Does Not Illustrate: Vancian Magic

I see very little in the image for Vancian Magic that relates it to the trope and what is there is in the dialogue. It is just "Ya had a fireball prepared" with "preparation" being a broad characteristic of the trope. It is not like there is an sign of magic casting in the top image or that some other aspect of the trope is displayed in the bottom image.

I found it quite easy to think of a more appropriate direction for an image based on the description. The trope is made analogous to a magic gun firing bullet spells. Well I thought that somebody somewhere must have made some content where a person actually loads spells into a physical gun and if you got the right image of it the it would display the three aspects of the trope: 1) the distinctiveness of the spells comes from distinctive bullets-colours, alchemy symbols etc., 2) if there is a design or something (alchemy symbols, a written spell) that shows the preparation,3) finite chamber size = finite capacity so this would be easiest to show with a revolver.

My Google Image search skills failed me except for this: [1] which is over on this blog where i think the person has decided to mock up this image quickly to demonstrate the idea. Whatever it's flaws, I think it certainly illustrates the trope far more than what we have now.

Now the image was discussed before [2] but there was not really a discussion of the trope nor a search for images with multiple options, it was just that the current option was better than the one before so they went ahead with a change. I think we've alread found another improvement so it should come up for discussion again.

Opened.

Another suggestion: either frames 1& 2, or just 2 from this Nodwick strip.

Although now that the OP's suggestion has finally finished loading, I really like it as well! If there was a little more focus on the "spells as bullets in the chamber" part, rather than the whole exploded diagram and I'd say it was perfect.

edited 26th Feb '17 7:19:39 AM by Madrugada

I think the "magic gun" pic is interesting, but I'd like to see it at wiki size before giving it a firm .

I think the current image is pretty good, and not given enough credit in the OP. It says a lot about the Vancian magic system: spells are specific, limited, and prepared in advance. It's a complex idea, and the "magic gun" analogy is only part of it.

edited 6th Mar '17 2:25:06 PM by rodneyAnonymous

I prefer the current.

Also, there's the relatively new trope Limited-Use Magical Device that could probably use the gun pic better.

I don't think the gun diagram is a great choice, because it implies you don't have a great deal of control over which spell is used. Something similar with a grenade bandolier would work, though.

I'll stick with the current for the moment.