"There comes a time when a house has been so damaged by termites that you must not only kill the termites, but demolish the house — and build again."
—Dr. Hippocrates Noah, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Our Man Bashir"
"Chrono Trigger's story is about saving the world by changing history; Cross says that it's impossible to create a new future without, in a very real sense, murdering the old one... Trigger contains a quest in which your characters selflessly save a forest; Cross has a quest in which they selfishly destroy one. It's like if Stanley Kubrick had been picked to replace George Lucas in The Empire Strikes Back."
—Pat R., "Triggers and Crosses"
"So at this point, a look at the scorecard. Doctor Who has had the qlippothic force of the Cybermen unleashed within its basic premise. It’s critiqued its own status as television entertainment, exposed the Doctor as an almost completely morally and philosophically bankrupt character, attacked the premise of monsters, and now, to top it all off, attacked the show’s standing as science fiction."
— El Sandifer on "Timelash"
on "Timelash""Much as Adolf Hitler was once named as Time's Man of the Year, I submit for your approval: Identity Crisis, Superhero Comic of the Decade. No other comic so perfectly captures the zeitgeist of what was truly popular in superhero comics in the Oughties. Sure, sure, The Authority revolutionized action, Bendis revolutionized pacing, All-Star Superman revolutionized nostalgia, but none of them hold a candle to Brad Meltzer's epic. It truly captured the mood of a generation... 'You can rape/murder your cake and have it too.' Identity Crisis would be better named Maturity Crisis. At its core is a harsh struggle between the contradictory impulses to both fetishize the past and move into the future. The book relies on an affection for and fascination with up to 70 years of superhero comics, but spends the bulk of the time showing you the 'ugly truth' behind those comics of yesteryear. Charming flourishes of superheroic behavior are revealed to be narcissistically engineered for publicity. Brutal rapes take place behind the scenes, between the adventures. Goofy, dumb villains are explained to have had their minds and personalities telepathically violated and altered to be that way. Everything in Identity Crisis is designed as an excuse for adults who are secretly embarrassed by their love of superheroes."
—Jason Michelitch, "The 15 Worst Comics of the Decade"
"In addition to the brazen sexual politics, the whole film seems to have been written as almost a rebuttal to the last film in a multitude of ways. Everything about the plot and characters of 300 is discredited or made small. The noble Spartans are seen as selfish, stubborn isolationists and brutish, mindless thugs (as if practicing ancient eugenics wasn’t reason enough to hate them). The mighty God-King Xerxes is an impotent figurehead, under the control of a woman. The Greeks’ precious new democracy is seen as chaotic and ineffective. And through Artemisia, as previously mentioned, the macho ideals of manhood of the first film are subtly vilified."
"I think a lot of people here are influenced by the perspective of most stories in the Naruto universe. There is exactly one ninja of love and friendship. Literally everyone else with power is by our standards a war criminal. The whole society is based on small military dictatorships using child soldiers to fight a Cold War. Torture isn't just hinted at, there's a whole fucking department called torture and interrogation. The largest clan enslaves its cadet branches. The dictator is considered an actual god, and is willing to sacrifice any principle to keep the peace. The dictators closest advisor is Danzo. I don't even need to elaborate.
And these are the good guys. Don't let me get started on Sand, the Mist purges, or the evil end bosses. Oh and the Demon Goddess. And the 9 bound weapons of (before the time skip) pure evil energy and hate.
Seriously, this is close to the darkest setting in fiction.
Now that we have the setting out of the way, let's look at the Hokage. He's under a ton of pressure. Not only does he have to keep the clans of his village pointed in the right direction, he has to keep the Cold War cold, and support the expenses of the gigantic number of troops needed to keep an effective deterrent. On the bright side, he's used to absolute obedience from everyone he rules. Everyone who would disagree is dead (uchilia) or missing (the sanin). So he at least has tools to work with, right?
Except that one of his biggest hammers has a slight loyalty problem. He keeps running off and looking for fights. Holding back vital information. Putting not only his team at risk, but potentially upsetting the peace by killing the wrong person. So the Hokage's natural tendency is to restrict. Don't let him out of the village, where he might cause a problem. Reinforce his loyalty. Sure as hell don't give him authority! After all, he's already seen one super genius go bad and another snap and another go drunk.
Then we see all this from Dasukie's perspective. He's starting to realize how shitty things are. And really, why should he do everything the god king says? It's not like he's done a good job, right? Maybe I can do better on my own! And thus, act two. Dasukie's battle with the system. Where he learns that brining democracy to Afghanistan is much harder than it sounds. Even if you've got all the guns.
And these are the good guys. Don't let me get started on Sand, the Mist purges, or the evil end bosses. Oh and the Demon Goddess. And the 9 bound weapons of (before the time skip) pure evil energy and hate.
Seriously, this is close to the darkest setting in fiction.
Now that we have the setting out of the way, let's look at the Hokage. He's under a ton of pressure. Not only does he have to keep the clans of his village pointed in the right direction, he has to keep the Cold War cold, and support the expenses of the gigantic number of troops needed to keep an effective deterrent. On the bright side, he's used to absolute obedience from everyone he rules. Everyone who would disagree is dead (uchilia) or missing (the sanin). So he at least has tools to work with, right?
Except that one of his biggest hammers has a slight loyalty problem. He keeps running off and looking for fights. Holding back vital information. Putting not only his team at risk, but potentially upsetting the peace by killing the wrong person. So the Hokage's natural tendency is to restrict. Don't let him out of the village, where he might cause a problem. Reinforce his loyalty. Sure as hell don't give him authority! After all, he's already seen one super genius go bad and another snap and another go drunk.
Then we see all this from Dasukie's perspective. He's starting to realize how shitty things are. And really, why should he do everything the god king says? It's not like he's done a good job, right? Maybe I can do better on my own! And thus, act two. Dasukie's battle with the system. Where he learns that brining democracy to Afghanistan is much harder than it sounds. Even if you've got all the guns.
