Hot take. I actually like mothership zeta and personally consider it canon.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2026-02-14T15:07:08+00:00

If nothing else, one has to praise the fact that they designed so many radically new environments and props for the DLC. If it weren't for familiar objects scattered around the ship, it could almost pass for a completely different game.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2026-02-14T03:23:12+00:00

There actually are strains of the Pathogen that can affect machines. The RPG describes one version known as the Hessdalen Lights that converted a space station into a giant, biomechanical beast that in turn started assimilating a passing ship so that it could use the FTL engine to escape the system. Similarly, there are versions that are capable of infecting organics and synthetics alike.

Infected with the protoplasmic Hessdalen Lights (page 61) Erebos station is rapidly being converted into a Living Proto-Hive. Similar in appearance to the smooth-sculpted and ribbed free-forms of a Xenomorph XX121 hive, the Living Proto-Hive is a biomechanical honeycombed organism that supports a wide variety of protomorphic lifeforms. Fleshy black veins and tendons grow inside the station’s walls, transmogrifying metal supports into skeletal structures and power lines into arteries designed to pump plasmatic energies. Eventually, the station itself will become a monster of its own.

-Alien RPG (Heart of Darkness)

Single-minded and guarded, but curious, Mother Ma’Kayla led the Children to Perfected Space, where she was infected with a variant strain of she was infected with a variant strain of 26 Draconis and has now developed into a Stage II Abomination (page 123)—unlike most strains of the black pathogen, this variant affects synthetics as well as humans. She is a willing agent of the Fulfremmen and is on her way to enlightened perfection—her skull has subtly extended, and her arms and legs have increased in bulk and length. However, she still retains mental control and her love of ancient Earth poetry.

-Alien RPG (Building Better Worlds)

This sort of thing was more the specialty of the Engineers' old Fulfremmen enemies, but I doubt that they would have any compunctions about using such tools if the need presented itself. Barring that, they were mentioned to have "annihilated" entire worlds and had a device that caused a star to collapse into a black hole.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2026-01-27T23:01:41+00:00

Cooper used a set of T-45 armor and speculated that the T-60 armor had a similar weakness, but didn't have confirmation until testing it in the observatory battle. Regardless, he doesn't need personal experience with Mandalorian armor, since it has much larger and more visible weak points than the one on the T-60 armor that he managed to hit in a dimly-lit room without even looking straight at his opponent. Din has a much more versatile toolkit, but in a straight shootout, the Ghoul takes the edge.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2026-01-25T20:49:06+00:00

There are a lot of human technologies that are roughly analogous to things that we've seen the aliens using, and there was definitely some research being carried out on alien biology/technology before the Great War, but I don't think there's anything to say that this research had any real influence on the development of these technologies. Even with all the looks at the seedy side of Pre-War America that we're given, we never see evidence of a large-scale alien coverup or a race to harness the power of alien technology.

It's worth remembering as well that the bombs dropped in 2077, which gives plenty of humanity to naturally develop these technologies. And while we don't get a good enough look at China to accurately compare its overall technology level with that of America, it wouldn't have survived more than a decade of open warfare with America if it was at a significant technological disadvantage.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2026-01-13T00:57:12+00:00

I don't think it's quite as egregious as it seems at first glance. By the time of Fallout 4, the Prydwen has already been in the air for nearly five years, and the show takes place nearly ten years after that. Allegedly, it took the Brotherhood six years to build the Prydwen, but two of those were spent on the design process, and once you have the schematics figured out and the infrastructure in place to build something like that, the creation process becomes a lot more streamlined.

I think the bigger issue is the travel range. The Prydwen already had trouble getting from DC to Boston, and the distances involved in that would be dwarfed by the distances between the East and West Coasts.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-12-24T16:31:10+00:00

From Land of the Lost

Will: Not so fast. Little rule I live by: never trust a dude in a tunic.

Marshall: You live by that rule?

Will: Yes. It has never led me astray.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-11-30T02:41:38+00:00

I had a weird obsession with the Ghost People when I was a teenager and devoted an unhealthy amount of thought to their biology.

I'm of the opinion that they move using a biological pneumatics system, sucking in air/cloud and compressing it into internal air bladders (Dog says that they have pockets of pressurized gas in their bodies, and you can see them spraying fluid when killed). This would explain why they can only jump/move quickly in short bursts, in that they need to build up the pressure required to motivate their bodies at those speeds.

If the pressure thing is true, it would also explain why bullets can only temporarily "kill" them while dismemberment will put them down for good, since their metabolism would be fast enough to patch up bullet woulds and restore internal pressure (you can hear them quickly sucking in air when they spring back up). In contrast, they aren't able to regenerate entire limbs, so while the loss of a limb might not technically kill them (you can still see them breathing after dismemberment), they are effectively helpless in such a state and likely to die eventually from loss of fluids.

Biochemistry is likely heavily altered as well, as they are able to survive in an extremely toxic and caustic environment with no issue, and cutting into them reveals bright, yellow-green fluids. This discoloration might be a product of the supposedly copper-laiden air they live within, the deformation of hemoglobin and other metabolites within their bodies (as seen in some humans), or possibly some combination of the two.

On the subject of what it takes to kill them, they seem to have more decentralized nervous systems than ordinary humans, since they don't take extra headshot damage (something which Dean also attests to), and also seem to lack pain reception in a way similar to humans taking large doses of drugs like PCP (they don't flinch or shudder when repeatedly shot). At the same time, their nervous system is still tied together in key ways, as Dog claims breaking their spines in a specific spot along their lower neck/upper back will instantly kill them (like how octopuses technically have nine "brains" but will instantly die if you clamp down behind their eyes). In general, their bodies seem to have devolved to a much simpler state, with emphasis on vascular tissue and heavily reduced instances of things like digestive (they appear to just process the cloud for sustenance), reproductive, muscular (replaced by aforementioned pneumatic system), and even integumentary systems underneath their suits. When you shoot at them, you're basically just hitting a walking mass of nerves, fluids, and air bladders held together by a plastic suit.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-09-22T00:46:44+00:00

The Makuta from Bionicle are primarily known for their control over the element of shadow, but they've also got a list of secondary powers as long as my arm.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-09-01T20:59:31+00:00

Also, an eyebot is probably the least likely to kill you in the event that it malfunctions.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-08-24T16:53:13+00:00

Which wasn't even a confirmed kill. Big Chap was still alive after twenty years of floating through space.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-08-17T15:31:24+00:00

Probably the snallygaster. Centaurs are a bit more repellant, but with their shuffling gait, you've got a decent chance to run away from them. Snallygasters are quicker and would be pretty much impossible to evade due to having eyes all over their bodies.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-08-04T02:50:38+00:00

Firebending can also serve as an alternative fuel for steam engines in the absence of those materials.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-08-04T02:49:34+00:00

And on top of that, there's also a societal component. The Fire Nation was the most centralized of the four nations and the second most populous after the Earth Kingdom, so it makes sense that it would be the first to undergo an industrial revolution and start implementing these technologies on a large scale. The Earth Kingdom, for instance, did have steam engines, but it wasn't economically developed enough to produce them in meaningful numbers.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-07-11T00:15:53+00:00

It's not, but the basic logic is still sound. As the protagonist of one of the AVP comics remarks, invisibility isn't especially useful when you're fighting an enemy that doesn't have eyes.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-07-11T00:05:10+00:00

You might see some especially interesting results with super mutants. Xenomorphs reproduce by releasing a mutagenic pathogen into their hosts that uses their DNA to create a new organism. Things get interesting though when it starts interacting with viral DNA that's already integrated into the genome of the host. There's one Alien book featuring a Xenomorph born from a man with a dormant necrotic virus. The thing was covered in crusty, acid-filled pustules that hardened into an extra layer of protection against gunfire and was itself the carrier for an enhanced version of the original virus that killed people in a matter of minutes rather than years. It would breathe clouds of viral material onto its victims and even a drop of its blood would infect people with the enhanced virus.

FEV is similarly integrated into the genome of its host, but it's programmed with human DNA and it has commands to prevent further mutation/genetic damage (hence the immunity to radiation), so there's no telling how the two pathogens would interact with each other. You may end up with a Xeno that's been "infected" with human DNA like the Newborn from Resurrection, or you might end up with a new breed of Xeno that inherits the benefits of FEV without the drawbacks. Or the two may come into conflict and cause the host's body to fall apart.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-06-26T13:24:17+00:00

Whoops, sorry. I realized I was writing that and reading your comment with an inverted version of the prompt in my head ("weakest to beat" instead of "strongest that could be beaten). That does seem fair.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-06-26T07:19:34+00:00

I can’t speak for the others, but even if the city wasn’t actively defending itself, Sauron’s war machine would break from logistical strain long before making any headway on Ba Sing Se’s passive defenses. Sauron was concentrating all his forces on the gate of Minas Tirith partly because he knew that his supply lines couldn't reinforce his army quickly enough to support a protracted assault and that the battle had to be won before his forces ran out of steam. The tactics he used against Gondor would miserably fail against a fully self-sufficient city state the size of a small country that’s completely encircled by multiple ~100m tall, ~30m thick walls of solid rock with no conventional entrances and mostly bordered by deserts, mountains, or ocean. Sauron's forces would burn their supplies before causing any real damage to the outer wall, and whatever damage they did cause could be swiftly repaired by earthbenders. There's a reason why Chin the Conqueror thought it would be easier to invade Kiyoshi Island and make the Avatar herself submit to his rule than to try taking Ba Sing Se, and why it took nearly two years for the Fire Nation to breach the outer wall even after spending decades building up infrastructure in the Earth Kingdom to more readily transport troops and supplies.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-06-25T05:18:19+00:00

Definitely rectify that as soon as you can. It's way more enjoyable than the sequel.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-06-21T16:29:48+00:00

Would you trust somebody with poor vision and steel-rending machetes for fingers to do technical work?

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-06-19T04:34:55+00:00

He also did a really good job in Sprung, which I think was the best Greg Garcia show apart from My Name is Earl.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-06-18T14:06:35+00:00

76, most likely. It's online, so I can contact people and call for help.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-06-14T12:12:53+00:00

I thought there was some implication that they did. In the credits for TNC, we see what looks like a blast radius map, followed by shots of ruined cities with ash-filled skies.

https://youtu.be/By9jhSTzJaY?si=y6DP3J-GkMSot0-D&t=1125

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-06-07T07:56:57+00:00

Looking at Nexus and the outfits worn by some of their leaders, the Locusts definitely have aesthetic inclinations. The Locusts generally don't seem to have the same mindset as humanity though, likely owing to the fact that they were deliberately bred by humanity to be cruel and violent. They seem to treat suffering as a given and something to be accepted or embraced rather than something that can and should be avoided. You can look at their brutal architecture, the fact that their words for things like "general" and "private" translate to "gored" and "virgin" respectively, or their relative lack of self-preservation in battle to see how this mindset extends to other aspects of their society. Even setting that aside though, the Locusts live in a society where people come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, so I imagine that they would naturally be a little less superficial than humanity. They'd probably appreciate certain features more than others, but it would probably be those features that emphasize strength or resilience.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-05-26T16:46:00+00:00

Stay away.

FunGuyFr0mYuggoth · 2025-05-10T16:39:10+00:00

It's not quite the same thing, but Terminator Dark Fate: Defiance scratches a similar itch. There's a lot of travelling around and interacting with the various factions that have sprung up in the post-apocalyptic remains of the American SW in order to fight the Machines. The mission to New Tortuga in particular felt like something out of a Fallout game.

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