Sailor Moon and Time Spent Doing Things

[Logan Darklighter]

Couldn't resist this one, considering where this thread is going...
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Is Hell exothermic or endothermic?
Dr Schlambaugh, a senior lecturer at the Chemical Engineering Department, University of Oklahoma, is known for setting questions in final exam papers like "why do aeroplanes fly?".
In May 1997, the "Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer" exam paper contained the question "Is Hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof". Most students wrote proofs of their thoughts using Boyles Law or similar. One student, however, wrote the following:
"First we must postulate that if souls exist, they must have a mass. If they do, then a mole of souls must also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell it does not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, let's look at some of the religions in the world today.
Some religions say that if you are not a member of their religion, then you will go to hell. As there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to hell. Therefore with the birth and death rates what they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially.
Now we look at the rate of change in the volume of Hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of the souls and volume needs to stay constant.
Answer #1: So, if Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
Answer #2: Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase in souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it? If we accept the postulation given to me by Teresa Banyan during fresher's week that "it'll be a cold day in hell before I sleep with you" and, taking into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then Answer#2 cannot be correct: thus Quad Erat Demonstrandum that Hell is exothermic"
> The student got the only A

[offsides]

Ahh, yes. And a beautiful proof it is, given the nature of the question
Offsides
Drunkard's Walk Forum Moderator and Prereader At Large

[WengFook]

Good answer! Good answer!
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Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

[Bob Schroeck]

Okay, we're veering wildly off-topic here. Further "test" humor posts should be made in General/General. Thanks.


-- Bob
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There is no spork.

[Bob Schroeck]

Okay, I'm not sure what we're seeing. Are the girls getting more skilled -- i.e., faster, no need for invocation -- on some of their attacks? The latest episode shows them standing in a row and firing extended blasts of their various attacks to try to bring down a force wall or something like one. No attack calls, no fancy hand movements, just "1-2-3", outstretched hands and zap. Yet in the same ep, Mars calls a "Youma Taisan" (yeah, that's the name, and it's a firejet attack) to throw it, and Mercury does the full "stock footage" thing with a new attack -- "Aqua Mist" something, which unlike it's probable anime couterpart is a killing shot.
(Mercury has been probably the most useful and versatile Senshi, pulling a new use of her power out of thin air in almost every episode. She's also been getting a lot of character development -- the major subplot of ep 16 is her and Naru's mutual jealousy of each other over Usagi's friendship, which has been building up for several eps now.)
Anyway, I think this is a case of the girls are getting more expert with their earlier attacks, but there's such a wide variety of them -- I think Sailor Moon alone has shown more different attacks in 16 episodes than she got in all the anime seasons combined! -- it's hard to keep track and be sure.


-- Bob
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There is no spork.

[JonasJensen]

If the Senshi are pulling out a new attack every other episode, it sounds like on the tv show side, they're playing with special effects because it's fun. It sucks from a continuity perspective, because now we gotta find a reason for it.
How about if what they really have is a kind of internal energy pool, like an Iczer? The energy pool can be used for anything they can think of, but it has to be *focussed*. The concept, their mental image of what the power does, is extremely important, because that image is what determines what the power does.
In that case, the full attack sequence would be the Senshi focussing their concentration on what they wanted to happen. The gestures, the words... None of them are really *necessary*, but they use them because they're a kind of psychological crutch. Also perhaps because it's cool. To a bunch of 15-19 year old girls, posturing and yelling out attack names and posing dramatically would be irresistable. But it might not actually be *necessary* for the power to work.

[chibipoe]

So far, Moon's only shown three attacks in the live-action. Moon Healing Escalation, Moon Twilight Flash, and Moon Tiara Boomerang.
Now, in the course of all of this, she's also clearly been manifesting the power of the ginzuishou at least twice(three times, actually) that I know of.
Mercury's pulled out two actual attacks(well, maybe just one.
There's some argument about what she was actually saying early on.) Mercury Aqua Mist and Mercury Aqua Beam. (Eventually, the subbers stuck with Mist, but in the first episode or so, she was clearly saying beam, iirc).
Mars has two attacks. Youma Taisan and Arukyo Taisan(which isn't so much a Mars-based attack as it is an offshoot of her shinto abilities being amped up by her Senshi powers)
Jupiter's got two as well. Supreme Thunder and Flower Hurricane.
As for becoming more skilled. I would have to agree. The youma in 15 was a good indication of this. Faced with Sailor Moon, what does it do? Runs. It only turns to fight once it realises she's not going to let it go.
Usagi hasn't quite yet unleashed more attacks here than in the anime. She's running about neck and neck for the first season, though.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

Okay, so maybe I was exaggerating a bit and a little loose in what I was calling an "attack", but I'm also counting things that don't get a specific name, or may have been one-offs. Mercury's the best example. She's figured out how to use the water in the air as a kind of sonar when fighting a teleporting/invisible youma, has manifested an ice sword when battling a general one-on-one, is the only one shown to roof-hop so far, was the first (IIRC) to manifest an attack power without calling it, and has started to show actual martial arts prowess in fighting a youma as opposed to simply doing an acrobatic dodge around it. Look at how she singlehandedly handles the youma in 16 while the other three senshi are... doing whatever the hell they were doing. Getting up? Watching? She's actually using the fancy moves to fight and looks to be getting a big kick out of it, too. This is not Ami of the anime, who is a front-line fighter only when circumstances demand it -- this is an Ami who kicks butt and takes names. Hm. And we haven't even seen evidence of the Mercury computer yet...

-- Bob
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There is no spork.

[The Wanderer]

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(Eventually, the subbers stuck with Mist, but in the first episode or so, she was clearly saying beam, iirc).

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I was witness to some of that discussion; the consensus was that she'd been saying "Mist" all along, it was just easily misheard unless you listened closely.
I haven't gotten past the first episode yet myself (for reasons not limited to my lack of drive space), or I'd check and decide what I hear in that first usage.

[chibipoe]

The other three were, if memory serves, flat on their ass after being taken down by the youma. This served to incense Mercury, who then whomped on it.
For the most part, it's Moon and Mercury who have displayed the most martial skills so far in combat. Moon did a number on that youma in 13(Kunzite's first victim) and dueled the one in 15? with the moon stick against its sword.
As for applications of power, you're right, Mercury's clearly leading the group with those. (and let me say I hope she does the sword trick again. My first thought, given the way the show's been going, was that she'd called on some sort of special weapon specific to Mercury then(what with Luna's babbling about them needing to fully awaken and all.)
And, as far as I can tell, the closest thing to the Mercury computer that we've seen so far is the computer in their hide-out.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

I was disappointed when the sword melted away after one use. I get the impression it was more an instinctive thing, so maybe she'll figure out how to use it intentionally.

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what with Luna's babbling about them needing to fully awaken and all.

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And will someone please shut that plush toy up? I swear, the anime Luna didn't annoy me a quarter as much as this one does...


-- Bob
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There is no spork.

[chibipoe]

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And will someone please shut that plush toy up? I swear, the anime Luna didn't annoy me a quarter as much as this one does...

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She is a bit overbearing, I will agree. At least anime Luna had the advantage of actually DOING something from time to time. This one doesn't appear to do anything other than make speeches and glare at Usagi.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

And hang limply whenever someone's around...


-- Bob
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There is no spork.

[chibipoe]

But, don't you find it amusing when one of them is carrying her around and sporting the wooden arm?
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

Would you believe it never occurred to me to look for the obviously-necessary fake arm?


-- Bob
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There is no spork.

[chibipoe]

I can only think of a few times when it is noticeable. And it's usually Ami sporting it.(I assume she's the best at operating it as a puppet.) I only noticed because I was watching it with a friend who pointed that out.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

I guess I'll just have to rewatch and see where I can spot it now.


-- Bob
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There is no spork.

[SKJAM]

Something I'd like to see is Colonel Sangnoir, with whichever continuity of Sailor Moon senshi he winds up with, talking about "The Art of War", in reference to trying to get them to act more tactically sound.
Ami or Minako says, "That doesn't sound like the book I remember."
Upon reading it, our hero finds chapters on "The Power of Love", "The Power of Friendship" and "Color-coordinated Costumes."

[Star Ranger4]

BUWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Love it!
"I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."
-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[classicdrogn]

Heheheh. I'd have to wonder what The Book of Five Rings is like in that case, in our world it's a pretty straigthforward manual of swordfighting tactics, fit only with effort into sections based on the five classic Eastern elements (Air, water, wood, metal, and void, IIRC, maybe earth instead of metal). In the senshiverse, with the most powerful warriors always having a specific elemental theme... well, I wonder.

- CD
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"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[cpt kangarooski]

I suppose one of the rules is to never use your ultimate attack until last, even if all your other attacks are worthless.

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, that's an anime standard rule, Cap'n, dating back at least as far as Yamato and maybe earlier. Never use the big, fight-ending gun until you've pretty much gotten the crap kicked out of you.


-- Bob
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There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

[Star Ranger4]

Yup. There's usually some sort of hardware or software lock in place that keeps the big gun from being used till you've tried everything else first..."I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."
-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[SKJAM]

I came up with that notion because "new character shows up in the Mooniverse and thanks to their superior grasp of military tactics either a)whips the senshi into a lean, mean fighting machine or b)easily defeats the senshi in a way that no previous villain could" has become such a cliche.
So I'd like to see an instance where that backfires, because the Mooniverse doesn't *work* that way.

[Bob Schroeck]

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I came up with that notion because "new character shows up in the Mooniverse and thanks to their superior grasp of military tactics ... whips the senshi into a lean, mean fighting machine ..." has become such a cliche.

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Has it? Really? I mean, the "kick the senshi's ass" variant I've seen -- Carrot's "Gaijin" is a great example, especially since his SI character was going out of his way to not tangle with them -- but I don't remember ever seeing any "train the senshi" fics. Could you point me at some, so I can check'em out for cliches to subvert? And most of the other SI SM fics I've seen have generally involved becoming one of the senshi, in one form or another, which certainly doesn't apply here.
Without having seen others of the "train the senshi" subgenre, I can't say for certain now that what I have planned is unique. But I'd like to think it is... Doug won't just be teaching them tactics...


-- Bob
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There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.