Greetings!

In perusing various fantasy miniature websites, I often encounter miniatures entitled as "Elf Magic Girl" or "Goblin Magic Girl" and so on. LOTS OF THEM.

So, what have I missed? I didn't get the memo!

What are all of these "Magic Girls"

Thanks for your thoughts!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

It's an anime thing. I'm probably not the best person to define it, but my understanding is that the concept is based on stuff like Sailor Moon, so "cute" --often teenaged-- girls with relatively mundane personalities and lives, but also twee magical powers. Bonus points is they have a schoolgirl uniform-esque costume to wear when doing magical-girl type things.

Magic(al) Girl, or Maho Shojo is you want the japanese version, is an anime genre where young girls get super powers by transforming into a magical girl and fight the evil of the week/series. Superhero for young girls basically. They tend to have cute easthetic with friendship or love themes.

Sailor Moon is the most popular one with Cardcaptor Sakura right behind (might be wrong about this). And Madoka Magica being a deconstruction so good it spawned a bunch of "tragic girl" shows where the point is putting those magical girls into trauma and severe depression (I mean, if you suddenly got the burden of saving humanity from cosmic horrors at the age of 13, you will get fucked in the head, no matter what your power is)

While its mostly for girls and have little girl protagonists, genre is popular enough that there are parodies with boys or with more older characters. It's also possible to find "magical girl transformation" sequences in a lot of different shows as reference.

IMO, its a good genre if you can get the tone and balance of "fighting the evil of the week", "humanity is doomed but we will do our best" and "love conquers all" kind of stuff. it can be a really good urban fantasy+horror mixture but most of its media is aimed for lighthearted adventures with anything trying to be dark becomes depressing very fast.

Juxtaposition of traditional fantasy and magical girl is a doing genre mashup just for the sake of doing it, rather than being clever with it if you ask me. It can become a bit mary suey since there tends to be "you are special" part with becoming a magical girl. "magic girl elf" makes no sense since elves are suppose to be magical to some degree and "magic girl goblin" is most likely a joke since magic girls tend to be cute/beautiful and goblins are anything but. I guess it was her insides that was beautiful.

At least baalbuddy has some funny "muscle lady becomes magical girl" comics. Great power comes with a great cost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x12oCqpx-L8

accidentaly quoted reather than modify

If they spin around three times they turn into a boy.

This is a rabbit hole.

Quote from: Lythel Phany on January 15, 2024, 08:32:23 AM
Magic(al) Girl, or Maho Shojo is you want the japanese version, is an anime genre where young girls get super powers by transforming into a magical girl and fight the evil of the week/series. Superhero for young girls basically. They tend to have cute easthetic with friendship or love themes.

That's the super sentai kind.  There's also the magical witch kind and the magical idol kind.

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 07:25:35 AM
Greetings!

In perusing various fantasy miniature websites, I often encounter miniatures entitled as "Elf Magic Girl" or "Goblin Magic Girl" and so on. LOTS OF THEM.

So, what have I missed? I didn't get the memo!

What are all of these "Magic Girls"

Thanks for your thoughts!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Unless you've been living in a bunker for 40 years, you know Sailor Moon.  Sailor Moon is a standard "magical girl" both in character function and story telling.  To keep you from furiously pounding away at google because you don't know sailor moon, here's the basics.

Magical Girls are a type of superhero where the hero is a normal school girl that turns into a wizard and uses her powers for fight evil, flirt with mysterious hansom guys, and discover new sweet treats.  It's been a staple of Japanese children's entertainment for 60+ years now and targeted towards preteen girls.  Usually they are very cutesy and saccharine sweet.

American equivalent shows would be Rainbow Bright, Totally Spies, and Winx Club.  (I grew up the oldest brother of a bunch of sisters and I'm the father of girls now.)

Quote from: BadApple on January 15, 2024, 09:32:44 AM

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 07:25:35 AM
Greetings!

In perusing various fantasy miniature websites, I often encounter miniatures entitled as "Elf Magic Girl" or "Goblin Magic Girl" and so on. LOTS OF THEM.

So, what have I missed? I didn't get the memo!

What are all of these "Magic Girls"

Thanks for your thoughts!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Unless you've been living in a bunker for 40 years, you know Sailor Moon.  Sailor Moon is a standard "magical girl" both in character function and story telling.  To keep you from furiously pounding away at google because you don't know sailor moon, here's the basics.

Magical Girls are a type of superhero where the hero is a normal school girl that turns into a wizard and uses her powers for fight evil, flirt with mysterious hansom guys, and discover new sweet treats.  It's been a staple of Japanese children's entertainment for 60+ years now and targeted towards preteen girls.  Usually they are very cutesy and saccharine sweet.

American equivalent shows would be Rainbow Bright, Totally Spies, and Winx Club.  (I grew up the oldest brother of a bunch of sisters and I'm the father of girls now.)

Greetings!

*Laughing* Yeah, well, I haven't been living in a bunker for 40 years. I have generally ignored anything from Japan. I'm not into comics--though as a kid, when I was--it was never Japanese comics. Same thing applies to cartoons. As an adult, *shrugs* I've been into the Marine Corps, D&D, war games, guns, and church--and work. Friends and family, same thing. My social circles have not been into anything Japanese, or all this stuff from Japan.

So, I have not been familiar with terms and trends from Japanese entertainment.

I have studied lots of history concerning Japan--but my interest vanishes for anything past 1945 or so.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 09:44:30 AM

Quote from: BadApple on January 15, 2024, 09:32:44 AM

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 07:25:35 AM
Greetings!

In perusing various fantasy miniature websites, I often encounter miniatures entitled as "Elf Magic Girl" or "Goblin Magic Girl" and so on. LOTS OF THEM.

So, what have I missed? I didn't get the memo!

What are all of these "Magic Girls"

Thanks for your thoughts!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Unless you've been living in a bunker for 40 years, you know Sailor Moon.  Sailor Moon is a standard "magical girl" both in character function and story telling.  To keep you from furiously pounding away at google because you don't know sailor moon, here's the basics.

Magical Girls are a type of superhero where the hero is a normal school girl that turns into a wizard and uses her powers for fight evil, flirt with mysterious hansom guys, and discover new sweet treats.  It's been a staple of Japanese children's entertainment for 60+ years now and targeted towards preteen girls.  Usually they are very cutesy and saccharine sweet.

American equivalent shows would be Rainbow Bright, Totally Spies, and Winx Club.  (I grew up the oldest brother of a bunch of sisters and I'm the father of girls now.)

Greetings!

*Laughing* Yeah, well, I haven't been living in a bunker for 40 years. I have generally ignored anything from Japan. I'm not into comics--though as a kid, when I was--it was never Japanese comics. Same thing applies to cartoons. As an adult, *shrugs* I've been into the Marine Corps, D&D, war games, guns, and church--and work. Friends and family, same thing. My social circles have not been into anything Japanese, or all this stuff from Japan.

So, I have not been familiar with terms and trends from Japanese entertainment.

I have studied lots of history concerning Japan--but my interest vanishes for anything past 1945 or so.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Anime and Manga are all over the map and I don't blame someone that just dismisses it all.  There is, despite the mountains of pure dreg, a handful of absolute masterpieces that are worth anyone's time.

Rather than compete with America in terms of special effects, a lot of film makers and producers have taken to animation to convey the imagery they are looking for.  Some of these movies are in the top movies ever made anywhere.  If you haven't seen it, the movie Akira is in my top 100 greatest movies of all time.

If you watch it and decide there might be something you like, I'll be happy to help you get to the gems.

Quote from: BadApple on January 15, 2024, 10:03:57 AM

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 09:44:30 AM

Quote from: BadApple on January 15, 2024, 09:32:44 AM

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 07:25:35 AM
Greetings!

In perusing various fantasy miniature websites, I often encounter miniatures entitled as "Elf Magic Girl" or "Goblin Magic Girl" and so on. LOTS OF THEM.

So, what have I missed? I didn't get the memo!

What are all of these "Magic Girls"

Thanks for your thoughts!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Unless you've been living in a bunker for 40 years, you know Sailor Moon.  Sailor Moon is a standard "magical girl" both in character function and story telling.  To keep you from furiously pounding away at google because you don't know sailor moon, here's the basics.

Magical Girls are a type of superhero where the hero is a normal school girl that turns into a wizard and uses her powers for fight evil, flirt with mysterious hansom guys, and discover new sweet treats.  It's been a staple of Japanese children's entertainment for 60+ years now and targeted towards preteen girls.  Usually they are very cutesy and saccharine sweet.

American equivalent shows would be Rainbow Bright, Totally Spies, and Winx Club.  (I grew up the oldest brother of a bunch of sisters and I'm the father of girls now.)

Greetings!

*Laughing* Yeah, well, I haven't been living in a bunker for 40 years. I have generally ignored anything from Japan. I'm not into comics--though as a kid, when I was--it was never Japanese comics. Same thing applies to cartoons. As an adult, *shrugs* I've been into the Marine Corps, D&D, war games, guns, and church--and work. Friends and family, same thing. My social circles have not been into anything Japanese, or all this stuff from Japan.

So, I have not been familiar with terms and trends from Japanese entertainment.

I have studied lots of history concerning Japan--but my interest vanishes for anything past 1945 or so.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Anime and Manga are all over the map and I don't blame someone that just dismisses it all.  There is, despite the mountains of pure dreg, a handful of absolute masterpieces that are worth anyone's time.

Rather than compete with America in terms of special effects, a lot of film makers and producers have taken to animation to convey the imagery they are looking for.  Some of these movies are in the top movies ever made anywhere.  If you haven't seen it, the movie Akira is in my top 100 greatest movies of all time.

If you watch it and decide there might be something you like, I'll be happy to help you get to the gems.

Greetings!

I will have to check that out, BadApple.

I was thinking a bit more about what has turned me off of Japanese media over the recent decades--the focus on superheroes, and super-powers. BONG BONG BONG. I have little interest in superheroes or super-powers. I don't even like standard American super-heroes. The only *Superhero* movie that I enjoyed--well, a few--were the Superman movies from way back, and Spiderman, of what, 2002 or 2003? That's it. The rest have been yawning garbage to me.

Other main points--the whole adolescent focus. I'm not an adolescent, so catering to adolescent angst and all the google-eyed crying and the like...not interested.

Related to the above, the whole giggling schoolgirl thing, with girls slinking about in school uniforms. Well, I'm not a schoolgirl. Beyond that, the emphasis and imagery...yeah, most of my male companions would be like, "WTF is this?" And the women...well, likewise, they would take a dim view of watching schoolgirl cartoons, or reading schoolgirl comics, or whatever. Not that I'm terribly concerned about social pressure--just to give you an idea of what kinds of attitudes my social circles would have in regards to most of these kinds of Japanese movies, cartoons, or comic books.

I remember watching one movie or series or something that was good. "Record of the Lodoss War." As I recall. That was good. The few other things I have seen though...yeah. Yawnfest, or WTF is this? *Laughing*

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 10:25:24 AM

Quote from: BadApple on January 15, 2024, 10:03:57 AM

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 09:44:30 AM

Quote from: BadApple on January 15, 2024, 09:32:44 AM

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 07:25:35 AM
Greetings!

In perusing various fantasy miniature websites, I often encounter miniatures entitled as "Elf Magic Girl" or "Goblin Magic Girl" and so on. LOTS OF THEM.

So, what have I missed? I didn't get the memo!

What are all of these "Magic Girls"

Thanks for your thoughts!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Unless you've been living in a bunker for 40 years, you know Sailor Moon.  Sailor Moon is a standard "magical girl" both in character function and story telling.  To keep you from furiously pounding away at google because you don't know sailor moon, here's the basics.

Magical Girls are a type of superhero where the hero is a normal school girl that turns into a wizard and uses her powers for fight evil, flirt with mysterious hansom guys, and discover new sweet treats.  It's been a staple of Japanese children's entertainment for 60+ years now and targeted towards preteen girls.  Usually they are very cutesy and saccharine sweet.

American equivalent shows would be Rainbow Bright, Totally Spies, and Winx Club.  (I grew up the oldest brother of a bunch of sisters and I'm the father of girls now.)

Greetings!

*Laughing* Yeah, well, I haven't been living in a bunker for 40 years. I have generally ignored anything from Japan. I'm not into comics--though as a kid, when I was--it was never Japanese comics. Same thing applies to cartoons. As an adult, *shrugs* I've been into the Marine Corps, D&D, war games, guns, and church--and work. Friends and family, same thing. My social circles have not been into anything Japanese, or all this stuff from Japan.

So, I have not been familiar with terms and trends from Japanese entertainment.

I have studied lots of history concerning Japan--but my interest vanishes for anything past 1945 or so.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Anime and Manga are all over the map and I don't blame someone that just dismisses it all.  There is, despite the mountains of pure dreg, a handful of absolute masterpieces that are worth anyone's time.

Rather than compete with America in terms of special effects, a lot of film makers and producers have taken to animation to convey the imagery they are looking for.  Some of these movies are in the top movies ever made anywhere.  If you haven't seen it, the movie Akira is in my top 100 greatest movies of all time.

If you watch it and decide there might be something you like, I'll be happy to help you get to the gems.

Greetings!

I will have to check that out, BadApple.

I was thinking a bit more about what has turned me off of Japanese media over the recent decades--the focus on superheroes, and super-powers. BONG BONG BONG. I have little interest in superheroes or super-powers. I don't even like standard American super-heroes. The only *Superhero* movie that I enjoyed--well, a few--were the Superman movies from way back, and Spiderman, of what, 2002 or 2003? That's it. The rest have been yawning garbage to me.

Other main points--the whole adolescent focus. I'm not an adolescent, so catering to adolescent angst and all the google-eyed crying and the like...not interested.

Related to the above, the whole giggling schoolgirl thing, with girls slinking about in school uniforms. Well, I'm not a schoolgirl. Beyond that, the emphasis and imagery...yeah, most of my male companions would be like, "WTF is this?" And the women...well, likewise, they would take a dim view of watching schoolgirl cartoons, or reading schoolgirl comics, or whatever. Not that I'm terribly concerned about social pressure--just to give you an idea of what kinds of attitudes my social circles would have in regards to most of these kinds of Japanese movies, cartoons, or comic books.

I remember watching one movie or series or something that was good. "Record of the Lodoss War." As I recall. That was good. The few other things I have seen though...yeah. Yawnfest, or WTF is this? *Laughing*

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Anime, like books, is just a medium for storytelling.  I like good books, good TV shows, good movies, and good anime.  For every good book out there, there's a pile of them that would have been better used as bedding in a hamster cage.

The Japanese have a perspective in life that makes for some really compelling story telling when it's done right.  There's a level of mature introspection that takes you along with it in some of their best works that is extremely rare and absolutely beautiful.  Sadly, there's thousands of "artists" in all fields of creativity that don't have a good handle on what it is they want to convey let alone how to convey it.  It's not more or less true in anime or Japanese novels.

Also, a word of caution.  Don't watch Akira with the kids present the first time.  There's some pretty heavy violence and some pretty heavy emotional stuff.  When you know what's coming, you can guide your kids through things you're watching together when you feel it's age appropriate for them.

Think Shark! will have an aneurism IF I share here my Henshin classes? 

Essentially it's a subgenre of heroic fantasy/supernatural from manga and anime, with a light comedic style, and generally focused on young female protagonists and aimed primarily at a young (ish) female audience. Sailor Moon is considered a codifier of the genre, but there are magical school ones, traditional fantasy ones, etc.

Quote from: BadApple on January 15, 2024, 10:54:42 AM

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 10:25:24 AM

Quote from: BadApple on January 15, 2024, 10:03:57 AM

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 09:44:30 AM

Quote from: BadApple on January 15, 2024, 09:32:44 AM

Quote from: SHARK on January 15, 2024, 07:25:35 AM
Greetings!

In perusing various fantasy miniature websites, I often encounter miniatures entitled as "Elf Magic Girl" or "Goblin Magic Girl" and so on. LOTS OF THEM.

So, what have I missed? I didn't get the memo!

What are all of these "Magic Girls"

Thanks for your thoughts!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Unless you've been living in a bunker for 40 years, you know Sailor Moon.  Sailor Moon is a standard "magical girl" both in character function and story telling.  To keep you from furiously pounding away at google because you don't know sailor moon, here's the basics.

Magical Girls are a type of superhero where the hero is a normal school girl that turns into a wizard and uses her powers for fight evil, flirt with mysterious hansom guys, and discover new sweet treats.  It's been a staple of Japanese children's entertainment for 60+ years now and targeted towards preteen girls.  Usually they are very cutesy and saccharine sweet.

American equivalent shows would be Rainbow Bright, Totally Spies, and Winx Club.  (I grew up the oldest brother of a bunch of sisters and I'm the father of girls now.)

Greetings!

*Laughing* Yeah, well, I haven't been living in a bunker for 40 years. I have generally ignored anything from Japan. I'm not into comics--though as a kid, when I was--it was never Japanese comics. Same thing applies to cartoons. As an adult, *shrugs* I've been into the Marine Corps, D&D, war games, guns, and church--and work. Friends and family, same thing. My social circles have not been into anything Japanese, or all this stuff from Japan.

So, I have not been familiar with terms and trends from Japanese entertainment.

I have studied lots of history concerning Japan--but my interest vanishes for anything past 1945 or so.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Anime and Manga are all over the map and I don't blame someone that just dismisses it all.  There is, despite the mountains of pure dreg, a handful of absolute masterpieces that are worth anyone's time.

Rather than compete with America in terms of special effects, a lot of film makers and producers have taken to animation to convey the imagery they are looking for.  Some of these movies are in the top movies ever made anywhere.  If you haven't seen it, the movie Akira is in my top 100 greatest movies of all time.

If you watch it and decide there might be something you like, I'll be happy to help you get to the gems.

Greetings!

I will have to check that out, BadApple.

I was thinking a bit more about what has turned me off of Japanese media over the recent decades--the focus on superheroes, and super-powers. BONG BONG BONG. I have little interest in superheroes or super-powers. I don't even like standard American super-heroes. The only *Superhero* movie that I enjoyed--well, a few--were the Superman movies from way back, and Spiderman, of what, 2002 or 2003? That's it. The rest have been yawning garbage to me.

Other main points--the whole adolescent focus. I'm not an adolescent, so catering to adolescent angst and all the google-eyed crying and the like...not interested.

Related to the above, the whole giggling schoolgirl thing, with girls slinking about in school uniforms. Well, I'm not a schoolgirl. Beyond that, the emphasis and imagery...yeah, most of my male companions would be like, "WTF is this?" And the women...well, likewise, they would take a dim view of watching schoolgirl cartoons, or reading schoolgirl comics, or whatever. Not that I'm terribly concerned about social pressure--just to give you an idea of what kinds of attitudes my social circles would have in regards to most of these kinds of Japanese movies, cartoons, or comic books.

I remember watching one movie or series or something that was good. "Record of the Lodoss War." As I recall. That was good. The few other things I have seen though...yeah. Yawnfest, or WTF is this? *Laughing*

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Anime, like books, is just a medium for storytelling.  I like good books, good TV shows, good movies, and good anime.  For every good book out there, there's a pile of them that would have been better used as bedding in a hamster cage.

The Japanese have a perspective in life that makes for some really compelling story telling when it's done right.  There's a level of mature introspection that takes you along with it in some of their best works that is extremely rare and absolutely beautiful.  Sadly, there's thousands of "artists" in all fields of creativity that don't have a good handle on what it is they want to convey let alone how to convey it.  It's not more or less true in anime or Japanese novels.

Also, a word of caution.  Don't watch Akira with the kids present the first time.  There's some pretty heavy violence and some pretty heavy emotional stuff.  When you know what's coming, you can guide your kids through things you're watching together when you feel it's age appropriate for them.

Greetings!

Very interesting, BadApple!

Indeed, I am familiar with some Asian approaches, especially Indian and Chinese. While typically different in style, the storytelling can get very powerful, and ultimately, very relatable, even to a Western audience. Themes of courage, revenge, loyalty, romance, faith--are all there, and often very well done.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: GeekyBugle on January 15, 2024, 06:40:04 PM
Think Shark! will have an aneurism IF I share here my Henshin classes? 

Greetings!

*Laughing* Probably, huh?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK