While I am in the camp that Dire is not as competent as she portrays herself, I really don't know enough about her world to actually say whether or not she should be in charge of it. I'm inclined to say 'no' but it has an entirely different technological base and thus history, so I don't know how it's governments work or what issues face them. And actually, according to that issue of the Avengers, the world ruled by Doctor Doom really was a better place, at least on average, no war, he was fixing poverty and famine, et al. Not that it matters, Doom was bored in a week and let himself be overthrown. Which is probably the real issue with Doom, not his competence as a leader but the fact he'll never be satisfied, not even with the world, so you can't actually have a stable rule under him. Notice that whenever he conquers a world or gets his hands on ultimate power, he always loses it? Doom's biggest enemy is almost certainly Doom himself. I bring this up because Dire might be the same way. It's possible that she only thinks she wants to rule the world and fix all its problems and what she really wants is the challenge of trying to take it. It doesn't matter if someone could make the world better if they aren't really going to.
Not really that weird???? I mean if you look at the Presidents that are considered the greatest in America it is somewhat disturbing to see that a majority of them are the ones that got the most dictatorial.
You have no evidence whatsoever that Dire’s rule would be more oppressive than ‘western standard’. In fact this latest update suggests that if anything they would have more freedom. Given how little say the overwhelming majority of people have in who is elected I see no significant change. Interesting fact: no living american had any say in the mechanics of their government. Interesting note: during his life Napoleon was regarded as a very good ruler. Even with all the bad press he got by losing (winners write the history remember) we still use a lot of the laws and civil innovations he came up with. Other options would be Genghis Khan. Alexander the Great. The first Chinese emperor. The original quote you were disagreeing with was: "The inability to incorporate new information into one's plans is a weakness. Dire is never weak." Nothing you have said disproves this. 1) Only unusual in that she thinks bigger than most ambitious people. 2) Who are you to say ‘how humans work’? And frankly if you look at the context of the times she says that it basically comes down to ‘if I find a weakness in how I do things I will fix it’. 3) Being a source of strength and dangerous are not mutually exclusive. Prime example: fire. 4) Given how rarely most powerful people question their own superiority I don’t see how this puts her below the average.
You know, I often see the "Doom was actually a good ruler" point brought up online, but... y'know. He used planet-wide mind-control. He basically mind-raped every single human being on Earth into accepting him as their master. No matter how good the results, his act was an abomination... ...and it was also the only way Doom could "rule well", because Doom is terrifyingly petty and vindicative. If people weren't brainwashed to obey him, he'd be murdering dissenting voices left and right to keep the others in line, or because something bruised his galaxy-sized ego. I've been through the French educational system. I am aware of Napoleon's significant contributions. I'm also aware that he killed the republic for the sake of his petty ego. So, very cool villain who happened to be rule.
He really is. I also specified "on average" for a reason. Chunks of the world not currently suffering war, poverty, famine, or even worse tyrants probably found it a step down, even with their brain-washing ensuring they were in favor of him. But the brainwashing was working so he wasn't murdering people left and right, so I view that 'what could have been' as largely irrelevant.
Perhaps we should remember that 'taking over the world' is actually not Dire's end goal. If I'm reading this story correctly, what she wants more is to take humanity out of its current stagnancy and into the new age.
...said literally every villainous megalomaniac mastermind. Who cares, it makes for a good story doesn't it?
Yeah, except that this villainous megalomaniac mastermind, despite her vanity, apparently has one of the kindest hearts ever seen on villains.
Wasn’t the ‘republic’ a unelected bunch of revolutionaries (or counter-revolutionaries) perpetuating a bloodbath described as a reign of terror?
Lost Demiurge I've noticed you use "too" in place of "two" sometimes. I mean, I think I can see how that would work out if I tilt my head and look at it another way, but I thought I would bring it up anyways. Loving this story.
You know, it would be pretty funny and kinda sad if the reason doom always loses is because winning would be boring. After all, winning would mean not having a rival to poke and prod... Kind of like having an angsty teenage brother.
I saw it pointed out once that the ideal solution for humanity would be to give Doom the Earth, and put Reed and a few thousand people on a few spaceships and shoot them into space. Now Doom has competition and is motivated to make Earth (and any other planet he can conquer) as good as it can possibly be, if only to show up Richards. Doom will continue to invent world changing technology for the purpose of tracking down and defeating Richards, tech which he would disiminate unto the rest of humanity, for bragging rights if nothing else.
Deinokos: Yeah, it's a verbal quirk. Sometimes I say "too", when I mean "also". I say it in person, as well. I can try to tone it down, if it's a hassle.
Is "too" not almost exactly synonymous with "also"? Have I been using one of these words wrong my whole life?
It's not a hassle. Besides, Dire wouldn't change her dialogue for anyone on her side of the fourth wall. Why would she do so for the audience?
Kind of. As far as I know, using 'too' to start a sentence is grammatically incorrect. Of course, it's not too bad if used as a personal quirk.
I'm assuming this is referring to how Dire says "First, she blah blah blah. Too, she blah blah blah"? I'd leave it. I've always just assumed it's another of her verbal quirks, and it adds to the character a bit imo.
Mini-Interlude In Memorium The woman beside him was blonde, drunk, and laughing at every other sentence he said. The night was going well. "So yeah. Basically it was like that, only there were six of me. Whoa, man, I have to tell you, we were freaked right the fuck out from that. And then one of us, I don't know who goes 'Ah, no problem. I'll just go back and stop him before he turns the duplicator on.' The rest of us try to stop him but man, he's already gone. And sure enough, numbers seven and eight walk in through the door! They're hacking and wheezing and smell like piggy perfume and number two's like 'He's got a holdout can of pepperspray, yeah?' Seven and eight nod, and two's like 'Okay, I'll get a gas mask first. No problem.' Then before we can stop him HE goes, and four gasmasked dudes walk in the door. Now the freaky thing is that one of them isn't wearing pants, which isn't an unfamiliar situation to me, if you know what I mean, but-" The stun bolt hit his back, as the people around him screamed and everything went black. When he came back to himself, a white-masked face was peering down at him. "Oh crap!" He tried to jump, and went under again. The face was still there when he woke up next, and he screamed loud and long. "TIMETRIPPER. CEASE THIS-" Then he tried to jump again, and out he went. Again. The third time he came to himself he was coherent enough to keep his eyes shut. "SHE KNOWS YOU'RE FAKING. LOOK, TIMETRIPPER-" He tried, knowing what would happen and sure enough, jumping was still out. Back to the darkness again! He woke to shouting. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOU AGGRAVATING AIRHEAD! SHE IS NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!" He cracked an eye, glared at her. "Okay. Look. That's an obvious lie, man, because my head feels like that month I spent going to Woodstock, and I'm pretty sure those restraints are chafing my wrists." "YOU'RE NOT BEING RESTRAINED." "Huh?" He looked over. "Oh. Sorry, force of habit." "LOOK. DIRE NEEDS A JUMP, AND A RETURN. NONVILLAINY. HEROIC, TO TELL THE TRUTH." "Uh... No?" "IT'S IMPORTANT. LOOK, SHE JUST SPENT DAYS COLLABORATING ON SOME NONSENSICAL PIECE OF MACHINERY THAT SHOULDN'T WORK BUT DOES, AND MOST OF THAT IN THE COMPANY OF THE MOST IRRITATING HOUNGAN SHE EVER MET. SO SHE IS NOT GOING TO LET IT BE ALL FOR NOTHING!" "That, uh... That doesn't sound like your bag." "IT IS NOT HER BAG. NOR IS IT HER PURSE, HER POCKET, OR EVEN HER RUCKSACK. BUT SHE DID IT, AND BY GOD YOU WILL DELIVER ON YOUR PART OR SHE'LL- OR SHE'LL... OH INSERT A RANDOM THREAT HERE." He blinked, as she waved her arms, and paced back and forth, muttering. "Whoa. You don't bother getting specific on a threat? That's pretty hella serious. What's up?" She told him, and his jaw dropped. "No way. That guy?" She nodded, and he stood, flexing his hands. "Okay. Let's go." Dire took his hand, and off they went. ----- She'd insisted he wait outside to keep watch, given him little sound dampening fields to put in front of the doorways out in the hall. Still, he shifted nervously from foot to foot. The house wasn't big, and there were lots of family present. Through the closed door, she spoke. "YOU! HALT RIGHT THERE. YES YOU. DO YOU SEE ANY OTHER RANDOM PERSONIFICATIONS OF UNIVERSAL FORCES AROUND HERE?" The response startled the hell out of him. WELL, I FIND IT'S ALL A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE, REALLY. Timetripper shivered. It wasn't shouting, really. It was more of a silence so deep that it was almost an anti-voice. It was... Wait, hadn't he heard that before? Back when- He almost bolted, but the thought of leaving HER behind HERE AND NOW was worse. "THAT'S NICE. NOW BUZZ OFF." I'M AFRAID I CAN'T. YOU KNOW WHY. "SHE... SHE KNOWS THAT THERE IS NO FATE BUT THAT WE MAKE! YOU CAN BE STOPPED. YOU CAN BE THWARTED!" THIS IS TRUE. BUT IT'S NOT YOUR FATE TO DECIDE NOW, IS IT? "SHE... NO. LOOK, HE WROTE NIGHT WATCH, FOR GODS SAKES MAN, NOT LIKE THIS!" THEN HOW? A long, pregnant pause. Faint noises, amplified. Was she... Crying? Holy hell. Yeah, he needed to forget about this, stat. If she ever found out he'd heard that, it'd be the laser-shark tank for sure. And not the one with the easy-open lock. "IT'S NOT FAIR." THERE IS NO FAIRNESS IN THE UNIVERSE, BUT FOR THAT YOU MAKE. NOW... IT'S TIME. "WAIT. SIR, ARE YOU ALL RIGHT WITH... YOU ARE? SHE SEES. AN OLD FRIEND, HM?" A muffled, softer voice, he couldn't quite make out. "ALL RIGHT. FINE. FINE, JUST... YOU. TALL DARK AND SKINNY. YOU TAKE CARE OF HIM, YES?" IT IS WHAT I DO. "YOU'D BETTER. HM? WHAT'S THIS?" THEY'RE FOR THE FELLOW OUT IN THE HALLWAY. HE'LL NEED THEM LATER... OR NEEDED THEM BEFORE? SO HARD TO TELL THE PROPER TENSE IN THESE CASES. Timetripper's eyes went wide, and he'd had enough. He jumped back to 1982, spent two weeks farting around Soho, hooked up with the burgeoning punk scene, and formed his own band. But it went south, and finally after half a year on the road playing crappy pubs he admitted that his nerves were settled enough to face the music. He changed into the clothes he thought he remembered wearing at the time, and jumped back to 2015. Dire was waiting for him, and he cursed. "Oh. Crap. Sorry, I uh, I had to take a leak." "YOU'VE GOT A RING IN YOUR NOSE AND A GREEN MOHAWK." "Uh. It was a long leak." "NEVERMIND. LOOK, THESE ARE FOR YOU. FROM... AH, YOU KNOW WHAT? NEVERMIND." She handed him something small, and he closed his fist around it without looking. "Cool. Ready to go?" "ALMOST." She collected the sound dampeners, and afterwards he bipped them back to her current lair. No sooner had he dropped her off, then he bipped away. And once he was safe and sound in his favorite coffeehouse in 'frisco, he opened his fist and looked at the contents. A small matchbook. Blue, with a faded label on it: Thee Mended Drumm ----- (RIP, Mr. Pratchett.)
Um....what did I just read? I know it's a reference to one of the Diskworld books, but I haven't read them all so I don't know which one. The voice in BOLDED ALL CAPS is Death, I know that, but the rest just confuses me. Someone please explain?
