Nienna Weeps

I think that in a world where yeerks need kandrona every two hours, the invasion can't happen like in canon. We know a kandrona generator is "the size of a small car" and that yeerk pools don't work without it (#7). The yeerks might have to take a few decades and improve kandrona technology (i.e. #41) and then invade Earth, because an invasion would be too risky without that tech.

That said, the yeerks are fleeing the andalites as much as they are colonizing planets — the andalites control their homeworld, part of why they're stealing everyone else's. So maybe the yeerks try to make do, for lack of time. Probably they'd equip humans with thermoses of kandrona à la AniTV, and then help controllers create excuses to slip out every two hours. The thermoses might have to be refilled often, but there's a system for that in canon.

However, as anyone who's ever raised an infant can tell you, humans do not function well if their sleep is constantly interrupted every two hours. So lots of tired/confused controllers. And all kinds of other issues — work shifts with an "on" component, long tests, driving really far, needing a security team 24/7, being in hospital, etc. It'd preclude taking most important people as hosts, including anyone who regularly flies on airplanes. Animorphs can go for weeks without morphing, and can pop briefly out of morph in a pinch (even underwater and in the yeerk pool as needed). Yeerks literally die without kandrona, and they can't leave their hosts unattended for even a second; Mr. Pardue gets like 10 seconds of freedom in #8 makes a huge mess.

i think their best bet would be homelessness and drug addict outreach-- they could give people food, shelter, a cause to believe in, a sympathetic friend who can help them with self-control, and a people to help.

instead of ‘we are going to take over earth whether you like it or not, so you might as well get in with the winning team early’ they might actually find a number of sympathetic ears (heh) with people who are, themselves, incredibly disenfranchised from normal human society. who would hear ‘we’ve lost our homeland and our way of life and our very ability to operate most of our salvaged technology-- join us, help us, let us make use of your incredible skills and your wonderful body, and you’ll never be hungry or despised or alone again!’

First, and this is something that Sol has brought up before, but we have to ask “how voluntary is voluntary, actually?” Chapman is basically blackmailed into being voluntary with his daughter’s life at stake. Tom, if he is voluntary after Temrash threatens Jake, is the same. We know that Mr Tidwell is voluntary, but we also know that Mr Tidwell got very lucky with his yeerk ending up a member of the Yeerk Peace Movement, instead of ending up with another Temrash. Tobias was originally voluntary in MM4, but that’s because The Sharing doesn’t actually get consent, because they don’t spell out in no uncertain terms what’s going to happen to you. They ask “are you sure?” many times, but that means absolutely nothing when the person in question is 13 and doesn’t have all the information needed to make an informed decision.

But you might say, okay, well Tobias could end up in a cage after that, right? Well, maybe . . . but the thing is, what the yeerks do is a form of abuse, and there are many different trauma responses to forms of abuse. One form of trauma response is to freeze. This isn’t necessarily a literal freeze; what it means is that you don’t do anything to fight back. You keep your head down and stay quiet in a way to minimize the abuse. If a host is told, “If you be quiet and don’t try to run away, you can have control of your body for a few hours in a comfy chair with a hot meal,” they might go for that not because they are okay with the situation, but because they feel hopeless and trapped and they will take any form of respite they can get. Not everyone has the strength to scream and sob and fight back against the big, terrifying, bladed alien captors. And while we know that some hosts sat dejectedly in their cages, we don’t know how long they’ve been like that. We don’t know that they don’t “upgrade” to the “voluntary” lounge for “good behavior.” We just don’t have enough information.

Also, I personally have a very hard time believing any host is “best friends” with their yeerk . . . again, I know we have Mr Tidwell and Illim, but I feel like a.) that’s an incredibly rare scenario, they’re like Controller Georg over here, and b.) it’s still such an imbalanced relationship that I just can’t feel comfortable even calling them friends, really. I mean, if Illim decided one day that actually the imperialism of the Empire was good and great and Mr Tidwell sucked actually, he could do all manner of things to hurt Mr Tidwell, and Mr Tidwell would have no recourse to fight back. He could force Mr Tidwell to hold his breath until he got dizzy and passed out. He could force Mr Tidwell to eat garbage. He could force Mr Tidwell to self harm in a variety of other ways. And Mr Tidwell wouldn’t be able to so much as “blink once if you need help.” Now, from what we know of Illim that would be out of character . . . but nevertheless it would be within his power, because the yeerk has total control over the host’s body. The host can’t breathe without the yeerk giving the OK. So while it’s nice that Mr Tidwell and Illim get along okay, ultimately it’s an incredibly unbalanced relationship and I’d be more inclined to believe that for most Controllers, the host holding any kind of affection for the person that controls their every twitch has trauma bonded* rather than formed an actual relationship.

(*Contrary to popular fandom belief, trauma bonding is not when two or more people go through a traumatic experience together and bond because of it. Trauma bonding is instead what happens when a victim of abuse forms an attachment to their abuser, i.e. a bond is formed out of the trauma the other person is inflicting on them. This is commonly seen in situations where the victim will say “they’re a good person deep down” or “they’re nice to me sometimes” or “they only hurt me because I make them angry” or “I know they love me, though.” The victim feels dependent on the abuser and holds onto those brief moments of respite, thus forming a bond of attachment.)

Gordon never gets mad and shouty at the kids. Because they're kids, and they're learning. He gets frustrated sometimes, but he never gets angry, never raises his voice. He helps them, and teaches them, and advises them.

Gordon almost never gets angry at lower-level workers - servers and dishwashers and lower-level line cooks. Because they're mostly doing what they're told, and not doing what they're told will often cost them shifts, tips, or their jobs. He'll occasionally get upset if someone's clearly doing wrong stuff when they should know better, but that's a rarity.

The leader

The cool one

The strong one

The smart one

The girl

And was like

“We’re doing this, but they’re ALL girls. Also the one whose personality is The Girl is also the main character. Die mad.”

If a woman wants to get an abortion because she is financially unable to give birth to and raise a baby, the organization will pay for everything she needs during the pregnancy and after, until she’s financially stable to raise the baby on her own.

This organization won’t stop women from going to the abortion clinic, but would rather hve a healthy conversation with them. Ask them if they can help her with anything in order for them to keep the baby. They also hand out contraception in the streets for those who can’t afford it.

First off, Nana almost certainly had her kids helping out with meals on the regular. A person needs to eat, and I cannot imagine that fine woman would ever allow one of her kids to head out into the world unprepared to meet their own basic needs. As far as I’m concerned, Hardison left her house with a favourite family cookbook, a half-dozen dishes he could make in his sleep, and the ability to follow a recipe and produce perfectly acceptable results.

Second, this is the guy who learned how to convincingly forge an artifact in a weekend. Who took up molecular gastronomy for the fun of it (and OK, more than a little to bug Eliot — but that was part of what made it fun!) in the middle of a con. If the man can do that, he can certainly throw together a casserole in a pinch.

The issue isn’t that Hardison can’t make perfectly normal, edible food — it’s that he doesn’t want to.

For one thing, normal food is boring. He has no interest in making it. He’s a very rich, very busy man! If he wants basic sustenance, why go to all that effort when he can order something delivered (efficient and tasty!) or heat up a hot pocket (fast and effective!). If Hardison’s going to put the effort in, it’s going to be for something interesting and complicated, ideally involving lasers.

For another, Hardison? Has terrible taste in food. It’s a joke that he makes awful, undrinkable beer, and then wine. But if you listen to him describe what he was going for, it’s clear that he’s achieved his goal. It’s just that his goal is completely unpalatable to most people. Nobody else wants wine that’s as sweet as his orange soda. Which means nobody makes it. Which means he has to do it himself. And so he does.

It’s not that Hardison is a bad cook. It’s that he’s a technically proficient cook who only wants to make terrible, terrible things that no one else would ever enjoy. Bonus points if it involves gadgets in some way.

Hardison knows how to do a lot of Life Skills stuff from living at Nana's. He's at least adequate at basic cooking, laundry, sewing/mending, car and home maintenance, and so on. He just usually can't be assed - it's usually more convenient to use money to solve these problems. For everyday stuff, he'd rather pay for premade food or for a laundry service. He will, however, make the effort for stuff that he feels is worth it. So he'll makes himself food or alcohol that meets his specific desires that nobody else will touch, or fix a button on his favorite pants.

This post is nearly ten years old and I still think about this, honestly. Luke has no consciousness of the dangers and pressures in Leia’s life when he’s playing with his toy starship; she’s already had to become what he can only vaguely dream of. But she’s also never had to consider “where is tomorrow’s food and water coming from” to anything like the degree that Luke, Owen, and Beru do every day. Luke and Leia both make sure they’re armed when they leave home because their environments are so dangerous, in completely different ways.

like, oftentimes he shies away from writing big dramatic emotion and tends to pull back instead, but you don’t get the sense that the character isn’t allowed to feel it, but rather that the narrative voice is, idk, giving them privacy

Neither me or the other mods know a single thing about Sailor Moon. If another anti wants to take this question go ahead.

For an interesting analysis on the anime ages, I’d like to direct you to this: http://www.moonprincess.com/amiages.php As it’s about the most coherent timeline as it stands for the anime. You can apply it roughly to the manga, but obviously a one size doesn’t fit all.

From the Article

“ The year you enter school, and thus your age for any given school year, is determined by your age as of March 31 of the following year. We know that Mamoru’s birthday is August 3 and that he’s a second-year high school student, so he must be 16 at the start of the manga and turning 17. For a list of school years and ages, see Age by Academic Year “

Nothing predatory about that since it would be like a freshman dating a junior in high school …. (Altho Japanese school system is a little different than American) 

Also from the article..

“ A two year age difference is pretty minor anyway, and since they’re both minors, it’s no big issue.

About this time travel.

90’s Anime When they went to the 30th century she was 14.

When they come back she was still 14.

In S ,she turned 15 since its a because of the two part birthday episode.

Between SuperS and Stars she turned 16 since she’s about to enter High School.

Manga and Crystal

She’s already 15 while Mamo just recently turned 17 when they go to the 30th century.

When they come back they are still that age.

At the beginning of Dream she’s 16 and he’s 18 since she’s going to high school and he’s entering college.

So this time travel nonsense doesn’t make any sense.

She wasn’t even in the 30th century long enough for it to effect her or anyone else.

This is not Dr Who or any time travel shows where it’s a time influx. Where time goes quicker than in present time if they are on another planet.

It was a catalyst for Tenya and effects of it still linger in the story, so it was a pretty important point, but why did it happen? We know that Stain only kills ‘bad’ heroes who are in it for the money or some other petty reason, which is why he spared Izuku but went after Tenya. But from what we’ve seen of him Tensei was a pretty good hero and an all around good guy and brother. Not really the type Stain targets. And sure he has that one-off line about popularity being part of it, but he also clearly wants to help people.

A possibility is that Stain tests heroes in some way, to see what they’re made of, and Tensei failed, or maybe he just operates under the idea that all heroes are corrupt unless they prove otherwise; guilty until proven innocent. The latter seems more likely. But chapter 203 hinted at the character of Tensei, with Tenya talking about how he’s representing Ingenium’s good name, which we all know is the hero name he inherited from his older brother.

But that just brings me back to my first point, that Tensei seems like a decent guy, not the type to hide and commit morally questionable actions, certainly not as a hero. From what we’ve seen of him, he expresses good character.

And then I remember that at this point in the manga (I haven’t read Vigilantes or seen the anime) we have only seen Tensei in two perspectives: his injured state after the fight with Stain and, for the majority of his appearances, in the memories and flashbacks of Tenya, his adoring little brother. In other words, a partial witness.

We don’t know Tensei’s character outside of how Tenya sees him (again, haven’t seen the anime or read Vigilantes), which could mean he’s a very different person outside of his appearances.

So the Iidas have canonically been heroes for several generations. The "ingenium" name has been passed down to several people. And we know that they've done well by this. The Iida family have benefited tremendously by being heroes, in terms of fame and fortune and prestige.

I always remember the one year when one of the lads from 6b, Graham, was put into our class, because his own teacher couldn’t control him anymore. Graham hated being in our class, with all the “posh kids” and he hated it even more that he had to sit on the edge of Mr Grey’s desk. After a few days of refusing to read from the book he was supposed to, Mr Grey brought him another book to read. It was a child’s book intended for ages 5 years and upwards, with lots of pictures and easy words. Where the other teacher had just surmised that Graham was a lost cause and didn’t want to learn, Mr Grey had realized that he couldn’t actually read very well, and spent the next two years helping him.

He made him a part of our advanced class, getting him to write on the board and type out our lesson plans on the one class computer in the corner. He’d sit with him in quiet moments when we were all writing, and you’d hear him quietly sounding out the words with Graham, smiling and nodding whenever he managed something complicated by himself, and smiling and nodding when he couldn’t because asking for help was better than throwing a wobbler.

By the end of the first year we had to stand up and do a presentation in front of the whole class and talk about a book we really liked. Some did it on Shakespeare, others did it on Hemingway—we were the advanced lit class and were supposed to be reading and writing at a university level, so there was a lot of books that we might not have actually liked on the list, but knew we had to study regardless. I did mine on Pratchett, surprise surprise. Graham didn’t have to do a talk, but he sat listening intently. I still remember walking past his seat and the way he turned to me and said “that was puir good like” and I said “thanks” and smiled. It was as good as getting an A, praise from the trouble maker boy who every other teacher had given up on.

The following year we all had to do another presentation, this time without the aid of notes. I did another Pratchett book, drawing parallels from Shakespeare and highlighting the need for genre fiction to be taken seriously, to which Mr Grey agreed, applauded and eventually gave me an A+. And just when we thought it was all over, Graham stood up and the whole class went silent. He had an a4 piece of paper in his hands which shook, and he was staring at it like it was his lifeline. He looked up at Mr Grey and said “I can’t…” to which Mr Grey said “You can” and there was more silence. And then Graham began to read.

“The book that I read was also by Terry, and it’s called Truckers, and it’s from the much larger Bromeliad trilogy which I haven’t finished yet but so far is dead good. It’s about these little tiny people right…”

And he stood there for about ten minutes, talking about what the book was about, why he liked it, and even going into what he had read so far in the next book, Diggers, and what he liked about that too. When Graham finally stopped and looked up, giving us all a little nod as if to say “thanks for not laughing” the whole class went wild with clapping and shouting. And Mr Grey was beaming with pride, clapping harder than anyone.

“Replicated food is not as good as real food.”

In a blind taste test, nobody, but nobody, can tell the actual difference between replicated food and “real” food. (Think back to our youth and the New Coke vs. Pepsi taste tests, only worse.) BUT, humans being What We Are, the human Starfleet members insist that “real” food is better than replicated food for reasons including, but certainly not limited to:

1. Hipsters have survived even into the 24th century. “No, you just can’t make good curry from a replicator! You gotta toast the spices yourself right before you cook it or it’s not the same, maaaaaan”

2. All military and para-military members everywhere always grouse and bitch about the food and sigh over What We Get Back Home. It could literally be the same replicator recipe you use at home when someone has to work late or just doesn’t feel like making the effort to cook, but people are people everywhere so they’re going to complain about it.

3. Humans tend to think we’re smarter than we actually are and we can totally tell when something is going on; as a result, human crew members insist they can “taste the difference” because their minds are making shit up, as our brains do.

4. One could presume that, generally speaking, a replicator recipe programmed into a starship or base replicator database would come out the same every time. This is perhaps the 24th century equivalent of mass catering. (I won’t try to account for the nuances of replicator tech that might allow for variances, and leave aside for the moment the fact that some people probably tinker with the standard “recipes” to suit their own taste.) The single thing that would be different in this case about “real” food is the variation, since of course the “real” dish will have slight variances every time due to the whims of the cook, the oven temperature fluctuation, freshness of ingredients, etc.. And since we are an easily bored species who really, really hates boredom, I bet people would jump all over that to lament the lack of “real” food when they’re out exploring strange new worlds and new civilizations and whatnot. (This is the only reason I can think of that might hold up to scrutiny.)

The replicator or replicator + holodeck combo can’t recreate the experience of cooking, nor can it recreate the experience of being cooked for. And that experience makes food taste better. 

Cooking is what makes us human. No other species on this wet rock cooks its food–only us. 

First: if you’re making lamb stew, or phở, or mole, or curry goat, you spend hours puttering around the house doing chores in a cozy sweater, periodically petting the cats and playing with the kids, waiting an anticipating the hour in which you get to eat the soup. All the while: your house smells like lamb stew, or phở, or mole, or curry goat. 

You get a tamale from the replicator: it’s pretty good. You wish it came with a green olive with the pit still in like the kind your abuela puts in her tamales. 

You get a tamale from the tamale lady on the way to work on a clear, crisp fall morning. It’s so hot from her steamer that it nearly burns your fingerprints off and it smells divine; you use all of your Spanish to tell her how good it is and how grateful you are that you pass her every day. On a whim, you buy 30 more tamales to share with the office; they’re still warm at lunch and they taste like friendship. 

You get a tamale from your abuela. It’s Christmas Eve, your entire family has spent the last seven hours making them, your tio Juan just busted out his tuba and it is definitely too hot outside for the fake snow  your baby cousins have started throwing at each other in between begging to open just one present and if you don’t hurry up you’re all going to be late for mass. 

The tamale tastes like home. 

You get a tamale from the replicator. Its neural network reviewed your order against every known tamale recipe and variety and decided that your addition of “green olive, pickled, pit in” was a mistake, and omitted it. 

Your tamale tastes like homesickness. You ball-up the corn husk and 

Second: The replicator is probably not accounting for regional variations in ingredients for its base foods. 

The ingredient library may have jalapeno, red; jalapeno, green, jalapeno, (color slider), (heat slider). It probably does not have: jalapeno, Hatch new mexico, USA, earth, sol system; or jalapeno north face Olympus Mons Mars, sol system. Replicator Parmesan is very likely a scan of a Parmesan and doesn’t duplicate regional variations between, say, a Parmesan from Mantua vs a Parmesan from Parma. 

Did your grandmother use san marzano tomatoes that were actually grown in san marzano in her red sauce (, canned, peeled, whole in juice)? Sucks to be you, the replicator scanned a hydroponically grown plum-type tomato which environment was carefully controlled for optimal nutritional value and “pretty good” taste. 

Is the replicator cilantro a kind bred or genetically engineered for maximum palatability across the broadest spectrum of individuals? Is it missing the gene that makes some people taste soap when they eat it? Is that gene the one that makes it taste good to you, so that the replicator chimichurri is always missing something, some particular specific type of freshness, a unique vegetal taste that you can’t put your finger on, and it’s not important enough to track down when you just like the chimichurri you make at home, from cilantro your grew yourself, much better? 

Third: The recipe database is probably sourced from hundreds of thousands of recipes written over centuries’ time – and then averaged using a combination of median and modal averaging to come up with something that’s Pretty OK to most people, but which is going to leave others wanting–no matter how much they tweak it. 

And then you have many, many people in a state of, “yes but I like my/mom’s/spouse’s/grandparent’s/aunt’s/uncle’s/best friends better”. And that’s OK.

I mean, really. Think about this for a minute.

Fourth:

You go to get a cup of tea from the replicator, because everything is terrible. You know in the darkest depths of your soul that everything will still be terrible with a good cuppa in your hands, but it will be terrible and you’ll have tea, which is a marked improvement. 

The replicator gives you a glass of brewed, iced sweet tea. 

It takes you three more tries to get a cup of hot earl grey. You decide you’ve finished pressing your luck with this positively infernal machine today and don’t even bother asking for a lemon wedge. 

And that really makes you ache for something made just the way you like it, doesn’t it?

A replicator meal is always that meal.

That one last EXACT meal.

Every day, the same meal.

You ever go to a resturant and order the same dish two times in a row, and notice the differences? That the fish in the sushi had a slightly different flavor, or the baking of the ribs was just that little bit different. Even when you’re going to a chain fast food place, there’s always a little difference between each one, the fries were cooked a bit more this time, or salted a bit more. The soda mix is slightly different.

But the Replicator always makes the EXACT. SAME. THING. Your tamale tomorrow will be the exact SAME tamale as you got today. Same seasonings. Same temperature. Same length even!

you'll say "i think children shouldn't be forced to eat food they hate" and here comes someone who feeds their kids plain rice and boiled chicken (while eating a nicely seasoned stirfry) claiming that it's okay actually and kids shouldn't be allowed to taste things