Overly Sarcastic Productions

Trope Talk: Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass

New mythology video, this time talking about Aztec creation myth and the five different suns.

You know it's one reason I wonder why there are no Cosmic based horror stories based on Aztec myth. I mean that video alone would be plucked for inspiration.

I mean it even has a neat twist that the cultists, despite the terrible things they've done, are trying to stop the end of the world.

That could be interesting. It really corresponds with Terrible Writing Advice's observation about how the cultists are given no reason for why they would do these sacrifices. As you said, if it's to prevent the world from ending then it makes sense from their twisted point of view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzP_LPtndz0

Or you can have a twist of the Aztec pantheon having lied about the world ending, and have other nefarious plans in mind.

Edited by firewriter on Apr 5th 2019 at 9:37:38 AM

Trope Talk: Pure Evil

Something i just realized that chair is far to big for her.

So Red's a fan of Reboot,neat.

I'm surprised she didn't bring up Tony Jay voicing this deliciously evil villain.

There's a new Miscellaneous Myths episode, this time about Hermes.

The bit about how Pan and Hermes were once the same is very interesting, especially when they get into how Pan predates the Mycenaean Age and, using Pan's cognate Pushan as a proxy, had a couple traits that are nowadays associated with Hermes.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on May 3rd 2019 at 10:02:24 AM

I want to see a sketch with Tammuz/Adonis mishearing his own demise as that of Pan now.

I like Red's little diversion into the Interpretatio graeca and her incredulity at the connection between Hermes and Odin. While I was aware of that one and was thus unsurprised, I was surprised at the connection between Hermes and Lugh mostly because of his solar connotation I would have expected him to be linked to Apollo. Or Zeus given the given he is sometimes viewed as a storm god (traditions in both Ireland and Wales like thunderstorms to battles between Lugh and Balor/Lleu Llaw Gyffes and whoever Balor's welsh cognate is).

Kind of wish she had gone into a bit about Hermes Trismegistus but that might have gone down too many rabbit holes.

Edited by KnightofLsama on May 4th 2019 at 12:06:41 AM

It kind of makes me want to see one of those modern re-imaginings use that. Like Hermes has been helping throughout and he's been bring up various names he's been know as throughout history, finally revealing himself as Odin in the climax. Possibly with the implication that he tricked Zeus into think he was his son and the change from bearded Hermes to young Hermes is the disguise improving.

Well, Odin always had a trickster side to himself. Or maybe Odin and Hermes are pals.

,

Personally I don't think those would work with modern audiences because while Odin does have trickster elements, the current zeitgeist sees Loki as the trickster of a pantheon and most of Odin's dirty tricks are in the single goal of gathering more Einherjar for Ragnarok and less "shits and giggles" like Hermes or Loki.

I mean, it could work even if audience doesn't know that because audiences do actually like learning new facts as far as I know

Missed opportunity to do a Simpsons joke.

New Miscellaneous Myths episode: the story of Rainbow Crow.

Nice to see Native American mythology being talked about. The bit about the creator god being able to think things into existence but not unmake them is also very interesting.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on May 31st 2019 at 8:10:21 AM

New Miscellaneous Myths episode, this time talking about Io:

The most interesting part to me is how Ovid's apparent anti-authoritarian stance helped give rise to things like Medusa's "raped by Poseidon" backstory and essentially playing up the "gods screw over mortals" angle in a lot of stories.

Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise for me.

The many ways Zeus screws up people's lives without actually screwing them (not from lack of trying) is ...incredible.

I wonder if Red will do Hyperion soon. I want to know if there's more to him than a "Pan Hermes" situation.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Jun 14th 2019 at 6:25:25 AM

I find it interesting that Red makes a comment about how there's no such thing as "Canon myths" in the credits of this last video when she's clearly annoyed when Marvel or Disney differentiate from Norse and Greek mythology, respectively.

I think the annoyance comes from the fact that those deviations are usually cutting out the "weird" and unconventional stuff to then fit a family friendly or easier to digest story.

Disney!Hera is a loving mother and happy with Zeus while Myth!Hera is actually Herc's main antagonist and certainly not Hades. But since Disney wants that happy family and "Lord of Dead = Satan = Evil" we get Hades as the Big Bad.

It gave us James Wood's Hades, an absolute treasure and one of the best Disney villains though.