Now it's Sir Marko's turn to face his darker half...
Nerd By Northwest #355 - "Mirror Double Debauchery"
(Click on the image to see the full-size version)
Today's strip was inspired mostly by two television series. The first, which I already mentioned in the last strip, was the original series Star Trek (though I gotta admit the later 'Deep Space Nine' and 'Enterprise' spinoffs did interesting treatment of the Star Trek mirror universe too). But the second source of inspiration was a classic and a bit obscure episode of the British series "Red Dwarf"... specifically, the episode "Demons & Angels" where the Red Dwarf crew meet both the highest and lowest versions of themselves. In that episode, Lister meets the 'lowest' version of his hologram crewmate Rimmer, to hilarious effect:
The shock value in that episode, more-so than the specific appearance of evil Rimmer, was ultimately what I was trying to go for (though I admit it did inspire me at the last minute to add garters & stockings to the evil Sir Marko 😏). Still, I remain a bit conflicted... did I go too far (I am trying to keep it rated-PG), or not nearly far enough? Given all the strange things I see some people wearing on social media or on my occasional trips to the USA, who knows where the line really is anymore? By now this might as well be Disney-level fare!
All that said, evil Sir Marko's armor breastplate with the exposed midriff is my own nod to so many ladies' complaints about the impracticality of the chainmail bikinis and other examples of skimpy women's armor that has been so common in fantasy art over the years. So here you go ladies... are we even now? 😉
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Red Dwarf was great and they did a lot with a small cast and low budget. This does seem to be a common theme in scifi. Star Trek Discovery made the mirror universe a major thing. Just seen the redhead from that in The Residence about a murder at the White House.
I guess Rocky Horror Show did the stockings thing too.
I do get annoyed by some impractical superhero costumes. Some of the ladies are even in high heels. You have evened it up a bit.
!BEER
Doing a lot with a small budget and cast seems to have been a key attribute of British television, at least in the past. Haven't seen much current British television, so perhaps you can say if they're still keeping true to that or if they're going more the big-money Hollywood route now.
Seems like an extreme way for a game master to allow a character alignment reversal one way or another. Some games I've played have characters all being a bit debauched. Whose mirror double will actually turn out to be the good guy now?
Yeah it works well for a joke, but I don't think I'd do this as a GM unless one or more players was really digging the idea. And while none of the main characters are particularly wicked, Nolan the rogue/warlock is chaotic neutral and a reversal of that could be interesting... 😏