#obelix and co | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mask131 · 2 years

Text

Cold winter: Asterix and Obelix

ASTERIX AND OBELIX

Category: French media

We are in the year 50 BCE. The Roman Empire conquered all of Gaul… All of it? No! One small village forever resists against the invader!

This is the opening line of most of the stories of “Asterix”, a bande-dessinée (Franco-Belgian comic book) that was created in 1959 by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. This series, and the wider franchise it spawned under the name “Asterix and Obelix”, is recognized today as one of THE most famous French BD of all time, as well as one of the most famous pieces of modern French media worldwide. The series is still going on today, having survived the death of its two “fathers”, with a total of 39 volumes to this date (when it comes to BD, the “issues” are called “volumes” since they’re quite bigger than a normal American comic-book issue, and usually have self-contained stories). The series gave birth to both animated movies (10 to this day) and live-action movies (5 to this day), and that’s without counting all the various games. Translated in 111 different languages, it is currently the second most-sold comic book in the world, right behind “One Piece”.

But maybe you still haven’t heard of it? In which case, this post is here to introduce you to this world…

As I said before, the story of “Asterix” takes place in a small village of Armorique (the ancient name of today’s Bretagne), in a Rome-conquered Gaul: this village is the last independent Gaul village, constantly resisting the various attack of the Roman soldiers thanks to one wonderful trick – a magical potion brewed by the village’s druid, Panoramix, which grants whoever drinks it a temporary inhuman strength. It is thanks to this wonderful brew that the village could crush all the Roman legions sent to destroy them, and it is in this setting that we follow Asterix, one of the village’s warriors. He is quite small – very small, in fact, but he makes it up in both great bravery and cleverness. Mind you he still isn’t perfect, as the authors of the BD wanted an anti-hero: he is not so much intelligent than cunning, and if he is good-hearted, he still has a tendency towards grumpiness, grudge-holding and/or being easily annoyed. And whenever he needs to have some strength, all he needs is a gulp of the magical potion to be able to lift heavy rocks and run like the wind… Asterix’s best friend, and the co-protagonist of this story, is Obelix, who is the complete opposite of Asterix: very tall, very large (it’s all fat, but he HATES being called fat and will openly deny it before punching anyone in the face for “insulting” him), and quite slow-minded. Though he is usually much more good-natured than Asterix - for example while he is always ready to punch people away in the sky, for him it is just a “game” or his duty as a warrior, nothing personal. When he was a baby he fell into the cauldron of magical potion – which resulted in him having a permanent super-strength (it is a running gag that he still tries to have a drink of the potion whenever it is distributed, despite the druid insisting that he does not need it and will not have more). In his everyday life it helped him for his job, as he is a menhir deliveryman; but it also comes with an enormous appetite, that can only be satisfied by several boars at each meal. The third part of the trio is Idefix, Obelix’s small white dog, who tags along with the heroes in all of their adventures.

And when it comes to their adventures, the trio usually has two kinds. One is “local” adventures about helping or defending their village, either from internal problems (the druid needing an ingredient, political rivalries among the chief’s men, etc…) or from the numerous plots organized by the Romans (and by their leader, Julius Caesar) to crush this thorn in their side that is the village. The second kind is “foreign” adventures where the protagonist will be sent or called far-away into other ancient civilizations (Cleopatra’s Egypt, the Iberian Hispania, the Belgian Germanic tribes, the old Indus) to provide their help there – they event discovered America before anyone else, in volume 22.

The Asterix and Obelix franchise is an humoristic series. This is present in the very name of the characters: “Asterix” has to be heard as “astérique”, French for “asterisk” ; “Obelix” is of course “obelisk” ; Idefix is to be heard as “idée fixe” (an obsession), while “Panoramix” is for “panoramic”. Each name in the Asterix BD (unless it is of those of historical characters) is a pun. EACH OF THEM. They are all phonetic puns, with just the suffix changing depending on the culture (Gaul has -ix ; Rome has -us ; Goths have -ic ; Egyptians have -is ; Iberians have -on, etc etc…) ; and as a result our Gauls have to fight Roman enemies going by name such as “Infarctus” or “Garovirus” (gare au virus, beware the virus). But the humor of the “Asterix” series is actually a double-level humor, for you see the “Asterix and Obelix” franchise is for both children and adults. As a result you have a first level of humor aimed at a younger audience: cartoony violence, simple but efficient running gags, puns everywhere… And on the other side, there is a much more adult humor clearly present in the pages. Not “adult” as in “sex and violence” of course, but for example many characters that appear in the series are actually caricatures of real-life figures, ranging from politicians to singers and actors. The French Wikipedia even has an entire article dedicated to listing all of the people caricatured by “Asterix”. The series also deliberately plays on a series of goofy anachronism to introduce modern-day situations into the ancient world of Gaul and Rome (for example the children of the village have an open-air school taught by Panoramix eerily similar to 20th century classes ; and most of the depictions of the “foreign” cultures rely heavily on the stereotypes, clichés and jokes usually attributed to their modern-day descendants – for example you’ll recognize in the old Iberians of Hispania caricatures of today’s Spanish people, the Goths are obviously Germans, and the ancient tribe of the Helvets is in all-but-name Switzerland) ; but at the same time it also makes several historical jokes and nods that only people who know their history lessons will get.

This duality in humor results in the BD’s huge inter-generational success: usually a kid buys a volume and reads at a part of it, then becomes an adult and re-reads it, laughing at different parts, and then transmits it to their kid, and the cycle goes on…

- - - - - - -

But let’s briefly talk about history in “Asterix and Obelix”… Because the BD series is half-historical: the authors clearly knew their topic when talking about the ancient world, and did their research when tackling new subject (in fact it was precisely because of this knowledge that they could make their jokes). But at the same time, they also took numerous liberties and used anachronism either for the sake of jokes (again, by having modern-day structures and problems being thrown in ancient world equivalents, example the menhir deliveryman job of Obelix), or to simplify things for children who would read the story (as a result, Julius Caesar from a real-life “imperator”, becomes here the “emperor” of the Romans). It also doesn’t help that the depiction of the Gaul and other ancient civilizations relies in numerous clichés, stereotypes and false beliefs that were widespread and “common knowledge” in the 19th and 20th century. For example, the idea that the Gauls were the ancestors of French people. It was a recurring topic that was reused and popularized by this BD, the idea that Gaul “evolved” into France, when in truth the real “ancestors” of France are mostly the Romans themselves, who erased almost all of the culture of Gaul through Romanization and inclusion in the Empire, before new Germanic tribes (such as the Franks) came in after the fall of the Empire and founded the “France” we have today.

But this tackling of historical subjects actually led to the series being scrutinized by many people… You see, as I said the series was HUGELY successful, and very influential among French youth. Many kids learned things about Gaul and its inhabitants throughout this series (with all the inaccuracies cited above), and this series was part of a renewal of interesting for ancient Gaul. But many historians accused the comics of having an anti-Ancient Rome agenda. Because you have to understand that in the 50s/60s, somebody actually placing the idolized and adored Roman Empire as the antagonist of a story, and rather have as heroes the “barbarians” and backwards Gaulish tribes presented as the “ancestors of the French”… It was groundbreaking. It was entirely flipping the table on how history was seen and perceived. And it led to a HUGE debate by historians over this franchise.

There was also another huge debate around it – but political this time. Being one of the faces of French culture and media, and depicting a small heroic tribe of “France’s ancestors” against a powerful invader dominating the country… Let’s say that both sides of the political spectrum tried to seize Asterix to spread their own messages. An habit that irritated to no end Goscinny and Uderzo, who refused to have any political message in their work, and even ended up making an entire volume centered around the idea of two political factions divided Asterix’s village only for him to denounce all of their nonsense and stay firmly neutral.

#cold winter #asterix #obelix #bd #bande dessinée #french culture #french media #french stuff

18 notes · View notes

floor10ghost · 1 year

Text

Rena Reviews Euro Demo 67!

I don't remember many demo discs I had as a kid, just this and one other come to mind right now (which I'm also downloading) - but I'm just gonna chuck my thoughts on revisiting this silly psx demo disc here! It was in the official uk playstation magazine, i used to play the shit out of it over and over but only remember a couple of the games on there. Maybe I'll remember more while playing, who knows!

look at this sexy fucking disc. This invokes absolutely nothing.

The playable games on here are:

Asterix: The Gallic War

Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters

Chicken Run

Cricket 2000

Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge

Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness

Re-Volt 2 (RC Revenge)

Time Crisis: Project Titan

anyway. Join me under the cut as i talk about each of these!

straight away LOOK AT THIS SCREEN

guys i think my demo disc has covid

the music is too generic to describe lmao but it goes very well with the imagery

anyway

Asterix:

I didnt grow up with Asterix! So there isn't the full nostalgic attachment there, but theres some *vague memories* here? Anyway I don't think I played much of this because it's dogshit.

It's a *VERY* rudimentary turn based strategy where you pour potions on provinces to reinforce them, then you enter an attack phase where the bigger number wins, then Caesar's Legions attack (fallout new vegas omg????)

At the end of the attack phase you enter a minigame, one of them is a 3d platformer where you play as Obelix

VERY bare-bones. There's no music *anywhere* in this demo. It's also all just very very slow. Won't be buying this when it comes out :/

Next up: Bugs and Taz!

This one is how I found the demo disc! It was one of the ones i played over and over, lets see if it holds up lol

There's thankfully a lot more to talk about here... and music!!!

This is a pretty standard 3D platformer at its core, but you can switch between Bugs and Taz, or you can play it co-op! I imagine that's how its meant to be played. If you're playing single player the other character stands entirely still, however you can hit the left bumper to summon them back to you.

You collect carrots throughout, as well as medallions that I imagine don't do anything in the demo. They seem to be your stars.

When you have enough carrots you can participate in a minigame, the one I remember is the Pelota against the Aztecs.

It's a fairly standard game, if you're playing single player though you *are* outnumbered - but it's not too hard anyway. You just steal the ball and try to throw it through the hoop.

The one I don't remember however, is

Baladi lessons? It's a fairly standard simon says type game but

it got gender in it

all in all, neat lil demo! I mostly remember finding rabbitholes and digging around in them because I thought it was insanely cool that bugs could go underground lol

Next up: Chicken Run!

this is the *other* game I played on repeat! But it *scared the shit out of me*. You'll see why.

So... this is a stealth game

You play as Ginger and you must *be careful of the dogs*

The entire demo is dreary with unsettling ambient music, why the fuck did they make the chicken run game a metal gear clone????

Anyway, you are quite literally a chicken being chased by fucking dogs. and if you get caught a menacing stinger plays as you see this

Was a bit much for me 2 year old heart i must say! Couldn't quite handle that!

Anyway, the stealth is really simple and easy, as one would expect. There's not much going on here other than childhood trauma.

Next: Cricket 2000!

yeah

Next up issss: Frogger 2!

Okay, I had no idea this existed at all. What the fuck?

Whenever I think of frogger sequels I think of those weird ps2 ones, but this is straight up frogger

Rather than the traditional level though you're presented with a themed gauntlet, such as the first stage, a garden themed one. You are tasked with saving frogger's children.

You might be wondering, what happens if you get run over by a lawnmower?

he explodes into chunks. What the fuck?

The second level is a haunted house

This is genuinely an oddity to me, I never expected them to try implement traditional frogger gameplay into something like this. Might play it on stream at some point, I'm intrigued. That being said, I definitely dont remember this. Pretty decent? The music fucking OWNS btw

youtube

NEXT: Ms. Pacman Maze Madness!

I had no idea this existed. But first I gotta say

REST IN PEACE MS PAC-MAN

she lives on in our hearts. Fuck pac-mom, ms. pac-man was where its at

Anyway this is. really *really* boring.

It's that era of pac where they clearly had no idea what they were doing, which still goes on to this day (i say this affectionately, i love pac-man) but this one was a fuckin MISS

It's trying to translate the mazes into something completely different, more a labyrinth than the single screen mazes of yore, with block pushing puzzles and launchpads, a gauntlet you must get through while collecting as many pellets as possible

and its really lame and boring im sorry. I like that the ghosts seem to wear different attire in each level, i like that my gal ms. pac-man is here

i dont like much else. its slow and tedious as hell

however

ROCKET LAUNCHER???? HUH???

Two games left!

Revolt 2!

I forgot to take screenshots but... this is an RC Racing game, it's really a cart racer with really confusing level design, a slight bump in the road will get your car flying across the entire universe and world. There's a bit where you drive under a jeep though which is pretty cute! @is-the-driving-good? No I'm afraid, ridge racer this is not.

Anyway I'm kinda rushing a lil bit because I'm tired and the last one is TIME CRISIS!!! ITS FUCKIN TIME CRISIS, DUDE!!! I love Time Crisis!!!

Time Crisis Titan

Alas... This was not the saving grace this demo disc needed. I can't get far at all for reasons I'll get into, but what *is* there is full of the silly janky charm Time Crisis is known for.

Love these silly models! Love em

Anyway, why is this on here? Why would you put *Time Crisis* on a demo disc? This *will not* shift copies, put it as a video or something, not as a playable demo! It's a fucking lightgun game, this is clearly made for a ps1 lightgun peripheral, but people are going to be playing this with a controller!

the crosshair is incredibly slow and it's VERY difficult to aim properly which is why i didnt get far, it's just... either someone is gonna not own a lightgun and see this and think its just shit, or own one and probably plan on getting it anyway, all that's needed here is a video feature showing it off, having it be playable is *a bad move*

this is likely a pretty good time crisis game! Most of the negative reviews I can see mention the beautifully crunchy graphics being bad so the gameplays probably fine, but by advertising it like this youre convincing people it isnt.

ANYWAY

this was disappointing lmfao

a fun trip down memory lane, but yeah none of these were really that fun at all. Thankfully, the PS2 demo disc I'm downloading has much more interesting titles. Will be doing the same thing with it when I can. I wrote this one over the course of a few hours, but that one will likely have more put into it.

If you read this far thank you very much lmao, and remember:

#reenthoughts #rena writes #rena reviews

3 notes · View notes

kadet-pise · 2 years

Text

Že MCU použili ze severské mytologie vlastně jen jména je všeobecně známá pravda. Co všechno ale změnili?

Dnes se podíváme na zoubek

Thórovi

Není to tak dlouho, co vyšla nová hra God of War a fanoušci Marvelu se vztekali. Thór v ní totiž vypadá jako zrzatý brach s pivním bachorem. A přitom to je zatím nejlepší ztvárnění Thóra, které nám populární kultura dala!

Mytologický Thór totiž rozhodně není namakaný mladík, je to stréc, který se živí jako Obelix – takže pivo, medovina a fakt hodně masa. Má velmi krátký kahan, takže se snadno rozzuří a se zbraní v ruce je postrachem všech devíti světů. Srdce má ale na pravém místě, nesnese bezpráví a nikdy by ho nepáchal.

Zároveň je to jeden z bohů, u kterého máme popis barvy jeho vlasů a vousu. Ano, Thór není blonďatý Chris, ale pořádně zrzavý hromovládce.

“Mlč, klevetníku,

nebo mé kladivo ti

rázem rozdrtí lebku.

Do výše tě vyhodím,

do východních krajů,

a nikdo tě už nespatří.”

- Starší Edda

Zároveň jsou v mytologii oproti Marvelu jiné rodinné vztahy. I když Thór s Lokim zažívají různá dobrodružství, nejsou to bratři. Ódin je ale opravdu Thórův otec, a stejně jako v Marvelu, i v mytologii svého syna umravňuje. Jeho láskou není smrtelnice Jane, ale bohyně Sif, tu z Marvelu taky znáte. I ona na sobě má dost změn – třeba barvu vlasů. Potom, co jí je Loki oholí, dostane zlaté vlasy od trpaslíků.

Poslední změnou je kladivo Mjollnir. V Marvelu ho uzvednou jen ti, co jsou hodni. V mytologii ho neudrží ani sám Thór! Kladivo je tak těžké, že hromovládce musí nosit ještě rukavice a opasek síly, aby s kladivem vůbec mohl zacházet. Ukrást mu kladivo, pokud jste dostatečně namakaní, tak není problém. Mjollnir taky není dokonalý, má kratší topůrko, kvůli chybě trpaslíka při výrobě. A v neposlední řadě se umí zvětšovat a zmenšovat, aby ho Thór mohl nosit s sebou na opasku. Do ruky se mu po hození vrací stejně jako v Marvelu.

Marvel vs. Mytologie jsou krátké články s informacemi, které jsem našla při psaní knihy Ve větvích Yggdrasilu, která vychází začátkem roku 2023 v nakladatelství Golden Dog.

Nejedná se o vyčerpávající výčet a vzhledem k orální tradici mytologie se můžou příběhy, které znáte, lišit. Mytologie má základ ve Starší Eddě, která byla přepsána pod křesťanským drobnohledem, takže byla spousta mýtů změněna k nepoznání od pohanských tradic.

Zároveň se taky nejedná o vyčerpávající výčet komiksu, který funguje úplně jinak než MCU.

Ilustraci na pozadí (a zároveň na obálce knihy) vytvořil Michal Sirotek.

#čumblr #česky #czech #ve větvích yggdrasilu #thor #mytologie #marvel

13 notes · View notes

nedsecondline · 7 months

Text

Obelix: It’s for a delivery! | STREET ART UTOPIA

Street Artist CAL Obelix by CAL Dessins & Co Art in Alpe d’Huez, Huez, France. More by CAL on Street Art Utopia. Source: Obelix: It’s for a delivery! | STREET ART UTOPIA

View On WordPress

0 notes

asterixlabs · 7 months

Text

#asterix #american translation #geriatrix #getafix #ngl the British version having geriatric call his wife a ‘sew-and-sew’ for Sean stressing was funnier #Obelix & Co

17 notes · View notes

skopostheorie · 1 year

Text

Anyway this is an Obélix et Compagnie (Obelix and Co. in English) propaganda post. Obélix et Compagnie is the greatest Astérix book ever written and is still used as a (jokingly, but indeed) introductory text to state intervention economics. Obélix is the main character and he's evil . Like okay he's just evil because he's confused but that's all the better. Like all Astérix books it's only 45 pages long and you'll cackle like a hyena throughout (probably). You will read it for free on the Inter Net. Thank you.

21 notes · View notes

koreanserums · 10 months

Text

Surgeon recommends lifestyle modification over quick fix solutions for weight loss

Luckily for overweight people, modern science has now recognised ‘obesity’ as a lifestyle disease that can affect anyone from the middle to the upper-middle classes of society, in any age group.

Dr. Sushil Kharat, senior bariatric surgeon, Laparo Obeso Centre, Pune, said that obesity usually comes with company — of various other diseases — that can make life miserable for the patient and at times can be fatal, if not treated properly in time.

“Contrary to perceptions, obesity is not community-specific or related to any particular Indian community, though the incidence is higher among Gujaratis and Rajasthanis,” Kharat said.

This is owing to the diet which is rich in fat with ghee-oil-sugar, plus the tendency to munch on junk foods with all the unhealthy saturated fats, along with a sedentary lifestyle.

“Though there is no scientific data available, we have found that obesity is higher among people of Gujarat-Rajasthan, and middle and upper-middle classes of the society,” said Kharat.

He referred to the trend seen a few decades ago, when the so-called ‘fatsos’ around did not seem to have any other co-morbidities and apparently enjoyed an active, healthy though heavyweight life — akin to the lovable comic character, Obelix.

“But, even they suffered from obesity, and later on in life could develop other problems related to the heart, diabetes, bones, etc.,” he pointed out.

Emphasising that obesity is a disease that can be treated, Kharat said even the IRDA has recognised it, so it is now permitting and covering certain forms of treatment including surgeries, pertaining to this condition.

In the modern era, though obesity has been reported from toddlers to senior citizens, the 20–50 age group comprises the major chunk who suffer from and need treatment for this gross malady.

“While we have seen more or less equal incidence among the genders, it seems to be marginally higher among women, owing to various issues, and timely treatment is a must to avoid more complications in the long run,” Kharat cautioned.

Obese girls or women can suffer in many ways including bone problems, disturbed menstrual cycles, hormonal issues, which in turn can result in infertility unless treated, besides psychological challenges.

Though modern treatment is complex and multi-pronged ranging from pills, capsules to surgeries of various kinds depending on the patients, fortunately, it is also giving long-lasting and nearly permanent results to those suffering from obesity.

“The complete treatment cost can range around Rs 500,000 and the outcome is definitely long-lasting, though not permanent, if the patient discards compliance and discipline to maintain his/her new slim self,” Kharat said.

As a message, the bariatric surgeon suggests that all, particularly the youth and middle-aged people, should maintain a healthy lifestyle, eat a balanced diet, include a lot of daily physical activity and most importantly, “trash all types of junk food to keep that bulge on the waistline under control”.

0 notes