#at least with ghosts he can claim to have anti-ghost technology

[evilminji]

Okay, you know how City Spirits are a thing?

And Superheros both Die, Un-Die, Re-Die, Dimensionally Sorta Maybe Die But Then Don't, and also never Died in the first place? And probably do at least a portion of that in Medical? While ALSO hanging out, quantumly maybe Dead, maybe alive, in their Super Cool Clubhouse?

Which is ALSO exposed to space rays, the entirety of The Magic Club, weird alien Technology, aaaaand whatever they decide to store on it??

:T

I'm just SAYING...

For as long as dwellings Of Significance have existed, there have been house spirits. They are the IDEA of the house. The SIGNIFICANCE of it. What makes it HOME. The weight of the halls that turn into Halls. And The Watchtower? Is KNOWN to enough people, to have SIGNIFICANCE.

It's a HALL where Heros Live. A Place Of Safety. It GAURDS.

It is also inanimate. Steeped heavily in every sort of energy, be it magic or science, and multidimensional fuckery imaginable. But? Not SENTIENT. Yet.

Until of course... this new fangled Anti-Ghost Shield comes out. By the new and recently no-longer on the run (from the Goverment they're at war with) Dr.'s Fenton! Why were they are war? Don't worry about it!

They Won.

:)

Unrelated! Never threaten their kids. They WILL find you. Not a threat, just informing!

:) :)

The security guy they sent to the expo was from Gotham, unfortunately. So he found the couple to be completely normal. They? Should not have sent Thomas. He was hired BECAUSE his parents were Mad Scientists in the making. Batman was steering him away from a life of crime. Thomas could judge "normal" from "deeply unhinged" if it belly danced infront of him, in the seduction dance of a thousand, deep fried, mackerel.

It's his version of face blindness. Great with technology though! And the shield worked a treat. Even promised to be both ethical AND programmable! Not harming the ghosts it pushed out unless they try to force entry AND allowing them to program in exceptions. Allowing Heros such as Deadman to freely enter!

Is it a little janky looking? Yeah. But if it works, it works. They add it to the systems and flip it on.

One small and immediate problem. There is now a small knight shaped child in the engine room. She was NOT there a second ago. She has controlo of the ENTIRE Watchtower, claims to BE the Watchtower, and knows all their names. Knows a disturbing level of information about every employee on the Tower.

Oh and apparently "No one is leaving."

No one panic! Just unplug the... she has swallowed the ghost shielding unit into a wall. Slightly panic.

Panic lite.

Luckily, no one is willing to throw the first punch at what appears to be a small child. So the JLA Dark have a chance to literally run over.

They demand to know who's bright idea it was to add... "ectoplasm"? Was THAT the energy source? Oooh. Their departments probably in trouble. Later though, the hero's are trying to negotiate with a small child. Who is apparently a ghost.

It's not SAFE, she's insisting. Everyone has to stay HERE where she can protect them. From the nebulous threat of Bad Guys. They LEAVE and come back HURT. She is UPSET and everyone is going to STAY! Forever!

Not good.

Then Thomas pipes up, like the oblivious asshole he is, that he should PROBABLY call the engines makers. They did mention something a long these lines might happen.

WHAT.

You think, Thomas? Might be a good idea, maybe? Just a bit? YES FUCKING CALL THEM!

(All right, all right! No need to YELL! *ring ring* 'Ello? Maddie? Sorry to catch you at dinner-)

So now? There is a glowing college student, who was escorted here by a WEREWOLF, who just? Tore open reality? To some green, swirling hellscape? And popped through like "sup, sorry I'm late. Was in a council meeting!" And judging by the ficking CROWN and the various quietly panicking magic users, he probably didn't mean student council, and just?

Guess he's hear to talk to their newly sentient Tower.

Question! Asks Thomas, of the fucking Ghost King because of course he does, are they Dads now? Or if they already have kids, Dads AGAIN? Do they have to come up with a baby name?

.......oh dear lord, the Ghost King looks like he has to think about it.

What are we gonna tell our SPOUSES!? "Hey honey, guess what I got at work today! A NEW CHILD. They're a space station!"

@hdgnj @nerdpoe @ailithnight @the-witchhunter @hypewinter @mutable-manifestation

[theshadowrealmitself]

Give Danny a nemesis who’s just a dude with no ghost theme, they just saw that the town had a superhero now and they are ecstatic to live out their supervillain fantasy, they don’t care about all the spooky stuff, they just wanna kidnap the mayor with a disintegrator ray and demand ransom in the form of cartoonishly large jewels

[goodfish-bowl]

@floralflowerpower here’s the fic you asked for, took me a bit but I think it turned out pretty well! 

based on this post and this headcanon

Summary: Danny had to admit, he’d never thought something like this would happen. Usually, the roles were reversed, and he’d be the one bursting in through warehouse doors, guns blazing, ready to kick some ghost butt. Never thought he’d be the one dangling precariously close to a large vat of somewhat familiar bubbling ectoplasm, while the stereotypical villain paced near the lever that would drop him to his doom. That made him the damsel in distress, a concerning idea. 

 Words: 3530 

Danny had to admit, he’d never thought something like this would happen. Usually, the roles were reversed, and he’d be the one bursting in through warehouse doors, guns blazing, ready to kick some ghost butt. Never thought he’d be the one dangling precariously close to a large vat of somewhat familiar bubbling ectoplasm, while the stereotypical villain paced near the lever that would drop him to his doom. That made him the damsel in distress, a concerning idea.

Normally, this wouldn’t be concerning, but he couldn’t phase through the chain that was wrapped around him enough times he resembled a cocoon rather than a hostage. It must’ve come from the Ghost Zone, with the light glow emitting from the mental links and the lack of burning pain associated with anti-ghost coatings and ectoranium. At least he bought local. He liked the energy coming off of the surprisingly large container of ectoplasm, radiating a glow and mist that bathed everything he saw in green, even less than the idea of being chained upside-down over said vat. He didn’t want to find out why.

Who was this loser anyway? The ghost lawyer? He’d never seen, heard, nor smelled this ghost in his entire half-life. His navy suit contrasted awfully with his green skin, violet eyes, and mint-green hair, and those red shoes definitely didn’t match any of it. What a lame villain, couldn’t even dress himself properly.

“Hey! Looser!” Danny called out, and the lawyer ghost perked up.

“Splendid! You’re awake! It would’ve been anticlimactic if you stayed unconscious,” the ghost remarked.

“Should’ve stayed unconscious, it would’ve kept me from having to witness your crime against fashion. Who are you and how’d I get here? Last I checked you didn’t ask me if I wanted to hang out?” Danny quipped.

“I am Wright, a ghost of due process and order, and your darling Valerie Gray has thwarted me for the last time! I boyfriend-napped you to draw her here! Your doom will serve as her punishment,” Wright exclaimed, like a looser.

Danny just stared at the ghost for a minute as his head attempted to wrap around what was going on, and hanging upside down, wrapped in chains, didn’t help.

“’Boyfriend-napped? Seriously? That’s not even a word, and Val and I stopped dating, like, a year ago!” Danny pointed out.

“Irrelevant,” Wright huffed, ”You still hold her affections, and your death will cause her the same grief she caused me.”

Danny scoffed, “What’d she do to you anyways? She shoots at all the ghosts, you’re not special.”

“I wasn’t aware that you knew about her… nightly activities,” Wright stated, and Danny gave him a look.

“Ok, let me get this straight, who am I to you?” Danny asked, confused. Most ghosts were aware that Valerie was the Red Huntress, and Wright had yet to make a remark about having “captured Phantom”.

“Daniel Fenton, the son of the infamous ghosthunters Madeline and Jack Fenton of Amity Park, and the former sweetheart of Valerie Gray, the Red Huntress,” Wright announced.

“Right, ok. What do you know about Phantom?”

“I hold great admiration for the protector of Amity Park! He goes through the process of capturing ghosts with efficiency and never acts without just cause! He’s a powerful ghost worthy of the titles bestowed upon him! He valiantly defends both his haunt and the people who live there, both human and ghost! Truly a pillar of order and process!” Wright gushed and Danny fought the urge to roll his eyes, ”What does this have to do with you, however?”

Danny frowned, fighting off the reflex to claim Amity wasn’t his haunt, but his home. The praise was appreciated, but he really didn’t understand why this ghost held him so high. He was more surprised by the fact that this ghost didn’t know that Phantom and Fenton were the same damn person and that he had just kidnapped someone he held in such high regard.

“What do you mean by ‘order and process’?” Danny asked, just to get a proper definition as to what this poorly dressed lawyer was on.

“He properly maintains a level of organization and protection in Amity Park, protecting the order and in every single fight plays out how it’s supposed to be. A trespasser with malicious intentions shows up, Phantom arrives shortly, they banter and fight, Phantom emerges victorious, and the trespasser is removed from the premises, thus process. Does that make sense to your feeble human mind?” Wright chastised, explaining himself carefully.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Well, aren’t you a ghost ‘trespassing’ in Amity Park? Doesn’t that mean Phantom will he show up to save m, tossing you back into the Zone?” Danny bluffed.

“But we’re not in Amity Park, I may have boyfriend-napped–“

“Please never say that word again.”

“-you from there, but that’s not where we currently are. Red Huntress operates out of Elmertown, and I would never infringe upon Phantom’s haunt!”

Huh, Danny supposed that made sense to a point, he never really dealt with ghosts in Elmertown, since they were usually just low-level specters that usually didn’t mean any harm. If Val was operating out of here, then it made sense that there would be so few ghosts, and also that the ghosts that were afraid or ‘admired’ him like Wright would stick to Elmertown rather than Amity.  

“And Val doesn’t follow your version of ‘order and process’?”

“NO! She shows up, never lets me get through my proper monologue or cause the necessary level of chaos, and then threatens my afterlife, completely uncivilized! What an improper lady! Always shooting first, never asking questions!” Wright exasperated.

“Sorry, but that’s Val’s order and process. Guns blazing and ready to kick some ghost butt.”

Valerie burst in through the doors, with perfect theatric timing, her ecto-rifle poised and aimed at Wright.

“Danny!” she exclaimed, immediately focusing on him before shifting her rage towards the ghost in the room.

Oh boy, did she look pissed. Danny wasn’t sure if he’d ever pushed her to the point Wright currently had. Her suit blazed with scarlet energy, read to fire at the drop of a hat, bright enough Danny could see it over the green haze of the pool of ectoplasm beneath him.  

“Finally! It took you long enough. I left a note and everything,” Wright complained, unmoved by her anger.

“Let Danny go, or I blast a hole straight through you this time, Wright,” Valerie snarled.

Wright sneered, ”You shoot me, and I drop the boy-toy into a vat of concentrated ectoplasm. There’s not even enough distance for you to swoop in and save him before he’s at least partially submerged.”

Valerie looked over to Danny, and he almost smiled in greeting, but he managed to stop himself as a particular detail resurfaced. Fenton didn’t know Valerie was the Red Huntress, that was knowledge only Phantom was privy to. Damn it. Valerie’s eyes were wide in fear under her visor, and her grip tightened on her rifle considerably. Danny couldn’t make a joke or anything, and he was forced to fill his expression with unfamiliarity and panic, like a proper actor. He met her eyes anyways, cool and calm, before gritting his teeth. He trusted Valerie, she would save him, but he also knew her well enough to know she hated playing along. Valerie hadn’t realized that the Red Huntress wasn’t supposed to know Danny Fenton either, so perhaps it evened out in its own way.  

“Dragging a bystander into a personal fight is just like a ghost,” she spat the word, “What is it you want?”

Wright began with a flourish of his arms, “For everything to play out in the proper order of course! For an order to be restored to your haphazard violence! We are going to go through all of the proper motions of this encounter and the winner will always be the hero! We just have to figure out who’s who.”

“I’m not letting you monologue while Da-… while an innocent is hanging over… whatever that is!” Valerie protested.

“I never expected such an aggressive and weak-minded being such as you to understand the importance of doing things the right way! That’s why I needed a hostage.” Wright huffed. “Also, It’s concentrated ectoplasm. like the name implies its densely packed ectoplasm, a powerful source of energy for both ghosts and most of your human anti-ghost technology, but burns through humans faster than hydrochloric acid,” Wright explained, and Danny couldn’t help but pale in response.

Oh… that was bad, and no wonder he recognized it, he’d seen it in small amounts around the lab. Danny also didn’t want to see how he, a half-ghost currently human, would react to it. Valerie also apparently didn’t want to find out, more than she wanted to blast a hole through Wright apparently. Her shoulders began trembling and she grit her teeth, glancing rapidly between where Danny was dangling and where Wright waited patiently for her to make her decision. Danny took a deep breath and called out to her, snapping her out of her internal conflict.

“Don’t worry about me, Red Huntress! I’ll just hang out right here! I’m not going anywhere!”

Valerie sent Danny a look, exasperated and melancholic, most likely due to the pun, before setting her gaze on Wright, who had a large grin on his face displaying way too many teeth.

“Fine,” she spat, “let’s get this over with.”

“Wonderful!” Wright clapped his hands, “As you can see, Red Huntress, I have captured Danny Fenton! And unless you defeat me in the next three minutes, he will get dropped to his doom!”

“Wait, there’s a timer?” Danny asked, and Wright ignored his interruption, hitting a button next to the lever, probably starting the timer.

“Now meet your maker, Red Huntress!”

Wright vaulted over the bars of the platform he was standing on, directly at Valerie. She met him halfway with a crimson blast, energy meeting the sole of his atrocious red shoes in a form of deflection, launching him into the air where he remained suspended. He launched several violet ectoblasts while Valerie charged up her gun again, taking to the air as her hoverboard formed beneath her feet. They began a combination of hand-to-hand strikes and blasts midair, often speeding out of Danny’s view as he craned his neck to witness the fight. There was too much blood in his head for him to focus properly, but there was something off about the way Wright fought.

One, two, three, five ecto blasts, then he switched to close combat, striking 7 times with his fists and ending in a kick to gain some distance before firing ectoblasts again. It was in order…

“Red! He’s fighting in a pattern! Five blasts, seven punches, one kick!” Danny called out.

They careened back in front of him, and Val nodded in confirmation. Wright ended with a kick and floated back into the air.

“I’ve seen you figured me out! But it will not allow you to defeat me!”

Wright fired off his blasts, and Valerie easily countered them, now knowing what to expect. Wright came in close again, attempting to rush her. His fist connected to her forearms 6 times, each blocked easily and efficiently by Valerie’s suit, doing practically no damage. She had positioned herself right near the chain that held Danny above ‘his doom’. Wright had one more hit left, but rather than take it he backed off, just as the timer beeped.

“It seems it’s time for us to end this charade, Red Huntress.” Wright declared and broke the pattern early and fired a clean and precise ectoblast behind Valerie.

The chain went slack, and Danny plummeted. Valerie grasped it in desperation shouting something he couldn’t hear, but it was too late, the upper half of his body dunked below the surface.

It was like getting dunked into freezing water, at least before he became immune to the cold. It sent shivers and rose goosebumps along every single point of contact, he saw nothing but green. It felt like the submerged half of his body had fallen asleep, pins and needles piercing his skin, but never actually hurting him. Danny thrashed despite this, desperate to get out the concoction meant to kill him, not realizing he wasn’t in pain as panic swept away any other rational thought.

(page break)

“Danny!” Valerie shouted, grasping desperately for the chain.

It skid in her grip, a yard too late and Danny slipped halfway below the surface. His whole body thrashed sending ripples across the surface but making no sound. She screamed, her voice filling the empty void of Danny’s soundlessness. It was already too late, some part of her mind spoke, but she refused to acknowledge it. As fast she physically could, she tied the chain to the closest bar and launched herself on her hoverboard. She snapped the chain Danny was hanging from with ease and a grief-filled ectoblast, and took Danny down to the ground, careful not to touch the green sludge the covered the upper half of his torso.

Valerie’s hoverboard collapsed back into her suit, and then they met eyes, something that her mind could barely register. Even more than that, she wasn’t looking at the face that had plummeted into the vat. Phantom’s eyes stared back wide, bright green and covered in ectoplasm, stared back on her, while the bottom half remained clothed in jeans and battered red converse. Her mind short-circuited, and she was pretty sure her suit as well from the beating it had just taken.  

Danny… Phantom… whoever the hell she was staring at seemed to finally realize that he was out, let out a cough, rolling over onto his stomach to purge the concentrated ectoplasm from his lung, and heaved a deep breath of air he couldn’t possibly need once they were clear. He rolled back over and sat up, shifting in the chains, trying to get out of them.

Valerie saw red, and snatched the chains, pulling Phantom’s face close to hers, a snarl on her face. Phantom’s eyes widened and he yelped at the sudden tug.

“Is this what you do?! You teamed up with Wright of all ghosts to get to me?!” Valerie cried.

Phantom’s eyes widened, confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about! I was kidnapped!” He yelped.

“Don’t lie to me Phantom!”

Phantom froze, looking like a dear caught in headlights. He frantically tried to glance himself over, writhing in place, still unable to move his arms since he was still chained up. Valerie had no intention of unchaining him now. He caught sight of his jumpsuit and shook some of his soaked hair into his face, catching its color.

“Oh.”

“What do you mean ‘Oh’?!”

“Just learned what happens when I get drenched in concentrated ectoplasm.” His tone was even and quiet and only served to infuriate her further.

“Answer me, Phantom!”

“I didn’t lie!” He shouted right back, “He really did kidnap me!”

“Then where is Danny?! He’s still missing. Does Wright still have him?” She demanded.

Phantom shifted around in the chains again, and Valerie unceremoniously dropped him to the floor. He grunted by was focused on the chains now. Phantom’s eyes flared ice blue, overtaking their normal toxic green, and the chains froze solid. With enough strain, the metal links shattered and clattered uselessly to the floor. He stretched his arms and glanced them over.

There was a line, clear and definable, where the ectoplasm hadn’t touched him. Under the green substance, was Phantom, jumpsuit and all, but Valerie was fixated on the borderline, as was Phantom, where the jumpsuit transitioned into Danny’s iconic red and white shirt. There were no gloves on his hands, and the jumpsuit ceased existing halfway down his arms, and the skin underneath the goo was the same color as Phantom’s face, but the dry areas were the same pale as Danny’s skin.

“I’m right here, Valerie,” Phantom said, looking straight through her.

Valerie scoffed, “I see you here, Phantom, but where’s Danny Fenton?”

“I’m Danny Fenton.”

Of all the things Phantom could’ve said, that wasn’t the answer she wanted. For the second time that night, her mind reeled to a halt.

"You can’t be Danny, you’re a ghost,” Valerie justified.

“And people can die? I just happen to be caught in the middle.” Phantom said, making no sense.

“You died? Danny’s dead?” Her voice came out quietly, almost a whimper.

“I’m more like half-dead.” He had the nerve to laugh. “A bit of both ghost and human mixed together, I can be either-or.”

“What was the name of the flour baby we raised together?” She pressed, looking for a piece of information Danny would know, but Phantom shouldn’t.

“We… we didn’t name it, did we? I’m pretty sure that wasn’t one of the requirements Mr. Lancer gave us.” Phantom responded with a weak chuckle.

Valerie looked at him, really looked at him. Phantom and Fenton didn’t really look that different, in fact, they were surprisingly similar to the point it was eerie. He had always looked freakily familiar, and now she knew why. They had the same facial structure, hairstyle, and even the awful senses of humor lined up. The only difference was that Phantom was a ghost, and Danny was human.

“How can you be half-dead?” Valerie asked.

“Turns out the portal is really dark on the inside, that is until you turn it on from the inside.”

It took Valerie a minute, but then she understood. She fully understood. Her helmet and visor retracted, revealing her watering eyes. Danny was Phantom, and Phantom was Danny.  He wasn’t being overshadowed, overshadowing didn’t look like this, not half-covered in ectoplasm like he was. Danny didn’t make eye contact, choosing instead to collect a bit of it onto his finger, watching intently as his skin sizzled, glowing white and the edges and spreading like a chemical reaction until it reached the edge of the ectoplasm. The skin became discolored, and a bit of white-silver glove appeared, manifesting all on its own underneath the goop. Then he had the nerve to lick it off.

Valerie scrunched up her face in disgust while Phantom seemed to contemplate the taste, still focusing on his finger. The darker skin tone and glove seemed to dissolve away on their own back into pale skin once the ectoplasm was gone.  Danny really was Phantom.

Valerie threw herself onto the ground and punched him as hard as she could in her given state, her suit protecting her from the concentrated ectoplasm on his body that could possibly burn her if Wright was to be trusted.

“Ouch!” Danny complained, rubbing his arm where she’d hit, the ectoplasm spreading to his hand forming the glove again.

“I dated you!” Valerie protested, “I dated you, and then broke up with you!”

Danny’s gaze shifted around, confused and sheepish. “Y-yeah?”

“I broke up with you to focus on hunting you!”

“Yeah?”

“And you knew this entire damn time!”

“Uhhhhhh… yeah.” He admitted, looking down awkwardly and attempting to wipe his hand off on his jeans, but only succeeded in spreading the ectoplasm around. The patch of denim transformed into black rubber.

“You ruined my life!”

“I’ve told you a thousand times! It was an accident!” Danny protested, wiping his hand on the ground again in an attempt to get more off but finally looking back up at her.

Valerie stared at him for a moment, before devolving into a fit of giggles, getting to her feet from where she had seated herself on the floor. Danny looked up at her, even more confused than before.

“You really need to wash that stuff off, or are you going to lick yourself clean?” Valerie teased.

Danny huffed indignantly, climbed to his own feet, and a white ring blossomed around his waist. Valerie watched in awe as what parts were still Fenton transformed into equally an equally familiar jumpsuit and set of silver boots. The ectoplasm that still coated him slowly vanished, absorbed into his ghostly form. The ghostly halo around him grew in intensity, glowing brighter than before. His feet lifted from the floor and he began to float, eyes also growing in intensity. Danny gave a large smile, literally beaming bright enough to light up a good portion of the warehouse all on his own.

“Thanks, Val,” Danny said.

“For what exactly?” she asked.

“Well, you didn’t shoot me when I told you I was Danny Fenton, you saved me from witnessing Wright's awful sense of fashion any longer, and finally for Elmertown,” Danny counted off on his fingers.

"Elmertown?”

Danny put his hands on his hips matter-of-factly, ”Even if I don’t agree with your methods, you’ve been protecting Elmertown from ghosts. So, thank you,” Danny confessed.

He landed on the ground in front of her, boots barely making as sound and bright enough she was nearly blinded by it. He gave her a large, goofy smile, one that she was much more used to seeing on Fenton’s face than Phantom’s, but it only reinforced the idea that they were the same person.

Valerie smiled right back.

[parab0mb]

I live!

So... yeah, after about 3 and a half months of complete silence, I’m back. I know taking forever to upload anything new is a pretty common occurrence for me, but the whole summer is admittedly long even by my standards. Despite recently graduating I think a combination of career-hunting and depression siphoned any motivation I had to accomplish anything these past few months. I’m still busy with work and looking for a career but I’m at least feeling slightly more motivated now, at least enough to attempt to get back into a drawing mood, even if it’s nothing substantial.

Anyway, since I’ve had my OC Lilian on the brain for a while now, I figured I should draw her alongside the rest of the core cast for her story. Originally I was considering making a reference sheet for all of them (and I still might someday) but the aforementioned bout of depression combined with my usual laziness kept that from going anywhere, so instead I decided to draw them all together, so that I can have their designs all down on paper (this is also a personal ref for me to help remember their heights). Can’t say all the names/designs are set in stone but it’s a start.

Now then, wall-of-text character description time!:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ Lilian Liao - An eleven-year old tomboy who seems to attract paranormal activity like a magnet, Lilian was hoping that moving to a new town would bring a sense of normalcy to her life. However, she quickly learns from her new neighbors (who happen to be a family of witches) that she is a medium who is fated to attract all manner of weirdness to herself no matter where she goes. On the other hand, while she may not be able to "turn off" her powers, she can learn to pacify and resolve the issues of the various supernatural entities she regularly encounters.

Impatient, ill-tempered, and a bit of a bully at times, Lilian's bad attitude tends to clash with her powers and she often makes a bad situation worse for herself because of it. Fortunately, with the help of the witch family next door, a wannabe conspiracy theorist, and a possessed talisman, Lilian may yet learn to control her powers (and temper) and find peace in her hectic life.

      ~ Ling's Talisman - Given to Lilian by her new witch neighbor Medea, the Talisman is an artifact of unknown origins capable of siphoning and amplifying magical power. However, upon receiving it Lilian quickly discovers the Talisman houses one other secret: a lingering fragment of its previous owner's soul. This previous owner, known only as Ling, was a medium just like Lilian but seems to have forgotten much about himself after lying dormant inside the Talisman for hundreds of years.

Ling is (understandably) bitter about his current, body-less state of being, and is apparently just as stubborn and hotheaded as Lilian, meaning the two are constantly butting heads with one another. Still, believing that Lilian's powers may be the key to exorcising himself from the talisman, Ling reluctantly agrees to teach her better control of her powers for their mutual benefit.

       ~ Devin Liao - Lilian's older brother; presents himself as a rebellious and edgy punk but isn't quite as deep as he thinks he is. Him and Lilian don't get along very well, and regularly belittle and argue with each other. While Devin is one of the few normal humans in Lilian's life who actually acknowledges all the paranormal activity that surrounds her, he does little to actually help her deal with it and will even complain if it begins to inconvenience him (even though she has little control over such things).

Still, in spite of their frequent bickering Devin does genuinely care about Lilian and will help her without a second thought should she find herself in legitimate trouble. And even without any supernatural powers of his own he proves himself to be surprisingly adept with confronting the paranormal (when forced to do so).

      ~ Hui Liao - Lilian’s and Devin’s father, Hui does his best to strike a balance between his demanding engineering career and being a reliable single parent, to which he is mostly successful. Hui has an almost unwavering levelheadedness and rarely ever grows impatient with his children's antics and bickering (while still knowing when to put his foot down and keep the two from tearing each other apart). He also does his best to support his kid’s interests, even if he doesn’t always understand them or unintentionally embarrasses them.

Unfortunately, Hui’s demanding career leaves him little time to physically be with his family, and despite his efforts to support Lilian and Devin he clearly does struggle to relate to their interests or help resolve their personal issues.  Lilian in particular is distressed by her inability to prove the existence of the paranormal to her dad; while he would never scold her for claims of ghosts and monsters being real, as a man of science and reason Hui struggles to accept her seemingly baseless claims and chalks it all up to her simply having a vivid imagination.

      ~ Wally Peskon - A wannabe paranormal investigator and the closest thing Lilian has to a non-magic friend, 11-year old Wally quickly gravitated towards Lilian due to their like-minded fixation on proving they aren't crazy to the rest of the world. And at first Lilian was actually elated to meet a regular human who's observant of the paranormal, but her mood quickly changed when she realized he's a hack who gets caught on bogus conspiracy theories and completely overlooks real supernatural activity happening right in front of him. Not to mention he's frantic, clumsy, and a busybody, making just as much of a headache as the supernatural beings that are always bothering her.

Fortunately, Lilian and her unwanted paranormal company helps Wally improve his perception of what is and isn't real (somewhat), and he slowly begins to get better at recognizing and even helping Lilian resolve supernatural phenomena. He also has a habit of buying or cobbling together seemingly useless pieces of anti-paranormal equipment that sometimes end up saving the day. Sometimes.

     ~ Wednesday "Wendy" Cauldrison - Lilian's new neighbor and the 8-year old daughter of Medea Cauldrison, Wendy is a hyperactive and spontaneous witch-in-training who’s obsessed with all things cute and glimmering. Heavily sheltered from non-magic culture by her mother, Wendy quickly takes a liking to her new neighbor Lilian, who offers her a chance to hang out with normal humans and partake in non-magic activities. Unfortunately, while Wendy usually means well, her overambitious nature combined with the haphazard use of her magic often exacerbates Lilian's paranormal problems, and as such Lilian (at least initially) isn't exactly eager to let Wendy tag along with her.

Like her mother, Wendy's magical expertise mainly involves brewing up potions, powders, and other concoctions to cast spells. However, her lack of experience means a lot of her brews don't come out quite right and have unpredictable effects, while the few brews she actually does have a grasp on are only good at making things prettier or making them explode violently, with no in-between.

     ~ Medea Cauldrison - The mother of Wendy Cauldrison, Medea is a coven-less but highly experienced witch living in plain sight within Lilian’s new neighborhood (although she hardly has to try to keep it a secret). Despite appearances, she's over 600 years old and has traveled a good portion of the multiverse. And yet, in spite of her vast experience with all things magic, she knows surprisingly little about the culture and technology of humans, as she has a bit of a superiority complex towards them and tries to avoid interacting with them when possible (even going so far as to forbid Wendy from experiencing most of the human world for herself).

While Medea may not hold humanity in high regard, it can’t be denied that she’s still fairly knowledgeable of all things magic, and she’s highly understanding of Lilian's plight and (usually) willing to help her out. Combined with the fact that she's competent enough in her magic to ward off many of the more threatening paranormal creatures out there, she's certainly one of the more reliable personalities in Lilian's new neighborhood. Medea’s magical expertise revolves around nature and potions; she can not only conjure and manipulate plants but with the right ingredients can brew up all manner of potions and powders to suit any situation.

[twitchesandstitches]

Some Overwatch in Crossthicc thoughts:

Omnics are pretty much as in canon, robots created to be menial labor who resented their lot in life, rose up and caused a massive war with tons of collateral damage and body counts. Unlike canon, though, they are far older; Crossthicc’s Omnic Crisis took place eons ago, and was part of the cataclysm that wrecked the multiverse. Additionally it wasn’t just Omnics but robots of all kinds (basically all intelligent robots that are not naturlaly revolving mechanical lifeforms), generally referred in positive tones by historians and is seen as having been a historical inevitability. There are many Omnics in the Endowed Nomad Fleet, generally super curvy fembots, but they are numerous enough to be present in all factions.

Note that, due to the much broader scope of Crossthicc, there is no garuantee that canon characters have any relation to each other, or even know one another unless specifically stated or are related.

Reaper may be the main Ghost Rider of this setting, given his powers and habits. Otherwise he is pretty much the same as in canon. This version of him g oes with the idea that his actions are deep cover spy games; he is a genuine hero here, if something of a total troll, and is the unofficial leader of Task Force X. He may be extremely old, dating back to the times of pre-spaceflight Earth. This would make him over four thousand years old; at the very least, he doesn’t’ age. Is a team dad to the Task Force, and scouts out poential recruits. Looks absolutely horrifying beneath the mask, but is legit a good guy, and a buff beefcake at that.

Widowmaker/Amelie Lacroix was at one point an assassin in service to a minor organization in service to the Ringers, but was freed of her programming. She has since taken her services to the Task Force in hopes of redeeming herself. Hyper hourglass and super limber, with spider-themed mutations and gadgets. She may be from a line of designer clones engineered to be absolutely Perfect. Also possibly from a sci-fi version of Dragon Age’s Orlais, which may be used in-setting as a Space France of sorts.

Winston: Originally from a technocratic society of hyper-intelligent sapient apes, from gorillas like him, to orangutangs and chimpanzees, some of which are anthro monster people, and others are not. A member of the Endowed Nomad Fleet, humbly considering himself a regular engineer but is one of their most respected and admired super-scientists, with many cybernetic intelligence enchancements, and an ace pilot of mechas and powered armor. In a close relationship with Athena/EDI (see below). He has some unspecified conflicts with a famous criminal warlord of his home society, Grodd (of DC comics) and they have polar opposite views on non-apes.

Pharah/Fareeha Amari: A super-soldier kitted out with high grade cybernetics and enhancement mods, she operates an ace custom suit of powered armor called the Raptora, capable of flight and massive bombardment, and can slot into a larger mecha for REALLY big fights. (It is patterned after her Thunderbird skin, aesthetically, and this version of her leans a bit more towards her First Nations ancestry.) A member of the Endowed Fleet, and she is also Endowed herself; a hyper curvy amazon, with obvious cybernetics and giant size. Also has explosion-based superpowers and falcon-themed mods, including feathery hair, talon fingers, and even genuine hawk wings.

Ana Amari: Mother to Fareeha, and a Fullmetal Alchemist-styled alchemist, mixing up and experimenting with mods and power-up potions. Despite her age, she is far younger than she looks, appearing even younger than her daughter. She’s got more hips than Fareeha’s curve balance does. Can use her alchemy skill offensively, and acts as a combat medic otherwise, and works as a doctor aboard the fleet. Is also Endowed herself.

Symmetra/Satva Vaswani: Member of the Endowed Fleet, and she is also Endowed herself; hyper hourglass, with an extremely small waist and absolutely massive hips/bust ratio. Not really bio-modded, but makes heavy use of cybernetics to make herself impossibly limber, agile and ludicrously fast. A physicist and gadgeteer in excellent standing on the fleet! Specializes in a variety of ‘hard pixel’ the fleet uses as a somewhat plausible take on hard light, and uses powers to weaponize it somewhat. Fairly close with Jade Harley, in a friendly rival way, as their technological discoveries are similar. (they have probably fused.)

Other characters below!

Zarya: Independant, originally part of a group dedicated to fighting kaiju and from the same broad group that includes the likes of the Neon Genesis Evangelion characters, and the as-yet-undetermined cast from Pacific Rim. She fought on the ground, using potent biological enhancements, though she has a lot of conflict over this, developing something of a fear of misuse of power. She’s otherwise a super soldier, and her dislike of robots stems from conflict with the Decepticons... which would give anyone a phobia of robotic life. The Dinobots love annoying her whenever they cross paths. Since her original group dissolved, she’s gathered a group of like-minded ‘protect the helpless from evil’ military-types and formed an informal mercenary band that takes helpful jobs. Mega-amazon body type, like canon but bigger, bustier, and with more obvious enhancements.

Zenyatta: An omnic who was born quite recently, his fabrication line going all the way back to the catacylsm. He is a Doctor Strange-style sorcerer, using potent magic harnessed from the realms and his enlightened understanding of the cosmos, as well as soul energy. Initially he was a monk studying within a vast and great library (possibly one belonging to a mighty knowledge spirit named Wan Shi Tong, possible one more mundane in nature), but when the Endowed Fleet came there seeking information, he joined them with a thirst to see the multiverse in person. He’s also a healing wizard, and helps restore damaged people and parts.

Angela Ziegler/Mercy: An incredibly ancient human, possibly around Reaper’s age, but she is something of a sci fi lich, though a very pretty one; preserved through unusual procedures to survive through the ages, radiating the healing energies she employs to restore others. Being technically undead has no effect on her ethics (as this setting doesn’t do that kinda thing), and she serves as an advisor to a large and multi-species federation going throughout the multiverse and trying to establish order. Hyper thicc MILF body type, with biomechanical angelic wings. She may also have an angel of some kind merged with her, until an unspecified task is done.

Bastion: Not the only one of their kind! The Bastions were a weapon originally created during the cataclysm in order to combat some terrifying menace, but resented being made to be unthinking weapons and rose up to claim their freedom. While few survived the conflict, the standard template to create them survived and has seen use in anti-Transformer conflicts. our bastion is an ancient and power one one, dating back to that ancient conflict in the cataclysm, but whatever happened was so intensely traumatic they cannot consciously remember it, and being forced to remember sends sthem into a terrified panic. Is mecha-sized here, and might be able to shift into a more fembot-style form for the heck of it? A member of the Endowed Nomad Fleet, usually happily wandering around the agriculture ships and taking care of the beasts and pets at the zoo facilities.

Athena/EDI: A composite character of Athena from Overwatch proper, and EDI from Mass Effect. A powerful AI so intelligent and mighty that she is actually a member of the God Squad, and may even be a goddess, or hit some kind of singularity that she is on that level. While she exists as one of the fleet’s ships, its systems are not powerful enough to truly embody her, and so she is not entirely online. She also exists as a wide variety of extremely curvaceous fembot bodies modeled after the same ones used by the likes of Aradia and others who download themselves into super curvy robot platforms. These are not quite powerful enough to express even a fraction of her power, but she is improving them all the time. In a close, romantic relationship with Winston (mirroring both her canon friendship, and EDI’s romance with the pilot Joker/Jeff Moreau). She is Endowed, and rumor suggests that she can transform her ship body into a massive ultra-thicc MILFy body, and gets larger the more powerful the ship is. In theory, her true humanoid forms could be larger than planets.

As Athena is probably a goddess, she does have a wide range of divine powers, usually themed around wisdom, guardianship, and strategy. Whether she is actually the Athena (since I’m still not too sure about using real life mythologies all over the place) is a matter of some debate. It might just be a name... or not.

[moonlight-rebel]

Eira and Ezra Ryder

Next up is my lovely, slightly emotionless, not so sarcastic Ryder siblings Eira and Ezra. They are from an AU fic that I have not started but plan on starting very soon called When the Ice Melts.

Eira Nicole Ryder, 24 yrs old

She graduated high school a year early, joining the Alliance as soon as she did.

When she was 20 years old she applied and got accepted into the N7 program, following in her fathers footsteps as a sniper.

She was 6 months from earning the title when her family name got blacklisted.

She would have been the best sniper in her class had she graduated.

Most of her training was in the tundras of Siberia

When Eira was a teenager she had gotten into ballet and ballroom dancing, but gave it up after her father started pressuring her into the Alliance.

She suffers from major depressive disorder, borderline alcoholism and anti-social personality. She also has a fear of crowds and not being in control (both of which were instilled into her by her father).

Eira can fluently speak French, English and Russian, although her native languages are Russian and English.

She has a near photogenic memory, which she considers more of a curse than a blessing.

When she was working as an Alliance operative she was given the name ghost for her ability to cloak without being seen by anyone.

She prefers to go by her middle name, Nicole (or Nic), although most people don’t respect her wishes and call her Eira or Ryder.

She has her father’s icy blue eyes and her mother’s dark hair, she also has a tattoo resembling a dotted halo on her forehead.

Ezra Flynn Ryder, 22 yrs old

Much like his sister Ezra graduated early, but instead of joining the Alliance directly after he studied various types of technology.

He used his, abilities, to hack into various government systems for large sums of money (he had started hacking as a teen but moved up in the world after graduating)

After getting caught by the Alliance they offered him a position as one of their techs instead of a lifetime in prison.

Ezra is dyslexic but claims it doesn’t affect him in his line of work.

He is fluent in English and Russian, and understands most French terms.

He can write in binary code, and often uses that as his way of keeping secret notes.

He has helped the Charlatan on a number of occasions. Mainly to get outcast information before he took over, but also to help Mr. C understand his sister.

Ezra has his mother’s chocolate brown eyes and dark hair, but he often bleaches it platinum blond.

Ezra has memorized almost every Russian fairy-tale his mother told him, as well as multiple different legends and myths from ancient Greece and Egypt.

He keeps a journal of stories and adventures from his time as Pathfinder. He hopes one day to be able to publish them, or at least tell them to his children as bedtime stories.

His self designated hacker name was Snowbird, he still uses it when in the field

When he was a teenager he had a act first think later view on life, but after the Alliance he started to see things from a more sound point of view.

He knows how to dog-sled

Family

Ellen was raised in England, but later found out her heritage is almost exclusively Russian, while Alec’s is a mix of Polish and Scandinavian.

Both of the siblings have a small amount of biotics, but Ellen kept it a secret from Alec.

Alec was openly against biotics of all kind, hence Ellen keeping the twins abilities from him. 

For both of the siblings 15th birthdays Alec taught them how to shoot. Ezra didn’t take to it as well as Eira though.

Eira and Ezra were both born on the Citadel but after Ezra turned 3 the Ryder’s moved to London. A few years later they moved again, but to Russia.

The family adopted a pack of huskies because Ezra wanted to learn how to dog-sled.

When Ellen first got sick she didn’t tell anyone, because she didn’t want them to be distracted.

Alec was living on the Citadel, Eira was in Siberia training, and Ezra was watching transmissions from the Charon Relay.

After Ezra and Eira left the Alliance the Ryder family moved back to England.

Eira and Ezra knew English first, but after moving to Moscow they quickly picked up Russian and used it more often than English.

Even though Cora was supposed to Ezra’s second in command, when Eira was cleared for duty he gave the title to his sister.

[reformedorthodox]

It’s been a few years and I still have problems with capitalism

My deployment to Iraq defines a large portion of my life. I was a medic attached to a National Guard infantry unit, and despite having a relatively "easy" deployment, I came back with PTSD and depression. An example of the hard transition: I went to Disneyland two weeks after I came back from Iraq. While in a place of enchantment, my cheeks ached. I had been so stern for so long that my smiling muscles were underused. (This also shows how great Disneyland is) That's a light-hearted example. In reality, I silently suffered suicidal thoughts for years, and I dropped out of university multiple times, which lead me to question my service. I sacrificed my body and mind for America, but I kept wondering, "Why?" Ultimately, based on research, the atrocity of the Iraq war is at capitalism's feet. Yes, that economic system that we often credit for giving us democracy, freedom, and a decent paycheck. To understand how we can blame capitalism, let's start from the beginning. To begin the inquiry, it's helpful to look at the five major promises of the war. 1. Iraq held weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) - nuclear, biological and chemical weapons that could attack America - and it was necessaryto make America safe from it 2. Iraq was in cahoots with Al-Qaeda 3. Iraq was involved with 9/11 4. American forces would be welcomed with open arms to embrace western-style democracy 5. The war would be quick and easy As it turned out, none of these promises held a grain of truth. Iraq did not hold WMDs after Desert Storm; Saddam saw Al-Qaeda as a threat to his hegemony; Saddam didn't communicate with Al-Qaeda to coordinate attacks on 9/11; American forces were not welcome en masse; the war lasted nearly a decade. That's a tough pill to swallow as 4,500 troops died in Iraq, and 50,000 severely injured, with veteran suicides routinely outnumbering the troop casualties every year. This adds urgency to the question of "why?" by adding another item: "why was the American public deceived into fighting the war?" Actually, the American public didn't wholly buy the war justifications. 50% of Americans opposed the Iraq war, holding anti-war rallies for months across every major city before the invasion. Obviously, it was not enough, but they saw something the other half did not. For 50% of Americans, the reason we went to Iraq was for oil. Let's investigate this claim. We will look at testimonials and accounts by journalists and soldiers on the ground, including my own. By the time I graduated from initial military training, the Iraq war was ramping up, and I was eager to get into the fight. Training makes you eager to prove your mettle. So I walked up to my First Sergeant and asked to be on the next unit's deployment to Iraq (again, I was in the National Guard, so asking to deploy was a thing). He glinted with pride in his eyes as a young buck offered himself to go to war. I would too if I were in his position. Word got around my unit, and on two separate occasions, Sergeants walked up to me and said something to the effect of, "Why would you volunteer yourself?" One said, "We get into a major war every thirty years and small ones every ten. You'll get your time." The other said something more meaningful to me, "See this ribbon I have here? This ribbon is for fighting for the war on terrorism. I didn't fight any fucking terrorists. I fought the Iraqi Army. There are no fucking terrorists over there." He implied that the war was based on lies. (There would later be insurgents in Iraq, whom we called terrorists) Now, let's look at the ground-level experience of other soldiers. First Lieutenant Paul Rickeoff lead a platoon of soldiers in the hottest areas of Baghdad. In his book "Chasing Ghosts," he recounted the tales of not having the necessary body armor, no humanitarian aid, and no real plan to bring Iraq to its feet. There were death and destruction, and he didn't have the help he needed to help the Iraqi people. In Chris Hedge's and Laila Al-Arrian's book "Collateral Damage," Americans enacted a sort of terrorism to keep civilians in line by routinely conducting home raids, convoys, patrols, detentions, and military checkpoints. Untrained to fight an insurgency, American troops killed indiscriminately both insurgents and civilians. In "War Without End" by Michael Schwartz, he called these acts of terrorism as collective punishment. Of course, there are the deaths involved with insurgents – insurgents who never have fought if we did not invade. The collective punishment, indiscriminate killed, and search and destroy of insurgents killed between 150,000 to 600,000 Iraqis. It also internally displace 2 million Iraqis. A state that had never seen Al-Qaeda now had operatives running from village to village, all the while American troops blindly and haphazardly tried to keep the peace. Journalist Thomas E. Ricks offers a broader perspective on the debacle. Ricks recorded conversations with General Petraeus during the war, a principal coordinator in fighting the insurgency, and wrote his bird's eye view of the Iraq war in the book "Fiasco." In it, we begin to piece together these different random violent experiences of Soldiers and Marines into a larger narrative. Ricks asserts a bold claim: The widespread chaos of individual servicemembers is because America did not have a game plan. Why wouldn't America have a game plan in Iraq? What was its real intention? Ricks continues in his book that during the initial invasion, American troops stood idly by as the bureaucracies and government offices were ransacked (it should be noted that after WWII, America worked in tandem with the defeated police and military to restore order). Instead of protecting the public good, military leaders directed troops to protect oil refineries. During the invasion, American bombers were directed to not hit oil refineries. Then, shortly after the invasion, American contractors were immediately sent to the refineries, and modified the refineries to American proprietary technology, making Iraq dependent on American expertise. Wolfowitz, an architect of the Iraq war, made plans to increase Iraqi oil production from 2.5 million barrels a day to 3.5 million barrels. This focus on protecting oil refineries had dire consequences – millions of Iraqis suffered from a lack of clean water, power, and food because American troops protected oil rather than the livelihood of Iraqis. Thus, it's evident that the Iraq war suffered a lack of coordination for a lot of troops but was very well-coordinated to protect oil interests. I recall hearing Sarah Palin, in the 2008 election, justify the Iraq war by saying, "at least we got oil out of it." (we never did, actually) So what does oil have to do with blaming the Iraq war on capitalism? We've looked at individual experiences and a broad stroke of American actions in Iraq. Now let's step back even further and look at the structures of the American economy. The American economy runs on cheap energy. It is what allows people to commute to work, to enable factories to build gizmos and to travel and enjoy themselves. Every time the price of oil goes up, it gums the economy as money is not spent on goods and services, but is instead gobbled by oil producers. According to the Research Unit for Political Economy in their book "Behind the Invasion of Iraq," America was primed to invade Iraq even before 9/11. The book predicted that America would go to war in Iraq for a simple reason: America needs cheap energy, and it needed to get out of the grip to OPEC. The logic is simple: The goal in a capitalist economy is to generate profits. That's why capitalists invest - they hope to get a return. So they spend to build factories and other materials, until one day, the supply of the goods they produce outstrips demand. As demand declines, producers slow down their production and fire workers. Over investment and underwhelming demand inevitably trigger recessions. There is no right solution to fix the inevitable recession. Still, one way to alleviate a pending recession is to issue a credit to Americans. Americans hold the lion's share of the world's debt. But in order to make sure American keeps spending, debt cannot be piled up into gas for cars or expensive energy for homes. In addition, capitalist economies can help ward off pending economic collapse by using its military: 1. The military secures supplies to oil, furthering access to cheap energy 2. Invading Iraq makes sure oil is always tied to the dollar, which props up the economy 3. Controlling the oil makes sure other economies bend to America's will So there you have it. This is the argument why we went to war in Iraq: to get oil. And why is oil so essential? Because the capitalist economy needs cheap energy, and the dollar needs to remain stable. American adventurism into Iraq harkens to many other colonial projects, like that into the Philippines (so America could have access to Chinese markets), into Central and South America (for cheap labor and resources) and Vietnam (to maintain French colonialism). It also rings true to British, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French colonialism across the globe: To exploit the local resources for profit at home. In the end, the American adventure in Iraq is just another colonial expedition. It functioned with the exact same reasons as European powers at the beginning of the 20th century and often operated with similar brutality. It comes at the price of hundreds of thousands of dead human beings and thousands of injured service members. One can imagine a simple counter-argument: We needed to invade Iraq to maintain American dominance in the world. A conservative friend of mine, a sniper in the Marine Corps, retorted to me, "I don't mind America being #2 behind China if it means we're not invading other countries." I agree: Invading and killing other people in unseen parts of the world is not worth maintaining American hegemony. We can imagine better than the cyclical nature of capitalist invasion; this is why I'm opposed to it.

[southeastasianists]

Over grilled pork, on the bank of the Mekong River, Kai and I were talking about nagas [phaya nak – mythical water dragons] and other guardian spirits. As some of our dinner companions got up to refill their plates with meat, Kai leaned over to me across the smoking barbeque grill. “There is one province that the [Thai] king [Bhumibol Adulyadej] has never visited. Can you guess where it is? And why he has never been?”

I thought for a moment, wondering what she meant and why she suddenly brought it up. Might she mean the restive Southern provinces, where a long-standing insurgency and antipathetic Muslim majority would make the trip dangerous? Or a Northeastern border province, where the Communist insurgency of the 1970s would have discouraged royal visits? And why bring up the king at all when the conversation had been about nagas? “Yala,” I guessed, naming one of the Southern provinces.

Kai smiled. “Mukdahan,” she said, referring to a nearby province along the Mekong. “He cannot go. The guardian spirit will not allow it. The spirit says that there can be only one lord [chao] of Mukdahan, and have forbidden any other [king] to enter.”

Kai here refers to King Mungmeuang, the guardian spirit of the city of Mukdahan (and by extension the province). Here, I translate Mungmeuang’s title “chao fa” as “King”, although it is a title common amongst historical Shan or Lanna leaders and might also be translated as “prince.” He is a part of a cult of guardian spirits in the province also including the Two Noble Sisters (chao mae song nang) that have parallels in urban centers across the Mekong region (for more on such guardian spirit cults, see Holt 2009, Rhum 1994, Tambiah 1975).

I am intrigued by Kai’s comment, “there can only be one lord”. While it could be interpreted as a Northeastern challenge to Thai kingship, I argue here that it marks something else – a difference in the way that royal/spiritual authority is conceived. Through looking at Kai’s link between spirit cults and the Thai monarchy, I argue that kingship in Thailand must be seen as an extension of popular religious practice surrounding lordship as well as a system of political control (cf. McCargo 2005). My argument is that devotion towards guardian spirits influences the practice of monarchism, and, in turn, new forms of monarchical devotion influence local spirit devotion. It is a longer argument than space allows, but here I give one example, via the conflict between (then-)living King Bhumibol and the guardian spirit Mungmeuang.

The debate over how much myth and how much realpolitik drives Thai monarchism is one that has gone back and forth for years (McCargo 2005, Jackson 2010, Gray 1986). Kai’s comment settles decisively upon the former, as she rebukes the authority of the monarchy to be a chao using the very same logic. Whereas the Thai royal cult promoted Rama IX as an incipient Buddha (Gray 1992:452), Kai presents him in another form – as an animist lord whose purview is not over the entire cosmos, but over a geographically-bounded region.

Chao, in the sense that Kai and I were discussing it, is a term that speaks to potency. If I say that I am the chao of a particular thing, it means that this thing obeys my will, whether or not I am referring to a car [chao khong rot], a polity [chao meuang – a guardian spirit], or the sky itself [chao fa – a prince]. It refers at once to supernatural divinities, the Buddha, kings, or in a more mundane way to ownership. Thus, chao articulate sovereign power. Via ownership of a subject person or thing, they guide it towards prosperity and fortune and ensure that actions and beings progress (charoen) (see Johnson 2014).

This magic of progress has long been a part of the rituals of state of Southeast Asian nations. This is the land of the “theater state” (Geertz 1981), after all, and writers such as Benedict Anderson (2006), Clifford Geertz (1981), and Margaret Weiner (1994) all detail the ways that Southeast Asian leaders drew legitimacy not only from politics, but also with reference to (often hidden) magical sources of power. Thailand is no different, and the Thai monarch – referred to as “virtual divinity” (Jackson 2010) – is a quintessential such point combining magic, politics, and media. In the late 20th century, Bhumibol emerged as an almost papal figure, categorized for many as divine, or at least an incipient Buddha [bodhisatta]. The apparatus of the state perpetuates this idea (Gray 1992), but it extends far beyond official organs of propaganda – the popular press foregrounds stories where, for instance, a house burns to the ground save a portrait of the king, untouched. Although their actual effectiveness is debated (Walker 2008), royal projects are credited by many rural families as having brought prosperity into the countryside. And, finally, as Daena Funahashi (2016) has shown in the case of health experts, the monarch comes to stand in for a kind of semi-divine “expert in chief”, a figure seen by mid-level experts to embody an absolute (and inaccessible) source of wisdom and legitimacy. For instance, in a recent book release, a Thai climate studies center reproduced a doodle the king had made once during a meeting on the inside cover of every copy of its book, lending the scientific publication an aura of the divine.

Thus, chao-ness in this case is a corollary to wisdom, health, patriotism and progressiveness. But who qualifies for being a chao? Along with veneration comes a need to police and inform who or what qualifies as chao and measures taken to ensure that chaoare really in possession of barami, the moral righteous power of kings and nobility. As one royalist Thai professor put it, scoffing when I mentioned that I was working with spirit mediums: “Do you really believe them? Why would a real chao want to descend into the body of an old village lady? Don’t you think that these possessing spirits are just ordinary ghosts?”

As this quote indicates, monarchism both feeds into beliefs about the power of barami (e.g. there could be a kingly spirit) as well as promotes investigations into the legitimacy of claims towards its existence (e.g. such a kingly spirit is unlikely to manifest in a lower-class medium). During the 1990s and 2000s, at the height of divine-royal-technological (in a word, dhammalogical) power, Thai media was also rife with stories of other chao – specifically, attempts to discredit “false” chao in order to identify “real” ones. In In the Place of Origins, Rosalind Morris (2000) gives a classic example of television shows that focus on exposing “false” mediums by presenting the sleight-of-hand behind showy tricks like severing and re-attaching one’s tongue. Alan Klima (2006), in addition, has recently looked at financial regulators’ “exposés” of village-level spirit practices that frame mediums as exploiters of rural naiveté. Currently, the locus of anti-spirit discourse is on social media platforms, where websites like “Fuck Ghost” seek to discredit local mediums, sacred places, and ghost sightings by posting videos of hauntings and mocking those who express credulity while at the same time validating the righteousness of royal barami.

Politically, too, the need to ensure that chao are in fact productive spirits has often taken center stage. Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, for instance, was accused by figures in the Thai military of being secretly a reborn Burmese king, carrying with him the undying desire to destroy the Thai state (see Wassana 2009). One means by which he was accused of carrying this out was “masterminding” the destruction of the shrine to Brahma that stands outside of the massive shopping complexes in Bangkok’s commercial heart (Keyes 2009). Later, following his ouster in 2006 and especially the massacre of his “red shirt” supporters in 2010, his supporters made numerous cursing rituals, burning chilies and salt to curse the military that undertook the coup and those that ordered the killings. Political conflict over rulership at the center had brought in conflict between spirits.

Following the logic of the theater state, the chao models perfection, and by doing so seeks to bring it about in a wider realm. It is an assimilatory framework, one that co-opts and attracts. By why, then, the focus on conflict? Why does King Mungmeuang refuse to share space? As Thongchai Winichakul points out in his seminal book, Siam Mapped (1994), Thailand’s transformation from theater state to nation-state involved a transformation of the monarch. Instead of one divine ruler at the center of the cosmos (with other such centers spiraling out, fractally), the notion of monarchy became fused with the “geo-body” of Thailand. Now, monarchs were identified with the physical territory of the nation-state, but only the nation-state, and, while still working as a channel for modernity, technology, wisdom, etc., they became one king in the world on an equal footing among others. Such a perspective is evident in ways that Bhumbiol was portrayed. For instance, one commonly-reproduced photo was taken on his 60th coronation anniversary and featured Bhumibol seated at the center of royals from all around the world, each with his or her distinctive regalia.

In short, as monarchy becomes beholden to the logic of the nation-state, in which a nation-state is one entity among other, also sovereign, states. Whereas in the logic of Geertz’s negara, rival lords competed to be a more exemplary center, in Thongchai’s national “geo-body”, the monarch shares the world with other, also sovereign monarchies, but remains absolute within the borders of the nation. Indeed, the adoption of the “geo-body” in Thailand during the late 1800s corresponded with the abolishment of local monarchies – Chiang Mai’s monarchy ended with the death of King Inthawichayanon in 1897 (see Sarasawadee 2006). By the time of Bhumibol (r. 1946 – 2016), no local monarchies remained, and Bhumibol’s authority, like that of the Thai state, was thought to run absolutely up to Thailand’s borders (where it immediately ceased). Except, of course, for Mukdahan.

Neighborhood spirit chao do not normally function like such monarchs over a geo-body. Amongst the cults of neighborhood chao in Chiang Mai with which I conducted fieldwork from 2006-2008, maa kii [mediums] created an interlocking hierarchy that combines Indic gods, animist spirits, and the spirits of dead kings. In the city of Chiang Mai, for instance, the swiftly-changing community of spirit mediums has overlapping sovereignties and hierarchies that elided attempts at categorization (Johnson 2014; for examples of just such attempts at categorization, see Shalardchai 1984, Suriya et al 1999, Rhum 1994). Spirit chao had princes, viceroys, and the like, and their only nod to the Chakri monarchs was the adoption of Bhumibol’s royal color, yellow, as the requisite color for “royal” spirits (as opposed to “soldier” or “angelic” spirits). Indeed, spirit possession rituals that I attended each ended in a solemn gesture of respect at the playing of the royal anthem, indicating these spirit chao’s subservience to the reigning human monarch.

But King Mungmeuang does none of this. Instead, he has appropriated the logic of the geo-body just as the later Chakri monarchs did – rejecting a cosmological notion of rule, where each divine king approximates an exemplary center (cf. Geertz) for a national (or provincial) one, where devotion to a higher monarchy is unthinkable. He has become a nationalist, and Mukdahan his geo-body.

Here, then, we see how a change in monarchism from the theater-state to the nation-state influences spirit devotion. Both spirit chao and royal chao are ways of seeing authority, expertise, hierarchy, and legitimacy, and as such it is only natural that slow changes in one (e.g. a movement towards the “geo-body”) would trigger changes in the other. Mungmeuang’s objection to Bhumibol indicates the link between the two and suggests avenues for further study of monarchy in Thailand, especially now, in the era of a new king.

Andrew Alan Johnson Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Princeton University

Issue 22, Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia, September 2017

REFERENCES

Anderson, Benedict. 2006 [1972]. “The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture” in Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia. Jakarta: Equinox Books. 17-77. Funahashi, Daena A. 2016. “Rule by Good People: Health Governance and the Violence of Moral Authority in Thailand” in Cultural Anthropology 31(1):107-130. Geertz, Clifford. 1981. Negara: The Theater State in Nineteenth-Century Bali. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Gray, Christine. 1986. “Thailand – The Soteriological State in the 1970s.” Ph.D Dissertation: University of Chicago. Gray, Christine. 1992. “Royal Words and their Unroyal Consequences” in Cultural Anthropology 7(4): 448-463. Holt, John Clifford. 2009. Spirits of the Place: Buddhism and Lao Religious Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Jackson, Peter. 2010. “Virtual Divinity: A 21st-Century Discourse of Thai Royal Influence” in Ivarsson and Isager, eds., Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand. Copenhagen: NIAS Press. 29-60. Johnson, Andrew Alan. 2014. Ghosts of the New City: Spirits, Urbanity and the Ruins of Progress in Chiang Mai. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Keyes, Charles. 2008. “The Destruction of a Shrine to Brahma in Bangkok and the Fall of Thaksin Shinawatra: The Occult and the Thai Coup in Thailand of September 2006” Asia Research Institute Working Paper no. 80. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers2.cfm?abstract_id=1317155# Klima, Alan. 2006. “Spirits of ‘Dark Finance’ in Thailand: A Local Hazard for the International Moral Fund” in Cultural Dynamics 18(1):33-60. McCargo, Duncan. 2005. “Network Monarchy and Legitimacy Crises in Thailand” in The Pacific Review 18(4): 499-519. Morris, Rosalind C. 2000. In the Place of Origins: Modernity and its Mediums in Northern Thailand. Durham: Duke University Press. Rhum, Michael. 1994. The Ancestral Lords: Gender, Descent and Spirits in a Northern Thai Village. Monograph Series on Southeast Asia, Special Report No. 29. Northern Illinois University: Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Sarassawadee Ongsakul. 2006. History of Lan Na (Chitraporn Tanratunakul, trans). Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books. Shalardchai Ramitanon. 1984. Phi Chao Nai. Chiang Mai: Chiang Mai University. Suriya Samutkhupthi, Pattana Kitiarsa, Sinlapakit Tikhantikul, Janthana Suraphinit. Spirit-medium Cult Discourses and Crises of Modernity in Thailand (Song Chao Khao Phi). Bangkok: SAC Princess Maha Chakri Srindhorn Anthropology Centre. Tambiah, Stanley J. 1975. Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-east Thailand. Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology no. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thongchai Winichakul. 1994. Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Walker, Andrew. 2008. “Royal Misrepresentation of Rural Livelihoods” in New Mandala 28 Jan 2008. http://www.newmandala.org/royal-misrepresentation-of-rural-livelihoods/ Wassana Nanuam. 2009. Lap Luang Phrang Phak Phitsadan [Secrets, Trickery, Camouflage: The Improbable Phenomena]. Bangkok: Post Books. Wiener, Margaret J. 1994. Visible and Invisible Realms: Power, Magic and Colonial Conquest in Bali. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[lincoln-cannon]

Many anti-religious folks claim to value science. But that claim is too often merely lip-service, as evidenced by their anti-religiosity. How is that? Well, science has clearly and repeatedly demonstrated that religiosity generally results in greater physical, mental, and social well-being. So if you claim to value science then it's incoherent to be anti-religious unless (1) you don't really know much about the science of religion (which undermines your claim to value science); or (2) you're lying to yourself or others about the science of religion (which again undermines your claim to value science); or (3) you don't care so much about well-being. I doubt #3 is generally the case among the anti-religious, for the same reasons that it's pretty clearly not the case among humans generally. So that leads me to conclude that most anti-religious folks who claim to value science are either ignorant or dishonest about the science of religion. So, either way, they're just giving lip-service to the value of science, at least so far as its relationship with religion is concerned. My local congregation invited me to lead a discussion at Church yesterday, exploring the question: "Why do we go to Church?" As part of the discussion, I shared with them a few scientific studies and meta-analyses of studies about the effects of religious practice. Here are some summaries: Frequent attendance at religious services and mortality over 28 years. In 1997, this study observed that: "Lower mortality rates for frequent religious attenders are partly explained by improved health practices, increased social contacts, and more stable marriages occurring in conjunction with attendance." Religious Involvement, Spirituality, and Medicine: Implications for Clinical Practice. In 2001, this meta-analysis of studies observed that: "Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes, including greater longevity, coping skills, and health-related quality of life (even during terminal illness) and less anxiety, depression, and suicide. Several studies have shown that addressing the spiritual needs of the patient may enhance recovery from illness." Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications. In 2012, this meta-analysis of studies observed that: "A large volume of research shows that people who are more [religious/spiritual] have better mental health and adapt more quickly to health problems compared to those who are less [religious/spiritual]. These possible benefits to mental health and well-being have physiological consequences that impact physical health, affect the risk of disease, and influence response to treatment." Some people point out that there's a difference between religiosity and spirituality. They're right. Scientists have observed distinct benefits associated with each. Here's an example: Differing Pathways Between Religiousness, Spirituality, and Health: A Self-Regulation Perspective In 2014, this study observed that: "Religiousness was strongly associated with better health behavior habits, including lower smoking and alcohol consumption and greater likelihood of medical screenings, but only weakly related to inflammatory biomarkers. Measures of spirituality were more strongly linked to biomarkers, including blood pressure, cardiac reactivity, immune factors, and disease progression. Religious alienation had adverse effects on both pathways." This last study is also particularly noteworthy in that it calls out a detriment of religion. The same social power that can lead to positive outcomes can lead to negative outcomes, when misapplied. I suppose some would be tempted to consider this reasonable grounds for anti-religiosity. But that would be like considering the risk of electrocution to be reasonable grounds for technophobia. As I mention regularly, religion is not inherently good or evil. It is simply the most powerful form of applied esthetics. And it's up to us to use it for good or evil, as is the case with all power. Don't be tempted to think you can simply ignore power. If you don't use it for good, someone else will use it for evil. In the Christian and Mormon traditions, our scriptures talk about both evil and good applications of religion. Jesus clearly condemns evil applications of religion, and most particularly the abuse of religious authority, in Matthew 23. And the Book of Mormon repeatedly condemns religious arrogance, such as in the story about the Rameumptom. Contrasting with those narratives, the Book of Mormon describes a good application of religion as follows:

"And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith. And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls. And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus."

I'll call your attention to two aspects of the religious practice, as described in this text. The first is that people are "nourished by the good word of God." And the second is that people "speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls." We might interpret "nourished by the good word of God" in many ways. The best way, in my opinion, is that which is elaborated upon by D&C 50. There, we read about the importance of understanding and edification. If our religious practice is not leading to understanding and edification (if it's leading to superstition, confusion, or alienation) then we should not revere it as a good application of religion. Change. Refocus on that which is comprehensible, enlightening, and edifying. Be true to life and love. That's good religion. And when I read that we might "speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls," my thoughts are taken to the heart of the Gospel of Christ, as taught by the apostle Paul in the New Testament. There, he observes that all of us, together, are the Body of Christ, in which each has need of all. When one suffers, all suffer. When one rejoices, all rejoice. And Paul goes on to exemplify the work of reconciling with each other, to atone as exemplified by Jesus. Don't be tempted to wait on God to do all the work. Trust that the grace of God has given us each means to participate, for the welfare of each other's soul. That's also good religion. Do you have to be a Mormon to do this? Do you have to be Christian? No. I don't think so. Good religion does not necessitate particular words. It only necessitates particular functions, which we can describe in diverse ways. However, that doesn't mean that descriptions are arbitrary. Particular words can and do facilitate particular functions. As the Book of Mormon puts it: "they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ." So don't apathetically or over-simplistically put aside the invitations of particular religions. Words matter, and not all words matter equally. In summary, if you value science, you should value religion. And of course you should not value religion arbitrarily, but rather you should advocate and engage in good applications of religion, which produce edification and reconciliation. The evidence for such effects is strong. And although religion can also produce strong negative effects such as alienation, I trust that we can work together to mitigate such risks, and to pursue and realize the opportunities presented to us by this, the greatest of social technologies. Originally published at lincoln.metacannon.net on August 12, 2019 at 12:05PM.

[joshtheoverlander]

Power Rangers RPM Review

Okay, so this is one in a line of Power Rangers reviews I plan on doing. It won't be in any particular order. I watch whichever season I want. A big round of thanks goes to Netflix for having literally every series so far, excluding Ninja Steel, but I think that one's still airing. I know Linkara did his History of Power Rangers series and if you want, you can go ahead and watch that. It's really good, trust me. I just thought I'd give my own two-cents on things. It won't be quite as detailed as Linkara's thing, but it'll be my review, so whatever. It's always worth noting that I might get awkward in places, as I'm no professional. Anyways, we're starting off with my favorite Power Rangers season so far: RPM. Made to be the final Power Rangers series, the show takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of a world. The planet has been ravaged by an evil computer virus known as Venjix, attacking the humans and animals with an army of killer robots. So basically PG Skynet and Terminators. I kid, the show is actually the darkest in the franchise so far, depicting instances of mafia connections, human enslavement, deprivation of one's humanity, and death. After all, this is the apocalypse. Every single place on Earth has been turned into a lifeless shell aside from one city. There would be now way around genociding 95% of all life on Earth with that kind of premise without making yourself like one of those idiot parents who just wants to protect their precious little snowflakes, so I'm already happy. Said city is Corinth, a place protected from Venjix by a domed barrier that keeps him and his attack bots out...for the most part. His special bots are capable of slipping in, but that's where the Power Rangers come in. As with every season of Power Rangers, they fight off his creations to protect the people. The Rangers this time around are some of my favorites, mostly Dilan and Ziggy, the Black and Green Rangers respectively. Especially together. The two have a friendship that you just can't help but love, especially when Ziggy points things out and Dilan more often than not has his back even when the other Rangers think he's an idiot or just writes him off. Not to mention Ziggy is the best thing in this show. He's easily most likely to be fan favorite as he's a wellspring of comedy and light-heartedness in this world of death, pointing out things that just aren't right or things that seem ridiculous, which gets us onto the topic of the humor of this season. Some of the humor is your typical Power Rangers humor, but as this was originally intended to be the final season of the Power Rangers, they threw in a bunch of self-referential humor, poking fun at the tropes present in every season such as the zords and the vocal call-out when they morph. In one episode, when the rangers are saved by these mysterious figures, the idea that they could be ghosts pops up, of which the Yellow Ranger writes off for being ridiculous of which Ziggy replies with, "You drive a giant yellow teddy bear! I drive a giant green fish!" The other Rangers aren't quite my cup of tea like Dilan and Ziggy are, since those two are just the greatest of bros. First, the "original" three. The Red Ranger, Scott, is the son of General Truman, the man in charge of keeping Corinth safe, however the two aren't quite on the best of terms. Their relationship for most of the show seems to be business only, which is explained in Scott's backstory episode, Ranger Red, where it's explained that Scott's older brother, a fighter pilot, died trying to fight off Venjix's forces so that the last remaining living humans can make it inside Corinth. Since then, their relationship has been strained to one of absolute formality between a soldier and his senior officer, causing Scott to want to try and prove himself to his father. He's a bit temperamental and brash, but he overall proves himself a capable ranger. Next is the Blue Ranger, Flynn. The son of an engineer who grew up trying to be a hero to others in need. This led to a lot of misfortune as he grew into an adult, including a number of lost jobs, one of which he lost from ripping off the movie Braveheart. Did I mention he's Scottish? When Venjix attacked, he found his calling when he saved a bunch of people by hijacking a bus and going into the fray to pick up several civilians being attacked. His character isn't much, but I liked him. At least his character wasn't as minor as the next person on our list. The Yellow Ranger, Summer. Summer was the daughter of a wealthy family know as the Landsdowns. She was quite the stereotypical stuck-up bitch, even going so far as to use her butler as a footstool. However, when the apocalypse began and she was abandoned by everyone, including her so-called friends, her butler came and helped her, leading her to eventually ask him why he bothered with her when she's been nothing but horrible to him. He tells her that he knows that there was more to her than what she's demonstrated this far, and that he's waiting to meet the real Summer. One day, however, a bunch of Grinders, the foot soldiers of Venjix's army, attack, killing the butler and leaving Summer on her own. When she arrives at Corinth, she picks up on a distress call about a crashed fighter jets and takes a motorcycle to help the pilot, who happened to be Scott. Once again, after her backstory episode, there's not much else development. She's more or less the "nice Ranger" and Dilan's love interest. Now for the Rangers that we love, Black and Green. First the Black Ranger, Dilan. Dilan is the one the show focuses on, so it's safe to say he's got more development than others. He rode into Corinth when he likely had nowhere else to go, but was apprehended due to the fact that he was a Hybrid, basically cyborgs with Venjix technology in their bodies. He can't remember anything about his past aside from the fact that he had a sister. His only lifeline to his past is a pocket watch that, when wound up with a key, plays a song like a music box. He's a bad boy, more or less and is the least likely one to just go along with whatever the Rangers do without question. Ziggy, on the other hand, our wonderful Green Ranger, is a nervous, yet charismatic and optimistic person. At the start of the season when the Rangers are introduced, he claims to be a big fan of them, yet is usually the one to point out the oddities that comes with being one, like the way their Zords look. At first he was cowardly, ready to shrink down and avoid danger, but he's still a good person. In his backstory episode, Ranger Green, he was a member of the mafia, more or less, and after the apocalypse, he was given a job to do, which was to deliver medical supplies to the gang Meetup, but instead took them to an orphanage where a number of the children were suffering illness. The mafia boss Fresno Bob (Yes, I know) was, of course, mad, so a man in the mafia who was friends with Ziggy snuck him out of Corinth. However, as we saw in the first episode, Ziggy came back since there was nowhere in the world that he could go to and he had better chances being in Corinth than out in the wasteland. He does gain courage and even skill in being a Ranger in time, but he remains the loveable fan favorite all throughout. Now every series of Power Rangers has those new "special" Rangers, at least that's how I see them, and what we get in that regard are Gem and Gemma, the Gold and Silver Rangers, two twins that started out outside of Corinth and fighting Venjix's forces with all they've got. They're incredibly excitable and love explosions and they also often do a finish-each-others-sentences kind of thing. Fans aren't quite as fond of these two which is understandable, as they can get kind of annoying from time to time. However, they're personalities are, as explained by Linkara, due to the fact that they never mentally matured and so are basically man-children. I'll get into the cause with the next character, Doctor K. Doctor K is they're "mentor" for this show, but of course Ziggy has a thought about that, wondering how she could be their mentor when she's younger than them. Unlike Gem and Gemma, Doctor K is incredibly anti-social, an introvert to the extreme. At the start of the series, she never communicated with the Rangers face-to-face, resorting to pulling an L and only talking to them through monitors and with a voice filter disguising her voice. However once Dilan brings it up and takes a big issue with it as it displays and could cause a lack of trust, she finally shows herself to the Rangers. At first, she's incredibly harsh, especially to Ziggy, but as the series progresses we see her try to change and open up. Throughout the series up to around the halfway point, she refers to the Rangers as the Rangers and not by their names, but she tries to change that. There's even an awkward hug in her development. Eventually she manages to address the Rangers by their names...except Ziggy, to his dismay. This is due to an extension of her personal issues. When Doctor K was a child, she was taken away by a think tank known as Alphabet Soup because she was a natural genius and was convinced that the sun was harmful to her, thus keeping her from trying to leave. As the years roll by, she regresses into an introvert until one day, the program introduces her to Gem and Gemma, who developed into extremely extroverted people. The two makes friends with Doctor K instantly, but Doctor K doesn't quite make friends with them until much later. One day, when she sees a butterfly, she follows it to a window where light is pouring in and realizes she's been lied to and plans to escape. When Gem and Gemma come by, she tells them she plans to escape by using a virus program named Venjix that she created to sabotage Alphabet Soup, but on the day she starts it up, the men of the program come and attempt to take her away, prompting her to try and install a firewall to keep Venjix from getting into the world beyond Alphabet Soup and fails. When the place begins to go to hell, Gem and Gemma disappear to go grab the Gold and Silver Morphers and Doctor K soon assumes them dead. After that she stopped opening up to people for a long time, keeping herself distant from others to protect herself. However, as stated, she does manage to slowly open up to the others and even manages to call the Rangers by their names except Ziggy. At first you might assume it's because she hates him, but as things soon progress you realize that she distances herself for longer from him because he's a bit different from the others. Finally, let's discuss the villains! Venjix is an intimidating big bad. He's ruthless and cold and relentless, though it's kinda funny how striking his stationary form is to that of HAL 9000. He takes on the Rangers himself multiple times later on in the series, showing that if his generals and attack bots can't deal with the Rangers, then he might as well. Speaking of his Generals, they don't do much in all honesty. Other than Tenaya-7, a cyborg used to infiltrate the domed city of Corinth, the generals don't get much time to do anything. I can't remember any of their names, they're so scarce. The foot soldiers this time around are fairly nice, though they don't receive any upgrade aside from one specific episode and then they never do it again. It's a touch disappointing, but never quite as much as the generals. The story soon reaches a point where Dilan finds out that Tenaya is a Hybrid and his sister and attempts to contact her. Eventually she joins them and attempts to infiltrate Venjix's headquarters and succeeds, but are soon driven out. Tenaya is then soon taken back by Venjix and taken control of to ensure she doesn't betray him again. All the while there's a subplot about how the Venjix virus is inside Dilan and is spreading and that once it reaches a certain percentage, he'll be susceptible to mind control, which he soon is, but thankfully Doctor K, in that time, had begun developing a cure, which Dilan, in his last moments of free will, uses to expel the virus from him, and then uses on Tenaya too. The show all builds to a final confrontation with Venjix in his ultimate body, and ends when Gem and Gemma literally drop a building top of him. The threat of Venjix is finally gone and the world will finally be open to restoration, though it would take quite a while. The show ended on a cliffhanger that was created to ask Disney for a second season, but it never happened. Power Rangers RPM is my favorite series so far and I highly recommend it to any Power Rangers fan out there to go watch it if you haven't seen it yet. Trust me, it's great. I love the characters and the plot and premise, and I love the humor. It does suffer some flaws like the change in direction with the story after the original writer got canned, the incredibly near-pointless generals and a few character issues like Gem and Gemma's personalities and a distinct lack of character development for Flynn and Summer, but it's also one of, if not the most mature Power Rangers series so far. One thing that irks me, however is that they chose the wrong theme song to use for the show. It's this grungy theme song that's few in lyrics, but if you look up Power Rangers RPM alternate theme song, you'll understand just how big they fucked up in that regard. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this or at least found it tolerable. Next time I'll be discussing Power Rangers Dino Charge.

[ramrodd]

Why would God make it so complex to understand Christianity?

COMMENTARY:

For all your MAGA hat spiritual warriors, I made the following comment to the TYT channel episode entitled :

Kenneth Copeland FREAKS OUT On Reporter

https://ramrodd.tumblr.com/post/185359805041/televangelist-freaks-out-on-reporter-commentary

Copeland is absolutely correct about Principalities and Powers. I mean, what is the central them of my commentary on your videos, so far? The Holy Ghost, right, Ace?  You've skimmed Hegel at some point, based on your chatter, so you are familiar with The Progression, right? Jesus is the leading edge of The Progression, right? That was my understanding when I went to Vietnam. The Holy Ghost is the point security for Jesus in the territory in front of Jesus at the leading edge of History and he is operating forward of The Progression in the territory occupied by The Negation. That's where the Liberation Gospel operates. At least, that was my understanding on the Ho Chi Minh Trail where I had delivered myself to kill a Cong for Christ.

I made my bones. Have you? Probably not. My experience of the MAGA spiritual warriors flogging the Salvation Gospel of Campus Crusade for Christ far behind the leading edge of History, where Jesus dwells, but it has always been the geatest comfort for me that guys like you and John Bolton were back home, with the women and children, thanking me for my service.

So, I'm totally down with Kenneth Copeland when it comes to Principalities and Powers. That's the whole reason the Holy Ghost and I put up

Visualize Whirled Peas.

I mean, I've been trying to apply loving and gentle Christian counsel to MAGA hat spiritual warrior stud muffin Jesus Freaks like you and Jeff Durbin since 1981, but you are, like General Honoree says, stuck on stupid with your head stuck up your ass.  Like Ben Shapiro, you believe, in your heart of hearts, that Principalities and Powers and demons and evil spirits are just part of the marketing package frightened old men like Kenneth Copeland, Pat Robertson, James Hagee, Pastor Jack Hayford and Skip Zeitzig adopted as part of the Pro-Life Evangelical business plan to maximize the collection plate for necessities of the Salvation Gospel, a fleet of various aircraft. Now,  if some of this money is going directly to, say, Operation Smile with a permanent mission in Guatamala to elimnate any cosmetic birth defect like hairlip lingering past age 3 in the region, that I personally don't care how they sell it to young ambitious Prosperity Gospel bucks like you, I'm all for it. Go to Russian and set up shop and you'll get richer, faster, selling the opiod of the masses is you are willing to be part of Russian Orthodox out reach, as long as you are willing to surrender the Westminister Confession. But you need to take Principalities and Politics seriously, because you are part of the problem until you do.

COMMENTARY:

Principalities and powers are what is driving the suicide rate among combat veterans, teenagers and celebrities. It’s very real. You can see them at work in the face of Kenneth Copeland and Pat Robertson and, probably, Franklin Graham. It wasn’t in Billy Graham’s countenance but his existentially unanchored fundamentalism spawned several generations of Evangelical goblins like these guys and most of the people laying on of hands on Duck Ass Don in the Oval Office.

Revelation is a very high literature portrait of the events that were set into motion by the crucifixtion of Jesus in the spiritual realm. The One, as described in Revelation 4:2, communicates to us as individuals through emotions and visual symbolism that occurs in dreams and before The Word.

Visualize Whirled Peas. This is a little trick that the Holy Ghost as assigned me to introduce to the internet community as a reliable method for becoming aware of the personal Holy Ghost. This was on a bumber sticker and we both thought it was funny for the same reason, then he said if everyone that tuned in to TYT was to say it out loud, in their minds : “Visualize Whirled Peas” every time they see an active weather map, he, the Holy Spirit, would begin to have the data he needs to bring the Spirit of the Lord unto the bit and optimize global weather patterns and restoring the global climate to about 1955, which was the beginning of the modern cycle as I understand it.

The whole point is that it’s silly. If you read the Book of Acts as a play ground for the Holy Spirit, the possibilities that the liberation gospel of Jesus makes possible in your mind like popcorn in a microwave.

Here’s the thing: Steve Bannon is the front man for an evil cabal in the GOP Deep State I first ran into in 1981 with Donald T. Regan and Charles Z. Wick. Just recently, I have come to realized there was probably a third member of this coven from Miami or Texas but that axis is very murky: there’s a lot of them, but Regan brought a criminal element from Wall Street and Wick was at the nexus of the Hollywood country club set that profited the most from the Japanese interments and the Black lists of the McCarthy era. These people were all committed to the agenda of the Powell Manifesto and have spawned the current subversive political movement associated with the MAGA hats and Steve Bannon.

Newt Gingrich is the primary source of the toxic spiritual pollution that sustains the prinicpalities and powers Kenneth Copeland represents. Gingrich’s political organizational dynamics are based on the Trotsky Insurgency Processes the SDS employed in their anti-war movement arising from the Port Huron Statement. Gingrich brags about using this technology but, as an Army brat, I am sure he knew exactly what he was doing: I grew up in the Army at the same time and Counter-Insurgence was the sexy career path in the Army, particularly after JFK authorized the Green Berets for the Green Berets. The Trotsky Insurgency Process is designed to generate the social alienation and political polarization in a host culture leading to constitutional de-stablization and violent revolution. One symptom of this process in motion is a rising suicide rate from the alienation that is a fertile incubator for the goblins, useful idiots, fellow travelers and other flesh-and-blood servants of the Principalities and Powers Kenneth Copeland claims to be  wrestling with.

The best example in the Bible of the Principalities and Powers at work in the Gospels is the impulse of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. This was a totally spur of the moment thing that Judas succumbed to like   writing an angry resignation letter that is better left in a drawer, but Judas mailed it. Everybody around Jesus, except Mary Magdalene and Mary, sister of Martha, saw Jesus as a means to their particular end and Judas merely acted on his aspirations. What they discovered, of course, was that they were all a means to His ends, but that’s another story,

However, in terms of Principalities and Powers at work, this guy in Virginia Beach is an example of how they work. The Dismal Swamp is a powerful spiritual node, like the Three Sisters and Point of Rocks in Virginia, and Pat Roberson’s ministry lies nigh unto that power source. Pat Roberson’s direct mail operation has been an important money laundering operation on the East Coast for 30 or 40 years and his 700 Club broadcasts are an important contributor to the toxic spiritual pollution Gingrich supervises. In the last couple of weeks with the celebration of the MAGA hat crowd over the anti-abortion legislation in the various states and the danger to Roe v  Wade, the intensity of this generation has increased 10 fold and further amplified by the sympathetic emotional spike from Duck Ass Don’s tweet storm over Mueller’s press conference, this guy had a Judas Iscariot moment and gunned down his fellow workers because they were home when he came to slake his lust for blood,

The first time I saw this sort of thing happen was in the late ‘90s, during impeachment, when the Pro-Life Evangelical Christian Radio stations broadcast a season devoted to Revelation and there was a series of school yard shootings leading up to Columbine. Currently, there has been a focus on David, a Man After God’s Own Heart and there is a subdued expression that contributes to Donald Duck Ass need for agitation  . And there have been a number of similar neighborhood shootings in and around DC similar in character to this Virginia Beach Shooting.

And I can trace it all back to Newt Gingrich and the  very Prinicipalities and Powers that animates Kenneth Copeland’s visage in this confrontation. This is what the combination of National Socialism and Romans 13 produced in Germany after 1933 and here it is, like and in living color, right here in the good old US of A.  

Good work, TYT. This is why we have a 1st Amendment.

Visualize Whirled Peas.

[investmart007]

SEATTLE | Judge blocks release of blueprints for 3D-printed guns

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/oz6wbB

SEATTLE | Judge blocks release of blueprints for 3D-printed guns

SEATTLE — A federal judge on Tuesday stopped the release of blueprints to make untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic guns as President Donald Trump questioned whether his administration should have agreed to allow the plans to be posted online.  

The company behind the plans, Austin, Texas-based Defense Distributed, had reached a settlement with the federal government in June allowing it to make the plans for the guns available for download on Wednesday.

The restraining order from U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle puts that plan on hold for now. “There is a possibility of irreparable harm because of the way these guns can be made,” he said.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson called the ruling “a complete, total victory.”

“We were asking for a nationwide temporary restraining order putting a halt to this outrageous decision by the federal government to allow these 3D downloadable guns to be available around our country and around the world. He granted that relief,” Ferguson said at a news conference after the hearing. “That is significant.”

Eight Democratic attorneys general had filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the settlement. They also sought the restraining order, arguing the 3D guns would be a safety risk.

Congressional Democrats have urged President Donald Trump to reverse the decision to publish the plans. At a news conference Tuesday, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that if Trump does not block sale, “Blood is going to be on his hands.”

Trump said Tuesday that he’s “looking into” the idea, saying making 3D plastic guns available to the public “doesn’t seem to make much sense!”

Trump tweeted that he has already spoken with the National Rifle Association about the downloadable directions a Texas company wants to provide for people to make 3D-printed guns. The guns are made of a hard plastic and are simple to assemble, easy to conceal and difficult to trace.

“We don’t agree with President Trump very much,” Washington state Assistant Attorney General Jeff Rupert told Lasnik, “but when he tweeted ‘this doesn’t make much sense,’ that’s something we agree with.”

After a yearslong court battle, the State Department in late June settled the case against Defense Distributed.

The settlement, which took gun-control advocates by surprise, allowed the company to resume posting blueprints for the hard-plastic guns at the end of July. Those plans were put on hold by the Seattle judge’s decision.

During the hearing in Seattle, Eric Soskin, a lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department, said they reached the settlement to allow the company to post the material online because the regulations were designed to restrict weapons that could be used in war, and the online guns were no different from the weapons that could be bought in a store.

Since the weapons “did not create a military advantage,” he told the judge, “how could the government justify regulating the data?”

But Rupert said a restraining order would keep the plans away from people who have learned about the technology and want to use it to get around gun laws.

Hours before the restraining order was issued, Democrats sounded the alarm, warning about “ghost guns” that can avoid detection and pose a deadly hazard.

The company’s website had said downloads would begin Wednesday, but blueprints for at least one gun — a plastic pistol called the Liberator — have been posted on the site since Friday. A lawyer for the company said he didn’t know how many blueprints had been downloaded since then.

Outrage over the administration decision is putting gun control back into the election-year political debate, but with a high-tech twist.

The president seemed to express surprise. He said on Twitter he was looking into the idea of a company providing plans to the public for printing guns, and he said it “doesn’t seem to make much sense!”

Democrats agreed and said Trump had the power to stop it.

Some Republicans also expressed concern.

“Even as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment — this is not right,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski tweeted, linking to a news story on the guns.

The NRA said in a statement that “anti-gun politicians” and some members of the news media wrongly claim that 3D printing technology “will allow for the production and widespread proliferation of undetectable plastic firearms.”

In truth, “undetectable plastic guns have been illegal for 30 years,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s political arm. A federal law passed in 1988 — crafted with NRA support — bars the manufacture, sale or possession of an undetectable firearm.

Trump spokesman Hogan Gidley made much the same point, saying the administration supports the law against wholly plastic guns, including those made with a 3D printer.

But Democrats called the law weak and said gun users can get around it by using weapons with a removable metal block that the gun doesn’t need in order to function.

Democrats filed legislation that would prohibit the publication of a digital file online that allows a 3D printer to manufacture a firearm. Democrats also filed a separate bill to require that all guns have at least one non-removable component made of metal so they can be discovered by metal detectors.

People can use the blueprints to manufacture plastic guns using a 3D printer. But industry experts have expressed doubts that criminals would go to the trouble, since the printers needed to make the guns can cost thousands of dollars, the guns themselves tend to disintegrate quickly and traditional firearms are easy to come by.

___

Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey in Washington and Lisa Marie Pane in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this story.

By MARTHA BELLISLE and MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

[sushildhiman]

Top 10 Wedding Photography Myths: Wedding Photographers and Brides, Oh My!

You might be getting married (congrats, by the way) and trying to decide whether or not to even hire a wedding photographer. You might be trying to decide now on which photography professional to choose for your wedding day. You might be a wedding photographer, trying to understand the delicate and confounding psyche of those who engage in wedding planning.

Whoever you are, for your reading pleasure, check out the top 10 myths of wedding photography as relayed by a photographer who still loves taking pictures. These are broken in to three categories: a. Myths about not hiring a professional at all; b. Myths about the selection process; and c. Myths about how the photography should be done.

CATEGORY A: I don't need/want a wedding photographer because:

1. My cousin's roommate from college just got the new Canon 999D and a plethora of 'L ' professional series lenses; it will be great (and, did I mention, FREE!).

Is it impossible to find a good free photographer? No. Is it likely? No. Is it a good idea? Almost never. But hey, it is your wedding day. You can chance it on the stranger who could very well be overly intrigued by the bridesmaid who has just a little bit too much to drink at the reception and starts to dance provocatively. That way, the bulk of your photos could be of her. Perfect, right? And free. In this situation, you can just point out to your kids, twenty years down the road, that the photographer did take these photos with really cutting edge technology, which is why you can see just so much detail of the lewd woman at your wedding with, how shall we say... 'perky' breasts. No, she isn't the bride, but doesn't she look like she is having fun?

2. Why would I get a photographer? Everybody and their dog has a camera (even cell phones pictures are creeping up in the 'megapixel' race). The snapshots from guests will suffice.

Yes, it is true to state that most of us now carry a camera on our body at all times (on our phone at the very least). Moreover, at a wedding, many if not most guests bring some type of additional camera to memorialize the event (particularly things that go wrong, if they don't like you; tears from the groom if they do). However, rigorous double blind studies have been done on the data stream to which we are referring, and they all show one thing. These pictures have a 99.9982% chance of sucking. Really badly. There might be one great photo of the bunch, of a dog at the end of the aisle that meant so much to Great Aunt Esther. It will be perfectly exposed, focused, and display Sparky with a beautiful stance using great composition.

3. Wedding photography is too expensive - why would I support an industry of so-called 'professionals' who really only work a few hours a week. I don't know whether to be angry or jealous.

You can be angry if you would like. You can even be jealous, since we have a job that (hopefully) we love, and take great pride in. If you think we work a few hours for a single wedding, you are fooling yourself. Those are the hours that you see us at the wedding; suffice it to say, many hours of preparation went in to that particular wedding, countless hours will proceed upon the end of wedding day in post-production. When done correctly, the work is extensive, fun, and pays decent.

CATEGORY B: I do need/want a wedding photographer, but the selection process should be limited:

4. I'll hire my photographer after all the other planning is done. I'll select the flowers, the venue, the dj or band, the bridesmaid dresses, the honeymoon hotel, and more. Then I'll think photography.

Of course you will wait till the last few months to hire a photographer. Why would you want a wedding professional like a great photographer to help you with smart referrals for all the other services you will be seeking? While a good photographer will have worked with a spectacular cake business in previous weddings and gladly suggest that you check them out, you can spend forty-seven hours pouring over brochures featuring batman shaped carrot cakes (a theme which will certainly to take off when new brides really stop and think about it). Really, though, consider this - waiting will only limit your choices. Photographers contract for specific dates. When your arch enemy plans her wedding on the same day as you (out of spite), she will also try to wrap up the services of the best photographer in town. Beat her to that photographer for years of bragging rights.

5. I don't want recommendations - why would I care what some other couple says about this photographer? I love her website; it is shiny, happy, and new. It makes me smile on the inside.

Classy websites abound among wedding photographers, for all of the obvious reasons. You are considering paying them money for an art, so the designs they use for marketing and information delivery, then, should be equally artistic. However, take a quick look at the photographers in your location, and I'll bet that you find one with an impressive website, with dramatic motion and animated vines growing out of the monitor and instant chat functionality with on demand videos... and other cool technological things I don't even know about. However, you may also find that this particular photographer has acceptable photographs, and nothing more. Then, I hope, you will realize that you deserve more than acceptable photography from a marketing guru who dabbles in photography.

6. I'm looking for a photographer who can take pictures - that is ALL. Give me the product, and then keep on your merry way, Mr. Camera Man.

Well, it is not the case that I am going to suggest you develop a relationship with your photographer that you would develop with, say, the groom. However, the talent or skill of taking good photographs really is only part of the package. A photographer ought to also be able to show up on time, dressed appropriately, converse with the guests, corral the wedding party, and so on. Otherwise, you will have the photographer who shows up at the wrong location, late, wearing her parka in the Florida summer because of her 'extreme anti-social' nature and a desire to photograph only the frogs near the wading pool. Again, the frog photos might be great. But you will have to reminisce about your wedding without any visual evidence to support the memories.

7. I want a photographer who does the latest post-processing fad, and proudly displays it. An absurdly heavy vignette with color spot and 'double exposure'? Groovy.

Some photographers, myself included, groan just a little bit on the inside when clients request a particular photographic fad that jeopardizes the timeless nature of photography. What we typically shoot for are photographs that will speak to the event itself, and not serve as an indication of the era. Granted, some of the content of the photo - the people and places photographed - will pick out clothing styles, automotive or architectural design, and the like. But the photography itself - the image - should fail to scream 'This happened in 1984 - no one superimposes a ghost-like image of the grooms head over the bride praying anymore.'

CATEGORY C: I've got a photographer, and here is what is going to happen:

8. I want ONLY [formal or candid] shots. Any shots other than [formal or candid] are stupid, make me cry, and give me stomach pain.

Use antacid and just stop it already! No, really. Virtually every wedding photography professional practices the craft in a way that utilizes the benefit of multiple 'styles' of wedding photography. Some photographers emphasize one over the other - mostly heavily posed fashion shots, say, with only a few candid shots from the ceremony and reception. However, understand that both styles, and so both sets of images, will tell the story of the day, whereas the absence of one of those sets would yield a collection that isn't as rich or descriptive.

As you select your photographer(s), you will take a look at the collection of photographs that he or she chooses to display prominently, and these will speak volumes about the style of photography that is most important to that person. However, it is perfectly reasonable to expect (dare I say, assume) a certain amount of variety in the final collection of images.

9. I've got a shot list. It is important to me. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Deviation from this list will result in a world of pain. To the photographer who dares to cross me.

Please understand, it is the opinion of this author that certain wedding planning resources overstate the rigid and unyielding nature of wedding planning, which can be far more organic and fun than you might otherwise believe. That is right, I just claimed that wedding planning can be fun. So that means that you don't need to hang your head in shame when you haven't selected the caterer by the 18th planning day when the moon is in decent. THERE AREN'T STRICT RULES ABOUT THIS STUFF.

Nor is there a strict rule about the beloved (alternatively: dreaded) shot list. Such a list can be quite useful in many situations, particularly when family members in attendance are especially important (for whatever reason) and certain shots are needed of them prior to, say, their imminent demise. (This happens to photographers, unfortunately, with some regularity. The groom will pull us aside midway through the reception, and mention the fact the we should really try to get some great shots of the brides father who "will not be with us much longer.")

For those that can't resist looking over typical shot lists, your best bet will be to print out one that you like, highlight a few that are especially important ('a few' in English means three or so; I didn't write 'highlight all of them'), and hand it to your photographer. Nicely state that, while you are sure that she would capture these regardless of the list, the highlighted shots are REALLY important to you. Message sent, right?

10. I will direct my photographer throughout my wedding day like the pitiful waif that he is. (Alternatively, the photographer will direct me throughout my wedding day and I'll obey every command.)

Neither of these options will occur; no one should allow it. Your wedding day is YOURS in every sense, and you are given enormous powers to direct the vendors you hire. However, the vendors you hire, including your wedding photographer, are professionals and know what they are doing. While this may very well be your third wedding day, presumably your photographer has had even more.

The service provided by wedding photographers is one best performed in the presence of open communication. There may be a situation where your photographer has an idea, pitches it to you, and you decline (nicely, of course, but firmly). "No," you say. "I will not place that stuffed animal under my arm while humming the Battle Hymn of the Republic, gazing thoughtfully towards the east." Similarly, there may be a case where you suggest a shot and your photographer says 'no thanks.' "No," he says. "I will not take that photo; it makes me uncomfortable and I have never worked for Larry Flynt, so I don't have that kind of training." This type of open communication is the best (and only) way to conduct business for a photographer, and we expect it of our brides as well!

Sushil Dhiman is an award-winning professional photographer and considered one of the best Indian professional Wedding Photographers in Chandigarh. Visit our site to know more about Chandigarh photographer.

[mingmagazine-blog]

Surprisingly Good, Cheap Mechanical Keyboards

Have you ever been to a fellow gamer’s house, maybe in your early introduction to the world of quality hardware, and marveled at the technology he (or she) had? Maybe you were entranced by the RGB-everything, the curved 21:9 monitor, or the insane level of silence his water-cooling system could achieve. What about his keyboard? Did you think of that? You know, the one with the fancy Cherry MX Blues in it that went all “clickety-clackety.” Besides its silky smooth response and its satisfying sound, what was so special about those mechanical keyboards? Probably the fact that his was about $200.

The Mechanical Keyboards

You may be thinking “Woah! Mechanical keyboards go for that much? Sheesh…” Well, hold on to your socks, my fellow lower-middle-class college students. Cherry’s patent on their oh-so-clickety-clackety mechanical switches ran out. Do you know what that means? That’s right; we now have some Korean knockoffs! Yeah, they may not have the greatest backlighting system or, heck, they may not be backlit at all. They may also not have braided special cables, macro keys, or some funky branded design. But you know what? Most of them work pretty darn well, even for my daily driver that set me back a whole $34. Part of becoming a responsible man is getting the most out of your money.

What’s Being Judged

Just to be clear, we’re going to be covering REALLY cheap mechanical keyboards. This means we’re specifically looking for something $40 or less. We’ll also be basing our selections on three different criteria: functionality, general aesthetics, and overall quality. To keep brand reputation from being an issue, all of our selections got no less than four stars on their reviews, which I do go through and read. I’ll also shorten the title of the product within reason since a lot of manufacturers love to add the entire specification chart into it. Just for reassurance, all five of my selections will be straight from Amazon.com to make sure they are easily accessible and, with Prime, shipping will be free too.

Hcman Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Hcman Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Blue Switches, PC Gaming Keyboard of 6 Colors Led Backlit For Computer or Mac,87 Keys

Via: amazon.com

For number five, we’re looking at the Hcman Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. This tenkeyless keyboard claims to feature switches similar to Cherry MX Blues and is fully backlit with six colors, nine different modes of illumination, and variable intensity. It comes with a blasted aluminum base plate, black double-shot injection keycaps, media keys, anti-ghosting, and is driverless. Though I personally found the colors a bit annoying, especially with certain patterns of illumination, you can set the intensity all the way down to zero. So if you like the look of it, but not the backlighting, that’s always an option. At a whopping $26, this sounds like a pretty good deal, but let’s look at it a bit closer.

Pros:

Decent finish, somewhat programmable backlighting, extra function keys, Blue-style switches, anti-ghosting, good build quality, compatible with all versions of windows and mac, actually has a braided USB cable, a key cap puller, and all at a really good price.

Cons:

The colors cannot be programmed to one solid color, sadly. So if you don’t really like having a rainbow flashing at you the whole time you’re using it, this one may not be for you. Speaking of which, its keys are also only programmable through the certain keys on the keyboard itself since it doesn’t come with a driver. The legend on the keycaps are a little too “gamery” for my tastes, but your mileage may vary. Also, since it’s tenkeyless, it is way more ergonomic. If you fancy yourself some “Accounting Simulator 2017,” you may want a full 104 key keyboard.

  EagleTec KG011 Mechanical keyboard

EagleTec KG011 Office / Industrial LED Backlit Mechanical Keyboard (White + Silver)

Via: amazon.com

Next on our list is the EagleTec KG011 Mechanical keyboard, with an aluminum base plate and white double-shot injected keycaps which are also anti-ghosting. Its users claim that it has Outemu Blue switches, which require noticeably more actuation force than Cherry MX Blues when operating and also seem to be a bit louder.

Pros:

This keyboard comes in a LOT of aesthetic variants. Though the one in the picture is white and silver, there’s also a black version with both versions featuring several different backlighting layouts such as solid colors, no backlight, and RGB. Though this one doesn’t come with a braided cable for durability and aesthetics, it does come with a numpad in case you tend to use that a lot. It’s pretty solid and heavy, so it won’t be moving around very easily.

Cons:

All of that being said, the legend on the keycaps is a little wonky and very weird to read. It’s a little too “gamery ” and its price is on the higher end of the list at around $40. But, compared to the name-brand mechanical keyboards, it’s definitely not a bad price by any means.

Redragon K552 Mechanical Keyboard

Redragon K552 KUMARA LED Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (Black)

Via: amazon.com

  The number three of the mechanical keyboards is the Redragon K552 Mechanical Keyboard. Being one of the most reviewed and highly reviewed cheap mechanical keyboards, it comes with a metal base plate, double-shot injected keycaps, and various formats of backlighting such as none, red, and RGB. They claim to feature “Cherry Green equivalent” switches, but they actually are Outemo Blue switches. They’re good, but actually not very close to Cherry MX Greens when it comes to the actuation force. This one also doesn’t have any braided sleeve on the cable, nor does it have a numpad. This keyboard looks and feels quite a bit “gamery” (I’ve said that all of these so far, haven’t I?), but at a whole $33, there’s really no room to complain about this one. Now onto my take:

Pros:

Very good price for a well-made, backlit, anti-ghosting, fairly well-built, reputable mechanical keyboard. The reviews say that the backlighting is not too bright on its highest setting, but still adequate with a monitor right in front of it.

Cons:

Again, a little too “gamery,” but honestly, that’s not a surprise with certain brands when the switches are actually mechanical. Other than that, and the big noisy logo, all else seems to be tolerable. Of course, it doesn’t have a braided cable, nor does it have macro keys, or a driver for backlight programming, but it has clicky-clacky, and that makes most of the drawbacks of these keyboards okay.

Qisan Mechanical Keyboard

Mechanical Keyboard Gaming Keyboard Brown Switch 68-Keys Mini Design (60%) Gaming Wired Keyboard White Silver Magicforce by Qisan

Via: amazon.com

  Number two on our list is the Qisan Mechanical Keyboard. This tenkeyless keyboard features Outemu switches which they claim to mimic Cherry MX Browns, a blasted aluminum base plate, and an extremely compact design; making it very convenient for traveling or LAN parties. This compact design is achieved by merging the “F” and “ESC” keys with the tilde number keys, completely negating the whole top row on a standard keyboard. It also features a really useful cable setup on the bottom, allowing for proficient cable management. It has white keycaps and no backlighting, but for this keyboard, backlighting is not necessary since it’s mostly for business and portable applications. That being said, again, this one does not come with a numpad.

Pros:

Well built, modern looking, VERY compact, decent switches, and a really nice setup for cable management. What drawbacks it has from the “F” keys not being media keys, it makes up for by re-purposing other keys that didn’t have an “F” function, so you still technically get media keys. Overall, this one seems to be a perfect design and purpose for the average consumer and would appeal greatly to someone who maybe travels for business, and would like a much more enjoyable typing experience than their mushy laptop keyboard can give them.

Cons:

It is on the higher end of our price range at $39, which still isn’t bad, but it also has no backlighting, and its small size may not be for everyone or every application. It also doesn’t have a braided cable for durability and aesthetics, but that’s negated by its clever setup.

Pictek PPC023B-PTUS Mechanical Keyboard

Pictek PPC023B-PTUS Water-Resistant Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with Blue Switch, Key Cap Puller – Black

Via: amazon.com

Now on to our number one selection for mechanical keyboards. We have the keyboard that I’m typing on right now, the Pictek PPC023B-PTUS Mechanical Keyboard. This tenkeyless keyboard features switches that definitely imitate Cherry MX Blues, a black metal base plate, and black keycaps. It has no backlighting but, personally, I don’t really care about backlighting. Unless it has a driver for me to program each key individually, I don’t want it. Especially if it has a bunch of different colors. From my experience, it gets really old, really fast. The logo above the arrow keys is surprisingly well-designed, nonintrusive, and differed greatly from the logo in the pictures. Which, honestly, that was a pleasant surprise, since I wasn’t a huge fan of the other logo anyways.

The cable is nothing special. It doesn’t have any braided sleeve, nor does it have a clever setup like the last one, but it touts all over its description and pictures the fact that this keyboard is water-resistant. This is largely due to the well-placed drain holes on the bottom which allow all of the water from a spill to get out. While that’s pretty cool, the rule applies for any electronics: if it gets wet, and it’s allowed to dry for a good three to four days, it should work 8/10 times depending on what it is. Either way, at least it’s a better design for letting it dry.

Pros:

Very well built, good typing experience, and at $34, it hits the mark on our quality/price ratio. It comes with a key cap puller, and its logo is well-designed and very non-intrusive, which is a nice change of pace. The legend on the keycaps is very traditional, easy to read, and it won’t make you look weird if you decide to use it at work or school.

Cons:

However, these switches are mimics of Cherry MX Blues, and they are loud. Very loud. If you’re looking to use it around other people at the office, you may want to pick up a bag of small o-rings to put under the key caps. That should make it somewhat quieter. It has no backlighting and no braided cable sleeve, but neither of those matter in my book. Plus, again, this one is tenkeyless, so it doesn’t have a numpad. But with all of these, if you really need a numpad, you might like the full 104 key selections, or you can get a separate mechanical numerical keypad.

In Conclusion

Mechanical keyboards are starting to become less of an enthusiast novelty and more accessible to the average consumer, which I think is awesome. If you still can’t afford these for some reason, you can still get mechanical switches if you can pick up an old IBM Model M or a Dell AT101W on eBay. If you can get one really cheap, or you have one lying around, there are ways of making their switches much, much better. Or you can leave it if it feels good to you. All of this comes down to personal preference. Again, this list is based on my personal opinion and observations, so feel free to try out any selection you like. That’s the best thing about this: at under $40, you’re not out much if you don’t like what you get.

[investmart007]

SEATTLE | Judge blocks release of blueprints for 3D-printed guns

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/oz6wbB

SEATTLE | Judge blocks release of blueprints for 3D-printed guns

SEATTLE — A federal judge on Tuesday stopped the release of blueprints to make untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic guns as President Donald Trump questioned whether his administration should have agreed to allow the plans to be posted online.  

The company behind the plans, Austin, Texas-based Defense Distributed, had reached a settlement with the federal government in June allowing it to make the plans for the guns available for download on Wednesday.

The restraining order from U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle puts that plan on hold for now. “There is a possibility of irreparable harm because of the way these guns can be made,” he said.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson called the ruling “a complete, total victory.”

“We were asking for a nationwide temporary restraining order putting a halt to this outrageous decision by the federal government to allow these 3D downloadable guns to be available around our country and around the world. He granted that relief,” Ferguson said at a news conference after the hearing. “That is significant.”

Eight Democratic attorneys general had filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the settlement. They also sought the restraining order, arguing the 3D guns would be a safety risk.

Congressional Democrats have urged President Donald Trump to reverse the decision to publish the plans. At a news conference Tuesday, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that if Trump does not block sale, “Blood is going to be on his hands.”

Trump said Tuesday that he’s “looking into” the idea, saying making 3D plastic guns available to the public “doesn’t seem to make much sense!”

Trump tweeted that he has already spoken with the National Rifle Association about the downloadable directions a Texas company wants to provide for people to make 3D-printed guns. The guns are made of a hard plastic and are simple to assemble, easy to conceal and difficult to trace.

“We don’t agree with President Trump very much,” Washington state Assistant Attorney General Jeff Rupert told Lasnik, “but when he tweeted ‘this doesn’t make much sense,’ that’s something we agree with.”

After a yearslong court battle, the State Department in late June settled the case against Defense Distributed.

The settlement, which took gun-control advocates by surprise, allowed the company to resume posting blueprints for the hard-plastic guns at the end of July. Those plans were put on hold by the Seattle judge’s decision.

During the hearing in Seattle, Eric Soskin, a lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department, said they reached the settlement to allow the company to post the material online because the regulations were designed to restrict weapons that could be used in war, and the online guns were no different from the weapons that could be bought in a store.

Since the weapons “did not create a military advantage,” he told the judge, “how could the government justify regulating the data?”

But Rupert said a restraining order would keep the plans away from people who have learned about the technology and want to use it to get around gun laws.

Hours before the restraining order was issued, Democrats sounded the alarm, warning about “ghost guns” that can avoid detection and pose a deadly hazard.

The company’s website had said downloads would begin Wednesday, but blueprints for at least one gun — a plastic pistol called the Liberator — have been posted on the site since Friday. A lawyer for the company said he didn’t know how many blueprints had been downloaded since then.

Outrage over the administration decision is putting gun control back into the election-year political debate, but with a high-tech twist.

The president seemed to express surprise. He said on Twitter he was looking into the idea of a company providing plans to the public for printing guns, and he said it “doesn’t seem to make much sense!”

Democrats agreed and said Trump had the power to stop it.

Some Republicans also expressed concern.

“Even as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment — this is not right,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski tweeted, linking to a news story on the guns.

The NRA said in a statement that “anti-gun politicians” and some members of the news media wrongly claim that 3D printing technology “will allow for the production and widespread proliferation of undetectable plastic firearms.”

In truth, “undetectable plastic guns have been illegal for 30 years,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s political arm. A federal law passed in 1988 — crafted with NRA support — bars the manufacture, sale or possession of an undetectable firearm.

Trump spokesman Hogan Gidley made much the same point, saying the administration supports the law against wholly plastic guns, including those made with a 3D printer.

But Democrats called the law weak and said gun users can get around it by using weapons with a removable metal block that the gun doesn’t need in order to function.

Democrats filed legislation that would prohibit the publication of a digital file online that allows a 3D printer to manufacture a firearm. Democrats also filed a separate bill to require that all guns have at least one non-removable component made of metal so they can be discovered by metal detectors.

People can use the blueprints to manufacture plastic guns using a 3D printer. But industry experts have expressed doubts that criminals would go to the trouble, since the printers needed to make the guns can cost thousands of dollars, the guns themselves tend to disintegrate quickly and traditional firearms are easy to come by.

___

Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey in Washington and Lisa Marie Pane in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this story.

By MARTHA BELLISLE and MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

[investmart007]

SEATTLE | Judge blocks release of blueprints for 3D-printed guns

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/oz6wbB

SEATTLE | Judge blocks release of blueprints for 3D-printed guns

SEATTLE — A federal judge on Tuesday stopped the release of blueprints to make untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic guns as President Donald Trump questioned whether his administration should have agreed to allow the plans to be posted online.  

The company behind the plans, Austin, Texas-based Defense Distributed, had reached a settlement with the federal government in June allowing it to make the plans for the guns available for download on Wednesday.

The restraining order from U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle puts that plan on hold for now. “There is a possibility of irreparable harm because of the way these guns can be made,” he said.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson called the ruling “a complete, total victory.”

“We were asking for a nationwide temporary restraining order putting a halt to this outrageous decision by the federal government to allow these 3D downloadable guns to be available around our country and around the world. He granted that relief,” Ferguson said at a news conference after the hearing. “That is significant.”

Eight Democratic attorneys general had filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the settlement. They also sought the restraining order, arguing the 3D guns would be a safety risk.

Congressional Democrats have urged President Donald Trump to reverse the decision to publish the plans. At a news conference Tuesday, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that if Trump does not block sale, “Blood is going to be on his hands.”

Trump said Tuesday that he’s “looking into” the idea, saying making 3D plastic guns available to the public “doesn’t seem to make much sense!”

Trump tweeted that he has already spoken with the National Rifle Association about the downloadable directions a Texas company wants to provide for people to make 3D-printed guns. The guns are made of a hard plastic and are simple to assemble, easy to conceal and difficult to trace.

“We don’t agree with President Trump very much,” Washington state Assistant Attorney General Jeff Rupert told Lasnik, “but when he tweeted ‘this doesn’t make much sense,’ that’s something we agree with.”

After a yearslong court battle, the State Department in late June settled the case against Defense Distributed.

The settlement, which took gun-control advocates by surprise, allowed the company to resume posting blueprints for the hard-plastic guns at the end of July. Those plans were put on hold by the Seattle judge’s decision.

During the hearing in Seattle, Eric Soskin, a lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department, said they reached the settlement to allow the company to post the material online because the regulations were designed to restrict weapons that could be used in war, and the online guns were no different from the weapons that could be bought in a store.

Since the weapons “did not create a military advantage,” he told the judge, “how could the government justify regulating the data?”

But Rupert said a restraining order would keep the plans away from people who have learned about the technology and want to use it to get around gun laws.

Hours before the restraining order was issued, Democrats sounded the alarm, warning about “ghost guns” that can avoid detection and pose a deadly hazard.

The company’s website had said downloads would begin Wednesday, but blueprints for at least one gun — a plastic pistol called the Liberator — have been posted on the site since Friday. A lawyer for the company said he didn’t know how many blueprints had been downloaded since then.

Outrage over the administration decision is putting gun control back into the election-year political debate, but with a high-tech twist.

The president seemed to express surprise. He said on Twitter he was looking into the idea of a company providing plans to the public for printing guns, and he said it “doesn’t seem to make much sense!”

Democrats agreed and said Trump had the power to stop it.

Some Republicans also expressed concern.

“Even as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment — this is not right,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski tweeted, linking to a news story on the guns.

The NRA said in a statement that “anti-gun politicians” and some members of the news media wrongly claim that 3D printing technology “will allow for the production and widespread proliferation of undetectable plastic firearms.”

In truth, “undetectable plastic guns have been illegal for 30 years,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s political arm. A federal law passed in 1988 — crafted with NRA support — bars the manufacture, sale or possession of an undetectable firearm.

Trump spokesman Hogan Gidley made much the same point, saying the administration supports the law against wholly plastic guns, including those made with a 3D printer.

But Democrats called the law weak and said gun users can get around it by using weapons with a removable metal block that the gun doesn’t need in order to function.

Democrats filed legislation that would prohibit the publication of a digital file online that allows a 3D printer to manufacture a firearm. Democrats also filed a separate bill to require that all guns have at least one non-removable component made of metal so they can be discovered by metal detectors.

People can use the blueprints to manufacture plastic guns using a 3D printer. But industry experts have expressed doubts that criminals would go to the trouble, since the printers needed to make the guns can cost thousands of dollars, the guns themselves tend to disintegrate quickly and traditional firearms are easy to come by.

___

Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey in Washington and Lisa Marie Pane in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this story.

By MARTHA BELLISLE and MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press