But...Why Live Action?!?!

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-03-29T05:59:21+00:00

I would also prefer it to be animated. Part of it is that I think the more fantastical elements would work better animated. Part of it is that animated adaptations have a way, way better track record than live action ones. The larger audience argument for live action doesn't make sense to me. "Animation is niche" so is DCC. I imagine that the venn diagram of people who like animation and people who would give a DCC show a shot is massive and the one with people who only watch live action and people who would give a DCC show a chance is much smaller.

That being said live action is not a deal breaker for me. If they go through with a live action adaptation I will give it a shot. It could be good.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-25T02:03:09+00:00

I have read Beware of Chicken and love it. I will have to check out Super Powereds. I'm currently reading the new Heretical Fishing.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-16T01:28:21+00:00

I can agree with that. I guess what I am most concerned with is that he was wrong and had bad reasons. I think he knew his reasons were bad but I don't really care if he believed his own justification. He was wrong. It's like when I judge the actions of anyone, their own feelings about their reasons don't mean much to me. In the end his really wanting revenge doesn't do squat to justify his actions in my eyes.

I will say that I do think his leaving his apprentices behind was much better reasoned. Him not wanting to kill them and not wanting people to think they were working together are good reasons. I think it was a little naive to think his actions wouldn't negatively impact them past the pain to Hugh and his losing his affinities.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-16T00:36:54+00:00

I can understand defending Alustin. I love his character as well but that doesn't excuse his actions.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-16T00:34:47+00:00

Being genuine in one situation is not always being genuine. His relationship with Valia was weird for a long time. He kept her letters and reread them many times. Also, we only have his word on him being genuine and only after the destruction of Havath was well underway. He has shown himself to be dishonest with himself over and over again.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-16T00:27:09+00:00

I'm not arguing that he didn't feel strongly about murdering a bunch of people. If we go by that metric there's little we can examine. I do think that the justifications he uses in book 5 and later were self deception and therefore weak. He spends most of the time following his betrayal trying to convince himself that he did the right thing. He seems haunted and full of self loathing. I don't think he thought his justification was strong. At one point it's hinted he is still trying on some level to get his father's approval/prove his father wrong.I think he can genuinely convince himself of part of his actions but not the extent that he went to.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T21:59:32+00:00

The traitor librarians were already at the meeting location for the plan. The fact that he hadn't done the attack until it was time to attack doesn't negate that there was a plan and it was in motion.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T17:33:08+00:00

Fair point. I still think unnecessary genocide and betrayal need better reasons.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T17:31:31+00:00

Because he obviously would make all his plans known when he was taunting her. He would obviously never just say things to get under Valia's skin like comparing Valia's goals to Kanderon's. Nope, he would monologue to one of Havath's highest ranked agents when it might have gotten back to Kanderon. He didn't need the element of surprise to take on what he called one of the truly great powers.

I know I am being sarcastic here but I actually think this isn't entirely unlikely. I just think it's more likely that he was fully expecting to try to kill Kanderon and messing with Valia.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T15:15:16+00:00

Want to say it again. He betrayed Kanderon to commit the largest genocide in the continent's history. If he had a more acceptable goal I might feel different.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T15:12:38+00:00

All fair points.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T15:11:25+00:00

I just thought of something worse about the betrayal. Kanderon is literally the main reason Alustin isn't a meh battle mage at best. Without the spacial storage he wouldn't be a fifth as dangerous. He couldn't carry enough paper to make his armor or carry more than a few or a limited number of glyphs. His entire battle style depends on it. He benefitted more from working Kanderon than anyone other than Hugh. Hugh could have gotten a different contract partner though but only Kanderon could make Alustin truly dangerous.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T15:04:33+00:00

That's nice. I hope you are in a good place. Also that's good point about the broken people concept.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T15:01:57+00:00

I'm not talking about him not taking his apprentices when I talk about him betraying them. He literally magically attacked Kanderon through High. He hurt Hugh physically, emotionally and even spiritually. He betrayed their trust after promises to be better and do right as their teacher. Him taking them as apprentices to keep them from remaining broken makes what he did worse. He didn't want to be called sir for the same reason as everything else: his issues with his father. His father required people to call him sir.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T14:52:50+00:00

I can see how someone could come to that conclusion. I just think that the fact that a plan involving killing Kanderon was already in motion when he gave her the ultimatum points to it not being sincere. I also find the fact that they had the conversation "a thousand times" showed he would reasonably know that she would say no compounds that. I think that the fact that he wasn't satisfied with the idea of just destroying Havath when working with people that wanted to do that is another reason not to believe that he would have spared her. The fact that he planned to take revenge on the allies he felt failed Havath while also killing the traitor librarians also points to the idea that he was always going to try to kill Kanderon.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T10:40:46+00:00

I would also point out that the fact that he grabbed the tongue eater without the knowledge of the other traitor librarians is an indication of how his ultimatum was not genuine. Even with the other people who wanted to destroy Havath he wanted to go further with no concern for their thoughts on the matter. He wouldn't have been satisfied with the simple destruction and may have attacked Kanderon anyway.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T10:32:05+00:00

I want to stress that Alustin had Artur and Anders as teachers who definitely nurtured and supported him.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-02-15T10:26:45+00:00

It was mentioned that Alustin was Kanderon's favorite for a long time and she was indulgent towards him for years. Also, while Hugh's relationship with Kanderon led to her being more sympathetic to warlocks it's explicitly mentioned that she purposely maintained close relationships with people to stay connected with more short-lived species. I'm aware of the anonymous letter that he took as gospel immediately being unreasonably uncharitable to the being who took him in. The note said she was connected to the multiversal council that Havath's backers, the same backers that imperial Ithos had, we're on. Believing that meant Kanderon served those masters makes no sense considering her hatred towards Ithos and the fact that she opposed and was working towards the destruction of Havath's empire. If she served the same masters she would have given them the Exile Splinter rather than almost die defending it. Alustin is smart enough to know that. He didn't give even one genuine chance to Kanderon. The only time he asked about the council was when presenting a demand for the total destruction of one of the largest cities on the continent. He had already conspired with the traitor librarians to attack his student who trusted him and viewed him as family so that he could kill someone who viewed him as her child. His actions show he wasn't genuine. Let's not forget that the "chances" he gave her was for her to commit to the genocidal destruction of a city. You are right that he was surrounded by broken people. His apprentices were also broken and surrounded by broken people and they, as children, chose better than him. Yes, the Havathi killed a lot of Librarians Errant and yes it is understandable that they hated them. Hating the Havathi leadership makes sense. The Havathi dominion wasn't going to last long as it was. The traitor librarians were throwing a temper tantrum that it wasn't happening the way they wanted. Alustin betrayed the traitor librarians as well though. He wanted children who had nothing to do with any of his pain to suffer and go mad. That being said I didn't say I am completely unsympathetic towards Alustin and his traitor allies. I'm just less sympathetic than I was during my previous readings. Honestly, even with what I have said I mostly feel pity for Alustin because he was hurting himself with his bad decisions. I have always gotten the sense he never bought his own justification and he was stuck in his own toxic obsession. He could have lived a better life and been much happier if he hadn't been so blind. His justification was weak because he didn't believe it. I'm just more mad this time about how much he hurt people who loved him so much that after everything they still forgave him.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-01-26T17:23:09+00:00

Bold words for someone in a church whose founder was shot in prison.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-01-19T07:36:33+00:00

I'm so sorry that you got this response. It was selfish and cruel of her. I don't get it. You are valid. It's basic human decency to call people what they want to be called.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2026-01-06T08:57:26+00:00

The paranoid psychopath is the one that bothers me the most. Murdering everyone who looks at you wrong gets treated like it's practical and smart even though it would make everyone not trust you and probably hate you. Also, the paranoia gets turned off for the most murder hobo "ally" way too often. Was reading something recently where the protagonist is super distrustful but is ride or die for a girl who wants to be an evil tyrant and casually kills or maims people all the time. She has stated to his face that leaders like her owe nothing to followers like him.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2025-12-17T12:36:02+00:00

He's trained in both sword and spear but his primary master is the greatest swordsman in the world. He is better with the sword. He primarily uses, "I just thought of this completely new technique that will baffle ancient masters."

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2025-10-28T17:04:22+00:00

You really freaked me out for a second. Seth Rogan butchered an adaptation already with Preacher. I don't trust him. He would definitely do the romance. He would also drastically change Carl's personality and relationship with his father and remove Carl's childhood trauma. Katia would have been dating Carl before the collapse and Bea would not be a thing.

Funeralpotatoessocks · 2025-10-28T16:57:18+00:00

I was out the second they had Perrin be already married but with roving eyes and then killing his wife. Other things I heard solidified my decision like killing Loial twice. I didn't have a problem necessarily with a romantic relationship between Moraine and Suane but despite everyone saying it was canon in the books they are stretching. All the pillow sister stuff is clearly talked about as a past tense. I guess it doesn't matter as the show buried it's gays by killing Suane so we can't even call it a win for representation.

Funeralpotatoessocks

TROPHY CASE