While I am waiting for not so rainy weather, I caught up on watching “Supernatural”. Not only because I was behind, but mainly because of the episode “LARP and the real girl“. The show had me kind of falling off, meaning I had lost interest. But then the they announced Episode 11 of Season 8 - “LARP and the real girl”.
Holly jippers, LARP was in the title of this episode. But wait there was more this Supernatural episode actually combined 3 of my fandom’s
- Supernatural (come on the first episodes were good, and they have decent monsters)
- Felicia Day, yes I am a Felicia Day fanboy
- LARP, yes you can be a fan of LARP, do I need to say more?
And I was like “I need to see this…” followed by a little girly scream.
Before I go any further I would like to give a warning, if you want to watch this episode with a open mind then go watch it now and come back. I will try to spoil it as little as possible but no promises. Although if you are like me, you would still watch it even if you read this.
Felicia Day aka Charlie, the queen of nerddom
Potential Spoiler Warning
Ohh… well if you are reading now I assume you already have seen it or you just want the highlight.
Well I am going to make it short, this episode was enjoyable, but not something that is going to make me come back to Supernatural, however it did spark my interest and I will probably look into some new episodes down the line. Unfortunately they don’t have LARP or Felicia Day in them soon.
Again, like the last time she appeared on the show, Felicia Day stepped into the role of Charlie. Every time Charlie appears she steals the show throughout the episode and Larp and the real girl is no different. The episode feels like you are watching a Felicia Day episode in a supernatural setting. Not something I personally mind, I am a Felicia Day fan, but for the hardcore Supernatural fans this might be a little irritating. For you guys there are small Winchester moments like Dean actually thinking LARP is kind of bad ass. The big kid in Dean comes through and shows that if he were not a hunter, maybe he would have been a LARPer.
Larp in Supernatural
Now lets look at how larp is portrayed in this episode of Supernatural. Hollywood has a bad reputation for making larp look way more silly than it really is.
Considering the show is about monsters, demons and the horrors in the supernatural realm I think they did a pretty decent job portraying larp.
Larp looked fun and (most of) the LARPers, felt like real people and not a bunch of stereotypes. Plus they put in some funny insider jokes. At one point Dean and Sam being are outsmarted by LARPers. They are in costumes and players keep thinking he is a time-traveler since he is dressed up like the 10th Doctor from “Doctor Who”. Or maybe it is only me who sees this…
Sam looks like the Doctor and Dean as handmaiden
The only really bad things I have to say about this episode of Supernatural is that I did not like the monster. The monster simply was not monstery enough for me. That and the fake foam weapons looked weird. Not to mention the wooden sword Dean walks around with (obviously, wooden weapons are not used at any larps), that does not fit into the rest of the LARP. Otherwise, there was only one minor thing that felt a little weird for me – the big elf/orc ears.
To me this episode was enjoyable and funny. It was especially to see a show like Supernatural and Felicia Day, The Queen of Nerddom, take on LARPing, and it turned out pretty good!
So would I recommend this to you?
YES, If you like LARP and Felicia Day (and who doesn’t?) you will definitely like this episode. But don’t expect much beyond that point.
The best scene is definitely the ending, it made me smile big time. A bit cheesy but a bit nostalgic too, kind of reminded me of some of my first LARPs. Plus you and I know we all have tried to pull off a William Wallace.
“Freedom!!!!”
What did you think?
How would you like LARPing to be portrayed in the media?
Do you think this was a good or bad portrayal?
Should Felicia Day start doing more LARPing in real life?
When do you thing LARP is going to take over the world?
Lastly, if your a fanboy like me and want to hear what Felicia Day has to say of the episode, then she made a recording of herself seeing it for the first time here. She also talks a little about behind the scenes.
Pictures in this article, where only used with the purpose of reference to the Supernatural episode “Larp and the real girl”, pictures are property of their respective owners
LazyLarper
Martin alias LazyLarper, is a LARPer from Denmark and he is not Lazy at all. He is the host and producer of the webshow LarpForge and have ever since he started LARPing, at the age of 12, loved to make his own weapons, costumes etc.. Something he how is sharing though the show.
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I thought it was a relatively decent portrayal, if not a great one. What I really want to see in a portrayal of LARP is for people who have never LARPed before to see it and say, “that looks like fun. I’d like to try that.” That, to me, is the mark of a well done portrayal of LARPing.
Incidentally, this isn’t the first LARP in Supernatural. There was an episode called The Real Ghostbusters in season 5, which featured a theater LARP in a hotel. Also not a terrible portrayal.
Felicia Day does fine by her fans… and does well in sharing the geek love.
As to the episode, yeah, it does look fun… funny cause it is. There’s larp that looks about like that I’m sure.
My only whinge is that they’d maybe just put a little more effort into the larp weapons on show… a wooden sword… yeah theres a bit more on offer out there and a number of high quality prop produced like Atliers nemesis or Calimacil would have done the trick.
Even well made boffers would have been better.
i loved l.a.r.p.ing and i love supernatural so when i saw that dean was l.a.r.p.ing i got so excited!l.a.r.p.ing is my favorite thing to do! go l.a.r.p.ers!