Kris The Rant Master And "Bad Taste" Guy @ranty9000 - Tumblr Blog

I dunno if I asked this already, but if you’re still taking requests, can I have more “Sonic and Tails with realistic sibling dynamics” please? Those absolutely make my day

I love doing these! (also please don't send in requests rn, I've got a lot in the inbox I wanna try get to)

thecoolertails

thanks that was really helpful

not-semi-perfect

Ad block is free.

under-the-arch

Starship Troopers “discourse” be like “fascism is when there’s a military”

2urban2fantasy-deactivated20241

Now granted, you can make the argument that the government is authoritarian. At least in the movies. You have to have a permit to reproduce, you can’t vote unless you served in the military (I think that’s the same as the books) but you’d have to be arguing in pretty bad faith to call it fascism.

Where is the oppression? Where is the censorship? They have a whole televised debate with a guy who doesn’t even think the bugs exist when the government clearly wants to go to war. Hell after a few defeats the leader steps down and is replaced by somebody more qualified. What fascist dictator would ever give up power like that? Not to mention, wealth and industry are booming. Kids go to school, they learn extensively how the government works, and are told “hey, you can join, be a part of the decision makers, but first you have to do some really grueling work”.

mornington-the-crescent

Fascism is a collectivist ideology, and Heinlein once commented that he was so fiercely individualist, that he made Ayn Rand look like a socialist.

sindri42

The book of starship troopers is 100% anti-fascist. The first big problem is, the person who wrote the movie never read the book. He flipped through the first couple of pages without paying much attention, was disgusted by what he imagined he saw there, and decided to write the movie script as a parody of a book that didn't actually exist.

That's why there's a bunch of commonalities right at the start, but put in a completely different and much stupider context. Like, the army recruiter with three missing limbs, in the books he had been provided with top tier cybernetic replacements which he deliberately took off before he worked at the recruiting station (a position he was selected for specifically because of his injuries) because the people in charge of the military wanted to make sure that nobody could ever sign up without seeing the consequences first-hand. In the movies he was turned into a joke about how incompetent the soldiers were.

The second big problem is, half the people working on the movie didn't know what they were doing was supposed to be a joke. So half the crew might have been trying to make a biting political satire, but the other half were trying to make a genuine, albeit silly, action schlock. The end result being that a lot of the time the film seems to be genuinely rooting for the corrupt, incompetent, psuedo-fascist bullshit it started out by trying to mock.

Also: the 'can't vote unless you serve in the military' thing is movie only. The rule in the books was that you can't vote or hold office unless you do something that puts the needs of others ahead of your own for at least two years. In the backstory, the current government was formed out of a rebellion led by military veterans who had been sent to die in pointless wars by politicians who had never done anything that didn't enrich themselves at the expense of their people, so they made a rule that limits the political power of anybody who hasn't learned to actually serve others. But in the vast majority of cases that service consists of working in some administrative position or a customer service role or something, not active combat. In fact the majority of applicants don't qualify to join the military, because every single soldier in the books is a hyper-competent agent expected to be able to single-handedly take out a full squadron of enemy tanks (if anybody is stupid enough to send tanks at them).

borgesperovago

Really important question: was Buenos Aires also destroyed in the book?

under-the-arch

Yes? I believe it happens the same way, maybe a bit different

disgruntled-foreign-patriarch

so it's a case of Hollywood shitbags fucking up again?

mornington-the-crescent

In the book, Johnny Rico is actually from the Philippines, not Argentina.

sindri42

Also in the book Johnnie is a nickname for Juan, and his native language is Tagalog, because Heinlein was heavily in favor of racial diversity and wanted to portray it as one of the strengths of the military he was writing about, in contrast to the communist Bugs being entirely homogenous.

But then in the movie they decided to make him blond and blue-eyed without the slightest trace of a filipino accent because reasons.

gholateg

The bugs were also not quadrupeds/animalistic if I remember right. They far more humanoid looking and fully capable of dropping a rail gun shot at Earth.

takashi0

@ranty9000

ranty9000

The movie intentionally evokes Nazi and modern US imagery, making it look like a propaganda film. He was criticizing The US occupation of the Middle East. Paul Vierhoven says early in the commentary that the message of the movie is "war makes fascists of us all"

The director didn't like book yes, but he was told how it goes. Also in my opinion the book glorifies the military way too much. Whether or not the author believed that Army vets should run the world, people end up wanting to join the military anyway. The same happens with the movie admittedly, though it's more frustrating since they beat you over the head with the points.

This video by Knowing Better goes more into this subject if anyone is interested. He also served in Afghanistan iirc so he's also coming at this from having been in military

#Youtube

djibs

Bionicle Spidersona

dougielombax

Bionicle lore be like:

YOUR GOD IS A GIANT ROBOT WHO IS ALSO A SUPERCOMPUTER WHO CONTAINS AN ENTIRE FUCKING UNIVERSE!!!!

ghost-mantis

It’s Also:

GOD WAS POSSESSED BY SATAN AND THEN WE DID AN EXORCISM WITH THE MOON.

guardiantoa

more like god was bodyjacked by Satan and our exorcism failed so we fell back to the tried-and-true Cain method: braining him with a big fucking rock

the-kickster

the hunter has become the hunted

Tahnok Tuesday

grellskendyr

the bonkle braincell and the making-stuff-for-my-terrarium-pets braincell have been fighting for control over the drawing arm. at least one of my tarantulas is doomed to live in an incredibly nerdy enclosure and doesn't know it yet

legoobsessionist

Mantis Tarakava, a re-imagining of the 2001 Bionicle set. Inspired by sea serpents and mantis shrimp.

Instagram

Flickr

socketballmasks

My contribution to this year's Bio-cup prize pool is finally complete! As always, these prizes are selected by winner's choice from first to third place.

sabertoothwalrus

all you suckers are spending $70 on totk but not me I’m emulating it on tumblr

bonicle

beardedmrbean

he's right and he should say it

mimicry-works

An assortment of doodles from filling out a page.

I will not elaborate further

keeperpenny

Dusty won this month's naughty dino contest by stealing a grand total of 12 car keys, most of which were for keepers that haven't been in his habitat. We eventually checked surveillance and found out Dusty was breaking out, going to the keeper hut, rummaging through jackets and purses, and returning to his habitat before getting caught.

tentacion2099

kholran

It’s finally happened.

After almost a decade on this site, I found another Tumblr user in the wild. I stopped to tie my shoe with rainbow laces this morning outside the silversmith at Colonial Williamsburg, and I heard it.

“I like your shoelaces.”

Oh. Oh no.

I responded the only way I could. “Thanks.” And then I reluctantly added, “I stole them from the president…and if that makes sense to you, I’m very sorry.”

The poor man, in full Colonial dress, stared at me for a long moment. And then burst into laughter. And said, “I haven’t thought about that in YEARS and this has never happened to me before.”

Yeah. Me neither. Not until today.

Tumblr rite of passage. Achievement unlocked.