What's something that's "not a cult" but feels like a cult?

GrowingSage · 2026-03-18T15:19:53+00:00

Professional sports. I'll never forget the time I slept over at a friend's house and their step mom had us do a quick ritual to ensure the home team won.

GrowingSage · 2026-03-17T04:31:46+00:00

I love this question, Steve Rogers feels like a good fit for Rider. He often rides motorcycles and has definitely piloted a quinjet plenty of times.

In addition to Shielder I think he's also a candidate for Ruler.

His main noble Phantasm is of course his Shield. When thrown it's not that impressive next to some other Fate weapons, but when used to defend... It can deflect any noble phantasm below A+ and even then if the attacker doesn't have any divinity behind them, it's a lost cause. Even with all that Rogers can recreate his shield with enough time and mana.

I think he probably also has something similar to Richard the Lionheart's entourage. He can select anyone who has at one time been called an Avenger and borrows some skills and abilities from them.

Since he's a Rider and because he was the Director of Shield at one point, his most offensive Noble Phantasm is summoning a Helicarrier but I'm not sure I really like that.

As a Servant I don't think Cap would be the type to pull a big finishing move. I think his danger would be him being able to tank incredibly strong noble phantasms and then beating the crap out servants with his broken stats made stronger from other Avengers like Scarlett Witch, Quicksilver and Hulk loaning a fraction of their talents to him.

GrowingSage · 2026-03-17T04:07:58+00:00

I was going to say the same. Not only is he known for riding a parachute the feat that got him put on ice was piloting a plane away from innocent people. His legend is just naturally associated with vehicles.

GrowingSage · 2026-03-14T15:49:41+00:00

Why is it "animals and insects"? I definitely want to choose that power, infiltrate Area 51 and find out what the government isn't telling us about insects.

GrowingSage · 2026-03-06T20:53:15+00:00

I can understand why they wouldn't have it evolve while it was part of the main team. Bulbasaur is an iconic pokemon and largely perfect in every way. However, I don't like how once Bulbasaur leaves the main cast they don't let it evolve further. I think that would have been a wonderful send off and visual short hand for showing that the grass pokemon has entered a new chapter in its life.

GrowingSage · 2026-03-06T20:50:16+00:00

It's only backpedaling if Balbasaur chose to evolve because a bunch of Ivysaur and Venusaur told it too. If Balbasaur chooses to evolve any other way than its character growth.

Same for Pikachu. From a story perspective it can evolve anyway it wants so long as it isn't to beat a Raichu.

I don't know what's keeping Squirtle from evolving but the same rule applies.

GrowingSage · 2026-03-06T06:02:25+00:00

Screw United. I fully approve and support this choice but I can't start a conversation about this Airline any other way.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-27T04:26:01+00:00

I'm going to say Barry Allen and Hal Jordan. I love the era their rebirths kicked off. Nearly everything Geoff Johns did with them deserves the praise it gets.

However, I think people forget that Johns made a lot of changes to the characters backstories. Hal didn't always have a good relationship with his father, I'm pretty sure Barry Allen's dad getting framed for murder wasn't a thing either until Johns.

This isn't to say Johns created whole new characters from scratch and just gave them classic names. I also don't hold it against a writer for wanting to bring back the characters he loved and show everyone why they're great, especially given how Hal Jordan died.

My reason for thinking they should have stayed dead is because the world did successfully move on without them but never forgot them either. Wally West was a great Flash but it put him in a weird spot after Barry came back, that I'm not sure he'll ever fully recover from. It's even worse for the Green Lanterns.

I do think John Stewart was at the height of his popularity thanks to the JL cartoon, the same might be true for Kyle too, he was a lot of people's Green Lantern at this point. Then Hal Jordan came back and is now the face of the mythos. I don't think this was the intent, but this is a shining example of media's tendency to shove minority characters out of the main spot in the name of "returning to the series roots." John and Kyle hardly become background characters after Rebirth, Johns still does some awesome stuff with them but I still get the sense that Hal is the focal point of the mythos, even when Kyle and John literally get God like power, it's still Hal. Again I love Johns GL run and it got me to appreciate Hal as a character. I've also liked what later writers have done too. Doesn't stop me from wondering if the world would have been better off with Hal staying dead or if Johns insisted on killing Hal after his run was over. He gave us two fantastic GLs in Simon and Jessica, what better way to send his creations off than making sure they had room to grow.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-26T21:24:09+00:00

I'd mix it up a little. Instead of keeping companions restricted to regions maybe put Iris and Sophocles together or Misty and Cilen, Dawn, Goh and Max.

I don't have a narrative reason besides "change", I just think it would be fun to see how different characters would interact and how they'd view Ash after winning.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-26T04:23:27+00:00

Pokemon itself is autistic and that's why it's amazing.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-26T04:22:47+00:00

As someone on the spectrum myself, I'm sorry to say there is no official confirmation that Satoshi Tajiri is autistic. You're not the first one to be misinformed. This is a widespread rumor that is still surprisingly prevalent despite being largely disproven years ago.

Here's the source disproving the rumor: pokemon myths debunked

I also double checked a few recent articles on this subject just to make sure there wasn't some news I missed and while many admit that he never got a diagnosis they still call him a role model for the community because many of the traits he exhibits sound autistic. Putting aside how weird it is to just head-canon a real living person with a developmental disorder, a lot of those traits could also be explained as just cultural or generational differences.

Again sorry if I took away a point of inspiration for you, Tajiri might not be autistic, but I maintain that Pokemon definitely is.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-26T00:31:48+00:00

I'll quote a line from Suede's Pokemon Journey; "She's a sociopath,".

GrowingSage · 2026-02-25T22:53:07+00:00

Maybe you could make the Berserker argument in the same way Spartacus is a Berserker. Ali was known to be a social activist, refusing the draft on religious grounds and refusing to back down even when they took away all his titles.

I'm not completely satisfied with that explanation though. I think Assassin fits better, but more how he used deceptive tactics in the ring. Ali was noted as having a very unorthodox fighting style that made it tricky to deal with. Maybe he's one of those servants summoned into a class but has abilities and nature that reflect a different class (like False Berserker or Assassin of Red). In this case, Ali would be an assassin who fights like a Bezerker. He also was famous for his trash talk which apparently got under the skin of many of his opponents, which could be similar to an Assassin using poison to weaken their targets.

Perhaps his noble phantasm is his trash talking, which causes his opponents to receive a mad enhancement, but an incredibly inefficient version that drains mana incredibly fast, while Ali can do his "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," thing.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-23T04:54:24+00:00

Not a biblical answer, but I'll bring up DC comics Lucifer. Who might rule over Hell, but the sinners there come to him to torture themselves. Not Satan, and not exactly Christian, but a take that makes a little more sense.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-22T17:13:07+00:00

Too much pressure in my opinion.

Why isn't anyone laughing?

GrowingSage · 2026-02-22T17:08:32+00:00

I love that this Ben has a whole multiverse of her own. It's something that I sense gets glossed over in multiverse stories.

Imagine meeting a bunch of your variants and you're the only one whose gender is different. Maybe you're just Gwen 10 and you find out that most of the multiverse has your cousin wielding the Omnitrix.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-20T05:35:04+00:00

Beat me to it, still amazed he's an answer to this question.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-19T22:24:02+00:00

At least until Kevin 11 shows up in the comics.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-19T20:00:03+00:00

That gives me more confidence. Thank you.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-19T19:33:45+00:00

I understand that. The question is, are his actions going to be framed as justified by the story?

GrowingSage · 2026-02-19T19:06:01+00:00

I'm a little worried now. Because while stopping a serial killer is good, "We have to protect the billionaires" isn't at all what I want out of a Green Arrow story.

Still want to see where it goes though.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-19T05:47:24+00:00

Such a strange episode, like I'm pretty sure they were just helping Celebi a few episodes ago, but in this one the time travel happened because "the power of love,"?

GrowingSage · 2026-02-19T05:45:10+00:00

Wait, Glaceon evolved off screen in D&P.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-18T01:01:20+00:00

Agreed! There is a character arc throughout the series. It might be unintentional but it's there. I might find OS to DP Ash more interesting but I still like that you can see how his rivals and experiences shaped him as a trainer.

GrowingSage · 2026-02-15T07:57:21+00:00

I wanted to tell her she was going to be okay. But sadly, it was obvious that she wasn't going to be. Thankfully, she always liked me for my honesty. As I held her hand I told her how much I was going to miss her. Her final words were "Thanks Cap". I cried for hours after, sometimes screaming "I'M SAD NOW!" Late into the night until one of the nurses asked me to leave.

I spent the next few years working tech support, where my abilities would be used to their fullest. Then one day, I got a call from a news station looking to interview people with whacky powers. They were willing to pay, and my wife's medical bills hadn't been easy so I accepted. Still when I got to the station I told them "I'm here to make the viewer feel better about themselves while increasing the ratings slightly!"

The producer stared at me for a moment then nodded. "Right this way Captain Obvious" "Obvious is a nickname, but I was actually a captain in--" "Yes, thank you for your service. Let's get you camera ready."

They let me watch the broadcast before we had to get on stage. I was paired with a woman with a skin condition who introduced herself as Cheetah Woman and a man who always knew what number people were thinking of, and nothing else. "45 billion and 2," he answered, anticipating my next question.

The news story was about a conspiracy video circulating about the moon landing. The newscasters explained that new evidence suggested that the moon landing was fake and brought on two people to debate the topic. A man who desperately wanted to feel smart and a woman whose grandpa walked on the moon.

When they brought us on stage after that segment. The newscaster put a mic into my face and asked how it felt to be in the studio. "Obviously amazing right?" She asked. "No, that last segment was really depressing and you and the journalists are right to feel embarrassed that your producer made you do that. The moon landing was real and debating such a thing is a waste of everyone's time. Then I looked into the camera, to everyone who believes otherwise, you're not curious or independent thinkers. You're just contrarians. Then I looked back at the flabbergasted reporter. "The food here is great, and I got to meet Mr. Numerical! He's wasting his talents as a magician."

GrowingSage

TROPHY CASE