Viva Piñata-phobia!

[Wanderwolf]

I was almost hoping he wouldn't experience that show... almost.

For the uninitiated, "Viva Piñata" is a game and a cartoon series, both sponsored by Microsoft. (It's a game for the 360.) In both, living Piñatas walk around and talk, and occasionally get broken, spilling their candy... which other piñatas then eat.

You see why Velvet is a lit-tle creeped out by this concept. Admittedly, the piñatas get all patched up afterward, good as new... but still, the concept's a little much for someone as young-at-heart-and-mind as Velvet.

(This may be why the series has two characters that, even though they're piñatas, do not want to get broken! To quote Fergy Fudgehog, "I don't wanna get bashed to pieces with a stick!")

Yours truly,

The media-watching,

Wanderer

[Webkilla]

a thought: is RHJ gonna redo the ENTIRE archive of GH now?

I mean, this particular strip has been done before... more or less

[Wanderwolf]

a thought: is RHJ gonna redo the ENTIRE archive of GH now?

I mean, this particular strip has been done before... more or less

Well, be fair:

1. The "Marshmallow Peeps" episode was directly related to a childhood trauma of Ben's. This version eliminates the "inside knowledge" that was available only to the tulpas. (Not to mention the newsreel-from-nowhere gag.)

2. It's a little different; that time, they were actually doing something mildly destructive. This time, they were "just" watching TV.

Poor Velvet, watching cannibalistic papier-mache gobbling up the insides of its fellow members...

Yours truly,

The wolfish,

Wanderer

[SolidusRaccoon]

So, bunny-Goblins are filled with candy? That gives me ideas.

[Shyal_malkes]

saturday's quality of cartoons has gone down somewhat since I was in grade and even high school.

as much as I appreciate the concept of Viva pin'ata, it's mostly just filled with slapstick and such.

if I had my way there would still be digimon reruns going every satruday.

[The JAM]

Or bring back the Blue Dawn era (1982-1989). And now, back to our story...no, wait, I already said that...

[Deckard Canine]

This cartoon is definitely different enough from that earlier cartoon to merit existence. And GH is nowhere near the point in so many popular comics' runs where the jokes are almost identical.

"Viva Pinata" sounds like the sort of thing that would be more popular abroad than in the United States, but I could be wrong.

For more disturbing pinata jokes, check out this week's "Little Dee."

[RHJunior]

It's called a RUNNING GAG, people.

(Nightmare on elm street)"I'm never never never never NEVER going to sleep again."

(Animal Planet)"Can't sleep, Dingoes will eat me..."

(Viva Pinata) "Soylent Green is Pinatas...."

[Madmoonie]

It's called a RUNNING GAG, people.

(Nightmare on elm street)"I'm never never never never NEVER going to sleep again."

(Animal Planet)"Can't sleep, Dingoes will eat me..."

(Viva Pinata) "Soylent Green is Pinatas...."

Come on, RH, you know what us fanboys are like....over-analyzing ever single detail to the point of insanity. I thought it was funny. And that it was a running gag.

[StrangeWulf13]

I personally thought it was a way for him to affirm that, yes, they are still the same characters, just a little bit different. Besides, I think it's more plausible and cute for goblin Velvet to attach to Ben's stomach like that with his wings... and the tail's a nice add-on.

Say it with me now... "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..."


*crickets chirp* Heathens...

[Earl McClaw]

Say it with me now... "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..."

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..."

*crickets chirp* Heathens...

Wanderwolf, it might still be possible for the goblins to have "inside information". After all, they "absorbed" personality from him before they hatched, and personality comes in part from memory.

[Squeaky Bunny]

So, bunny-Goblins are filled with candy? That gives me ideas.

That isn't hard to do with you. A word of advice though. Those aren't Cocoa Puffs.

[Squeaky Bunny]

:roll: I was almost hoping he wouldn't experience that show... almost.

For the uninitiated, "Viva Piñata" is a game and a cartoon series, both sponsored by Microsoft. (It's a game for the 360.) In both, living Piñatas walk around and talk, and occasionally get broken, spilling their candy... which other piñatas then eat.

You see why Velvet is a lit-tle creeped out by this concept. Admittedly, the piñatas get all patched up afterward, good as new... but still, the concept's a little much for someone as young-at-heart-and-mind as Velvet.

(This may be why the series has two characters that, even though they're piñatas, do not want to get broken! To quote Fergy Fudgehog, "I don't wanna get bashed to pieces with a stick!")

Yours truly,

The media-watching,

Wanderer

Viva Piñata. The CGI rates a B+. Unfortunately the plot and story D-

[Squeaky Bunny]

:roll: I personally thought it was a way for him to affirm that, yes, they are still the same characters, just a little bit different. Besides, I think it's more plausible and cute for goblin Velvet to attach to Ben's stomach like that with his wings... and the tail's a nice add-on.

Say it with me now... "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..."


*crickets chirp* Heathens...

He's using his paws cause his wings are too short to wrap around Ben's belly. Somehow still calling him Velvet doesn't sound right to me. The retcon makes him more of a Gob-let than anything else.

[Wanderwolf]

Viva Piñata. The CGI rates a B+. Unfortunately the plot and story D-

<shrug> What do you expect from the first-ever American knockoff of the Pokemon-style tie-in? How many decent plots did that anime ever have?

Yes, a Pokemon-style tie-in. Each episode will include game tips scattered through the story; everything from what to feed your piñatas in order to make them change type, to what your garden needs to attract fudgehogs.

<sigh> Again, what did you expect?

Yours truly,

The wolfish,

Wanderer

[Jaydub]

So, bunny-Goblins are filled with candy? That gives me ideas.

That isn't hard to do with you. A word of advice though. Those aren't Cocoa Puffs.

Chocolate covered raisins?

[Deckard Canine]

The retcon makes him more of a Gob-let than anything else.

He's certainly hard to see as pseudo-lapine now that his tail is downright leonine. That must make the pajama back flap a bother to open.

[Shyal_malkes]

I respect more and more how Ralph gets out more then I do.

I just now googled the phrase 'soylent green' and found a wikipedia article. yeah, I definately need to get out more.

I do have one question though, how the blazes does Velvet know about a movie like 'soilent green'?! just the plot spoiler at the wiki article would be enough to bug out Velvet's eyes (imo)

[Wanderwolf]

I respect more and more how Ralph gets out more then I do.

I just now googled the phrase 'soylent green' and found a wikipedia article. yeah, I definately need to get out more.

I do have one question though, how the blazes does Velvet know about a movie like 'soilent green'?! just the plot spoiler at the wiki article would be enough to bug out Velvet's eyes (imo)

As McClaw already pointed out, they did absorb information from Ben's mind when they hatched. Given how common the Soylent Green references were for a while (even appearing in the demo for Space Quest IV), it's hard to imagine him not having at least one.

Trivia: The movie, "Soylent Green", was based on the book "Make Room, Make Room", by Harry Harrison. Harrison didn't like the movie in the least; it took his mystery set against a world in famine and turned it into a melodrama best known for cannibalism.

Trivia Too: The term, "Soylent Green", does not occur in the story, but only in the movie. The meat substitute in the book is soy+lentils: Soylent. It is provided in traditional cuts of meat, such as the soylent steaks that are germane to the plot.

Yours truly,

The well-read,

Wanderer

P.S.: Although well-read, I never have found a copy of the book.

[MikeVanPelt]

P.S.: Although well-read, I never have found a copy of the book.

I never read the book, but it was expanded from a short story or novella, which I did read. It was sooooooooooooo depressing. Perfect bleak grimness unrelieved by the slightest hint of any ray of light whatsoever. I was never even slightly tempted to pick up the novel.

I just wikied it, and was amused to find that the US population at which Harrison postulated such Malthusian horrors was not a whole lot more than our current population. (344 million, as opposed to our current 300 million.) It's not an "If this goes on..." novel, more, an "If just this one thing goes on and absolutely no adaptive measures are taken to deal with that one thing going on" book. And wildly exaggerated at that.