Post your funny pictures here!!! part Deux

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Nature Made supplements at Walmart (and elsewhere) have a good rep. Boss Lady screens all our OTC meds before buying them.

[drunkenshoe]

No idea.  Probably not great.

Get it checked. Seriously. First causes for muscle cramps.

[Hydra009]

Fire-breathing lizard with wings?  Fake.  Mammal/duck/otter with venom and eggs?  Totally real. 
Lion/eagle?  Complete fiction.  Anteater with razor-sharp armor that curls into a ball like Samus?  Sure, why not.
Vampires?  Not real.  Deer with fangs?  Real, apparently.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It's the magic bit that we have to discuss.

[Hydra009]

It's the magic bit that we have to discuss.

The history of unicorns is pretty interesting, especially because most mythical creatures are usually fearsome or belligerent.

It appears that the greeks popularized the idea of the unicorn, bringing the idea to western europe.  From there, in medieval europe, it changed a lot from its previous depictions into a more serene animal, associated with purity and virginity, reflecting social attitudes of the time.  Greek physician Ctesias came up with the idea of unicorn horns being used to treat disease back in the 4th century BCE and boy oh boy, was that part popular AF in medieval europe.  Disease was rampant in europe at the time and protection from poison in particular was very desirable for european nobles.  And to make unicorn horn powder, all you need is narwhal horns (or possibly any sort of horn) and grind it up.  Cha-ching!

Fun fact: Ctesias was so hated by Lucian of Samosata in 2nd century CE that he deliberately wrote down tall tales about other parts of the world and other planets and made these tales so outlandish and over-the-top as to shame people who made erroneous accounts about the world and thus came up with arguably the first work of science fiction.  Also probably the first known work of sequel bait (promising an exciting sequel but not delivering) outside of the Bible.

[Unbeliever]

I experienced "sequel bait" after reading The Walking Drum, by Louis L'Amour. He promised an exciting sequel, but then got to writing westerns and never got around to it. I was sorely disappointed.

[Hydra009]

Rule of thumb for writers: protag goes "whee!"

[Unbeliever]

That seems to happen quite a bit on Pitch Meeting! 🤣

[Hydra009]

This happens a lot in the Resident Evil movies.  People get ripped in half by a monster but Alice just gets knocked down or thrown around.  It's so silly.

I think the only time this was done in a passable way was the time when a badass mutant annihilated no-names because that was its mission but spared a C-lister because it wasn't a part of its mission and he humorously dropped his guns, turning him from a "threat: minimal" to "threat: zero"

The only shows I can think of where this doesn't happen are shows were the protagonist is resilient (Wolverine, Deadpool) or there's some sort of timely intervention or distraction.  I saw one where the protagonist literally gets stabbed through the neck and the villain is about to finish him but the villain's important equipment starts to overheat to the point of combusting - a reasonable top priority - but by then the cavalry arrives and he's in a shootout and then ultimately defeated.  In that one, the antagonist made the correct decisions and didn't hold back but was foiled anyway.

Imho, that's how it should always be done.  Let the villain be a villain - don't hold any punches - but let the villain be defeated anyway.

[Blackleaf]

In the book I'm working on, the protagonist is the prophesied chosen one, and he knows it. He gets complacent, knowing he's essentially immortal until his final battle with the dark lord. Why bother training when you know you can't lose? But, while he may be unkillable, his friends are not. If he doesn't learn how to fight properly, he can't defend the people he cares about.

[Hydra009]

In the book I'm working on, the protagonist is the prophesied chosen one, and he knows it. He gets complacent, knowing he's essentially immortal until his final battle with the dark lord. Why bother training when you know you can't lose? But, while he may be unkillable, his friends are not. If he doesn't learn how to fight properly, he can't defend the people he cares about.

Nice!  In mine, the chosen one was basically kicked out of his cushy noble lifestyle so that he may pass the fated ordeals and become the hero.  He curses his luck and wishes to be anything but a hero.  Meanwhile, a very low-class boy his same age has grown up being regaled by tales of valiant heroes and wants nothing more than to become the hero.  And they look so similar - suspiciously similar - that one could pass as the other...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'm reading the Ringworld books right now. Again. Niven is the boss.

[Unbeliever]

How many Ring World books are there? I've read them before, but I'm not sure I got them all.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The Ringworld books are part of Known Space. From memory there are four books dealing with Ringworld.

https://larryniven.fandom.com/wiki/Complete_Known_Space_Timeline

[Hydra009]