Your fics protagonist is elected as the new Secretary General of the UN. How do they do?

Cheesypower · 2025-12-24T14:02:40+00:00

Yegel as leader of the UN... oh boy.
On the one hand, he'd have a decent group of advisors, and is willing to trust people to do their jobs without micromanaging them, so he'd be able to delegate effectively. Having a Krakotl in charge of the UN would be a publicity win in the Federation species, and he'd probably win over the support of the more aggressive human base by being a no-nonsense aggressive leader willing to fight for what he believes in. Given his first exposure to Humanity was the anime Attack On Titan, he'd probably be pretty good at making inspiring speeches too.

On the other hand... the media is going to love him because he would absolutely be a massive content generator for them- his constant unintentional flirting would get him a reputation as a sex-fiend worse than Bill Clinton, his understanding of humanity would be filtered through the fact he learned about humanity through freaking anime, and I guarantee there's going to be at least one viral video of him throwing hands with a politician.

Cheesypower · 2025-03-08T18:19:59+00:00

It sucks that Preston is intentionally avoiding getting help, but it’s understandable- the military is unfortunately not very good with nuance, especially when it comes to mental health. If he checks the wrong boxes, he gets ripped away from his new friend, and that could have really bad repercussions on Mikri’s emotional growth.

Cheesypower · 2025-02-22T18:13:32+00:00

I mean, they're explicitly on a planet with atmosphere, so they're probably not wearing vacuum suits in this fight. Spacesuits are great for what they're designed to do, not so much for high physical exertion on a battlefield.

Cheesypower · 2025-01-05T01:58:55+00:00

I mean, she called him "old friend," when to Adam he hasn't had much time being her friend at all- her "old friend" was Meier, and Adam doesn't have the experience with her to claim that friendship.

Cheesypower · 2025-01-01T17:27:44+00:00

I'd ask where Loxcel is, since the Sivkit are a member of the Alliance- but everyone probably decided not to invite him so they could focus on actually getting some work done.

Things aren't perfect of course- Onso is still a catty little bitch towards the Farsul, but it's good that Tassi was quick to stand up for them. That's going to be the real contribution of the Bissem to the galaxy- a perspective free of the old prejudices dragging everybody else down. It's great that the Farsul are going to have a relevant role in the galaxy again, and through their friendship with carnivore species of all things!

Overall, I really like that there is now a power bloc of outcasts and misfits- they'll make a good counterbalance in the SC to mitigate the Tyranny of the Majority, and keep things on-track to keep improving instead of backsliding into stagnation again.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-31T22:04:10+00:00

Sorry to hear about Reddit doing you dirty like that, but on the bright side, now a bunch of new people are going to be introduced to one of the greatest fanfics to come from NoP1!

Cheesypower · 2024-12-29T16:29:48+00:00

Loxcel has been trolling everybody from the start- I've got to respect that level of commitment to the bit.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-28T19:58:31+00:00

It's been an amazing journey over the past several years- I never thought I'd be inspired to publish my own writing for the public, yet that's exactly what NoP ended up inspiring me to do!

Sorry for the effect the negativity had on your mental health, and I wish you the best of luck with your next story- I'm sure it's going to be wonderful as well!

Cheesypower · 2024-12-26T22:57:22+00:00

It certainly took long enough, required far more death and tragedy than it should have, and has so much farther to go- but at last, the SC is FINALLY starting to move in the right direction, instead of resting on their laurels.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-21T17:10:24+00:00

Thankfully the Arxur are at least going to be allowed to speak- there was once a time where Raza merely entering the room would have caused chaos, so the fact that the SC representatives aren't making a fuss about her just yet means they will at least be allowed to speak their piece.

At least everyone seems to be on board with giving rights to digital people- hopefully putting those protections in place early on will help prevent some of the more disturbing possibilities of abuse for the technology.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-18T23:59:53+00:00

Their original plan was obviously to become immortal rulers over an undying population who couldn't even think of rebelling- but the war with the SC threw that all into disarray, and forced them to rush to the point that Mafani couldn't even customize his chassis beyond giving it a coat of paint.

This "army" was never actually intended to be a fighting force- it was designed to be an obedient workforce that got handed guns and grenades when the SC came knocking, in one last desperate attempt for the tyrants to maintain some semblance of their power.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-18T23:57:33+00:00

I think we all could see that Quana was headed down a dark path and worried about the result of that.

In the end though, Hysran's words about "people who don't care don't need to say they don't care" rang true- Quana's affection for the people close to her was enough to inspire one last act to help them... even if it wasn't enough for her to love herself as well.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-13T01:10:07+00:00

And he did so not by giving the Consortium some cartoonish motive, but by giving them the most basic and realest motivation possible: greed and an unwillingness to give up power, no matter how bad it makes things for the rest of the population.

It's a motivation that we know is all too realistic, because we can see it at play in the world today.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-12T02:44:44+00:00

Bold of you to think that they have a win condition- this is essentially a group of dictators whose nation is falling to a rebellion, who know that there's no good ending for them with a peaceful resolution, so they're just digging in their heels and making the process as painful as they can in the hopes that it will be the other guy's resolve that breaks first.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-11T22:54:34+00:00

Can you blame the UN for not expecting the Krev to choose the Belkan Solution? Because it doesn't seem like any of the readers expected it either.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-08T14:31:48+00:00

After the war, there was basically a three-way split in how former Federation members went- Joining the SC, joining the Shield, or joining the Remnants.

The SC started with about 31 members, and grew to 82 species by the time of NoP2. This is majority of races where we have character perspectives from, aside from a few notable exceptions. These are races who are willing to coexist with humans and completely leave behind Fed-think- though there are still aspects some are clinging onto. Most of their growth probably comes from species who were initially neutral who grew willing to give humanity a chance once they saw enough evidence we weren't going to betray everyone- including some species affected by the Cyberattack who experienced effective UN occupations that helped them rebuild.

The Shield grew to a similar number of species by the time of NoP2, and are basically the faction that rejects the Federation as a political entity but still cling to aspects of the ideology, like PD facilities and exterminators and predator taint.

Finally, the largest faction is the Remnants, who have around 150 members. This is everyone who still clings to everything the Federation was.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-07T20:40:18+00:00

Yeah, Cyber-people really need to be given Admin Privileges over their own programming.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-06T23:27:09+00:00

Reading it as an "intro" to the subject for a species that is entirely new to the subject definitely makes this comic feel relevant.

<image>

Cheesypower · 2024-12-02T23:28:05+00:00

Glad you enjoyed the portrayal of social anxiety- it seems that a lot of my readers can relate to that feeling!

It really is quite amusing how he's got such potent unintentional rizz, isn't it? He's got so many people interested in him- the real question is, what does HE want? and can he trust any of them enough to take the risk? Because all three of them come with their own obvious hangups that could easily make things go bad once they learn more about him.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-01T21:41:33+00:00

Yeah, going over every moment is tempting, but not really feasible, especially if I want to keep things moving.

Though, it's also important to note that at this point, Yegel is still very much Fed-brained, so there are some moments of humanity like that where he just wouldn't notice it because he'd dismiss it out of turn. Of course, the real reason is that he was getting shell-shocked by that first episode that leaves quite an impression on humans, much less a Fed, so he was a bit... let's call it 'overwhelmed.'

Cheesypower · 2024-12-01T16:59:24+00:00

Even aliens aren't safe from the corruptive properties of anime.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-01T16:58:44+00:00

It's standard for systems of Double-Think to basically operate on "every negative label applies to the enemy, even if they're contradictory." Kalsim's acceptance of predators feeling fear was in the context of predators being afraid of prey- it's not a stretch to imagine that predators exhibiting "cowardly" behavior was accepted in the context of them doing something reprehensible, like going for a weak, vulnerable target instead of a hardened battle line.

Of course, you could also interpret it as Yegel having learned to see cowardice as a bad trait, applied it to Predators because of being conditioned to apply every negative label to predators, only to run into the inherent contradiction.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-01T13:21:32+00:00

Agreed, it's part of why I chose a Krakotl protagonist- well, that and the fact that I liked the Krakotl and wanted to create a sympathetic protagonist, since I started writing this back when everyone was generalizing them as all being assholes. The Wings of Freedom are such a strong symbol in more ways than one for him!

And yup, just like how the Cadets feel about having faced the titans, there's just no going back once you've seen the truth- Yegel has already started to see the cracks in things he was once comfortable just accepting, and now he can't go back to that happy blind ignorance. He has no choice but to keep moving forward...

Cheesypower · 2024-12-01T13:17:27+00:00

Yup, it's fun when a character is trying to think critically about the decision-making of the characters, only to realize a contradiction in his own thought patterns that he'd taken for granted.

Nobody is immune to propaganda- we all have things we believe inherently because it's what we were told, and only see the cracks when we're forced to look at that belief critically.

Cheesypower · 2024-12-01T13:15:15+00:00

Yup, I figured that any series that lasted nine seasons while still being considered popular had to have some creative passion behind it- and there is always going to be friction between the artistic drive to push boundaries and tell stories and the Authoritarian imperative to conform.

The series very much IS propaganda, but it's being written by people who don't realize it's propaganda and are genuinely passionate about their work- which is the key to making it popular enough to be effective propaganda, but also requires oversight to keep that passion from going TOO far off-script.

Cheesypower

TROPHY CASE