The Course of Tribe Love

It was just a chance comment from a friend while we were talking... "None of the relationships in The Tribe ever seemed to work out."

Hmmm....

Is that true?

I guess, mostly, yeah. It's true. Check it out...

Start with Season-1, right up front--Trudy. Trudy'd become symbolic of dysfunctional love that would last for 5 seasons. From Bray to Zoot to Bray, to the Guardian, to Jay--not much luck, huh? But a very sweet little baby girl to see her into old age.

As for Bray, same-same. Bray bounced all over the place, way too many to map out here, but he always came back to Amber. Unfortunately that didn't work out either... leaving Amber with a very sweet little baby girl to see her into old age... and maybe Jay. Then again, Amber was all over the place too. Sasha to Bray to Pride to Jay. We have to see how Jay works out.

Salene was another girl who couldn't quite make up her mind. Bray to Ryan to Luke to Ryan to... May? That got verrrrryyyy confusing!

Then there was Lex. Good ole' sexy Lexy--from Zandra to Taisan to Salene to May to Taisan to Siva to Taisan... yep, our boy got around. But he always seemed to land on his feet. Relationships didn't quite mean the same thing to our Lex as they did to other people. That probably saved his sanity on more than one occasion.

Ebony was pretty much the same. She started with Bray but survived with Zoot and constantly chose survival over love. Would she even know love if it bit her? She thought she did, constantly, right up to Jay. But each time she screwed it up, chosing something else--like Ram?--beyond love. Still, she's a survivor. She will survive.

So you think maybe my friend was right? There are a lot of other examples. The course of true love didn't run very smooth for Dani, or Cloe, or Alice, or Pride... so many...

Yet there is one Tribe couple that makes me smile and gives me hope. Have you figured which one yet?  Of course it's Jack & Ellie. From the moment they met, it was on. They thrived on each other, supported each other, and loved each other. No, it didn't run smooth. I guess it never does. But through all the crazies they constantly survived and constantly found each other again. And when that last boat sailed away from the city, they were still together. I like to think they still are.

-Chyna

photo source: copyright Cloud-Nine "The Tribe"

Seeing is Believing, sometimes.

This is something fun to share. One of our KTDA players has a bit of an artistic bent. He--his name's Anthony--offered to try & draw a depiction of any of our game characters. A few people took him up on it, and you're seeing the results here.  As much as KTDA is a mental and word-based game, it's fun to imagine what our characters look like in our city setting. And in case you're interested...

The character at top-left is RIO. He's a pretty dastardly guy at times but he's also our Fort River Power Czar. He figured out a way to get the old water-wheel cranking that brought electricity back to the city. He's got kind of a rep with the ladies--not exactly a good one. In other words, this guy is definitely a work-in-progress.

Top-right is LLYSANDER (which is also one of Anthony's personal characters). Llysander is a conflicted man, in search of a missing sister and desperately wanting relationships and ties but not quite trusting them.

The girl is MAGGIE. Maggie's got a troubled past that includes slavery & a little sister who was lost to dire misfortune. She works at "Home" and is trying desperately to believe in a brighter future. It looked like Maggie & Llysander might hook up...then Llysander went missing. Maggie doesn't have the best of luck with guys, for sure.

The guy at bottom-right is BALTHAZAR. Balthazar recently left Fort River with some of his friends. He made quite an impression while he was in town...and it looked like he might be developing an eye for our own Arianna of the Misfits. Hopefully we'll find out one day how that might end.

We each paint our own pictures in our minds. Still, it's fun to get an image of how someone sees their own character. Makes them seem somehow more...real?

Enjoy!

-Chyna

Art created by KTDA's own Anthony/"Llysander" - thank you!

 

"New World" - A Tribe Book Review

My review of...

The Tribe:  A New World
by A.J. Penn, copyright 2011

For every Tribe fan who was there at the end of the televised Season-5 and cursed for years because there was no more, this is the book you've been waiting for.

They're all there - Amber & Jay, with Bray and baby Bray. Trudy & Brady. Jack & Ellie. May, Salene, Gel, Lottie. Ruby & Slade. Ram & Ebony. Lex. Sammy. And A.J. Penn's new novel picks up right where the show left off.

It's a good-sized novel, 392 pages filled with references to Tribe history & tv-canon to satisfy the most hard-core fan.

It's also an ambitious novel. Twists & turns, the introduction of new back-story & how that affects the Mall Rats' present & future... if anything, the novel is too ambitious. There is just so much introduced for the first time. The author's use of extensive narrative--filling in with exposition rather than letting the characters tell the story--ultimately detracts from the action & interrupts the flow of the story. The author's intentions were good. There's a lot of information he's trying to give you, to align what's happening with the characters to his new history, so he takes shortcuts. Otherwise, this novel could have gone on for 800-1,000 pages.

Would that've been a bad thing? Maybe not. Then again, I'm partial to long novels full of intriguing dialogue & well-written action scenes. This novel is mostly full of narration.

What Penn does give us is dialogue & action true to character. He knows his Tribe characters, for sure, and puts them out there just as we remember them. But in the novel's "new world," readers are dumped in it head first & left to wade through tons of descriptive paragraphs that ultimately give short shrift to what it could have been. That world doesn't come alive as the City & Phoenix Mall were alive in our minds. True, tv helped; Penn had to use words to try to evoke the visuals. Didn't quite hit the mark, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

As I said, an ambitious novel that doesn't exactly live up to its premise... but hey! It's The Tribe! And we haven't had anything to take us back to the places & people we're fascinated with in a very long time!

If you're a Tribe fan, then you pretty much have to get this novel. And I understand another installment is coming soon, so you have to keep up!

Thanks, A.J. At least you tried. We can't wait to see what happens next!

-Chyna

novel cover courtesy of www.tribeworld.com

Role Models

What do you do when the world turns upside down, and you're just 15 years old? Hopefully you remember your parents, older relatives, friends & others who you grew up admiring & wanting to be like.

What do you do when the world turns upside down, and you're only 6 years old? Or even younger? In the chaos & fear, who do you remember? Who do you focus on? Who inspires you to keep going even when times are rough?

What do you do when the world turns upside down, and you're only 6 years old? Or even younger? In the chaos & fear, who do you remember?

Something very rare in The Tribe was role models. Who could the kids to look up to & strive to be like? There were no politicians, no world leaders, doctors, scientists, sports figures or entertainers...just kids. For the littlest ones, if they had dim memories of a loving mother or a protective father, they were the lucky ones.

Who was left for them? Unfortunately, what you see really is what you get. They had to find role models from the people right in front of them. Look who they had to choose from--Zoot. The Guardian. Trudy as Supreme Mother. The Techno-leader Ram or Mega who followed him. In large part, these people loomed threateningly in their lives. They had to deal with them, for good or bad.

The very lucky ones, though, had more common choices. Amber, who tried to do right and be fair. Bray, who cared about the future. Salene, who cared so much she usually put herself 2nd or 3rd behind those she loved. Even Ryan who just tried to protect the people he cared about. There were more examples, and their common link was that they were just good kids doing their best to build a life they could be proud of.

The role models we adopt tend to define the world-view we hold, large or small. They also define our values and those things most important to us.

Who are your role models?

-Chyna

photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

2012 -- Our New Tomorrow

The first day of a new year is special. It's a clean slate. It's full of possibilities & promises & hope.

Whatever you do, don't waste it.

Happy new year, everyone. And for those of you out there who are fans of The Tribe, stay tribal!

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"