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Gulliver63 — Leela of House Turanga

#oc #futurama #originalcharacter #turangaleela
Published: 2015-01-12 01:04:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 2088; Favourites: 11; Downloads: 23
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Description Five years ago (my God - has it been five years?) I sat down with a friend at work, the late Bobby Whittlow, and laid the groundwork for an alternate Turanga Leela who was an alien rather than a sewer mutant. Five years and at least six stories later, I wrote what I swore would be my last alternate Leela story, "Leela and the Hata Stone" www.futurama-madhouse.net/foru…  I wanted to do a really good picture of the head of Family Turanga, complete with her sharan spear and ceremonial dagger. My wife Nancy helped with the outfit, which I described to her as a simple jumper with "deerskin" boots (assuming they have some sort of deer on that planet of hers). On her left shoulder we see her family crest, and the five colors used to symbolize her family. On the right side of the page we see Leela's name in the language of her cyclops people. Her family was one of the most influential on her world until they were all wiped out in a clan war. Leela alone is left to represent her house, and can only spend a few months at a time trying to keep the old homestead running. Leela's hair is down, and she's tougher and more mature than we see on the show. She's married to Fry, and they have two children -  Phil Jr. and Sara. This Leela's life is literally torn between two worlds.

Here's an earlier picture of my OC as a baby House Turanga

Turanga Leela is the property of Matt Groening.
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Comments: 38

paws4thot [2015-01-14 12:41:49 +0000 UTC]

I think that kiff57krocker has said pretty much everything that I'd thought of, except that I did get the "Inner Sphere" great houses from Battletech 3025 in there too (If that means nothing to you, just ignore it).

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Gulliver63 In reply to paws4thot [2015-01-14 12:50:41 +0000 UTC]

It's one of the things I've liked about posting the story was that so many people had so many ideas and reflections on it. I told my friends that it was very much like a western movie...sort of a posse riding after the bad outlaw kind of thing. Mainly the outfit had to make practical sense in the environment she had to live and work in.

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paws4thot In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-14 15:25:48 +0000 UTC]

Actually, on reading this (divorced slightly from the "House Turanga" thing) it also occurrs to me that it would work in the Firefly/Serenity 'verse.

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Gulliver63 In reply to paws4thot [2015-01-14 17:27:28 +0000 UTC]

::chuckles:: Gina Torres practically is Leela. That would be a nice parody piece.

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paws4thot In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-15 09:11:29 +0000 UTC]

Or Amy as Zoe and Leela as Kaylee?

I'm not sure whether Fry or Zoidburg would be better as Wash. I can't think of anyone Futurama who's bad-@$$ enough to be any of Mal, Jayne or Rev Book though.

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kiff57krocker [2015-01-14 00:39:35 +0000 UTC]

I didn't make a comment on this latest interpretation of Leela earlier because I simply couldn't come up with an artist's opinion of this pic, other than it is truly an original vision of Leela.  A sort of cross between "Dune" and "The Big Valley."
Apart from that, well done.   

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-14 00:56:40 +0000 UTC]

I love that you thought of "Big Valley" - in my stories, she is truly the Barbara Stanwyck of her manor house. And, like Barbara, she has to have an outfit that she can use to do the work on the property. If she dressed like a hot babe or something, it would have made no sense in the context of the story. The dagger, BTW, was talked about in an earlier story - she went through this bunch of training which mixed tons of martial art skills with religious training; when she was awarded the dagger, she was entitled to the term "priestess." Her instructor for all this was Master Xirasol gulliver63.deviantart.com/art/… .

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-14 01:09:35 +0000 UTC]

I can understand the practical dress and boots for the kind of frontier life that Leela would have to live on her planet.  As for martial arts training mixed with religion, that's certainly not new.  The order of Shaolin monks of ancient China developed many martial arts disciplines, some of which were studied by Bruce Lee.  However, the Shaolins were first and foremost a Buddhist sect and very devout.  Even the outré Japanese practice of kinbaku bondage is considered a spiritual exercise for the both the binder and the bindee. 

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-14 01:29:05 +0000 UTC]

In Leela's example, it was called Firemaster training. The first level was basically just physical training. The second level got more deeply into the combat training and the discipline of when and where to use it, and the third level focused on the religious end of things - Leela was expected to quote proverbs from their prophet Kaleepa while in the middle of fighting training. In my third "Last Turanga" story, she was finishing this up while Fry was trying to get a pilot's certificate.

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-14 01:34:32 +0000 UTC]

Fry trying to get a pilot's license?  I wouldn't trust him with a paper airplane much less a real air or spacecraft.  Still, I like the notion of martial arts training with religion to help the practitioner stay focused and spiritually centered.

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-14 01:41:30 +0000 UTC]

That's a fun story if you've never read it. Leela nearly kills Morgan for a second time in the series. A bad chief executive of the evil corporation tries to kill Leela, Fry and Morgan all together with a human wired up as a bomb. I had a ball writing it.

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-14 01:45:47 +0000 UTC]

While I admit I can write a good narrative, the ability to write a full story has never really been my forte.  You are truly a man of many talents.

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-14 10:47:57 +0000 UTC]

I had been dabbling around with writing since 1979, but really stunk at it. When I found out what fanfiction was in early 2010, I just had to try my hand at it. A very little short story called "The Caretaker" got the ball rolling; among other things, it was the first story I ever did on a laptop. I almost immediately cranked out three Futurama stories, which are still to be found at Slurmed.com slurmed.com/?p=fanfics/@fanfic… They weren't great, but they were a start (I was later to do a redux of these stories in a story I called "Parabox Express" www.futurama-madhouse.net/fanf… . I do, BTW, have other writing projects besides Futurama stuff. Thanks for the compliment.

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-14 14:50:40 +0000 UTC]

You're more than welcome.  You've always had nice things to say about my art, I can do no less for your writing.  You enjoy writing 'em and I enjoy reading 'em. 

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-14 20:05:43 +0000 UTC]

Believe me, there's a poop-load more where that came from. This year I'll be putting out parts 2 and 3 of "The Morgan Chronicles," which really have some fun stuff in them. And, when I get it finished, I have a Simpson/Futurama mash-up of my own.

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-14 20:32:40 +0000 UTC]

The Futurama/Simpson feature of yours will be eagerly awaited by yours truly. 

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-15 09:16:48 +0000 UTC]

God, I had fun with it; I liked mine so much better than the one they had on TV last fall. The Professor opens up a time hole that sucks the family into the future. When an alien army threatens Earth, they IQ boost Maggie, who leads them on a deep space adventure (and talks too!). All I have to do is fill in some of the details on the space battle.

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-15 14:19:16 +0000 UTC]

Sounds like a real doozy of a story.  I can't wait for the finished product. 

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-17 00:10:57 +0000 UTC]

I can shoot you a sample if you'd like.

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-17 01:31:52 +0000 UTC]

No thank you.  I prefer to wait for the finished product.  As I've said before, I pride myself on being patient. 

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-17 09:28:56 +0000 UTC]

By the way, I've got another finished product rolling out soon at Tim's site; it's the sequel to my story "Tweak" called "The Mutant Spring."

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-17 23:18:55 +0000 UTC]

Let me know when "The Mutant Spring" IS finished and I'll take a look at it. 

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-18 00:01:05 +0000 UTC]

Oh, it's done and ready to read - I'll give you an exclusive, complete with art and a cover.

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-18 00:25:50 +0000 UTC]

I've already checked my email and found your little opus there.  Thank you kindly.  I'll read it later this evening.   

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-18 01:00:30 +0000 UTC]

Not a problem. I'm kind of proud of it. 

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-18 20:46:12 +0000 UTC]

You have every reason to be proud.  The story was engaging and funny, especially at the end when Bender loses his bankroll to the fire-breathing mutant.  Well done.

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-18 21:23:43 +0000 UTC]

I like a story like that, where I can be serious and comedic in the same story. I also like the part of Adriana...never call her "Tiny."

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-18 23:33:44 +0000 UTC]

Yes, Adriana definitely proved her point on that one; call her "Tiny," and you'll be scrunched up like an empty beer can, n'yuk, n'yuk, n'yuk!

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Gulliver63 In reply to kiff57krocker [2015-01-19 01:01:42 +0000 UTC]

She'd take a person, hoist them into the air, and turn them upside-down for a little "chat." BTW, I really like that scene where Leela was "sifted" for information.

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kiff57krocker In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-19 01:14:06 +0000 UTC]

Either way, one should watch one's mouth around this little lady. 

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MTC29 [2015-01-12 06:12:12 +0000 UTC]

For a woman who must now be in her late forties, she has remained surprisingly slender. It must be because of the hard life on Cyclon! You have a rendition of Leela from 10-23-13 called "Leela Utopia One" which makes her appear somewhat older and a little heavier due to middle age. I think a fifty year old Leela back on Earth would look closer to that image.

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Gulliver63 In reply to MTC29 [2015-01-12 10:57:40 +0000 UTC]

Oh, I'd love to discuss that one. That Leela was designed for a story that never came about, but I still love the outfit anyway. The Utopia series of clothes was designed for more of a cushy suburban lifestyle, so it's fancier. Here she's still what I earlier referred to as the "Barbara Stanwyck" of her planet. The footwear is definitely meant for a rough and tumble life out in the boons, where she may have to take care of animals on her property and such. Sort of like "The Big Valley" on her planet.

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Helixdude [2015-01-12 03:43:09 +0000 UTC]

Realistic Leela's kinda gross, now i see why so many people are put off of her, especially as she's ridiculously masculine in this art style.

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Rhys1010 [2015-01-12 01:37:35 +0000 UTC]

What a girl.

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Gulliver63 In reply to Rhys1010 [2015-01-12 01:56:58 +0000 UTC]

What a woman...I've been surprised at the positive reaction at the story.

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Rhys1010 In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-12 02:14:23 +0000 UTC]

True. But seeing how much she has and would have been though, who can blame her for being a fighter and a lady.

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Gulliver63 In reply to Rhys1010 [2015-01-12 10:58:38 +0000 UTC]

See, you get it. And the clothing matches the rural lifestyle.

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Rhys1010 In reply to Gulliver63 [2015-01-13 01:29:54 +0000 UTC]

Yes, they do. And I may get it every once in a while.

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