# Ninjas are tired. Pirates are played out. What's next? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992 "2011-06-10T16:45:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/41 "2011-06-11T14:32:48Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I’m calling fighter pilots. \*Top Gun \*can’t have killed the genre for ever. Tight flightsuits. Aviator glasses. Arrogant little shit smile. Leather jackets. Reflective belts. Oh yeah, that’ll work. And they can fight (Somali) pirates ! And another under-the-radar homosexual lifestyle sold and advocated to our precious little kiddies. I thought we’d have a pause after Twilight. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/42 "2011-06-11T16:57:38Z")
Raptors (the dinosaurs) will replace zombies as the menace that we stay continually armed against. ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/43 "2011-06-11T17:58:49Z")
I am going to marry this thread! I’m not sure if superheroes count, seeing as they’re essentially a grab bag of everything else: Iron Man’s basically a cyborg, Batman’s a thinly veiled ninja, Superman is of course an alien, Captain America is (was?) a science experiment… Y’all can fill in the rest. Highwaymen (and women?) are already getting there to a certain extent, as is Victorian everything. I’m sick to death of both, but I suppose the 14 year old romance junkies aren’t. Secret societies and zombie-esque mutant things seem to be enjoying a resurgence right now, too. Dragon-people haven’t gotten any real action yet, have they? Maybe they’re too similar to werewolves, but seeing as vampires seem to have a new tag teamer in fae/fairies/fair folk/etc, and I agree with _Balance_ that some sort of warrior/ninja addition would revitalize werewolves, maybe aliens vs. dragon-people? Aliens vs. ninjas, has that been done? ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/44 "2011-06-11T19:01:52Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Raptors (the dinosaurs) will replace zombies as the menace that we stay continually armed against. XKCD [already](http://xkcd.com/135/) [does](http://xkcd.com/87/) [this](http://xkcd.com/292/) [to](http://xkcd.com/155/) [some](http://xkcd.com/900/) extent. I like raptors, but I’d like to see them stay out of the pop culture limelight until the target audience is too young to remember when they weren’t feathered. Maybe a decade from now they can be popular again. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/45 "2011-06-12T04:32:52Z")
> [@Imago](#): > > I am going to marry this thread! > > I’m not sure if superheroes count, seeing as they’re essentially a grab bag of everything else: Iron Man’s basically a cyborg, Batman’s a thinly veiled ninja, Superman is of course an alien, Captain America is (was?) a science experiment… Y’all can fill in the rest. Nah, Iron Man’s a guy in power armor. Totally different from a cyborg. For a cyborg superhero, your go-to guy is (oddly enough) [Cyborg](http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/cyborg.html). Anyway, my selection for next trend in three words: [Morlocks](http://destructionist.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/epa-to-raise-limits-for-radiation-exposure-while-canada-turns-off-fallout-detectors/morlocks/) [morlocks](http://www.gwthomas.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Morlocks_2.jpg) [morlocks!](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/Callistox.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/46 "2011-06-12T04:34:41Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Nah, Iron Man’s a guy in power armor. Totally different from a cyborg. That depends. Does comic-Iron Man have the same cardiac-surgeon’s-wet-dream plug-in thing that the Iron Man of that movie I vague remember does? ---
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/47 "2011-06-12T11:52:32Z")
Prophets and Messiahs will be pulling in the dough and gathering the fans. Deities will do even better. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/48 "2011-06-12T12:24:59Z")
Depression-Era Guys… everything from Paper Moon grifters to The Waltons ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/49 "2011-06-12T12:50:01Z")
Ostrogoths! ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/50 "2011-06-12T13:38:53Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > Chupacabra! I saw a spoof of the “Twilight” books somewhere where a beautiful but shy highschool girl must deal with her budding romantic feeling for the strange looking hispanic boy in her class with a strange fixation on goats. ---
**Author:** ![Bloody\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bloody\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloody_L)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/51 "2011-06-13T04:17:34Z")
Steampunk cowboys… or any sort of apocalyptic (think Fallout 3?) survivors. As long as it’s steampunk. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/52 "2011-06-13T07:22:01Z")
Bacteria! ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/53 "2011-06-13T08:40:43Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Amish are due a comeback, they haven’t been properly used since “Witness”. You joke but Amish romances were pretty hot in books for a while. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/54 "2011-06-13T17:19:11Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Ninjas versus superheroes! > > “We are a hedge. Move along.” that ticks me off. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/55 "2011-06-13T17:52:00Z")
The obvious new schtick is [Jews vs. Cossacks!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13910701#post13910701) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/56 "2011-06-13T22:03:13Z")
[I, for one, welcome our new Japanese Radioactive Mutant Bunny-Wunny Overlords.](http://www.news.com.au/world/rabbit-born-without-ears-near-fukushima-nuclear-plant/story-e6frfkyi-1226074074221) ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/57 "2011-06-13T22:50:41Z")
Bleymes: they’ve got to get ahead somehow! ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/58 "2011-06-13T23:07:38Z")
> [@HeadNinja](#): > > … Work gettin’ ya down, **Ninj**? I’m betting Scotsmen! (crosses fingers and wishes real hard) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/59 "2011-06-14T16:02:23Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Work gettin’ ya down, **Ninj**? > > I’m betting Scotsmen! > (crosses fingers and wishes real hard) Will they be [teaming up with samurai](http://samuraijack.wikia.com/wiki/The_Scotsman)? ---
**Author:** ![Private\_Bin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@Private\_Bin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Private_Bin)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992/60 "2011-06-16T13:28:29Z")
I’m backing skeletons. GO SKELLINGTONS! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninjas-are-tired-pirates-are-played-out-whats-next/584992.md?page=4)