Reds! A Revolutionary Timeline

[Miss Teri]

Superman/Batman: World's Finest was a comic book series written by Dennis O'Neil and drawn by Neal Adams, published by comics collective AC/DC between 1969 and 1974.

As the Second Cultural Revolution changed the country and its people, the characters of Superman and Batman were at a crossroads. Whilst Superman was cemented as an icon of the Revolution, his adventures during the "Silver Age of Comics" had long become focused on science fiction excursions involving characters like Brainiac or strange "elseworlds" stories about alternate scenarios or tales of the Super Family like Superboy, Superwoman (Lois Lane), Supergirl, and Krypto the Superdog. The stories themselves were still stuck to the mores of the First Cultural Revolution. Deference to the party and the dictatorship of the proletariat, somewhat conservative mores, didactic messages about proletarian solidarity and sinister capitalist or Nazi villain

Meanwhile, Batman had undergone major changes. Originally an ex-bourgeois apparatchik named Bruce Wayne who secretly fights crime and reaction in vengeance for the deaths of his parents at the hands of nefarious crime lords, the character was heavily retooled during the Silver Age by artist Jack Kirby. Now, playboy politician Oliver Queen (a name previously given to the Golden Age hero Green Arrow) was thrown off his cruise ship, and ends up on Starfish Island. There, he lives in a cave with several bats and gradually gains the skills to survive in the wilderness. He also observes the bats and learns to imitate them and follow them, deciding to adopt the image of the bat to become more intimidating. After helping striking sailors on a commercial freighter against strike breakers, he returns to civilization, and decides to become a crimefighter named "Batman", joining up with a Native American named Roy Harper as his Robin (Roy Harper had been the sidekick "Speedy" to Green Arrow)

The Silver Age Batman shifted towards more science fiction plots involving villains like Mr. Freeze and the Atomic Man and bizarre characters like Bat-Mite and the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, in addition to revamped versions of villains like the Joker and Two-Face (a white supremacist and a corrupt politician respectively).

Eventually, the Batman character would receive a boost in popularity with the 1964 series starring Adam West and Burt Ward, which featured Oliver Queen (though had elements of the Bruce Wayne character incorporated), in adventures that spanned both counterrevolutionary and crime stories with the occasional foray into science fiction tales.

With the more contemporary focused Marvel Comics on the rise, the characters of Syndicated Features, still stuck in the mores of the 1930's and 40's, were seen as quaint and antiquated. While characters like Plastic Man and the Spirit (already viewed as anarchic counterculture figures) updated with the times, stalwarts Batman and Superman were in dire need of an update.

The opportunity came after the "Purge of 1968", which saw old school, slightly authoritarian editors like Jack Schiff and Mort Weisinger replaced by a younger, more diverse regime. Wanting a hipper approach to the two iconic DC characters (one having had the backing of a TV show), they had former Marvel cartoonists Denny O'Neill and Neal Adams take over the characters and update them for the 70's. To consolidate this, they combined the titles Batman and Superman (as opposed to their other titles, Detective Comics and Action Comics respectively) into a single title: Superman/Batman: World's Finest, with the characters teaming up.

Adams had already redesigned Batman to have a goatee, and by 1969, Batman had resigned from his city council due to corruption, moved into an artist collective, and had become an anarchist bohemian. He also began sharing the "Batman" identity with Roy Harper and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon).

O'Neill and Adams revamped the character of Superman, having him quit the Daily Planet and turning him into a TV reporter. They also cut out most of the more absurd elements like different colored kryptonite as well as characters like Krypto the Superdog, and instead had a stronger focus on Superman, Superwoman, and Supergirl.

With the new set-up, Superman/Batman made an immediate impact with its first issue, showing the pair combating a corrupt development project threatening an historical neighborhood in Gotham. Whilst Batman stands with the people helping sabotage the program, Superman believes in change within the local Labor Party, trying to use his influence to stop it through "democratic means".

Superman fails, and finds himself at odds with both Batman and the locals (mainly Africans). In one iconic (or infamous) moment, an older Black man asks Superman: "I been readin' about you. How you work for the blue skins … and how on a planet someplace you helped out the orange skins … and you done considerable for the purple skins! Only there's skins you never bothered with — the black skins! I want to know … how come?! Answer me that, Mr. Superman!" Superman is left speechless, unable to answer the man's queries.

Ultimately, Superman and Batman stop the politician responsible (revealed to be using the development to secretly enrich himself), but Batman solemnly notes that politicians like him might continue to arise, even as Superman insists that the LCP and CLP know how to stamp out corruption.

This general structure would define the series. Superman and Batman would take on a villain that represented a particular societal ill (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, corruption, environmentalism), and have Superman represent the Orthodox Marxist-Leninist/Deleonist position, stating that only class solidarity and deference to the DOTP would allow for such issues to go away. Meanwhile, Batman would argue that there needs to be more accountability and people need to self-govern. Sympathies mostly lied with Batman, though Superman was convinced on several occasions.

Of course, the traditional superhero stories never went away, with recurring villains drawing on the respective heroes' rogues gallery. Lex Luthor was reimagined away from traditional white supremacist eugenics scientist mold in favor of a Strasserist angle inspired by William Luther Pierce (indeed, authors like Alan Moore and Alana Levin* would expand on this angle). The recurring villain was O'Neill and Adams' own creation from the pages of Detective Comics: Ra's Al Ghul. Ra's represented the extreme tendencies of environmental capitalism, wanting to drastically reduce the world's population and destroy what he views as "dehumanizing" technology to bring humanity back to its "natural" order", and allow nature to take "its proper place." Batman also deals with his complicated relationship with Ra's daughter Talia, who alternates between supporting and opposing her father's views, trying to find a balance between genocide and environmentalism.

Most of the stories focused on the titular characters. However (again, carried over from Detective Comics), hints of Superman and Superwoman's open relationship or Batman's open pansexuality were discussed openly, and frankly. Roy Harper and Barbara Gordon would take over Batman's role on occasion as well. In fact, an issue was instead labeled "Superwoman/Batgirl", with a specific feminist focus by guest writer Gloria Steinem and artist Trina Robbins.

The most acclaimed story of this run was 1971's "Snowbirds Don't Fly", which featured a plot drawn from stories of drug addiction in various ethnic republics. Harper becomes addicted to an unspecified subject (similar to heroin), causing a fallout with Queen, who forces him into rehabilitation and gives his Batman role to an aging Dick Grayson (the Golden Age Robin). The story is often cited as a well-meaning and iconic, but dated and preachy highlight of the era.

Indeed, the whole series would receive such a mixed reception in later years. Moore would parody the series in his 80's dark satire Suprememan, with the titular character teaming up with a "Ratman", who is a punk-toaster who openly hates Suprememan and mocks his "trust the system" beliefs. The famed speech by the old black man was also parodied for its tonal dissonance (i.e. Superman had saved the Earth on numerous occasions).

Still, the series was considered a groundbreaking bit of social commentary in comics, and stood with works like the Jack Kirby/Jim Starlin New Gods Saga, Marv Wolfman and George Perez's New Teen Titans, and the Svetlana Zaitseva* series Reds and Blues as setting the tone for the "Bronze Age" of Comics". Adams would be elected as part of the inaugural head committee of the "Academy of Comic Book and Sequential Arts" (a section of the Academy of Arts and Sciences) alongside luminaries like Will Eisner off the strength of the series, and O'Neill was elected the managing editor of AC/DC in 1978.

---------------

In the memory of Neal Adams

 

[Hawkatana]

A little song to set the mood.


Tsarstvo - Legacy of the Great War is a mod for the WW2 Grand Strategy Games Hearts of Iron II: Darkest Hour and Hearts of Iron IV on personal computer platforms in the Comintern & AFS by Swedish publisher Paradox Interactive set in an Alternate History where the Russian Empire emerged from the first World War as the unambiguous victor and major world power.

Originally named "All the Little Germanies", the mod was initially about how World War 2 would be different had Germany been communist instead of fascist. However, the mod's developers radically retooled it into the mod it is known as today.

The point of divergence occurs in 1914, where Russia wins the Battle of Tannenberg. The momentum allows Russia to continue on in the war until the end, where the Spartacists ally with the SPD during the German Revolution of 1919 and the creation of a socialist republic in Germany and the victory of the Entente. This leads to the Russian Civil War being averted and the Russian and British Empires becoming the dominant world powers for over a decade.

However, similar socialist revolutions spring up in France and the United States, creating an alliance of Marxists, Syndicalists and other revolutionary socialists against capitalism and imperialism known as the "Third International", though the International is disunited in its exact ideology. In an attempt to prevent a fall to socialism, an alliance of far-right nations led by Italy forms the "Pax Romanum" alliance in an attempt to spread the new ideology of "Legionnairism" and strike against both the left-wing and liberal nations of the world.

In 1936, Russia, now a true constitutional monarchy, now maintains a fragile balance over the rest of Europe. They now watch over many peoples within their empire, few of which are happy with their rule. What's worse is their deteriorating relationship with Britain threatening to tear the Entente apart into different spheres.

The main gameplay is identical to the basegame of the particular version of HoI that it's played on. The Darkest Hour Version is on Version 0.17.2 while the HoI4 version is on Version 0.20.1.

Ideologies

Each nation in Tsarstvo is assigned one of twelve ideologies of three types: "Revolutionary", "Reformist" and "Reactionary", replacing the four ideologies of "Democracy", "Communism", "Fascism" and "Neutral". They are, from left to right:

Revolutionary

Totalism - A portmanteau of "totalitarian socialism" or "total commitment to socialism", Totalism is a catch-all term for authoritarian and nationalistic socialist movements in the game. The term was coined in-universe by critics of socialists with more authoritarian leanings such as Gregor Strasser, Georges Valois and Earl Browder, though was taken on by said men as a moniker for their ideology. Totalism claims to synthesise both Marxism and Syndicalism, with the goal of having all live in anarchy under a single, benevolent group of enlightened rulers.

Marxist - Marxism is a system of materialist analysis of economic structures with the goal of achieving socialism and eventually communism based on the writings of German economist Karl Marx. Many forms of Marxist thought are practised, though all place emphasis on the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and seek to embed class-consciousness in the global proletariat. It is the form of socialism promoted by the Union of American Socialist Republics. Tsarstvo classifies Left-Communist and Council Communist nations under Marxism.

Syndicalism - Syndicalism is one of the earliest forms of socialism, born out of the trade union movements in America and Western Europe. It prioritises direct action from the workers and trade unions through general strikes and direct democracy to form a decentralised, and in some cases anarchic system of governance. Syndicalism is the form of socialism practised by the Commune of France. Tsarstvo classifies most anarchist nations under Syndicalism.

Moderate Socialism - Moderate Socialism is an umbrella term for socialist ideologies that promote non-violent and less radical policies than their more revolutionary brethren. Many Moderate Socialists work within liberal democracy to reform it from within, others work in nations that have already sworn to the global revolution and yet more promote other causes entirely, such as national liberation. It is the form of socialism (de facto) practised by the German People's Republic.

Reformist

Social Democracy - Social Democracy is a capitalist ideology that incorporates some socialist policies, such as welfare and publicly-owned industries into a market economy. Criticised by both sides of the aisle for being either entryism for socialism or for diluting class-consciousness, Social Democrats across the world are split over whether or not to support the Third International.

Social Liberalism - Social Liberalism is a form of liberalism that pushes for progressive taxation and other socially-progressive policies in order to keep the market open and competitive. They seek to expand individual and civil liberties to citizens and are classified as centrists on the political spectrum.

Market Liberalism - Market Liberalism is an ideology of pure, unregulated economics that seeks to separate the market from government intervention as much as possible, where the individual may pursue their own life without hindrance from the state. Many Market Liberals are born into old money and aristocratic families and attempt to uphold and preserve their privilege.

Social Conservatism - Social Conservatism, often called simply "conservatism" seeks to preserve the social hierarchy and status quo of a nation, while still working within a liberal framework. Conservatives oppose any and all reforms to a society and often tend to keep the needs of other nations secondary at best.

Reactionary

Authoritarian Democracy - Authoritarian Democracy is a loose term used to describe anything from authoritarian governments with a pseudo-democratic structure, to republics with a powerful executive branch, to sham democracies, to semi-constitutional monarchies or even conservatives who are more extreme than the mainstream.

Paternal Autocracy - Paternal Autocracy is a dictatorship in the strictest sense of the word, where a single person (often an absolute monarch) or occasionally a small group of people (usually military juntas or one-party states) hold absolute power. These strongman leaders maintain their power through the oldest rule of them all: force, and few are afraid to use it wherever and whenever they feel like.

Fundamentalism - Fundamentalism is an umbrella term for highly-reactionary ideologies, that nationalist, anti-socialist and anti-modernist, though view Legionnairism as a flawed product of modernity. Fundamentalists are usually religious and/or monarchist in nature, though can pursue less grounded and more varied and esoteric goals.

Legionnairism - Legionnairism is the brainchild of Italo Balbo, the Duce of Italy. It's a far-right anti-socialist, anti-liberal, imperialist, populist and ultranationalist ideology with a corporatist economic structure that seeks open warfare with the socialist world. Styling themselves after Roman Legionnaires, Legionnairists claim themselves to be the true successors to the Roman Empire and "the champions of western civilisation" and are almost all aligned with Pax Romanum.

Great Powers

Tsarstvo has dozens of starting nations, some with barely any content (as of the current version of the mod). As such, only the "Big 7" (Russia, Italy, America, Nippon, Britain, Germany and France) and three other nations (China, Brazil and Middle Africa) will be discussed.

Russian Empire (Российская империя)

Head of State: Nicholas II
Capital: Petrograd
Ideology: Authoritarian Democracy
Faction: Entente Cordiale

The Third Rome, the Russian Empire is the undisputed global power. They are a semi-constitutional monarchy led by the Tsar Nicholas II, who exercises control over the state legislature, the Duma. Russia has exerted its power over the world since its victory in the Great War and has become the cultural, military and economic capital of the world for the past decade and a half. However, this "Russian Century" isn't as assured as some think it to be...

Russia's paths involve the growing friction between the Tsar and the Duma, as well as the souring of relationships with Britain (which results in an unavoidable split in the Entente into the Moscow Accord and the Commonwealth of Nations), the Rasputin scandal, ethnic revolts in Poland, Manchuria, Finland and Central Asia, the slow industrialisation effort, an economic crisis on the Moscow Stock Exchange on February 5th, 1936 known as "Black Monday" and the growing threat of both the Third International and Pax Romanum.

Three main paths exist for Russia:

• Status Quo (AuthDem) - The Tsar and the Duma maintain in deadlocke for the rest of the game, maintaining the political system as is with the White Party maintaining the Duma.
• Democratic (MarLib, SocDem) - The Duma comes out on top, turning Russia into a true constitutional democracy with universal adult suffrage under either the Liberal Party or the Social Revolutionaries.
• Absolutist (PatAuth) - Nicholas II emerges victorious and dissolves the Duma to overwhelming public support.

Union of American Socialist Republics

Head of State: William Z. Foster
Capital: Debs-De Leon
Ideology: Marxism
Faction: Third International

Founded in 1927 following the Second American Revolution, the Union of American Socialist Republics was inspired by the 1919 German Revolution and the 1921 French Revolution to create a socialist state founded on Marxist principles.

Most of the United Republics' paths involve the infighting among the International, especially with France and Belgium over the differences between Marxism and Syndicalism. Both they and France have mechanics over the stability of the Third International, trying to balance their influence over socialist nations and other socialists that are a part of their own nations.

If America "wins", they can take control of the International from the Commune of France and either push a specific socialist orthodoxy or pursue a united front. A disgruntled France however may leave the International and start the Fourth International.

The United Republics' paths are as follows:

• WPA (Marxist) - America maintains a Marxist leadership under William Z. Foster and attempt to solidify a Marxist orthodoxy.
• IWW (Syndicalist) - America changes course to Syndicalism under the IWW organisation and Elizabeth Gurley-Flynn.
• DFLP (ModSoc) - Huey Long leading the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party becomes President of the United Republics and slows down the Cultural Revolution.
• Vanguard (Totalist) - Earl Browder consolidates power with a Vanguard party with the intent of turning the UASR into his Totalist experiment.
• United Front (Marxist) - Jack Reed unites the various factions into a united front with his charisma and zeal, attempting to ease tensions with the Commune.

In older versions of the mod, Huey Long was able to reverse the Second American Revolution and recreate the United States of America, inviting MacArthur back from Cuba and annexing the island. As of Version 0.16.0 however, this is no longer possible.

Empire of Nippon (大日本帝国)

Head of State: Hirohito
Capital: Tokyo
Ideology: Social Democracy
Faction: Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (Leader)

The Empire of Nippon has fallen on hard times in recent years. After losing their footholds into China due to losing Manchuria to the Russians in 1928, they are left with Korea, Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands as their only colonies as leftist agitation grows in the country.

Nippon has very little time to prepare before a three-way civil war breaks out between a democratic east, a communist north and a zaibatsu-led republican west, as well as Korea, Taiwan and Ryukyu breaking free from Nipponese control.

The results of the Nipponese Civil War are as follows:

• Showa Restoration (Reformist) - Hirohito reunites Nippon and strengthens Nipponese democracy by strengthening the Imperial Diet and the constitution.
• Hokuto Revolution (Revolutionary) - Kanson Arahata leads a socialist coalition against both Hirohito and the Zaibatsus from the north and unites Nippon under the Nippon Socialist Republic.
• Reign of the Zaibatsu (Reactionary) - Unsatisfied with Hirohito and the Diet's treatment of the Zaibatsu, a coalition of industrialists led by Koyata Iwasaki with the help of the Nipponese far-right unify Nippon under Zaibatsu rule.

Italian Empire (Impero Italiano)

Head of State: Italo Balbo
Capital: Rome
Ideology: Legionnairism
Faction: Pax Romanum (Leader)

Gaining prominence following their defection to the Entente and their subsequent victory in the Great War and France's fall to radicalism, Italy took some French territory and their North African colonies following the Communard Revolution. However, many feared a similar revolution in Italian lands. Capitalising on this fear, in 1925, Italo Balbo and his Associazione Nazionalista Italiana marched on Rome to demand the democratic government cede power to them. In the intervening years, Italy has become the face of the ideology of Legionnairism and the leader of Pax Romanum: Italy's new attempt to recreate the Roman Empire of old.

Italy's paths revolve around "The Great Game", a battle of influence between Balbo and King Victor Emmanuel III over who will control Italy:

• Legionnaires in control (Legionnairism) - Balbo and the ANI wrest power from Emmanuel, as the House of Savoy loses legitimacy and are forced to abdicate the throne.
• The Rightful King Returns (AuthDem, Reformist) - Victor Emmanuel III gains enough influence to denounce the ANI and cast them out as traitors. Pax Romanum collapses and the king guides Italy to the next elections.

Commune of France (Commune de France)

Head of State: Sebastien Faure
Capital: Paris
Ideology: Syndicalism
Faction: Third International (Leader)

Inspired by the revolution in Germany, the workers and unions of France rose up in a general strike in an attempt to end the war there and then. Under the tutelage of the CGT, the workers radicalised towards syndicalism and declared a successor state to the Paris Commune of 1871. When the dust finally settled, The Federation of the Communes of France was declared in 1921. The revolutionaries received help from the nearby German People's Republic, and the revolution spilled out into neighbouring Belgium and Luxembourg.

Most of France's paths involve infighting among the International, especially with the United Republics over the differences between Marxism and Syndicalism. Both they and America have mechanics over the stability of the Third International, trying to balance their influence over socialist nations and other socialists that are a part of their own nations.

If France "wins", they can prevent the United Republics from taking control of the International and either push a specific socialist orthodoxy or pursue a united front. A disgruntled America however may leave the International and start the Fourth International.

The United Republics' paths are as follows:

• CGT (Syndicalist) - The CGT and unions maintains hegemony over the Commune of France.
• Anarchists (Syndicalist) - Exiled Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno becomes Chairman of the Commune of France and attempts to devolve powers to create an anarcho-syndicalist society in France.
• FCP (Marxist) - The French Communist Party takes control of the Commune and attempts to change course towards Marxism.
• Neosocialism (Totalist) - Georges Valois takes power in the Commune of France with his nationalist rhetoric and subverts the unions and councils both.

United Kingdom

Head of State: George V
Capital: London
Ideology: Market Liberalism
Faction: Entente Cordiale (Leader)

Britain emerged from the Great War bruised, but victorious. Now owning over a third of the world from cannibalising France's old colonies, the British Empire is arguably the most powerful empire to have ever lived.

Britain will unavoidably split from the Entente following Russia's economy crashing due to Black Monday, and will form the "Commonwealth of Nations" faction to consolidate their colonies, especially British Middle Africa: which is highly unstable and has a high chance of breaking apart into dozens of warlord states.

Britain has only three main paths:

• Whigs (MarLib) - Britain will seek to repair relationships with Russia.
• Tories (SocCon) - Britain will seek a detente with Pax Romanum.
• Labour (SocDem) - Britain will seek a guarantee with the Third International.

German People's Republic (Deutsche Volksrepublik)

Head of State: Otto Wels
Capital: Berlin
Ideology: Moderate Socialism
Faction: Third International

In 1919, the Kaiserreich and the Central Powers were losing the war. This prompted the Spartacist uprising in the town of Weimar, where a "People's Republic" was declared by an alliance between the SPD and KPD. The resulting state was an awkward compromise between Marxism, Syndicalism and Social Democrats, where both unions and councils comprise the beating heart of the government, though the SPD dominates both.

In a microcosm of the Third International's politics, Germany can go down many paths:

• The Compromise Holds (ModSoc) - No faction emerges victorious and Germany continues down an awkward, but stable status quo.
• Cradle of Marxism (Marxism) - Germany sides with America and pursues Germany as close to Marx's vision as possible.
• Our Nearest Allies (Syndicalism) - Germany favours the growing union movements over Marxist orthodoxy and grows closer to France & Belgium.
• SPD Hegemony (SocDem) - Germany reintroduces a market economy and becomes estranged from the rest of the 3I.
• National Socialism (Totalism) - Gregor Strasser becomes Chairman of Germany, and shapes it into an authoritarian state.

Republic of China (中華民國)

Head of State: Dai Li
Capital: Beijing
Ideology: Legionnairism
Faction: N/A

The 20th century has been nothing but humiliation after humiliation for the Republic of China. The concessions made to westerners following the Opium wars, the loss of Manchuria to Russia, then Nippon then Russia again. Enough was enough. Following the death of Sun Yat-sen, Dai Li rose to power within the ranks of the KMT in 1933 with the goal of uniting China by force, and by force he united the land. Now calling himself "the Marshal", Dai Li is dead-set on finishing the job by taking revenge on Russia and Nippon to create a China capable of creating its own destiny.

China has three major paths:

• The Marshal Hold on (Legionnairism) - Dai Li strengthens his hold over China to begin turning it into his personal fiefdom with his Blueshirt state security.
• Return of the Three Principles (ModSoc) - A coup from within the KMT overthrows Dai Li and re-establishes party democracy. From here, China may either become a liberal or socialist democracy.

In earlier versions of Tsarstvo, Jiang Jieshi was President of China at the game's start, though he would always get shot on January 5th, 1936, with his assassination setting off China's focus tree.

British Middle Africa

Head of State: Winston Churchill
Capital: Cairo
Ideology: Paternal Autocracy
Faction: Entente Cordiale

Following France and Belgium's fall to socialism, Britain managed to take most of them in the confusion and create the world's largest colony: British Middle Africa. Watched over by Governor-General Winston Churchill, the colony provided the United Kingdom with untold riches and cheap labour, though unbeknownst to most people, Middle Africa is coming apart at the seams, not helped by Churchill's nakedly-exploitative and borderline-cruel governorship of the continent.

Middle Africa has the unique mechanic of attempting to expose Churchill's crimes against humanity before it's too late. If this fails, Middle Africa is locked into the Collapse path.

There are only two paths for Middle Africa:

• Dominion of Middle Africa (Reformist, AuthDem) - Churchill's crimes are exposed before the crown and he is stripped of his governorship. Middle Africa is officially upgraded from a colony and is fully admitted as a dominion of the British Empire.
• Collapse (PatAuth, Fundamentalist) - Churchill's leadership leads to the complete collapse of Middle Africa, with dozens of warlord states fighting for control of the continent.

Brazil (Brasil)

Head of State: Varies
Capital: Varies
Ideology: Varies
Faction: Varies

In June of 1924, Brazil entered a civil war between multiple claimants as the legitimate Brazilian government, with the war growing deadlier and more confusing by the day. Both the Entente and Third International intervened in the conflict in an attempt to stop the fighting, though in the end, a ceasefire was reached in 1930 with all the breakaway states existing simultaneously despite their mutually-exclusive claims as the true Brazilian government.

The goal as one of the five Brazils is to unite the others to add the full might of Brazil to whichever faction they're aligned with:

• Empire of Brazil (AuthDem)
• Brazilian Union (Totalist)
• Federative Republic of Brazil (SocDem)
• Brazilian Integralist State (Fundamentalist)
• Free State of Sao Paulo (MarLib)

Community

The developers of the mod, known as the "Tsardevs" are very integrated in the fan community their mod has fostered, and regularly take on feedback about the mod, including various bugfixes, graphical updates, music suggestions and more.

A group of fans of the mod founded their own film group known as "Ocelot Productions" to create works based on the mod, such as fan-films, animatics and covers of old WW2-era songs. They are more or less treated as a part of the dev team, with a lot of overlap between Ocelot and the Tsardevs.

Fans of the mod were interviewed and asked which of the twelve ideologies they identified with and whether they were from a capitalist or communist nation with a sample size of 206, the results were as follows:








Tsarstvo's playerbase is diverse of both country of origin, race, gender and ideology, showing its strength as a mod and as an Alternate History setting for being able to connect with as many people for as many walks of life.


Game Map


Ideology Map


Faction Map

 

[Hawkatana]

A brief summary of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, the Manga, Anime and Tabletop RPG

Cover of the original Tankoban release in 1994

• The original Yu-Gi-Oh! Manga published in Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine #1318 on September 12th, 1994 by Kazuki Takahashi in Nippon.
  • The manga stars a young man named Yugi Muto and his friends Katsuya Jonouchi, Hiroto Honda and Anzu Mazaki, as well as the amnesiac spirit of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who dwells in a mysterious puzzle owned by Yugi and takes vengeance on those who wrong his host through various games themed in some way around his next victim.
  • Chapters 50-59 of the manga released on September 18th and November 20th of 1995 as it began the "Monster World" Arc: based around Takahashi's love for Tabletop RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons and Warband, as well as introducing the recurring character Ryo Bakura and the evil spirit within the Millenium Ring; an item similar to the Millenium Puzzle that housed the Pharaoh.
  • Due to the arc's popularity and the number of fan mail asking Takahashi, his editor and the Shuesha collective as a whole asking for more details about the game, the 60th chapter onwards, rebranded as "Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Master" (Or simply "Yu-Gi-Oh! DM" by fans) shifted the manga's focus from an episodic structure of games of the week to almost exclusively on the Monster World RPG (give or take a few chapters), where Takahashi would work to expand and refine the rules of the game before the manga ended its original run on October 29th 2001 in WSJ #1661.
• On April 5th 1996, an anime produced by Toei and directed by Takahashi aired on TV Asahi. The anime would run for six years with six seasons, mostly following the events of the manga, with its final episode The King of Games airing in August of 2002.
  • While the production value of the first season was considered lacking by viewers, later episodes would gradually increase the quality of the animation by spending more time perfecting the style to more closely resemble Takahashi's later art.
  • The anime introduced many new elements that weren't in the original manga. Most famously was the character of Miho Nosaka: a character who only appeared in a single chapter in the manga was made into one of Yugi's closest friends and a consistent love interest for Honda. Entire original story arcs were also made for the anime, including the infamous Academia Arc.
  • The anime received two English dubs in its time. The first dub by Fun Pit in 1998, is widely considered to be one of the worst examples of an English dub for Nipponese media. The second dub by Blue House Productions however is seen as much better in comparison, despite utilising many of the same voice actors as the Funpit dub, and received Takahashi's personal blessing. The Russian dub by Soviet Central Television is also noteworthy not only for being the first Russian dub of an anime that could truly be called good, but the first example of an anime being dubbed by a broadcaster owned directly by the state in the comintern, as is the Egyptian dub for its casting choices seen as bizarre and out-of-place.
• In October of 1996, 5 months after the anime was unveiled, a working prototype of the Monster World RPG simply titled "Yu-Gi-Oh!" made by Bandai with Takahashi's supervision and based primarily on the Indian TTRPG Warband was passed around at local conventions across Tokyo to playtest. After rebalancing it based on player feedback, the game eventually became commercially available as "Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Role-Playing Game"in Nippon, China, Korea and Indochina two months later.
  • Much like its appearance in the manga/anime, the game ran on a d100 engine, though with lower numbers being better than higher ones. Anything below a 10 is a critical hit, and a 00 is a super-critical hit. Conversely, anything 90 or above is a fumble and a 99 is a critical fumble.
  • The game's first edition was made to be a flexible engine to accommodate both traditional RPG experiences like D&D as well as wargames like Warhammer.
  • Upon making its way to the UASR, USSR, Latin America, the Balkans, East Germany and Czechoslovakia, the game was rebranded to "Yu-Gi-Oh! Tabletop Role-Playing Game" in those regions. Over time, the distinction between the two (often abbreviated as the ORPG & the TRPG) became greater as they would often receive exclusive material before it was officially released in the other.
  • While Monsley Kingdom: the first setting shown in the manga would eventually be published, the first official setting released for the game and the "default" setting for the first edition was the ancient Egyptian-inspired Millenium World.
  • The first edition, while praised for the most part for its unique gameplay, was also criticised for its clunky mechanics and trying to awkwardly act as an engine for both RPGs & wargames without excelling at being one for either.
  • The game sold well in most regions it was released in, particularly Nippon, the United Republics and East Germany, and is one of the most successful TTRPGs in its home of Nippon, while earning a reputation of "Everyone's second-favourite TTRPG" elsewhere.
• After a 3 year hiatus, Takahashi returned to the series to rework the game after taking on feedback towards its first edition, creating the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Role-Playing Game: 2nd Edition" published by Bandai and releasing it on the 6th of September, 2004, as well as "Yu-Gi-Oh! Tabletop Role-Playing Game: 2nd Edition" a few months later. He would also pen a sequel manga named "Yu-Gi-Oh! V2"in Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine #1798, set 6 years after the events of the original manga and with a mostly-new cast of characters which would release on the same day as the ORPG and ended publication in 2010. The anime adaptation by Toei and co-directed by both Takahashi & veteran animator Tadayoshi Yamamuro began airing in December of that year and ended in May of 2011.
  • The second edition featured less wargame elements than its predecessor, though still retained a lot of its older elements (albeit in a more refined manner) and still ran on a d100 engine. These changes were generally well-received.
  • V2's manga stars Souji Yuden: a video game-loving teenager who enters virtual games of Monster World Online to save people from a group of psychic terrorists called Lindwurm bent on bringing chaos to the world. The anime made Souji more hot-headed than his laid-back manga persona, a change which was disliked by many fans.
  • The setting used in the manga/anime: the steampunk Orlin was used as the main setting for 2E, under the name Empires of the Smoky Skies.
  • Around the time of 2E, the game gained a cult following in West Germany, thanks to the rise of online tabletop simulators & DVDs of V2's dub from East Germany.
• Around 2012, Takahashi announced he'd be stepping down from being directly involved with the franchise in the future to focus more on making the manga he wanted to instead of being known as simply "The Yu-Gi-Oh! man", designating Ryo Mizuno & Akira Ito as his successors for both the game & manga respectively, though would remain involved with both projects as both a consultant and a character designer.
• On February 3rd, 2014, the 3rd edition of Yu-Gi-Oh!: "Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Role-Playing Game: 3rd Edition" published by Bandai was released, followed a week later by the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Tabletop Role-Playing Game: 3rd Edition" in the west. To coincide with its release, Ito released the third entry of the manga: "Yu-Gi-Oh! Vanguard" in Weekly Shonen Jump #2250 with an anime by Toei announced 5 months later, with the manga ending in June of 2019 and the anime by March the following year. Blue House would also produce an original animated series in America alongside Vanguard's anime known as "Yu-Gi-Oh! Chronicle", based on the TRPG ruleset as opposed to the ORPG rulings, which was released in August of 2014 before being cancelled in May of 2015 after a single season.
  • Mizuno stated that his goal with the third edition was to make the game more accessible to new audiences, leading to a lot of the game being streamlined and simplified from 2E. This decision was almost universally praised, and is widely considered by fans to be when the game "truly made its own identity".
  • A new mechanic in 3E and its main selling point was the new "Fusion Class" mechanic, inspired by D&D's Prestige classes, where players were encouraged to combine character classes to access new, more powerful classes with devastating new abilities.
  • "Yu-Gi-Oh! Vanguard" focuses on social outcast Yuko Hirano and her two best friends Toru Tachibana & Misaki Tomoe in the near-future year of 20XX. The trio accidentally stumble upon a dark gate underneath their high school and must enter through to fight against lovecraftian abominations known as Jokers from entering their reality through Monster World. The manga and its anime adaptation were criticised for a lackluster story, though praised for its likeable and well-written characters, many of whom are fan-favourites.
  • "Yu-Gi-Oh! Chronicle" is a side-story set in the UASR starring Chris Silverman: an archaeology student at Harvard and his mission to find his missing explorer father Dante, travelling the world to find him and the terrible secret he found out. Chronicle was harshly criticised for its writing, story, characters and unsatisfying ending and is seen as the worst entry in the franchise by many, although Nipponese audiences were more forgiving towards its shortcomings.
  • A theatrical crossover movie between all four series written by Takahashi himself named "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Lost Mobius" was released on the 12th September of 2019: exactly 25 years after the release of the first chapter of the manga, which was praised by both critics and general audiences despite the decision to focus primarily on the divisive character of Chris and for tying up many of the franchise's remaining plot-threads in satisfying ways through the original villain Parallax.
  • The setting used in Vanguard: the dark fantasy setting of Erebus was used as 3E's "default" setting, published simply as Erebus. Though the sandbox-like Zazamanc setting from Chronicle was also greatly supported as Ends of the World, even long after Chronicle had ended.
• As of late 2021, both Mizuno & Ito have confirmed rumours of the fourth edition of the game and its tie-in manga, though have not revealed any details as of yet beyond them being in early development and that both would release when they're ready.

---------------

In honour of Kazuki Takahashi (1961 - 2022), Rest in Peace.

 

[Miss Teri]

/net/global/http:co.na/commonpedia/vishesh-prabhaav (Last edited March 23th, 2022)

Vishesh Prabhaav ("Special Effects" in Hindi) is a genre of film and television popular in India, centered primarily on special effects driven science fiction, fantasy, and horror films. Starting off with the "Rakshasas" giant monster movies of the 50's and the science fiction of the 60's, the films would encompass a variety of subject matter and themes, but would become associated with giant monsters (inspired by Hindu mythology), robots, superheroes, and aliens. During the Red Summer, the previously niche genre received a boost in prestige when famed Bengali director Satyajit Ray would direct several, including his two magnum opi, The Alien and Childhood's End. With the success of films like Star Wars, The Star Beast, and Of Unknown Origin, the Vishesh Prabhaav of the 80's would take on a distinctly space opera tone, with the monsters increasingly more in the vein of Lovecraft, and grand epic stories of battle between good and evil. By the 2000's, the genre became cemented, with regular blockbusters based on popular franchises and homages to the classics of the genre, including, increasingly, from the Indian diaspora in the FBU and the United Republics.

History

Many early Indian films featured adaptations of stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, with minimal special effects. However, by the 50's, Indian films became increasingly inclined towards musicals, dramas, and romance.

The early Vishesh Prabhaav films were of the former vein, but with bigger effects. 1952's Ramayana featured stop-motion effects reminiscent of American master Willis O'Brien (helped by Havanawood studios trained in that craft) to depict characters like Hanuman and Ravana. 1954's Agni (an adaptation of a story in the Mahabharata), directed by Mohammad Hussain, also featured high level special effects for its time.

The true progenitors of VP were, however, inspired by American, British, and Nipponese science fiction movies. American films like The Beast from 20000 Fathoms, British films like The Quatermass Experiment, and Japanese films like Godzilla put the framework for early VP movies. Hindi features included: 1954's Lizard featured a large reptilian creature terrorizing Madras, stop-motion instead of a suit. 1956's X the Unknown was effectively a rip off of the Quatermass Experiment, with the polymath Professor Aryabhata replacing Quatermass.

Outside of Bollywood, Ellis R. Dungan, an American expatriate in the Tamil film industry, made his own version with Kaadu (The Jungle), centered on wooly mammoths and Hanuman, a King Kong knock-off set in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The two films would be the progenitors of the Rakshasa genre, which would combine the tropes of American-British monster movies with Hindu mythology. Much of these early Rakshasa films would be stop-motion.

Whilst Bengali directors like Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen were defining realist cinema with their stark depiction of life in rural villages, Bengali cinema also saw the first superheroes emerge from Indian cinema. First the 1957 serial Super Giant, a hero influenced by American superheroes like Superman and Captain Marvel, and later Messenger of Allah, about a Muslim superhero in Hydrabad.

Staples of the genre continued to grow in the late 50's and early 60's. 1958's Tamil feature The Warning from Space, directed by BR Panthulu was a riff on the American film When Worlds Collide. Due to the backing of Navketan, the budget was higher than many prior Indian SF films. The film featured starfish like aliens that were influenced by American and Soviet science fiction comic books and magazines. The distinct look of the starfish aliens would help define the look of aliens within VP films, either as grotesque invertebrate monsters or as robots.

VP as a genre would become fully formed in the 1960's. The films became increasingly influenced by Nipponese monster movies like Godzilla, British Hammer Horror, American superhero comics drawn by the likes of Jack Kirby and Wally Wood, and American New Wave movies. The 1963 A. Kasilingam feature Kalai Arasi, originally conceived as more a traditional Tamil musical with some science fiction trappings, is regarded as the first true VP movie, with MG Ramachandran playing an alien with a very superhero look, and while the film is a romance with Bhanumati's human character, there is a significant amount of monsters and spaceship battles throughout.

1963's Shikari, directed by Mohammed Hussain, about a mad scientist who experiments on humans and gorillas, would come to name a subgenre of films that focused on mad scientist protagonists who did devious experiments, giving some monstrous creations (often involving radiation.)

Monsters like Gogola (1966) and X From Outer Space (1967) would come to dominate Hindi b-movies through the 60's. Particularly inspired by kaiju like Godzilla and Gamera, the Gogola series would become a major franchise, with its own rogues gallery.

Meanwhile, the Tamil and Bengali film industries would continue to build off more complex storylines, eschewing prior gothic influenced horror films in favor of films that were increasingly contemporary. Whilst this mostly included films like Movie Monsters(1968), a Marxist film that focused more on the battle of wits between an aging movie actor and a leftist group that kidnapped him, others went all in on superheroes fighting giant robots and monsters.

A seminal influence on VP movies and series from this period was the 1966 English language series Indra-7, a Gerry Anderson style "supermarionation" Hindi series created by puppeteers Vikrush and Baani Hatwal. Telling the story of the crew of the titular spaceship and their adventures in rescuing helpless denizens of the galaxy as part of the "Intergalactic Rescue Service", Indra-7 combined traditional Indian puppetry and their prior experience on the popular Chandamama anthology series with the aforementioned Gerry Anderson influence to give the series a distinct look that would come to be iconic. Many directors who would come to prominence in VP either got their start on the series or worked on it to a significant degree. Biggest of all would be artist and matte painter Yusuf Mahmood, who co-founded YM Productions with fellow Indra-7 veteran, director and special effects artist R. Nareshganth. Eventually called the Maharajas of Monsters, they would work on various VP movies across the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Sinhalese and Bengali film industries.

The 1968 Tamil serial The Mighty 5 (later adapted into a popular Doordashan television series in 1971), created by Indra-7 writer and director Janaki Shivaraju was heavily influenced by American superhero team comics like The Fantastic Five, Justice League, The Avengers, and Mutant Liberation Front. The stories and character/monster designs are particularly derived from Jack Kirby's work on Fantastic Five and The New Gods. The 1966 Bengali TV series Ultraman (a spin-off of the popular Ultra Q anthology series) made by Nareshganth, would become the symbol of VP worldwide, not the least because it aired (in heavily edited form) on both the EBC in 1967 (becoming a rival for a time with Doctor Who, who homage the series decades later) and the newly established American CATV[1] network United Artists-Mutual Broadcasting in 1969.

The distinctive look of Ultraman (inspired by American, Chinese, and Nipponese superheroes as well as mythical beings like Garuda and Narasimha) and its setting (inspired by kaiju movies and Naresganth's work on Indra-7) was the template for many other VP series to come out of Bengal and other film industries.

Not to say Bollywood didn't have their own space adventures. Chand Par Chadayee, a 1967 Hindi film starring Dara Singh and Anwar Hussein, is often cited as the greatest VP film ever made, with its big effects; larger Rakshasas; complex, bizarre designs; and its strange plot.

The biggest film from this period was the Masked Rider, from yet another ex-Indra-7 veteran, long time Bollywood screenwriter Anosh Yazdani. Coming from a prestigious Parsi theater family in Bombay, he was very well-acquainted with theater effects and was adept at special effects. Using this knowledge and his experience with Indra-7, Yazdani would carefully craft the story of monster-fighting, motorbike riding masked vigilantes, and with it, a global franchise that continues to the present.

Of course, these various series were popular in part because of a growing favorable climate towards them. The Red Summer had begun in 1968, with the Indian government under Prime Minister JRD Tata battling communist backed strikes, protests against the ongoing Indochina war, and a growing leftist insurgency. This coincided with a counterculture that was in something of symbiosis with western countercultures (them being influenced by Indian culture, the Indians influenced by western dress and music). This era of conflict would come to affect most parts of Indian society, not the least of which was film.

VP movies were in fact disparaged by most "serious" critics, who felt that Indian cinema should not focus on special effects heavy features, instead preferring dramas or musicals, which still dominated the landscape, with VP movies relegated to Poverty Row features.

However, the cultural landscape that was the dominant Bollywood paradigm would soon be rocked, both by the Red Summer (with many behind-the-camera talent striking) and by a series of violent episodes. The murders of popular actress Manju Batta* and Vida Tata* (an heiress and distant relative of the PM) shocked the nation and the world, especially when it was determined that a mixed group of Indians and westerners were responsible, directed by a cult leader named Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh (or "Osho").

Another blow was the "The Concert at Thiruvananthapuram", a concert held in the Kerala capital attended by major Western and Indian bands, including "The Group" and "Atomic Forest", which ended in tragedy when the 'goondas' affiliated with Kochi mafia groups hired as security ended up beating back the roaring crowd resulting in some deaths.

This growing violence and social change would eventually target the sort of escapism that musicals represented, resulting in several troubled productions and flops, culminating in a new form of Indian cinema, "New Bollywood", which was more contemporary, rougher, and a lot more controversial.

VP, with its emphasis on teamwork and its underdog protagonists, and especially its violent tones and feelings of fear, tapped into the counterculture's own style (along with the often bizarre, psychedelic imagery in shows like The Mighty 5 and Ultraman) and would garner an older, more sophisticated audience that appreciated the craftsmanship and themes within the works.

As musicals died out, Indian films gravitated towards intense dramas and thrillers. VP still remained as a growing genre, and new influences were coming in. Planet Hanuman, a 1969 film by A. C. Tirulokchandar, had some significant influence from Francois Truffant's Planet of the Apes and Stanley Kubrick's Universe (ironically, Universe was influenced by The Warning from Space). Universe would also influence 1970's Of Men and Gods, a Bengali story of space exploration featuring ancient aliens posing as gods and monsters beyond human comprehension.

Ironically, the biggest VP film of the 1970's would come from an unexpected source. While having made his bones defining the realist genre, Satyajit Ray was a fan of both comics and several VP franchises like Ultraman and Indra-7. He had mulled some adaptations from his children's book drawing on the popular elements of these properties, but instead chose to create a story that would be lower key than epic space battles and monster attacks.

The Alien, released in 1975, had a difficult production cycle, originally an MGM-Pathe co-production. Following their exit, Ray still utilized the star power of Peter Sellers to help raise the funds to produce it independently. Centered on the friendship between a young boy and the titular Alien (Mr. Ang, played by Peter Sellers), YM Productions was on hand to do the effects for the spaceship (designed to resemble ancient Hindu temples) and some of the robotic aliens (some resembling Ultraman) serving as Mr. Ang's crew.

The Alien would be a gigantic success, helping usher in the string of successful science fiction blockbusters released in the late 70's. Indeed, Steven Spielberg's Watch the Skies , released in 1977, was accused of stealing ideas from The Alien (an allegation Spielberg himself denies).

Films like The Alien would inspire more subdued works, which featured fantastik elements, but were more in tune with more mundane Indian settings (especially as the Red Summer died down).

Still, the 1970's and 80's would come to be known as the "Golden Age of Vishesh Prabhaav." Ray himself produced two series with American comic collective Marvel based on the popular Spider-Man and Fantastic Five series (turning those properties into a more Indian style), as well as an original series Lakshmi Warriors, about an all-female superhero team (including the first transgender character on Indian television.)

The continued popularity of shows like Lakshmi Warriors, Ultraman, The Mighty 5 and The Masked Rider would be supplemented by the continued popularity of film series like Gogola. Even as the Red Summer subsided with a ceasefire in 1974, VP had already made an impact, and was a large part of the Indian film ecosystem.

The rise of VP would become part of the growing "anorak" subculture that was growing in both India and diaspora populations. Comic magazines like science fiction GRID and humor ANTI and VP horror films like Yeti and Komodo were also part of the "anorak" culture, exported to the west. The EBC would air and translate many of these series as part of their children's blocks, forming a solid fandom first amongst British Asians and later the general population.

Stan Lee, Chairman of Marvel, wanted to bring Lakshmi Warriors to the United Republics, but encountered issues with cultural differences. Lee proposed "Americanizing" the series by replacing most of the scenes featuring Indian characters with American counterparts and adding in an English soundtrack. While the distributors (the nascent Prometheus Channel) accepted the proposal, YM Productions opposed it as "whitewashing" and "westernizing". Eventually a compromise was reached, where the actors used were of Indian descent, and they would roughly correspond to the ones in the original series.

Airing between 1978 and 1981, the American Lakshmi Warriors would become a staple of American Saturday Mornings for many children.

Ray would follow The Alien up with another science fiction blockbuster, this time teaming with his friend Arthur C. Clarke and American comic book artist Neal Adams to create a follow-up, an adaptation of Clarke's book Childhood's End (during the production of Universe, Kubrick had considered adapting that work before going with The Sentinel instead).

The film, released in 1979 as an American-British-Indian co production, is often regarded as one of the greatest science fiction films ever made, with its high production values, its unique devil looking aliens (a collab between YM and Neal Adams), and its intense storyline, which would come to be seen as prophetic, with the rise of international tensions and the feeling of dread and apocalypse that came with it.

The rise of Gayatri Devi and the subsequent liberal militarism in the 80's would shape the VP films of the era, both consciously and unconsciously. The last few series of Lakshmi Warriors would focus on a conspiracy by the government of an unnamed communist East Asian nation to create monsters to enact terror. Science Patrol, an Indra-7 type show about science heroes solving problems, had a more explicitly anti-Chinese message, with the villains being an alliance of Chinese, Chosunese, and Nipponese evil geniuses who want to destabilize the capitalist system.

This growing militarism was coupled with the genre's growing commercialism. Effectively mainstream by the 80's, VP shows and movies became lucrative franchises, especially with older series airing in perpetuity in syndication on Doordashan and Southern Television. With a dedicated anorak audience now growing amongst both kids and adults, a cottage industry formed, with comic and prose tie-ins, lunch boxes, video games, and especially toys being sold as accessories for various shows.

In fact, some shows were made as specific tie-ins for various toys. Micronauts, a popular toy released in 1977, would become a profitable property in the 80's, with a spin-off comic series, a popular animated film series, and of course, a live-action VP television show. Despite its blatant commercialism, the show would be buoyed by its impressive design and its complicated stories, both helped by veteran VP writers and artists, as well as leftover ideas from the Marvel collaborations. In fact, after tensions fell in the late 80's and early 90's, Marvel itself would distribute the Micronauts films and TV show in the United Republics (edited together into one TV show to create the impression of different worlds being entered).

Another prominent series to emerge from Indian toys was born from the popular Microman and Car-Robot action figures. Rebranded by the Danish toy and gaming company LEGO in 1982, Transformers spun off as both a popular tv series on ITV and a popular Fleetway comic. In turn, a live-action show was created in India in 1985, and Indian specific comics were produced, following a different continuity as the Fleetway comics (published by then up-and-comers Raj Comics)

Of course, some VP properties pushed back against this commercialism. Biggest of all was by Anosh Yezdani, who by the 80's was proclaimed the "King of the Anoraks." A title he would be ambivalent towards, especially as he saw the direction of Indian cinema move towards status quo supporting escapism and how so-called "anorak" culture relied heavily on commercialism.

He also had increasing concerns over the increased power of corporations over Indian society, especially under Devi's free market policies. Due to censorship, he couldn't quite express such sentiments in The Masked Rider, so under the pseudonyms "John Everyman" and "Nemo" (an allusion to famed literary Indian character Captain Nemo and the seminal American comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland"), he instead began contributing to GRID, mainly writing (and sometimes drawing) stories focusing on the increased power of corporations and the dangers of increased computerization. While he didn't know it at the time, his stories were part of a growing milieu in GRID, corresponding to a new genre emerging in America, the FBU, the USSR, and Nippon: Cyberpunk.

His 1981 story We Are Everywhere, drawn by Judge Dredd co-creator Carlos Ezquerra, would be considered a classic of the cyberpunk genre, with its noir inspired story of Jai Venkar, a "silencer" sent to kill the synthoids, engineered biological robots made specifically by the Rantez Corporation for manual labor, implanted with fake memories. The surreal dream like nature of the memories as well as the Moebius inspired cityscapes would inspire the direction of both GRID in the 80's and cyberpunk works across the world.

Among those influenced was Mrinal Sen, a prominent Marxist filmmaker from Bengal. Sen would bring the idea of a film adaptation to leading Indian production company Eros International, who in turn brought on B.H. Lokhande (director of films like the Edgar Wallace inspired The Hands of Evil, Bond rip-off The Device of Dr. Gupta, and most pertinent, the Fritz Lang inspired horror-SF VP movie The Black City) to direct.

The result was 1984's Dark Days, starring Rajesh Khanna as Jai and Sridevi as Lex, is considered by many one of the defining texts of cyberpunk and generally, one of the greatest films ever made. Its unique look (a combination of the art direction by Moebius himself and a unique neon inspired computer look[2]) would influence the look of FBU and Nipponese cyberpunk in particular.

Ironically, for a film criticizing corporations and commercialism, it would, in fact, inspire commercialism, most notably a bunch of rip-offs. More importantly, it would spark a series of cyberpunk VP films. While not as deep as Dark Days, often just standard procedurals set in a futuristic setting, it would also become a major genre of VP, displacing the Shikari supervillain genre entirely.

The most famous VP show in the west would come about through a long series of events. Through the 80's, Doctor Who had been heavily censored by the new extremist EBC administration of Mary Whitehouse (who censored violent and sexual content, as well as parroted the militant line of Prime Minister Harry Lee).

Despite attempts around this censorship and the first woman Doctor in Diana Rigg, ratings slipped, and by 1986, the show was canceled. The EBC needed a show that could take its spot, attempting a few other science fiction shows. Eventually, Haim Saban, a former music producer from Egypt, came up with an idea, inspired by a viewing of the popular Rainbow Warriors X Super series on a business trip to Mumbai.

Influenced by the approach taken by the American version of Lakshmi Warriors, Saban proposed having new footage replace the Indian actors, while keeping the fight footage and some translated dialogue. Unlike Lakshmi Warriors, the heroes would be multi-racial, and hamfisted lessons were occasionally added.

Power Rangers ,released in 1990, would become a surprise hit, running for almost 6 seasons (before the return of Doctor Who under Christopher Lambert displaced it in 1996). Concerns over the violence were muted, as Whitehouse was replaced by the more moderate Sir Alan Knight, Jr.*, who was lenient on more action oriented content as the Long 80's drew to a close.

The 90's is often seen as a low in the genre, a "Dark Age", tying with the events around it. The assassination of Gayatri Devi in 1988, the ascension of MD Deoras, and the escalation of the conflict with China saw a darker, more warlike tone over many previously sunny franchises. Dark Days and later Annihilator and Judge Dredd would see a new cyberpunk genre emerge that was deeply cynical and anti-authoritarian (without being too anti-goverment). The most notable entry was the Inspector Steel series, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit, based on the popular feature from Raj Comics (seen as an Indian pastiche of Annihilator) and the more lighthearted Mr. India series, starring Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and Amrish Puri.

As Deoras was ultimately deposed in 1991 and the Long 80's gave way to the Long Detente, commercialization continued to take over many franchises, with many left-wing and religious group voicing concerns about the overt commercialization of many TV shows, especially those aimed at children. Mollywood and Tollywood (Malayam and Telugu cinema) took an increasing share of the VP market, creating rivals with the traditional Hindu, Bengali and Tamil markets. While VP ultimately grew to be a mainstream Indian genre with crime, dramas, and musicals in the 1990's, the quality of the films themselves increasingly varied, owing to oversaturation and the need to appeal to international markets.

Some would garner acclaim, some would be reviled, some would grow to be cult classics, and most would be forgotten from this era. Even within this "Dark Age", however, the first modern VP blockbusters would become prominent, with the Masked Rider and Power Rangers having theatrical films released to box office success, and several original properties drawing on the genre's traditional markings (rather than the more prestigious elements of The Alien or Dark City) would also become successes.

At the same time, VP's international standing was growing. Thailand had been producing its own VP films since the 70's, but by the 90's, they had ramped up poverty row film production across the board. New Thai VP films (especially monster movies in the Kaiju/Rakshasa model) were being shepherded by local film producer Sompote Sands* and his silent partner, controversial South Italian producer Claude Scott*[3]. Sands-Scotts productions often included dinosaurs and robots fighting it out, including future Mystery Science Theater 3000 target Attack of the Tricerabots. While of significantly lower quality than Indian VP films, Thailand would emerge as a rival in this particular genre. Indochina also began producing similar VP style television programs that would become popular in most of Red East Asia.

The Indian diaspora, who had grown up with these films and TV shows, were also spreading the VP genre to a new international generation. V Rajagopalan*, a former YM Productions screenwriter and director, emigrated to the East African Federation due to the blacklist under Devi and Deoras and formed Garuda Productions with local film producer Harold Blount in 1992. While initially focused on producing local content for Indians in the EAF, Garuda soon became the hub for "Afro-Vishesh-Prabhaav", which combined Afro-futurism with VP tropes, that would become popular with both Africans and Indians.

As CATV and SATV[4] grew globally, the number of channels did. And subsequently, international programming began to trickle more and more. While international successes like Power Rangers and The Masked Rider dominated, many smaller productions were making their way into international markets. British Asians would bring these lesser known properties, along with Indian comics and animation, to the wider anorak culture in the FBU through the 80's and 90's. By the late 90's, there would be an organized anorak fandom, with a focus on Indian genre media. The famed EBC Indian sketch show Goodness Gracious Me would parody the interactions between the predominantly white Anorak culture and Indian fans.

Meanwhile, in Comintern nations, VP films became fixtures for Indian exile theaters in Yunnan and the United Republics. Fond memories of Lakshmi Warriors and the growing number of channels would see more VP programs trickle in. VP movies became a frequent target on the program Mystery Science Theater 3000, producing some classic episodes of that series. BamPoh, a spin-off channel of the sketch comedy channel PBS-0 focused on foreign programming, would slot in a variety of VP programs from India and Thailand in addition to Hong Kong and Australian wuxia movies, Nipponese anime and kaiju movies, and British SF shows.

Indian cinema in general was also becoming influential in international cinema. Mainstream western directors like Baz Luhrmann and John Woo would draw influence from Bollywood crime and musical films, but with VP's status as Bollywood's "commercial underbelly", homages and reference to it were relegated to the independent market. 1996's Vimanarama, a pastiche and spoof of VP, was produced independently by a group of Indian-British students at King's College. 2000's Bollywood Follies was an American anthology parodying Bollywood movies, featuring several fake clips of various films representing various genres, including one from a VP sci-fi movie called Super Hero Monster Alien Attack Force and a VP horror/rakshasa film called The Beach Monsters.

After the Dark Age, the ongoing "Blockbuster Age" would come to full force with the 2001 theatrical reboot of Indra-7, with high budget special effects and an all-star cast. Reboots of other shows and films like Lakshmi Warriors, Science Patrol, and Inspector Steel would follow, with glossy special effects, more streamlined stories and big stars attached.

Gradually, smaller budget fare became relegated to television, as bigger franchises became more special effects heavy and focused on wide appeal.

Internationally, VP homages remained small in comparison to Bollywood musical homage. Still, influence trickled in. Monsterland, a 2005 American-Soviet coproduction, was a dark look at the genre, with constant alien-robot-superhero fights resulting in a post-apocalyptic futuristic atmosphere. In 2007, Indian American director Geetha Saraj* made a more loving tribute to the genre in Giant Robot Monster Attack, in 2008, a recreation of a "lost" VP tv show from the 70's, complete with dated effects, strange monsters, and cheesy dialogue.

In 2012, Indian American director Manoj Shyamalan and Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, both big VP fans, would team up with American collective United Artists and Anglo-Canadian film production company Paramount to produce Bay of Bengal , a new entry into the VP genre that added an artistic heaviness and innovative design to the genre. The film centered on a war between the rakshasas and humanity. Setting aside their differences, several of the world's most powerful nations (the United Republics, China, India, the Soviet Union, Brazil the Franco-British Union, the Pan-American Confederation and the East Africa Federation) band together to create giant mechas, jaegers, to battle the rakshasas. The film's epic scope and strong worldbuilding earned critical praise, in addition to financial success.

The 2010's also saw an growing genre of "religious" VP films, rounding back to the genre's origin in the 50's. Telugu director SS Rajamouli has utilized VP "cosmic" SF imagery in films like Baahubali. YM Productions continues to this day as a major producers of VP content, both with reboots and sequels to reboots, and original properties for film, TV, and video games like Microworld (a multimedia franchise centered on a digital world) and Monster Squad (based on a GRID series about a reversal of the standard VP format, with small monsters battling humans.) Shyamalan followed up Bay of Bengal with a sequel to Dark Days: Dark Days 2052, expanding and elaborating on the original's themes to fit with the modern era.

The centers of VP films in the modern day are Bollywood, Kollywood (Tamil), Tollywood (Telugu), Mollywood (Malayam), and Bengali film industries, with international business in Thailand, the East Africa Federation, Guyana, China, Australia, and the United Republics.

While the genre has become an integral part of the Indian film industry internationally and domestically, many fans have expressed concern about how the genre is increasingly warped by religious sentiment, militarism and commercialism. Internet film critic and VP fan Annaliese Srinivasen has remarked in her video about the history of the genre:

"Increasingly, Vishesh Prabhaav films are less concerned with fun or creativity inherent in the format, and more concerned with four quadrant demographic appeal and management of intellectual property. Gone are the heady days of rebellion or exploration, and now we have productions backed by the establishment. Films that speak more to reactionary Hindu attitudes and the unstable Indian military. You have excellent VP films coming out of East Africa and the United Republics, but in India, the industry with its big visual effects spectacles (where the workers who create them are overworked and underpaid) and focus on nostalgic properties at the expense of new stories, is becoming everything that is wrong with mainstream capitalist film and everything wrong with Indian cinema. There's a focus on profit before people, appeal over originality , and above all, profit over artistry."


[1] Cable Television
[2] Think Tron
[3] real name Claudio Parisi (special thanks to @Miss XTC for the character)
[4] Satellite Television

 

[Adonisus]

(Entry from Speculative Words Encyclopedia, published by Speculative International, 2015)


Mizushima, Kaori (1954-2009), pen name of Asami Imaoka (originally assigned male at birth as Kenichi Imaoka). Prolific Nipponese author of popular fiction in the speculative field who helped to pioneer the so-called 'light novel' medium in Nipponese publishing (1). Her collected works, printed and published by the literary collective Coalition Publishing, reached 300 volumes by the time of her death. A seemingly tireless storyteller, her output was immense and diverse, famously including her space opera epic Record of the Galactic Conflict, the sword and sorcery series Outlaws of the Wild Marsh, and the humorous YA mystery series High School Detective Saori. She also authored several science fiction and fantasy short stories and standalone novels, wrote several tanka poems, authored plays and composed music; she was a proficient player of several musical instruments. Most of her works were (and continue to be) adapted into films, television serials, comics and video games. At over 150,000,000 copies in print, she is one of the most widely read and translated Nipponese authors.


Born in Tokyo in 1954, Imaoka came of age in the tumultuous early years of the Socialist Republic of Nippon. After the previous Imperial government's defeat in the Great Revolutionary War, life in the infant republic had been one of rebuilding, rationing, and reform. Culturally, it was also one of furious conflict; the short-lived premiership of Inejiro Asanuma had resulted in a campaign of ferocious denunciation and condemnation of traditional Nipponese culture. Art forms such as traditional kabuki, Noh drama, and even bunraku puppet theater were the subjects of government censorship. By the time that Imaoka had entered University in 1970, the effects of these campaigns were still felt: although all three art forms had undergone a comeback, the content had been drastically altered from the traditional to more avante-garde and irreverent forms. In contrast, newer art forms such as manga, anime and tokusatsu had flourished. By the time of Imaoka's graduation in 1974, all three new mediums had become firmly entrenched in Nipponese popular culture.


Outside of this, Imaoka's early life and school career were largely uneventful. She was a voracious reader and competent student, showing both her diligence and her creativity at an early age. She was a member of her school's Science Fiction club, as well as a soloist and accompanist in her school's choir and band club. She was proficient in the following instruments: piano (which was her first instrument), shamisen (which she took up for her interest in kabuki), violin, accordion, guitar and french horn(2). Her musical interests and activities would persist throughout her life; During University she played keyboards for the hard rock band Pandora (she was a lifelong fan of The Quarrymen and T. Rex), composed music for her theatrical productions (and on occasion playing the accompanying music herself), and filled her books with songs and poems of her own creation. She would even recommend selections to ideally accompany her books in her prescripts. In her later years she would tour with her jazz ensemble the Asami Imaoka trio(3).

Although she began writing in her teenage years, her literary career began in earnest during her University career. Her first stories were published in popular periodicals such as SF Magazine and Weekly Novel, both of which she would continue to be published in up until her death. Part of her burgeoning popularity in this time period can be credited to her frequent illustrators, namely her lifelong friend Shinji Wada (a popular mangaka and illustrator) and Ken Ishikawa (creator of the Getter Robo franchise)(4), which helped to visualize the characters in her stories and imprint them upon the popular imagination. Many popular literary magazines by this time, especially those aimed at younger readers, had begun using manga-style illustrations in an attempt to attract newer readers. Many of these serials, which would then be published in heavily illustrated paperbacks, would prove to be the foundation of a new popular literary format: the light novel.

It was in these periodicals that her most famous works were serialized, namely both Record of the Galactic Conflict(5) and Outlaws of the Wild Marsh(6) were published in SF Magazine. Of the two, it is arguably the first that has been her most influential internationally. Taking place several centuries into the future, the saga takes place in a time period where the center of political and cultural power has shifted from Earth (now called Terra and considered a polluted backwater), and most of humanity now lives in several colonized worlds. Decades after a nuclear conflict between the Popular Coalition (a clear reference to the Comintern) and the Democratic Alliance (the AFS) devastated the planet and reduced the human population to 1/10th its size, humanity banded together under a single flag and began to explore the galaxy, eventually colonizing several planets while the people of Earth slowly rebuilt. After seven centuries of prosperity and peace, the cracks begin to unravel: the political leadership begins to adopt more and more conservative policies while the people seem to lose interest in scientific progress, resulting in widespread poverty and social upheaval as Earth's rim colonies grow more and more distant and self-sufficient: the discovery of the Earth-like planet Sirius in the Horsehead Nebula had allowed for greater mineral and energy dependence from Earth for these distant colonies. Out of this mileu came a reactionary politician named Rudolf Von Goldenbaum, whose charisma and cunning allowed him to climb the ranks of the World Parliament and eventually be elected both Prime Minister and President of Earth, an unprecedented move that gave him near dictatorial power. Through the first few years of his reign, Goldenbaum concentrated more and more power in himself and declared that he wished to restart the 'Golden Age of Humanity', eventually dissolving the World Parliament and declaring himself Rudolf the First, Emperor of the Galactic Empire. The sheer violence that Rudolf's reign would unleash over the next twenty years would result in the death of billions, including everyone from political dissidents to those considered to have 'undesirable traits' such as the disabled, the poor, sexual minorities and others. This would ultimately prove to be the GE's undoing: resistance elements within the Goldenbaum regime, business leaders, parliamentarians on Earth and its satelites, as well as dissidents and labor organizers from the rim colonies would eventually form an alliance to overthrow Rudolf's regime and put Rudolf himself on trial. However, the result of this war (which included the bombardment of the planet with nuclear arms), would once again force humanity to migrate away from the planet of its birth, forcing the people of Earth to migrate to another planet: Heinnesen, named after Resistance leader Arle Heinnesen, in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.

The 'Galactic Conflict' of the title does not refer to these events, rather they are distant history by the beginning of the first book. Instead, the conflict is between the two galactic polities that result from this conflict: the League of Democratic Planets (a socialist coalition with its power center on Sirius), and the Free Planet Alliance (a liberal capitalist polity with its power center on Heinnesen). Both groups have been in a conflict over political and cultural supremacy of the human race, and for the last century have been in direct war with each other. Though the story is loaded with several characters, most of the action is centered around two different figures: with the Free Planet Alliance is a career military officer and visionary statesman named Reinhardt Lohengramm, a famously gallant and blonde-haired leader seeking to right the 'decadence' of the FPA to return it to its original ideals. On the other side is a former smelter turned People's Militia leader named Kaoru Nguyen, a dark-haired young woman whose prompt planning and leadership during the evacuation of a mining colony during an FPA attack has her referred to eventual military advisory and leadership in the LDP's space fleets. The conflict between these two individuals and their respective polities explore many political and philosophical dualities: The LDP, although rugged and rustic in its early years is quickly becoming more cosmopolitan and prosperous through its socialist system, whereas the FPA is quickly decaying into despotism and reaction due to their stubborn adherence to capitalism (ironically mirroring the very conditions that gave rise to Rudolf). In the end, Reinhardt's actions are for naught: in a final climatic battle near the ruins of Earth, his fleet is decimated by Kaoru's tactics and the FPA is dissolved. The conflict, told as ancient history by the narrator, leaves what humanity's actual future is up in the air for the reader to discuss.

(Of course, this would not be the end of this particular universe, as the thirty book epic would be added onto by fans, authors and game designers for years afterwards. The anthem of the LDP composed by Imaoka, "Risen from Ruins" and partially inspired by the anthem of the Free Socialist Republic of Germany, would become a feature of many Comintern Sci-fi conventions).


Contemporaneous to the serialization of Record of the Galactic Conflict, Imaoka also would write the somewhat more light-hearted and episodic Heroic Fantasy series Outlaws of the Wild Marsh. Inspired by the classic Chinese novel Water Margin, it told the story of a group of Robin Hood-esqe outlaws and rebels who make their home in a secret base in the eponymous Wild Marsh, a monster-filled swamp that is treacherous for everyone but the Outlaws themselves to navigate. From this secret base, they plot out various heists and battle plans against their enemies: the Noir Empire, which is ruled with an iron fist by the genocidal Emperor Gustave, and his league of wizards who use dark magic and demons to keep themselves in power. Most of the stories are centered around a young peasant named Catherine, a boyish dark-haired girl forced to flee her village after she is forced into an arranged marriage. She runs into a platoon of the Outlaws during a raid on a wizard's tower (aiding them in destroying it) and is taken in by the platoon's leader: Guin, a muscle-hewed warrior cursed with the head of a tiger by the Emperor's grand advisor. Over the course of fifteen books (8 novel-length works and 7 short story and novella collections), the Outlaws fight a guerrilla war against the Noir Empire before finally toppling it in a climactic upheaval, founding a Republic headed by Catherine herself with her advisor (and husband) Guin.


Eagle-eyed readers may notice a running theme in these serials: they include as a protagonist a dark-haired woman whose looks (and often times, name) resemble that of Imaoka herself(7). This is no coincidence. Even her non-speculative novels and serials (including the previously mentioned High School Detective Saori) include this feature. When asked about this, Imaoka replied that this was a way for her to put herself in her stories and to both drive her creative process and complete a deadline. Comparisons have been made to turn-of-the-century German author Karl May, though unlike the former, Imaoka never claimed to have experienced futuristic space warfare or castle sieges the way May claimed his exploits in the Wild West or the Middle East.


There is, however, another factor: Imaoka's gender identity. Although considered a modern icon of Transgender women, Imaoka was extremely private about how she realized her gender during her lifetime, often giving conflicting accounts of when she began identifying as a woman: one interview in the 1980s claimed that she had begun identifying as Asami during her teen years, whereas a later one said she had begun transitioning after she had graduated University and become a full-time writer. Imaoka was often uncomfortable with discussing her private affairs, and rarely gave any concrete infomration about her love life or her sexuality. It wasn't until after her death that her relationship with editor Mitsuteru Kobayashi became widely known.


The flipside to this is that Imaoka, more than almost any other author of popular fiction in her generation, helped to boost queer themes in popular Nipponese literature(8). Many of her books feature same-sex relationships and attraction (Kaoru Nguyen develops a romantic relationship with her ensign Cleo Hernandez, and Guin laments the death of his best friend and lover Kenneth from his youth). The previously mentioned High School Detective Saori (whose plot and themes are outside the range of this encyclopedia) is arguably the most obvious: The 'Saori' of the title is in fact a boy who identifies and presents as a girl, and gains the romantic attraction of both male and female students and townspeople. But it didn't stop there, as Imaoka was also a modern pioneer of writing queer erotica, often mixing her common themes of science fiction, fantasy and crime with themes of Uranian and Sapphic sexual expression and sexual activity.




Imaoka's popularity has proven to be perrenial, not just in book sales but also in adaptations. In 1987, the animation collective Sunrise Entertainment (famous for the Mobile Suit Gundam series) began production of an animated serial adapting Record of the Galactic Conflict , which was then broadcast on ANN. In 1990, the game designing collective Intelligence Systems(9), famous for pioneering the 'Simulation RPG' of video games, released their fourth title: a game adapted from Record of the Galactic Conflict, in which one could choose either faction to fight for and which built upon the still expanding universe of Imaoka's creation (including going into detail on the battleships and their function, as the game required units to both operate the ships as well as to man smaller vehicles and platoons). As the so-called NRPG (Nipponese Role-Playing Game) genre of video games began to mature in the 1990s, Imaoka's influence grew even further: the video game collective Enix(10) produced a popular video game adaption of Outlaws of the Wild Marsh, which in turn birthed a series that is still in production as of this writing (it's eighth installment was released in 2014). There have been numerous claims from fans both within and without the Comintern that the Star Legacy series of ARPG games have cribbed elements and plot points for the former (though these are largely circumstantial, as both series take inspiration from Eastern and Western fantasy traditions).




In 2007, Imaoka made the public announcement that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (the same disease that would claim the life of her mother some twenty years earlier). At the time, she was still working on a new serial (a noir detective novel), and a kabuki script (her third to be produced). Two years later, she passed away in the cancer ward of Tokyo Hospital, age 55.



Notes:
1: This person is a composite character made of Dr. Yoshiki Tanaka (author of Legend of the Galactic Heroes), and Kaoru Kurimoto (prolific multi-genre author who wrote the record-breaking 100+ volume Guin Saga), with a bit of Karl May thrown in for good measure.

2: Kurimoto famously played both piano and shamisen (even became a certified master of the later) and would write and compose plays and musicals throughout her career. The other instruments come from Karl May.

3: Kurimoto had a jazz trio she would tour with under her other pen name, Azusa Nakajima. She also played with a rock band also called Pandora in the 70s. She loved rock music and made references to them in lots of her work (including making reccomendations for listening along while reading)

4: Shinji Wada was a male shojo mangaka who created Sukeban Deka. Ishikawa's involvement is in reference to his OTL mentor Go Nagai, who illustrated Kurimoto's Makai Suikoden book series.

5: TTL's equivalent of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

6: TTL's equivalent of The Guin Saga.

7: Got this idea from Karl May, who does in fact still exist ITTL and is still a major impact on German pop culture.

8: Kurimoto is often considered to be one of the founding mothers of the Yaoi genre, and therefore helping to introduce homosexual themes into popular fiction in Japan. I decided to make Imaoka similar, though with less toxic themes as old-school Yaoi tends to include.

9: Intelligence Systems OTL is an arm of Nintendo, famous for the Famicom Wars and Fire Emblem series. ITTL, they're an independent collective of developers.

10: Enix is famous for Dragon Quest (before merging with Square). They're also a major force ITTL.

 

[Miss Teri]

Originally drew this as part of "JackTober" a month long Inktober type celebration of comic artist Jack Kirby, where every day is a drawing prompt for a Kirby character

For yesterday's prompt, it was The Boy Commandos, originally created by Kirby and Joe Simon in 1942. Given they've been mentioned, I figured I could post the Reds version on Twitter. So here's the drawing I did of the Reds version of the Boy Commandos

 

[Aelita]

Ramsay (1972)

Principle Cast

Christopher Plummer as Richard Sorge
Kei Tani as Ozaki Hotsumi
Leon Takei[1] as Miyagi Yotoku
Maximilian Schell as General Eugen Ott
Kuga Yoshiko as Ishii Hanako
Mifune Toshiro as Oshima Hiroshi
Edward Fox as Anthony Blunt
Alan Alda as Allen Greenough
Kurt Kreuger as Standartenführer Siegfried Unger*

Ramsay is a 1972 historical drama centered on the life and death of Soviet spy Richard Sorge, who operated as a covert 'illegal' asset for the GRU and MRD under the codename 'Ramsay' from 1933 until his eventual capture and execution. Directed by Kurt Maetzig, from a screenplay written by Alvah Bessie, the East German/American co-production included principal photography shot mostly in East Germany, with additional location shooting in Tokyo, Nippon.

Eying an international release in a period of increased cultural interest in stories set in the Second World War, the chairman of the film's joint-production committee, Maury Kozinsky, scouted for top talent in Britain and the Anglophone dominions of the Franco-British Union, securing Plummer for the lead role. A handsome leading man of British cinema, Plummer was fresh off the success of the Franco/American/Yugoslav/Soviet joint-production Waterloo, where he played Arthur Wellesly, Duke of Wellington as well as playing against type as the titular villain in the James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun.

Richard Sorge, son of a German father and Russian mother, leads a chameleon double-life throughout the film. Beginning in media res with his capture in August 1943, the film tells the story of his life in flashback. After brief glimpses of his youth and radicalization in the First World War, Sorge is dispatched to set-up an espionage ring in Japan. Already a well-established mole at the periphery of the Nazi Party, Sorge plays the part of muscular, dashing German among the German business and diplomatic community in Tokyo.

Sorge befriends German military attache General Eugen Ott, as well as many other German and Japanese military and political figures buzzing around the German diplomatic mission. Outside their gaze, another Sorge emerges, the calm, coldly logical spy, developing a spy network and managing multiple Japanese sources and support. The development of modern spycraft itself takes center stage in the first act, developing and perfecting the toolkit of dead drops, coded transmissions, 'cut out' couriers, and black bag operations.

Sorge finds several lieutenants in his mission, including Asahi Shimbun journalist Ozaki Hotsumi, whom he meets supporting partisans in China, and Okinawan born American artist Miyagi Yotoku. The three would form the core of the spy ring. Ozaki would ingratiate himself with the inner circle of the Kōhōda government, copying key documents, especially communiques between Japan and Germany. Yokotu would translate the documents into English, and Sorge would relay them to his MRD contacts in DeLeon-Debs.

Sorge's relationship with Ishii Hanako proves to be an enduring part of the film. Meeting at a bar where she was a waitress, the two would form a powerful bond which would withstand the multiple affairs and the stress of Sorge's double life. Through the subterfuge, the adventure, and the betrayals, Ishii would remain Sorge's one and only love.

While eluding the Kempeitai, Sorge further disguises his double life through his cover. Sorge, the Nazi journalist, lives an exuberant lifestyle, including conducting affairs with Ott's wife, and the wives of several prominent locals, while serving as an invaluable source of information on Germany for his Japanese contacts, and Japan for his German conducts. By playing the 'open source intelligence' curator for both, while living a bon vivant lifestyle, he rises above suspicion of his true loyalties.

As world tensions increase, Sorge's mission is put under increasing pressure. Handed off from his GRU handlers to the American MRD, Sorge is forced to take increasingly greater risks to obtain and pass along vital intelligence, especially about German military plans against the Soviet Union. After successfully delivering intelligence about the upcoming Operation Teutonic, and later Japanese military intentions towards the Soviet Far East, Sorge is arrested and briefly interrogated by the Kempeitai. Holding up under their torture, he is eventually cleared of suspicion. During the ordeal, he shares one last emotional moment with Ishii, both knowing they would never see each other again.

With the network rebuilding and Sorge potentially burned, Sorge returns to Germany, where he resumes intelligence work, this time working with a network built among American spies and moles in the British diplomatic service. This too falls apart with the outbreak of war between France and Germany, but Sorge is able to deliver his final coup before hand, becoming a secret MI6 source, communicating back to the London Circus via Swiss cutouts, knowing that MRD mole Anthony Blunt, who he briefly met before the opening of the Western front, will forward critical intelligence home.

Intelligence Sorge provides through this network eventually plays a direct role in frustrating German ambitions in both battles at Stalingrad, intensifying efforts by the RHSA to route out spies and saboteurs. Sorge is captured meeting with his former lieutenant Ozaki, now attached to the Japanese embassy in Berlin. Sorge's reputation is initially beyond reproach, and is initially suspected of having gotten in above his head with the Japanese, but when Japan won't claim him, his lead interrogator, Gestapo Standartenführer Siegfried Unger (a composite character chiefly based on Heydrich and his acolytes) orders Sorge tortured until the truth comes out.

Sorge holds off long enough for most of his contacts to go to ground. But eventually his role as a life-long communist spy comes to light. After such a devastating intelligence failure, Hitler orders the whole thing to be sewn up as quietly as possible, with the usual public excoriation of traitors deemed too dangerous to morale. Sorge is condemned by a secret military court. Unger leads a squad of SS men to Sorge's cell at Dachau. Disheveled but still defiant, Sorge snaps to attention for his final dead man's walk.

Peeved, Unger accosts him at the exit of his cell, taunting him by asking "You know what comes next?"

Referencing the apocryphal tale of Sorge's last words, Sorge replies, "Yes. A better world. A world without you."

As Sorge is led to be shot by the firing squad, the film homages the famous guillotine scene in A Tale of Two Cities, with Plummer's voice-over reading a select quotation from Ostrovsky's How the Steel Was Tempered: "The most valuable thing a man owns is his life. It is only gifted once, and it should be spent so that dying, he can say: All my life, and all my strength, I spent on the most wonderful cause there is: The struggle for the liberation of mankind."

Ramsay was shot principally in English, though most of the American cast would dub for themselves in German. Many of the scenes set in Japan were filmed with the cast conversing in Japanese with subtitles, and Plummer himself gave a grand effort to go along, taking lessons and working with a dialect coach to ensure passable pronunciation for the scenes that called on him to converse in Japanese.

Shot on 70mm in standard 11:5 aspect ratio, the film took full advantage of the color depth and dynamic range available from the latest in film technology from Kodak Film Laboratory. Daytime scenes were lit in bright, expansive color, but the film is most remembered for the use of shadow in night scenes. Befitting the spy genre, Ramsay evoked the style of film noir, with claustrophobic shadow hemming in characters lit with carefully focused blacklights.

The film would open in June at the Berlinale Film Festival. Though not awarded the coveted Golden Bear, the film was very well received by international critics. Despite the portrayal of one of the Cambridge Seven, British critics thought the film nuanced and even heroic in its depiction of spycraft. By the time it reached a broader audience on release, the critical treatment in Western Europe was harsher, drawing protests in London for its depiction of Anthony Blunt, despite a sensitive performance from Edward Fox, a well known Tory in British film.

The subject matter, the general international struggle against fascism, found it purchase with the broader public, who were willing to overlook the hero's politics given the role he played in the eventual downfall of Nazi Germany.

While the film enjoyed notable success in most of Western Europe, it was banned entirely in Piedmont and Naples, and while the liberal West German constitution made direct film censorship impossible, the pressures of major boycott threats prevented a major theatrical run in West Germany, where Sorge was still seen as a traitor. The film suffered similar setbacks in Australasia, where the politically connected Nipponese exile community pressured the government into ultimately withholding rating classification, though the Australasian Film Board ultimately cited sexual content as its reasoning. As an unrated film, it would be doomed scattered screenings at small independent theaters and university film societies.

In the UASR, the film had a measure of mass market success, with Chicago Sun [2] film critic Roger Ebert saying "A great combination of the history epic and the spy novel, like David Lean does David Cornwell," but would claim its biggest accolade at the Academy Awards the following year, winning Best Picture, and giving Kuga Yoshiko the Best Supporting Actress. The film's accolades were rounded out with nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Score, as well as a Best Actor nomination for Plummer.

[1] OTL, Hosato Takei was renamed "George" after the coronation of George VI shortly after his birth. An event that didn't happen TTL.

[2] Post revolution successor to the Chicago Sun-Times