The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

IMO, having an Elsa parallel in there is a bit… tricky? Not because she's not a villain (some main characters in the game show signs of being based on Disney Princesses and other good-aligned characters), but because she has a fixed elemental power, which would clash with this game's elemental attacks mechanic.

Otherwise, though, I don't deal much with other-language characters.

My current lust object the character Vil Schoenheit has a German surname that can be spelled Schönheit, which is plausible in a real-life language (and is a word that means "beauty" (quality)) but is never actually rendered this way in the work (note that the game actually gives out official romanizations early on). I personally would make this an acceptable spelling, but what do you think? There are also headcanons bouncing around that his first name is really Wilhelm or Wilbert or whatever (because what parents name their kid something that sounds like "evil", based on the Evil Queen or not?), and I see calling Harry Potter "Harold" deemed mini-worthy on the wiki. Again, what do you think?

When western names are translated in Japanese and Chinese, we use a little dot thing. For example, Harry Potter is ハリー・ポッター in Japanese and 哈利·波特 in Chinese. The dot thing signifies first name first.

I can see a language-mucking charge if someone doesn't realise that, say, Uzumaki Naruto's last name is Uzumaki and has been treating it like it's his first name the entire time. (For example, in IAHF2, I spent Takeda Kane's entire screentime treating her first name as "Takeda", but that was more because I was trying to parallel IAHF1's Nurse Takara. I'm sure someone else has done something similar out of sheer ignorance!) Japanese names can be used in both orders, though -- my students write their names in both orders, regardless of whether or not it's accompanied by kanji. I don't think anyone in the PPC is writing a mission of a Japanese fic, so there's really no point in nitpicking someone using "Naruto Uzumaki" in a Japanese fic. Either way, it wouldn't create a mini.

For Chinese, it would absolutely depend on the media. Danmei novels for example mostly require the entire full name in Eastern order: Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji. Wuxian by itself wouldn't cause a mini, but it would read as odd. Wuxian Wei would also be odd, and might create the inverted character, since it's against the genre's naming convention. I'd also even argue that referring to personal names (ex. Wei Ying) with just the first name (so, "Ying", in this case) would be a language-mucking charge because you're just letting this single-sound name sit around by itself which is against the genre's naming convention. But I don't think it creates a mini. Maybe it creates a baby or cherries? (Since that's other words that sound like "Ying".) But that's dependent on the mission writer's preferences. Narrative Laws of Comedy before nitpicking, honestly.

On the other hand, Chinese game Genshin Impact has single-sound names like "Xiao" without any surname, but since that's just how the game has named him, nothing needs to happen.

As for Japanese-versus-Chinese name readings, I also wouldn't make minis unless someone misspelt it (which, ha, have fun, hiragana-to-romaji can have variable spellings as I've learnt from my own students). For example, Wei Wuxian becomes Gi Musen in Japanese and Lan Wangji becomes Ran Bouki. These are official name readings for the MDZS dubs, so who are we to say they're mini-creating misspellings? The issue is also, what kind of person would be using the Japanese readings for MDZS characters if they're writing a fic in English? At best they'd have heard the Japanese dub of the donghua, but they'd probably have seen subtitles change it back to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. If they're fluent enough in Japanese to understand the Japanese dub, wouldn't they have searched up the kanji for their names and gotten the Chinese spellings? Why would those people be writing fics in English?

Someone would have to go out of their way to use the Japanese readings if they're writing English fic, in which case you'd probably end up with language-mucking charges alongside, possibly, fangirl Japanese and conflating Chinese and Japanese culture charges. That'd really be the only time in which I could see it becoming an issue in English fic.

Finally, as I've noted on the mini-Xuanwu page: the variability of romanising Eastern names causes some alternate spellings that are not misspellings. For example, based on how one chooses to render Bakugo Katsuki's name, you could get Bakugou Katsuki, Bakugō Katsuki, Bakugô Katsuki, Bakugoh Katsuki, Bakugoo Katsuki -- and then ofc, you can flip his name around since his first name is Katsuki. All of these ways to render Japanese long vowels are valid!

You'll even end up with variable romanisations for foreign names in anime, too -- Nataliya, Natalya, Natalia for ナターリヤ・アルロフスカヤ, Mila versus Mira for ミラ・バビチェヴァ, Victor versus Viktor for ヴィクトル・ニキフォロフ. Sometimes you can't even rely on the official romanisation from the show -- I think the showrunners for Yuri on Ice tried to say it was "Sala Crispino", for example, instead of "Sara Crispino". Ultimately, as Nesh says, it depends on internal consistency in the fic. It may be down to the author's style. (I use "Viktor Nikiforov" in my fics, for example, since I wanted to render it with the Russian spelling, but for the one YOI mission I did, I used "Victor".)

TL;DR Rendering names in Eastern languages for Western audiences trying to write fics in English is hard and we need to give writers a bit of grace rather than insisting everything creates a mini.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12573127/1/Under-the-weather

It's very badly-formatted, and they think Janine's name is "Jeanie" for one thing.

And David Null is an action agent. But, if it's okay, he can be a servant.

-kA

I think, when I get my first mission, I'll use "anything except an initial capitalization error makes a mini, with the initial capitalization the same, unless starting a sentence" as my rule. Seems a logical compromise to me.

I have to say, there's a few in My Immortal that I really want. Rumbridge and Volzemort, particularly, as those two make up my wiki name. (I'm really excited for Iximaz's upcoming mission.) I do think collecting minis is fun. And I think I get everyone's views on this. Great thread.

"It would be quite generous of you to grant us passage. We shall be in your debt."

"Stupid partner. Why does he have to be such sourpuss any--" She stopped when she saw that Rebecca was walking alongside her, carrying a violin case. "Are you joining the orchestra too?"

And, since I'm still reading TOS, I read it recently. Silver and violet - silviolet, perhaps? And "I'M PREOCCUPIED!" Amusing.

I've written several of my Infrastructure agents in as castle servants, and I believe one former Baron had his namesake agent as a shape-shifting double of himself. The setting is very flexible!

hS

Such as this one:

Personne - chapter 1 - Apr 27, 2002
Warning: the PPC is after this story. By joining the Fellowship, you have disrupted the canon and therefore must die. (Just thought I'd warn you - Jay & Acacia are working on it this very minute!) -a well-wisher

I don't care for the "therefore you must die" bit, or alerting authors that they're being PPC'd at all, but the date tells us a little something about J&A's writing time: four days between this review and the publication of the mission. It's not much information, but still, neat.

~Neshomeh

I agree with the first one (FrodoBaggins is definitely a mini of Frodo Baggins), but the rest, I'd like to debate.

• Missing apostrophes can create minis (Frodos can be a mini of Frodo), but they can also create temporary clones ("Frodos" could result in multiple copies of Frodo existing until he is next referred to in the singular). Depends on what's more fun and works better for the mission.

• Personally, I wouldn't get mad at someone for switching up name order as long as it's consistent. It's one way in Western culture, the other way in Eastern culture; neither is wrong in their own context. And, like, what if you learned the names from a show that presented them one way, even if they were originally the other way? Anime does this all the time. I don't know if it goes the other way, with Western shows translated in the East, but it wouldn't surprise me.

  If I wanted to make an issue of it, though, I reckon it would be a new character, not a mini. Like, you could theoretically have the canon character Uzumaki Naruto and his oddly inverted-looking double Naruto Uzumaki... Except you'd really have to make a case that the author should somehow have known better even though that's how they learned it from the version of the canon they're familiar with.

• For "house" instead of "dorm," I'd think that would make the setting morph to match, not make a mini. That illustrates the nature of the error better, IMO, and "house" isn't a misspelling of "dorm" any way you look at it.

• For the last one, I'd again suggest that it's fine as long as it's consistent. If the fic uses one style of transliteration for all names, that's probably a deliberate style choice, and style choices should usually be respected. If it's mostly one style, but some other style is randomly chucked in, though, that might count.

~Neshomeh

Like, people were very keen on spotting and cataloguing all the minis for a couple of years or so, and were taking any excuse to make more. I think we even scolded someone for trying to retcon a mini into existence from someone else's older mission, as though the mission-writer had committed some grave sin by choosing not to highlight every single error. Rude!

The obsessive attitude around it quite possibly what drove me to have Strong Feelings about mini creation. Like, calm down, people. Quit grasping at straws and focus on something more important. {X D

(This is sort of why I don't go in for POVs, either. They're fine, I don't hate the idea, I just don't have a drive to make the stuff, collect the stuff, share the stuff... IDK. It's just stuff, and pretty much all the same stuff at that. *shrug* But if you enjoy it, that's fine!)

~Neshomeh wanders away whistling "Little Boxes."

incorrect spacing, punctuation (missing apostrophe from possessive), name order (putting a Westerner's last name before name), word use in fixed terminology (calling a Twisted Wonderland dorm a "house") and invalid transliteration (using Japanese reading of a Chinese name in a fic not in Japanese) are also mini-worthy.

So, "gardian" was originally a misspelling (with additional orthography error) of the word Guardian. Once a mini spawns, though, the word is no longer merely a representation of the abstract concept of errors; it is also the proper name of a character, and as such the rule is that it should be capitalized. The mini Gardian is thus created from the error "gardian." Quite logical, no inconsistency, QED. {= )

Not trying to pressure you to change it if you don't actually want to, though. I have Strong Feelings about this, but people are free to use their own best judgement if they don't agree with me.

~Neshomeh

... for some unknown (well, somewhat unknown) reason, I cannot have David Null as, like, armor or a sword. I'm okay with my other agents being armor/weapons, but David Null specifically cannot be. But, he is such an important figure to me that I can't leave him out.

I guess I think of him more as a person than I think of my other agents? I mean, he's the only one of the agents to have some of an unpublished story starring him before I repurposed him for PPC (Crow, Paye, and Kittyauthor were specifically made for PPC, O'Ryan is ten times removed from another main character in another story, and K was a side character and not very developed at that). Maybe that's the reason why, but I can't be for sure.

-kA, who, honestly, also doesn't really know what nation they'd be in, and doesn't really have funny names at the moment for either Rescue Bots or Miitopia.

We'll probably be able to get provisions when we land on Weab. It would probably be a good idea to get disguises as well." Linstar and Claire stepped onto the ship.

"Greetings, Hyacinth. Could you grant us passage to Weab? We aim to fight the Marizu. Linstar, my friend here, has decided to come and help, for he also has a score to set straight with the Marizu. The laws do say that knights may bring with them an assistant who is not yet knighted."

((Thanks for finding the typo. I fixed it. I am having too much fun trying to be Shakespearean.))

I know there's an Alvish shield still to do, but I think this is the Inglish stuff that's been requested.

Sir Claire Book, the Fiddler-Mage:

Sable, on a bend sinister argent, an open book proper.

Nienor, identity-thieving Marizu:

Vantasable, on a bend sinister épiné arghent, a book proper.

('épiné' is also known as 'acacia thorned', fyi)

Linstar, newcomer in Plort:

Vert, on a chevron sable a star Or, a vial of glitter urpure.

(It is not typical to use a Suvian colour on a Plortian shield, but glitter is an exception. There is debate over whether it is Properly urpure or arghent, so it needs to be defined whichever is used.)

Linstar, troll of Kwotef:

Per fess apilakoro, urpure and vantasable, guttée-de-paillettes arghent, crossed swords Orzure flaming gewels.

(Marizu heraldry is so much fun - and so much work. "Guttée" is a special term for a scattering of droplets; the real versions include guttée-de-sang (red, for blood) and guttée-d'olives (green, for... olives).)

Knight Fox of Orange, definitely human:

Or, a fess tenné, a circle Or.

(I love the simplicity of this. Could have used 'orange' as a colour, but as far as I can tell it isn't actually different from Tenné.)

Wear your shields with pride! Except the ones which are of Marizu origin, in which case set them on fire and laugh as they burn.

~Baron Huinesoron, Head of the College of Arms, Castle Maklaur