#pipe jacking

[lifconltd]

A Comprehensive Guide to Horizontal Directional Drilling Methods:Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) has revolutionized the way we install and maintain underground infrastructure. This trenchless technique utilizes a directional drilling approach, employing a HDD drill with a steerable head, to create a precise pathway beneath the surface. But the world of HDD isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. This blog post delves into the diverse methods used in HDD, focusing on their applications in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and beyond.

[heartnosekid]

halloween checkerboard crochet cake 🎃 by thepetitepudding on ig

[petpetpinixy]

ahem. aheem

(i hope it's obvious but if not: jack is Not trying to hit dave here he's just swanging that crank around)

[ihateswansmorethananything]

I know hear me out cakes are a bit of an old trend but this came to me as a vision and I just had to do it

[janniksins]

thinking about jack "i always try to send him my support" draper and jannik "I haven't spoken to many people but I've spoken to jack" sinner

[aslyf0x]

STEPPING RIGHT IN!!

[webdiggerxxx]

꧁★꧂

[or-echo]

So, Bucky's the Ultimate Universe's Grand Skull, right? Old news.

I'm not convinced- and in fact, I'm actually certain- that he's not who Camp is suggesting he is. He is, at the very least, NOT the original Bucky, and his identity is debatable too (be he a clone or imposter), but I'm pretty sure that the Grand Skull is actually the Ultimate Universe's Jack Monroe.

First- the Skull himself. Let's take a look at him.

In this particular image, he has two visible flesh arms. We don't know with certainty the way that new Ultimate James Barnes died- or nearly died- but given the similarity in Steve Rogers' origin, one can assume it was likely in the plane explosion (or via train, if Camp has decided to create synergy with the MCU). Assuming this is not an artistic error (it has happened before) or a backstory tweak, then the possibility of it being the original Bucky is discredited.

This leaves the possibility of a clone or LMD open- I don't buy into that theory, though. It's not impossible, but there's already a LMD Nick Fury & to do that with Bucky would just be retreading ground. On top of that, Grand Skull is estimated by Jim to be 73; maybe he'd just been running around as a clone for a while... but undeniably, it's more useful to have a younger, more spry guy running around as a propaganda face.

Not just that; Jim says that the role of Grand Skull has been held by at least five people, and they tend to die violently, so this is not a case of not replacing a successful player. *Why* put an elderly clone into this position when you can just make a new one? It reads as very unlikely to me.

So, why do I think he's specifically *Jack Monroe?*

Starting with some of the more minor elements, Jim's voice recognition came in at 90%. Enough to come up with a conclusive result, but if Camp wanted to concretely *tell* us it's James Barnes, it would be 100%.

The high percentage, assuming this is actually Jack Monroe, can be attributed to the fact that he has always resembled, and has been imitating James Barnes since he was 12-13 years old, at least in 616.

His behavior is another indicator to me. He's eager for the "Invaders reunion," but lacks any vestige of his previous attitude towards his former peers. This is most obviously shown with his flippant behavior towards Namor, whose approval he had desperately wanted while they were on a team together.

Jack was never a part of the Invaders; *maybe* he could have crossed paths with Jim & Namor at some point in time, but he didn't have the same personal attachment to them that James did.

But it's also in the fact that he only addresses *Steve* directly once defeated, even though Jim is also right there.

Knowing Steve by name may, at first, serve as a smoking gun suggesting that it's actually James as Camp suggests, but to reiterate Jack's backstory; HIS Captain America, William Burnside, underwent physical surgery to look the exact same as the original Steve Rogers, and legally took on his name. He knew his Captain America as Steve Rogers, and, like anyone else who was in-the-know of the legacy-mantle that Captain America & Bucky had become, thought that the original Steve Rogers was dead. So, the Skull recognizing Captain America as "Steve" does not necessarily mean that he is actually James Barnes. It does mean he's not Fred Davis, though!

On top of that, the idea that "...symbols don't die. They just come back different," is a near-perfect descriptor of what happened to the title of Captain America and Bucky from 45-55.

The time period in which Jack was Bucky though- and more importantly than that, the things and ways he was groomed to believe and behave respectively- aligns better with the beliefs and actions of the Grand Skull. He was McCarthyism Bucky. With the influence of the incomplete/faulty Super Soldier Serum, and a third party pushing him further into far right rhetoric, to turn him into a pawn (after all, the Red Skull gang has connections to H.A.N.D.), he would be in prime position to take on a role like this. At least, he's more likely to fall into a Neo-Nazi movement than the Bucky who grew up watching the Nazis rise to power and died fighting them.

With the Maker changing the world and eliminating heroes, Jack would never be pushed away from the path he was originally on. He'd become a useful, impressionable tool if deemed fit... and given that the Red Skull gang exists with H.A.N.D. connections, it seems that the Maker sees value in a group with that mindset. That could lend itself to why he'd let a non-rehabilitated Jack Monroe loose and not James Barnes.

(Notably, William Burnside has been written into similar stories; he has become both the leader of both a Neo-Nazi group and a far-right militia group respectively. The first of which happened under Dr. Faustus' brainwashing, who *could* be relevant when considering the hypnotic qualities of the Grand Skull's voice distortion, when vocal hypnotic suggestion is a staple of Faustus' abilities. However, that's *very* loose speculation, and he, to the best of my knowledge, has not even been alluded to in the new Ultimate Universe. Just a parallel!)

But it's the Maker's influence- how he started to change the universe in 1963- that makes the timeline make more sense. Jim's age estimate of 73 works far neater for Jack than it does James.

Starting with James, and I'll operate briefly under the impression that he IS the Grand Skull; in 616, he was born in 1925 and died in 1945 at the age of 20. When the KGB recovered and revived him, they almost immediately put him into stasis for nearly a decade. In the mid-50s, he became the Winter Soldier. I'm not sure how much has changed in 6160, and he clearly is not the Winter Soldier now, but unless the ongoing Ultimate Wolverine (which I am not caught up on) says otherwise, it's not impossible that he once *was.* Either way, he would have ended up in some sort of cryogenic stasis. He would have had to age ~53 years in the time since the Maker took over the world. Given that he is approximately 73 in 2025, that would place his presumed defrosting at 1972.

(Another odd thing about James; he had amnesia after being revived, remembering none of his life before. The history may have changed, but if it is him, I wonder what could have happened to restore his memory? It might explain the change in behavior and disposition, but I question what would have been the value in doing so if whoever acquired him & revived him once more had access to him as a pliable amnesiac agent?)

Now, Jack on the other hand, was born in 1941. He was put into cryogenic stasis by the US government in 1955, making him 14 years old. He would have had to age ~59 years, placing his presumed defrosting in 1966, far closer to 1963.

In that specific case, we'd need to know more about the timeline & the Maker's meddling to really know which makes more sense. Given how much closer to 1963 Jack WOULD have been defrosted though, as it stands I think it stands as reasonable evidence. Besides, given the Maker's subjugation of the Soviet Union in the present day, I assume he would likely have killed James far sooner than 1972 if he were at any point the Winter Soldier.

Maybe 1972 would work better if whoever the Grand Skull *is* was defrosted exclusively for the sake of leading the Red Skull gang (given they are inspired by Frank Castle of the 70s), but the previous four to five leaders make that unlikely, too. In the end though, there's just not enough information to make a concrete claim for this case. We don't know the history.

That's all speculation. All it shows is that he is *able* or even *likely* to be Jack Monroe. However, what was the smoking gun for me, what made me think that it was *actually* Jack Monroe rather than James Barnes, rather than just a case of likely speculation, is a case of Chekhov's Gun;

Jack Monroe is not only mentioned on the Maker's list, he is, in fact, quite high up on it. And he is listed as *inactive*, where James Barnes is listed as *deceased*. Jack is inactive, meaning that he is not working under his hero identity, Nomad.

More importantly, from a meta perspective, *WHY* put Jack Monroe on the first page of the list if you don't intend to use him somewhere in the story?

It's not a case of completionism; of listing characters by time period. Other characters who pre-date him in the timeline are not listed; there is no Toro, there is no Jacqueline Falsworth, there is no Jeff Mace, there is no William Nasland, there is no Fred Davis, there isn't even a William Burnside; NONE of them are on this page of the list. But Jack Monroe IS. Jack Monroe, who unfortunately has been dead in the main 616 continuity since 2005 and has not shown up since around 2010.

Jack Monroe has a place in this story. If he, specifically, is there on the list while so many others aren't, there's a reason behind it. Deniz Camp wants to do something with him, and I think the most likely possibility for him in the story is for him to be the Grand Skull.

Part of me even outright hopes it's him because that means he'll get some spotlight in the present day, when he's been absent in 616 for nearly two decades. Of course, that's the same part that hopes he'll face similar rehabilitation against the effects of the Super Soldier serum- mirroring his 616 story- and partner with the Ultimates. But *that* is a whole different can of worms. Still, I'd love if Marvel told a story with him again.

[run-in-cirlcez]

Fighting the urge to make a post thats just the lyrics to a characters theme song that slaps so hard

[polaroid-phantom]

[localratwithcowboyhat]

Little jack griffin doodle

[soullessjack]

it’s basically canon that jack likes Scooby-Doo but i think he would LOVE mystery inc. specifically, and even MORE specifically he would love Fred and Fred’s traps and start making his own traps except unlike Fred these could actually probably kill someone, if not lightly maim them

[jimmymackdesigns]

VINTAGE HALLOWEEN DECOR

[janniksins]

these being my favourite photos of jannik and jack respectively probably says something about me

[jeandejard3n]

Pirates of the Caribbean: Davy Jones Chamber

[coupleofdays]

Jack Kirby writes the ultimate meet cute: