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Worlds and Stories => Worlds & Stories Discussion Board => Topic started by: JoB on July 23, 2021, 04:08:43 PM

Title: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: JoB on July 23, 2021, 04:08:43 PM
I note that, according to the URLs used by World Flags (https://world-flags.org/) (an artistic project loosely connected with the current Olympic Games), the European Union gained a couple new members lately ;)
- in particular,
https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/norway.html
https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/iceland.html
https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/swiss.html
https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/albania.html
https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/english.html
https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/wales.html
https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/sealand.html
https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/russia.html
- ... and it's Finland's (https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/finland.html) special power to "make a fjord"?? ;D

Edit: There's a sci-fi setting to it, so they may not be referring to the "European Union" of today ...
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: Jitter on July 23, 2021, 08:54:16 PM
The illustrations are cool but… yeah. Also England is wearing the Union Jack, so…

Maybe Finland has such a powerful lazer in this setting that we are indeed able to make fjords. We are not giving any to Sweden, though!
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: Groupoid on July 24, 2021, 12:37:48 AM
The illustrations look kinda cool, but I get none of the (japanese) context.
Kinda weird that there's the name "Dudweiler" next to Switzerland. "Gottlieb Duttweiler" was the founder of a Swiss supermarket (Migros). And they got the flag correctly (square), which is nice.

Edit: just noticed there's a "translate" button.
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: catbirds on July 24, 2021, 01:34:45 AM
A sci-fi setting??? This might be way more loosely tied to the olympics than I initially thought. I first saw this over a year ago, long before the original date for the olympics, and it was much less finished at the time. IIRC a lot of flags weren't there yet and there wasn't a trailer (???) for it yet. It was fun to take a peek at what was going on because lots of people were confused about it and thought it was affiliated with the olympics at the time I think.

Also, the main background watermark seems to include cuneiform. I wonder what it says...

Quote from: Jitter on July 23, 2021, 08:54:16 PM
The illustrations are cool but… yeah. Also England is wearing the Union Jack, so…

Maybe Finland has such a powerful lazer in this setting that we are indeed able to make fjords. We are not giving any to Sweden, though!

The naming is pretty inconsistent throughout the website! That leads to some confusion and I think becomes very noticeable if it's a sensitive topic (such as... England, yeah...). And I think a lot of these characters come from very broad stereotypes, which is kind of unfortunate.

I'm not sure where they got the Finland-fjord-making idea from, but I have to refute your lazer theory because Finland's also weak to electromagnetic waves, so light in general? Hmm...
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: JoB on July 24, 2021, 03:03:35 AM
Quote from: catbirds on July 24, 2021, 01:34:45 AM
A sci-fi setting???
Yeah, see the (autotranslated) introduction (http://world-flags.org/relationpic#ch_intro): "The time is now 2370 [...]"

Quote from: catbirds on July 24, 2021, 01:34:45 AM
Also, the main background watermark seems to include cuneiform. I wonder what it says...
Well, anyone here up to the task? And what about the Clippyscript underneath? :D
(mostly-transparent image (https://world-flags.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/under_bg.png), you might have to display it on a dark background to see a thing)

Quote from: catbirds on July 24, 2021, 01:34:45 AM
I think becomes very noticeable if it's a sensitive topic (such as... England, yeah...)
Or the bottommost color in the German (https://world-flags.org/europeanunion/german.html) flag ...

(Though if they have samurai, why wouldn't there be a feudal system as well and a "corresponding" switch back to the feudal/monarchist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_flags#German_Empire_(1871%E2%80%931918))/Nazi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_flags#Nazi_Germany_(1933%E2%80%931945)) tricolore, replacing (black-red-)gold with (black-)white(-red) ...)

(... then again, it expressedly says "Federal Republic of Germany" ...)

Quote from: catbirds on July 24, 2021, 01:34:45 AM
I'm not sure where they got the Finland-fjord-making idea from, but I have to refute your lazer theory because Finland's also weak to electromagnetic waves, so light in general? Hmm...
... wait, what? Sensitive to sunlight?!? :o
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: Jitter on July 24, 2021, 05:30:55 AM
Ouch Germany 🤨

Should this go to the Worlds and Stories Board already?
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: Yastreb on July 24, 2021, 08:35:13 AM
The name for "Australia" is... Edward??? Stone the bloody crows mate, that's not fair dinkum!!! It has to be Bruce!
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: Róisín on July 24, 2021, 08:46:06 AM
Of course it does, Yastreb! Bruce is canon.
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: JoB on July 24, 2021, 09:45:35 AM
Quote from: Jitter on July 23, 2021, 08:54:16 PM
Also England is wearing the Union Jack, so…
Quote from: Yastreb on July 24, 2021, 08:35:13 AM
The name for "Australia" is... Edward??? Stone the bloody crows mate, that's not fair dinkum!!! It has to be Bruce!
You can have Germany's "George", along with the Japanese variant of it that apparently autotranslates to "Outer Style Tool". :P
(We'll keep our flag, though, so have fun with your "Same as the British Union Jack" one. >:D )

Quote from: Jitter on July 24, 2021, 05:30:55 AM
Ouch Germany 🤨
Yeah, I found their website through another one that allowed comments for each nation's depiction and a multiply-repeated one for Germany was "he looks like the school bully". :-X (Also, "he should be wielding a Zweihänder instead". (By the by, is it just me or does Finland have the longest sword of all!?))

Quote from: Jitter on July 24, 2021, 05:30:55 AM
Should this go to the Worlds and Stories Board already?
Spoiler: show

If the discussion continues in the current direction, a "Weird Japanese Manga" board might prove a better fit ...
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: Gwenno on July 27, 2021, 12:16:55 PM
Hahah, I've had a few friends send the Wales one over in the last few days ;D Fortunately, my Japanese is still good enough that I can make out most of the content, and for the rest, online translation services have improved vastly in the few years since I was there!

I'm not surprised that the England one has a UK flag (random fun piece of information for the day: the Union Jack is what we call the flag when it's out at sea, otherwise it's just the "Union Flag"). Anyway, it's a common mistake in Japan and in Japanese to equate England to the UK. This is because the Japanese word for the UK is "イギリス" (igirisu - sounds kinda like "english-u"), and the Japanese word for England is "イングランド" (ingulando - sounds kinda like "england-o"). Many Japanese people aren't exposed to any other part of the UK, so they're never really presented with an opportunity to question the assumption. Japan also doesn't have the equivalent "countries within a country" framework within Japan itself, with Okinawa and Hokaido (both of which have indigenous cultures and languages very different to mainland Japanese) not really given any real acknowledgement. It was very rare that I would encounter someone while in Japan who understood that the UK was actually made up of multiple countries, or who was aware of Wales' existence at all! Pretty awesome when it did happen though :D

What surprised me a lot, was that the Wales one's favourite food was laver bread - which is such a strange and obscure choice! O_o I suppose it makes sense, considering how much seaweed there is within Japanese cuisine, however.
Title: Re: ”World Flags” illustrations / backstories
Post by: Róisín on July 28, 2021, 05:00:41 PM
I think one reason I found Japanese food easier than I expected was the emphasis on seafood in general and especially seaweed, since although I live in Australia my origin is West Irish, and we ate a lot of both there. I had forgotten that the Welsh also ate laver, dulse, carrageen and the like.