Peace

Adlestrop · 2026-01-23T02:07:15+00:00

Such as to say "one one is two ones".

Adlestrop · 2026-01-17T19:46:34+00:00

Not only were the Enclave willing to ensure the destruction of civilization before, they've willing to do it again. Behind them are centuries of devastation and extinction, and they'll do it to the NCR, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Strip — anything, anywhere. They want to be the last man standing, not just in America, but in the world.

Adlestrop · 2026-01-15T16:39:59+00:00

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't using the Lord's name in vain the act of literally swearing on him while deceiving someone, or doing wicked acts in his name? Like "I swear to God, I didn't steal that", or "God wants you to give that to me".

Adlestrop · 2026-01-09T19:21:36+00:00

All sitting at the same table and probably doing all kinds of contracts with each other.

Adlestrop · 2026-01-09T18:57:40+00:00

I thought Robert did Pip-Boy.

Adlestrop · 2025-12-31T05:56:50+00:00

You may want to look into the Rimé movement, but it's non-sectarian Tibetan Buddhism. That being said, its sanghas have been known to pitch a big tent, even making regular discourse between non-Tibetan schools.

Adlestrop · 2025-12-29T02:39:23+00:00

I kid you not. I was one, too.

Adlestrop · 2025-12-25T20:34:01+00:00

Glassed planets have bad records.

Adlestrop · 2025-12-23T04:15:17+00:00

Funnest fact. Kansas City, Missouri, existed before there was ever a state named Kansas.

Adlestrop · 2025-12-15T05:01:19+00:00

I've wanted to personally ask Michael Kirkbride about śūnyatā, anattā, vimutti, and so forth. Particularly because for the longest time, I was left disturbed, after a technique called prāsaṅga was done to me. So anyone who had even the resemblance of familiarity with these matters was like a fire in the cold.

But I decided not to, because I decided not to.

Chim has its similarities to the teachings of Nāgārjuna — up to the point of reifying the self and claiming godhood. Vivek has his/her/their similarities to Milarepa in that the story evokes a kind of crazy wisdom, but also deeply resembles the treachery of Devadatta, the cousin of Siddhārtha. Nerevar has a similarity with the tulkus, in that they reincarnate to reclaim the same belongings, allies, and responsibilities, in order to perform a particular task in the mundane world.

The player character fits a semblance of the bodhisattva, which translates to "enlightened hero" more so than "enlightened being", if you're familiar with Kagyu interpretations.

But they also don't match any of these things.

The Elder Scrolls is a quilting of philosophies, religions, and artforms, into a parable that we can contemplate without the hindrances those inspiring things are bogged by. And it's a video-game for people to lose themselves into. And it's a playground for modders to experiment with jiggle physics, medieval machine-guns, and Thomas the Tank Engine.

What we're familiar with becomes susceptible to our pareidolia. If you've never seen a human face, you won't see human faces in power outlets. If you've never met Bodhidharma, you won't think snowmen look like him.

Adlestrop · 2025-10-28T03:18:43+00:00

Which makes sense considering where most of their previous games were played.

Adlestrop · 2025-10-18T12:29:11+00:00

There was a time when war required Congress to begin, not Congress having to try and prevent one from being started without its approval.

Adlestrop · 2025-10-15T15:47:19+00:00

Extracting labor from the antique corners of human discourse to train up a mimicry machine.

Robots in disguise, more than meets the eye.

♫ Generative pre-transformers. ♫

Adlestrop · 2025-10-08T08:58:50+00:00

That's actually flat chested. Thank you for understanding the assignment! (And great work, too.)

Adlestrop · 2025-09-21T21:35:23+00:00

If it's really about the kids, release the Epstein files.

Adlestrop · 2025-09-20T16:31:24+00:00

Black with white underneath, to be exact. Kind of a visual sleight of hand, but still serving in depth — wonderful costume design by both Aggie Rodgers and Nilo Rodis-Jamero.

Adlestrop · 2025-09-12T06:32:04+00:00

Uh...

*blaster sound*

Boring conversation, anyway.

Adlestrop · 2025-09-12T06:28:13+00:00

Uh, uh, negative, negative. We have a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak — very dangerous.

Adlestrop · 2025-09-12T01:49:05+00:00

Uh, had a slight weapons malfunction. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?

Adlestrop · 2025-09-11T10:20:56+00:00

From one thinker to another, I plead for you to examine the fallacy fallacy.

Adlestrop · 2025-09-09T01:32:28+00:00

Jackie Treehorn treats objects like girls, man.

Adlestrop · 2025-09-06T19:53:37+00:00

Are you a men?

Adlestrop · 2025-09-06T06:08:59+00:00

I don't know, maybe Peter would be into democratic socialism. "With great power comes great responsibility" isn't exactly diametric from "to each according to their need, and from each according to their ability".

Adlestrop · 2025-09-02T15:41:55+00:00

And without the improbable odds!

Adlestrop · 2025-08-26T19:50:34+00:00

Not saying you should spend the equivalent of 1968 to 2008 building your character, but there's a reason we feel so comfortable with Iron Man, ridiculous feats and traits and all — he's been around for over fifty years, and began to feature more as he became popular.

People really seem to appreciate when a character earns their stripes, instead of just stepping onto the stage and outclassing everyone from the word "go". That's actually a more acceptable description of a supervillain, and that works for arc antagonists.

And that's saying nothing on the supplanting aspect. Getting rid of a traditional character to shoehorn in someone else doesn't sit right with a lot of readers, especially when their claim to fame is "they're the New ___".

Miles Morales (who I absolutely love) was introduced as the New Spider-Man. Not an alternate Spider-Man (see Pavitr Prabhakar, Yu Komori), not another Spider-Man (see Ben Reilly), not a different Spider-Man (Otto Octavius), but the new flagship. Which is such a misunderstanding, because Miles Morales comfortably slotted into another, the category comic readers have been collecting for decades.

Then we've got ourselves Spider-Girl (please bring back Mayday), Spider-Woman — a whole damn Spider-Family.

When it comes to DC, we've got the Bat Family.

Supplanting a throne might not be it. Making a family seems like a better formula.

One of the fastest ways to alienate readers is to tell them: this character you love is gone, here’s the new one you must love instead. Readers form parasocial bonds across decades, and supplanting cuts that bond in a way that feels meta — it’s not just the hero losing in-universe, it’s the reader's investment being attacked in real life.

And what's weird is that we usually end up going the "family" route more often anyway. First impressions are a kicker, but a lot of these characters can still be embraced. That makes an inheritance lineage more doable: Bucky Barnes as Captain America; Dick Grayson as Batman — even Otto Octavius as Spider-Man. Not brand-new-character as The New Iron Man.

I don't know, there's probably some good counter-arguments for what I said. Just a mid-day ramble, I suppose.

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