#rocketmen

[fieriframes]

[Red bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant, yellow onions, and carrots. The rocketmen ran for cover. The missiles.]

[avenger09]

Rocketmen: Axis Of Evil Fanart

One of the most dedicated of Lord Invictus officers, Margrave Ivana is renowned for being among the deadliest, and most bloodthirsty, warriors the Legion of Terra has ever  produced. Armed with a electo-whip Ivana navigates and decimates the battlefield with its long reach and powerful energy strikes. 

A proven threat to the Allied Worlds who stand against her master's tyranny, her drive to defeat her enemies has proven a double edged sword at times, with her zeal often overriding her better judgment to accept a tactical retreat in a battle lost, forcing her subordinates to risk Ivana's wrath by either pleading with her to see sense, or render her unconscious for her own good. 

So far, only the Martian commander Mash, has survived picking the second option.

---

My personal attempt to render the final boss of the arcade game in higher quality as the only existing image of her is rather pixelled. 

Though you can view her boss battle here.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IDd3fxsthWc&pp=ygUfUm9ja2V0bWVuIGF4aXMgb2YgZXZpbCBsZXZlbCAxMA%3D%3D

[johnwatersvhs]

a grandma and a little girl just came in

[abominandus]

when do you know it’s time? (happy birthday steven. listen to return of the rocketmen)

(+ bonus)

[racefortheironthrone]

Warhammer Gaslamp: The Imperial Armed Forces

(For Introduction, see here; for Imperial Society, see here; for Geopolitics, see here; for Peoples of the Old World, see here.)

While still raised on a provincial basis by regiment, the modern Imperial Army is a far more professional force than the State Troops of two hundred years ago, and each regiment must adhere to the national standards imposed by the Reiksmarshal. While much of the officer corps remains dominated by the nobility, even these sons of privilege must graduate from the Imperial Military Academy and serve at the pleasure of the General Staff.

The Imperial Army rests on a tripartite foundation of the Rifle Regiments, where each man is armed with a Hochland Mk. V Repeating Rifle, a belt of grenades, and a triangular bayonet that doubles as an entrenching tool. The Regiments operate in close coordination with the Artillery Batteries that bring the devastating firepower of the rifled Magnus Longcannon, the Machine Hellcannon, and the Rocket/Cannon Tank to bear on the enemy, such that the Regiments advance to support the Batteries, who soften up the ground for the Regiments.

The cream of the infantry are the Eisenvolk, elite soldiers who have their hearts technomantically replaced with steam engines to power their impenetrable armor, carrying them into where the fighting is fiercest to deliver victory with vibro-zweihander, handcannon, and their gauntleted fists if need be. Only the biggest and strongest of the Empire's sons can survive the process, and the Eisenvolk have a maximum lifespan of 50 years, but when the position comes with a knighthood, a lavish here-today-gone-tomorrow lifestyle, and a gold-plated pension for their families, many young men from humble means are eager recruits.

Strictly for those with a love of heights, the Imperial Airkorps rules the skies through their fleet of carrier zeppelins, bombadeer biplanes, and the daredevil dogfighters known as the Rocketmen. An invaluable asset to the Imperial Armed Forces in their ability to keep the wars fought mostly on enemy territory, the Airkorps have a love-hate relationship with the Army, where the former see the groundpounders as a mere cleanup crew, and the latter just wish the damn flyboys could get their targeting right so that they didn't dump their munitions quite so close.

One of the busiest if least prestigious of the Imperial Armed Forces, the dreadnoughts and littoral craft of the Imperial Navy are tasked with interdicting Khaos raiders in the Sea of Claws and the Sea of Khaos, keeping the trade routes from the Black Gulf to the waters of Ulthuan free for the Imperial merchant marine, and using the canalized rivers of the Empire to ferry men and materiel from Kroppenleben to Altdorf to Marienburg, and from Nuln all the way to Kislev.

[wuxiaphoenix]

On Writing: Keep Your Disbelief Suspended

I’d read somewhere that Captain Proton’s outfit (see the ST:Voyager ep Bride of Chaotica) was based off an old black and white serial called King of the Rocketmen. Being a curious writer sort I tracked it down. It’s on YouTube, the eps are about 12 minutes long. I watched... about 2 and 1/3 of them.

Shadowy evil mad-scientist type villain using remote controls to set off explosives and steer cars over cliffs, in 1949? Eh, okay.

Same guy apparently has a kind of remote viewer that can grab real-time footage as he likes, that today we’d need multiple video cameras set up in advance and/or a drone to grab? Whatever.

Good guy has a flying rocket suit powered by a sonic engine? World of mad science, fine.

...And then we got this gem, as a plan for finding some bad guys who stole a photographic negative with a mini-picture on it. “For them to blow up that negative they’ll need one specific kind of film. I’ll call the manufacturing company and tell them to stop producing it!”

Suspension of disbelief: Spang.

Plotbunnies: Oh yeah? You and what army, pal? This is the United States of America! Free market economy! You think any company’s going to stop making a lucrative specialty market product based on one phone call?

Not to mention this shows an absolute ignorance of retail and supply chains. Even if you order a product halted right now, and every factory can be brought to a screeching halt, that doesn’t do anything about product already on the trucks and in transit. And it definitely doesn’t change the fact that if this is film meant to be purchased and currently in use, it will already be on store shelves. Seriously, read up on FDA recalls when they know a food or medicine is tainted. It’s a nightmare trying to find it all, and you have to depend a lot on informed people practicing voluntary compliance. Specialty photographic film? You’d have to not only drag it off store shelves - who would strenuously and legally object to losing a product that has nothing wrong with it - but also yank it out of every stray darkroom that had a canister Just In Case.

This is a stupid plan.

More, it’s a plan that shows the writer didn’t know how life works for someone in manufacturing, and didn’t care enough to find out.

I will believe in sonic engines and aliens from space before I’ll believe a scientific researcher - even a rich and well-connected one! - can get a product off store shelves with one phone call. And do it so effectively bad guys who want that product will be forced to find it at a time and place of his choosing.

There were other problems in the plot as well. Just one example, you tell someone to dive out of a car doing 50+ toward a cliff edge, when the car has a removable cloth roof and you’re wearing a rocket suit? Sigh.

But it’s the “I’ll just tell a company to stop making it!” that made me Nope out of there. It just isn’t plausible.

Think about what impossibilities you ask your readers to believe. Then think about what implausibilities you ask of them. Impossible they can wave off, but the second will sink your story faster than an iceberg to the Titanic!

[genisflyingkites]

I cried listening to rocketman by Elton John today cause that song is about life we are all rocketman or you can say rocketmen

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Rocketeer: In the Den of Thieves #4

Rocketeer: In the Den of Thieves #4 preview. Cliff is behind enemy lines and face-to-face with a full flying complement of Nazi Rocketmen! #comics #comicbooks

[qudachuk]

The 2023 Glastonbury festival finished with a bang: Elton John closing the Pyramid stage and Lil Nas X bringing reptiles and ridiculousness to Worthy FarmThe final day at Glastonbury saw some relief from the hot weather, as a cool...

[thebrayingmoose]

My ★★★★½ review of The Buddy Holly Story on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/4gMK9P

[obsessedwithfandomsx]

Curls or not?💛

[gazrgaleyart]

Inktober 2020, day, rocket

Rocketman from big finish.

[thelondonblonde]

Taron Egerton - Rocketman

[tefanfics]

Changes

Chapter 47

“Yeah, I’ve got some new equipment I need to go pick up but I need some muscle,” I spoke into the phone. I listened to my dad as he answered. “Yeah, T is going to come with me.”

“It’ll have to wait until this afternoon. I have a call with Matthew later I have to take,” Taron chimed in.

I turned away from him as I struggled to hear my father’s response. I listened to him for a few minutes before he said he needed to go. I ended the call and looked at Taron. “What did you say?”

“I said I can’t go with you until later. I have a call I have to take at 12,” he said slowly. “I can help but it has to wait.”

I gave a small nod as I noted his tone. “Okay,” I answered as I shifted my gaze to the time on the clock. It was a couple minutes after 11. “I mean we could just go now. It won’t take but thirty minutes or so. We’d be back in plenty of time. It’s stuff for my studio. A new backdrop and stand.”

“No, we can’t. I don’t have time right now,” Taron retorted quickly. He huffed and left the kitchen. I stayed in my spot at the end of the island as I heard his footsteps grow quiet as he climbed the steps.

I frowned as I pocketed my phone. I hesitated before I turned and followed him. At the top of the steps, I stared at the closed door to Taron’s office. I gripped the doorknob and slowly turned it, looking in the room.

“What?”

I stopped in the doorway, not bothering to move further into the room. “I don’t understand why we can’t just go take care of this stuff now. We’d be back in plenty of time.”

“I don’t want to risk being late. You don’t know that the shop will have everything ready. You don’t know what traffic will be like. And I don’t want to be stuck in the car while I’m on this call, Rose.” Taron sighed as he opened his laptop and I could see him shaking his head. “I told you we’ll take care of it later.”

“T, there’s still an hour before you have this call.”

“You’re not listening to what I’m saying.”

My feet shuffled as I stood in the doorway, listening to Taron. “I am listening,” I said quietly.

“No, you’re not. Otherwise I wouldn’t have had to repeat myself three times,” Taron countered. He sat with one leg crossed over the other in his office chair.

“If you had waited till I was off the phone-“

Taron huffed, annoyance in his eyes as he stared at me. I forced myself to look away as he spoke again. “Fine. Whatever. We’ll talk about it later. I have a call I have to be on in three minutes and I can’t keep arguing with you.”

“I’m sorry,” I muttered before turning on my heel and retreating back down the steps and into my own office. I shut the doors and turned the lock as I started to pace.

I never did well with confrontation when it came to people I cared about. But this… It was our first legitimate fight. It started this morning, arguing over something stupid. I could see the clock on the wall, minutes slowly ticking by.

I tried my hardest not to pay attention to the time. I knew exactly how long Taron’s call would take. I knew when I’d be free to talk to him again.

Finally I forced myself to sit down at my desk. I needed a distraction. My anxiety was growing the longer I waited. I lifted my hands to the keyboard on my laptop but stopped to stare at them as I realized how bad they were shaking. “Come on, Rose,” I muttered to myself as I signed onto my laptop.

I pulled up the most recent set of photos I had done, starting to look through them and making edits as I needed. When that wasn’t enough, I grabbed my phone and connected it to the speaker across the room. I turned the volume up a little louder than I probably should have as the sound of Shinedown filled the room.

I kept myself busy for a while, finally distracted enough to no longer pay attention to the time passing by. Photo after photo, I touched them up and saved them. I was proud of myself and the way I had gone back to what I knew but there was an inkling of frustration growing in my chest as I thought about the camera equipment that I still needed to pick up and all it did was bring back the argument.

I leaned back in the chair and covered my eyes as I groaned, staying in that position as I listened to the song that played.

I heard a knock on the door but didn’t bother to respond. I was still frustrated and irritated, maybe a little hurt from the argument earlier. Even though it was so dumb.

“Babe?” I listened as the door creaked open, my hand still covering my eyes. “Can we talk?”

I let my hands drop to my lap and looked to Taron in the doorway. I searched his face to try and figure out where the conversation could possibly go but I prepared myself for the worst. “Yeah,” I answered quietly as I stopped the music. “How was the call?”

“Good,” he answered. “Another movie idea. Potentially a 4 year thing.”

I nodded and looked away, shutting the laptop. “That’s good.”

“Yeah…” Taron grew quiet. He stayed in the doorway for a few minutes before finally stepping into my office. “Listen- I just wanted to-“

“Tell me I should’ve been patient? That I shouldn’t have kept asking?” I finished for him as I met his gaze.

Taron shook his head, his brow furrowed in confusion. “No, that’s not what I was going to say at all.” He came around the desk, leaning against it as he looked at me in my chair. “I didn’t come in here to belittle you. Is that what you think I came down here for?”

It was my turn to grow quiet. I gave a small shrug.

“I didn’t.”

“Oh.” I chewed my lower lip as the thoughts stirred in my mind.

“I came to apologize,” Taron went on. “I had my mind set on what I needed to do and I didn’t stop to think about how picking up that studio equipment was as important to you as me taking that call. I’m sorry if I made you feel like your stuff was unimportant.” He sighed as he put his hand up to his face, resting over his mouth for a moment before it shifted to his chin. “I’m sorry I got so short with you.”

I looked up at Taron and reached for the hand that was against the desk. “I’m sorry I kept asking about it.”

Taron pulled me up, managing a soft smile. His hands found my waist before kissing my forehead. “The entire call I was sitting there thinking about you. I felt bad for blowing you off like that,” he sighed. “So let’s go pick up that stuff and I’ll set it up for you when we get back.”

I nodded. “Okay,” I answered. “That would be great. Thank you, T.”

“Anything for you.”

[justa-stalker]

Richard Madden

Photography Bruno Staub for Interview Magazine