Young Justice/Teen Titans (OOC)

[Lunaramblings]

I honestly felt this was a little too magic-heavy, which is why I didn't accept it right off the bat. But what does everyone else think? Lunar is definitely very creative and did put a lot of thought and effort into this, I just think it would fit better in a world with a stronger focus on metaphysical/supernatural powers.

Hence why I sent it to you personally to discuss. I wrote so indepth based on trying to give explanation to the workings of these characters in a world where magic isn't just another flavor of super power. Which, again, not sure I understand how using my willpower/mind/study of esoteric script to alter myself and my surroundings is any different than a Martian completely rearranging their form on a sub-atomic level. Or a essentially human body being able to store the amount of energy it would take for Supes to do any of the things of which he is capable.

In the comics, Tim Hunter is just plain born to magic. No wonky bloodline and magic artifact to focus his power. He is just a member of the race known as Homo Magi. And, due to prophecy and mystical blah blah blah, set to become the most powerful magician ever. Becoming the new Merlin, which in DC is an honorific, not a specific person. I wrote the bloodline bit to fit into what you described as required for a magic user. Same with the rings.

As for Frank, as I said in my follow up email, He is essentially a variation on Cyborg. Where Cyborg has to go to the scrap yard to replace his bits and pieces, Frank goes to the morgue. Cyborg is all super hi-tech, never likely to actually exist psuedo-science. Frank is the same but with a steampunk/victorian twist.

And, as I also said, if you didn't feel comfortable with these toons I would have been willing to come up with something different.

Then you more or less blew up in the OOC and implied that myself and Chas, though not directly named, were trying to basically rewrite your world. Which is bullshit. I have no idea what Chas offered up or anything, but I personally bent over backwards to alter things to fit precisely into what you said Magic was/how it worked. If you didn't want any magic at all, fine, say so. But it is hurtful to me as a fellow writer to set a baseline, then flip out when someone tries to meet that baseline, and imply that they were being malicious in doing so.

At this point, I am just getting frustrated. I had intended to walk away, but feeling like I was being painted in a malicious light drew me back to try to defend my views. I have now officially said my piece.

I find it hilarious that you have no issue with Superman, whom was written with major nods to Biblical heroes, and who's name is a variation on a phrase meaning Voice of God, and who according to biographies of his creators was at least partially patterned after a combination of many sources including Angels, Samson, and Moses. Yet classical fantasy Magic is where you draw a line citing of all things atheism as why.

Jeff, I sincerely did not mean to upset you or try to alter your world. I offered means by which I could explore fringe characters within the context of the world you presented. I didn't mean to upset you or whatever. Hopefully we can cross paths again in the future and work collectively. Clearly, this thread is not meant for myself. Have a wonderful time, I really hope that you clear whatever challenges your thread faces and that it goes on to great success.

 

[The Jeffinator]

I'll admit, I've been a tad crankier than usual because I was having bad leg pain, took too many ibuprofen, and gave myself what I suspect is an ulcer. If I go more than three or four hours without eating, I get intense stomach pain. My head has also been killing me for the last few days and I can't take anything for it because I need to let the ulcer heal.

That being said, I likely still would have responded in a similar way, just maybe not quite so strongly. I never said you guys were acting with malicious intent, I just got frustrated that something like that happens in ever single RP I do, just about.

And by mentioning I was an atheist I was implying that if the details don't at least partially add up, my mind views it as unrealistic. Do you have any idea how hard it is being a geek when so many of your favorite franchises make errors that drive your OCD wild? Like I hate in the Marvel Cinematic Universe how everyone in the while friggen galaxy knows English, especially Asgardians who should speak some variation of Old Norse. And in DC, Atlanteans and Amazonians should speak some variation of Old Greek, not English. And as I've already stated, I tent to power down the big heroes like Superman. He is way too OP in the comics.

The reason I have no problem with genetic super powers but do with magic is that, at least genetic powers are somewhat realistic. I love Harry Potter, but I can't stand how the universe just knows when they speak a spell -- the time Harry used Levicorpus and Sectumsempra, he had no idea what he was doing. He just waved his wand, said the words and the universe responded. That drove me fucking bananas, lol. I can understand if someone says the words to give scope to the spell in their mind like Harry Dresden, but in worlds like Harry Potter, it seems like spells are actually cheat codes for the real world -- just say the word and the effect automatically happens. But that, to me, only flies in an artificial world where reality is specifically programmed with that in mind. There are some exceptions, though, like the Patronus spell.

And my big problem with Frank is that you have him made of flesh that doesn't bleed, meaning any limbs he attached would rot away unless somehow preserved, and even then, he needs something to keep his joints moving and his body hydrated, otherwise everything would stiffen up and he'd be a statue. How does he talk? He'd have a dry mouth and if there are no lungs, how does he take on air to form words? Try holding your breath and talking at the same time. As soon as you speak coherently, little bits of air escape. That's one thing that drives me crazy about vampire fiction -- they don't breath but still talk normally, lol.

 

[Sean Renaud]

There is no way of knowing when the Atlanteans or Amazons broke away from society to make any educated guess what they speak. They don't mention it in the movies for the sake of speed but in Marvel proper one of Thor's minor powers is he translates. Same as Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter. And Ironman. Pretty much if you have a techhead, psychic or magic user they are translating for the others around them. But can you imagine how tedious the comics and movies would be if they actually worked like this.

"@#$h hoih werh" Wonder Woman said.

"We're gonna kick some ass." Batman translated.

"Justice League, Assemble!" Superman shouts.

"@#$^ @34hj hoew" Batman translated back.

And Batman speaks every earth language and quite a few other dimensions, and planets.

So that's handwaved in universe. But it's really just because having language barriers in a story (that don't move the story forward, like why Supergirl doesn't just ask for Kal the moment her space ship crashes.) would be just be fucking tedious.

Though a lot of Marvel and DC problems can really be chalked up to the fact that it wasn't always a united universe and when you glue togetherdozens of universes shit gets complicated.

 

[ChasNicollette]

There is no way of knowing when the Atlanteans or Amazons broke away from society to make any educated guess what they speak. They don't mention it in the movies for the sake of speed but in Marvel proper one of Thor's minor powers is he translates. Same as Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter. And Ironman. Pretty much if you have a techhead, psychic or magic user they are translating for the others around them. But can you imagine how tedious the comics and movies would be if they actually worked like this.

"@#$h hoih werh" Wonder Woman said.

"We're gonna kick some ass." Batman translated.

"Justice League, Assemble!" Superman shouts.

"@#$^ @34hj hoew" Batman translated back.

And Batman speaks every earth language and quite a few other dimensions, and planets.

So that's handwaved in universe. But it's really just because having language barriers in a story (that don't move the story forward, like why Supergirl doesn't just ask for Kal the moment her space ship crashes.) would be just be fucking tedious.

Though a lot of Marvel and DC problems can really be chalked up to the fact that it wasn't always a united universe and when you glue togetherdozens of universes shit gets complicated.

Also there's the concept of universal translator spells, technology, and psionics. "Translator Microbes," to invoke the trope-name. Remember that Asgardians, at least, have Sufficiently Advanced Technology, so there may be some sort of translation technomagic in play for when Jane Foster's in the room. Similarly, Amazons are often depicted as having super advanced technology like The Purple Ray, and gifts from the gods and goddesses of Olympus. Diana herself has a gift for languages-- she struggles with some of the mnemonic differences between Mandarin and Cantonese, apparently --and can talk to animals as a secondary ability granted by Artemis.

Out in space, The Guardians of The Galaxy and so forth may be speaking some sort of interstellar universal language, like DC's InterLac, only they don't bother to portray the language-- they just show them speaking English, like the Russians in "Hunt for Red October" when Americans aren't in the room.

In the Young Justice cartoon, both spoken Martian and Atlantean was supplanted with Greek, so that's good, and Aquaman had a pretty awesome accent.

In my experience, people often speak languages with the accents of the people who taught them-- like people from India often speaking English with British accents because of the heavy British influence on their culture for so long. If the people of these isolated cultures found a way to learn the languages of the peoples around them, they may speak those languages with the accents they were taught.

 

[The Jeffinator]

I loved how Young Justice did it. They had multiple languages -- M'gann had to give them a psychic link on Rann, and I think J'onn had to do a psychic link for the JL when they are at trial on Rimbor. The scarab had to translate the Reach language for Jaime Reyes to understand them, and it also translated Japanese to understand that girl who's name I can't remember right now, lol.

I love how certain things about Young Justice had so much thought put into them, which is why that remains as my favorite superhero cartoon of all time. But other things -- even in YJ -- annoy me, such as Darkseid's name -- he is one of the biggest antagonists in the universe, and he goes by a name that sounds exactly like "dark side" in English. I used to pronounce it "dark seed" in my mind, haha. That's why I referred to him as Uxas instead of Darkseid. And in past RPs, I changed the name of his planet to Apokk, because Apokolips sounds kinda lame. When translated into English, Darkseid's galactic empire was usually either the Apokkian Dominion or the Apokkian Empire. But the word Apokk was in Darkseid's own language.

That's just how I am -- it's very hard for me to behind something if I can't rationalize it in my head. Right now, it is most prevalent in the RP world, but it applies to everything in my life. It's very hard to con me, it's very hard to convince me of something if I think it seems a little fishy. When I look at a preacher/televangelist who has a huge church and lots of money, I don't see a holy man -- I see a con man who knows how to capitalize on the gullibility of others.

I question everything, and I have been in plenty of debates and even lost friends because of it. Some people are outright insulted that I don't accept scripture as truth without questioning it.

Them: "You can't prove God doesn't exist!"
Me: "You're right -- but you can't prove that I don't have a pocket dimension in my closet that only I can perceive where I have a secret lab where I built a time machine to go back and author the scriptures myself to test humanity's gullibility. I can't prove God doesn't exist, but you can't prove your entire religion isn't just my personal science experiment."

Them: "If you're right, I'll still be okay, but if I'm right, you're going to Hell."
Me: "And if the Muslims are right, you and I both are going to Hell."

I also criticize mystical/paranormal shit too.

Them: "Ghosts are real! I've seen them!"
Me: "Are you absolutely positive your brain didn't create the experience? If you actually 'saw' a ghost, that means it had to be tangible enough to reflect light to your eyes, or emitted its own light. If you 'hear' ghostly voices, something has to generate physical sound waves to hit your ear drums. If there's no physical source for the experience, it is likely a sensory hallucination."

About that time I link them to information and videos about Dr. Persinger's God Helmet, a device that assaults the temporal lobes with electromagnetic energy to stimulate a paranormal experience within the brain. Under the God Helmet, people have encountered gods, angels, demons, aliens, out-of-body experiences, ghosts, etc. It is Dr. Persinger's belief -- and I agree with him -- that all paranormal experiences derive from the brain instead of the external world beyond the stimuli that trigger them.

I guess my point in saying all this is that unless something can be at least somewhat feasible in my mind, I tend to shy away from it. I can get behind genetic advancements and mutations because that happens in real life. I can get behind someone having psychic-like control of energies or their molecules because, while that is not possible given today's level of science, I can still rationalize it by imagining that a Martian can extend the electronic signals from their brain in a sort of "wireless internet" kind of way to communicate and share data.

When I think of someone reaching out to use elemental energies, I think of their brain being able to control them like additional limbs. You don't need to put much thought into moving your arms, legs, head, mouth, eyes, etc. Your brain responds very quickly.

Anyway, my stomach is starting to hurt again, so I'm off to go stuff my face with non-acidic food -- yay for fucking plain-ass rice, lol.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Here's a short story I wrote a few years ago about a energy-based powers: https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3057455/1/Comatose

 

[The Jeffinator]

Sorry, my weekend has been fucking miserable. I haven't felt like replying to PMs or writing the next IC post. I can't afford to go to the doctor to see if this is indeed an ulcer until my tax return comes in, and so far this shit has been fucking with me since Friday. Really hope this shit heals soon. Headaches and body aches suck when you can't take anything for them out of fear of making the ulcer worse.

 

[Tight_n_ready]

I hope you're ok Jeff >

As to myself, I will be back and posting come Friday evening. I promise .

Did you guys miss me?

 

[ChasNicollette]

Feel better soon, Jeff!

Don't let this add to your worries, we can wait.

 

[Lachiyous]

At least you don't have my Impulse posts causing you migraines(like before), "The_Jeffinator"! Dodged the bullet there, I'd say...*lil' grin*

Anyhow, hope you feel better..

 

[The Jeffinator]

I hope you're ok Jeff >

As to myself, I will be back and posting come Friday evening. I promise .

Did you guys miss me?

Of course we missed you .

Feel better soon, Jeff!

Don't let this add to your worries, we can wait.

Thanks, Chas . But I won't keep you waiting too long. I was able to get through work last night with only minimal discomfort, and so I'm going to try and at least get some of the IC post done today. It may be short, but I will try to post it before I go to bed.

And also, I'll try to be more friendly towards people who want to play magical characters. I'll try not to let my obsessive need to understand all the details interfere with the RP. Lunar, if you want to play Timothy and Frankenstein, go ahead. I need to remind myself this is just an RP meant for fun, it shouldn't be such a big deal if some things don't make sense to me.

At least you don't have my Impulse posts causing you migraines(like before), "The_Jeffinator"! Dodged the bullet there, I'd say...*lil' grin*

Anyhow, hope you feel better..

Thanks, Lach .

 

[Lily_Wight]

If we can play nice I'm still in. I just don't like putting up with drama for my playtime.

 

[ChasNicollette]

If we can play nice I'm still in. I just don't like putting up with drama for my playtime.

That's totally understandable. Sort of takes the wind out of your escapism, I've been there.

Still, I'm very confident that we've gotten our stuff sorted, and I'm sure we'd love to have you if you're still cool with us!

 

[The Jeffinator]

Yeah, no more drama. I'll bite my tongue if I see something that makes my OCD flare, haha. OMG. I waited to watch this week's new episodes of Flash and Arrow back to back, and during that 90 minute period, my OCD went off multiple times. I kept yelling at my TV, "What the fuck was that?!" with my hands up, haha. Sometimes these shows piss me off the way the do things and even contradict themselves within a single episode. Grrr. Haha.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Have you considered writing more in the "Watchmen" universe?

With the exception of Doc Manhattan and the occasional bit of ESP, there's very few super powers to set off the klaxons in your head. And hell, Doc Manhattan could be off-world so you don't even need him around.

And I'm not just saying this because I write a pretty good Rorschach.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Hehe. Even in an RP with no super powers, something would irk me. I just need to learn to let it go and realize RPs are fun, not college literary projects.

 

[The Jeffinator]

The two biggest things that pissed me off about Watchmen were Rorschach's mask with moving patterns, and the fact that Manhattan ascended to the level of conscious energy, yet he was still "moved" by the Comedian and Miss Jupiter having a beautiful daughter. He should be smart enough to write that off as merely a genetic possibility, but he acted like a bad man fathering a beautiful child was something so intense it redefined his entire life. I thought that was incredibly stupid, lol.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Hehe. Even in an RP with no super powers, something would irk me. I just need to learn to let it go and realize RPs are fun, not college literary projects.

Let it go... LET IT GO!!!

Sorry for the intrusion... I just couldn't resist.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Dah Kimmeh lives!!!!! *glomps*

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

I've lost a few cat lives, but I'm still kicking.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Like Ted Grant -- as long as you don't die nine times consecutively in a single issue, you'll live forever .

 

[Lachiyous]

Seems there is only ONE thing to do, at this point "The_Jeffinator" and so I can offer only this advice for you...and this roleplay of yours(in order for you to get the momentum going...and do as we were speaking about earlier....with that stuff about "roleplays going on forever"):

Less talk-talk, more write-write!

Something I try to take into account whenever I have a day off(like today)!

Goodluck bud.

 

[Sean Renaud]

Back from my move, everything hurts, I have bruises on top of bruises (which is bloody impressive. I'm black, I don't bruise in the first fucking place) so is my turn to post yet or are we still waiting for Nightwing to address Tigress?!

 

[Tight_n_ready]

Loooooong day today guys, and I still have other stuff to get to, so I'm going to have to postpone my post just a leeeetle bit :/

 

[The Jeffinator]

In my post I'll reply to Tigress and throw us into the mission. I'm going to assume M'gann is with us, because I seem to have backed myself into a corner and it seems a mission to infiltrate a top secret government lab would fail without a psychic on the team who can use the Jedi Mind Trick to make the guards forget they saw us. I've already figured Steel and Nightwing can come up with a device to knock out the cameras and motion detectors, but they'll still have a ton of security personnel inside. M'gann could go in ahead if the team invisible after Dick and Nat shut down the cameras and psychically knock out the soldiers or something. But her trick doesn't work on the genomorphs they discover. Oh, and before you ask, no, Nightwing couldn't just hack into the cameras from thw base. Its on a closed system.