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Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

So in a recent interivew Dan Abnett talked about how one paragraph in an obscure RT era book became 50+ novels, and several games.



Man it would be hysterical if GW tried to reprint that.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/797210.page

He also mentioned that the HH is hardly the only throw away line to become a franchise of its own.

"So tell me, Luke... do you know about your father's service in the Clone Wars?"

3 movies, 6 seasons of TV, plus 2 micro series, and who knows how many games, comics and novels later that sentence is still going strong...



Any other good examples?


 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Does Fantastic Beasts count?

Mentioned within the Harry Potter novels, now some not very good films.

   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Does Fantastic Beasts count?

Mentioned within the Harry Potter novels, now some not very good films.


Absolutely. It's specifically one of the books Harry is required to buy for his first year at Hogwarts. I JUST reread that book and its very odd to see it there now.
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Not a line, but the Xenomorph bonce in Predator 2.

Two films, dozens of comic books, games and novels.

   
Made in us
Member of the Ethereal Council






Im not sure we know of people here, but before Attack of The Clones came out, what did people speculate the Clone Wars where about i wonder.
Like, the name is this very odd old sci-fi sounding war.

5000pts 6000pts 3000pts
 
   
Made in gb
Veteran Inquisitorial Tyranid Xenokiller





Watch Fortress Excalibris

In 829AD, a Welsh monk made a passing reference to a mercenary warlord named Arthur who fought several battles against the Saxons.

Then various people spent the rest of the Middle Ages making up increasingly elaborate stories about this Arthur bloke...

A little bit of righteous anger now and then is good, actually. Don't trust a person who never gets angry. 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Im not sure we know of people here, but before Attack of The Clones came out, what did people speculate the Clone Wars where about i wonder.
Like, the name is this very odd old sci-fi sounding war.


In the pre-prequel novels there was an impression of multiple Clone Masters with their Spaarta Cylinders raising armies and fighting for dominance of the Galaxy.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Duskweaver wrote:
In 829AD, a Welsh monk made a passing reference to a mercenary warlord named Arthur who fought several battles against the Saxons.

Then various people spent the rest of the Middle Ages making up increasingly elaborate stories about this Arthur bloke...


Did Roland have a similar start? It blew my mind when I found out some of the great epics were homages to Roland fan fiction. (I believe it was the Faerie Queen that was an attempt at an English epic poem to rival Orlando Furioso, a fanfic of the Roland fanfic Orlando Innamorato.). Not exactly the same as being inspired by a throwaway line, but a crazy chain of inspiration.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/05/13 16:04:28


   
Made in us
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






In Warhammer 40k Orks referred to shooting as "Dakkadakka" and that eventually lead to a website hosting forums for wargamers and other hobbies.

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
Made in gb
Veteran Inquisitorial Tyranid Xenokiller





Watch Fortress Excalibris

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Did Roland have a similar start?

Oh, his start was even more ignominious. At least Nennius claimed that Arthur had won several battles. Roland was just a guy who died pointlessly in a stupid ambush. That's it. That's literally the total extent of Roland's role in actual history. But, in dying, he inadvertently gave us the entire concept of paladins!

(Paladin /ˈpælədɪn/ (n): A heavily-armoured bloke who is both too incompetent to spot an ambush, and too stupid to know when to run away.)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/05/13 20:22:39


A little bit of righteous anger now and then is good, actually. Don't trust a person who never gets angry. 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Im not sure we know of people here, but before Attack of The Clones came out, what did people speculate the Clone Wars where about i wonder.
Like, the name is this very odd old sci-fi sounding war.


For me I just thought it was a vaguely futurey proper name, like the Andromeda Wars or the Vega Wars, I didn't take it literally.

It wasn't till years later with the Heir to Empire books it made sense.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/05/14 08:39:48


 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

Before Heir, there was so little context that he could have been describing resource wars. “I met your father when he was bombing a warlord’s village to secure that clone meat cannery.”


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks, Duskweaver!

I just knew him as that French guy famous for blowing his horn.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/05/13 22:46:23


   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Spider Gwen and Gwen Pool. Spider Gwen started off as a one shot in a What If? series, and became hugely popular and now she's appearing in movie, the mainline Marvel universe, and so on. Gwen Pool is even weirder cause that started as one of several gag covers of Gwen in various costumes and was popular enough to get spun off.

   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

Comics are infamous for strip-mining their history for new ideas.

Wolverine was a one-off Hulk villain.

Punisher a one-off Spiderman foe.

My beloved Legion of Superheroes (2 seasons of TV, numerous other TV appearances, 50+ years of comics) were a one-off story for Superboy. A bunch of kids from the future come by to pull a practical joke on young Clark.

But my favorite has to be 2 lines from a minor, little-known book called Action Comics 1.



Neither the planet nor the scientist get a name, but that single panel spawned several dozen comic series, probably 100+ characters, settings and concepts, and a short lived TV series.



A panel or two later... the kindly motorist doesn't get a name, nor the town, and we don't see what happened after the orphanage.



But it eventually grew into the Superboy franchise, several TV shows (including 7 seasons of Smallville) and giving birth to its own family of franchises including the Legion of Superheroes.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/05/14 08:39:20


 
   
Made in fr
Longtime Dakkanaut






Well, the trill in star trek the next generation were originally a one episode race but became so popular that a trill because major character in deep space nine and their culture was much more developed and changed, plus the inability of the trill to use transporters was removed.

The joker was intended to be a one appearance character in batman, and killed in the first issue he appeared in. Yeah....

"But the universe is a big place, and whatever happens, you will not be missed..." 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



Glasgow

 Duskweaver wrote:
In 829AD, a Welsh monk made a passing reference to a mercenary warlord named Arthur who fought several battles against the Saxons.

Then various people spent the rest of the Middle Ages making up increasingly elaborate stories about this Arthur bloke...


Atlantis gets a similar start. Though Plato doesn't even suggest it's real.
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Does Fantastic Beasts count?

Mentioned within the Harry Potter novels, now some not very good films.


There's a bit more to the story than that. A throw away line in Harry Potter and the Magic Rock (as we call it in America) but years later Rowling did two spin off books for charity - Fantastic Beasts and something about Quiddich. They were supposed to copies of the in-universe books Harry read, I don't think Rowling's name is even on them.

After that, content hungry movie studios took the book and the fictional author's name and ran with it.

So yeah. A sentence that ballooned into films, video games, Legos etc... Perfect example.

 
   
Made in au
Anti-Armour Swiss Guard






Newcastle, OZ

I first recall seeing "Angron" in an old Captain America comic, a number of years before he would become a thing in GW's 40k game mythology.

An energy being from Earth's far future (Sol going "Red giant" phase of its existence - and earth in its dying days).

I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.

That is not dead which can eternal lie ...

... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Kobayashi Maru too, I guess. A relatively throwaway line from, Star Trek VI I think. Has been expanded on and on from there.

   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Kobayashi Maru too, I guess. A relatively throwaway line from, Star Trek VI I think. Has been expanded on and on from there.


It's first mentioned in Star Trek II, then becomes a topic that keeps coming up from then after.

   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

It’s hardly a throwaway line in Star Trek 2. It represents the no-win scenario and Kirk’s weakness in facing death.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/05/16 13:58:13


   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
It’s hardly a throwaway line in Star Trek 2. It represents the no-win scenario and Kirk’s weakness in facing death.


There's a continuum, certainly. Fantastic Beasts and Horus Heresy were certainly throw-away lines, Wolverine and the Legion of Super-Heroes had a whole story line but no one could have predicted what they'd become.

So the Kobayashi Maru is more on the 'significant' end of the scale. But it did become an important part of Starfleet background.

 
   
Made in us
Brigadier General






Chicago

I don't know if throw-away is the right term. All manner of media routinely mine the edges of their universes for new ideas. Anytime producers or writers get wind that an idea has stuck in fans heads, there's potential for a new spinoff.

Lots of times it's intentional. Andy Griffith show was an intentional pilot included as a single episode in the Danny Thomas show.

Bad Batch show is a comparatively safe bet seeing as they were popular caracters in several Clone Wars episodes. I don't know if there was intention from the beginning but I have a hard time believing someone wasn't thinking from the beginning that these characters might do more on their own at some point.

Disney seems to deliberately pack their SW and Marvel content with possible spinoff-able charachters.




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My Project Log, mostly revolving around custom "Toybashed" terrain.
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The Great State of New Jersey

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Im not sure we know of people here, but before Attack of The Clones came out, what did people speculate the Clone Wars where about i wonder.
Like, the name is this very odd old sci-fi sounding war.


There was a razor thin explanation in the early novels (about the maximum extent of what Lucas would allow said about the matter as he wanted to keep related storytelling avenues open to his own filmmaking), basically the "Clone Masters" bred clone armies to attack the Republic was about all we knew.

 Ahtman wrote:
In Warhammer 40k Orks referred to shooting as "Dakkadakka" and that eventually lead to a website hosting forums for wargamers and other hobbies.


Exalted.

CoALabaer wrote:
Wargamers hate two things: the state of the game and change.
 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

 Eilif wrote:


Bad Batch show is a comparatively safe bet seeing as they were popular caracters in several Clone Wars episodes. I don't know if there was intention from the beginning but I have a hard time believing someone wasn't thinking from the beginning that these characters might do more on their own at some point.

Disney seems to deliberately pack their SW and Marvel content with possible spinoff-able charachters.





While the Bad Batch was very much a toyetic back door pilot snuck into the Clone Wars show (offensively obvious and offensively toyetic) the Clone Wars in general seems to have been nothing more than a throw away line like the Kessel Run. They could have called it the Andromeda Wars or the Droid Wars and nothing would have changed.

I wonder if anyone had been able to pin down if Lucas actually had an idea for them.

Sherlock Holmes has also been strip-mined, Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's older, smarter, brother) doesn't even appear in person but has gone on to get his own books and stories.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/05/18 09:04:58


 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






There’s also the Orky Special Characters, after a fashion.

Certainly Ghaz, Grotsnik and Nazdreg all began life as simple named characters in the original Ork source books.

   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

OK, this is like 4 throwaway lines but I think it counts...


"As you wish."
"What if he doesn't survive? He's worth a lot to me."
"He's no good to me dead."
"Put Captain Solo in the cargo hold."


I'm pretty sure he doesn't even get named onscreen.

And yet...

Spoiler:


So yeah. Star Wars does a fantastic job of loading background characters with so much potential they can spin off like this.

 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






For Star Wars, I think it’s just the general attention to detail.

This is first really seen in the Cantina, filled with all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures who felt alive.

I wonder if the original Kenner line really drove that? I mean these days most film tie-ins, you typically get the main characters as toys and maybe a baddie grunt or two. But Kenner? Off the top of my head, they quickly released Snaggletooth, Walrusman, Greedo and Hammerhead. Three of those were pretty much just background characters, and two seemingly didn’t make it out alive.

So from the get go, kids had those blink and you’ll miss them characters, and so created stories of their own.

Skip to the mid/late 90’s, and the Tales From series provided ever more info.

But it all stems from A New Hope, and their efforts to make the Galaxy feel genuinely lived in and bigger than our heroes, however central and crucial they were to the fate of the Galaxy.

Most impressive thing for me is that despite having a license to print money, Kenner continually improved the quality of the figures. Compare Walrusman (oh man those colours!) and Nikto, or indeed any of Jabba’s goons.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/05/18 10:16:41


   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
There’s also the Orky Special Characters, after a fashion.

Certainly Ghaz, Grotsnik and Nazdreg all began life as simple named characters in the original Ork source books.


I think they were actually characters in the Devs armies that got fleshed out enough to eventually get named in studio books. That happened to Lord Varak (sp? of Sisters of Battle lore fame) and Ghazghull for sure.

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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Yup.

Named for sample lists in ‘Ere We Go and Freebooterz.

There’s also, now I think about, the origin of Captain Tycho tied to Ghaz and Grotsnik. It was a Battle Report either very tail end of 1st or very early 2nd.

The model used was the classic RT Era Blood Angel Captain. And he copped a face full of psychic nasties from a Weirdboy. Not that long after, Tycho was properly canonised, including that unfortunate psychic face melting.

I think a battle report in 2nd Ed also fed into Marnues Calgar’s background. By that point he was a proper proper special character. But in the battle report, he copped a Spore Mine and lost his last wound - and that was kind of worked into the official background.

The joys of being a grognard. I feel I should be sat by a fire, telling the youngsters tales of yesteryear.




Like that.

   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




Lord of the Rings was born from a mysterious magical ring and the Necromancer that Gandalf fights off-screen. All because the publishers asked for more stories about Hobbits.

Persuaded by his publishers, he started "a new Hobbit" in December 1937.[10] After several false starts, the story of the One Ring emerged.


The most significant work of modern fantasy and its best known MacGuffin began by chance.

The only way we can ever solve anything is to look in the mirror and find no enemy 
   
 
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