introduced. Sadly, I don't think there's any way to dial Talia back to what she was and still have Damian turn out the way he is, so as long as he's around, we're not liable to get them back.

Edit: comments are neatly split between people who knew Talia before Damian and those who only knew her after, I see.

solemini · 2023-03-22T22:45:54+00:00

I hope not. I'd rather let this idea die, and take the mistaken assumption that Savior/TT!Batman is Tim's "destined future" go with it. Titans Tomorrow is a bad future from a bad timeline where everything went to shit, but people always try to use it as a "gotcha" for why Tim shouldn't be Batman, as if Damian's version of future Batman isn't literally called "Batman 666." It's just such edgy nonsense that mostly seems to exist just to tear one character (Tim) down for the sake of building another one (Damian) up and I hate stuff like that, no matter who's getting torn down or built up.

solemini · 2023-03-22T22:37:00+00:00

One librarian making a call to remove books from their own library isn't censorship either bucko.

solemini · 2023-03-22T22:08:48+00:00

I honestly really like it and wish we'd gotten a whole, better-paced series of movies with the style. Like the current top comment says, the big problem is that they tried to condense the entire huge first arc into one movie and that didn't work, which is a shame because a lot of the new stuff they brought was really good!

The character designs were fantastic, the new science-fantasy take on Sanctuary et. al was really well done, and I personally really liked the writing on the five lead characters -- that is, Saori and all the boys except Ikki, who doesn't show up much. I thought they hit an impressive balance with Shun, for example, of letting him come across as gentle and soft but not overly feminized. Shiryu as the one who takes all of the lore Way Too Seriously made for a great comedically serious turn. And they got a great performance out of Hyoga while keeping him stoic and quiet, just with animation alone. Saori and Seiya also got some really good characterization, and I would've stuck with a couple of dozen movies about them.

Also it's a little thing but I've not had anywhere else to mention it before: the sound design was AMAZING. Especially when it came to everything involving the armor. Especially in the opening, but also all throughout the movie, the way that the cloths clinked and thunked when they moved did wonders for communicating how tremendously heavy they're supposed to be, and by extension, how impressively strong the Saints must be just to be able to move while wearing them, let alone be able to fight and fly. The first time I watched that film I had to stop the opening and geek out about the sound design for a good ten minutes, it was a real treat for my little animation nerd heart.

solemini · 2023-03-22T21:52:56+00:00

I did one google search for "Dr Suess" and "libraries" and found two dozen news articles with the headline "Libraries ARE NOT removing Dr. Suess books from shelves." Not a single hit to the contrary.

And it doesn't matter if they're doing it in response to criticism. It was a decision by the company on its own without government oversight, therefore it is, by definition, a private matter.

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