Hello, and welcome back to Troop Spotlight! This is an ongoing blog series that highlights various characters from OgreWare’s Calling All Heroes. This week we’re discussing the first in a set of four – the Earth Elemental.
When I was a kid, if you asked me what the elements were, I’d either tell you “a lot and I can’t remember the exact number,” or start singing “Theeeeeere’s antimony arsenic aluminum selenium…” (Tom Lehrer, anyone?) Elements were a scientific topic, not a fictional or magical one. The demigods in my household were Feynman, Einstein, and Curie.
Then books and shows and games happened. Tamora Pierce’s The Circle. CLAMP’S Cardcaptor Sakura. Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering. Even Nintendo’s Pokemon.
These series (and many more) introduced young me, in various ways, to the concept of magical elements – the core of which usually consists of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. I was fascinated; like many kids in my generation, I wondered what element I’d find myself aligned with.
Well, that never really made itself clear. Watching A:TLA I wanted to be an Earth-bender; in Pokemon I usually chose whatever the Fire starter was; I’m a Gemini, so astrology said I was an Air sign; and all my favorite cards in M:TG were Water. Go figure, my elements are as confused as I usually am!
To this day, though, I love the idea of the four elements, and whenever I’m creating something that could have delineations, hierarchy, or sections of some kind, I fall back on these near-universal archetypal elements. So when OgreWare wanted a set of Elementals, I really enjoyed designing them.
This one, the Earth Elemental, is obviously a bit inspired by the Thing from the Fantastic Four – though I suspect this is another instance of “unconscious art theft,” when we draw something we think we’ve imagined and realize that we’ve actually seen it before and half-forgotten it (see my blog on the Killer Plant).
Whatever my element really is, I know that Earth is something I sort of long for and aspire to – stable, unwavering, unshakable…If only I could be so steadfast and reliable!
I think it’s kind of like Hogwarts houses, in a way, though: what you aspire to, your ideals, what you aim for, rather than your actual skillset, is sometimes your true element. If you’re a Fire element who aspires to Watery spirituality and emotional intelligence…or maybe you’re an Earth who longs for Air’s intellect…or even a Water who just wishes she could be as stable as the Earth types out there…fear not. There’s hope for all of us.
Even us Geminis.
~Admin Taylor