Wow, good reply Andrew! You've provoked a few more
thoughts - read on!
--- Andrew Priest <apriest_at_netidea.com> wrote:
> As for skunks, well, you must consider that the store may
> have been drawing
> from the famous character Pepe Le Pew from the Warner
> Bros, Cartoons. After
> all, he was suave, possessed of a French accent, and
> positively a lady's man.
I think that was largely designed to be an anachronisism -
a 'foul' creature that believed himself to be God's gift to
girls. For as you may recall in the start of one of the
cartoons, he effectively cleared the perfume shop he
visited. Hmmm, maybe that is why a friend is studying
French - to try and develop an accent to improve his chance
of picking up..... Good luck, though he does have the
advantage of not smelling like a sprayed skunk...
> One of the strengths of anthromorphic characters besides
> being a shorthand
> way of representing something is that it's possible to
> make them inherently cuter than real life would allow.
True, any desired characteristic can be exaggerated to the
point of blatant, a huge plus for advertisers.
> to Kaa from The Jungle Book (Disney).
I think you'd have to admit that 'cute and cuddly' are not
two words generally associated with snakes, so having
improved him in these regards makes him a more 'lovable
villan'. If it sells movie merchandise, they can't hate
that!
> Disney, and others, managed to render cute to something
> of a precise science.
Totally agree with this! I was analysing characters at one
stage and trying to identify commonalities of certain
attributes. Cute characters tend to have rounder
construction shapes, softer lines and are generally more
effininate.
Think about the Skunk Sisters for example. HEY! ATTENTION
BACK HERE!!!! You can think about yiffing them later...
Generally it is considered that Onyx is the cutest of the
three. Notice that her facial shapes are a little rounder
than either of her sisters? Notice too that the parts you
consider make her look 'cute' versus 'sexy' are DIFFERENT!
In poses where she appears more 'cute', she'll be standing
where her limbs make gentler curves as opposed to where
she's being more purposeful that tends to use longer,
entended arcs that tend to reduce the cute factor and
increase the 'that looks hot' factor. This brings on to
lines that make things look powerful etc, but we'll skip
over this for now.
Girls with cute butts tend to be rounder of the posterior
than girls who have a 'hot' butt that as described above
will tend to have longer, less rounded lines in their
'construction'. The doesn't mean girls with 'cute' butts
are not desireable, or that they can't be some of both, but
it is something to consider when you're checking out the
sisters next.
> I imagine that anthromorphic characters will always make
> for handy aliens in
> Sci-Fi as well as alternate races for fantasy.
'Cos it's so easy to dress someone up in a bad costume and
churn out another B grade Sci-Fi... :-) Tends to follow
our thought trains (as discussed before) that humans are
the superior race (like we all believe we are 'above
average' drivers...), hence creatures that are 'similar' to
humans (anthropomorphic even, meaning having human-like
characteristics!) are more likely to be accepted by our
psyche as being possibly able to be smarter, faster, more
able to run the universe or whatever than we are. How many
aliens have you come across recently that don't follow the
'human' body model, even if they are a different size or
have a few different appendages? Don't see many 1" flying
salmon trying to take over the world? Equally as likely as
some 6" tall fox from another galaxy, but our mindset says
otherwise...
> I don't hold any real hope
> for genetics, as there are issues beyond DNA manipulation
> involved.
Agree; we are mostly unlikely to get desired results
without a few thousand years of tinkering and evolution of
strains.
> doubtful that anthromorphic characters such as are
> popular in art would be the result.
A simple example (maybe too simple?). Many of you have a
dog (or know someone who does). If the dog was able to
walk on its rear legs, use its paws to manipulate things as
we do our hands, talk and generally interact with everyone.
Think about the way the dog behaves? Does it have
annoying habits, cleanliness, etc, that it would probably
bring with it in anthro form that would really grate? Even
if you did 'correct' it's physiology and make it a little
larger (say up to 4' tall), it would still look like an
upright walking dog with the same fur, potential for
collecing grime (as an anthro dog, it may be perfectly
acceptable to roll in things that smell...) and possibly
the same habits (anthro dogs view it okay to hose down any
vertical object they encounter, not brush their teeth, etc,
etc). Sort of take the shine off hey? Because we are
assuming because it is anthro it will want to use human
ideals, human logic and human way of dealing with issues.
Big assumptions here, I believe. Throw in the last part -
would you then want to have sexual relations with it, even
if it were compatable, allowing these other undesireable
attributes? Nope, not looking so bright. Though I think
another option, addressed a little further down is more
appealing.
> As for body modification, said issues with body structure
> will limit how far
> they can go. As they are I personally find such cosmetic
> modifications to be more creepy than anything;
Agree again. They are only cosmetic - at best good to look
at, more likely a hinderance in getting daily tasks
accomplished.
> If I had to guess, I'd rather vote for robotics, AI
> technology, and android development....
This gets my thumbs up. Addressing the above points: human
ideals - programmed by humans, so anything you want. Won't
roll in the dirt - may even hate the stuff! Human logic -
again determined by us, so it'll resolve issues and
dilemmas (the third point) the same way we would, or at
least the way we've told it to. Learning machines may come
about, but obviously things can be made to run within
guidelines (with the usual deviations inherently possible)
with the majority giving the desired results.
> creating creatures who are so close to living beings that
> it would no longer be easy to tell the difference.
Many of the materials these days may not have the longevity
of self renewing flesh, but the look at feel etc, are as
good as (or sometime better!) than real skin. Some of the
synthetic furs etc are nicer than the real thing, depending
on application. Also removes the limits of colour and
texture etc.
> Add in the ability to get around some of the
> body construction issues found in real living creatures,
> and I do see that
> man made anthromorphics are simply more likely.
Tails, strength, stance, ears, muzzles, wings. They could
all be however we desired. Almost enough to make me want
to head out to the garage and get the tools out and start
building something! Maybe I should put the gearbox back in
my truck first... But shape and colour, mental attributes,
textures, vocal ability, sensory systems. Can do anything
we can design. The options seem appealing. As long as it
isn't running a Microsoft OS... >_<
> Whether a robotic
> anthromorphic character would be one's cup of tea is
> another issue.
I would say it is a matter of time till acceptance. Like
the telephone and television, then the mobile phone and the
PDA. Slowly people will accept them from being toys to
more serious items. Phone ansering 'robots' are slowly
getting better with their voice recognition, but much work
is still required. If you couldn't tell it was NOT a human
at the other end, would it bother anyone? You wouldn't
know! They may even make small slips in speech etc as
humans do, just to 'keep the human feel'.
Imagine having one of the sisters as a life sized robot
(for lack of better description at this stage), that looked
exactly like you'd expect her to (as per JMH's drawings)
and reacted just like you'd want her to when you spoke to
her etc. And reacted the way you'd like in other
situations too!
Refuelling could probably be handled by dropping what ever
was required into their mouth and swallowing it: "I'd like
1/2 litre of synthetic hydraulic oil and a serve of AA
batteries please..." would probably be an unintrusive
method. A give away they weren't human, other than they
were a 5' tall talking skunk...
Scrapper, Black Dragon, who'd have an electronic friend if
they came in suitable formats, abilities and price brackets.
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Received on Wed Aug 06 2003 - 20:43:04 CDT