Grrl Power #1336 – Budget anxiety
“Also I haven’t worn my hair straight like that since Friends went off the air. And I want the doll to be more fit. I want little girls wanting to grow up looking like athletes, not one missed meal away from terminal malnutrition!”
Profligate? Just say opulent, Max. Although “profligate” does specifically mean “reckless waste; wildly extravagant / Licentiousness” (Licentiousness meaning “The quality of being lewd and lascivious”) Definitions that require you to look up words used in the definition amuse me. Profligate is definitely one of those Word of the Day calendar words that makes people arch a brow when you break it out. It’s a perfectly cromulent word, it’s just conspicuous due to exceeding the rarity threshold.
I feel like there’s one page in the 1300+ I’ve done so far where Sydney has bought, or at least mentioned buying something extravagant. Or… maybe I mentioned it in the comments somewhere? At a minimum, she considers the inventory of the comic shop “hers.” Not in a “I’ll shut you other comic co-owners out and keep it all, mwoo-hah-hah!” way. More of a “I want that $300 polystone Wonder Woman statue, so I’ll leave the at-cost price in the till and take it with me.” So… basically just buying it. She did drop ten grand in her new swear jar though. That was probably her most extravagant expense since joining the team. And, well… she probably chipped in to have that one plane steam cleaned and detailed. Deus didn’t charge her for burning 10-ish square kilometers of crops and assorted countryside though.
I love Mystery Science Theater and basically all the stuff those guys have done since, and Rifftrax is having a new Kickstarter for their annual live show. So I am pimping it here. Oh, the movie they’re doing is Timecop, and I can’t imagine it not being amazing. Last year was Point Break, which I had actually never seen before. Honestly, that movie was just the peak of bonkers 80’s action films. Yeah, I know, it’s a 1991 film. I stand by my assessment.
I’m going to try something with this new vote incentive.
This month, I’m closing on a new house, selling my Mom’s house, finishing packing Mom’s house, moving city to city to the new house, forwarding mail, canceling utilities, all that. And after that’s done, I get to start the process of selling my old house, which needs a little work before it can realistically go on the market.
SO. I’m going to try and do this vote incentive in stages. Currently it’s just pencils. The TopWebcomics one will update with colors and detail until we get to the no clothes versions, then that will continue over at Patreon. Also there will be a comic or two in between each version to fill out the story.
I know it’s hard to tell from just the pencils, but this is Heatwave and Jiggawatt. The comics will explain why they’re doing what they’re doing. Although I feel like even saying that much makes it easy to guess, but hopefully the journey will still amuse.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Magneto would NOT be tolerated in the Real World like he is in the Marvel Universe, especially by Supers
I dunno, I’m thinking that with the way things are going he might have a point.
There’s a reason he’s become a much more sympathetic character over the decades.
Cause, yes.
Means no.
He is a terrorist armed with weapons of mass destruction.
Yep, seeing any civil rights protest get the “Iraq WMD treatment” in that exact way, it’s obvious Magneto would not be tolerated in the real world like he is in the Marvel Universe. Especially true of USA politics. The last decade has been enlightening about what subcategory of people are allowed to be people, and who can get disappeared in unmarked vans, shot in broad daylight, put in a cage, outlawed etc.
Mutants deemed “existential WMDs” for the ruling class? That’s goodbye.
It’s Dr X who wouldn’t be tolerated.
Magneto wouldn’t give them a choice.
Did Professor X finally get his doctorate? Good for him! :)
Huh. I always assumed that professor just automatically meant doctor as well, but apparently not necessarily. Although I do seem to recall that Charles Xavier received his doctorate in genetics near the beginning of X-Men first class, if we’re counting the movies.
I know, that class of people who has never done anything violent.
Trump could be seen as a terorist transformin US into the bigest rogue state.
To secure the deal of rare earths in Ukraine … He sided with Russia …
He had threatened to invade EU , Greenland is a part of EU and many EU countries are in now defunct NATO…for the same rare earths.
Perhaps because it’s a need of the X-Nazi ,promoting Afd sucessor of the Nazi party in germany, Petain leftovers in France , and finding the bigot Nigel Farage insufficiently nazi too Victorian
My country was now protecting one of is old enemy – we made peace in the 1960’s – against Russia. Making the job of over 40 US military installations in Germany…
Your country elected an apprentice dictator , and sided against is oldest ally …
And for me a French , listening J.D Vance, throwing under the bus US loyal sidekick beyond his own interest U.K…
Is the epitome of pettiness and treason , a total betrayal of his most loyal ally …
Being america ally is just a stupidity under current management , and I doubt they will quit voluntarily if the polls are against them.
France US alliance 1778-2025
Killed by Orange Agent and the Cyber trollminator
* we had been allies , cautious against another bu allies
The US has been turning against its allies since Washington turned his coat inside out, so stop blaming Trumpet
You probably also believe the lies that Trump built the wall against Mexico
With as many US bases are in the EU they are already invaded.
But the EU is not an ally of the US, it is a parasite. It is a group of 500 million people demanding a country with 300 million bank roll its national defense so that its people can have affordable healthcare, vacations and 35 hour work weeks.
The US spent a lot of time setting that up on purpose. We foot the bill so they won’t build up their military and will always need us. Just like we made sure there was a strong dollar even though that screws up the trade balance. We got our way and now some of us are crying about the unfairness of it all.
The US government got its way and now our working class is crying that they are at the breaking point.
I think the internet was the straw that broke the camels back on that, how often do we find entire discussion boards dedicated to how much better off the EU is than the states.
Maybe it is time someone else starts working a bit more for their own self defense, I mean it is not like there is 200 million more of them to be squeezed. Something they should be very aware of.
in at least one way of looking at it we spend just about as much on social support as the EU. it just we pour almost all of it into the Mortgage tax deduction, so many low income people can afford houses.
note: the above statement contains sarcasm. please read responsibly.
Time to say the quiet part out loud, because Trump and his supporters are too historically ignorant to comprehend things that aren’t spelled out for them.
We aren’t NATO to protect the EU from Russia. That’s a nice side-effect, but not the real goal.
We’re in NATO so that the European nations don’t have to defend themselves from Russia. Because if they were the ones footing the bill, then the armies assembled would be theirs. And the last two times the armies of Europe were that large, it ended with American soldiers dying in trenches in France.
Now, this doesn’t mean we’d end up fighting over Alsace–Lorraine again. France and Germany are looking solid these days. But I was worried for a bit about the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland for awhile after Brexit.
A similar realpolitick underlies my unwillingness to cut military aid to Israel, even though I think Netanyahu is a genocidal monster. I’ve looked at it from every possible angle, and I simply do not see how cutting that tie would result in anything other than: 1: The completion of the genocide of the Palestinians, 2: Nukes over Tehran, Beirut, and Damascus, at a minimum, and possibly Mecca and Medinah to boot, or 3: All of the above.
I would argue that you’ve put the cart before the horse.
Yes, the de facto imperial power was a bonus, but the actual reason NATO was vomited into being, was to create a sufficient potential threat to deter the Soviet Union from providing revolutionary aid to workers in Europe, and the Americas.
Yes, that’s right: It was Capitalism, all along.
Please, for all the flaws of unbridled capitalism, Marxism-Leninism has always been the wrong answer that invariably created just as bad and often worse oppression, exploitation, humanitarian tragedies, and environmental devastation as what it purported to correct. The ‘revolutionary aid’ that the USSR would have provided to Western Europe and the Americas would have been to export the same nightmare that it created at home and in Eastern Europe, China, and North Korea.
Communism was never the solution, it was a unworkable chimera this side of the Singularity that invariably failed and often made things worse. It only kinda works in hunter-gatherer societies, but there are very good reasons why the vast majority of humanity turned its back to that way of living if given a chance since the Neolithic Revolution, and what is done cannot be undone w/o an Apocalypse.
Liberal democracy and mixed economy with captalism tempered by social democracy and environmentalism is the best available solution, at least until technological progress shall allow us to escape the trap of scarcity and the need for social hierarchy.
No doubt, the plutocratic backlash ongoing since the late 20th century that started with Reagan, climaxed with Trump, and stalled and often reversed social democracy and environmentalism is another huge tragedy and wrong turn of history like the Russian Revolution.
@Irioth
Who are you trying to convince?
And while you’re at it, explain it is that, if communism/socialism/anything-but-capitalism is so utterly doomed to failure, it was necessary to stage coups, murder democratically elected leaders, plan utterly failed invasions, and sacrifice thousands of American lives losing wars in Korea and Vietnam? Why was it necessary to deliberately blockade, sanction, and cut off whole nations from international trade? Why was it necessary to install military juntas, stage Color Revolutions, and reinstate exiled authoritarians?
Let’s be very clear about this, I am not saying that socialism, or communism, are perfect systems, not by any stretch of the imagination. But the fact is, the Soviet Union lifted the single largest population of people who had been literally living in near-medieval serfdom, into a modern, sanitarian, industrial society, in less than a single generation. People who has been born as serfs, living in log shacks with sodden thatch, and moss & mushrooms growing in the floorboards, doing backbreaking manual agricultural work, were able to raise their children or grandchildren in modern high rise condos with running hot & cold water, nd sewer service. The Soviets led in every single technological & scientific field, until they were baited into an arms race by Reagan.
Hell, an American town, Vulcan, WV requested foreign aid from the Soviet Union, because they had been so badly neglected that their roads & bridges were literally falling apart.
So, I’ll ask you again. Who are you trying to convince?
@Bharda If communism would be as great as you think, they would WIN the arms race. It only made apparent that long-term, capitalism is more effective. Also, Soviet Union maybe raised the standard of living of it’s own population, but it definitely lowered the one in East Europe.
@HKMaly
First, you’re making assumptions about my opinion of communism.
Second, it doesn’t matter what economic system you’re using, if you are misallocating resources on the basis of incorrect information. I can flip your “argument” with zero effort: if capitalism is as great as you assume, it shouldn’t be failing to meet the basic needs of the population, should it?
Fundamentally, it all comes down to the priorities of a given society. Do you assign greater importance to people, or to profits? And I’m not trying to imply some sort of binary distinction. I am not saying it has to be either/or. I’m not out here calling for the mass collectivization of all property. That would be impractical at _best_! What I _am_ saying, and _all_ that I am saying, is that knee-jerk capitulation to capitalist propaganda isn’t going to help anyone. Except the actual capital-owners, in he short term, I suppose, but the torches & pitchforks will come eventually, and then they lose everything, including their parasitic lives.
Now, you’ve made a claim I find very interesting. Please show me your source for the assertion that the Soviet Union lowered the standard of living for non-member states.
The moment I see someone online say “Trump” I end up picturing some college to middle age white person that comes from an affluent background who is detached from the woes of the working class as they argue for what those people should be doing to make their life better.
The working class who historically is the fighting class that gets drafted is VERY WILLING to let Europeans be the ones going through the meat grinder for their own war.
I know that many of you reading this are from rich enough backgrounds where you don’t need to worry about a draft or being broken by taxes. Seriously that tips and overtime bill they were working on was a real masks off moment for the so called party of the working people, we all know the Democrats are no longer that.
But more and more Americans are just fine with the idea of Europe and Russia going at it and letting them deal it out. The EU/Europe has a population of about 450/700 million last I checked and Russia has what? A population of 150 million?
Using the Trump cognitive short cut is getting old. Calling people ignorant for not doing what you want is getting old. The only thing doing that does is show your privilege and entitlement.
Seriously, how entitled do you have to be to call people looking out for their own well being “ignorant”
In reference to that last part: the problem is when people trying to look out for their own well-being fall for the claims of fraudsters and indirectly end up working against their own best interests. Pay attention to what they do, not what they say.
For example, there was that Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act (which, as a pleasant change, had a clear and fitting name): https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7688
A nice little bill for protecting people against excessive fuel costs? Sounds like a nice thing for the working class. How did the parties vote: 217 in favor of prohibiting such price gouging, 207 against. All 217 in favor were Democrats, while 4 Democrats and all 203 Republicans to vote were opposed.
Unfortunately, while this information’s publicly available (another site is https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes if that helps), it’s a pain to dig through. Easier to just listen to politicians… When did we forget that “honest politician” is an oxymoron (and I’m not excluding Democrats from that, by the way)? Oh, and make no mistake: while Trump differs greatly from the usual politician, his long career in sales has made him a natural at the lying part.
As to the tips and overtime bill you referred to: please explain which that is? Are you perhaps referring to https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hconres14/BILLS-119hconres14rh.pdf which has been claimed will remove taxes on tips, overtime, & social security? As https://checkyourfact.com/2025/02/28/fact-check-house-budget-resolution-taxes-tips-overtime/ points out, it doesn’t actually do so.
…and, if you actually do try to read through all those links, it’ll quickly become apparent that you’d practically need to be a lawyer just to figure all this stuff out. No wonder politicians can get away with lying to the public…
I may have drifted into a more generic rant (rather than directly responding to your comment) somewhere in there. Sorry.
Delivery, keep in mind that votes are along party lines, and that politics, as in Who is responsible for making the bill and take credit for it, are often the reason for votes.
My best example is Obamacare. Obamacare is based on the Massachusetts State Health Plan, lifted almost word for word. It’s a REPUBLICAN Health Care plan. It worked.
But because a Democratic president would get all the credit if it went through, it was opposed tooth and nail by Republicans, rewritten, and became a travesty of what was intended.
Politics.
So, like that vote above you use. Democrats proposed it and carried it through. The Republicans are free to vote against it as a Democratic law, they can blame them for anything that goes wrong with it… and yet, since it was guaranteed to go through, they didn’t have to support something that was clearly meant to be bi-partisan in the feelies.
So, it wasn’t that Republicans didn’t support the law, it was that they didn’t have to show that support since it would pass anyway, and could show that they are proud anti-Democrats toeing the party line.
Nobody is especially impressed by what you imagine to be the demographics of those who criticize Trump.
I’ll absolutely agree that there are a lot of petty bourgeoisie who don’t have a visceral understanding of the reality of “rich man’s war, poor man’s fight.” That does not negate the fact that Trump is a senile, idiotic man-child with delusions of grandeur and a taste for authoritarianism, and a willingness to abdicate our responsibilities to the world we specifically shaped in the post-War era. And to be very blunt, and very explicit, anyone who imagines that the United Stares can simply walk away, and retreat into 19th Century isolationism without grave consequences, is an idiot, a madman, or a liar.
I’m sure my single, social worker mother who at one point held three jobs to keep the house solvent after the divorce, while raising two boys (one a tween, the other a toddler, at the time of separation), would laugh herself sick at the notion we were part of an ‘affluent background’.
As for ‘ignorance’, Scurv, check your mirror. As I noted, the last two times America opted to ‘let the Euros fight among themselves’, we wound up with thousands of dead GIs, for the simple reason that conflicts that big never stay contained. Eventually, simple trade policies will piss off one side or the other, triggering an ‘incident’ that will draw us into the conflict (see: Lusitania, Pearl Harbor). As I said, this is our primary purpose in NATO.
Americans are very bad at introspection, as you’ve proven here.
“Could I really be so out of touch? …no. It’s the Europeans who are wrong.”
“I think the internet was the straw that broke the camels back on that, how often do we find entire discussion boards dedicated to how much better off the EU is than the states.”
LOL.
First, going all “rah rah amurica numbah one” is the national past time of Americans. It wasn’t all that long ago that American tourists were surprised we had electricity. That they would be surprised other people also enjoy being jingoistic is pretty funny.
Secondly, if you really decided to commit national suicide by voting for Krasnov because your fee-fees got hurt from reading on the Internet that Europe had better infrastructure or healthcare or education or tap water or whatever else got your panties in a twist, then that just makes you the dumb emo kid lashing out.
“Maybe it is time someone else starts working a bit more for their own self defense, I mean it is not like there is 200 million more of them to be squeezed. Something they should be very aware of.”
Yeah, every single time people in Europe have tried to get the continent to do more for its self-defense, it has been shut down by pressure from Washington. The deal was always “you keep your armies small and entirely dependent on us, in exchange we’ll protect you”. That’s what allowed the USA to export their weapons to Europe, and what allowed the USA to have basing rights in Europe which is a key part of their military logistics.
Of course, if you do decide to go fully isolationist, then you will no longer need all these forward logistics bases. What’s the point of projecting force when you’re isolationist?
But don’t cry if you find out that EU nations will no longer buy US weapons.
https://www.state.gov/fiscal-year-2024-u-s-arms-transfers-and-defense-trade/
“In FY2024 the total value of transferred defense articles and services and security cooperation activities conducted under the Foreign Military Sales system was $117.9 billion. This represents a 45.7% increase, up from $80.9 billion in FY2023. This is the highest ever annual total of sales and assistance provided to our allies and partners. In FY2024, we oversaw 16,227 FMS cases with an open case value of over $845 billion.”
Sure would be a shame to lose all that, wouldn’t it?
First, the EU is not “a nation.”
Second, we are not “bankrolling” their defense.
Third, our policy has been, for decades, to maintain our military presence overseas in order to reduce the prospect of facing conflict on our own soil. This came with the knock-on effect of essentially holding those overseas nations as client provinces, giving outsized influence, and in some cases outright control.
Fourth, we could have those vacations, healthcare, and 35 hour work weeks right here, if we actually taxed the corporations as we did before Reagan, and returned to FDR’s New Deal policies.
First, no one said the EU was a nation.
Next, there is Nato spending records that disagree with you.
And last, we can’t tax corporations that are not in America (for tax reasons) But also maybe we can do something about this out of control spending.
First: Your words: “…bank roll its national defense…”
Second: Show me your source.
Third: You’re begging the question.
“And last, we can’t tax corporations that are not in America (for tax reasons) But also maybe we can do something about this out of control spending.”
Oh yeah? The country that says that their jurisdiction is universal so that they can fine anyone for trading with Cuba because they decided it was illegal under US law and US laws apply to the entire world, cannot tax outside of the USA?
Have you heard about FATCA? It’s specifically about taxing people and things that are not in the USA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Account_Tax_Compliance_Act
You are proof that the US education system is terrible. You are not paying for any of those things.
Amen brother. It is very funny to see all the complaints from the Canadians and Europeans. They’ve been hiding behind America’s skirts and previous administrations have just been too cowardly and/or ashamed of their own heritage to throw America’s weight around. Now we have a President with the courage to do that and who actually loves his country and they’re sitting around getting all upset about it. Hey, we didn’t make it so that you guys murdered your own economies and downsized your militaries and made stupid “green” choices. You did that all on your own. Europe and Canada want to start acting like adults and taking care of themselves, great, you’ll only be giving Trump what he wants.
Andrew Klavan puts it that Trump’s policy is that America’s not your daddy anymore. The free ride is over kids. Y’all either have to pay up or become more independent. The fact that they think they have any serious leverage over us is hilarious. Or that we care what their opinions are about much of anything. As for the vaunted healthcare? I’ll pass, Canada is currently killing its own people to save money on that healthcare. I’m good. I’ll pay my doctor rather than have him go, “Have you thought about MAID?” Nope Doc, I rather enjoy living!
Personally I have been a longtime fervent supporter of a federal Europe with a common army that is as strong as the US one. A much more balanced Atlantic strategic relationship thanks to its rise would greatly benefit the USA, the EU, the Western world at large, and liberal democracies. It should have been done in the 1950s together with economic integration, but better late than never.
However, for America to alienate and backstab Europe and all its allies to get cozy with Putin’s Russia is madness in pretty much all regards, strategic, economic, you name it. One possible explanation for MAGA Republicans to do so is they hate us because of our liberalism and want to get in a bed with Russia because they want America to be like Russia. Or they are deluded about the effects and consequences of their policies about this as well as pretty much all the rest of their agenda, starting with willful denial of climate change. A few of them in all likelihood are Russian assets.
The success of the MAGA agenda is a huge tragedy for America and the world in so many regards. The only issue I deem reasonable and justifiable is to crush the insufferable excesses of the identity fanatics, but to kick them in the face does not even begin to compensate all the huge damage these folks are doing about everything else.
“Identity fanatics.”
Literally tells us everything we need to know about you.
Well, the opponents of the wokes/sjw/identity such as yours truly need a handy and generally recognizable negative label to single them. I don’t really care which one, but one is needed and warranted, that’s how the game works.
Identity (whatever).
The whole identity bullshit was specifically created to suppress any class-based identity, and replace it entirely with bullshit-based identities like ethnicity, religion, sexual attraction, etc. The aim was just to make sure the lower and middle classes would not unite against the upper class. It has worked marvelously in that role, since right-leaning lower classes are now incensed against strawmen, while left-leaning middle classes are worshiping those same strawmen.
And the billionaires are making life worse for everyone else, regardless of their ethnosociosexualowhatever identities.
@someone
Class-reductionism leads to NazBol evil.
Economic and social Justice must walk hand-in-hand.
What I don’t understand is why people get so upset that someone is fighting for social justice?
Illy: Because they benefit from injustice? Or at least think they do.
Human history is full of instances of people trying to get ahead, trying to separate costs from benefits, and make one group of people pay all the costs, do all the work, while another group reaps all the rewards. Justice is people getting what they deserve, and thus anyone determined to get more than they deserve by denying others what they deserve is going to oppose justice.
…And everything is politics, can’t have a webcomic be entertaining w/o someone trying to bring it back around to their latest perceived outrage.
Whole website became anathema unless you were a political junkie and/or delusional.
The burden of real time information, is that people make claims w/o having finished the chapter much less the book that shows the whole story.
For Trump the move is subtle as an H bomb…
For welfare state it’s not a budget issue , you spend 2 times more per capita on health than France.
It’s more a red scare subject , and the lack of labour party in US.
It’s a lie about buter or canons…
In France and US the largest part of the national budget is dedicated to business assistance
250 Bilions $ in France 1.2 Trillion $ in US…
The rich are made to be very rich and the poor very poor.
Damn poor people…
They must be eliminated, like welfare, it’s social Darwinism…
Trickle-down economics is a lie even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says this and it’s definitively not a Marxist den.
And it’s a nonsense if you had 2.74% GDP expenditure and pretend to be isolationist .. Your army is over sized in this case.
US repeatedly acted against any pretense of European defense , to sell his armements… and to maintain
base in EU.
UK aeronautical industries are a victim of US …
My country is for domestic production of armement a survivor … and an exception a west EU country with no US bases since 50 years.
And now you’re aligned with Russia in UN.
Tex, everything has always been political, for as long as there has been one group trying to fuck over another group. Pining for some mythical, pre-political past is not only fruitless, it’s insulting to other people’s intelligence.
Only those in power, who need not fear for their safety, can perceive the world as apolitical. What people long for when the complain about everything being political is for their own futures to be safely beyond its reach. If only they would wish for the same for others.
The oppressor does not get to dictate the timetable of the oppressed’s liberation.
Liberation is never gifted from above. It is taken, from below.
Often, but not always. Abolition of slavery stands as an exception. Servile revolts almost always failed badly, and when they didn’t (Haiti), they made things worse. Revolutionary movements need to be careful not to pick the wrong template that is going to make things just as bad or worse. Besides Haiti, typical examples in history include the Russian Revolution, the Iranian Revolution, Maoism, Chavez, etc.
Remember Zimbabwe? The literal bread-basket of Africa, overnight turned into a nation of billionaires because their currency turned to shit, not to mention they now have to import nearly everything, especially food
I’ve really wanted to get one of those Zimbabwe $100 trillion dollar bill just for collector reasons. I’ve seriously considered it now that I see them selling them for less than $3 USD on Ebay (before that I could only find them for like $65-$100 on Ebay and that seemed pretty expensive for a showpiece.
Almost three generations after the fact, it seems increasingly clear that decolonization was a very mixed bag. It was a decisive success and made things better in non-Islamist, non-Communist, non-hardcore-nationalist areas that were willing and able to take the path of the newly industrialized countries. It was a disaster that left things just as bad and often made them worse anywhere Marxists, Islamists, or Arab/Black/whatever nationalists got in charge and invariably turned into tyrants, kleptocrats, and butchers. Not so rarely they even got to wreck the good things that domination by more advanced civilizations had left behind.
Wow.
I have never seen someone so blatantly and open admit to being a jingoistic, bigoted capitalist lickspittle.
I call (out) things as I see and know them. I am not a victim of that ideological delusion that all the evil in the world since the dawn of civilization is the fault of White straight men and/or Europe/USA/the West/capitalism. I laugh at the assumption that talking the anti-Western talk absolves tyrants, kleptocrats, and butchers from any crime, blunder, and atrocity.
Oh, and addressing a few bullet points about the litany of tankie propaganda you posted elsewhere and the system won’t let reply to:
* It is ROFL-level hilariously wrong that the USSR ever was at the forefront of scientific and technological development in pretty much anything (individual scientists might occasionally and temporarily have gotten ahead of Western ones about isolated achievements, that’s how the game works). As a rule, the opposite was true across the board. Ever heard of Lysenkoism?
* US intervention in the Korean War was any bit as righteous and beneficial as the one in WWII, since it saved at least half of the Korean people from becoming a victim of the nightmare that Stalinists and the Kim dynasty were going to bring to them. The sacrifice of the US soldiers that fell in that war ensured that South Korea was going to become the thriving liberal democracy and developed country it is today. True, the USA failed to ensure the same outcome to all of the Korean nation, but that basically happened because McArthur was an arrogant idiot that neglected the threat of the Chinese intervention and allowed it to catch the US army with its pants down. A better commander could have easily managed things to ensure the war ended with the US army on the Yalu, or at the very least at the ‘neck’ of the Korean peninsula.
* Despite what anti-Western radicals like to pretend, pro-Western, pro-democracy revolutions such as the 1989 and Colored ones are any bit as genuine, legitimate, and backed by popular will as the opposite kind.
tl;dr
“I’m not propagandized, you’re propagandized!”
Also, you’re using “tankie” wrong.
Now let’s look at your “bullet points.”
First, regarding Soviet sceintific and technical achievements, here are some examples:
* The Autojektor
* The Ilizarov Apparatus
* The first human Anthrax vaccine
* The first implantable artifical heart
* Multistage rocketry
* Sputnik 1
* Vostok 1
* Lunokhod 1
* Salyut 1
* The first mobile phone, “Altai”
* More than a dozen Nobel Laureates, half of them in Physics, including the quantumn electronics work that lead to the the maser and laser.
I could keep going, but I don’t want this to become tedious, and after all, you already tried to dismiss anything accomplished by the Soviet Union by assigning credit to “exceptional individuals,” and ignoring the entire society and infrastructure that enabled those people to reach their potential.
Second, while the _initial_ United _Nations_ intervention in the Korean War was, arguably, justified, the fact is that US participation did not stop at pushing back the North Koreans, but instead attempted to invade and annex the northern territory. They switched from “defending,” to _invasion_. Not exactly the moral high ground, huh? And since you want to bring up the South’s “liberal democracy,” shall we dig into that a bit? How many leaders tried and convicted for corruption? And how many of those were specifically pets of the chaebols, arranging policy to allow consolidation, monopolies, and explicitly wielding state violence against any and all labor unionization efforts?
One possible positive side-effect of waning US hegemony might be that the corruption in SK finally starts to be countered by labor organization, and the chaebols will be broken up.
Third, Color Revolutions are pure fucking AstroTurf. Literally CIA handbook. Would you like me to give you the step-by-step procedure? The media manipulation, the funding and material support, the deliberate sabotage of public assets and infrastructure? The covert deployment of US assets? Do you want me to lay out the bloody guts of, say, Operation Condor? Or something more recent, like say, the failure of Washington’s pet, Juan Guaido, in overthrowing the elected government of Venezuela? I know that has to stick in the imperialist craw; such a public exposure of the CIA losing their touch.
tl;dr
“Anything Left of Ronald Reagan is bad.”
Hardly. More like in the current circumstances, anything left of social democracy and anything right of center-right is bad or unworkable (yes, the Horseshoe Theory is right on point). Authoritarian far-left and far-right are simply rotten, nothing to salvage about them. Libertarian far-left and far-right have a point on paper, but the solutions they propose are unworkable at our current technological level.
Anarchy is theoretically better than the status quo, but to make it work we need the technological (or in a sci-fi or fantasy context, supernatural) resources to escape the trap of scarcity and the need for hierarchical and close-knit society, and make everyone a self-sufficient demigod. Up to that point, liberal democracy and mixed-market economy tempered by social democracy, libertarianism, and environmentalism are the best option we got.
And for the record, I am hardly an unqualified admirer of Reagan. He did a lot of good being a dedicated Cold War warrior and helping to give the rotten Soviet bloc the final push it needed to collapse. He did a lot of bad helping the Bible-thumpers to become as politically influential as they got and the plutocrats to reverse the achievements of the New Deal and social democracy.
tl;dr
“Neoliberal status quo or stfu.”
Whatever dude. Thanks for at least acknowledging that you’re the guy standing between the fascists and antifascists saying, “I can’t tell the difference.”
From my PoV, it is “nothing authoritarian, and nothing left of social democracy or right of center-right w/o the circumstances that make it workable and sustainable, or stfu”. If you are unable or unwilling to perceive the difference between that and fascism, I feel sorry for you. That kind of mindset remembers me of those pre-WWII communists that could not tell any difference between fascists and social democrats, so they fought them equally (but in practice ended up helping the fascists).
I am also unable and unwilling to perceive and make any meaningful difference in ordinary politics between far-right vs. far-left and religious vs. secular authoritarians, since to my eyes they are just different brands of the same poison. Any supposed differences are only relevant in academic analysis and discourse, or chalk down to meaningless ideological paint and excuses.
If not for pro-status quo authorial fiat, any ‘people with powers’ community getting half the crap MU supers get from hateful, paranoid, and ungrateful Muggles would have quickly switched en masse to a Magneto-like viewpoint, staged a revolution, took over the world, and put the idiots in their place long ago. Or at least being alienated into standing apart when the next apocalyptic threat shows up every other month. In a realistic setting, to Bully a Dragon is suicidal and always ends in tragedy for the Too Dumb to Live actors.
Storm, by herself, has the ability to destroy or create 50 Billion dollar hurricanes. That’s in addition to bringing water to crops and putting out fires.
In real life she gets paid millions of dollars and becomes a A-list celeb. We’re not going to refuse to do that because she’s black and has white hair.
I think the point is that Storm likely won’t work for or accept payment from anyone who has a bad record of treating Mutants, including those who have passed laws discriminating against them. In universe, that is exactly what many nations have done, which is why Storm isn’t super rich and famous, because there is enough fear mongering and low level powered mutants for the public to brutalize.
In the Marvel Universe, no one in the general public ever really benefits from supers. Ergo Read Richards can’t cure cancer and Storm can’t trivially put out the LA fires. The grrl universe is more real world.
Say the State of California welcomes mutants/Storm and the State of Florida does not. California will have lots of media attention to supers putting out fires and saving lives. After Florida gets it’s next $50B dollar disaster voters will ask why they can’t be like California.
That issue isn’t limited to just Storm. Most supers have powers that can be converted into million dollar incomes that can’t be done by anyone else. There is going to be huge pressure to turn supers into celebrities as opposed to making them flee to other countries where they add to the economy and military.
Florida would blame it on California.
Thought everyone blamed Canada
I got a tawny that the average Floridiot thinks California is secretly Canadian.
Thought Cali was Mexican…
Well, the average MAGA dipstick thinks we’re all communist lizard aliens, so sure, I guess we can be Mexican, too. I’d rather have Sheinbaum in charge, Dumpskyvich, anyway.
I enjoyed the Wild Cards universe where Durg, a superstrong alien, has a union card which allows him to operate as a forklift operator who can function without the forklift.
I dunno, racism is one hell of a drug. Just look at what happened to black wall street.
Dragons don’t exist ,IRL , no power is impervious , napoleon 7 coalition , UK 2 world wars, Germany ditto – for the military standpoint -, and passing to the verge of collapse (China 1970) to a superpower (China 2025) is pretty rapid.
And now in 2025 the soft power of US is suffering of a self deletion …
In 1776 it’s a ragtag bunch of nobodies without army and without any good general Georges Washington as the commander of Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War (1754–1763), hadn’t had a good record against U.K a superpower.
Magento isn’t “tolerated” he’s a terrorist with extremely potent superpowers and has a following of other superhumans.
And remains at large despite the multiple genocide attempts.
Dude is just really hard to handle.
Magneto is extremely easy to handle.
Recognize Mutants as marginalized group, commit the resources to actually enforce anti-discrimination laws, and fully fund DEI programs across the board, and make certain you actually perform full-faith prosecution of violators, with the full force of the State. Do that, and Magneto very probably disappears, at least from your country.
In fact, he probably shows up in Jerusalem in order to explain that he is extremely disappointed in the current policy of “let’s reenact the Holocaust, but with us as the Nazis,” and correcting the errant behaviors of those who are currently disappointing their dead relatives.
Please, I would not trust the DEI way of managing things with running a kiosk, much less the mutant rights issue. However, I do agree that the way society deals with superhumans in the Marvel Universe is unsustainable and suicidal w/o hardcore authorial fiat. A way I deem much better and close to optimal got described in a fanfiction of mine that was a mix of alt-history, sci-fi, and superheroes. Notably, it seems not too different from the way the Grrlverse is likely headed to, esp. with Deus in charge.
In that story, Nazi occultists discovered a way to create powerful superhumans from a few people with the right genes. The process creates JLA/Avengers-level powerhouses that are similar to Eternals. They have a standard power set (a mix of flying brick, energy manipulator, telekinetic, shapeshifter, and genius) combined with individual signature powers and extensions of the basic abilities one can train.
A superpowered version of WWII ensued with the Axis powers initially getting the upper hand. Things subsequently evolved to an ever-more-destructive stalemate, with supers being used in the place of nukes, when the Americans and later the Russians stole and copied the secret. Past a point, most supers from the belligerent powers realized the senselessness and destructiveness of the conflict. They banded together, seized power, overthrew the Nazi and Soviet regimes, enforced a compromise peace that was acceptable to all sides, and engaged in building a better world.
Fast forward a few decades, and humanity is in a semi-utopian situation. The world is united and at peace with a few liberal-democratic and federal superstates that come together in a more powerful and efficient UN equivalent. Almost everyone enjoys developed-world prosperity, efficient welfare state and education, and effective protection of the environment. The backwater exceptions are most of Sub-Saharan Africa and the conservative portion of the Muslim world that lag behind as least-developed areas.
Study of superpowers and the help of supers allowed humanity to progress further and quicker than RL. Civilization is in the interplanetary and post-cyberpunk/biopunk stage, with fusion power, transhuman enhancements, quick and efficient interplanetary travel, and early FTL. Humans are busy colonizing and terraforming the Solar System and the interstellar neighborhood. A mix of technological solutions and effective stewardship prevented the negative environmental consequences of bringing industrialization and prosperity to the vast majority of the world. Transhuman tech and the help of supers got rid of disability and disease.
Supers in ever-growing numbers became the guardians, protectors, and de facto ruling elite of humanity. They are the supreme authority, a mix of aristocracy and celebrity class, but a laid-back, hands-off, and benevolent one. They are usually happy to leave administration to elected or professional officials they trust, and live as wealthy celebrities that perform valuable, popular, and richly-rewarded services. They are above human law and invincible for Muggles but rogues are efficiently policed by their own kind. Public opinion idolizes and venerates them for bringing unprecedented peace, prosperity, and progress.
Their ranks gradually swell with newcomers being recruited from the best and brightest with the right genes as well as supers being immortal and breeding true with their own kind and occasionally with Muggles. Supers have a way of uplifting individuals w/o potential to their level, but they do it rarely and reluctantly because it severely taxes them. It is almost never done but for the very best. Scientists eagerly research the way of giving superpowers to everyone, but even w/o that, humanity seems headed to evolve naturally in a species of immortal demigods and build an advanced interstellar civilization in a few centuries or millennia.
Because of their nature, supers are sexually liberated and often polyamorous/promiscuous, deem ethnicity and gender no more relevant than a fashion and lifestyle choice for shapeshifters, and regard some degree of bisexuality as the norm. Thanks to their example and leadership, society at large is eager to imitate their ways.
The only significant exceptions to widespread equality are supers, Blacks, and conservative Muslims. The former are deemed superior and worthy to be the elite for obvious reasons. Humanity strives to imitate them and eventually become them through transhuman tech. To be chosen to be a super is the Holy Grail of talented and ambitious people.
The Blacks are deemed worthless and a burden since they lack the potential to become superhumans. Miscegenation works to correct the issue, but only past the point the individual may pass as another race. Conventional wisdom is racists got almost everything wrong, but they were basically right about the Blacks. They were segregated in their ancestral lands, forbidden to live anywhere else, and left to their own devices. It seems the genes for superhuman potential were artificially given to early modern humans soon after they left Africa, and those who stayed behind missed the chance. There is a lively debate whether Atlanteans, aliens, or time travelers did it.
The supers got foresight of a possible bad future where Islamist terrorists with superpowers became an apocalyptic threat. To prevent that, they enforced a modernization and Westernization process of the Muslim world community with mass conversion to secularism or a very liberal version of Islam. Diehard resisters were deprived of the means to become or create supers, segregated in a few walled-off areas, and left to their own devices. They did try to use mundane terrorism, but the rest of the world and the supers efficiently contained the problem.
Yes, yes, we know.
“Anything but a whitewashed capitalist status quo is bad.”
Wow. Everything you got from that semi-utopian scenario is it is not communist enough, and so it can be dismissed w/o a second thought? Talk about far-left tunnel vision, ideological blinders, and single-issueism.
In all evidence, you wholly missed the rather blatant fact that in the scenario society is clearly headed to evolve in the ‘Star Trek with transhumanism’ kind of future in a few decades to centuries (depending on how much study of superpowers accelerates tech development), and humanity to evolve into self-sufficient demigods into a few decades to millennia (depending on whether the secret of making everyone a super is cracked or not). Once these things happen, the need for capitalism shall evaporate and it shall simply wither away.
The only reason the scenario was not extended to cover these outcomes explictly is I did not trust my writing ability to describe them adequately, and I would have run into narrative issues that gave me choice paralysis, such as the existence of advanced alien civilizations, their features, and humanity’s relationship with them.
Dude, any rant that starts with “DEI bad” is dismissible on its face.
You might feel that’s unfair, but as the saying goes, “Lie down with dogs, rise up with fleas.”
Here’s the thing, my guy: having been picking up what you’ve been laying down through multiple posts, the general through-line of it all can be boiled down to, “A product of cold war propaganda who is uncomfortable with fascist rhetoric, but isn’t willing to actually condone the structural change in society necessary to combat it.”
This is quintessential modern neoliberalism. Preservation of the capitalist status quo at all costs. And hey, I get it. I was also an 80’s/90’s kid, and I remember the comfortable mundanity I personally experienced during that period of global US hegemony. But it was all illusory. The manufactured sunsetting of the very domestic economic policies that made the thing possible in the first place, and all for the sake of increasing the profits of a fractional minority of already insanely wealthy parasites. That was the Third Way strategy from the start. “We need to surrender economic policy to the capitalist parasites, in order to get their support for progress on social justice.”
And now? After thirty-some-odd years of lip service, the neoliberal status quo is perfectly willing to throw minority groups under the bus, in the name of profits. _That_ is why I have no problem whatsoever with discarding your rambling out of hand. Every time you use the shorthand of the fascists, every time you whine & whinge about “DEI” (or whatever the fascist bogeyman of the week is), every time you complain about any suggestion that maybe capitalists shouldn’t be dictating public policy, you reveal yourself to be a complicit bootlicker.
And I cannot, and moreover _will_ not show that even the slightest iota of respect.
From my perspective it is entirely reasonable and feasible to strive to curb the excesses of unbridled capitalism and shortsighted plutocrats with social democracy w/o going headlong into far-left crap that registers as intolerable and/or failed every damn time it was tried.
I do not approve the Third Way politicians for surrendering economic policy to the neoliberals and their corporate puppetmasters. After the fact, it is indeed clear they made a serious mistake. Admittedly, there were reasons why they did so, since 70s-80s circumstances had made left-wing and bleeding-heart liberalism politics rather unpopular and they were seeking a way to become electorally competitive again. Ideological purity in the political wilderness never did anyone any good, except for the self-righteous feelings of those who cherish it. In hindsight, it was a mistake, but it turns out that to learn from mistakes and apply course correction is a necessity for peoples as well as for individuals.
As it concerns social justice, I shall always support the libertarian side of it within barely-reasonable bounds. As it concerns the nanny state stuff, the less the better to a very large degree, and 80s-90s levels already were barely tolerable. I did not like plutocrats and corporate interests when they opportunistically supported the illiberal cultural left (corporate censorship and coercion is still a violation of freedom even if it is not done by the government), I do not like them when they opportunistically switch to support Christian fascism.
I cherish pragmatism, facts, and accuracy, so I shall use any concept and label in analysis and discussion as I deem appropriate to circumstances, w/o any care for how anyone else uses them, correctly or as a bogeyman. I do not give the time of day to guilt by association, I deem it one of the worst logical fallacies and the spawn of weak and fearful minds.
I explained elsewhere at some length what I deem useful and beneficial, or insufferable and harmful, in the broad and fuzzy concept commonly known at “DEI”. However, to do so every time one addresses a related topic and makes a point quickly grows unsustainable, so shorthand labels become a necessity.
If this gets someone to recoil and close their eyes and ears, too bad.
tl;dr
“Everyone I disagree with is an emotional dummy, so I don’t have to listen to them.”
Keep going, my guy. I’m sure Shapiro-sempai will notice you any moment now.
Well, I make no mistery of the fact I deem emotional and not-so-bright people unpleasant and tiresome company in my leisure time, even if I have to deal with them for professional reasons. You do what you have to do, even if I prefer to pick friends (with benefits) that are the opposite.
I was not even mindful of who you were referring to, but wiki is a wonderful achievement of our time. Let’s see, skimming through the list of Ben Shapiro’s views, I see several good ideas I agree with, and several bad ones I heartily disagree with.
I am not going to analyze and rate everything with a fine comb, but about what I disagree with, forced birth and climate-change denial are very rotten and dangerous things. I do not believe in marriage, but if people want to have it, let them.
Live and let live is my general stance about LGBT issues, except for a few things that I really dislike for personal reasons. Hence I opportunistically support circumstances about those that are going to keep them out of my notice if possible.
America needs much more gun control, health care, and welfare state, not less.
To vote for Trump was to pick a helluva lot of trouble for America and the world. So it was to acquit him in his impeachment trials or to drag feet about his ciminal ones. The only silver lining I can see atm is it hopefully shall push Europe at long last to do what we needed to do 70 years ago. That, and to weaken certain identity-politics and radical-feminist insanity.
I need organized religion the way a fish needs a frying pan.
You are that kid who was always trying to convince everyone how smart he was, in order to make up for being unpopular. Pro-tip: A vocabulary is not a substitute for a personality.
Speaking from experience.
Look, kid, it isn’t the fault of women or minorities that your life isn’t turning out the way you feel it should. I feel for you, I had to learn that lesson too. Which isn’t to say, “everything is your own fault and you get what you deserve.” The reality is, you are one person, dropped into a big, complicated-ass world without any preparation, or even consent, and everything around is a matrix of systems that are almost certainly out of your ability influence, let alone control. And you are bombarded with messages telling you, every day, that everything wrong in your life is all your fault, in spite of having zero input into any of those systems.
And that all sucks. I know. We are manifestly denied the dignity of rising or falling by our own efforts.
But in what universe do you imagine the poor, exploited, and vulnerable responsible for _your_ problems? How exactly do I, as a labor-class trans woman with depression hold you down? What am I doing that takes anything away from you?
You mention Star Trek, so I would just like to say, Star Trek already did that.
They were called the Eugenics Wars.
Star Treks society evolved in spite of Khans disruption and in his absence.
Well, in my story WWII became the Metahuman War and the broad equivalent of the Eugenic Wars. Except here the supersoldiers of all sides past a point realized the insanity of it all, banded together, took over, and strived to build a better world.
What they created in a few decades is headed to become even better than Star Trek, since it shall have everything the Federation has (well, maybe except the aliens, the court is out on that) plus the many benefits of transhumanism.
Moreover, humanity is going to evolve into the equivalent of the ST superpowered species. Not Q level, but much better than Muggles.
The thing people tend to forget about DEI is that it’s just about the most direct action we take to forestall war and revolution.
All those people out there who hate DEI? They are basically agitating to make things as much worse as possible for identifiable, socially isolate-able groups in order to spark chaos and insurrection – because they want the entire order of the world to explode into chaos and think they’ll come out on top.
The ‘E’ stands for ‘Equity’ – meaning, fair reward for fair contribution. A whole lot of farmers produce food that has value for preventing wars and hunger and enabling opportunities, but the people who’d most directly benefit from it are poor and can’t pay an equitable price. ‘Equity’ means giving the farmers fair pay and distributing food so that people who’d otherwise be too hungry to excel can pay attention to their schoolwork instead of their bellies. It means having poor parents doesn’t trap folks who can make valuable contributions in a cycle of hopelessness, and it means that out on the farms as much as it does in the school cafeterias.
The long-term investment in people works to the long-term benefit of the country, even when all our commercial entities are thinking short-term and would let those farmers go broke and let those kids ditch school to work dead-end jobs. And it means that neither the farmers nor poor folks in the cities have a reason to go to war against the world.
As far as I am concerned, what you mention about farmers and a lot of other similar stuff was entirely benign and should have been kept, reinforced, and folded with identity-blind welfare-state, mixed-economy, and environmentalist measures to correct the flaws of unbridled capitalism and avoid unnecessary waste of resources and human potential. Just like I am a fervent partisan of reproductive freedom according to my libertarian ideals and deem forced birth and all the other Gilead stuff a nightmare worth of horror fiction.
It is the woke/sjw authoritarian crap such as the mandatory diversity training and statements, the language and behavior police, the identity-based quotes and affirmative action, the cancel culture, the deplatforming and loss of livelihood for defiance of far-left dogma, the anti-Western radicalism, the woke/sjw messing with fiction, the feminist misandry and puritanism, the demonization of White straight men, etc. that I hate with the intensity of 1000 suns and want dead and buried with extreme prejudice.
Such crap going too far and too quick for too long inevitably and justifiably caused a big backlash. Unfortunately it became one of the reasons (even if not the only one or even the most important one) for the rise to dominance of the religious zealots, plutocrats, and assorted far-right fanatics that are ruining so much good stuff, throwing away the baby with the bathwater, and wrecking America and the world in so many ways. Even in such a huge disaster, however, I still have the tiny silver lining of dancing on the grave of the stuff I hate, by whatever label we choose to call it.
tl;dr
“I didn’t think the leopards would eat _my_ face.”
Hardly. I have always swung between supporting social democratic, green, liberal, center-right, or civil-libertarian parties, movements, and politicians as circumstances dictated. I never backed anything to the left or right of this spectrum, so I deem myself blameless in the rise of the far right.
As much as I might have deemed the far-rightists an occasional ally of convenience for a few specific issues such as unbridled immigration of the wrong kind (esp. in Europe), pro-Western foreign policy (before they made a 180 turn to get in a bed with Russia), or sjw excesses, there always was too much in their agenda that worried and alienated me, from Euroscepticism to religious zealotry to authoritarianism to denial of science to lassez-faire excesses, so I never gave them my support.
Blame someone else for the success of the face-eating leopards. I saw their game a mile away and acted accordingly at the ballot box.
tl;dr
“I prefer cooperating with Nazis.”
Some day, kiddo, you are going to run out of excuses, and have to face the man in the mirror. When you so, remember this conversation. Remember that you said you’d rather cooperate with “the far right,” when you have to look at the material conditions of the world around you.
And while you are fervently whispering to yourself that none of this is your fault, that you didn’t do any of it, that it was “those people,” I want you to remember that the reason the German people have a massive sense of shared guilty, isn’t because they individually and personally pulled the triggers and operated the gas chambers.
It’s because they didn’t try to stop the ones who did.
Yeah, yeah, spare me the tiresome guilt-trip indoctrination about collective guilt. That stuff does not work on me and never did.
One thing history teaches us is democracy should and often can be defended w/o empowering alternatives that are just as bad or worse. To stop the gas chambers to enable the gulags was no gain at all. Things could and should have been managed to ensure all brands of totalitarianism were wiped out in WWII or immediately afterwards, instead of living one to plague the world for several decades more.
I said I’d sometimes feel the urge to cooperate with the far right out of anger at something, but then I looked at the bigger picture and never did. Just like I sometimes feel the urge to do something bad and stupid to those that annoy me, but then I think better and never do. On the contrary, I have consistently opposed them by supporting democratic parties and movements and I am going to keep doing so.
Why I should ever feel guilty for something that never happened and just occasionally played out as an alternative in my head? To feel guilty for your idle thoughts and impromptu feelings is one of the many rotten things religion tries to do to us, but luckily for me I never bought it.
@Irioth
tl;dr
“I can’t tell the difference between fascists and anti fascists, they’re all violent!”
Horseshoe Theory is just the political form of a Hasty Generalization Fallacy. To simplify it for you, “Just because things share some traits, does not mean they share all traits.”
So… you wrote an alt-history storyline in which Black people are permanently marginalized as second-class humans, because of their “genes” (because superpowers are tied to melanin production, I guess), and then call the resulting society a semi-utopia.
Yeah, I think we’re done with pretending you might not be an outright racist.
Last panel: yes, dresses and flying don’t mix very well.
Neither do togas, but those don’t seem to be in fashion much anymore.
Dresses are not good for a lot more than flying that superheroines do for much more compelling reasons than modesty. At least unless you a Magical Girl Warrior with a lot of plot armor. However there is the obvious, trope-y alternative of skintight/skimpy costumes that a lot of iconic supers use, is very convenient for the job, and way better than fatigues or casual for merchandise.
Besides fanservice, it is optimal for people that need to fight in close quarters and move around a lot, do not have any use for mundane weapons and armor, are blessed with ideal bodies, and usually proud to flaunt them. Ask martial artists, gymnasts, and other athletes that face similar circumstances.
Ofc, such an argument would be anathema for Maxi given her body issues, prudery, and militant sex-negative feminism, but (thankfully) she is the exception among Superion-field channelers and mutahumans in other superhero settings.
There you go again, assign characteristics to Max.
Please, I am not assigning anything, I am commenting on character features that are as subtle and nuanced as a guy in a clown suit with a bullhorn. I do agree with Maxi that dresses for superheroines are a very stupid idea (at least w/o the plot armor that Warrior Magical Girls get), just her reasons and mine to deem so partially differ. Since it is her own image, she is entitled to have her doll in the fatigues she prefers and deems optimal for herself with my blessing.
I just argue that sex-negative-feminist dislike of the standard skintight/skimpy dress code for superhero(in)es that Maxi espouses is just as silly and unreasonable. That clothing style is optimal for people that need to move and fight efficiently with their own bodies and personal abilities, have no use for mundane armor and weapons, have ideal bodies, and are proud to flaunt them. In this superhero(in)es are not different from martial artists, gymnasts, and other athletes that face similar circumstances.
In the Grrlverse, the circumstances of superhuman icons and heavy-hitters getting attached to the military (and their commander being a raging sex-negative feminist) is driving fatigues becoming their dress code rather than the genre standard. In practical terms, it is just as efficient, although less glamorous, and hence less good for merchandise.
In the long term, I tend to assume things shall gradually reverse to the genre standard as superhumans grow in numbers, inevitably become the de facto ruling elite of humanity, and get to do things their way. Maxi’s influence shall inevitably decrease as other supers appear that are just as powerful as her. Even as things stand, she and Archon can enforce military discipline on supers only so far.
I expect a change in supers’ standard attire because lack of modesty seems instinctual for Superion-field channelers (and far from unusual for people blessed with ideal bodies). Maxi obviously is the exception, since her own issues override the usual urges of her kind.
This is one of the things I always hated about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. Going out and fighting vampires and other boggles in heels and a skirt just struck me as exceedingly asinine.
Having a keen fashion sense helped her against the Master in the movie.
Aye, that’s as may be, but ye go flyin’ in a kilt, and yer fan mail doubles, don’t it?
No, no it does in point of fact go up. Unless you forgot to do the laundry. You go rolling around barbwire, thistles, blackberries, huckleberries and various and sundry pointy, stingy, skin irritating things, you’ll learn. And don’t get me started on -40c, deep snow and “wtaf did that patch of ice, I hope I didn’t break anything”
IOW: the whole don’t wear underwear thing was bs invented to mess with the english. Now back to henching, it appears the boss’s weaponized cats and goats are coming along nicely if slowly. (sigh)
Stop ruining a perfectly good pub song!
It’s not so much the dresses and flying, it’s that dress she is opposed to (her skin may be shiny, doesn’t mean she wants her clothes to out-shine her skin)
Looks like a copy of Action Comics #1 is in the single digit millions. She might not have that in her bank account even with a very generous paycheck, but she can definitely easily get a loan to buy a copy if she wants to.
1) I know it’s still not shaded but for some reason I feel like today’s art is REALLY good. Better than even normally.
2) Norm and Cliff from Cheers lol.
Norm!
Your second point is what I was here to applaud. I read that in their voices and the theme song has been randomly going through my head, which makes me smile. Someone put together a supercut of every Norm interaction on Cheers (not just the “NORM!” but when he has a little back and forth with someone while he’s walking to his stool. It’s about 30 minutes long, and it’s great. “How does a beer sound, Norm?” “No idea, one’s never lasted long enough to get a word in.” is one that sticks out.
“What would you say to a beer, Norm?”
“Daddy wuvs oo.”
And
“What’s shakin’ Norm?”
“All four cheeks and a couple of chins.”
Thanks! I wish I had time to add a little more color depth. Maybe I’ll have time to return to these pages in the future hah hah hah hah /gun.
Would not object to more 80’s sitcom references. Do Ariana showing up in Night Court next!
As defendant? or accused?
Hmm…since Dan was still Prosecution back then, I’d say Defense.
I feel like the verbal fencing match alone would be worth a few pages.
How old do you think Ari is?
Oh, personally wasn’t claiming Ari would have been a lawyer (unless it was one of her first cases straight out of law school)
I think Ariana would be the Assistant DA to D.A. Vincent Daniels (Daniel Frishman, the dwarf actor who was in a lot of 80s TV shows when they needed a dwarf for a role (Jeffersons, Moonlighting, Thirtysomething, Married with Children, Designing Women, etc). The DA who would regularly terrify Dan (since he would be Dan’s boss).
I also think he was in Return of the Jedi as one of the Ewoks but obviously no one would recognize him in that. :)
I’d think that materials for Parfait summoning cost more than 10k and could be called “extravagant expense” (it was mentioned that there were cheaper alternatives. Including not summoning her).
I’d say the summons was closer to the $4,000-5,000 range. The powdered gold being the most expensive at $250 per gram, the symbol wasnt that big.
I did a re-read, and this is the only instance of Sydney spending money worth mentioning other than the ones mentioned by Dave. It seems like she just haven’t had enough time to go shopping with friends that can help her with her choice paralysis.
Also, I don’t think the zoom feature on the glasses had been previously shown.
The Super situation here is also more different (and reasonable) that most other supers.
1) Good Government based Super Hero Team.
Getting the heavy hitters with you by just paying good money and acting reasonably make the government join up option a lot easier and more viable than running around in a costume to fight crime.
Also having heavy hitters helps rather than getting the B or C class supers while the A and S rank supers are all freelance. Meaning you know the supers can reach you quickly and come down hard on you.
2) Reasonable Villains
Dues being a reasonable long term focused super villain who enjoys his silly gimmicks and knows the difference between being an opposing force and being a jerk.
He keeps some of the villains in line by being a reasonable alternative… Like the murder knife. He found completely justified reasons and methods to recharge the knife without going on a murder spree within a city. Also he pays very well solving the money issue for more than a few villains.
Even the demon army had a reasonable boss who was willing to work with Deus to achieve their main goals together rather than throw a pointless battle or war against one another to claim top villain seat before the heroes were forced to break it up.
Unlike the super minion who was closer to the traditional villain… And we all saw how crazy and dangerous she could be.
3) The introduction.
Yes the whole drowning and blasting a guy’s arm off would make more than a few villains hesitate… There is also a lack of power build up for the villains to mentally prepare themselves with.
spectacular Spider-Man was an example as it was one guy trying to stop crime and the criminals getting super villains made to counter it to the point even if the guy in the animal costume gets stopped… The rest of the low level crooks made up for the loss in profit since they can operate freely.
They got to build up their forces and powers.
This is like dropping Superman without his major villains. The minor villains need more time to organize and work up the courage to stick their heads out to see if they can avoid being hit by the Super Hero strike force team since the rest of the minor villains refuse to stick their heads out to increase the odds and risk their own lives.
Which leaves the major ones who… Lets be honest… Have their own goals and don’t need/want to risk their heads.
So the amount of ‘weekly’ villains are low.
Especially since Supers can quickly get high paying jobs rather than having to rob a bank to pay for their rent next week.
yeah, street crime stops being attractive when you can easily stay afloat with your special talents. then the only crime you may want to commit is white collar crime. but for that you don’t need super powers…
There’s a whole trope about that – called “Cut Lex Luthor a check”
Robin to Trickster: “If you own shoes that let you walk on air, why rent yourself as a cheap hood? If you’d just mass produce them, you’d be ten times richer than Bruce Wayne by now!”
—
Superman to a bank robber who built a Jet Pack in his garage: “I’m sorry… you built this in YOUR GARAGE?”
Robber: “I mean, yeah I… the guys at the lab all said I was crazy, they-…”
Superman: “You built a jet pack in your garage and your first thought was, “I should use this to commit a crime”?”
Robber: “…. well, when you put it THAT way…”
Never had Superman looked so disappointed in anyone’s potential being wasted – he wound up convincing the guy to file for a patent on it when he got out of jail.
—
And there was that episode of Justice League Unlimited where Batman foiled Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang plan by getting the Ultra-Humanite to ambush Lex by doubling Lex’s offer so that he can fund opera on a PBS expy.
—
However, you’ll sometimes get someone who does supervillainy with the full knowledge they could instead be using their powers or inventions profitably. Such as :
Spider-Man: “You can rewrite DNA on the fly, and you’re using it to turn people into dinosaurs? But with tech like that, you could cure CANCER!”
Sauron: “But I don’t WANT to cure cancer. I want to turn people into dinosaurs.”
Reminds me of an episode of The Tick where a scientist was mad that all the good inventions like fire and the light bulb were already invented, so he invented a time machine so he could go back and invent them first.
The only things I remember about that episode, where G.W. Carver saying, “Ifi had some peanuts…,” and the cave woman in the restaurant saying, “…tasty bugs!” while enjoying a ton of lobsters.
I literally won’t eat lobster, crabs, or shrimp because I think of them as ‘sea bugs.’ :) Always have since I was a kid.
The flying shoes guy is actually a shining example of how with a more realistic view it can be totally understandable.
Just, because I can make flying shoes doesn’t mean I know how to sell or mass produce them, those are seperate skills and often require substansive resources(raising capital is also a separate skill) and patents are expensive for individuals who just spent a shitload of money innovating a solid patent can easily go into the 10000$-100000$ range.(Excl. Enforcement costs)
My advice to him would be to hide the workings of the shoes and sell individual shoes to rich individuals, preferably stupid or afraid ones avoiding reverse engineering efforts.
There is also the problem of imposter syndrome every modern invention is based on other inventions and most inventors didn’t study patent law. For a long time someone might be convinced their invention isn’t patent worthy.
The Jetpack guy is off worse though. He has the same problems as the flying shoes guy except with a less impressive invention and the most impressive part is the small scale.
What does this page not account for? An Elon Musk type barging in and bringing a chainsaw to the budget for the sake of trying to shift the country from dollars to cryptocurrency.
Then again, if Musk had tried that in this fictional setting, he would have been Arc Swatted all the way to Mars.
Deus might knock him down before Arc Swat could do anything about it.
Oh, Big D would have already erased Elon.
“Nobody this stupid an be trusted with this much money.”
DeerSTALKER, not deerhunter. It’s called a deerstalker. (I was mildly obsessed with Holmes when I was younger)
Also, Holmes never smoked a calabash pipe in the canonical stories; that was an invention of the actor William Gillette, who played Holmes on stage, because it was big enough for the audience to see it. Holmes was described as smoking clay, briar, and cherrywood pipes.
Plus, a deerstalker was the kind of hat you’d wear on a hunting trip (hence the name) or while travelling through rough country. It’s definitely not something that a Victorian gentleman would wear all the time- it’d be like a modern person always wearing a cap with earflaps.
IIRC – the Deerstalker was from the Basil Rathbone film- but was distinct enough to leak over into most later presentations.
– In the books Holmes usually had a top hat (when my son was about ten, he got pretty hooked on Sherlock Holmes, but never saw any tv/movie stuff- only the books – so he had a pipe and top hat from a costume shop specifically for Sherlock Holmes stuff)
The Holmes stories were originally illustrated, and he’s shown in them wearing a deerstalker on country trips (in town, it’s been noted that his most common sartorial trait was wearing his bow-tie *under* his shirt collar).
The idea of supers patrolling always vaguely annoyed me. I mean, think about how often one *actually* sees crime happening? What kind of city has daily jewel heists? Unless your super has super senses or a police scanner and the ability to move quickly, they’re not going to be able to *find* the crimes easily.
The BEST method would be to dress in regular clothes and wander the bad parts of town to try and get mugged. Maybe dressed as a little old lady.
. . . I think I’ve just realized how Chimmy spends her evenings.
*Lenny voice*
…shut uuuup…
But we still have partols IRL.
They’re more for PR and to show presence rather than based on whatever chance there is to run into a random crime.
Now you’re thinking with partols.
Patrols get seriously underestimated.
I was a postal delivery guy and “patrolled”(delivered post) my suburb streets for one year.
I had to call the emergency services 4 times in one year and didn’t report a weed plantage.
A colleague found a corpse and a bunch of drug related stuff(more experience in that world) in less than one year.
Another colleague stopped a rape and spotted a drug deal.
None of us were trained, prepared, ordered and/or enabled like the police or patrolling in a particular bad place.
Also when I report things to the police they tend to send the closest patrol after it.
Also I’ve witnessed a patrol break up the one drunken fight I’ve witnessed in my life within seconds after it started(this was within a risky area and moment, so the police presence was bigger than average).
Also I’ve experienced that if you talk with people personally they leak like a net.
There is also the relative value of spotting random crime. Random crime is often an indication of a larger pattern, so it is often the start of larger police operations.
And yes presence and pr certainly help.
I personally know several people who reported local criminal activity and entire gangs to the local payrolling officer, because they knew them as the goto police.
It would not surprise me if the average spotting rates for patrols are around two crimes a day or higher(for an emergency service like the police that’s a lot)
Criminals are just as location bound as the rest of us and often have compelling reason to operate outside(do you want to clean up after the last gang murder I don’t think so.)
As for supers.
Police can’t land and fly like walking, don’t carry detective mode orbs, and duplicate their sensoric apparatus and translate all earthly languages, which are all prime payrolling abilities.
Also pr wise they tend to stand out like an elephant on a Christmas tree.
As in aproachability they might have a challenge.
Most supers are rich enough to spend 600$ on Amazon for most of the sensoric apparatus of a police car and old enough to be able to get a drivers license(or a paragliding one since they seem to prefer air travel).
For me I always interpreted it as the writers excuses for why the super found so much crime to fight, without real time police insider knowledge(which in its patrol form costs around 500$ on the shady parts of the internet: they use encrypted radio and as such all police radios have the same key).
The idea is most of the time they spot nothing, but when they spot it we report.
This also explains why Arc Swat barely patrols they don’t need to find their own criminals that is the job of Arc Light.
Sydney talked about wanting to buy an infinity-pool, but real cost there is going to be the house that it’s attached to, since you can’t just add a pool on when you live in an apartment.
Though maybe Sydney should consider upgrading her living situation? Perhaps to some where a doorman?
*with a doorman.
So Maxima’s just dropping the Thing That Made Her Go ‘Hmmm” from the last page?
Yes, because that was stupid
I mean, maybe for the moment? And/or she’s just trying to be subtle about it?
If you think someone might possibly be under malicious mental influence, a little gentle probing/conversation seems like a reasonable investigative response before flying off to loudly and publicly accuse whoever’s in the vicinity.
That was my read on it. She’s checking Sydney for memory lapses or out of character behavior. I’m curious how Sydney will remember why she was non-existent / Time traveling for 2 months, since that’s tied up with Sciona, whom Sydney has currently forgotten exists.
Sydney is not the one who showed possible signs of not remembering someone she barely even noticed
She’s not the type to “drop it”….
She also knows that when it comes to Sydney, the normal “check for inconsistencies” routine doesn’t work…
She already knows there’s *something* up between Deus and the “Governor’s Assistant”, and that Sydney’s weird memory lapse is somehow tied into that.
I think she’s letting Sydney bounce through her usual mental pinball to see if there’s other obvious holes. It’s a surefire way at the speed Sydney bounces around.. And “small talk” wouldn’t alert her, not cause her stress..
…Okay, call me a five-year-old girl at heart, but I would buy the HELL out of a Maxima barbie.
Seriously, I’m sure he could find somebody to do a kickstarter.
There was a crossover with Marion Harmon’s Wearing the Cape series at one point where there’s a con retailer who made one of a kind My Little Pony versions of various supers. There was a Maxima one…
I’m enjoying the comic but I feel like if it were ever turned into a print edition an editor could go into it and eliminate entire pages just like this one. Sciona is just getting annoying with her refusal to die, so is she going to get found out during this sequence or not? This is a lot of rigamarole to go through just to get to that endpoint, which I would love to see because I’m done with Sciona. We already know Maxima can beat her, so she’s not a credible threat. Her new mind control drug superpower would presumably be useless on Max given it’s well-established that nothing affects Max’s gold skin. So get rid of Sciona and let’s move on. That’s my two cents.
Yeah, Maxi can physically beat E-Sci (and 90% of the rest of the Galaxy), but E-Sci could make Maxi an unwanted threat simply by having her ‘boss’ pass a few innocuous looking bills through congress (or however that crap is done)
Currently watching a show on TV about the yakuza, and how one total arsehole is moving away from the typical criminal crap they do into legitimate business until they become so entrenched no one can touch them
It’s not that simple.
Also, from a practical perspective, America would never turn against their strongest gun on the planet.
Looks at the actions of the current POTUS…
Ms. Scoville, for your TV upgrade, may I recommend the 4K 75″ Hisense U9DG. $3000+shipping+tax.
An LCD behind the LCD acts as a programmable illuminator giving near OLED black levels.
Okay, can see Morph and Anvil, who is Lady Octopus? (what, you thought would have gone with SheSpider?)
I think that’s the ditzy blonde who works down in Arcswat Engineering and is friends with the Goblin Girl. Likes to make things that shoot out darts with chains and stuff for no good reason. Last seen impaling hapless clones with said device during the invasion of Arc Headquarters.
You really think they would let her out? In public? On a construction site?
That doesnt look like an octopus to me. It looks like Digit wearing a Steel Spider-type exoskeleton.
And yes I think they’d have the super inventor at a construction site if she’s being supervised. Closely. :)
It’s when she’s left to her own devices that she seems to let the ditziness become destructive.
Like said: the obvious was a Spider-suit, personally don’t like the obvious, that tends to be too easy :P
Regarding Sydney’s spending habits it is funny how sudden wealth effects people. I know a couple of siblings who inherited a couple of hundred thousand dollars each from their fathers estate. She blew through her share in a couple of years (barrel racing is not a cheap sport) while he still has four cents from his first nickel. I could see where Sydney had to learn to deal with her ADHD by second and even third guessing every purchase. This would be especially true while trying to get a small business off the ground. It’s a habit that persists even after you get some disposable income.
I wonder how long it will take Sydney to realize that she’s rapidly approaching “Fund a Farscape reunion episode” rich.
Hmmmmm. So is Maxima really not going to push Kat on her lapse of memory, or is this just a Syndey-induced break before continuing down that road? Guess we’ll see….
I think Sydney’s largest ‘expense’ was probably that donation to the swear jar after she got back.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-739-swear-jar-ii-a-filthy-boogaloo/
I’m not sure. her language rarely go’s dirty it’s her discriptive about what they are doing that makes it so filthy.
Which makes it more impressive, expecially for an American. She or one of her parents probably spent some time in a country where they swear like this in their own language was impressed, and copied the style.
she did also buy those materials for summoning her friend
Ah, yes – had forgotten that. It’s probably the tossing a brick of bills into the jar was so memorable. :)
I guess George Wendt and Burt Reynolds instead of John Ratzenberger is a fun choice?
as far as ‘patrol’ first, so far, in the US the vast majority of bullets expended by law enforcement people is… at the target range. its still fairly normal for police to go most if not all of their career without shooting at anyone in the line of duty. so ARCSWAT is very much in the barracks. the point I’d make is its literally cheaper to pay these people the SS maximum or more to train and be controlled than to risk them going private sector. Halo herself with full orbital capability would halve the value of space X. not to mention with her shield she can do things we can’t even dream of doing. the ‘Reed Richards is an asshole’ tope comes to mind. by focusing ARCSwat the way they are they preserve most of the established order. though when the bright boys figure out how to make that shuttle, the side industries are going to make some new billionaires. If i may suggest that in this timeline a certain wealthy South African immigrant gets his fortune cut out by the battery research. might simplify the coming timeline divergence.
“Halo herself with full orbital capability would halve the value of space X.”
Probably not. She is one person. Yes she’s able to get 16 tons (and whattayah get…) into orbit.
But Max is able to lift rather more and move it rather faster and she isn’t being used as a substitute Air Force One. Even though they’ve had rather more call on her services for rather longer.
SpaceX can make more rockets. They have a factory! How many tons have they put into orbit in the last year? Yes, it’s more expensive per pound than paying Sydney (maybe), but there’s likely less of a waiting line.
It’s how some of the other rocket companies out there are planning to compete. “Yes, they can lift more, but we have a smaller rocket and can launch on Tuesday. When’s their next launch with available space?”
I suppose it does depend on the contract she signed and how much freedom she has to change what she does when someone does realize that she can put stuff in orbit. Can she even go free agent, or does the US have her for the next four years? Can Arianna still represent her if she does?
I’m not sure how canon it is, but in the book “Wearing the Cape: Team-ups and Crossovers”, Sydney purchases a fan-made, one-off, My Little Pony version of Maxima, which can’t have been cheap.
That’s a collectible that might actually be worth something in twenty years.
Please go back to your good style of art. Undefined borders and outlines, and a lack of detailing, are actually making it harder to focus on the characters. That, in turn, is causing readers to try to discern details that aren’t actually there. And this is distracting from remaining focused on the story, which causes interest to wane.
If someone were to start reading now without any previous context of what it had looked like, they wouldn’t stick around. Don’t let this decision be the moment where people can point to you jumping the shark.
Please go back and read the reason why DaveB switched to the simpler style
Bollocks. Hush.
very nice. I didn’t recoognize heatwave initially. I look forward to seeing the remaining steps, much better than reposting a frame for an already published comic. I also enjoy seeing the multiple stages along the way. Perhaps this is the best option going forward, where you get 3 to 5 DIFFERENT posts out of each image. I thoroughy endorse this.
Maxima doesn’t really strike me as the type for a fashion doll, but if they’re trying to get Mattel to produce their merchandise they make plenty of action figures. Heck, I could probably kitbash together a decent Maxima figure using a Wonder Woman, she has pretty much the same body type and even a similar face, just cast a Wonder Woman in lustrous yellow, give her new legs that look like pants, give them a military camo deco, and put an open jacket on her. (By this token Hiro is practically just a Superman repaint too…)
heh, I bet if they DID that you could make a joke about Sydney being the only figure in the entire line to use the skinny “teen” buck really pissing her off but at least her toy comes with the most effect parts and accessories, and Anvil would be pissed because she’d be the Build a Figure because she’s to tall and bulky to be made with a standard female buck.
Oh, one more! Harem and Dabbler would be all smug that they get the most figures because they’d need to make a bunch of variants for them, since Dabbler would have a “normal” human figure and her 4 armed “powered up” form and you’d need to make 5 variations of Dabbler, basically the same figure with different hair sculpts and costume elements.
Morn!
(dangit)….Norm!! (and Cliff!)
Wonder how many of your fans are old enough to recognize the Cheer’s cast in panel 5.
All of us retirees who read the comics while we drink our morning coffee.
Maxima: Profligates like you belong on the Cross.
Sidney: Ooh, when did you have time to play Fallout? NCR huh?
Maxima: Well it was the NCR, or House, and I’d rather *not* work for Deus even in a fictional world.
Ok, the very last sentence in the last panel got me. Literally laughed out loud on that one.
I’m with Maxima, the woman would look AWFUL in pastel colours. Actually the colours she’s looked good in thus far has been the Shadow the Hedgehog Red & Black in my opinion.
Wait did she get back pay when she was lost in space?
ASI recall, they split the difference.
“Stop using made-up words to define real words!”
“All language is made-up.”
“SHUT UP!!”
what does ‘dictionary’ mean? Open one.
I think I’ve only used “profligate” to refer to congressional spending.
ahhhh Good old Cheers reference. <3
Obviously you don’t have to patrol, you’re government supers. You have access to the entire government’s information gathering abilities. If someone else sees a super crime, they call you.
If you were vigilantes, you’d have to patrol all the time, invest in a police radio, and still need a lot of luck unless you had some really great super-senses to find crimes in time to intervene. Superman falls into the latter category and you can see how he doesn’t bother patrolling, he just lives his life until he detects crime with his senses. It’s all about information gathering ability and ability to quickly move to the appropriate location.
I miss Yorp. And Guesticus. Ah well. I also think Max would look adorable in that dress.
Love to tell you this, but one of those is still around (and not the fun one everyone misses :( )