What do you mean they don't mean anything?

Hypothetical Uniform Modernisation & Styling. by Huinesoron on 2012-09-03 01:07:00 UTC Reply

So I got to thinking, these flash patches our favourite agents use - they're pretty old, right? Out-of-date, behind the times, and, shudder, downright unfashionable.

So, in keeping with the philosophy that everything must be absolutely the most stylish possible, I've taken the liberty of designing new patches - or rather badges, since these, cast in silver or gold, would be pinned artistically on, rather than using anything so crass as 'thread'.

Naturally, for the sake of the sleek look I hope we all associate with the PPC, some of the detail has had to go. However, I hope that everyone can still perceive the originals that have been reduced to their essential components in this long-overdue revamp.

Ladies and gentlefolk, I present for your (hypothetical, since I really doubt this would fly) approval, the new, sleek and modern symbols of... the Departments of the Board of Flowers.

Here

hS, muckin' about

These actually could be embroidery... (nm) by Stargazing Sketcher on 2012-09-04 01:06:00 UTC Reply
Hmm... by firemagic on 2012-09-03 18:11:00 UTC Reply

They're pretty, but just try to fit a SEP generator in one of those. Though, they could be a sort of thing for people who pulled full duty in multiple departments (like Jay and Acacia originally did) without being in Floaters. You wear the pin of your old department, and the Flash Patch of your new one...

I kinda want to see hS's agents try to get others hyped up about this. For some reason, I'm imagining Narav reading the symbols as actually being in Canish, and a terrible (untranslated) insult...

Sort of like campaign medals? by Huinesoron on 2012-09-03 18:43:00 UTC Reply

I actually like that idea... not as a compulsory thing, of course, but as something the agents might decide to do...

hS

I suppose by firemagic on 2012-09-03 19:10:00 UTC Reply

I mean, Floaters would only get the Floater pin if they left and did MS full time, or something like that, not if they did one or two Mary Sue missions, sort of thing.

Well, yah. by Huinesoron on 2012-09-04 23:16:00 UTC Reply

I can see a few agents who'd come out with quite a few even by that method... Elanor Laison of Operations, formerly WhatThe, formerly Mary-Sues, formerly Bad Slash, for example. And I bet there's others...

(Point to ponder: would the few who'd been in the DIS before the Reorganisation - and left - wear a badge for that? I can sort of see Nyx and Dassie doing it as an obscure point of pride... and Ontic doing it because she doesn't care)

hS

Which reminds me, I need to finish reading Crashing Down... (nm) by firemagic on 2012-09-06 15:46:00 UTC Reply

This seems a good idea. (nm) by Sergio Turbo on 2012-09-03 18:30:00 UTC Reply

Hmm, stylish but runic. by Araeph on 2012-09-03 17:22:00 UTC Reply

Not sure how a red pen would fit into the newer design. I can see the conversation now:

"Our department emblem is a gold...stick?"

"No, it's a red pen!"

"But it's gold!"

"Well, the other option was silver..."

O! Ye of little faith. by Huinesoron on 2012-09-03 19:07:00 UTC Reply

Behold with awe - nay, I may say, with awe and wonder - the majesty of the Red Pen, and sundry other Action Departments in sore need of redesign.

here

(Do you have any idea how sharding hard it is to do 'a flying pig' in two lines?)

hS

(PS: Yes, RDR and DRD are the same pin the other way up. That's the point)

XD! by Cassie on 2012-09-03 09:51:00 UTC Reply

Yeah, I can't see these catching on, but the idea behind it did rather make me giggle hard. :D And these badges are, objectively, rather pretty. I'd wear them :3
I like the old ones more. by Sergio Turbo on 2012-09-03 09:08:00 UTC Reply

You know, the hilarious figres on a lot of them truly symbolize the PPC's tongue-in-cheek nature.
And more graphics... the PPC Community Poster! by Huinesoron on 2012-09-03 06:37:00 UTC Reply

Available in larger sizes here

And with a full description on the Wiki.

hS
That's actually pretty neat. by SeaTurtle on 2012-09-03 03:55:00 UTC Reply

I like the idea of streamlined pins, but I find they lack the colour and shape of the old patches.
The problems I can see with this... by ThatOne on 2012-09-03 03:40:00 UTC Reply

Are mostly that they don't really mean anything. They're just a bunch of fancy squiggles, no offence meant. They're pretty, but people wouldn't look at them and say, "Oh, a potted cactus." or "Oh, it's a rubber duck with three eyes." they'd say, "Oh, what a nice pin you have there, what department are you from?"

I understand that some (read: most) of the patches don't have any meaning that correlates with their jobs but they were funny and we could pretend they had metaphorical meaning. The ones that did make any sense, like DoGA and the Department of Technical Errors, will lose their meanings to the squiggles.

Also, the DoSAT one looks like a slightly crooked treble cleft. Just putting that out there.

What do you mean they don't mean anything? by Huinesoron on 2012-09-03 04:19:00 UTC Reply

Can you not see, in the sweep of the Floaters' pin, the very essence of the Waterlily? Does not the juxtaposition of the thrusting vertical and the gentle curves of Intelligence embody the very nature of the purple sage frond?

(And so on and so forth. Believe me, I know. I have a couple of characters in my menagerie who'd love to try and implement it, and would fail miserably in the face of the utter indifference of the rest of HQ)

hS

Pretty by Sevenswans on 2012-09-03 03:17:00 UTC Reply

I like them, but I've grown attached to the idea of having brownie-style patches of the kind I haven't seen since the late 90's, and having to iron them on and then sew them later when they didn't end up sticking right.