[DoctorEldritch]

Hello Legion Gamers!

A maddening trivia for you: today is Alice in Wonderland Day!



What started as a story told by Lewis Carroll to three daughters of Henry Liddell (Alice Liddell was the middle daughter) on a boating trip on the 4th of July 1862 was destined to become one of the most famous and branching stories in English literature.

Indeed, thanks to its unusual manner of world-building and storytelling (which some researchers say is an allegory to non-Euclidean geometry that Lewis Carroll was not in favour of), Alice in Wonderland soon grew too big for the realm of just books and spread across other media. Several musicals set out to sing this story, as well as a couple of operas and even a ballet!



And that's not mentioning countless films that attempted to tell the story. The most famous of those would probably be Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland and more recently Tim Burton's adaptation:



But those are only the most well-known examples, for there are numerous other films about Alice:



And this is not venturing into the world of Manga and Anime where Alice is also an honored guest. But Alice could not be contained to the silver screen either. The story inspired several songs, and the Japanese visual kei rock band Alice Nine even named one of their albums after it:



@galadrielmt and @DracoTarot, maybe you know this?

Of course, it was only a matter of time before such a famous story and character would make their way into video games, and the most famous of them would probably be American McGee's Alice and its sequel Madness Returns:

I find it sad that EA decided to scrap the next game. Thankfully, while Alice may not get a new video game story of her own for some time, the character is so popular she frequently makes cameo appearances in other video game universes. For example, the Persona series has her as a battle character, and she is one of the strongest in the game:



And that's just the tip of the iceberg. And looking back on how many different incarnations of the story and Alice herself there are, a question comes to mind: do you have a favourite Alice? Maybe it is a blond child from a Disney cartoon or a black-haired blade-slasher from McGee's game, or the bizarre soprano opera version by Sally Matthews?

Personally, I am all for classics and prefer the old drawings by Lewis Carrol himself, even though his version of Alice is a bit creepy. What about you?

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch I also prefer the classics. I must say, Alice: Madness Returns is my favourite.

I do remember Alice Nine and Alice in Wonderland was a great album.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Alice: Madness Returns is certainly iconic, though not sure if it is old enough to qualify as a classic, it was created in 2011. Though it is subjective, I guess something can be new and classic at the same time? And if anyone can, it would likely be Alice, full of whimsy paradoxes as she is.

The creepy classic I was talking about is the drawing that Lewis Carroll made of Alice himself as an illustration for the original manuscript:



I like that he managed to draw his vision of the character in addition to describing her in the story, but I do find it a bit creepy, the eyes in particular. @Saka, you are good at drawing, what do you think?

[DoctorEldritch]

Originally Posted by DracoTarot

I do remember Alice Nine and Alice in Wonderland was a great album.

It's interesting how it only had 5 tracks. I thought albums usually have more than that, but I don't really know enough about them to judge. 5 just seemed a small number from my "uninitiated" perspective.

Do you have a favourite track in that album?

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch The classics I'm referring to are the movies and storybooks. Still, Alice: Madness Returns is a classic game on its own even if the game is not that old.

Looking at the illustrative side of things I also like the Disney Alice in Wonderland Tarot.



There are many artists and bands who have only a few songs on an album. The reason being it's much cheaper to produce an album and 90% of the time the bands have one or two songs people listen to and become hits. The rest is to fill the gap on the album. These days bands like to release singles instead of doing a whole album.

All of the songs are worth listening to. I can't really single out a specific song as a favourite.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Oh wow, Alice made it into Tarot too. I didn't know that, though these images are a bit too Disney for me (I see the logo). Wonderland could do with a little more...original wonderland vibe if you know what I mean.

I had a quick look, and I found The Wonderland Tarot in a Tin:



Those images have more Alice vibe to me. But the Disney deck is also cool. Do you have it?

As for the album, I found the first song of that album to give everyone a taste. I put it @galadrielmt Metal thread.

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch There are a few different decks out there and I do not own one of them yet. I agree the Tarot in a Tin does look better.

I also posted my favourite Japanese band under @galadrielmt thread a few min ago.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Would you want to have Alice Tarot deck in your collection, or is it something too cartoonish (in the Disney version at least) to be taken seriously?

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch I wouldn't mind having an Alice in Wonderland deck. I'm not picky when it comes to the artwork. I do have my favourites but the more I can collect the better. 😃

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch I agree the drawing looks a little bit like stuff of nightmares. The head doesn't really look like a child's head and the perspective is way off.