#EarthForce

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Starfury Capture, Crusade "Each Night I Dream of Home"

[alphamecha-mkii]

Exiting Hyperspace by Ryan Salcombe (Meurig)

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Earth Alliance ships.

[casside-sionnach]

Nova Class, Earthforce Alliance ship

[therighthandofvengeance]

[arceespinkgun]

The Earthforce comics and the Autobot Earthbase would actually be perfect for new fans and to set fanworks in, here's why:

Some of the funniest panels in all of TF comic history like the "CENSORED" panel or the brick one come from these comics

Despite that, one of the darkest stories in TF history also takes place in the Earthforce continuity so plenty of angst or hurt/comfort potential

There is an interesting landscape, with the aurora visible most nights for instance

Polar bears are around (perfect for scaring Wheeljack)

Huge cast of characters and more could easily be added

Vague place in continuity, perfect for all those G1 continuity soup fics to draw upon

Grimlock is generally in charge, therefore endless drama and comedy

Base is shaped like a pancake and the walls inside are green

[pocoslip]

I Love how Optimus Prime's Double Axe Movie works on Megatron but Not Grimlock

(Is the Name of the Move Double Axe or Double Hammer????)

[gracklesascendant]

it's especially glaring when (1) earth business negotiations are usually overseen by at least one telepath (2) Babylon 5 is a major center of trade and commerce between different space nations because it's equidistant or something! It's the most convenient place to do business deals with EarthGov worlds and we see a lot of commerce and business deals happen in the station.

Like, there's only one business telepath in the show for IRL logistical reasons, but if you extrapolate, only one business telepath doesn't make sense.

Also, Talia is the only court telepath on the station when it really seems like death of personality is a semi-conmon punishment! Garibaldi mentions that death of personality is how they keep prisons from filling up...

Imagine being the only commercial telepath on a space station populated by roughly 250000 humans and aliens combined.

[mylittleredgirl]

today i'm thinking about b5 worldbuilding choices that seem like they were deliberately chosen to differentiate it from star trek. (this is a joyful statement, by the way, They Both Look Nice.gif)

i'm not talking about hyperspace/jumpgate technology, which is way too structurally load-bearing to think of as just Not Warp Drive.

it's more the small-ticket differences, like earthforce using american measurements (when the real life american military uses the metric system), and the sometimes conspicuous absence of the sci-fi technologies that are most iconically identified with star trek: transporters, replicators, all-purpose tricorders... and phasers with a stun setting, which is where things get kinda fucked up.

the sci-fi gun filling the phaser niche on b5 is the PPG. it's also a bloodless energy weapon, but it only has one setting, which is at least as deadly as a modern gun (i say "at least" because of how often someone is "killed instantly" with a single shot). officers are not armed with a less-lethal option.

in season one, it's routinely emphasized that no one except earth force personnel can have weapons of any kind on the station. the ban is pretty hardcore. not even religious ceremonial knives are allowed, there are active scans of everything coming on board, and security has the right to check for weapons even in the "foreign soil" of ambassadorial quarters.

there are a quarter of a million people here on any given day, mostly civilians, many of them aliens. there's a backdrop of petty crime, mostly theft and fistfights. occasionally someone gets stabbed with a homemade shank. security has Shit To Do! people to arrest, and so on. but the total weapons ban means that in the vast majority of cases, anyone that security can expect to encounter, especially inside the station (vs. the customs area) will be unarmed.

and this all seems like a recipe for disaster. a human in uniform killing an unarmed alien bystander (or a suspected petty criminal who hasn't been charged with anything) is going to be a problem for the Don't Start Wars With Aliens station!! of course the initial peace train derails mid-series, but at the beginning, sinclair is really holding on to the goal of peace by his fingernails. you would think that both he and earthgov (who Really want to keep earth out of war) would prefer that the random dumbasses in security carry a non-lethal option as a first-line weapon, even if they are also armed with a backup PPG... which implies that the humans in the b5 universe just never bothered to work on this technology.

meanwhile, in the real world, police tasers came into use in 1993, at the exact same time as b5 started. the idea that cops should have a way to subdue someone resisting arrest without shooting them was a pressing concern in the national conversation... so somehow it ends up being worse than just picking american riot cops off the street and sticking them in space. to us at home, especially in the 2020's, it fits in with the rest of the "hey, don't you and the good guys think this is kinda fucked up?" stuff, but it's not treated that way, because the good guys don't notice it at all (that's honestly a theme with law enforcement issues in b5 in general, but that's another post).

which is why i wonder if it was a Not Like Star Trek choice early on to avoid "set phasers to stun," and it just never came up again.

[greenscircus]

concept: earthforce unisex miniskirt uniform :-P

[woodsfae]

Babylon 5 S04E08 The Illusion of Truth previous episode - table of contents

John Sheridan looks at a model fighter? a starship, while he's thinking dark thoughts. Ivanova brings even worse ones: their revenue is way down since Earth banned travel to B5.

Sheridan and his dad have apparently been secretly passing messages and he hasn't heard back in awhile. I remember the last time he talked with his dad, that his mom was out and I wondered if his mom had already been arrested or something. Sheridan doesn't seem to have thought of that. He's primarily worried about his dad, too. Ivanova points out his dad is a former diplomat and thus in her opinion, too visible to disappear.

There are other small problems, but Ivanova dismisses expositing about them in favor of praising the great job Zack Allen's doing as new head of security.

Cut to Zack Allen breaking up a fight and threatening someone to inspect their stuff, and breaking locks with his phaser gun. Lol, the true successor to Garibaldi, indeed. He uncovers that their cargo is camera footage and they claim to be news reporters.

Dr Franklin has a plot update on the telepaths wired into Shadows tech. They're storing more people in stasis they were ever meant to support and they're going to move some of them.

The reporter has been arrested, for the subterfuge. Sheridan says he would have been allowed on, just not the recording equipment, since ISN isn't a trustworth news source anymore. The reporter claims he came to try to find ways to slip in truth about B5 into the propaganda news.

But that's how propaganda already works: using bits of truth to support agendas. It's not an inherently trustworthy argument. But Sheridan does seem interested.

Oh, and some Garibaldi! He's talking to a potential client. And by talking, I mean deducing that his client is smuggling valuables and extorts a percentage of their value from the client. And next up to meet with him is Lennier! I guess Garibadi's still on B5, then?

Sheridan shows up with the journalist, Dan Randall, and asks Lennier to show him around, to help verify the truth of B5. So Sheridan believed his spiel! I hope his trust is not misplaced, or that he has a backup plan.

Sheridan doesn't talk to Garibaldi, just leaves. Garibaldi has a flashback to his brainwashing and imprisonment. I have been wondering if Garibaldi resigning was part of PsiCorps' plot. Did he resign because he felt compromised, but is hiding the fact and limiting the security access he has on B5 therefore the damage he can do?

Lennier takes Mr Randall straight to Down Below and describes its denizens and their plights unflinchingly. Way to go for the worst view of B5 first, Lennier!

Delenn and John give an interview and also flirt blatantly and hold hands on camera. Then act uncomfortable when it is commented on.

What they all say to Mr Randal the ISN guy seems ominously well suited to be cut up to imply a totally different narrative. He hits up Garibaldi, who deflects. Mr Randall presses him to talk about anything he chooses. Garibaldi looks conflicted. I am more convinced this guy isn't here for B5's best interests and to represent it honestly.

Euuuugh as does Sheridan's tempting fate. But we won't be left hanging! Sheridan, Ivanova and Delenn put on the report for us all to watch.

It's a super uplifting and encouraging viw of the rest of humanity under Earthforce. /s

Mars is being militarily re-conquered. A film maker confesses sedition and is remanded into a psych unit. Great signs that B5 will be presented honestly and without bias.

Mr Randall starts out by really hyping himself and his bravery up. He presents B5 as controlled by alien governments with humans living Down Below in squalor while only aliens and command staff live in decent quarters. He has guest on to imply that Sheridan lowkey worships alien species as gods.

Everything is indeed cut to show them in the worst light. Aaaand they did get Garibaldi to talk. Specifically to shit talk Sheridan and say he's both got a God complex and only listens to a few aliens. Perhaps the true brainwashing? How complicated was the PsiCorps programming, anyway. Is Garibaldi's true self dead? Like Talia Winters' presumably was wiped out and replaced??

Back to ISN's hit piece on B5. Mr Randall has found the cryo-units after Dr Franklin got a message from his staff about restarting cryo-units. The picture is fully drawn as oppressing the humans, and using human resources to outfit and supply alien forces.

They get Dr Franklin on record saying there are no people in cryo. And then he has the expert who talked about alien worship comment on the situation.

Conclusion: B5 is in danger, is a danger, and Sheridan is probably unstable and mentally ill and to be pitied and given psychological help. Aliens are dangerous, Delenn being transformed to partly human probably means they're going to force all humans to be partly transformed into aliens.

Well that makes me wonder how much of their Mars war report is even remotely accurate.

Welp, time to conquer Earth and make some of the propaganda come true? Fascism really does create its own threats.

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Cruiser (2) by ostapblender

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[gracklesascendant]

why is the mars resistance so apolitical

I was inspired about how the Mars Rebellion could have gone down in S1, especially since we know the Food Riots post Earth-Minbari war were caused by Earth policy (also Sheridan put them down so hard the Resistance still hates him a decade later). Mars does not have self representation - it has a military governor. Megacorps came to Mars to do atrocities and abuse labor away from whatever laws Earth has back home. It's possible to extrapolate out from "Babylon 5 grows most of their own food" and "Mars is dependent on food imports from Earth" to "Earth decided not to prioritize building sufficient agriculture infrastructure on Mars to keep them dependent". So far so good.

But then I read the Babylon 5 wiki and immediately... just... what are the people who use violence pre-Clark even FIGHTING for? What's the goal? Why are they taking up arms? It's one big question mark.

It's either "peaceful protest (early Free Mars)" or "working within the system (Mars Provisional Government)" with the goals of 1) slowly become more independent from Earth 2) hey maybe slow down and stop oppressing workers so much, megacorps, pretty please!

Or it's full on "wow love to murder civilians :D <3 (later Free Mars)" which often bombs civilian targets for no detectable reason WHY they are doing it. But like, there's no actual political goal for the violence other than vengeance? And it REALLY seems like there should be. Mars SHOULD be rebelling against Earth, and especially Earth-based megacorps SPECIFICALLY.

Like, I get that the people telling us this are EarthForce stooges who saw nothing wrong with breaking the Rebellion's back, and that resistance movements can get hijacked by violent people who only want murder. But WHY??? Surely there must be some political violence done with SOME purpose. It's the draw the fucking owl of political movements.

It feels so empty.

Addendum: There's a slightly more defined Mars Resistance after Clark takes power which is finally presented as respectable (with some murdery elements which are not justified) to the viewer, though the only politics they have are "get independence from Earth" and "full statehood in the Earth Alliance" and "oh god please stop doing atrocities to us Clark". Number One takes over Alliance intelligence in S5 and uh... just uses it to reduce corruption in the megacorps??? Is that all you want to do? There really, really SHOULD be more of a political goal.

[therighthandofvengeance]

Clark: EarthForce isn’t someone you wanna think about messing with.

Sheridan: We won’t think about it when we do it.

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I feel like being into the Marvel TF stuff really inoculated me against the most popular topics in fandom discourse lol

The stuff people say on here about some of the characters that seem to attract the most of it (often for good reasons sadly) like Megatron, Prowl, or Starscream, I'm immune to, and so are all the other fans of the G1 comics. I'll see people make sweeping statements like, "The thing about Prowl is that he can never be happy and it's all his own fault," and I'll just think, well clearly that doesn't have to be a thing. Or I'll think to myself, clearly Optimus Prime and Megatron don't need to be nemeses and their symbolic "divorce" doesn't need to have any importance when I can see that actually, Megatron and Ratchet as nemeses is awesome. Megatron and Starscream scarcely interacted outside of a few issues and both characters were written great and had interested stories. Controversies about things like Earthspark's animation quality being lower as it went on because the studio was burnt out don't mean that much to me when the UK comics literally ran out of money for color and yet the black-and-white Earthforce comics are some of the most fun of all of them! XD