Princess Tina

[Tammyfan]

That girl on the cover is a dead ringer for Mandy.

For comparison purposes, Tammyfan, could you please post an image of Mandy, because basically apart from the black hair, I don't see any similarity at all.

I'm also curious about the character Yum-Yum. Is there any similarity between the Tina character and the identically-named girl in the 1963 Diana serial Yum-Yum In Search Of Her Sister, which was eventually to reappear in Mandy in 1980, and Diana's 1966 follow-up serial Yum-Yum - The Only Girl In School, given that Tina wasn't a DC Thomson girls' story paper?

In her later years and M&J years Mandy started putting up her hair in the same manner as the girl on the Princess Tina cover. Hence the resemblance.

[Phoenix]

In her later years and M&J years Mandy started putting up her hair in the same manner as the girl on the Princess Tina cover. Hence the resemblance.

I wouldn't have thought, Tammyfan, that simply tying her hair a bit further back justified the use of the expression a dead ringer. It would be more important for the facial characteristics to be more or less identical, which they are definitely not. That is what I was focusing on. You are nevertheless quite right about the change in position of Mandy's hair ribbon, but it doesn't last long in M&J, does it? The last appearance of the duo on the cover is as early as issue 90 (Jan. 30 1993). Their existence does continue, in small black and white drawings, at the head of the contents column on the inside front cover, but their existence, even in their own paper, comes to an end in issue 127 (Oct. 16 1993), or 195 (Feb. 4 1995) if we insist on including the sketches that look as if they've been created by a four-year-old.

Are you able to answer my question about Yum-Yum?

[matrix]

Hi Phoenix! As you have not yet had a reply in respect to Yum-Yum I may be able to help a little. I do not know the series that ran in 'Diana' or 'Mandy' but looking at your example the name obviously, and the looks are very similar.

The Yum-Yum character in 'Tina' is Chinese, with most of the stories based in Hong Kong. A girl named Brenda Burns, who's father owns a business there meets up with Yum-Yum in a market, after Brenda helps stop a man from hitting Yum-Yum who is accusing her of stealing their adventures begin. Brenda and her family take her in helping her with schooling. Yum-Yum is portrayed as a very confident street wise young girl, who most of the time is always in the right place to help Brenda from all the bad guys, kidnappings, etc.

Somebody else may be able to compare the two in more detail but I hope that helps.

[philcom55]

I must admit that I also wondered about the coincidence of two 'Yum-Yum' strips being carried by different companies. As far as I can tell, though, there isn't any close connection in the storylines; more likely in both cases the name was appropriated from The Mikado as a suitable appellation for any young girl of Asian appearance (though, of course, the Gilbert & Sullivan character - like the Thomson one - was Japanese, not Chinese!).

- Phil R.

[Phoenix]

Thank you very much, matrix, for your informative reply to my query about Yum-Yum. I'll look into it at the weekend when I have a bit more time.

Thanks also to Phil for reminding me that Yum-Yum is a character in The Mikado. I had completely forgotten that.

[Tammyfan]

These PC days no comic would call a character Yum-Yum unless they were referring to The Mikado.

[felneymike]

Yum-Yum couldn't be a Japanese name, anyway. You can't have M on it's own XD

[Phoenix]

You can't have M on it's own XD

I don't understand this sentence. What does XD mean?

[Tammyfan]

You can't have M on it's own XD

I don't understand this sentence. What does XD mean?

Not sure, but it sounds like no true Japanese name would have a Yum-Yum format.

[Marionette]

Japanese is not broken down into letters so much as syllables. The only single consonant is the letter 'n'. which is why Japanese pronunciation of English words tend to add in extra vowels, eg. miracle is pronounced (and spelt) mirakuru.

I believe the XD on the end may be a smiley, mistakenly appearing to be part of the sentence due to the lack of punctuation.

[Phoenix]

I believe the XD on the end may be a smiley, mistakenly appearing to be part of the sentence due to the lack of punctuation.

Thank you, yes, but what does XD mean, what am I expected to understand by it? What does felneymike understand by it, why did he use it, why could he not just use a smiley? Language should inform, not confuse.

[philcom55]

It's what the young whippersnappers of today call an emoticon - generally an icon expressing some form of emotion. You can see some of the more common ones (as well as some not-so-common ones!) here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emoticons

Whereas the basic smiley represents eyes, nose and a smile Felneymike's variation XD uses an 'X' to represent scrunched-up eyes and a 'D' to represent a cheesy grin.

- Phil R.

[Phoenix]

Whereas the basic smiley represents eyes, nose and a smile Felneymike's variation XD uses an 'X' to represent scrunched-up eyes and a 'D' to represent a cheesy grin.

Heavens above! Haven't people got anything better to do? Thanks nevertheless, Phil, for alerting me to the Wikipedia entry. However, I doubt whether I will ever visit it again. I find that my English, Spanish, French and what I remember still of the Portuguese that I also needed for my honours degree, are quite sufficient for all aspects of my life and leisure.

[Tammyfan]

There were other regular characters in Princess Tina. One was "Life with Tina" (no relation to Princess Tina as far as I can tell) and one about trolls (I don't remember the title for that one).

[philcom55]

The one about trolls was called, surprisingly enough, 'The Trolls'. It was drawn by Hugh McNeill and was based on a line of peculiarly revolting toys.

- Phil R.