Sunshine Challenge #5

[majorr]

Prompt #5: Goldenrod! These have an ability to survive in harsh environments, so it made me think of some of my favorite fandoms where characters have to survive monsters, predators, lack of resources, hunger, and despair. Below are some of my favorites.




Which canon would you rather try to survive?

A. The Walking Dead

B. The Last of Us

C. The Lord of the Rings

D. Jurassic Park


Some of the characters I love have a way higher energy level for survival moves than I do. Groceries and laundry on the same day is beast mode. I would have shot Frodo the deuces before we left the Shire, Clickers are too fast, and I would 100% get eaten the first time a Velociraptor caught a whiff of me trying to hide behind a plant. I'd take my chances with the walkers. At least those dudes are slow.

I love exploring canons that are post-apocalyptic or where the stakes are high and the danger is higher. It's fun to watch characters that rise to the occasion, save the world, make it to the end. They're awesome and fun and exciting to root for, but I know I'd be someone that died in season or movie one. I feel like I'd do best in The Walking Dead if I could hole up on a farm and avoid other people (big if). Until I ran into a horde and volume became more important than speed. Then it's a wrap, lol. But I'm sticking with A.

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>These have an ability to survive in harsh environments, so it made me think of some of my favorite fandoms where characters have to survive monsters, predators, lack of resources, hunger, and despair. <<

I love these themes too.

Also, master linguist Suzette Haden Elgin once observed that authors will put characters through any torture, except having to learn a foreign language. Nope, that's one of my favorites. Learn it or die! And of course, all the above scenarios are made much more challenging when the characters can't communicate easily!

Yes, I'm evil. *cackle*

>> C. The Lord of the Rings
D. Jurassic Park <<

I'm good with both of these. Better with orcs, but can handle dinosaurs.

>> Some of the characters I love have a way higher energy level for survival moves than I do.<<

Well, yeah, this body is a piece of crap. But I'm not always stuck in a crap body.

>> I would 100% get eaten the first time a Velociraptor caught a whiff of me trying to hide behind a plant.<<

Meanwhile I was shouting translations of the velociraptor language while watching them.

>>I'd take my chances with the walkers. At least those dudes are slow.<<

Well spotted.

>> I love exploring canons that are post-apocalyptic or where the stakes are high and the danger is higher. <<

I have a postapocalyptic series, but ironically, it's hopepunk. My fans wanted a postapo populated by women of color, queers, and disabled people. I had a blast killing off most of the dominant population. \o/ See Daughters of the Apocalypse.

Less traditional, A Conflagration of Dragons is a fantasy apocalypse based on dragons obliterating civilization. Like, what if all the heroes just get eaten and the dragons win? So it's edgy stuff.

>> It's fun to watch characters that rise to the occasion, save the world, make it to the end.<<

I agree.

Postapo roleplaying games can be fun too. The old Gamma World was great for mutants. After the Bomb is more anthropomorphic but has some great nods to the risks of gengineering and atomics. "They're chickens, man, just optimize 'em!" (Raptor throwbacks.)

>> I feel like I'd do best in The Walking Dead if I could hole up on a farm and avoid other people (big if). <<

That actually is an excellent survival strategy across a majority of apocalyptic scenarios from high to low probability. Cities are deathtraps, not only because civilization is a very thin veneer, but because you have too many people competing for too few resources. And of course they're targets. Look at a nuke target map some time. You want to be awaaayyy from the pop zones.

[kingstoken]

Can we live in Hobbiton? Because I think it would be great to live there. The rest of Lord of the Rings land, not so much.

[dr_zook]

Haha, I love how you handled this prompt! And your explanation why slow zombies would be your best shot makes totally sense. :D

[silveradept]

I think of the four places, if I could essentially avoid the narrative of them, I'd probably do best in either Lord of the Rings or Jurassic Park. But if I have to actually participate in the narrative, then I'm probably still going to go with the Lord of the Rings. I'm probably going to end up as an expendable member of the Fellowship, but maybe I end up being useful enough times that I instead get left behind and get to live my life out in a populated and relatively cosmopolitan town from there.

Re: Thoughts

[majorr]

Now I’m searching my memory for any of my non-fantasy favorite characters who have had to learn a new language. Torture, grief, starvation, sure, but I can’t think of any of my faves that suffered trying to learn a new language. Haden Elgin may have been right, haha.

I just keep thinking of the orcs in sheer numbers (at least zombies are easy to trick/sneak around in TWD) and the size of the dinos. I’m just not outrunning them. Lmao Game over.

I’m not familiar with hopepunk. I’ll have to look into that. Your dragon story sounds awesome. I think it’s fun to think about ‘the bad guys win’ scenarios, so that’s a cool idea!

Yeah, definitely avoiding all major cities if an apocalypse warning ever goes out. They’re always the first to go!

[majorr]

Lofl That’s my thing. If I didn’t have to go on a quest, the Shire FTW! If I HAD to try to save everything from evil and go through all that… it’s a nah for me.

[majorr]

Thanks, lol. And if there’s too many, I’ll just climb a tree or something until the walkers mosey by.

[majorr]

‘An expendable member of the Fellowship’ is exactly what I’d be, hahaha! That’s why I wouldn’t even try. I know what my fate there would be. I’d be begging Aragorn for a piggyback ride before we made any real distance. The endless walking would get me before the orcs did.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Now I’m searching my memory for any of my non-fantasy favorite characters who have had to learn a new language. Torture, grief, starvation, sure, but I can’t think of any of my faves that suffered trying to learn a new language. Haden Elgin may have been right, haha.<<

It's extremely rare in non-speculative fiction, though you see it as a theme in some ethnic literature canons (e.g. Hispanic Lit). It's uncommon in fantasy. Science fiction does a bit more with it in first contact situations. The Color of Distance is a gorgeous example, the alien language being not spoken but visual.

>> I just keep thinking of the orcs in sheer numbers (at least zombies are easy to trick/sneak around in TWD) <<

Well now, an army is a different kind of threat than one or a few individuals of anything. To fight that you need another army, or a weapon of mass destruction. However, subtle they ain't and they can't move as fast as one person, so evading them is often possible. Ordinary orcs and goblins are only a credible threat in large numbers. The Uruk-Hai are much more serious. But none of them are what I'd call careful or even methodical. They can be outsmarted. And let's not forget flammable. Bottle of oil, torch, kaboom!

>>and the size of the dinos. I’m just not outrunning them. Lmao Game over.<<

So play to your strengths. I couldn't outrun them. But they are big and they are damn heavy and I'm a lightfoot. I could cross bridges and other surfaces that would collapse under them. I can certainly fit inside things they won't.

Now that freerunning is a fad, people talk about "parkour vision" -- the ability to see your environment as a resource, as routes, as obstacles to block or attack your enemies. But it goes back to things like Jeet Kun Do. Use everything. Think in possibilities. You don't have to outrun what you can outmaneuver.

>> I’m not familiar with hopepunk. I’ll have to look into that. <<

Okay, the -punk suffix in literature indicates an aspect of twisting tropes and of rebellion against the mainstream. It started with cyberpunk, best described as "Science fiction is about how technology will solve all of humanity's problems. Cyberpunk is about how technology won't." So hopepunk is a kind of grungy optimism in genre settings that are usually written as very bleak.

Postapocalyptic hopepunk is therefore about a world in ruins, where people are working to rebuild something better. The main body of Daughters of the Apocalypse takes place 15 years After the End, although since then fans have prompted for End stories as well. 15 years is a really interesting time because a majority of the Before resources have run out or are in the process of breaking down. Frex, they're on the last legs of old tires and needing to find a new source or replacement. You see housetrucks, but you also see horses again. Community is hugely important. *chuckle* And I couldn't resist showing that, for Native Americans, it was often a trade up. One band of Cherokees hiked home to the eastern woodlands. Some of the Blackfeet went horsecatching.

>> Your dragon story sounds awesome. I think it’s fun to think about ‘the bad guys win’ scenarios, so that’s a cool idea! <<

Thanks. It was inspired in part by an essay about the impact of Smaug on Middle-Earth economies, and my knowledge of how rich hoarders can do similar damage. Then I did some hardcore worldbuilding, and there you have it.

Re: Thoughts

[majorr]

I'm familiar with cyberpunk and steampunk, but I don't think I've come across any books/movies/shows that fell under hopepunk. It sounds sort of similar to what cozy mysteries are in the mystery genre. Softer edges. That's interesting. Sounds relaxing on the reading/watching side.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yes, hopepunk is good for relaxation. Cozy mystery is a good comparison. Hopepunk is usually a lot meatier than fluff, though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopepunk

https://bookriot.com/what-are-hopepunk-books-and-where-should-i-get-started/

https://www.goodreads.com/list/tag/hopepunk

If you like relaxing reads, I also recommend dialecticdreamer. The Magpie Monday fest is currently open. Leave prompts, get ficlets!

[enemytosleep]

I want to say Lord of the Rings because there are pockets of Middle Earth that are still pretty chill, but OMG the Beat Mode double errand feels are too real. xD

Re: Thoughts

[majorr]

Thanks for the rec! I'll check it out.

[majorr]

Trek to Mordor or finish all chores: some days the energy level required is the same. lol

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

You've got a few hours to get a prompt in on the current Magpie Monday, if that's your aim. \o/

[stardewdreaming]

I'm with you there, I would be absolutely ok with living in Hobbiton and enjoying the peaceful life!

[binary_sunset]

Oh, I am absolutely going for Lord of the Rings. I'm not sure I'd survive an encounter with an orc (though I did take fencing lessons as a kid), but at least I'll die surrounded by pretty people.

[majorr]

You raise a good point. At least there would be elves to look at in the end. haha