#why do all scifi villains look like this

[tuttle-did-it]

I finally finished watching Farscape. I know it’s a cult favourite but it just doesn’t work for me.

I will say, as much as i didn’t like the show itself,I liked the imagination of all the aliens. It definitely wins over Star Trek in that way.

But the whole time watching the Peacekeepers movie, all I could think was ‘the villain looks so familiar to me… why? What’s so familiar?’ 🤔

Farscape - Peacekeeper Wars

Then I thought, oh. Oh I’ve seen him before. Before they spray painted him.

Here.

Unas - Stargate SG1 1999

And here.

Sarris - Galaxy Quest 1999

If this guy was a human actor, he’d work in every sci-fi movie.

[alexanderwales]

The Index

This is an index of things I've written and posted online, with minimal descriptions because most of them have blurbs if you click the link. This list is not exhaustive, especially because there are a bunch of short stories and dribbles in various places. If something you liked is missing, let me know.

Web Serials

Worth the Candle - Juniper Smith is a teenaged Dungeon Master who ends up in a world filled with all the things he dreamt up for his campaigns, along with signs of his friend who died months earlier. This Used to be About Dungeons - Five teenagers live in a house together, bake bread, tend the garden, and occasionally fight monsters in dungeons. Thresholder - Thresholders travel from world to world, fantasy one minute and scifi the next, always encountering an opponent, growing stronger as they battle. Shadows of the Limelight - Fame gives you superpowers, and Dominic just saved the world's greatest hero from defeat in full view of a large audience. Glimwarden (unfinished) - A small town huddles around lanterns that keep the darklings at bay. Four teenagers must grow in power as the darkness encroaches. The Dark Wizard of Donkerk (unedited) - Two men steal a baby from an orphanage, then find out he's too cute to sacrifice and raise him as their own.

Fanfic

The Metropolitan Man (Superman) - Lex Luthor attempts to unravel the secrets of the alien. A Common Sense Guide to Doing the Most Good (Superman) - Superman gets really into effective altruism. Instruments of Destruction (Star Wars) - A fable of project management aboard the second Death Star, through the eyes of Admiral Tian Jerjerrod. Branches on the Tree of Time (Terminator) - Sarah Connor is working as a software engineer at UCLA when a naked man shows up on her doorstep. A Bluer Shade of White (Frozen) - Elsa can make life, and Olaf is smarter than he looks.

Shorts

Eager Readers in Your Area - Artificial intelligence has left authors scrambling for readers. Charlotte clicks on an ad. Variations - An orc visits an art exhibition where she feels out of place. Contratto - Julia takes a job as a marketer, working for the vampires to keep their secrets safe. The Randi Prize - James Randi offers a prize for anyone who can demonstrate supernatural abilities. Coming Home - After a long time isekaied to a fantasy kingdom, an errant father has coffee with his estranged son.

I also post short stuff to this very tumblr, which can usually be found under the #microfiction tag unless I forget. Usually this is mirrored on AO3, unless I'm lazy.

Web Comics

Millennial Scarlet - Lamont Pearce is a gig economy demon hunter whose mother ran a government agency meant to defend against Hell. Worth the Candle - A webcomic adaptation of the web serial

Non-Fiction

The AI Art Apocalypse - Slightly outdated thoughts from 2022. Why to Write a Sex Scene - Observations on the narrative purpose of carnal pursuits. Game Review: Underhill - This review contains no screenshots, because this game does not exist. Writing: An FAQ - Accumulated wisdom from 4 million words and counting. Creating Interesting Magic - A much-requested post on making interesting magic systems (and characters, and plots, and worlds). How to Write a Web Serial - It's both easier and harder than you think. The Trouble with Writing Nazis - On giving villains too much credit. Interesting Things to do with Time Loops - Exploring the boundaries of the conceit.

[tarzelladraws]

I want to talk about productively hating a fictional character!

After a discussion on one of my recent bluesky posts, I thought it would be interesting to facilitate a conversation on why I believe you can find insight in disliking a fictional character while also not letting it ruin your day and making it everyone else’s problem.

A largely disliked part of online fandom tends to be disagreements on what characters you love and which ones you believe deserve to rot and burn. Most often I find that this is why friends (as well as myself) don’t interact in certain online fandoms/spaces.

I tend to avoid this aspect only because I never find that the person I’m in conversation with ever cares to look deeper than “I just don’t like them”, “they were mean to a character I like” or, commonly in fantasy/scifi “they killed people and that’s wrong”. Yeah, they did do something bad. But isn’t it interesting to think about why they do it?

Are you wrong for not liking a character? No, not really. You can meet the coolest most genuine person there’s ever been and I guarantee someone out there vehemently disagrees with you and prays on their downfall. The important question is why do they dislike them.

So my question: why can hating characters be insightful? My thesis: you’re just not going to like everyone and you should explore why and be okay with the answer.

Because it’s more interesting to know what makes people different, to understand why they react the way they do. I think it’s stupid to refuse to consume, as well as condemn others for the consumption of certain media because you happen to dislike a character contained within it.

Because isn’t that interesting? Doesn’t it get boring when everyone is likable and exactly the type of person you’d want to be best friends with? Earlier this month I was on a panel for screenwriters where we discussed building characters. An audience member asked what our one piece of (character) writing advice is. My answer was that you should write a character that you’d hate. Someone who, if you met them at a party, you’d loath. You can’t see yourself making an effort to reach out to and spend time with them.

Because not everyone can be perfect and good. It’s not a good story if that’s the case. You need an antagonist, and sometimes the main character is that person. Sometimes the villain draws you in because they’re well written and complex. And sometimes the character is neutral. They aren’t better or worse than anyone else, they just make different choices than you would.

Two of my favorite pieces of media in the last two years had main characters that I HATED. I read a book where I wanted to bare knuckle brawl both protagonists in a Denny’s parking lot. It was my favorite book of 2023. None of the three main characters in Challengers are necessarily good people and I left the theater thinking “God I hated all of them. This is one of the best screenplays I’ve seen in years.”

Because it forced me to think! I spent days wondering what about them was so interesting to me. At the end of the day it was always that I got a glimpse into thought processes that I don’t naturally gravitate towards. Because a well written character feels like a real person and not everyone is the same.

To me the spice of life is opposition. It’s standing nose to nose with something/one that I disagree with. It’s finding out someone thinks Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a pile of steaming hot garbage when in reality they’re wrong and it’s an achievement in low budget genre film making. That doesn’t make me want to cuss them out and leave. It only makes me want to talk to them more. The real insight is found in the conversation, either with yourself or others. “Why?”

Kylo Ren is a bad guy. He’s killed people, he is given multiple opportunities for redemption and waits until the last possible moment to stick out his hand. Much of that is poor story organization on the part of DLF, but if you move past that and explore motive he’s suddenly so much more.

He became the villain because he had his weaknesses exploited at a vulnerable age and mental state. He’s related to three of the galaxy’s greatest heroes and one of its greatest evils and is always choking on the shadow of this legacy and all it entails. THAT is fascinating to me. Hate him, but don’t deny that there isn’t something there to explore.

This is all over the place, but in the end it’s my belief that disliking a character isn’t bad, it’s condemning others for diving into what’s presented to them and having a natural curiosity to explore humanity in all it’s vastness. It’s being adverse to dynamic characters and the complexities of life and another person’s authenticity.

[crepes-suzette-373]

Germa and Pop Culture Villain comparisons

I think their main inspiration is the Shocker group, the villains of Kamen Rider, but someone has pointed out some Star Wars similarities too. I don't remember if this was in the manga SBS/author notes or some other side interview, but I recently saw a quote from Oda-sensei where he mentioned that one of his inspirations when creating One Piece was Star Wars, so it makes a lot of sense.

Shocker (Kamen Rider)

The eagle is the Shocker logo.

I would venture to guess it's specifically based on the "Space Shocker" iteration. The eagle looks blocky, and that even has the lightning bolt element too.

The circular table under the throne itself is based on the Shocker Alliance scene

The chunky belts and scarves of the Raid Suits looks like Shocker Riders, although sensei did seem to include Sentai elements for the multicolour look in Germa. Shocker Riders' outfits are just all the same.

Plus, in the lore the first and second Kamen Riders were actually humans that were modified to become part of the Shocker Riders. It's just that they escaped and then used their powers for good (like Sanji).

*) Incidentally, aside from my other theory about the emotion modification, all the Kamen Rider parallels is another reason why I'm mostly convinced that Sanji will be fine, even if all his mods awaken somehow.

Galactic Empire (Star Wars)

The Germa soldiers visually are somewhat similar to Clone Troopers. Especially that little "tail" on their hats. Even more so because they're both clones made with the same principle: cloning the strongest soldiers to make an army of the best fighters.

Germa didn't used to have the "66" name until whatever it was that happened 300 years ago. It's interestingly referenced as a subversion here. Order 66 was the rise of the Galactic Empire, while 66 marks the fall of the Germa Empire.

Also, Germa's "66" is actually "double six" and not "sixty six". This is kind of curious when you take into account other things. The June Rebellion that was depicted in Les Miserables was defeated in June 6 (6/6, double six), and Germa clearly has Les Mis references so... (Cosette and Eponi = Cosette and Eponine)

The circle symbol on the floor looked like the Empire symbol

Although, considering the "Galactic Republic" symbol is mostly similar to that too, I don't know if sensei got them confused, or if he is knowingly using it for Lore. I don't know much of Star Wars, but from what I had read, this is a good-leaning/neutral symbol connected to the Force.

I've had theories that Germa wasn't originally evil, so I do wonder.

I know many theorists have been really focusing on the WW2/Third Reich elements, and admittedly even in the Kamen Rider universe the Shocker members did seems to have ties to that. The same with the Star Wars Galactic Empire, which is also purposely based on the same regime.

It's just that we don't know for sure if sensei even considered that. Maybe he's just thinking of cool superheroes and scifi and wasn't particularly thinking too deeply about the real world connections. Since we don't know, I don't want to assume just because it looks like it.

It's like how originally Whitebeard's pirate mark was designed with a manji symbol ("reverse swastika") because it's a Buddhist symbol and commonly used in Japan. It's only due to consideration for international viewers it had to be changed into a "cross/plus" shape later.

[max--phillips]

Dear BioWare,

Sexual dimorphism is so passé. The fact you only chose not to do it with the salarians (often portrayed as asexual), kett (villains), and collectors/reapers (also villains) kinda sucks.

It also sucks that the only monosex/“gender neutral” species we get are the asari (extremely conventionally feminine), the geth (robots and also villains for the majority of the trilogy), and the hanar (masculine sounding jellyfish). (Also I realize one could argue the collectors/reapers are monosex/gender neutral but I’m working off the assumption the reapers mutated individuals of all genders and they just ended up looking the same.)

Why do the quarians have tiddies? Why do the asari? What’s up with the dimorphism in turians and krogan and angara??? And why did it take until your flop of a fourth mass effect game to even introduce female salarians, and more than one token female krogan or turian (both of which don’t show up until the third game, and one of which you needed to purchase a whole extra dlc to see before LE)? Why haven’t we seen any female drell? Vorcha? Elcor? Batarians? Protheans?

Sincerely,

I know the asari were created to fill in a scifi trope but that’s just unnecessary and they shouldn’t look like that

[angevinyaoiz]

saw Dune 2 (2une?), and since I don't have my dune blog anymore I'll post here, since blah blah this is my place for posting about Dynastic Weirdos. This is long but NO MAJOR SPOILERS, except about like, small detail things that aren't plot things but whatever

Tbh it was disappointing. It had all the correct elements to be liked but one thing grated on me the whole time...the Bad Dialogue and lack of Elevated Speech! Why the hell were all these characters saying stuff like "these guys" "we're ok" and "literally" it took me out of the fantastical world sOOO bad. Super bummer because what I loved about Dune 1 (D-uno?) As someone who went into it before reading or knowing anything was how much it didn't explain, how it let the visuals and the world unfold before you, and how serious and somber it was in a way that gave it a sense of scale and time.

I can only wonder if WB saw all the complaints and tweets about people being like "we didn't understand the first movie!!! It wasn't funny and quippy!!!" And decided to simplify it down so characters just SAY things really obviously and inelegantly. The writing has some competence in moving the story forward but there's no poetry or rhythm to the way characters say things, it's serving "Rings of Power" scriptwriting to me lmao. And it's not like any of the actors are bad? I've seen them do well in the previous movie and in other things, so wtf was going on with the direction. I know people complained Abt Villeneuve saying that whole thing about being more into visuals than dialogue but maybe he was right...there needed to be LESS WORDS. bc much of the words we had were NOT GOOD.

Positivity: the middle and latter part was where the movie picked up for me. The Harkonnen Freak Villain behavior was everything I could have wanted! Finally instead of EXPLAINING everything obviously we got to see a LOT of character building, for Feyd specifically in a very short amount of time. I know a lot of us complained about Bald Feyd-Rautha but Mr Elvis did a very good job. And we got Madame Fenring and weird scifi femdomming finally, which is Essential for the Duniverse! Wonderful fantastic no notes.

Of course, getting back to our heroes, I anticipated this 2 years ago sadly and it was true...the Fremen were badass but SWAGLESS. More Learned ppl have already written about the frustration with the erasure of the Arabic/North African cultural presence so I won't reiterate that here since I'm not super knowledgeable about the specifics of that but even as a casual watcher there was a weird emptiness to the way I feel the society was portrayed. There were individual good character moments, such as fun bantering among the Fedaykin etc, but for Pacing or Whatever they cut out the community aspects that served to make them feel more like well, a People rather than just either Grizzled Soldiers/ Religious Fundamentalists aka Marks/Panicked refugees. I have to guess this was ppl were like "we can't show a culture too cool and colorful and the part with Harrah (Jamis' widow) would feel too ORIENTALIST!!! But the result is something sadly very dry. At least in more older orientalist works, the interest comes from when the ~exotic~ stereotypes figures are able to have charming personalities and personalities and be known as people despite the cliches sometimes but this sadly wasn't even like that....

Jamis' funeral is a good example of this; in the Book, it's a moment where you first get a good look of what rituals are like in this world, and how people relate to each other and to the dead. In the movie, the funeral is looks more foreign and even a little creepy as the water is extracted from the body. There's not really a Personal or community connection aspect to it at all.

The ending was pretty good as it satisfied all the Cool Dune Moments I think we all wanted to see, and also did literally the end of The Godfather Part 1 Framing which was hee hee heh. Anyways, Messiah is MY favorite book of the series personally so curious how they get to that.

Maybe I've been too spoiled by Cool Historical Fiction lately? I've been watching too much of The Devil's Crown where action happens mostly off screen but the dynastic drama is written and acted so compellingly, the historical mindset and setting so alien and yet so human and relatable, it's frustrating to see when works try to do the opposite? Idk??? Dune books themselves is fun in how action is mostly an "offscreen, offstage"' thing.

*if ANYONE in the Universe is a quippy Bastard, it should be Leto II esp in God Emperor where he literally has nothing to do all day but quip all day to terrified acolytes

[xukies]

Sorry for the long reply/ ask, I'm just very passionate about this:

Personally I didn't get that from the scene with fragile. He seemed far more preoccupied with "ruining" her appearance, reputation, standing as a trustworthy porter company and her pride

It doesn't read as sexual gratification as much as smugness

Hes envied how comfortable in her own skin and has confidence in her looks (and possibly sexuality) and people who care for her/ admire her, possibly even healthy romantic/sexual relationships, and loving parents that didnt abuse her (at least in the ways that "daddy" didnt/arent as obvious) and now he's finally able to bring her down to his "level" to try to make them equals again in the only way he knows how, by dragging her down with him

Im not even sure if there is a sexual component? I think its far more complicated than that, and has far ,more to do with higgs' insecurities and envy tbh

I think the lick with sam is the closest of his actions to have sexual motivation, but even then I'm not sure its almost like hes trying to lay himself bare and be vulnerable while completely in control of sam? That scene is the one where his motives feel the most obscured

(with amelie i honestly keep forgeting that the deathless freaks comic didn't happen where amelie smacks his ass back right after that scene)

But I would be suprised if that was something amelie agreed to in order to upset sam further and bolster higgs as the despicable "villain"

It felt very performative, at least to me

Also many of these wikis are fairly obvious with their lgbtq+ phobia like assuming higgs must be attracted to fragile because of the licking but his attraction is questionable if its sam?

It also seems kinda fucked that its comparing sexual assult to being a pervert, when thats caused a lot of lgbtq+ descrimination in the past? Like higgs is definitely a pervert, but thats not why.

I see this consistently with wikis based on kojima games (and quite a bit of scifi fandoms too) only giving legitimacy to straight characters/ relationships and delegitmizing lgbtq+ characters

So a lot of this is my own personal interpretation, I only really used the wiki screenshot to gather the "scenes" I use and don't entirely agree with some of the terminology and phrasing. But it is a place i can use to get all the canon plot beats in one place and I already had this interpretation before reading the wiki section.

I think all the things you said can be true with him also being a bit of a creep. Like, he has a Lot of depth as a character and I don't want to dumb it down to "Oh he's just a creep who assaults people" cause that's not at all the case.

But at the same time from the moment you meet him he just gives off Bad Vibes. He can absolutely be jealous of Fragile and looking to ruin her in every way (physically, mentally, reputation wise) and still be Weird about it. He's a complex character with complex motives and no one reason for doing something.

We might just interpret his character differently but this is how I read a lot of the stuff he did. Again, not everything gets dumbed down to him assaulting people cause he wants to but he does give me personally that vibe. He can violate Sam's space purposefully to make him uncomfortable and still get some sick gratification from it. The way he creepily pats Sam sometimes, talking about Fragiles "~pretty face~", etc, these are all real things I've both seen and been victim of by people who absolutely do get off on it.

Again this is all just how I read his character, and there is no one way to interpret any character.

[thegeminisage]

it's STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. last night we watched voy's "faces" and ds9's "explorers."

faces (voy):

i feel like this one had the bones and potential to be good if 1. it had been set a couple of seasons from now 2. if they weren't so fucking RACIST. unfortunately.

so, in the tos episode "the enemy within" kirk is split into "good" and "evil" selves, though they realize by the end of the episode it's not so cut and dry - his evil half is responsible for his drive to action, his will to fight, and his "good" half is cowardly and soft and incapable of decision-making without it. this was a good and complex take on good vs evil which they promptly ruined with everything they did to poor janice rand

the problem with this episode is that they are tying b'elanna's "evil" traits to her klingon half and her "good" traits to her human half. this in itself is racist but they STILL might have managed to say something meaningful if they were using it as a way for b'elanna to tackle internalized racism - like, if she realizes her klingon half isn't the evil she thought it was. and i think they THOUGHT they did that (though if we're being honest "i'll be fighting with her the rest of my life" does not suggest that sort of resolution, only a grim resignation that she can't live without her klingon half even though she'd like to, and it's an open ending but also a bad one), but there are some problems with this

firstly that we haven't had a HINT from b'elanna that she struggled with this issue before now. like i absolutely believe she would, sure. in fiction, especially star trek, characters from two species or cultures struggle a lot with where they fit and who/what they really are, because that was spock's struggle in tos, and tos laid the blueprint for everything that comes after it. b'elanna wasn't the first or second and probably won't be the last. and it can be a compelling narrative! but where the hell is this coming from? i think she has only mentioned her backstory like twice and it was VERY light stuff

secondly, why why WHY do they keep putting the klingons in brownface...i can almost understand if you're trying to make them more orange the way you would make an orion character green, but they are literally not doing that. the woman who plays b'elanna is already NOT WHITE. you don't need to do that!!! is it my imagination or did they pale up her makeup for her human half...man come on

also like lmao having her human half cower in fear when guys with guns show up while her klingon half snarls and breaks her own chains. and her human half gets shielded by men and protected but her klingon half gets sexually harassed while strapped to a table and starts talking about how klingon women have hjigh libidos. because cowardice vs courage and fighting ability vs thinking ability are very much traits imprinted into dna. so is how you get protected or harassed. that's definitely how dna works. i know this is scifi but jesus christ

also, of ALL the fucking people to have to rely on in this sitch. WHY TOM PARIS. firstly, i can't believe they get together later. secondly, he fucking BLEW IT when she was opening up to him and he was like talking about haircuts and going yay you got what you wanted :) hooray :) could you have said ANYTHING more dumb. no. i also got the feeling he preferred her human half because she was vulnerable and needed protecting. gross.

anyway, it COULD have been something, but it wasn't. so

that said, the one right this episode had is when they took that guy away and the vidiian came back WEARING HIS DFACE. that was so completely and totally horrific i almost screamed out loud. the vidiians have the potential to be fantastic villains, i think...they just need a good episode

explorers (ds9):

this one was so cute. like, pure filler, but absolutely adorable. i lvoe when sisko gets to do stuff

his beard!! tbh, i really don't like his later seasons look of the beard but no hair, but the beard WITH the hair looks great. i'm sad he probably won't keep it like this for long

i love how in the 2300s a dad can just build a whole spaceship in his metaphorical garage. i think it was a little questionable to put his KID on something like that but i respect and support all of sisko's decisions because i love him.

the ship was so cool actually! like, completely implausible, but it looked like one of those treasure planet numbers. i have to wonder if it inspired treasure planet at all...

jake's little subplot about maybe going away to college...he got so big so FAST. i loved his joke about maybe joining the maqui not only because he genuinely got sisko (you could SEE him trying to frantically pull the right answer out of his dad skills toolbox) but also because for a second he almost got me. really good and funny. i love how much jake and sisko laugh together. and how much they worry about each other!! jake is so generous trying to set his pops up. not all children are so cool with that.

i was really shocked at the end they got fireworks for making their destination. i was FULLY expecting dukat to be like you arent allowed to be here :) and threaten to shoot them down. but he was like (to sisko who he's gay for) hiiii bestie hi do you want some space fireworks for your kid and sisko was like yes :) and they just did space fireworks. sure. most benevolent cardassian action ever after garak giving julian those chocolates last ep

julian meeting this fake patient at the beginning of the episode was really funny. his GO AWAY in the padd. jadzia doing...whatever that was. she develops a personality sometimes, for some episodes, and then it goes away again. it's not always the same personality but i did like this one. it was very funny.

i think quark and morn BOTH lost the bet since the doctor lady walked by julian without looking at him, by the way. i also love that the depth of julian's neurosis is that he has to go get drunk on real alcohol about this response despite the fact that they have NEVER EVEN MET EACH OTHER. like i spent this whole episode getting this lady confused with the ex he had the foot fetish for but THEY LITERALLY NEVER MET

drunk julian and obrien. ive never been happier. they were two drinks away from fucking right on that couch and obrien was right to switch them to synthale. it would have been funny but i DONT want him to cheat on keiko.

and then after all that he gets laid twice in one episode. good for him <3

TONIGHT: voy's "jetrel" and ds9's "family business." more ferengi stuff already :( give me a break i miss when i liked quark

[otakween]

0-Man - Volume 4 (Final volume!)

Woooo this was a wild ride. Kind of a repetitive, hard to read ride, but wild nonetheless. This was probably a bizarre choice for my first Tezuka manga, but it was first alphabetically so that's just the way the cookie crumbles! Overall it was a fun concept, the art was great and I love Ricky a lot. He's adorable and I want a plushie. Just look at this awesome animation of him I found on YouTube!

Ch. 36

So now Liz is just buddy buddy with her dad again because "he's my only father!" Filial piety has its limits lady!

There was a weird bit of exposition this chapter that appeared to be Tezuka speaking directly to the reader. Like there was just a random paragraph thrown in between panels. That's one way to do things I suppose.

The 0 Man origin story was like a mix of the Bible story with Adam and Eve and the story of the first pilgrims that came to America lol. I wonder how much time has passed since the first Venus residents traveled to Earth?

There's a new human character named Charcoal Black...gratefully he's not Black lol

Ch. 37

Ah, I was fooled. Ricky did not crash land on Mars, it was Japan all along! Dun dun dunnn...Apparently most of Earth is just a big ball of rocks at the moment, no countries, towns or roads. It's kinda giving Dr. Stone vibes. They gotta start again from scratch!

Ricky goes all "shaggy dog" in this chapter when...absurdly...a sheepdog provides him with a dog suit so he can disguise himself around humans who want him dead. Sure, why not? Seeing the dog emote was really cute, I wouldn't mind reading a Tezuka manga with dogs as the main characters.

The current bad guy's plan is to use the ice machine left behind by the 0 men to rule the world. The 0 man universe sure has a lot of megalomaniacs in it.

Ch. 38

Pete just immediately accepting that talking dogs are real was cute

Once again the spears are OP as heck.

Did Pete really fly from America to Japan in like 2 seconds? Man, why do SciFi people get all the fun? 😭

This chapter was really short, but essentially Pete found out about the evil dude's plan to take over the world and came to Japan to reunite with Ricky and meet Tanigawa (the other human dude that I mentioned).

Ch. 39

Charcoal Grey returns and we find out he was helping the grand priest hide. I swear this series has had like 15 random, generic villain dudes. I haven't cared about a single one of them lol

It was nice having some happy, peaceful panels at the end. Very "Disney movie-esque." I didn't even really realize how little plant life there's been in the past volumes until Ricky got so excited to see grass. Wholesome but sad.

Ch. 40

Liz fights with her dad and eventually blows up the ice machine when he threatens to use it again. (She continued to be quite badass in this chapter, we stan).

I enjoyed the little detail that the climate change has stimulated some new plant species to evolve. I doubt things would happen that quickly, but it's still a fun concept.

Ch. 41

I guess it's all happy fun times from here on? Let's see what happens in the final 4 chapters...This one was short and cute. Ricky and his 0 man friend/adopted brother (never figured his name out lol) become peace ambassadors and bring messages from humanity to 0-man country

This is it's 2nd appearance but I like the "spicalia" tool that the 0-men use. I takes words as input and outputs images. I hate to say it...but we've sort of reached that future with the advent of AI image generators. (Too bad they suck).

Ch. 42

Lol I knew the happy fun times were too good to be true. We immediately get too more deaths in this chapter (Professor Royal and Crazy Cats...yeah, that's a character's name). If this wasn't a kids manga, Ricky would be a basket case riddled with PTSD by this point with all the shit he's been through!

I can't believe the frickin' high priest and Liz survived. Did that bomb actually do anything at all? Ugh, I hate pointless fake outs like that. Okay, let's see how they actually defeat him for real for real this time...

Ch. 43

To be honest, every chapter is starting to feel the same at this point. "Ah, we're finally safe...just kidding we're under attack!!!"

For some reason they thought it would be a good idea to introduce a random side character 3 chapters from the end of this series. He's the stereotypical dumb fat guy character who just eats a lot. Speaking of offensive stereotypes...

This was like the racism chapter. First we have Tezuka's racist stereotypes of Black, Chinese, Inuit ("Eskimo") which I suppose is "well intentioned" by 1960s standards (but come on, he basically had the Black person and the Inuit say "Oonga boonga" gibberish) and then we have racism between bad guys. One of them calls Japan a backwards country and basically says that "yellow" people are inferior. It just felt ironic to have Tezuka's racism (portrayed as inspirational) and then his character's racism (portrayed as bad) back to back, the irony!

Damn, will all these villains just die already!?

Ch. 44

Lol well egg on my face, that guy that was "introduced" last chapter was actually a character (Donpei) from like volume 1, chapter 1 that I completely forgot existed. To be fair, he hasn't been relevant in a very long time. I don't think I even acknowledged him in my old posts and I tend to not remember stuff I don't write down. (Blogging is great for improving memory, kids!)

And the final battle ends...by the bad guys just disappearing?? Unfortunately the explanation was too kanji heavy for me to grasp, but my headcanon is that the laser that Charcoal Grey was trying to use caused some kind of quantum event and he got sucked into another universe (I have been playing a lot of Steins;Gate though...) Either that or it was just a total bullshit, Deus ex machina moment ending lol.

Ricky comforting Liz when her dad died was super sweet. Low key wanna see them grow old together.

Ch. 45

LMAOOO they really just said "eff dis shit" and moved to Venus LOL. So much for "ally to humanity!" Even Ricky was like "nah...humans suck." Based ending.

No but for real, the ending for this was so dark and cynical. They literally said "we're going to bide our time on Venus until humanity inevitably offs itself out of stupidity, then we'll come back to Earth." Sheesh.

So I'm not sure what the deeper meaning behind this ending is other than "violence and greed = bad." The message about "the weak and kindhearted will always eventually overcome the strong and terrible" seemed like a metaphor for something specific (like an IRL war) but no other English speaker in existence has read this (I'm being hyperbolic) so I have no one to analyze it for me lol.

I kind of wonder if the 0-Man will even be welcome on Venus. They've been away for so long that the squirrel people on Venus are basically a different species. I wonder if they would actually come across as colonizers? That might make an interesting sequel manga...

(Love his expression in this panel. RICKY DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT ANYMORE.)

Pete reading the goodbye letter from Ricky's mom was so touching 😭. She's like "I consider you my son and I love you" and he calls her mom in his mind. Poor Pete got the short end of the stick with this ending honestly, being stuck on Earth.

[springcatalyst]

Ohh my god a canceled bad syfy network show from ten years ago should not be getting me this worked up and yet!! The way s1 made it seem like miksa’s sister and sergio finding the kidnapped kids would be a huge thing in s2 but apparently he’s barely in s2 and she’s not in it at all???? WHY THE SEVERED HEADS THING?? I guess Hatake cut Constance’s head off and like highlander they can’t come back from that but?? Who was dr. hvit and why was his head out there? *Was* Hatake’s sole reason for everything just to get Julia out there and trigger her immortality? What was the deal in the opening scene with him and peter? Why did peter pass the virus on to julia? Did Hatake tell him to? Why does alan suck so much? Why did ilaria kidnap Julia’s mom if they didn’t know that julia existed? How did julia forget she lived there as a kid? Didn’t child julia notice how the cabin was apparently only two rooms and a bunch of creepy metal hallways? Did she never think it odd she wasn’t allowed outside? and how did that creepy shed guy sell her mom out? I think Hatake stabbed himself as part of a wounded gazelle gambit to get julia to trust him and bring him along? Why was Hiroyuki Sanada so into being in garbo sci fi shows in the early 2010s? It just feels like the creator watched highlander and the thing one weekend and said, “what if i mashed both of these things up but make it worse?”

REAL REAL REAL

All the kind of interesting things they started just didnt go anywhere. The kidnapped kids plotline is dropped and even Miksa just dies and doesnt matter at all. Anana had potential but was just SO flat and her romance with sergio SUCKED and is also just dropped completely. Alan sucked soooooo bad. Sarah's actor was not good and her arc was even worse I'm SORRY girl I cannot advocate for you. At least Constance was kind of interesting and a fun villain but she still made NO sense.

I think the whole motivation is supposed to be hatake wants to turn julia but that's. wh. it's so fucking bizarre. and also hot take that's not what I got from the scene where he sees shes got the eyes like I thought that was more a grief thing than an 'it worked' but WHAT DO I KNOW. Its sooooo convoluted and for what. what is the purpose.

WHY DID ILARIA KIDNAP JULIAS MOM?????? WHAT IS THE REASON!!!!!

I also assumed hatake was doing a 'look I'm innocent' thing to deflect any suspicion when he stabbed himself but it was still SO unnecessary tho I guess I respect the commitment to the bit.

It's like if the thing also had zombies and it was bad. I havent seen highlander so cant vouch for that but I believe u. why WAS hiroyuki sanada in so many bad scifi shows around then. I watched some of extant and man, it also sucked. he can do so much better. someone cast him in things that are actually good please i BEG you

[rawwkfingers]

Inferno

Some Doctor Who stories are genuinely fantastic, top-tier television that should be viewed by even non-fans in search of excellent storytelling

Some are so abysmally bad and/or cringeworthy that it's difficult to enjoy them even as a dedicated diehard fan

The majority straddle the line in a way that essentially requires the viewer to accept the silliness and, if they're able to, find a lot to really enjoy and I think this serial is the best example of that

The Primoids (a name I only discovered after briefly reading the wiki article on the episode) make absolutely no sense, to the point where it did stop my suspension of disbelief at times. There's no explanation of what they are or where the green goo comes from, just a vague handwave of a "primal power in the Earth."

This is now the third serial in a row where an arrogant and literally unbelievably stubborn scientist has such full control over a dangerous scientific experiment that he is able to disregard any and all warnings that things are dangerous, from military personnel to government agents to his own staff, while the rest of the cast just looks on and says "well, I warned him what else can I do!" and it was already old the first time it happened

I get that in this serial, it's meant to make a thematic point about the dangers of fascism and I think that could have worked if we hadn't already seen it done so many times before. The editing is still atrocious too

All that said though, I enjoyed it! The parallel universe stuff was really fun and the constant banter between the Doctor and the Brigadier is absolutely excellent. I genuinely laughed multiple times (which is saying something for a lot of these Classic stories,) especially at the end scene.

I did not get the impression at all that this was Liz's last episode so I was shocked when I read that in the Wiki article, though from what I gathered she hadn't intended to leave so early so I get why it wasn't depicted on screen. I like her a lot, the buddy-buddy relationship she had with the Doctor was different from anything we've seen before. It almost reminded me of the relationship between the Doctor and Donna a bit, or Rose, where they were in on the joke while everyone else looked at the Doctor's eccentricities and had to suffer haha

My season 7 ranking is

Doctor Who and the Silurians. I just genuinely love this serial and think it's really, really great scifi even now. It's flawed but really good

Spearhead from Space. A great introduction to the Third Doctor, lovely 70s aesthetics and a really cool villain

Inferno. All the problems I had with it aside, it was a good fun story

The Ambassadors of Death. Honestly, the fact that this is my least favorite of the season just shows how good this season was because I did enjoy this one

[alexanderwales]

Book Review: Fall; or, Dodge in Hell

I stayed up late to finish Fall; or, Dodge in Hell. I had initially thought that I would give it a proper review, but I'm not really sure that it's suited to that. [Edit: This is, by some measure, a proper review, spoilers follow.]

I'm pretty sure that I got this book on preorder whenever it came out, as I'm a fan of Stephenson. The blurb was essentially "you remember Dodge from Reamde? He gets uploaded to the cloud!" And I thought "yeah, from Stephenson? I'd read that". And then it showed up on my doorstep, and I read a chapter, and wasn't really feeling its hook in me, so I read something else instead, and the "to read" pile grew larger, and eventually Fall moved down to the basement, where books only rarely escape from. I started reading it again mostly to have a break from Nate Silver's new book.

Fall can be divided roughly in three, though they're not actual books. The first part is everything in the Meatverse, the second part is most of what goes on with Dodge in the Bitverse, and the third part is the Quest that makes up the last third of the book.

The Meatverse stuff is good, the Quest is goodish, and the Dodge stuff is bad. Unfortunately, it's all interwoven, and the ending is pretty crap, though I don't expect anything else from Stephenson.

Neal Stephenson is, fundamentally, an ideas guy. You read him for his ideas, because there's a new one on every page, illuminating something that's caught his mind, and you bask in the way he puts things, what he calls forth, and then ... kind of suffer through all the stuff where you're just not interested. That's my opinion on how to read him, anyway, and I do think it applies to some other scifi authors as well.

The reason I think the Bitverse section sucks is that it's repeating the same "trick" over and over and over, which is that the Land is being built piece by piece, and Dodge is deriving the world from a combination of base principles and half-memories of life before he died. I mostly found this annoying after the eighth time it happened, and it was all made worse by the way it was written, which is in a sort of overhanded biblical way that grated on me.

The whole thrust of this virtual world being created from nothing is also stupid in a way that I'd be willing to accept for the sake of a novel, if anything was ever made of it. Dodge essentially hallucinates the entire Land, and others follow after him, and there's a Pantheon that's formed because of unequal distribution of processing power, and ... unfortunately I agree with El, the ostensible villain, who complains that no, this is absolutely not what the afterlife for humans should be, mistakes were made, why are people still stuck in physical forms, why is there hunger and need, why does this world show no ambition in providing for the people within it, either physically, intellectually, or spiritually?

And rather than looking in on what's happening and being horrified about it, the people of the Meatverse just keep adding on more processing power and booting up more scanned people into it, and I don't really understand the tenets of the worldbuilding here. Surely a billionaire would look at this and say "wow, that sucks, now that we have better brain-scanning and understanding of all this, maybe we get a better virtual heaven that has some interoperability with the Meatverse and actually preserves identity in some way".

But no, what starts as an experiment becomes something out of control and all-consuming. What happened to any competing attempts at a different "afterlife", if any, are left as an exercise for the reader. The book ends with the implication that biological humanity is just going to die out and be entirely contained within the virtual realm, tended to by bots. The idea of anyone disagreeing with this plan (or eventuality) and what they might do about it is left as an exercise to the reader. It seems to me like a grim fate, albeit maybe a better one that humanity is actually destined for.

I also think that one of the most interesting tricks the novel can pull, given its conceit, is to have interplay between Meatverse and Bitverse, ways in which the events of one impact the other. And this, sadly, does not amount to much in the end. A lot of it is left as an exercise for the reader, including what's going to happen in the aftermath of the final battle. That people from Meatverse become people in Bitverse is not really played with all that much. That the Meatverse can, in some sense, communicate with the Bitverse is not given all that much thought either. And direct interaction of Meatverse with Bitverse in any way beyond insertion of souls is used only once and never again, in spite of all the incentive to do so. All feels like it comes up short.

The last bit of the novel, with the Quest, I actually did enjoy ... but I enjoyed it as a fantasy novel more than I enjoyed it as a part of this novel. It goes along at a nice pace, it's written pretty well (if with the occasional bits of Stephenson's characteristic abruptness), there are interesting ideas sewn into it ... but the final battle isn't satisfying, there are no clever tricks or turns that complete the thing, and far too much is left opaque, unsaid, and left off the page. I enjoyed it anyhow.

Overall, I'm going to say this is probably my least favorite Stephenson book, mostly because I come for the ideas, and some of the ideas are retreading very well-worn ground for me (cryonics, virtualization, worldbuilding), while others seem a bit too half-baked. It's got all the usual Stephenson flaws, which is always a little disappointing, because ... come on, writing a good ending is a skill, you can learn this skill.

I'll still read the next one though, if there is one.

[ahordeofwasps]

🌑☀️⭐ for the ask game??

Thanks for the asks for the space ask game! I will answer them for Crying Wolf!

🌑 New moon - Who is your most mysterious character? Are they different from what people assume?

Probably Ogwut. He's a 10 ft tall robot with a nomadic lifestyle, and often covers himself head to toe with rags to hide his appearance. Most aren't really sure what to make of him and even he himself doesn't understand his origins. Those who don't know him will tend to make all sorts of bad assumptions about him, ranging from "a weirdo to be pitied and shunned" to "terrible demonic monster." The reality is that Ogwut is incredibly caring and is just trying to figure out both the world and himself.

☀️ Sun - Who is your most cheerful and positive character? Why are they like that?

Definitely Daisy! She has a tendency to look at a situation from all angles and will usually find some kind of silver lining or something to amuse her. This sometimes gets on the other characters' nerves as she'll find something funny about a bad situation and start giggling at an inappropiate time.

⭐️ Star - Do you have a favourite character? If so, why are they your favourite?

This is a difficult question to answer because it's hard not to get attached to all the main characters in some manner when writing. If I were to pick a favourite, I guess it would be Ogwut, Daisy, or Lux. Ogwut because he's got a heart of gold (figurative, not literal) and is the reason why Crying Wolf is a scifi novel instead of a fantasy short story. Daisy because she is an absolute delight who, despite being originally intended to be a minor villain, wound up being a very fun protagonist. Lux because after some character development he looks upon the world with a sense of wonder that is unparalleled by any other character.

[mxtxfanatic]

I just wanna say you're really good at analysis. I was wondering if you have any tips? I feel like I kinda suck at analyzing whether it's connecting themes or character intentions.

Awww, thank you anon! I happen to have taught intro to Creative Writing courses, so this is right up my alley lol.

I always say that the first step of analysis is connecting with your emotions in how a particular work makes you feel. For instance, let’s say I read a story and I felt bad for the main character. From there, I can then move on to figuring out 1) why I, personally, felt bad for said character, 2) if the creator intended for me to feel bad for this character and how do I know, and potentially 3) if not then why did I feel bad despite the author’s intentions?

Because we as humans are storytellers, we recycle a lot of story beats and themes. This is not a bad thing, just a neutral fact. This allows us to make social commentary by either driving home certain points like societal morals or who we in society should look up to or disparage, and it also allows us to challenge the ideals society upholds since we would all be inundated with them through various stories. Now this is very general, but obviously these ideals may change in some ways from society to society and throughout history, and when we get into genres, the ideas expressed there will also naturally have their own specific commentary and commonalities. If I’m in the romance genre, I’m looking for what x society has to say about romantic love, how permanent/fleeting it is, and how that society defines it. If I’m in the scifi genre, I’m looking for social commentary on the future and how our current day trajectory will affect it.

Ok, so now let’s be specific: let’s discuss Wei Wuxian in mdzs. He is the protagonist, and we know this because the narrative mostly follows him. However, the POV is not in 1st person; why? Well, mdzs is a novel about gossip and mob mentality, how victors can rewrite truth to paint themselves as heroes and deny their wrongdoings. How do we know this? The story repeatedly tells us about what people say, then it shows us their actions that don’t align. Why is the story not in 1st person? Because then we would be left with wwx’s character bias and be unable to verify what others have done through a neutral narrator. Without a 3rd person perspective, we would not know what Jiang Cheng had been up to for the last 13 years as fact, but we do know this in the story because we see it from multiple character’s thoughts, his included. Without the 3rd person, we would be left in the dark about what really happened with Qin Su and some of the more intricate parts of Jin Guangyao’s villainy, since it only happens with the two present.

Now let’s bring feelings into it: I personally like Wei Wuxian because I think he is a charming, good person. I like underdog characters who come out on top in the end. Does the story support this? Well, we are shown multiple scenes where wwx in his first life is surrounded by people pre-ssc, and in his second, the juniors all flock to him before and after his identity is discovered. So him being charming is supported by the writing, itself. How about him being a good person? Well, we start off the story finding out that he’s a mass murdering villain who finally gets his due after attempting to kill off the other clans with his evil cultivation. However, this beginning narrative is undermined by:

1) being told almost immediately upon meeting the “hero who ended wwx,” Jiang Cheng, that jc is actually a mass murderer who imprisons and tortures people. Later, we find the other clans are also corrupt and willing to participate in and turn the other way in the face of actual evil. So not “heroes”

2) being told and shown that the people under wwx’s protection were not disciples but actually the powerless remnants of a fallen clan that were forced into a labor camp for sharing a surname with an already deposed tyrant

3) being told and shown that what the cultivation clans were actually after in murdering wwx was his cultivation tool so that they can oppress the other clans. Wwx’s death was necessary because he refused to conform to this corruption.

So is my feeling that wwx is a good guy justified by the narrative? Yes it is.

This is, of course, a very, very simplified crash course on analysis that takes me a semester to drive home with my students. It also takes a lot of practice in 1) learning how to recognize and state your feelings on a work (even “I don’t know” is an opening for parts 2 and 3 of an analysis: “what don’t you know?” “where are you confused?” “is this intentional?”) 2) not judging your opinions harshly i.e. thinking that everyone else is “sooooo much smarter” than you and discounting your ideas before they even fully form, and 3) learning to discuss these ideas with others in honest discourse, being open to learning something new and being mistaken in equal turns without shame or judgement.

I still miss things when I analyze, and that’s why I love discussion, because I learn something new. I also notice things people I discuss with miss, so I get to impart something that others may appreciate. We’re not infallible, but the goal should be to grow and create community around something, not be stuck and stagnant in our individual thinking. And also, have fun!

[oc-name-database]

Welcome to the OC Name Database! (Blog Post)

General info:

I post names for OCs, mostly for SciFi/Fantasy worlds, but they can be used in other settings too. 

My name is Jojo, I am 22 years old, and I use she/they pronouns. 

Asks/Requests and Submissions are always open. (See more below.)

Asks/Requests info:

If you need help coming up with names for an OC(s), I’m more than happy to help! Just shoot me an ask (anon or not).

In order for me to help you as best as I can, include as much information as you can think of in your ask! This can be stuff like: themes/motifs associated with them, magical powers, physical appearance (like skin/hair color), ethnicity/race, etc

Submissions: 

Here’s what to include in a submission. Please include as much as you can, as this will really help me: Name, Origin, Gender association, Pronunciation, and meaning.

FAQs:

Where can I find more info about the names you’ve posted? A quick google search that looks like this: “[name] name [meaning/origin/etymology/myth/etc]” will most likely bring up what you’re looking for!

Where do you find these names? The internet, books I’ve read (& other media), people I’ve met, and very rarely my brain. 

There’s a mistake in one of your posts. That name’s pronunciation/meaning/origin/gender association is wrong. Please let me know! Names are a very important part of culture, so please please please help me do my best to respect these cultures. 

How do I request help for names? See above.

How do I submit posts? See above.

You didn’t answer my request. Why not? Probably because I sometimes forget this blog exists and disappear for months on end! I’ll answer it eventually, sorry for the wait!!! 

What does each tag mean exactly? “Royal names” are names that have something to do with leadership/power/royalty. “Nature names” are names that are associated with some aspect of nature, be it weather, plants, or something else. “Negative connotation names” are names that have a slightly (or majorly) negative meaning, great for your villain or tragic hero. “Color names” are names that are associated with a particular color. “Misc names” are names that don’t fall into any of the previous categories. 

I just need advice on naming in general, please. See below. 

Where can I find all of the asks you’ve already answered? See below.

My question wasn’t answered here. My ask box is open! Feel free to ask!

Important posts/Previous asks:

Naming Advice (10 tips and tricks)

OC Name Ask Game

Ask - Meaning: Cute/Innocent

Ask - Meaning of the name Lain

Ask - Nickname for Dolly

Ask - Power/Magic: Turns into beasts

Ask - Power/Magic: Smoke/Fire (Male)

Ask - Superhero names/Aliases

Ask - Real life setting names

Ask - Motif: Werewolf/Hunter (Female)

Ask - Motif: Chupacabra and Goat Man (Male)

Ask - Motif: Various (Red/Apple, Horror, Cyberpunk, Gothic)

[duskkodesh]

Dusk Reviews 5: Adventures Into Fear

Welcome back! We’re up to Morb’s next appearance which for our purposes is Adventure Into Fear #20. AIF was a series which started as just “Fear” and a way for them to sell some reprinted 50′s and 60′s pre-hero Marvel comics. Think Monster and Scifi stories written by Stan Lee. Stuff from comics like Tales of Suspense, Strange Tales, or Tales to Astonish. Now after issue nine the comic became titled as we know it now and feature stories with Man-Thing. Fun fact, issue nineteen features the first ever Howard the Duck who was supposed to be a bit of throwaway satire but proved popular. Speaking of popular look at the billing they gave our boy on this cover!

Morb was actually pretty damn popular after his debut, one of the major reasons they turned him from a pretty straight antagonist to a somewhat wobbly Greek tragedy. God, I have to apologize ahead of time because I will abuse that joke.

Our writer here is Mike Friedrich, art by Paul Gulacy. In the history of classic Morb Paul is... not my fave artist. You’ll see why. The comic opens as expected. Morb is hungry, he finds a woman headed home from a party. Nom nom nom, annnnnd then guilt. 

“If she lives”? Morb, you are a freaking doctor. Is the lady alive or not? I swear he shares one brain cell with the other Marvel villains and it is often not his turn to use it. So, he turns in for a nap to give us a conveniently placed flashback of his origin story and the two Marvel team-up issues. We even get to see his very anti-climactic escape from the X-men’s lair and a bit from Vampire Tales 1 which.... again I want to do ALL of Vampire Tales together so AIF first, VT later even though VT was published alongside AIF the stories kind of run separate. 

So, a reverend and a rabbi go into a lab that has a napping vampire in it. What? There’s no punchline, this is literally what happens in our story!

Don’t worry, it’ll only get weirder from here. Morb threatens them but the cool-headed rabbi calms him and talks. Seems he knows Michael’s name and rep being a man of science himself. The pair sets out studying and trying to help Morb but time drags on and Morb gets hungry. Morb attacks but Daemond  uses a spell to control Morb and stop him long enough to reveal he’s actually dabbling in darrrrk magic. Big surprise! 

He uses one of his spells to control Morb to eat the poor rabbi. RIP. Morb at least eating kosher. Okay, I’m at LEAST sorry for that joke! Morb, having eaten at least gains sentience but not control and laments killing such a kind man who tried to help him. Daemond has uses for our vampire tho and off he is sent on a mission to kill someone. This of course is giving him anxiety (More than usual) because he has no idea WHO he’s been sent to kill. We end with him finding his target... a kid? Awwww heck. Stay tuned!

Yep! We end on a cliffhanger! Gotta get you hooked! So, there’s a lot of retread and plot framing in this issue but it’s understandable, just doesn’t really go anywhere. The art is all over the place. Some panels look great! Some not so much, overall this one is a 6/10 from me but I gave a bonus point for sudden evil sorcerer Daemond whipping out his cult robes before he proudly announces he was evil the whole time. Snappy dresser, terrible haircut!