AVATAR CONTEST: "Heroes and Icons of Fantasy"

This is just me, but if ya want to wait for public opinion (and this is just in general, not just in this particular instance), ya may as well include the questionable entry in the poll, rather than take a pre-poll.

Let opinion matter in the contest - folks who don't think it qualifies won't vote for it.

That said, in this instance, I agree, Batman just doesn't qualify - he's a superhero that lives in the same world as Superman (space alien), Green Lantern (space cop) and Aquaman (underwater royalty).

 

This is the same expert-on-everything-no-matter-what Batman who goes up against an immortal who can regenerate in a pool of slime, a woman who can control plants, etc? Sounds pretty fucking fantastical to me.

 

It's fantastical but it's not fantasy. The same way that ships in Trek somehow have centerfuges that always provide gravity.. they are fantastical, but those shows aren't fantasy.

Fantasy, in this case, refers to a particular genre, not just fantastical material.

 

Yeah but what I mean is Batman's rogues gallery is filled with actual monsters and sorcerers and suchlike, as well as more SF or standard criminal types.

Not that I actually care, having entered Gollum rather than Batman...

 

I agree Batman doesn't qualify. And while I don't want to further stir the pot, I don't see why Robin Hood would either.

 

Not Robin Hood in the abstract - he's neither sf nor f - but Picard posing as Robin Hood might qualify as a fantasy scenario within a sci fi story. It's been a while since I saw Men in Tights, sad to say, but Mel Brooks' usual style is to add fantasy elements willy-nilly.

 

I think Robin Hood is as much fantasy as anything else in the genre. He's got a lot more fantasy elements than not, especially if you look at the way he's been portrayed ever since Errol Flynn, ie green and in tights.

 

robin hood's a legend so he qualifies.

 

Hmmm... I have a very different definition of fantasy. I see it as sorcery, and gods throwing lightning bolts and using their powers to help or hinder humans, and fantastical stories like Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.

Batman and Robin Hood? No.

But it's not my contest, so, whatever.

 

What about LazyTown?

 

Same here. But "Robin of Sherwood" would count, as there was a lot of "mythical gods and demons" stuff in that one.

 

I agree with both of you here! What I bolded is really what I meant

 

Lazytown is for kids what's that got to do with fantasy?

 

Fantasy requires at least some supernatural elements!

 

Not always. Sometimes it's simply myth and legends. Myth and Legends often grow out of stories and lack of evidence that they exist. The stories are embellished, become fantastical, and become bigger than the actual legend. You can have an historical fantasy based on a historic legend, which I feel is what Robin Hood is. The legend and the myth have become bigger than the man he was. At a certain point, they become embellished enough that they aren't grounded in reality anymore and are more in the realm of fantasy.

 

I was thinking supernatural elements of some kind... however, I would give Robin Hood a pass, because it kind of fits with the spirit of the setting, and his skills could be considered fantastic (the bow for example).

I could just be spiffballing here

 

There aren't very many "legends" around that lack supernatural elements but Robin Hood is (usually) one of them, and that rules it out as fantasy.

 

By that logic, 24 is fantasy. It takes some elements from the real world, but none of the stories and the political setting fits with our reality, so it can only be a complete fantasy world. Unless it is that an alternate universe, which would make it SF?









No, not really.

Fantasy has to include supernatural elements.

Or else you'd have to count most of 'period dramas' and biographies of historical figures as fantasy, as they are usually heavily fictionalized.

For instance,
Excalibur = qualifies as fantasy (wizards, sorceresses, etc.)
King Arthur = does not qualify

 

Well, I always screw up the polls, but I'll try to do it sometime tomorrow (it's after 11PM now) but if anyone wants to do it fast, that would be most appreciated!

 

I'll do it for you.