4thofeleven

[4thofeleven]

Have you ever seen a show that has an incredibly diverse cast of characters, many well-known and talented cast members, great humour, many queer characters, a lot of carefully handled mental health and disability representation as the central storyline and a wonderfully fun new but interconnected plot every episode? And absurdist fictional medical situations for doctors to solve to boot?

I have!

Oh and did I mention the raving anti-capitalist commentary? There's also that

[4thofeleven]

Fortunatly, GW models back in the 80s were free of harmful asbestos and only contained safe, child-friendly lead!

asbestos astartes

That sounds like something that Games Workshop would have gotten in trouble for making in the 80s

[4thofeleven]

I like that 'The Voyager' could be an in-universe example of early weirdness. Like, it's their first mission, no-one was quite sure, but after someone said it, they all decided it sounded wrong and Janeway sent out a memo telling everyone that just 'Voyager' would be preferred henceforth.

Favourite Star Trek "Early Installment Weirdness"

Spock as a Vulcanian, wearing yellow, with extra bushy and angled eyebrows and with "some human blood in [his] ancestry" [TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before"]

Headaches being cured and virtually unknown by the 24th century [TNG: "The Battle"]

That one and only time they referred to the ship as "The Voyager" and it sounded really weird [VOY: "Parralax"]

Shouting Spock! "THE WOMEN!!!!" [TOS: "The Cage"]

Captain Pike's dye job [DSC: "Brothers"]

Data showing emotions and using contractions [TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"]

Troi experiencing the emotions she senses [TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"]

Saru's homeworld originally being a brutal world of hunters and prey, before we visit later and it's all just high tech stuff and ancient traditions [DSC S1]

Pike using lasers in "The Cage" and the warp drive requiring lithium crystals in "Where No Man Has Gone Before", which would immediately be replaced with phasers and dilithium crystals

The weird way that phasers act like photon torpedoes (which IRL didn't exist yet), being pulses of energy that detonate at rage, in TOS: "Balance of Terror"

The Enterprise being an "Earth Ship" from the "United Earth Space Probe Agency" [TOS S1]

Add your own!

[4thofeleven]

Alright people, vampire question:

Does the area within an eruv count as a single location for the purposes of being invited in? Can a vampire cross the boundry of an eruv? If a vampire is invited into an eruv, does that allow them to travel freely within it, including into individual dwellings that they were not specifically invited into?

Discuss.

[4thofeleven]

Cities of Sigmar Spearhead complete!

Always liked the look of the Cities army - their grubby, down to earth normality makes a nice contrast to the crazy fantasy style of everyone else. So when my local game store had this box on sale, I had to snap it up!

I really like these kits - there's a lot of different options for heads and weapons, and fair few female options. A few of the heads also have a bit of an elven style, which helps sell the Cities as a multicultural alliance.

I figure my guys are a bit of a ragtag band that's not above a bit of banditry when supplies run low - I went with the colors and heraldry of Misthaven, which in the lore is a pirate haven and full of shady characters. Gives an excuse for why they'd be fighting other 'good' armies!

[4thofeleven]

This is what actually broke up the Kira-Keiko-Miles polycule.

Re: this it is also very character-appropriate that the only hobby we see Kira Nerys engaging in enthusiastically without being roped into it by her friends is springball. She does not really know how to approach imaginative scenarios and has no aptitude for art, and it figures that she would be more interested in sports and recreation - very physical and embodied and instinctive rather than contemplative or creative, taking her out of her thoughts rather than immersing herself in them.

Anyway, since several male characters get episodes devoted to them having a goofy silly time with their hobbies (like Sisko building an ancient spaceship from scratch or Bashir LARPing as James Bond), I think there should have been a low-key episode about Kira participating in a springball tournament.

[4thofeleven]

Just got my account on Reddit flagged for 'threatening physical harm' after I said 'may his bones be crushed' in reference to Emperor Hadrian.

[4thofeleven]

There's something really funny about Mayfair Witches this season throwing in a random vampire and name-dropping Daniel and his book. It's got big 'Sony trying to make people think they're part of the MCU too!' energy.

[4thofeleven]

lets have a day in the park with mama

[4thofeleven]

lets splish splash with mama

[4thofeleven]

let's have a big nap with mama -and aunties!

[4thofeleven]

I mean, do you know how petty academic politics gets? There's a lot of universities where murdering each other would just improve efficiency because people would get it out the way instead of trying to sabotage each other for decades...

How is the Terran Empire even a viable state? Every time we see it in action, they're betraying and murdering one another. How do they get organized? Like, I can almost accept that you could get competent military leaders through assassination, but like...how does this work for scientists and technical professionals and everyone else who need specialised knowledge and not just ambition to keep things running? It's ludicrous.

[4thofeleven]

So, Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings miniature game has rules for a whole set of scenarios to play out the full story. Which seems like it would be a lot of fun, even if it would require a truly immense miniature collection.

What's really cool, though, is that it includes rules for creating alternate Fellowships. Which lets you play out all sorts of what-if stories - what if Gandalf recognised the Ring immediately, and Bilbo and the Dwarves undertook the quest? What if Saruman remained loyal and joined the group? What if Faramir joined the Fellowship instead of Boromir? All great possibilities, but checking the rules, I realized you can play out the most incredible scenario:

See, when setting up your alternate Fellowship, you can pick any hobbit hero to take Sam's place as the Ringbearer's companion. And checking the list of heroes the game stats out, I discovered something amazing:

You could decide to play out "What if? Lobelia Sackville-Baggins decided to follow and harangue Bilbo or Frodo all the way to Mount Doom?!"

[4thofeleven]

My kitties with their new play house.

[4thofeleven]

decided for a santa clarita diet rewatch as a palate cleanser between watching yellowjackets and sleep and am finding some parallels

1. liv hewson plays a high school student with queer tendencies (they would have dated winter if there was a 4th season, fight me)

2. couple who have been together since high school who are down for anything, including but not limited to killing and the wife eating people

3. their kid knows a bit too much about the murder and has a wild, out of proportion reaction to bullying at school in the lunchroom

[4thofeleven]

I find it very annoying that Marvel Rivals has missions that require you to do damage as a 'mutant' without having anywhere to see who qualifies as such.

Given that the game has Squirrel Girl, Scarlet Witch, and Cloak and Dagger, all of whom have gone back and forth, it's not that clear-cut...

[4thofeleven]

Inquisitorial Kill Team Furore investigates a suspicious cargo shipment on an eastern fringe world of the Imperium.

(Picked up this team suspiciously cheap on Ebay, and I'm really happy with them! You get seven operatives, but four of them can be assembled as two different types of agent - so I bought a box of Necromunda Hive Scum and kitbashed them so I'd have all the options. And UR-025 from the Combat Arena box is filling in as a second Gun Servitor.

I think I did a decent job with the reds and black of making them look like a unified team, while still getting across that these are a bunch of independent weirdos from across the Imperium that the Inquisitor's recruited over their career. My favorite's probably the Hexorcist - crazy old man with a shotgun!)