LXG: Og Make Mistake

Og here. Og want say sorry for two little problem in League Ex- Extr- in Bunch of Kick Ass Person game. Og not always think thing through right and so Og make two mistake when Og write diary of frozen North law man in red.

First mistake: Og forget how long wolf-dog live. Og count on fingers, toes other day. Og not see how frozen North law man dog Yukon King live more years than Og have finger, toe*. Maybe - if frozen North law man very good to Yukon King - wolf-dog live maybe one more hand of years. Maybe wolf-dog have puppy when wolf-dog very very old. But then Yukon Prince still very very old, because frozen North law man story start in . . . well, it start two hands, two feet of years before game happen. Og fool around with time so frozen North law man only five hands, five feet of years old, but that still make Yukon Prince very very old. Not good. So Og say, hmm, little mistake. Not problem. Frozen North law man dog not son of frozen North law man first dog, but son of second. This make Yukon Prince grandpuppy of Yukon King. Og figure Yukon King have puppy that frozen North law man call Duke. Duke good name for dog. Duke good dog but not like King. Duke have puppy with she-wolf, have Yukon Prince. Prince maybe one hand and two finger old. There. Og fix mistake.

Next mistake more stupid. It also spoiler, so ( Og make lj-cut here. )

There. Og think that all mistake. If Og not right, tell Og. Og fix mistake then.

Og have ten finger, ten toe. This more than some in Og old clan. Og clan leader, Grunk, have eight finger, nine toe. It very cold where Og clan live and Grunk lose toe one winter. Grunk lose two finger when Grunk not look hands as Grunk try make new kind axe from rock. But Og digress.

The Five Character Theory of Anime

Many years ago, when I played Dave "Speaks-Like-Microsoft" Grishin as a Glass Walker Ragabash at Metro: Toronto by Night, Dave was offered the chance to join a hengeyokai pack (sentai, whatever). Dave looked around at the others - a kitsune sorceror, a Bastet lady with wicked claws, a were-ferret* thief - and asked, "Where's the other one?"

"Excuse me?"

"The other one. We need five."

Dave rose in the kitsune's eyes after that statement, because the kitsune assumed Dave knew the positions of a sentai and the wisdom of having one of each position. This was not the case, but Dave had the sense to hold his tongue.

No, Dave was operating from the point of view of the Five Character Theory of Anime, which states:

"A successful long-running group of anime characters must consist of no less than five core characters, and those five characters must include:

The Hero,
The Brain,
The Big Guy,
The Other Guy, and
The Chick.

Other characters may be included - the Ancient Mentor, the Wizard, the Spooky One, and the Kid being the best candidates - but the core needs to have those five."

I got the Five Character Theory of Anime from GarouMUSH long ago, and while it's needed some tweaking off and on it does seem to make a lot of sense when you see what's out there. I tried applying it to the original cast of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and I think it works okay there as long as you assume that either the Yellow Ranger or the Black Ranger was the Big Guy, so there you are.

Today we had a staff meeting and I passed the time, as I usually do, scribbling pictures too small to have much detail on a piece of scrap paper. This time it was the League characters from cadhla's game. I looked at them after a bit and then started labeling.

Tom Swift - Brain
Hugo Danner - Big Guy
Dorothy Gale - Kid
Mary Poppins - Chick

Wasn't sure whether Sgt. Preston or the Shadow should be the Hero, since the other one would be stuck as the Other Guy. The alternative would be to declare Mary the Hero, Dorothy the Chick, Preston the Other Guy, and the Shadow the Spooky One.

Just a thought.


*Long story short - some staffers like to use their position as staffer to play Caine the Almighty, and some would rather play were-ferrets

Another reason why I'm glad I live when and where I do:

Listening to old radio serial MP3s, I run across an episode entitled 'Epidemic'. The disease in question is diphtheria (did I spell that right?). The show was broadcast in 1946, the story set in 1898 or 1899. Naturally, in the course of trying to save the locals, the hero falls ill with the disease - but not until after the local supply of antitoxin has run out.

I was immunized against diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus by the time I was eight years old. Probably earlier.

Go, modern medicine.