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* BadassNormal: A truly epic subversion in [[spoiler:Bink.]] Despite having a godlike talent [[spoiler:with a very intelligent mind of its own]], combining PlotArmor with GambitRoulette and XanatosSpeedChess, [[spoiler:Bink spent years unaware he had a talent, forced to learn to survive without one in Xanth, which was much more of a DeathWorld in the early books.]] Thus, he was forced to develop the skill set of a BadassNormal and learned empathy for the disadvantaged, gaining the PowerOfFriendship. Since LawfulStupid carries certain advantages in Xanth and MagnificentBastard status has them everywhere, he can essentially have his cake and eat it too, allowing him to sway even [[spoiler:the Demon XaNTH.]] The BadassNormal skill set [[spoiler:his talent]] forced him to develop paid off when [[spoiler:the demon reversed his talent, causing it to seek Bink's destruction:]] the BadassNormal ability to protect himself from magic it forced him to develop was powerful enough to defend himself against that very same talent.
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* BadassNormal: A truly epic subversion in [[spoiler:Bink.]] Despite having a godlike talent [[spoiler:with a very intelligent mind of its own]], combining PlotArmor with GambitRoulette and XanatosSpeedChess, [[spoiler:Bink spent years unaware he had a talent, forced to learn to survive without one in Xanth, which was much more of a DeathWorld in the early books.]] Thus, he was forced to develop the skill set of a BadassNormal and learned empathy for the disadvantaged, gaining the PowerOfFriendship. Since LawfulStupid carries certain advantages in Xanth and MagnificentBastard status has them everywhere, he can essentially have his cake and eat it too, allowing him to sway even [[spoiler:the Demon XaNTH.[=XaNTH=].]] The BadassNormal skill set [[spoiler:his talent]] forced him to develop paid off when [[spoiler:the demon reversed his talent, causing it to seek Bink's destruction:]] the BadassNormal ability to protect himself from magic it forced him to develop was powerful enough to defend himself against that very same talent.
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* PowerCreepPowerSeep: Originally, magicians were rare enough that the Council had to accept the Evil Magician as King: they didn't have a ''choice'' [[spoiler:not when Bink's talent was determined to remain a secret]]. Time-travel confirms that there tended to be two or three magicians at most at any given time, and they often kept the competition for the crown down by eliminating the competition. However, after Bink's meeting with the demon XaNTH, it ensured that [[spoiler:all of Bink's descendants would have magician-level talents.]] Since then, other magicians have come out of the woodwork [[spoiler:like a centaur whose talent would likely never have been noticed if it wasn't needed to rescue Bink]] and people involved with the family like Irene have gained power-ups. Quite a lot of people that are not acknowledged as magicians in the later books have talents that in previous eras would have qualified them not just as magicians, but as the most dangerous and powerful type of magician, those who could control the magic of other people and artifacts, multiplying their power [[spoiler:like the creator of the Deathstone and Bink.]]
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* PowerCreepPowerSeep: Originally, magicians were rare enough that the Council had to accept the Evil Magician as King: they didn't have a ''choice'' [[spoiler:not when Bink's talent was determined to remain a secret]]. Time-travel confirms that there tended to be two or three magicians at most at any given time, and they often kept the competition for the crown down by eliminating the competition. However, after Bink's meeting with the demon XaNTH, [=XaNTH=], it ensured that [[spoiler:all of Bink's descendants would have magician-level talents.]] Since then, other magicians have come out of the woodwork [[spoiler:like a centaur whose talent would likely never have been noticed if it wasn't needed to rescue Bink]] and people involved with the family like Irene have gained power-ups. Quite a lot of people that are not acknowledged as magicians in the later books have talents that in previous eras would have qualified them not just as magicians, but as the most dangerous and powerful type of magician, those who could control the magic of other people and artifacts, multiplying their power [[spoiler:like the creator of the Deathstone and Bink.]]
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crosswicking
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* WorldOfPun: There's been a steady increase in puns throughout the series. The first two books had only a handful of puns. After that, Piers Anthony started making the series more comedic, and adding more puns as part of the process. Then he started accepting reader-submitted puns and it and got completely out of control. Naturally, a great many ''Xanth'' fans were thrilled by this opportunity to actually be a part of their favorite series, even if only in a small way, so the puns flooded in ever-greater numbers, to the point that Anthony frequently has several books' worth of pun backlog.
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** To some degree, Iris, although in her case it's all illusion. She can still ''look'' however you want.
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* BalefulPolymorph: Trent's talent is to transform any living creature in line of sight into any other creature. This includes turning soldiers sent to attack his army into fish and leaving them there to die [[spoiler:according to the history books, anyway.]]
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* BalefulPolymorph: Trent's talent is to transform any living creature in line of sight into any other creature. This includes turning soldiers sent to attack his army into fish and leaving them there to die [[spoiler:according [[spoiler:[[WrittenByTheWinners according to the history books, anyway.]]]]]]
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* IncrediblyLamePun / StealthPun (YourMileageMayVary): The series ''thrives'' on these, however, they are mostly submitted by young readers, which Mr. Anthony thanks at the end of every book at the end of his author notes (which takes an entire ''chapter'').
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* IncrediblyLamePun / StealthPun (YourMileageMayVary): StealthPun: The series ''thrives'' on these, however, they are mostly submitted by young readers, which Mr. Anthony thanks at the end of every book at the end of his author notes (which takes an entire ''chapter'').
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What do you get when you take a rather witty American author, create an FictionalCounterpart of the ''entire state of Florida'' (with the small change of everyone having magical powers -- a ''Magic Kingdom,'' geddit?), and fill it with various parodies of fantasy tropes (as well as literally hundreds of reader-submitted puns)?
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What do you get when you take a rather witty American author, create an a FictionalCounterpart of the ''entire state of Florida'' (with the small change of everyone having magical powers -- a ''Magic Kingdom,'' geddit?), and fill it with various parodies of fantasy tropes (as well as literally hundreds of reader-submitted puns)?
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One important rule for Xanth is that every single native-born Xanth human [[EveryoneIsASuper has a unique]] ''[[EveryoneIsASuper talent]]'' -- a magical quirk that only they can do. This can be anywhere from [[KaleidoscopeHair changing their hair color]], to being able to talk to certain animals, to being able to rewind time or warp reality in their nearby vicinity. Talents are unique to the person who has them -- no two talents are the same, but some are so similar that they are more or less identical.
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One important rule for Xanth is that every single native-born Xanth human [[EveryoneIsASuper has a unique]] ''[[EveryoneIsASuper talent]]'' unique "talent"]] -- a magical quirk that only they can do. This can be anywhere from [[KaleidoscopeHair changing their hair color]], to being able to talk to certain animals, to being able to rewind time or warp reality in their nearby vicinity. Talents are unique to the person who has them -- no two talents are the same, but some are so similar that they are more or less identical.
identical; "turn stuff blue" versus "turn stuff azure", for example.
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YMMV sinkhole
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** {{YMMV}} on the "genius villain" part. He made a [[DealWithTheDevil Deal With A Demon]] for the talent of TimeTravel, which he used to RetCon away events that made other people more interesting so that he looked better in comparison. (For example, when he met a man with a LaserGuidedAmnesia talent, who met somebody who suggested erasing Princess Ida's knowledge of her own "it only works for people who don't know about it" talent, the Dastard {{RetCon}}ned that meeting.) ''[[MisappliedPhlebotinum Obviously]]'', [[MisappliedPhlebotinum a better use of the Dastard's talent]] would be to ''cause'' these people to be interesting in the [[strike: first]] [[strike: second]] [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble first]] place, so that they're indebted to him and [[FamedInStory tell other people about him]] and stuff like that.
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** {{YMMV}} on the "genius villain" part. He made a [[DealWithTheDevil Deal With A Demon]] for the talent of TimeTravel, which he used to RetCon away events that made other people more interesting so that he looked better in comparison. (For example, when he met a man with a LaserGuidedAmnesia talent, who met somebody who suggested erasing Princess Ida's knowledge of her own "it only works for people who don't know about it" talent, the Dastard {{RetCon}}ned that meeting.) ''[[MisappliedPhlebotinum Obviously]]'', [[MisappliedPhlebotinum a better use of the Dastard's talent]] would be to ''cause'' these people to be interesting in the [[strike: first]] [[strike: second]] [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble first]] place, so that they're indebted to him and [[FamedInStory tell other people about him]] and stuff like that.
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Xanth takes place in a small Florida-shaped realm that is sealed off from the rest of Earth. On Xanth, magic is real, with its own physical laws, often based on reader-submitted (and credited) puns. Billions, and billions of puns. For example -- Pineapples? They're essentially hand grenades because some are known in real life as pineapple fragmentation grenades due to the casing being etched to fragment in a manner that looks like a pineapple -- based on the old military slang. Cherries (Cherry bombs) are smaller, but still dangerous. Tulips (two lips) will kiss you if you get too close. Boot Rear is a fuzzy soda that, when drunk, causes you to feel a swift kick to your bottom. And beware the Catastrophe -- a plaque with half a cat stuck into it (a Cat-ass-trophy).
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Xanth takes place in a small Florida-shaped realm that is sealed off from the rest of Earth. On Xanth, magic is real, with its own physical laws, often based on reader-submitted (and credited) puns. Billions, and billions of puns. For example -- Pineapples? They're essentially hand grenades because some are known in real life as pineapple fragmentation grenades due to the casing being etched to fragment in a manner that looks like a pineapple -- based on the old military slang.grenades. Cherries (Cherry bombs) are smaller, but still dangerous. Tulips (two lips) will kiss you if you get too close. Boot Rear is a fuzzy fizzy soda that, when drunk, causes you to feel a swift kick to your bottom. And beware the Catastrophe -- a plaque with the back half a cat stuck into it (a Cat-ass-trophy).
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* JuryOfTheDamned: Prince Dolph has to protect the skeleton Grace'l Ossein from one of these in ''Heaven Cent'', though it's less a jury of the damned and more a jury of characters met earlier in the book.
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Don\'t see how this justifies his actions.
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*** As Bink is both beneficiary and puppet to his XanatosChessmaster of a talent, there's at least a part of him that accepts her issues as normal. That Chameleon stays married to him is a sign this acceptance goes both ways.
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** Fully justified in that they are well aware of the crossbreeding effect of life in Xanth, and know their entire race is originally descended from soldiers and Mundane mares. This has led them to strive to better the mind and to outright loathe magic.
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* MemeticCreep: Doubly invoked. First, the long term side effects of living in a land of concentrated magic wafting off of Demon X(an)th cause beings to become more and more magical. [[spoiler:Good Magician Humphrey is slowly becoming an out and out gnome since he has managed to avoid dying for a long, long time.]] Humans, over the generations, end up breeding with creatures and/or gain stronger and stronger Talents, veering toward the transhuman as a result. Only regular infusions of humans from Mundania stave off the loss of humanity in Xanth. Second, Demon X(an)th has acknowledged humanity and the other intelligent races living in its effective area (Xanth), and this (coupled with the feedback of beings like Bink and Ivy) is influencing Xanth as a whole in return.
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** Also (especially) Chameleon, whose cyclic changes of form carry her personality along for the ride.
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*** As Bink is both beneficiary and puppet to his XanatosChessmaster of a talent, there's at least a part of him that accepts her issues as normal. That Chameleon stays married to him is a sign this acceptance goes both ways.
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* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: As detailed in the opening paragraphs, Piers has long held that kids don't talk to their folks about sex to a full extent. This (like so much else in Xanth) has a parodic complement in the form of the Adult Conspiracy.
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** See GettingCrapPastTheRadar above.
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Adding trope
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One important rule for Xanth is that every single native-born Xanth human [[EveryoneIsASuper has a unique]] ''[[EveryoneIsASuper talent]]'' -- a magical quirk that only they can do. This can be anywhere from changing their hair color, to being able to talk to certain animals, to being able to rewind time or warp reality in their nearby vicinity. Talents are unique to the person who has them -- no two talents are the same, but some are so similar that they are more or less identical.
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One important rule for Xanth is that every single native-born Xanth human [[EveryoneIsASuper has a unique]] ''[[EveryoneIsASuper talent]]'' -- a magical quirk that only they can do. This can be anywhere from [[KaleidoscopeHair changing their hair color, color]], to being able to talk to certain animals, to being able to rewind time or warp reality in their nearby vicinity. Talents are unique to the person who has them -- no two talents are the same, but some are so similar that they are more or less identical.
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* KaleidoscopeHair: One possible power is changing your hair color.
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* ExposedExtraterrestrials: Centaurs take pride in being nude, they see it as having OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions and generally confirming their superiority to the rest of the world. One character has to take on this attitude after having gone through a transformation in order to be with her Centaur boyfriend, with limited success.
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** Which eventually returns to Xanth itself. So Xanth is ultimately orbiting itself. It's one big Escher reality.
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* BadassNormal: A truly epic subversion in [[spoiler:Bink.]] Despite having a godlike talent [[spoiler:with a very intelligent mind of its own]], combining PlotArmor with XanatosRoulette and XanatosSpeedChess, [[spoiler:Bink spent years unaware he had a talent, forced to learn to survive without one in Xanth, which was much more of a DeathWorld in the early books.]] Thus, he was forced to develop the skill set of a BadassNormal and learned empathy for the disadvantaged, gaining the PowerOfFriendship. Since LawfulStupid carries certain advantages in Xanth and MagnificentBastard status has them everywhere, he can essentially have his cake and eat it too, allowing him to sway even [[spoiler:the Demon XaNTH.]] The BadassNormal skill set [[spoiler:his talent]] forced him to develop paid off when [[spoiler:the demon reversed his talent, causing it to seek Bink's destruction:]] the BadassNormal ability to protect himself from magic it forced him to develop was powerful enough to defend himself against that very same talent.
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* BadassNormal: A truly epic subversion in [[spoiler:Bink.]] Despite having a godlike talent [[spoiler:with a very intelligent mind of its own]], combining PlotArmor with XanatosRoulette GambitRoulette and XanatosSpeedChess, [[spoiler:Bink spent years unaware he had a talent, forced to learn to survive without one in Xanth, which was much more of a DeathWorld in the early books.]] Thus, he was forced to develop the skill set of a BadassNormal and learned empathy for the disadvantaged, gaining the PowerOfFriendship. Since LawfulStupid carries certain advantages in Xanth and MagnificentBastard status has them everywhere, he can essentially have his cake and eat it too, allowing him to sway even [[spoiler:the Demon XaNTH.]] The BadassNormal skill set [[spoiler:his talent]] forced him to develop paid off when [[spoiler:the demon reversed his talent, causing it to seek Bink's destruction:]] the BadassNormal ability to protect himself from magic it forced him to develop was powerful enough to defend himself against that very same talent.
* GambitRoulette: Just about everything the Good Magician Humfrey does counts as this. He ''is'' the Magician of Information, after all.
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* XanatosRoulette: Just about everything the Good Magician Humfrey does counts as this. He ''is'' the Magician of Information, after all.
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----
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* GeniusBruiser: Chester Centaur - though all centaurs are scholars as well as pretty big and strong, Chester is particularly aggressive.
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Spelling...
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** In A Spell for Chameleon he admits that he was at least untrustworthy. His stay in Mundania cures hem of a lot of his faults.
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** That's partly true. In A Spell for Chameleon he admits that he was at least untrustworthy. untrustworthy, but his traits were exagerrated. His stay in Mundania cures hem him of a lot of his faults.
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** In A Spell for Chameleon he admits that he was at least untrustworthy. His stay in Mundania cures hem of a lot of his faults.
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* OncePerEpisode: In every book, at least one character will go to Good Magician Humfrey's castle, where they must win through three challenges in order to be able to ask him a question. (Which they must then pay for with some sort of significant service; the Good Magician's time ain't cheap.) This pattern was maintained even during a period of time when Humfrey had mysteriously vanished from Xanth.
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* OncePerEpisode: In every book, at least one character will go to Good Magician Humfrey's castle, where they must win through [[TheThreeTrials three challenges challenges]] in order to be able to ask him a question. (Which they must then pay for with some sort of significant service; the Good Magician's time ain't cheap.) This pattern was maintained even during a period of time when Humfrey had mysteriously vanished from Xanth.
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* TributeToFido: While Piers Anthony was writing ''Demons Don't Dream'', his dog Bubbles died, so he decided to put her into the book at that point. Mare Imbri is also based on Blue, a horse he owned at the time. Blue died right before he started writing the same book, so, as he pointed out in the author's note, it seemed right that Mare Imbri would lead Bubbles into Xanth.
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moved to YMMV tab
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* OffstageVillainy: "Evil" Magician Trent did many bad things as a young man, before the start of the series, but he has already reformed by the time of the first book. (and some of it was MaliciousSlander)
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* OffstageVillainy: "Evil" Magician Trent did many bad things as a young man, before the start of the series, but he has already reformed by the time of the first book. book (and some of it was MaliciousSlander)MaliciousSlander).
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* OurCentaursAreDifferent: a race of scholars and researchers who consider magic to be an obscenity.
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* OppositesThemeNaming: The princesses Dawn and Eve.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: They're a race of scholars and researchers who consider magic to be an obscenity.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: They're a race of scholars and researchers who consider magic to be an obscenity.
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* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Averted. The AdventureGame based on one of the novels managed to be at least halfway decent.
** Except the novel is based off of the game that is based off the novel. It's maddeningly recursive on YourHeadASplode levels. Basically, in the novel, the protagonists are ''playing the game that is now out, based on the novel'', making it a bit of IWishItWereReal, as well.
*** The Author's Note straightens this out: Anthony wanted to make a Xanth computer game, but lacked the expertise to do it himself. He wrote the novel to show Legend Entertainment what the Xanth game should be like, and they went and made it for him.
** Except the novel is based off of the game that is based off the novel. It's maddeningly recursive on YourHeadASplode levels. Basically, in the novel, the protagonists are ''playing the game that is now out, based on the novel'', making it a bit of IWishItWereReal, as well.
*** The Author's Note straightens this out: Anthony wanted to make a Xanth computer game, but lacked the expertise to do it himself. He wrote the novel to show Legend Entertainment what the Xanth game should be like, and they went and made it for him.
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Added note about G Rated Sex in Xanth
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**In two books, it's mentioned that it's more than this. In The Color of Her Panties, when Gwenny Goblin, Che Centaur and Jenny Elf figure out the Adult Conspiracy, they mention that other contact is required, though they don't specify. In Xone of Contention, Chlorine and Nimby summon the stork the mundane way, and mention that it's the same, only slightly messier.
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* EldritchAbomination: The greater demons, such as X(A/N)th: the second book goes into some detail.
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* EldritchAbomination: The greater demons, such as X(A/N)th: the second book goes into some detail.detail, as does ''Swell Foop''.
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** Female ogres are another aversion, and also take pride in their ugliness; an average ogress can "curdle milk with half a glance."
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Removing If You Know What I Mean sinkhole.
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* FaunsAndSatyrs: Fauns love chasing nymphs and simulating [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean summoning the stork]] with them.
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* FaunsAndSatyrs: Fauns love chasing nymphs and simulating [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean summoning the stork]] stork with them.
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* GRatedSex: "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean Summoning the Stork]]" is actually just hugging and kissing, naked, until the "..." appears.
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* GRatedSex: "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean Summoning "Summoning the Stork]]" Stork" is actually just hugging and kissing, naked, until the "..." appears.
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Probably should be YMMV
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* GuiltyPleasure: Oh god yes. The puns, the tropes used, the plots... all combined combined with the ParentalBonus makes re-reading the Xanth novels 10-20 years out of the target audience a very guilty pleasure indeed.
** That's if it doesn't produce a "I actually liked reading this? Was I retarded?" reaction.
** That's if it doesn't produce a "I actually liked reading this? Was I retarded?" reaction.
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** That's if it doesn't produce a "I actually liked reading this? Was I retarded?" reaction.