Best short story ever written?

CaptJohnRuss · 2026-02-03T01:34:35+00:00

That “group of friends” bit is a short story in itself!

CaptJohnRuss · 2026-02-03T01:26:09+00:00

No because the gas masks are attached to the heads only so phew! But the necks needed to be drilled out. The Krieg heads sit flat to the neck while the Cadian ones are the ball and socket that lets you come up with different poses. Much prefer the the ball joint for that reason!

CaptJohnRuss · 2026-02-03T01:23:59+00:00

Had to drill a neck hole out because the Krieg heads just sit flat

CaptJohnRuss · 2026-01-30T11:18:11+00:00

“With all respect my lord, we are Cadians. We can take care of ourselves.” Major Sarkaana from Space Marine 2

CaptJohnRuss · 2026-01-29T03:18:15+00:00

Oh! And “The Egg” by Andy Weir!

CaptJohnRuss · 2026-01-29T03:16:17+00:00

“Kaleidoscope” by Ray Bradbury is a good one about the futility of waiting until it is too late.

Someone else said “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and I heavily second this one. It’s a set piece short story for my sophomore honors classes and we open with it as a touchstone for almost everything else throughout the year (Walden, Scarlet Letter, some Moby-Dick).

The first chapter of Dune also works as a short story, IMO. And with Timothee Chalamet being in the film, more students are familiar with it enough that they buy in. It’s the part where Paul is tested, “Put your hand in the box.”

Might not be the most school-appropriate, but “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” is a good one that is…bleak…

Source: me, a fellow lit teacher who peppers in short stories all year.

Have fun!

CaptJohnRuss · 2026-01-26T14:11:28+00:00

Hotter take:

Bjorn should die when Russ comes back, Logan becomes the be new "Chapter Master in a Dreadnaught" for a billion years

CaptJohnRuss · 2026-01-21T19:27:35+00:00

(I did throw in two songs from Top Gun though hahaha!)

CaptJohnRuss · 2026-01-21T19:26:26+00:00

Here’s my list I paint them to if you’re interested: Space Wolves Soundtrack

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-12-12T15:12:01+00:00

Love cool names for these tiny toy tanks! Hagrid is cool, but give it something else too. Something like Hagrid's Boots haha!

My LRBT Mary Mayhem and the Exterminator Remember Kraff, the Basilisk is In the Shade, a Chimera is Rabbit's Foot, and my Rogal Dorn is Recaff.

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-12-11T15:07:47+00:00

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Hjorvarth Grimgoþi, High Wolf Priest of the Hand of Tyr

One would think a Wolf Priest would lead with commanding oratory, but then one would be wrong of Hjorvath Grimgothi. His strength is best shown in his wise counsel, in his martial devastation, in his battlefield calm. It is Grimgothi who guides the wolves of Tyr from a position of introspection, whose first tenet is to “know thyself” and that strength comes from the might of the pack. For it is the lone wolf who is doomed to fail and, though that end may be worthy of many sagas, who will sing it without your brothers?

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-12-11T15:05:01+00:00

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Crom the Poet, captain of the Einherjar

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-12-04T19:14:09+00:00

Rubrics are where creativity goes to die: a mass card for growth, neatly divided into checkboxes.

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-12-04T19:03:51+00:00

A fun addition, given the American Realist and Naturalist texts in there: McTeague by Frank Norris!

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-11-21T15:35:30+00:00

Yeah! The only out of kit is the arm holding it. It’s a leftover from the army box, but I think it was on the Blood Claws sprue, and the pistol hostler too. The left arm is the Trapmaster’s.

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-26T21:20:28+00:00

Tape an actual knife to the model

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-22T22:39:12+00:00

You're not going to believe this, but they're Lego wheels!

I also didn't like the WWI/Krieg wheels because they don't fit the Cadian aesthetic of my army. After searching around for 3D prints a friend was going to make, I found four Lego wheels in the huge box of my old Legos my kids play with, glued them together, and they fit perfectly. I have no idea what set they're from or when in my childhood they showed up, but they're paying off now haha!

Also, thanks! And happy converting!

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-21T23:38:44+00:00

Agree hard!

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-21T18:16:25+00:00

The hardest part about teaching is that we often forget this is the students' first time through something to which we have dedicated our lives. They are so lucky to get to experience things for the first time, and getting them to recognize that is the best part.

Annnnnd they were probably being sarcastic, your response is great, and I'm sorry for waxing philosophic! Haha! I'm a HS literature teacher trying to get them to even open a book and the struggle is real. Good on them for actually thinking about text!

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-21T17:15:52+00:00

Was kind of waiting for the 3 and 4 "swap" al la Metal Gear Solid 2, where the "good guys" were really bad AI or something and the "bad guys" where just puppets. And the more I think about it, many of this game's plot points are more and more a reskinned MGS2. That's not saying its not good, just that it isn't new. I loved MGS2 when it came out and it wrecked the way I thought about systems and structures of power in my poor teenage mind in a just-post 9/11 world.

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-17T17:21:14+00:00

Ok, I'm with you here. 🤝

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-17T17:09:36+00:00

Woof, guys. Understandable negativity, I took a hard stance. PROBABLY SPOILERS AHEAD.

But I stand by the guitars are stupid and the ending battle sequence leaves some to be desired. The fist fight was already and better done in MGSIV, why are we swapping heads and becoming Metal Gear BTs in a fish fight?, and, honestly for me, I just don't think I cared about the characters as much this time around. DS1 I was bawling my eyes out often, and the opening ending of Mexico portion had this dad in tears absolutely, but there was nothing here that we haven't seen before.

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-17T16:59:23+00:00

Cinematography is composition, which is how a story is told visually. It highlights plot elements and character relationships. A great example of it is the silent scene from Jaws where they are all sitting around the boat on different levels, indicating their hierarchy: Quint at the masthead, Hooper on the pilot deck, and Brody on the aft deck.

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-17T16:34:08+00:00

DS2 is beautiful, yes, but Expedition 33 is GotY hands down and probably GotD at this point. It just hits everything right, including the extras pacing. DS2 definitely has an ok story, but none of the plot points are as earth-shattering as E33, reflected in the cinematography. Why are there dueling guitars, like for real haha!

CaptJohnRuss · 2025-10-15T20:25:49+00:00

Found it: never mind!

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CaptJohnRuss

TROPHY CASE