A Geek History of Time - Episode 187 - Villians Who Aren't, Heroes Who Aren't, Again

Episode Date: December 3, 2022

And while we have a through line that states, Authorial intent means dick, right? I don't want to have to have the same haircut, you have dad. Sorry, I'm pretty something. Aww. Aww. So was this before or after the poster and you vomiting all over the couch? For those of you that can't see, Ed's eyes just crossed. It is fucked up. But it's not wrong. Oh, huh. Să facem unul de băsă, de băsă, de băsă,

de băsă, de băsă, de băsă, de băsă, de băsă, de băsă, de băsă, de băsă,

de băsă, de băsă, de băsă, de băsă, This is a key history of time. Where we connect nergory to the real world. My name is Ed Laylock. I'm a world history and English teacher here in Northern California. And notably actually just earlier today, my wife said about completing my education, because she found out yesterday that I had not, as of yesterday afternoon, actually ever seen sane in the rain all the way through.

Like I had seen bits, but there were huge portions of the film. I had never seen. And she looked at me as though I had sprouted an ear in the middle of my forehead and said, you need to be taught. And so today, this afternoon, we sat down and I, for the first time, watched singing in the rain all the way through and what struck me. There were several things that struck me. The two biggest things that struck me are there are a

couple of places in that movie where you can tell that they had just figured out green screen technology because there are there are a couple of sequences where two audiences in 1953 it must have been absolutely mind-blowing to see the specific way that they used it. And then additionally, it struck me that we have in a couple of ways gone notably backward. I have a cat trapped in the room with me here as I'm recording so that you might be hearing that right now. And I will deal with that momentarily. But Gene Kelly is one of the most remarkable performers in certainly American history, if not history period. The man is an incredible dancer. And the role he plays is one of somebody who came up through Shobiz as a dancer. somebody who came up through Shob is as a dancer. And there is no point in that script where

he is anything other than a red-blooded masculine guy who also happens to be a dancer like first and foremost. He's an actor, yeah, but he a hoover. And like you could not do that movie, you could not do that kind of role that way today because our our weird gender expectations have changed. Specifically around dancing like that. You know, so I think yeah, it's it's it's it is it deserves its place as a classic in the canon of American film and there are a couple points at it where it's actually almost it's strike it struck me as being almost surrealist and and yeah so anyway that was that was my epiphany today was I finally saw that all the way through. How about you?

Well, I'm Damien Harmony. I'm a Latin and US history teacher here in Northern California. And let's see, my daughter has started a Theros campaign for us. And I decided to roll randomly, oh, kitty, I decided to roll randomly for all the stats in terms of height and weight and stuff like that. And I rolled the lowest that I could roll. So I'm playing a champion fighter. So increased ability to hit crits. And in the Theros campaign, there's some cool stuff surrounding fighters and stuff like that, you know, I already stay at all that. But I also have he is a fighter who is four foot 10 as a human, which is still a little taller than most elves, but he is a human who is four foot 10 and he is a celebrated fighter.

And what I love about that is that my daughter was like, oh my god, this is this is really weird. I said, no, no, it's cool. Let's, I'm going to roll with this. And so I gave her a list of 10 different things because I have the ability to be famous, you know, because I'm a pentathlete or what have you in this setting. And so I gave her a list of 10 different, uh, what's it called? called, where the same letters start both words, a literative. I gave her 10, a literative nicknames for my character, like the mini marvel, the page size phenomenon, the, and on and on and on.

So basically she gets to roll a d10 wherever I go. And that's what I'm known as. Oh, then so it's, it's, it's been a lot of fun. Now I got to, I got to talk to you a bit about the singing in the rain. One thing that you didn't point out was, and it perhaps it was implicit or you may not have been comfortable with it, but I am. Gene Kelly's dancing is sexy as fuck. It is sexy. Like he moves those hips, like he wants to grind them into her. And she reacts like she would like to be ground. The ground and pound if you will. Yeah. But he and he specifically put like, because Fred Astaire is an incredibly elegant dancer. Yes.

Dean Kelly was a masculine sexy dancer. Yeah. You know, Fred Astaire was very much on point, technical marvel, all this kind of stuff. Oh, yeah. And Jean Kelly brought sex into the dancing. And I would also point out, yeah, actually, the, it would have been a blue screen back then, by the way. Oh, okay.

It's up until the 80s and 90s. But also, Donald O'Connor had best dance routine in the whole goddamn thing with Make-A-M laugh. Oh, yeah. No, most athletic story. It was amazing. And you know, I actually, because I'm that kind of nerd, like I had seen Donald or Connor's face before. Oh, I know. I know. Yes, didn't you? Yeah. And I'm like, I know I've seen this guy before. Where, where the hell? So, you know, with, with, you know, one eye on the screen and, and, you know, my phone in my hand, I, I looked at it. It's called the two screen experience.

There we go. I looked them up and what's fascinating watching Donald O'Connor on the screen holding his own with Gene Kelly. Yes. Right. Yes. Is Donald O'Connor actually never had any formal schooling. Right. down the corner, actually never had any formal schooling. And did not have any formal dance training until he started in movies at 15.

Yes. And he was interviewed later in his life saying, no, my family traveled the Vaudeville circuit. So that whole, you know, history clip of the two of them, you know, getting, getting the Hollywood was like his life. Yeah. I mean, the story in many ways was his life. It was his life story on some levels. Yeah. Yeah.

And, uh, but, but he said, uh, I learned two dance routines. And I could do both of those dance routines in my sleep. And I looked really, really good doing those dance routines. But I never got, but I never got, yeah, basically, but I never got any formal dance training. Okay. And so we showed up and he said, learning new dance routines was really hard. Yeah, because he didn't have any of the terms or the practice or the, you know, your hips should always be able to open out like this. He's like, no, I just do it for this one part of this one dance. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Anyway, it was it was. Yeah. No, it's an amazing film.

So also in that movie, the the seriality that you're talking about is probably the scene with Sid Sherees, where it just looks like it's plucked in with the really long, flowy thing. And there's just a dance routine of a woman for no goddamn reason. That was because they needed to keep her under contract That was entirely what it was they discovered her they were like, oh, we are gonna make a mint with her And so let's make sure it's kind of like how Marvel continually like tries to do Captain Marvel Yeah, and a lot of people would say in brightly so they keep screwing it up in most of the comics because they just run out of steam. Yeah, and it's mostly just so they can keep their their copyright live on that character because it'd be really embarrassing if DC ended up getting Captain Marvel, you yeah, so that's which is why Shazam, you know, and Billy Batson started being Shazam instead of Captain Marvel. It did. But anyway, yeah, I love that movie. It's a wonderful, it's a wonderful, the entertaining explanation of the switchover from, you know, flickers to talkies.

And I can't stand. I can't stand him. Yeah, it's so good. Yeah, it's a great movie. It's a great movie. It is about 30 minutes too long. As much musical. Yeah, I'd say, yeah, you could,

you could, you could turn some fat off of it. Yeah, like the whole citrus thing. You genuinely didn't need it. Like it was plugged in there again, just that I burp, but hey, speaking of sexy superheroes, okay, it's been a while. America's ass. Oh, among others, yes. Yeah, but it has been a while since we have done a villains who aren't and a heroes who aren't. Okay. Yeah, it has been. Yeah, I think Yeah, I think after the psychic trauma of the last couple

of episodes about V, I think we could we could use a palette cleanser. True, true. All right, I'm down. Okay, cool. Well, for those of you who have never heard the previous ones episodes 134 and 162 also are heroes who aren't and villains who aren't parts one and two so Let's see do you have any that you would like to start with that aren't Warhammer 40k? That aren't yes. Yes. I do as a matter of fact So my question is do you want to do you want me to start with a hero who isn't or a villain who might not be?

A villain who might not be. Okay, then I'm going to have to go with Rastlin Majer. Now you may or may not be at all familiar with the name, but I'm sure there are plenty of our D&D first edition AD&D player listeners who know who I'm talking about. I know the name of race was that in a dragon lance? Yes, he's one of the protagonists, one of the party of adventurers in the he was one of the pre-generated characters you could play in the in the first series of Dragon Lance modules. Okay.

And he is one of the heroes of the Lance from the first Dragon Lance trilogy. Okay. He is the twin brother of fighter, Paramun Majer. Oh, that's right. He's the sickly wizard. Yes. Yes. And so, and he's an asshole.

He is. He is. He is. He always has a very dry cutting wit. And people find him unsettling for reasons that I'll get into here momentarily. And in the end, for most of the novel series, he is a red robu wizard, which means neutrally aligned. For those not familiar with the Dragon Lance setting, wizards in Dragon Lance after you can be, you don't have to join any order, be part of any organization up until you get to fifth level. This is the game rules. When you get to fifth level and learn the ability to cast third level spells, you have to go through that test. And your behavior in the test of high sorcery, because this is back when sorcery and wizardry were synonyms, rather than descriptions of different character classes,

your behavior and the way you face your test determines whether you wind up being a white robe, red robe, or black robe. Okay. And all three are part of the same organization, even though they work to work different goals and have obviously different moral outlooks. So if you come out of the test, showing compassion and good aligned traits, you are a white robe. If you come out of the test with some other kind of motivation, but not a selfish or grasping or destructive one, then you are a red robe. And if you show a tendency to toward, like,

no, no, I'm going to get through this, even if I have to choke every last motherfucker in this place, then you know, ruthlessness, cruelty, whatever, that you wind up being a black robe. And that's the order that you wind up serving. Okay. And then there's mystical stuff you're tied to a particular moon. There are three moons of white, red, and black moon and all of that. And anyway, there's a lot going on there. But, uh, Rasteland starts the novel series as a red robe wizard. So he's, okay, I want to say, I want to say his alignment was either lawful neutral or true neutral in the, in the adventure modules.

Well, he, in the book, he more true, neutral than lawful neutral. Yeah, it wasn't the rules that were holding him back. Yeah, it makes sense. So, but by the end of the, or basically at the end of the third novel, the heroes defeat the threat to the world, they drive Tachysis, also known as Tiamat, in other settings, back away from coming physically into the world. They managed to stop her from doing that.

They stopped the Dragon Army conquering the world. Okay. And in the process of doing that, very basically as that all happens, Raceline winds up making the transition from the red robes to the black robes. He makes the decision that no, no, my goal now is power. Right. Now that now that okay, we've driven with driven tech is this a way we don't need to worry about her anymore.

Now I'm, I'm in it for me. Now that the board is clear. Yeah, I like to is clear. Yeah. I like to have some. Yeah. Yeah. I want to cut. Only he doesn't just want to cut.

He turns into the antagonist of the next novel series. Oh. How's that play for a while? How does that play for his brother? His brother spends the next novel trilogy crying to somewhere between Stop Rasteland and save Rasteland from himself. Okay, so Luke, Tvader, kind of thing. Kind of sort of.

Okay. So by the end of the third novel of the second trilogy, Rasteland has basically figured out how to become a God. Mm-hmm. And the problem is him becoming a God is going to unbalance the universe and lead to the end of the world. And Rasteland doesn't care. So as long as he wins the game. As long as he basically, yeah, he's his goal. He has his goal. He's going to achieve his goal. Like, like Salazar Slytherin looks at him and goes,

dude, chill the fuck out, bro. This sounds like there have to be limits somewhere, dude. Like, I mean, I appreciate ruthlessness, but fuck, right? The sounds to me like the writers of Dragon Lance were like holding up the mirror to D&D Munchkin players. A little bit. This is you. Might have been this is what you're trying to do. This is you. Yeah. Yeah. So now here's the thing. Mm-hmm. I'm going to argue he's He's not he's not villain the writers would want us to to believe he is

Okay, and here's my argument. He's a victim of lifelong gaslighting and abuse. So this is not because he loved the Lily Potter and that was it? No, no, no, no, no, no, nothing that weful. No, and Snape Snape is a jackass asshole. No matter how you cut it. Anyway, as asshole. No matter how you cut it. Anyway, um, no, no, snake is a villain who was a villain, no matter how hard, uh, JK Rowling tried to rehabilitate him and make him a tragic by. And he was a villain absent the magic and absent the alliance. He was still a villain. Like, it's kind of like how snow, uh, or how, uh, Kylo Ren, um, got inside Ray's head, Kylo Ren got inside Ray's head, didn't use the force at all and Damne Airbroker. Yeah. And I love that, but that's some villain level shit.

Yeah. And then you add the magic power. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, weaker, smaller, sicklier of a pair of twins. And his brother and he, but his brother is like desperately codependent on him. Like like I have to take care of that bro. I got to take care of him. I got to protect him. I got to look out for him. Right. And when his brother's back was turned, Rasteland was bullied by other kids. And Caramun treated him like a cripple

when he was sickly and he was unhealthy, but he did not need to be coddled and smothered in the way the caromage. Yeah, kind of. Yeah. And I mean, you know, carom and from Caromans point of view, it was all well-meaning. But like, if you're toxic as fuck, it doesn't matter whether you're well-meaning. You're still toxic as fuck.

Well, and you know, there's that phrase that Road to Hell's paved with good intentions. Yes. And it's, that's, so many people misinterpret that as they do, we should do an episode of just common sayings. Um, that could be fun. Yeah. It would be fun. Yeah.

But, uh, but yeah, like so many people misinterpret that because, um, it's not the accidental aspect of it. Like, oh, I meant well. And dammit, I spilled the, the casserole all over the dog. And now the dog needs to be put down. It's not that. It's much more about zealotry that I mean, well, therefore, the ends justify the means for what I am doing. And I will never end if you're a zealot, you don't back down. And people can be zealots in a lot of really fucked up ways, including codependency. Like I am here to protect my brother,

and I need to keep him safe from self-actualization. And therefore, I need to keep him protected from himself. And, you know, and there's been, you create the monster that you're trying to prevent. Which arguably is what Caram and I ended up doing. So, so, so, Rasteland discovered that he had an aptitude for magic as a youngster. The backstory is there was a hedge magician,

a wizard who never got to fifth level, who would come through and do, you know, illusionist tricks and new magic and- So he was kind of a- Rasteland saw that, yeah, and Rasteland saw through and do, you know, illusionist tricks and new magic and so he was kind of I saw that. Yeah, and and race. Let's all that went all wow. Wait and learned that he had brains of the pair is the smart one of the twins right and he applied that and he worked and he studied and he learned how to do magic and his brother was always afraid of that. Oh, okay. Because of something that his brother could not fully understand.

Now, his brother never told him, no, no, don't do that. Don't do that. But there was always this kind of like, right. I don't get it. I don't know. So was there a further afraid of the hedge magician? Not, not that I, there's, there's no, there's no. Okay.

There was never explicitly stated. There's no. Yeah. We just know that that's how race. I'm totally not. So he saw a busted hedge magician in the row there and he. Yeah. He wasn't alarmed. Nice. Nice. Yeah. And I decided that you know what? I can I can make that shrubbery work um and So eventually make me yeah, yeah, nice nice nice so he uh or at least clean it by May it could be a spring clean by the make me there you go Yeah, there you go um and so there's a there's an expansion short story

mm-hmm um And so there's an expansion short story that takes place that is about Rasteland going on his test of high sorcery. He makes it to the point where, okay, one of two things is going to happen. Or actually one of three things is going to happen. Either you're going to pass the test, you're going to get your whatever color robe, and you're going to be able to, we as an organization are going to continue to let you to study, and you can gain more power and et cetera. Or you're going to fail the test

for one reason or another. And if you try to continue studying beyond that, we will hunt you down and destroy you as a renegade. Or you're gonna die. Those are the three brains. Like, yeah. And your head will be swimming and it won't go because you don't know

Nice right. Yeah, but he still has these three paths. So there's time to change the roadies on yeah So I went over like a lead balloon I agree I I'm I'm trying to find something with Zeppelin and I can't. So, oh, the humanity. So we go, nice. That's good. So we heads off to take his test.

This brother goes with him. And the head of the concave, the basically highest ranking wizard in the world, has been, you know, keeping tabs on Rasteland, and he knows that Rasteland is intensely driven. He knows that Rasteland has an incredible aptitude, an incredible amount of power, and he also knows that Rasteland knows just exactly how smart and how potentially powerful he is. Okay. And so, during his test of high sorcery, Rasteland passes, as his, you know, graduates,

as part of his badge of graduation, he gets given a magical staff that later on actually turns out to be an artifact level magic item. Oh, cool. And he also winds up getting cursed. Because when you pass a test, like, well, there's, there's a sacrifice. There's, there's a sacrifice to be made. But there's also the fact that the head of the conclave sees his ambition

and sees his bride, uh, and sees that as a threat and wants to try to humble him. Okay. And so in the process, he has left permanently physically weakened to the point where he sounds like his symptoms as they show up in the novel. He often has these terrible racking coughing fists where he winds up coughing up blood. I mean, he sounds like he's got tuberculosis. It's, you know, so he's permanently loses

X number of points of con as a result of this. But also as a result of it, his appearance has permanently changed. He has golden skin and and silvery white hair and the pupils of his the shape of the pupils of his eyes are permanently changed into our glasses now is and that part of the curse That's part of the curse. So the wizard cursed him with that. Yes, and everyone he and everyone he looks at He does not see them as they are he sees them as they will be when they are old and withered and decrepit Because he's saying through the yeah Yeah, so and it was and it was intended to be a reminder to bracelet of his own mortality

Instead of like hey, you you're seeing everybody in their hourglass figure. Yeah. Yeah, which would be a lot more fun. So like from his eyes, like he's basically seeing them older. Yeah. And like broken down older, or just older, like liver spotted. Okay, so not like the worst thing can be, but like what it really will be.

What it, yeah. Okay, yeah. But I mean, talk about how that would warp your perception of literally the world. Oh, yeah. I mean, and you said, okay, so his skin is gold, his eyes are, his eye, the irises of his eyes are gold. Okay. And then his hair is silver, silver.

That's what it will. Okay. And his hair is silver silver. That's what okay. And so this is an attempt to try to humble him and you know, you know, tempest fugit. And, and I don't remember what the Latin phrase is about, you know, remember, remember to that your, your, your gonna die, your gonna die. Memento mori. Right. Like, you know, yeah, that was what it was meant to do. What it what it winds up doing is it just reinforces wasteland sense of persecution and his desire to get enough power to never be controlled or smothered or bullied again. He sounds honestly like a magic sickly version of Lyndon Johnson.

Like yes, Johnson also knew that like in general, heart failure ran in his family and so his ambition drove him. Yeah. Who gets it done before he died, which is again, also Caesar. Yeah. But, okay. Yeah. And so his, his, his lust for power,

mm-hmm, was, you know, I mean, it made him a ruthless extremist in the end. Like, he was willing to sacrifice literally everybody in the world. His old friends, his traveling companions, his apprentice at one point, he has an Elvish apprentice named Dalimar, who he basically stabs in the back. Okay. And like he winds up essentially becoming, kind of becoming a living lich, it's a weird, anyway, there's all kinds of long-

It's Dragon Lance not codified D&D. Yeah, so, but he winds up doing a lot of ruthless shit. So, but he winds up doing a lot of ruthless shit and winds up being defeated in the end. And the question that we're left with is at the very moment of his triumph, whether it's entirely that he was defeated or if he had a moment of realization and a moment of remembrance of his brother and if he relented and let himself be defeated. They do this in the Star Wars books too, which were now canonized as legend, but when Jason is at the height of his power becoming worse than Vader and worse than Palpatine He he realizes that if he doesn't relent His daughter will die and the whole point was he's making the galaxy saver for his daughter

Mm-hmm, and his sister's fighting him and he relents to send a message to his daughter and his His daughter's mom and you know to say get out so strong that they would actually leave from whatever the danger was and Jaina has a moment of I that's Jason that's Jason. It's no longer Darth Kites. It's Jason and I have to kill him because this could be a faint. And so she kills Jason, which is even more traumatic for her. But she kills Jason. And she's able, so in the Star Wars, it is known that he relented and it is known that he died as Jason and not as Kitus. Which is great. Because that's the recurring theme, right.

Is the redemption at the end, which actually ties in interestingly with the gods of Krin, the world of dragon lands, have three maxims that essentially define how good works, how evil works, and how neutrality works. Good redeems its own. Okay. Is the phrase for good. Evil devours its own. Oh, okay. And neutrality preserves the balance. And those are the three. I. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But, but okay. Cool. But yeah. Back then, they're, yeah. Yeah. So, okay. So, so there's some question as to whether or not. So there's, there's some question about that. And the other thing is, um, his, his goal was to attain Godhood essentially by defeating Tachysis, not one of the gods of good, not one of the gods of neutrality, but the dragon queen herself, his goal, like, because there's a fixed number of gods, there's the gods of evil, gods of neutrality, gods of good. So I've got to replace one of them. The name though, T, Texas, that has to do with

speed. It's a Greek, Greek sounding origin, at least, and I don't know how spelled, but very often you can bastard. Anyway, K, H, I, S, I, S. All right, close enough. But yeah. But the sound of it is similar to Tachios, which is speed, a lack of a team, and death comes quickly. So you're speeding your life along. So just kind of interesting, he defeats the speed dragon, okay? Well, or tries to. Or tries to.

Yeah, yeah. And then, yeah, he blinds. And that searches his spot amongst the gods. Yeah, so it's not like, so it's not like he's trying to destroy one of the gods of good. He's in Right. Like no, because evil devours itself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know, and so even even his attempted deicide isn't necessarily villainous, like, because any other person would also want to kill a like yeah, like, you you know she's she's literally the reason that

tens of thousands of people died during the war of the lands sure like so is it really that bad really that bad and then in later stories he actually winds up saving his nephew who who is going through his test of high sorcery and And part of that test, part of that test is because one of the things that his nephew, so Caramans youngest son, who shows an aptitude for magic, which scares his father absolutely to death. Oh, sure. And one of the things that Raceline's nephew is afraid of is the chances of him going down the dark path his uncle went down and succumbing to that desire for power and that, you know, and it turns out, of course, you know, Palin has a very, very different temperament

and a very different personality and he's not going to be that guy. But he winds up actually having an encounter with Rasteland in the Tower of High Sorcery as he's going through his test. And through nearly the entire story, right up to the very end, the reader has led to believe that this is an illusion or some kind of specter that's being created to create the test for Palin. That's being created to create the test for palin while palin passes his test and leaves And then raceline hangs out for a minute in the tower and there's there's you're left as the reader with

Some uncertainty about like okay was this a semi-lacrum or did race line actually somehow get out of the abyss To help his nephew. Wow, that actually also cons with Star Wars books. So after Jason dies, that's the end of that eight part series. And then there's, let me look. Yeah, since you have them all on the shelf behind. Yeah, pretty much. Then there's a couple books just for funsies. And then you get into the next,

let's see, that's four, nine part series, where Luke basically is called to the carpet about like, yo, the Jedi are bad for this galaxy, and you need to like figure shit out, and we're banishing you for 10 years, because, because, because, because. But essentially the argument is made by Admiral Dala who has come back and now she's in charge of the government. But she's reformed

and she's actually brings up a really good argument. She's like, okay, let's let's talk about your meeting out justice. You cut off a man's hand and you've decided that that was necessary because the force told you et cetera, et cetera. And it looks like, yeah, okay. And she's like, and then you just go off because there's some more important stuff to do, right? Yes, okay, well, so what a police officer does that. See, this is a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, so it can be idealized.

But when a police officer does that, there's reports, there's, you know, and if a private citizen did that, then there's lawsuits and- Now, accountability. Yeah, there's a ton of accountability. And she's like, and you guys just gallabant around, and we're just supposed to trust you as we pick up the pieces. And she says, and now, explode this out a little bit, your nephew caused a civil war. And we're just supposed to be like, well, you know, shit happens, but the Jedi know what they're doing.

Like, at one point, he was the legal head of the government and you had him killed by your niece. Like, there's no way that you can read this and be like, oh, the Jedi are fine. And he's like, I have no answer to that. You're absolutely right. I need to go figure out why Jason went evil. And she's like, okay, yeah, so that can be your tenure exile, but your exile for 10 years, fuck off. And so his son comes with him because at this point, the name Ben comes from Luke's kid from the books. That's what I loved about the the the new trilogy is that they took the best parts of the books. You know, the rain and Kylo thing is just Jason and Jaina. Yeah. So he goes and they end up in the the pools of destiny or something like that. I forget the exact thing, but they run into a spirit of Jason. And so he is

neither disappeared in the forest nor fully dead. Like he's and he and Ben whom he had manipulated so it's technically his cousin, but he's old enough to be it would be his nephew, you know, and he and Ben have a little Ted a Ted and they talk about it and Jason's like, no, this is my damnation. I'm not particularly sorry for what I did. I'm sorry that I hurt you, but I'm not sorry for my reasons. And you know, so be it. You need to, and buddy is very like realistic about it. He's like, you need to pick your own path. Don't go asking me for advice. And you know, there's just, there's a really cool, you know, little thing there. He's like, I'm not trying to trick you, but I'm not about to candy coat what I did. And I still think I was right. And I will still talk to you about

that. And so there's just he is a similochrome, but it is actually his spirit. And it's in the the mists and stuff like that. So it's just kind of interesting. Clearly, the the writers of these stories were pulling from the were by yeah yeah so so okay so raceland by killing the dragon queen would have yeah I'm super fine yeah good day sir well then that one that one you finally did it yeah and in and in a series that is known for its convolutions and and its its length, which is the appropriate for stairway. You know, considered a classic, but holy shit, if you're going to listen to it sit down for a while Clear your clear your schedule for a couple of hours. Um And so yeah, my you know, he he is he is a villain

but You know you look at you look at the trauma of his childhood you look at the way he was consistently childhood, you look at the way he was consistently smothered and restrained and everybody around him, his brother, his half sister, I'm going to talk about later. His father, to the extent of the father was around, all of his friends when he was younger, it was always, we got to look after racism, we got to protect racism, we got to shelter him. And they weren't always wrong, but it left him with this no, buck off. I hate that I need you. Like, I know that sometimes I do,

but a lot of the time I don't, and you won't let me not need you. Right. Like, you're my twin brother, you're literally the other half of my soul, but like fuck off. Right. Like you're my you're my twin brother, you're literally the other half of my soul, but like fuck off. Right. You know, yeah. Um, and so of course somebody like that is, is going to wind up having, I mean, that's, that's, that's a logical outcome in a, in a universe where you don't have licensed therapists. Sure. Like, or even a healer's guild.

Even yeah, you know, it appears in family squabbles. Yeah. Okay. So there you go. I'm going to say that I'm unconvinced that he is not a villain, but I understand why he is the villain that he is. Okay, that's fair.

Yeah. So you want to hear a hero or a villain or a hero who isn't or a villain who isn't. Let's let's do a villain who isn't. I want to hear a villain who isn't. All right. Let's talk about syndrome from the Incredibles. Okay. All right. So syndrome from the Incredibles. First, I got to get this out of the way. Yes, he's an arms dealer. And that's bad. Yeah. It's not as bad as what our government does before breakfast and probably not as flashy, but objectively, it is bad to increase the number of weapons that are out there in the world. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to real fast just insert here that I'm not, you say not as flashy. I'm going to say that you are never going to convince me that syndrome is not an anarcho

capitalist, which is like a shade removed. It's not the people who are in charge. Yeah. People who are empowered. Okay. Fine. He would fit into that structure. Yeah.

Sure. But still not as fast. She. Because, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, Because, but, but, but, but he pine does have a point though, right? His plan is contrived. It's overly complicated and it's ridiculous. This is after all the incredible. Yeah. Um, uh, his plan is to set up a battle in which he controls both sides of the battle secretly, allowing him to defeat the Omni droid in front of an audience. And yeah, I know.

Yeah. Watchman? Like, I'm just saying, I'm getting... I was thinking of the team, but yeah. Oh, yeah, well, yeah, that too. But yeah. You know, you can't beat the classics. Right.

Yeah. And, and yes, he's knowingly hired former superheroes to hone this droid leading to their deaths in the process. Yeah. Okay. All true. All true. Got it.

Got admitted. But you know how I was talking about Zellatory. And a got my face here because his goal is ultimately to let everyone be the superhero that they want to be by means of purchasing the tech that he'll showcase in his defeat of the Army droid, which is a far more democratic solution than the current system. Okay, it's kind of like what higher education is, but for superheroes. Okay. Um, and, and I'm not saying this is not a problematic step forward, but it is a step forward from the feudal system of superheroes that's already drawn the public's eye to the point of superheroes not being welcome in public at this point.

Um, syndrome at the end of the day wants everyone to have access to powers, not just an accidental few who create tons and tons of collateral damage. Now, he fails. That is certainly destructive. But had he been given a chance to be the hero that he wanted to be in the beginning, which was gate-kept by Mr. Credible at all, none of this would have happened. Had they democratized the process, when they literally held all the power, superheroes would have avoided deligionization, as well as all the destruction that came about after. Flood as he is, syndrome was more right than those who sought to keep precious their special abilities.

Okay. I think there's attribution of motive there that might be off. But you wanted to sell his shit to people. Oh, I'm not talking about his motive. Oh, okay. Well, I'm I think they're shading involved in his motive because I don't think he he didn't care about empowering people. He cared about taking away the exceptionalism of others. Yeah, it's it's it's a tearing down rather than building up coincidentally It I mean the the easiest way to achieve that is by you know leveling playfield God God made men same cult made him equal. Right. You know, kind of situation. Sure.

And I definitely see the ultimate democratizing effect of that. I am a Catholic and as a Catholic motives matter. So, you know, there's that. Yeah, I, well, yes, and exceptional. I am, I am the conservative of the two of us. Well, depending on how, how rigid a Catholic, you are exceptional as you know. But yes, that can be one of the problems with the church.

Um, is not can be. Yes, that's the intellectually honest here is one of the problems with the church, but, um, and I got sidetracked by that little quibble. Um, yeah, no, I see what you're saying. I think, I think without knowing how willing or eager he was to cause collateral damage in order to make his point. Hmm. Because I definitely get the sense that like, you know, rampaging robot going through the streets, he knew that like he wasn't going to be able to take the thing out without some innocent people being injured or killed. See, to me, that puts And now I don't think I think that him knowing and see an intentionality matters here.

So I will give you that he knew and they ignored. And, and I think they were, there was some willful ignorance there. It's, it's not like a convoluted willful ignorance on their part. Yeah. But come the fuck on. Yeah, no, I get it. Take it out to the harbor. But yeah, I know I get it.

But yeah, I think, yeah, I see what you're saying. I'm going to come to the same conclusion here that you came to with Rasteland-Majir. I think this is a compelling argument for an understanding of his motives. Okay. I am not only convinced that he doesn't deserve the title of

villain now. Okay. Because well-intentioned extremism is still extremism. Very true. Very true. So, okay. Okay. You got another one? Yeah, I do. Okay. As a matter of fact, um, Denethor. Another Warhammer 40K. No, no, no, no, no.

I'm saving the Warhammer 40K one for last. Denethor, uh, from Lord of the Rings. Oh, the two towers. So Denathor is nice. Nice. Is supposed to be a pretender to royalty. You know, he's the he's the steward of Gondor. But you know, the guy carries all the tomatoes. Yes. Yes. Yes. But he he carries himself as though he's the king right although his title isn't there he he clearly It it it is at him that he's not the king sure right So he's twisted by jealousy and insecurity even in the books. There's actually mention made of You know because it doesn't it doesn't really come up in the films, but

it's, it's worth noting that Erragorn is actually 70 something years old at the time of the events of the War of the Ring because he is one of the Dunedain and they live a lot longer than, than normal mortal, because of their very strong elvish blood in their background. And so, Erigorne has had a lifetime of experience as a soldier, as a ranger, as a runner-around everywhere. And he actually spent time, we find out, in a brief kind of aside in the books, that Erigorne had spent time, we find out in a brief kind of aside in the books that

Erigorne had spent time as a soldier of Gondor under an assumed name. And he had been very well liked. He had risen to the rank of, you know, being a captain and all this stuff. And he actually encountered Denithor during that time when Denithor was a younger man, and Denithor resented him terribly because it's Erigor and son of Erathorne, and he's, you know, right-wise, King of Gondor, and Arnor, and, you know, everything. And so, because of the way Tolkien wrote the books, hi, Catholic exceptionalism, you know, he is the one true king. So everything just comes easily to him. And so that just

eight denathor up. Sure. And there's this little bit that we get of that. So he's twisted by jealousy and his own insecurity about, you know, he should be the king, but he's not the king, he's just the steward and all this other stuff. And then eventually, you know, he should be the king, but he's not the king, he's just the steward and all this other stuff. And then eventually, you know, when he plays favorites with his sons, you know, Boramero's, the golden child and pharameer can't do anything right. And then eventually he turns to madness and despair. And this happens because he's tampering with the palantir, you know, which is, which is... How much dandelion powder can be at what level? Yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, it's... I think it's completely... It ignores their sister, sour amir.

Nice. Yeah, nice. No, it's the seeing stone. One of which is controlled by Sauron, and so his head gets filled full of stuff that Sauron wants him to see. And in the books, it's kind of implicitly explained that like he's an ordinary mortal man, and so he just shouldn't be tampering with this thing. This is not, this is not, he's not, it's above his birth. He shouldn't be tampering with this thing.

And it's part of his pride that he is. Okay. Okay. Okay. And so that eventually drives him to despair. There's no way we're gonna win, Sauron is too powerful. This is the twilight of our age.

And he winds up attempting to emulate himself and his son, again, he'll stop him from emulating pharomere, but he winds up catching fire and flaying himself off the parapids of Ministers. Right. You know, and so he is this cautionary figure. He is this semi-villain kind of figure. He's an antagonist. And the thing is, I think he gets even shorter shrift

he gets even shorter shrift than Boromir does. You know, there has been all of this talk of kind of rehabilitating Boromir, which Polkin would have been 100% behind because Polkin himself basically said that Boromir is symbolic of the power of the ring to tempt people. And Boromir's death was was redemptive. You know, and it was tragic. And you know, the best of us can still be corrupted by this. Yeah. Yeah. And here's the thing. Denathor is actually a competent, effective commander-in-chief of the city state locked in constant warfare for its own survival.

Yep. Yep. While, while Denethor has been in command, they have regained territory that had been lost the Sauron's forces in generations prior. Okay. Nobody in Gondor complains that a denator is ineffective or tyrannical Okay Nobody complains that the streets aren't getting swept or that

The streets are unsafe Getting in some dangerous territory. Yeah, I know, I know but but you know nobody nobody nobody cries out that there is no justice in gondor you know, okay and gondor in its territories must be relatively well administered to be able to raise and equip the army that they do in the return of the king. Now is this them doing despite him or because of him? There is is here's the deal talking would not have hesitated to drop an anvil okay so the fact that there the dog didn't there is there is nowhere any statement that like well we're grudgingly coming

to gondor's aid though you know in recent years it's rulership has been distant or uncaring or whatever. There's none of that. It's like, you know, Goddard calls for aid. We're showing a fuck up. We're here. And all of the tributary states have been, you know, well enough administered and are loyal enough that they all show up in in the numbers that they do.

And paramilitary deserve better treatment. I of course, no way, no way I'm going to argue against that. He's not winning parents of the year. Any day, no, no, no, no. But it's important to keep in mind that dent author accomplished, everything dent author accomplished, while he was by any standard we would apply, deeply clinically depressed.

Yeah. And also being fed the wrong is like. Yeah. Also being madly fucked with. Yeah. Yeah. You know, untreated depression can cause all kinds of family dysfunction and Denethor's favoritism for Boromir should be viewed through that lens. His ultimate descent into suicide,

just reinforces the point of how much he accomplished while he was circling the drain. Right? Okay. Sure. Yeah. I mean, we're seeing a man in decline. We're not necessarily seeing a man. We're seeing a man with severe mental health issues that are unaddressed and yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, I'm not trying to say from villain into mentally, mentally, unwell into tragic figure. Yeah. I'm going to argue tragic figure. I think he deserves to be viewed with the same benefit of the doubt that we give to Boramir. I think you're right. I'm okay with that. So okay. There you go. Although I will say this, I do want to make an exception or just kind of throw a little fly in the ointment there. Okay. No good person eats tomatoes that way. Only a monster would do that.

Yes. To those cherry tomatoes. Yes. Yeah. Well, and make someone sit there and watch him. That's some creepy shit. That's that is. Yes.

Yes. And he's making a little person do it. Let's be real. Um, so. Yeah. Okay. And again, you know, when you're, when you when you I think also anybody who's in charge at that level is automatically like keening evil It kind of does have a prince Andrew kind of vibe

Okay to do that is like strange fetishism that somebody else will have to excuse so Okay, but other than that I agree with you. Okay, fair enough All right, fair enough. What do you got? Uh, it's a guy here, I got villains, what you want? Um, let's, let's do a hero now. Okay. Let's, let's do an heroes. All right, well, here's the, the,

maybe the second or third biggest hero who isn't, we're gonna talk about Professor X from Marvel Comics. Okay, bring it. Yeah. He's a cult leader of child soldiers. He's gone. No. I knew. I mean, really, what else do you have to say?

A real big like. And a J Walker. Arson Merger and J walking. Right. That is the trope, no matter if fact. So, so no, he's a cult leader of child soldiers. He actively uses mind control. He fantasizes about Jean Gray early on. He curses his own disability and died a bunch more. So, the the cursing his own disability is only because it interferes with his ability

to fuck his students. Oh, yeah, never mind. Okay. Yeah, carry on. That's a bit of the problem. Carry on. Yeah. So straight up, he erased Gabriel Summers from Scott's mind. Okay. So Scott had a brother. No, he didn't. No. He sent Kid Vulcan on a failed mission and knew that mutant stuff ran in the family. So he made sure to keep Gabriel out of Scott's mind so that he could better manipulate Scott. So just some short stuff there.

Magneto rips all the metal out of Wolverine skeleton, which let's be real took way too long for him to figure out how to do. Hey, no lie. But then right after that, Professor X straight up, coma's magneto. Now, I'm not saying that due process is necessary or anything like that, but I am saying let's look into intentionality. You didn't do it like immediately after you waited and you found him and he doesn't do it for all truistic reasons. He doesn't do it because the

world would be safer without Magneto. If he'd done that, I would have been cool with it to be perfectly honest. Yeah, okay. You ripped all the metal from a dude's skeleton knowing that he'd feel the pain and knowing that he'd heal from it. I think he tortured someone. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely think there need to be consequences for that. And I'm even fine with frontier justice.

Yeah. We're what counts for it in Newton World. Yeah. But he combes him because he's angry. Like he violently assaults Magneto's mind and renders him catatonic because Charles was angry. Charles, the one who says that we can all live and let live. And it was just because he's angry.

And I get it. Magneto is a problematic dude, but you don't do that. Like because you're angry. You you you do that because it saves the world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Motives motives matter. Yes. We get around to you. Motives matter. I think there's a. There's also something to be said for Professor X being as powerful as he is. Yeah, it's almost like there's no level. Yeah, yeah, precisely. The level of ethical scrutiny. With his power. Yeah, yeah, when you're dealing with, you know, fuck with other people's minds.

Yes. The level of ethical scrutiny necessary is just that much more intense. Yeah. Like, you know, you look at, you look at Wolverine, right? If we, if we, he, just look at, okay, so he's, he's always armed. Right. No matter what. if we just look at, okay, so he's always armed. No matter what, he's always armed, and he is nigh unkillable.

Yeah, consequences don't hit him the same. Yeah, well one, consequences don't hit him the same way. Number two, like there is a scope of damage that he can inflect if he decides to do the wrong thing. Yep. Any any any any wrong he chooses to do is going to be intensely personal. Yes. Like yeah. No, no, no.

There was a there was a remark I made to my friend Sean when when we were kind of at the same time playing through power of the force, the not yet canon, your Darth Vader's apprentice. Oh, force unleashed. Of course, unleashed. Thank you. When we were playing through force unleashed and just, you know, marching through levels, just cutting everybody the fuck down with a lightsaber. Right. I can people up flinging people everywhere. Oh, yeah. you know, marching through levels, just cutting everybody the fuck down with a lightsaber.

I can people up flinging people everywhere. Oh, yeah. And in the remark I made was, you know, in this game, you really understand how the Empire committed genocide on a very personal one person at a time level. And that's, and that's kind of, and that's kind of the thing. Like if, if Logan decides he's going to murder a bunch of people, Oh, yeah, he will. You're going to murder a bunch of people. Oh, he will. You're going to have a very hard time stopping him, but he's also going to have to, it's going to take some time for him to do it.

Yeah, he's going to need a few power bars, some energy drinks. Yeah. And like, and you can, and you can find a way to mitigate that stop him, whatever, you know, you can figure out a way to. Poor concrete over him. Yeah. Yeah. in whatever you know you can figure out a way to core concrete over them. Yeah yeah yeah whereas if professor actually decides you know what I don't want

people to remember that photo that went out over the internet last night and literally the world doesn't know yeah yeah everybody has now forgot like there's there's a very different level of level of scale there. Yeah. Yeah. Now, I'm not going to hold him guilty for creating onslaught, the super evil bad guy who kills Helomew in the process of combating Magneto, but I will hold him responsible for it. Okay. And I think that's different. Now, he also just has a history of straight up emotionally manipulating teenagers early on

He pretends to die When in fact it was actually another mutant who died which that means that You see somebody die and you're like gonna save that gonna save that, you know or Gonna manipulate that gonna use that, you know, or going to manipulate that, going to use that, you know. And then he doesn't intercede for like two years to let him know he's okay, except for Jean Grey. And then it's just a secret between you and me, Jean. Also, like, there's something fucked up about that. There's, there's, then he also early on pretends to lose his powers

while they're being attacked by Magneto's band of bad guys in order to test them, to test the X-Men while people are trying to kill them. And I, that's, that's not cool. And then I, I pulled, I pulled this panel and unfortunately I can't send it to you. So I'll just have to read to you. Okay, so the box text says, but upon reaching the chamber, the expense suddenly stopped in their tracks respectfully

as they see, and it's a scene of Professor X. And he's got his hand on Jean Grace Humors, like on the upper part of her arm, right? And she's sleeveless in this. He says, be careful, my dear. I cannot tell what powers this mutant may possess. He may be a danger to you. And she says, don't worry, sir. Remember how well you've trained us. Okay, cool. Clearly the sexism of the sex 60s and stuff like that, but so far so good. And then he turns his back to them and starts smoking his pipe. And Jean holds on to Scott's arm and I'm pretty sure that that is Bobby Drake next to Scott. And Professor X says, don't worry.

He thinks this is a thought bubble. Don't worry. As though I could help worrying about the one I love, but I can never tell her. I have no right, not while I'm leader of the X-Men and confined to this wheelchair. So I'm her principal, her teacher, and my dick doesn't work the way I want it to. That's why I can't tell this underage child that I want to just out of curiosity

because like because of everything you've just said it isn't actually material, but like how old canonical was Jean at the she let's see they're at the school for mutants. They graduate from the school within the first few. So she's 1718. So at best it's creepy. I don't know what the age of consent was in New York at that time. But I'm still going to say it best it's creepy. Yeah, no, there's no, there's no getting over it being and that shit man. Yeah, and that shit manifests in law in onslaught later because of course it does because he's a creepy old fuck. Um, so and he sent Hulk into space and then he let his and and he

sent any abstained. He, he didn't even like have the courage to vote no in the Illuminati. He abstained. So he's like, oh, my, you know, my hands are clean. No, they aren't. And he let his students fight an enraged hook to the point where his step brother, Kane, Kane Marco had to get re-addicted to the orb of Ciderac. So he had stopped being juggernaut and the only way to be come juggernaut was the orb was like, I keep you this time. Um, he was actually in recovery from being the juggernaut and he went back to, to try to save the professor X.

Beast also gets his ass beat, um, which, uh, we'll make our friend of the show, Professor Cruz, very happy. And Colossus, Colossus ends up crippled by the Hulk, like actually crippled because the Hulk was like, you know, you have unbreakable skin, but metal bends, and he just bends Colossus into a new shape. just bends Colossus into a new shape. All to protect Professor X. I'm going to have to look up Hunk. Oh, it's category. It's World War Hulk. Yeah. And since you're Wolverine fan, I'll, I have left this for last. Yeah. Um, Professor X knew that Wolverine had come to kill him. He then invaded his mind and made him forget about the assassination mandate, which I'm kind of okay with that, right? That self-defense.

Kind of self-defense. Yeah, self-defense. But then he sandblasted his brain and made him think, I should join the X-Men. And that's a problem. Um, but his justification makes it worse. His justification was, was he needed a weapon. Magneto was an asshole. But he had people's consent. They knew they were signing up to join the brotherhood of evil mutants. Now it might not have been informed and dignified. I will give you that when it comes to his kids. But he also stuck to fucking adults. Yes. And, and, I mean, I'm not saying Magneto's not a villain. No, no, no, I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. Less a villain than Charles. You know, I think it would be interesting to see how how Magneto would have handled things if he'd had a similar power set to Xavier.

Because the thing is Magneto is really good at making his case. Like he can he can stand in front of you and be like, okay, no, look. Cheers, why that's so good. Let me explain. Squashed, yeah. Let me explain. Here's why it is that you need to leave the organization

that's trying to rehabilitate the image of mutants in the public eye with humans and join me where we're going to build a world in which, you know, almost sapiens in in Furiorensis is subjugated as they rightly should be. Let me explain all of that to you. Right. Right. Right. Like, and, and he is, he is a remarkable uh, uh, retarition. He is. You know, and, and he's very, very good at making his case. Yes. The thing is, would he be that good at making his case if he had the easy button that Xavier has of, oh, yeah. And by the way, I love the image. Sandblastick is boring. No, I don't, let's, let's all of that white, white, white, white, white. No, I don't let's let's all of that white white white white white. No, I'm just gonna screw all that out. I would say that Magneto has an incredibly easy power in terms of his ability to get what he wants by force and he still chose re

he still chose rhetoric. That's true because he's honestly coming from a moral perspective, whereas Charles, I think ultimately here's the weird thing. Magneto is an idealist. Charles is a pragmatist who pretends that idealism. That's really deep. Yeah. And by the way, Magneto is very fair. Magneto is a zealot, and you know what I think of zealots. Yes. But he is an idealist. He, he very rarely strays from that at all. Charles 100% wraps himself up in that. And then 100% is like, by the way, I've been running a child's soldier ring. Yeah. Just that. And I really want to fuck one of them, but I'm stuck in a chair. You know, you know, what's really weird about this? Mm-hmm.

I've come to a conclusion that until we had this conversation, I would not have believed. Xavier is a slither in. Oh, I think we. 110%. We may have had this discussion. I think we, yeah, I think, yeah. And I don't know if you said this part, but

Magneto is actually like a dark riffendor. Oh, no, I still think he's a slither and as well. Yeah, I'll go back to my notes or I can't buy people to listen to the episode again. But it's the the idealism part though. This one has me wondering. But yeah, you know, so yeah, wow. So there you go. Okay, yeah, I'll bite. There are no heroes. Well, okay, there are heroes in the X-Men universe, but we don't like them because Scott's fucking boring. Scott's not boring. Scott is the product of Scott's not boring. Scott is is the product of like the child soldier who grew more powerful than his general like he is he become more of a zealot and a prick than anyone. Yeah. You know, Wolverine doesn't have much growth and as a result, he just like the origin with window shifts over him. Yeah. But there's still heroes. There is still Nightcrawler and Iceman. And that might be it. Like I can't think of many other mutants who don't succumb to the corruption of power.

Well, and also the corruption of oppression. Now I bought an interest system that that big question that oppression must exist. It's it's it's kind of like what T'Challa's best friend from the border tribe said. I would you know in this world there's two kinds of people the stomped and you know and yeah who are who are doing stomping and I know which one I'd rather be. It's like we do who's who are doing stomping. And I know which one I'd rather be. It's like, we do. Mm-hmm. It's just hell of a reductive there, buddy.

That's a bleak world view there, man. Yeah. So anyway, so what you've got? Or heroes who aren't? Yeah. I'm going to start with Qui-Gon Gin. OK. Also not a Warhammer 40K.

Yeah. The attention is really mounting. Yeah. So we've talked a number of times about the flaws with the Jedi Order. Yes. And how the Jedi may not have deserved it, but they had it coming. Yes. And you know, Koygon Jin is presented to us in the Phantom Menace as being this eschatic

mentor figure. He's the old wizard. He urges Obi-Wan at the very beginning of the film. He's, you know, the sage giving advice to Obi-Wan. You know, yes, Master Yoda is correct to, you know, keep your mind, you know, keep the future in mind, but do not lose sight of the living force. And so he winds up rescuing Anakin from a situation of exploitation by Wato. And he's presented to us in this light of being this, you know, sage Lee warrior wizard and Elfin space kind of kind of figure. Bit of a maverick too. Yeah. Yeah.

He bucks, he bucks the orders straight up gets told by Obi Wan, you would already be on the council if you didn't keep doing your own thing. He's like, I will do what I think is right. Yeah. Right. You know, okay. Find with that dog dogmatic teachings of the Jedi, but yeah, okay, but here's the deal. He's actually an amoral religious nut

driven by his apocalyptic prophecy beliefs. Wow. That all tracks. So he is no shit, the poster boy for everything wrong with the Jedi order. Okay. I'm going to quibble. Not everything.

Well, because he's not an institutionalist. Okay. All right. But everything else. Yes. I am pleased to say I think I've already penciled it out in my head. As soon as you said it going check, check, check, check, check, check. But he's not an institutionalist.

No. So, so okay. All check. But he's not an institutionalist. No. So so okay. All right. But everything else is. That's the low. Yeah. Yeah. So he rescues Anakin.

But not his mother famously saying we're not here. We're not here to free slaves. Which is what the fuck? I'm here. Is there no moral imperative with light side of the force? Like what the fuck bro? One, he defies the council of take Anakin on, which okay, you know, I'm okay with that. Yeah. Okay. But then in the

process of doing that, he basically throws Obi-Wan completely aside. Yeah. And he likes straight up like, you're ready. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, you didn't think that going in, bro. Yeah. You know, I'm ready. I'm ready. Because it's convenient to you. Yeah. Yeah. And Obi-Wan is so codependent with him that he's like, no, yeah, no, I'm ready.

I can take the test. Well, and he even tells the counselor's like, he's going to be a much greater Jedi than I like, he lays it on thick, super thick. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sorry, but if he's going to go, I'm going to interrupt you here. Yeah. If he's going to, because this is in my Bailey Wick, all the shit that I got in. Yeah. If he's going to go rogue and be like, I'm going to take on the boy and train him myself.

Why not go the extra step and say, I'm going to have his mom come live with us. You're already bucking the time. Yeah. You're already wet. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm in for a penny, in for a pound. Why not take the the time. Yeah. You're already wet. Yeah. Yeah. You know, infrared penny, infrared pound. Why not? Why not take the extra step? Yeah. However, however, infrared penny, infrared pounding.

OK. Well, there you go. Yeah. Is it hot in here? So Anakin, Anakin, I'm your dad now. A particular set of skills I've acquired over time. Yeah. Um, and, and so yeah, he, he, he brings, and the thing is it's not that he looks at Anakin and sees Anakin as this kid with potential, who is also a child who is being victimized by a, by a, by a,

exploitative situation. Right. He sees him and goes, oh, well, this, this kid, this kid is the fulfillment of the prophecy. This, this, this, this is the chosen one. He's the chosen one. Right. So like, there's no recognition even of Anakin's personhood.

Right. That's your app. I'm 100% with you on that. Like he sees him as, no, I have to protect the chosen one. Not Anakin is a boy who really likes building joids and racing fast. And I'd also like to give him a chance to learn how to read books. Yeah. No, there's no rescue there.

There's a, oh, there is the slot that I've got for you. Speaking of child soldiers. Yep. You know, um, and then, and then in the midst of all of that, is the slot that I've got for you. Speaking of child soldiers. Yep. And then in the midst of all of that, he's so detached. Like I, in the prior episode, I went off on how Lucas got Buddhism wrong. Right. And the fetishization of emotional detachment is like this huge problem. And quite

gone is so fucking detached. He never shows any fucking emotion except shock when he takes a lightsaber to the gut. Like even when he's passionately arguing for, no, no, you got to let me train this kid. He's approaching it with all the passion. I know I'm right. Yeah, yeah. And then the kicker to me, as he's dying, he tells Obi-Wan, you've got to take him, you've got to train him, and leaves this massive guilt trip on

fundamentally a kid I'll go one step further though. He doesn't even say you've got to you know, you promised me that you'll train him But then he gives his reasons is I was still right That's really because he says he is the chosen one. He influences, he emphasizes is as in all y'all motherfuckers think he's not. I know he is with my dying breath. I'm gonna tell you I was right. Yeah. Which to be fair? I admire that. But I'm not saying I'm healthy doing so. Thing of petty, right there. Yeah, but like so, so essentially he is the one responsible. Like Palpatine, Palpatine hardly had to lift a goddamn finger.

This is our Anakin Skywalker Intivator because Qui-Gon Jin had put all of the pieces in place. Definitely prime. Or Anakin, for Anakin to wind up being put in this position, where nobody on the council wanted to have anything to do with him, because of the circumstances of him having entered the order. Oh, great. Obi-Wan can Obi be the guy who brings him up and trains him, because Obi-Wan is saddled with guilt by his mentor figure

that he has to be the one to do it. When he wasn't prepared, he had not yet passed the tests to become a night yet at the end of the film. Yeah, absolutely right. They gave him a field promotion because, oh yeah, well, that was a sith, so we're pretty sure you passed. You killed the only one. Yeah, like, yeah. So we're pretty sure you pass. You killed the only one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, but so we're promoting you because you murdered.

Yeah. Well, you know, Marshall order, what are you going to do? Yeah. Like, you know, but like, are you a Marshall order or an aesthetic one? Like what? Who are you? What is your identity? I'm going all the Oral on who are you? Like, and I mean going all the warlawn. Who are you?

Like, and I mean that to the entire Jedi order. What? But anyway, I'm getting off the subject. So so yeah, that's that's quite dungeon is is a villain. Yeah, he is no shit a bad guy. Yeah, I fully agree fully fully agree. So there you go. No notes All right, guy. Yeah, I fully agree. Fully fully agree. So there you go. No notes. All right, awesome. Yeah. All right, let's see. I will give you...

You know, I will give you a... What's that? Dead hair. Dead hair, give me. All right. I could have edited it until you said I will give you a bad guy who should be a good guy. Okay. So the architect from the matrix. Okay. Yeah, I do.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Look. Colonel Sanders looking mother fucker. Yeah. Yeah, I do. Oh, yeah, yeah, look. Colonel Sanders looking motherfucker. Yeah, yeah, like if Colonel Sanders and George Carlin had an argument as to what their love child would look like. Yeah, pretty much. So that's a great description.

So the architect was created by the machines to approximate humanity. So as to better tend to their human crops because it was in their best interest that humans stay alive and not not alive themselves. So this is a post conquest program, okay? He wasn't there for their defeat, their slaughter, and their subjugation. He was just there to make sure that humans continued to serve as batteries. So literally keep the lights on. That's okay. Okay. Yeah, he's not clean in this, but neither is he the cause of humanity's suffering. In fact, he built the first matrix as a utopia. One wherein the suffering didn't exist. And we could certainly have a discussion as to whether or not a utopian prison is better than a dystopian freedom, at least intent,

if humans literally cannot tell the difference. Okay, if they cannot tell the difference, functionally, we could have that discussion. But that said, humans did in fact reject the utopia because we're fucking dumb. And he then built a second matrix wherein basic cause and effect were introduced as well as various monsters for us to deal with. And of course, that also failed. The third effort was designed to conceptualize anthropological nature and

psychology to inaugurate the framework of the consecutive matrix. And in this version, choice, free will within those parameters, was implemented into the simulation where humans would be imbued with more autonomy of choice, even if the person was only aware of their choice superficially. I love this kind of stuff because it's very Cartesian, it's very, you know, in a mind. Yeah. Now, this iteration of the matrix succeeded, except that choice itself would continuously culminate in an inevitable probability of an anomaly, which, if left unchecked, would ultimately decimate the

system, facilitating humanity's extinction and the machine's destitute of their own only feasible energy source would also go extinct. A bug in the system that they couldn't do away with because of the feature that was attached. So the matrix became a longevity program, one that would eventually run out, need restructuring and rebooting and then on and on. The choice programming that stabilized the first iteration of the matrix was a multi-mutualistic with its destabilization. So it will eventually wobble out of place. So how do we work on this? So both the machines and the

humans would be affected by it, and this was a known quantity that was coming based on the fact that this thing would create an anomaly, et cetera. And around the century mark, a reload of the matrix would be necessitated to negate the impending probability of decimation. So the architect was trying to get ahead of it. Additionally, the architect recognized a growing threat in Zion. So it was imperative for the architect to ethnically cleanse them down to an acceptable number. Every five generations are so. All of that very, very bad. Well, that part very, very bad. Ethnic cleansing is never a good thing, even if it's the Jedi. Even if it's better for the universe, it's still not okay. But the question is, why is this guy not a villain given everything that I've just said and it's simple

He knew what needed to happen and he weighed the greater good against the lesser and he acted accordingly And ultimately he knew that the required that that required trust of the one and Had to allow the one to make a choice So even though the architect was reasonably certain that the one would make the right choice every time for the greater good, the possibility of the one making a selfish choice, bringing about a destruction of the whole thing, did in fact exist and he trusted him, and yet the architect still made this choice. Some would argue that such was inevitable, the choice that he would have to make, he had no real choice but to trust the one given the math of it all, but I think that

he exhibited a bit of optimism, which is oddly warm, given his cold countenance and calculations. Okay. So the Oracle informed the one that is Neo, Neo is an anagram for the one. Neo also is Greek for new, but he informed the one that the architects objective is to balance the equations of the matrix. And that conversely her purpose was to unbalance the same equations. The architect knew she'd exist and she would seem to unbalance things. And yet he still continued allowing that chaos to fester within the order that he had created.

And according to the Oracle, the architect can't think past the equations of things as a constituent of purpose, which impedes the variability in his thought. Now because agent Smith is a greater threat to the machines than even Neo, the architect allows Neo access to the matrix from the center of the machine city. And afterwards the machines halt their attack on Zion despite the potential risk that Zion poses. And here's where I think that the architect is actually the hero. Okay. He and the machines also obliged to the truce that Neo bartered with them with drawing the attack of Zion to inaugurate peace between the two worlds. Regardless of what would benefit them the most,

the machines and the architect agreed to these terms. And the architect meets with the Oracle and speaks of the quote, dangerous game that she had engaged in, and acknowledges that the truth will be adhered to, although he doubts the sustainability of such. The Oracle asks him what will happen to the ones who want out of the matrix,

to which the architect replies that they will be freed. The article asks if she has his word to which he replies, quote, do you think I am human? And I think that's it right there. I think his lack of humanity guarantees that he will keep his word and do good. Regardless of the totalitarian nature of things, he's going to hold to his agreement because he said he would. And then you get into the final matrix moving, the fourth and one bearded matrix, Jesus Neo. And 60 years later, the analyst tells Neo

that the architects version of the matrix was, quote, all fussy facts and equations. End quote, because he loved precision and hated the human mind. But that disdain for the humanity meant that he held himself to a morality that was above humanity's penchant for betrayal and villainy. And as a result, the Architect never realized that humans don't care about facts, but rather about fiction and the only world that matters is the one inside of their own mind. And that is what the analyst sought to manipulate and use as the basis for his

own dishonesty. And that's precisely what he did in that final Matrix movie. But the architect was a fucking hero. Okay. I might go as far as to say anti-hero, because there's a lot of baggage at the front of that. Yeah. But I see what you say. I think we can take them out of the category of Helen. Yeah. Well, and again, the one,

the six other ones that existed prior to Neo, or the five other, I forget it. Yeah. Six or five. Yeah. All of them chose to wipe out humanity down to a certain number. Mm-hmm. So he, you know, he was like, look, here's the math. What do you want to do? And, you know, we're going to go through this again.

And I'm going to ask another one what he wants to do and on and on. But he literally went with whatever they chose. He let him and he decided to own fate. Now, it's the expression of their own fate through one person each time, but he did, in fact, let them choose. He laid it at their feet. He said, your survival is in your hands. And pinned his survival. He told him, we don't survive without you. Yeah. So either we can reset all this stuff and

start from scratch and we all keep going or you can destroy us all. And he was willing to play by those rules. He was certainly lawful. But I don't think he was lawful evil. A lawful evil. But I don't think he was lawful evil illegal. Ain't lawful evil. I don't think he was lawful neutral. I think he was lawful good. Just kind of a dick about it. And a utilitarian. And I don't, I don't cotton to utilitarian.

Yeah, I think the utilitarian angle is an important part of that equation. And I don't cotton to utilitarianism either. Right. But so on balance, overall, I don't cotton to utilitarianism either. Right. But so on balance, overall, I do, you know, I do think he, his trust of humanity and his disdain for them, enabled him to do good. OK.

Yeah. All right. What you got? All right. Well, do you want to go with a villain who doesn't deserve to be called one or do you want to go with a hero who's not heroic? Let's go with a hero who's not heroic. Okay, so I started off this episode with Rasteland from the Dragon Lent's Chronicles. I am now going to go to Tannis half-elven. Oh, okay.

So I'm not going to go anywhere near saying that Tannis deserves to be called a villain, but I also don't think he's as heroic as the authors tried to make him out to be. Okay. So Tannis half-elven is supposed to be a figure of angst, is supposed to be a figure of angst, being a half-elf specifically in dragon lands, that means that he is on the receiving end of bigotry from both sides of his heritage. Because of events after the cataclysm, there's deep, deep distrust between humans and elves and Tannis was born out of a sexual assault by a human bandit. Yes.

So, like, all of the angst, right? And so he does not fit into either the world of elves or the world of humans. He was mostly raised by the elves, but they always treated him as, you know, second class person. And so he left and spent a much time wandering amongst humans and grew a beard in order to fit in better amongst humans. So his internal conflict between the two halves of his heritage is mirrored in his being torn between the Elven Princess Lorana and the human warlord, Kitiara, who just happens to be Karemann and Rasteland's step sister.

Okay. Okay. And he is Tannis, that is, is the leader of the heroes of the Lance. And so because he's the second oldest member of the group after Flint Fire Forge, he everybody, all the humans in the group, look to him as kind of the more experienced elder figure, you know, he makes the decisions when they're doing things. And so he's kind of the driving force between a lot of the decisions they wind up making. He is, yeah.

No, here's the thing. On a lot of levels, that's great. But then on another level, he's actually a wishy-washy emo dumpster fire. Okay. And like I'm not going to get into issues of self-pity over his background because I'm talking about this as a cis-hat white guy. So like I can't speak to anything like I'm not going to criticize anybody for having feelings about a racial heritage because that's not cool. What I am going to say though is we know in the original trilogy we know that he and KTR were a couple. And at the beginning of the first book of the trilogy,

all of the companions, who later become known as the hero of the lands, they all get back together because they've spread out and we're all gonna go look for signs of the existence of the gods. We're all gonna come back and they all come back, but KTR does not come back. She's the one member of the original band who doesn't show back up. And Tannis is deeply disappointed because, you know, they'd had a thing going on.

Sure. And over the course of their wanderings, he winds up getting separated from the rest of the group, runs into Ketiarra. And we figure out very quickly that Ketiarra didn't show up because, oh yeah, she'd found signs of the gods. She'd become one of the warlords of the Dark Queen. She was the commander of the Blue Dragon Army. Okay. And when he runs into her, I don't remember clearly whether he knew right off the bat that she was the warlord of the Blue Dragon Army, but he knew right away that she was in fact part of an officer in the Blue Dragon Army.

And he immediately falls right back in with her because he can't let go of his ex. And there was a lot of romance being built up earlier in the series between him and Lorana who had been, you know, she had a crush on him since childhood and they had a thing before he left, you know, his Elven homeland and whatever. And then like he runs into KTR and like, no, he jumps right back into bed with her because he's still finding. And so he's using people. He's broken on some level.

He's broken and he's getting used. The thing is, it's not so much that he's just a selfish jerk who's eager you know, eager to get his parts wet. It's that he cannot, he can't say no to her. Like, it's, it's, he has this, whatever brokenness in him, like she knows how to get her hooks into him and he can't find the wherewithal to to say nope nope sorry no

Good to see you. I got to go like you know, he can't do it He he winds up getting his head on straight at the 11th hour Sure as Takas is is about to physically enter the world and subjugate everyone in the world under her multi-headed, Greg Connick rule. He figures that out. He still winds up getting to Mary Lorana, still gets to have his happy ending, saves the world. Right.

But like up to that point, like in the second, I want to say it was in the second book, second or third, by the way, I don't remember where it was, but like there's the significant portion of the story where he becomes a cautionary tale about a hooking up with an ex. And it just, it to this day, I understand I read this book before I had a dating history.

Sure, sure. And it bugged the shit out of me then. And now, as a 47 year old man with a dating history and with my own issues about, you know, X's back in my past, it still sticks to my crop. It still bugs me that like his friends were literally on the run from her army. He knew who she was. And, and like, and like couldn't figure it out. So yeah, I, I, this, this is largely just a pet peeve of mine. I admit, but I really, I really think he deserved to face more, at least, at least personal consequences,

because like, you know, he's, you know, he's still he's still pulled it out and the world got saved and all that like, okay, cool. But like, now it really bugs me that like he got to run back to Laurent and go, I was so wrong. I should never have left. I'm so sorry. You know, and like, just got forgiven. Like, okay, no, I mean I mean, I don't know. He's definitely a flawed hero. I don't think that this, it's one of those, these personal issues are not the same kinds of personal issues as Professor X has. Oh, well, and I'm not just not just personally. That's not the bar. It turns into, yeah, no, at the same time, his personal issues are tragic and sad boy. They're not evil or, okay, beastly. Okay.

So I feel like there's a conversation I missed out on. Oh, I didn't actually mean beastly. Okay. But yes, I like, okay. In the, in the episodes about Speedball that I think just finished releasing actually. So there are three. Oh, you have to go while you're doing your own. Yeah. Um, but we, we talked about beast and how if you ever want to set your moral compass, go the

opposite of wherever beast goes, because he just can't help himself. He is, he's an academic, he's, he's a really nice guy, but he's always on the side of wrong, always on the side of hating his own kind. And him and Reed Richards. Yeah, but and for similar issues, but Beast has a whole lot more self-loving involved there. Oh, okay. So, yeah. Like, Beast didn't make my list because he's sad. He's not a villain. Read my list because he's a fucking villain.

He's got damn villain. Yeah. But honestly, that's gonna have to wait till the next installment of this because we're just about at time. Oh, wow. I've still got half a dozen guys to go. Oh, I think Gals in fairness. Okay.

But there are fewer villains who should have been heroes now. And there are much more heroes that are really villains. Okay. But yeah, I'm going to need to cut us off there. All right. So the warehouse that I'm recording and it's turning out its lights. All right. There we go.

So, well, cool. Um, anything, anything you've gleaned, I've noticed a pattern here. You have gone through dragon lants this time. Yeah. Last time you went through Warhammer. Yeah. And, and, um, proving again, your literacy is far broader than mine. Jesus Christ. I'm like, here's five comic book characters.

Hey, but they're, they're important seminal comic book characters. But like, that's true. This is true. And the thing is I had known, and this is my takeaway from this episode is I had known Mm hmm. That like Professor actually was going to wind up on the list.

I had, I had just, I had known that like Professor X was gonna wind up on the list. I had just, I had known because I know enough about the X-Men to know that it's pretty sketchy. Yeah. But the bits about him early on in the series having yearned for, I'm gonna be delicate about it. I am having, you know had the hots for for his you know underage student.

I had not known and. It kind of like when we when we talked about the wizard vaz it was like you know I heard all the stories of like, you know, the aluminum dust and the, and the, the scarecrow, the latex and the scarecrow costume and the, you know, and, and, you know, just all the horrible working conditions for like everybody. Right. I had heard about all of that, but I'd heard all of the stories like one at a time separately. I'd never been confronted with all of them all at once. Yeah. And now it's. You're like, oh, shit. Like, you know, like, like before it, it was easy for me to say, well, you know, I mean, yeah, Professor actually has done some sketchy shit, but it's marvel. Every nobody is like, you know, a total Boy Scout,

except for the Dodgers, you know, or, or maybe to Chalant, like, you know, nobody, nobody is like a pillar of moral righteousness. And then you do all of that. I'm like, oh, wow. Yeah. Professor X. Professor X is not a pillar of anything. Oh, yeah. Oh, crap.

Yeah. Because for deeper. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rock bottom has a lot of gifts. These are facts. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, rock bottom has a lot of gift These are facts So yeah, um that that really struck me

As a as a takeaway how about you? Well I'd forgotten dragon lance and I'm not What do you call it? I'm not as? Well, I haven't finished reading it So we started reading it my daughter and I About two years ago, and then we just kind of put it down and haven't picked it up. How far did you get? Not even through the first book. Oh, like they just got across the water

Like so. No, I'm sorry. It's both. Oh, no, it's fine. You spoiled a book that's like 20 plus years old. Yeah, okay. That's on me. All right.

Okay. So and remember, I like knowing the end. Yes. Because I still love seeing how they get there. Yeah. But I, what do you call it? Um, I, I didn't think of the group as whether they were good or evil, which seems silly, but I very much, now that I've thought it out, now that you've hit me with it, it makes perfect

sense that that would exist in that world. It's a D&D-based world, you know. So it was interesting that I didn't, either I'm not far enough into it yet or I just was kind of, you know, looking at it dough-eyed. This is just a group of people getting along in the world, you know. So yeah, I was surprised to find that couldn't evil existed in that world for some reason. So that's that's largely my takeaway. Okay. Yeah.

What's your reading? I am bouncing between two gun, which by friend of the show Bishop O'Connell, which I highly recommend. And still working on the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. Okay. So I very highly recommend both for different reasons. They're both compelling reading, but in very different ways. So, that is what I am reading, and that is my recommendation, hell about you. I'm going to recommend MJ Trial, T-R-O-W, their book Vlad the Impaler in search of the real Dracula.

Oh, because it's really. A real Brit? Yeah, now it's very, I'm not gonna say it's really good history. I am gonna say it's compelling, I'm not going to say it's really good history. I am going to say it's compelling writing. OK. And simply because it certainly takes on the vibe of the West by default is the template for understanding all of history.

OK. And I take great issue with that, of course, because it casts everybody in the, in the reactions to that. Yeah. It others, everybody, exactly literally everybody. Yes. Um, and so, but it does make a compelling argument that, uh, Vlad, the impaler was the best thing that Europe had to keep them safe from Islam.

The conclusion after that is whether or not that's something needs to be kept safe from, et cetera, et cetera. There were certainly warring empires at the time, but I do love the idea that Christianity felt like a guy who stuck people on poles in different ways Was better for them than somebody else who called God a different word Yeah, yeah, that's that is definitely a thing. I there's there's more to it than that obviously Yeah, but it's it's it's them telling on themselves in many ways. Oh, yeah. In a huge way. Yeah. So I I encourage you to read it because it's good. It's it's good pros. I would not say it's great history. And not because the subject matters and fastening that is, but I don't I don't like their approach. But I like the writing. If that's kind of like what I read, that's your rock.

Okay. Yeah. Very clever. He's clever and funny, but he begs the question a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Well, social media wise, where can people find you?

I can be found on Twitter at ehplaylock. I can be found on Instagram, not, sorry, not Instagram, I can be found on TikTok as Mr. underscore Blalock. And we collectively can be found on Twitter at Geek History Time. And on the internet, we can be found at www.Geek History Time.com. You are listening to us.

So you have found us somewhere, whether that's on the Apple podcast app or on Stitcher or on our website. If you found us on either one of those two podcast services, please subscribe, please give us the five-star rating that you know we deserve. And yeah, where can you be, Founts, sir? Oh, you can find me. Let's see, this will drop. December 2nd, you can find me at Luna's in Sacramento, slinging puns with my crew, capital punishment for the last one of this year. So you can find me there.

You can also find me online. The, the, I mostly use TikTok to, to, to lurk. There are some funny puns on there, but I have not made anything new in quite some time. So don't look for content there. But you can find me at the harmony on Twitter and Instagram, and that should be enough. There we go. Cool. Well, for Geek history of time, I'm Damien Harmony. And I'm Ed Blaylock. And until next time, keep rolling 20s. and I'm Ed Blaylock and until next time, keep rolling 20s.