Challenge Ideas

[Spindrift]

I thought this might be a cool thread to brainstorm challenge ideas.
Here are some that I thought of:

- Dollar store challenge - craft a mer accessory using only materials and objects found in a dollar store/99cent store
- Design a game that mers can play (it can be as detailed as Quidditch, or can be an existing game that has been adapted). Bonus points for a video that shows you playing it.
- Photo scavenger hunt: name an object and do a photo shoot with said object incorporated (like I spy).

[thelocalmermaid]

ha! love the idea! nearly all of my accessories as a mer come from thrift stores!!! :) there's always something that looks like it came from the sea there! thrift/salvation army is the best place to find sunken treasures! :)

[Neria]

The dollar store challenge sounds like a lot of fun!

[Odette]

i already made a game for mermaids a long time ago. ill post it in april. its meant to exercise your coordination in the water.

[Mermaid Jewel]

I love the dollar store idea! I've been meaning to go hunting there anyways :)

Another few ideas:
-Photo hunt but with colors. Like take pictures with main focus of it being blue, or green, or etc.
-Seashells, something with seashells. We all have to own at least a few, right?
-Dress-up, like putting on crazy costumes with your tail

Not the best but ideas :)

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

In line with Mermaid Jewel's idea of the costumes, I propose pictures of ourselves in mer-form in unusual places.

[Odette]

lol. I LOVE ALL OF THESE!

[Mermaid Photine]

Found treasure- Take something not normally found where mermaids are (heaphones, shoes, etc.) and decorate it to look like it was found in a sunken ship.

In areas where there are several mers, a mermaid flash mob could be organised. Mermaids all swim up to the beach from some unseen place. Probably an idea for the pods, but I always like seeing mers in groups. Usually photos show just one mer.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Oh man, MermaidPandorah, a mer flash mob would be incredible!

[ShyMer]

I'd love to do a mer flash mob. Can you imagine people's reactions?

[Spindrift]

In line with Mermaid Jewel's idea of the costumes, I propose pictures of ourselves in mer-form in unusual places.


Ahh I wanted to do this as a photoshoot series. A really good challenge idea though!


Found treasure- Take something not normally found where mermaids are (heaphones, shoes, etc.) and decorate it to look like it was found in a sunken ship.

In areas where there are several mers, a mermaid flash mob could be organised. Mermaids all swim up to the beach from some unseen place. Probably an idea for the pods, but I always like seeing mers in groups. Usually photos show just one mer.

Did you guys hear about Improv Everywhere's No Pants subway ride? It'd be great if we could do that with mertails!

http://improveverywhere.com/2011/01/17/no-pants-subway-ride-2011-2/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoajdUEYBIE

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Yeah, I love "improv everywhere"... did you see the "Black Tie Beach" one? That might be a cool location for a mer mob. I doubt a subway ride would work for mers unless everyone was wearing walking tails... the lack of mobility would be an issue.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjzPEqhELJ8&ob=av3e

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Also, the mp3 experiment series of improv everywhere is pretty cool, particularly when they pretend to be different tribes.

[Mermaid Photine]

I was at a no-pants subway ride. Unknowingly, I mean. I was with my really formal relatives and we were visiting a museum, and we rode the train to get there. Then we noticed a person with no pants. Then another. Turns out it was no-pants subway day. Lovely. xD

[Mermaid Jewel]

Well we could all meet in a not so busy part of a beach and put our tails on there then swim down the beach to the busy part and have our mob swim up like she suggested :) Though it'd have to be for individual pods...

[Spindrift]

For a mer subway ride we can put our tails on at a not so busy or popular stop maybe (at the end/beginning of the line?). Just entertaining the idea though. As fun as it sounds, it may require too much coordination.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

MermaidJewel, that is a good idea, though it might be interesting to arrange a beach mer mob as part of a convention or something, in order to have the numbers that some of the pods lack.

[mermaid.dreamer]

I love these ideas! I think I might do some :)

[Gem Stone]

i love the flash mob idea! also, as far as the challenges go, i think it would be awesome to create costumes to go with your tails! especially ones that you could swim in! or maybe you could post a video of best underwater dance? that would be fun, but the water would have to be deep enough for you to manuever around. maybe best music video? best makeup idea? ooh, best reinactment of a scene (one shot like a picture) of your favorite mermaid movie or show! best mermaid/merman family? youd have to get your whole family rather into a tail or something water related. best hair idea? best merperson artifact? im out of ideas now...

[Mermaid Saphira]

Love the accessory from the $/99 cent store idea! :)

[Gem Stone]

What about another dry, landlocked idea. Maybe mers at the park? A mer at a fair would be a cool pic but for obvious reasons not the best challenge idea. Traveling mer? Like in a car or train? Mers at the movies? Maybe at a water based movie... Mers in a movie? Like a homemade one? Mers at work? Ha, that would be funny. Seeing mers at a desk answering phones or emailing people or filing. Mers getting manicures would be pretty cool, for the girl mers. Mer couples? But that pretty much dequalifies all single mers from the challenge. I give up, I can't think of any more

[Mermaid Miel]

I had already finished the accessory one without realizing it! :lol:As for the Mer train Flash Mob... I think it's excellent. Mers going to the Mer-Palooza could do this together on the Walt Disney World monorail

[mermaidondine]

Ohhh how about a photo or video remake/spoof/parody of a famous mermaid movie/scene? (Could include books and tv shows too!)

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Ohhh how about a photo or video remake/spoof/parody of a famous mermaid movie/scene? (Could include books and tv shows too!)

Or, along those lines, a remake/spoof/parody of a famous NON-MERMAID movie scene with merfolk versions of the movie characters. Like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5gCeWEGiQI, only crablike armor for the stormtroopers, and Darth Vader with a shark or orca tail, a mer-Leia, etc.

[neonmermaid]

Music video? :)

[Stephanie Sims]

A lot of these ideas (or similar are being panned or could be for the Orlando Mer Party! So awesome!

[Spindrift]

I sort of wanted these to be used for the MerNetwork semi-monthly challenges so that everyone would have an equal chance of taking part of them.

[Mermaid Dottie]

Dollar store idea! I love that!

[Mermaid Saphira]

How about challenging mers to do some kind of well known dance underwater?

Maybe we could have a challenge where we do mermaid make-up using a fish as an inspiration? I get the feeling this one would exclude some mermen X_x

I love the idea of renacting a scene in a movie or book :)

[Merman Dan]

Music video? :)

You ought to hear me speaking mock ixitxachitl (stingray), locathah (fish-man) and kuo-toan (Lovecraftian fish-man) for my undersea D&D game. A pity it's a chat-based game and my players never hear me. ;)

Does anyone else find themselves speaking with a constant gargle, like they are underwater?

[Bellasea]

the random place picture idea is awesome! I think I will try to do that this weekend on my way to work! There is a big red beach chair outfront of the main office where I work, so I might sit inthat for a few and ask some random tourist to take my picture! :D

[Lyna]

haha i was thinking of trying to tattoo in my tail smacking down on my foot pedal.

[Mermaid Annariea]

living mer-statues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOD9JNY-1U8&feature=related
like this, only in mermaid or some sort of aquatic nymph attire maybe.

[Spindrift]

living mer-statues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOD9JNY-1U8&feature=related
like this, only in mermaid or some sort of aquatic nymph attire maybe.

Hahaha this looks like so much fun!

[Mermaid Annariea]

doesnt it?? :D

[Mermaid Saphira]

this thread died down? Oh come! You mers have got to have more ideas :p lol

[Mermaid Celissa]

Mermaid planking?

[seagirls626]

I'd love to do a flash mob! I also like the idea of decorating a pair of headphones to look like they've been underwater for a long time (like a sunken ship). I'd do headphones because then you can still use them!
I had this idea: put your tail on, and do every thing you can think of to try to look like a human. As if you were a mer that was trying to come on land and needed a human discuise!

[Mermaid Saphira]

I got one!

What about some kind of mermaid fashion contest thingy? Like the best collaborative mer-drobe. Best matching tail and accessories thing. Is this making sense?? O_o

[Mermaid Saphira]

Christmas caroling.... MER STYLE!
So more like, Fishmas caroling...MER STYLE! ;)

Catch a video of you (and ur mer friends) caroling in a mer tail w/ fishmas style songs :3

[Gem Stone]

for over the summer, how about best tail wave? biggest splash? or even, if possible, highest jump out of the water?

[Blondie]

I like the I spy idea!

Another funny idea could be "Mers every day" And take pictures in your tail doing every day things, on the computer, gardening, shopping, sleeping, cooking xD I could see it getting silly.

[Spindrift]

@Blondie: Yeah like waxing or shaving legs... ahahaha

[Bellasea]

Grocery shopping could also get pretty awkward.

[sunrise]

You know what would be really funny? Go clothes shopping in a tail, pick up a pair of pants, and go up to random people saying "I don't get it." XD

[Thalassa]

You know what would be really funny? Go clothes shopping in a tail, pick up a pair of pants, and go up to random people saying "I don't get it." XD

LOL! Love it!

[MerEmma]

You know what would be really funny? Go clothes shopping in a tail, pick up a pair of pants, and go up to random people saying "I don't get it." XD

Great idea, but how would you walk around in a tail? xD

[Aino Revontuletar]

All of these ideas are fantastic! I love the "mers every day" idea, it's something everyone could do (at least, everyone with a tail). And Emma, I suspect you would go shopping in a wheelchair or something. That would be hilarious XD

[MerEmma]

Ah, yes. A wheelchair could work. All I could come up with was pulling yourself around on the floor or being carried. xD

[Mermaid Pickles]

Mermaid planking?
That'd be AWESOME. I'm tempted to try some of these ideas now. I've already decided that I'll be bringing my fabric tail (also the only tail I currently have) to a ren faire later in the year. AND an anime convention. I went and sat at a fountain at the mall in it the other day. I'll have to start thinking of other ideas for this kind of thing. HMMMM.

[Aino Revontuletar]

Ahahaha oh dear, I just had the hilarious vision of a mermaid in a clothing store pulling herself along on her belly, while looking very confused and trying to hold several pairs of pants XD Somehow, I think a wheelchair, or even a shopping trolley, would be much more comfortable

[Thalassa]

Yep, I have a wheelchair for getting around when my mertender isn't available. It's nice! Ask Koral, she was the one going crazy with it at the Dickens Fest this year. XD (Suddenly mobile mermaid + having sat around a lot of the day = HILARITY).

[Kanti]

Wow that's actually a really smart idea. I never thought of a wheelchair before
That really takes a lot of the worry off having to make someone carry you around and all that stuff.

[Thalassa]

Wow that's actually a really smart idea. I never thought of a wheelchair before
That really takes a lot of the worry off having to make someone carry you around and all that stuff.


Exactly. Keep in mind that you want one with either elevating legs or you'll need to build a bit of a platform for your fluke. Anything longer than regular feet will drag on the ground with the normal footrests.

[Aino Revontuletar]

I would definitely need a wheelchair, I don't have anyone to carry me around!

[Kanti]

That is true as well.
I just imagine the only downside is it might look a little silly xD
Oh well eff that, honestly. I'd prefer that over having to have a human version of a horse around all the time picking you up and whatnot. I'm sure it's especially annoying when they're not around at the moment xD

[Aino Revontuletar]

Hahaha yeah! I think the silliness of it is totally part of the fun though XD

[Alveric]

@Kanti- You're wearing a tail in public and worried about looking silly in a wheelchair? :D

[Kanti]

..... Touche' Alveric xD

[Merman Dan]

It's been awhile, so how about this for a June Challenge: Mer-Resort. With the premise that Disney World wants to open a mer-themed park using their long-abandoned River Country water park as a starting point, what would you do with it? River Country (http://www.moderndayruins.com/2008/01/disneys-river-country.html)

[Kaila Mermaid]

I went and sat at a fountain at the mall in it the other day. I'll have to start thinking of other ideas for this kind of thing. I've wanted to sit in a local fountain for a long while, but I'm afraid I'd get arrested. How did you pull that off???
I also like the idea of a photo contest of doing land things underwater, such as finding a way to read or make it look like you're using a laptop. I can imagine that would also get interesting. Totally love the silly mermaid clothes shopping one though haha. Imagine pulling up to the counter at a shoe store and telling the clerk, "I don't think this will fit.."