Fanmix! "Where They Are Now: Ansom (Special Edition)"
A "fanmix" is No Need for Bushido's term for a fan-made remix, which is what you get when you rearrange old art and/or give it new words. Here is my first one for Erfworld! The art, character, setting etc. is copyrighted by Rob Balder and Jamie Noguchi, natch. All I did was crop art, erase old speech bubbles, add new speech bubbles and write captions.
Update! I made a banner for giving proper credit to Rob and Jamie for my derivative work. I think that I've covered everything needed to abide by the Creative Commons License that they're using. If you use it then please make it a hyperlink to the first page of the comic like I did, otherwise I also have a larger version that you can use that displays both URLs.
This illustrated pamphlet is now a Special Edition with Editor's Commentary! It's in the spoiler tags. If this is your first time reading "Where They Are Now: Ansom" then I recommend going all the way through once first before reading any of the new commentary.
Where They Are Now: Ansom (Special Edition)
Prince Ansom is best known for assembling the Royalist alliance that initiated the Battle for Gobwin Knob. What is not as well known is that he was also its original leader, not Archcount Vinnie. Tragically, Prince Ansom's personality began to crack under the combined pressures of leading such a massive, diverse army and hiding his socially unacceptable desire to wed Jillian Zamussles. It wasn't that her rank was too far above his, as you might imagine; back then, she was merely a mercenary barbarian warlord with an inexplicably high Leadership bonus.
Spoiler
This fanmix is presented as one of the "Where They Are Now" series of illustrated pamphlets, a play on the VH-1 TV series "Where Are They Now?" It's set several campaign scenarios in the future of "Chapter 1: The Battle for Gobwin Knob". Vinnie is now an Archcount and the famous leader of the Royalist alliance in that historic scenario. Even though the target audience of these pamphlets is units with a Veteran bonus, many of them are too recently popped to remember that Prince Ansom was the Royalist alliance's original leader. Jillian is now some unspecified rank that is high enough to intimidate a prince -- at least a queen, possibly an empress.
First, he became increasingly confused about his own gender and ethnic cultural identities...
Spoiler
In the first panel, Ansom is using a phrase and body language most commonly associated with urban African-American women. I might not have done this fanmix at all if his right hand hadn't been on his hip. It was just too perfect! I couldn't resist.
...then his genre...
Spoiler
In the second panel, Ansom is using a Bruce Willis catchphrase. As his mental malady progressed, Ansom became convinced that he was really a character from a Die HardHalf-Lifemod who mis-popped in a fantasy TBS setting.
...then his species...
Spoiler
In the third panel, I re-imagined Ansom watching Jillian fly off into the distance as if he'd been watching the orlies instead. The *sigh* in this panel is my favorite part of the whole thing. It turns a bizarre delusion into poignantly tragic longing.
...and finally his profession. The Ansom formerly known as Prince now begs for his upkeep as a street poet, tapping out funky beats in reverse on an upside-down top hat.
Spoiler
The fourth panel has two specific musical references. In the panel itself, Ansom is saying "Paul is dead" backwards (which I stole shamelessly from The B-Movie Comic) and the caption has a TAFKAP reference.
He's actually riding a flying carpet in this panel. I thought about cropping it or something but it's so far out of context that even I forgot what it was. Besides, utterly nonsensical ridiculousness was the point of the panel.
__________________
My avatar is a remix that I made of Prince Ansom. Resource credit:
__________________
"Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand, I don't care, I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me. Take me out to the black, tell 'em I ain't comin' back, burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me. There's no place I can be since I found Serenity, but you can't take the sky from me."
May the Force be with you.
Why are you standing in the courtyard holding a parasol painted like a bullseye?
Highlight: I prepared Explosive Runes this morning.
Re: Fanmix! "Where They Are Now: Ansom (Special Edition)"
This is hilarious!
__________________
Avatar by Dispozition.
There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
My Erfworld avatar gallery can be found here.
Re: Fanmix! "Where They Are Now: Ansom (Special Edition)"
Would you do another one sometime... possibly Jillian.
__________________
avatar by Three Shades
Official Founder of the Defenders of the Kitsune, Nekomata, Tengu, Tanookie and Mujina. Please leave the Real World at the door.
RSS Feeds: 
Fanmix! "Where They Are Now: Ansom (Special Edition)"
I've gone over 24 hours now without being inspired to change it, so I'm calling that the final version.
