Seriously Geeky Sundays – The One With Friends

Greetings one and all, and take a seat, pull up a pew or just lie down comfortably because it’s Seriously Geeky Sundays again!

The almighty wizard of words, Heather from Just Geeking By of course, has crafted, using the most arcane of magic, six fiendish questions, guaranteed to elicit the most imaginative answers from bloggers across the universe! This week’s collection is all about friends in geekdom and, as Randy Newman once said, you got a friend in me!

To everyone who hoped this was going to be inspired by the TV show Friends, sorry! I just couldn’t resist the pun! Tomorrow is known as Winnie the Pooh Day, celebrating author A.A. Milne and his stories. One of the core components of those stories was Winnie and his friends, so today is all about friendships in fandoms.

Question 1 – In the last fandom you enjoyed, what was your favourite friendship?

The last one I enjoyed would be Final Fantasy VII, as I am currently replaying it for the umpteenth time on my Switch and enjoying it as much as ever. This game has a massive cast of characters, and there are some great friendships to be seen throughout this massive adventure.

One of the best friendships in this game is, however, not between the main cast of heroes at all, but rather the evil Shinra corporation’s team of assassins, The Turks. They dress like Reservoir Dogs, often fight against our heroes for their morally corrupt employers and get on really well together. Whether it’s Reno and Rude gossiping about the girls, their rage at the fate of boss Tseng after the Temple of the Ancients incident or Rude threatening to kick the gang’s ass for the thrashing they gave Reno atop the Sector 7 pillar, this squad of shady individuals always watch each other’s backs.

Question 2 – Which character/s would you like to be best friends with?

Rupert Giles!

He’s the man! Highly ranking on my top secret “List of Cool Uncle Figures”, Giles is wise, oppressively British, wears full tweed, gets knocked unconscious about 53 billion times over the course of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is happy to put himself at great risk to look after the youngsters in his charge.

Far as I’m concerned, Giles is already my BFF for life! (BFFFL?)

Question 3 – What fictional friendship has stood the test of time in your eyes?

The best friendships in any story are often built on an odd couple dynamic, the first that came to mind for me was Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

Hailing from the rural kingdom of Lancre, these veteran witches make up two thirds of a powerful (and very practical) coven, along with Magrat Garlick, at least until she leaves in later books. Granny is stern, insightful and serious, whilst Nanny is loud, bawdy and has a great sense of humour. The two bicker relentlessly, but always have each other’s backs when the going gets tough.

Be they uncovering an assassination, fighting vampires or uncovering a phantom of the opera, these ladies remain one of fiction’s greatest buddies!

Also worth an honourary mention are detectives Riggs and Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon and its sequels, they’re never too old to get the job done!

Question 4 – Reimagine a group of friends as Winnie and friends; who is Piglet, Tigger or Eyeore?

Oh, tough one! I’m not too versed on the yellow bear and his pals, but i shall do my best to mash it up a little…

What is, and hear me out here, Homer Simpson was the titular bear? (Hopefully he’d be wearing pants!) Yeah, swap honey for beer and donuts and we’re onto a winner! Eeyore could be Moe the bartender, Tigger could be Bart and Piglet… well, Maggie maybe?

Would definitely make for an odd crossover, I’m sure you’d admit!

Question 5 – Sometimes friendships don’t last; which fictional friendship do you miss?

Spartacus and his curly haired Roman mate, Varro, from the Spartacus series, of course.

In season one, our Thracian hero befriends fellow gladiator Varro, who essentially enslaved himself to get a debt paid off for his family. He’s one of the few that isn’t a complete butthole to poor Spartacus, so naturally they become good friends and look after each other, it’s all very wholesome… or as wholesome as that series can be!

The way in which Varro had to go was horrible, I’ve rarely been more moved by a character’s fate, and that makes me miss this Roman friendship all the more.

Sad face guys, sad face.

Question 6 – Pick a fandom where the main cast is made up of teenagers/young adults and reimagine them in a Friends-esque sitcom. Who’s living together? Who dated who? etc.

Tarnation, I already used my Final Fantasy VII fanboy card this week! Who on earth can set into the 90’s shoes of the Friends lot?

I’ll be honest, I don’t think I can answer this! Despite Ross being annoying, the New York based unit of chums are pretty much irreplacable, and I just keep thinking back Cloud & co when I think of a group of young heroes this week and… well, I just don’t know, apart from Cloud would definitely be Ross Gellar, Joey would be Barret and Cait Sith is such a Chandler!

So yes, that is another all powerful episode of Just Geeking By knocked out of the park, folks! You know the drill, hustle over to Just Geeking By to check out Heather’s work, and search for the other writers under the #SeriouslyGeekySundays hashtag to read more excellent answers!

To round out, want to hear my Ross impression?…

“I’m a paleontologiiiiiist!”