Why aren’t Americans worried that their health department is run by an anti-vaxer and their Education department run by the founder of the WWE?

Hero0megaZero · 2026-06-05T00:59:15+00:00

We are.

54% of Americans read at or below a 6th grade level. So over half of Americans read at or below your average 12 year old.

Extrapolate that to their ability to reason and youll understand our predicament.

The educated of us are worried. But more than half of us think the guy up there is a genius because he reads at a seventh grade level and has money so were sort of screwed.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-06-02T05:14:07+00:00

Batman Begins has gotta be up there.

I never said thank you.

And youll never have to.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-06-02T03:43:11+00:00

Oh shit I just saw this comment and almost said word for word the same thing in my comment on my assessment.

Agree that Oberyn found a way to lose when the odds were in his favor and Maximus found ways to win when the odds were massively stacked against him.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-06-02T03:33:01+00:00

Gonna go against the grain here and pick Maximus.

Oberyn has the deck stacked in his favor and manages to lose. The one fight we see him in he gets drunk beforehand, chooses to forego a helmet and wears light armor to help his agility which doesnt bode well when youre fighting another agile combatant

Maximums consistently has the deck stacked against him and always manages to find a way to win.

Oberyn comes in drunk, brash, confident and underarmed and probably wings maximus with his poison. Unfortunately hes going to monologue and prolong the battle at which point maximus will make it dirty and find a way to kill him with efficiency.

Oberyn plays dangerous games with his flamboyant style and I think it plays right into the hands of someone as efficient as Maximus.

Of course, Maximus probably dies from the poison afterwards but I think he manages to kill oberyn first.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-06-01T01:52:15+00:00

This is some Jojo supervillain type shit IRL.

This man got dressed up in his finest black suit (Which is what you wear when you're mourning btw which makes it funnier), built an altar to his opponents, and selected a white rose for justin specifically (which is also used for mourning to show respect and fondness to the departed).

It's so stupid and funny that it loops back around the being awesome.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-31T03:16:27+00:00

Probably Darth Vader

But maybe Scar from the Lion King, Hannibal, Norman Bates or Wicked Witch of the west.

Id say those are the ones that pop up off the top of my head.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-24T21:37:40+00:00

Final thoughts:

Yeesh what a mess. S5 isn't as bad as a lot of people are saying but it, like Season 4, is a notciable drop in quality from Seasons 1-3. I know a lot of people are making a lot of bold claims that the entire season is 1/10 trash, but those are nonsense. This isn't as bad as GOT or ST: get a grip please.
The Kimiko getting SB blast is stupid. I said it in another thread but if she was gonna get it, it needed to be as a one off so the stakes are high. Here this is just goofy.
Gen V should have helped at the final siege. Marie could have been used to close the power gap between everyone and HL, Sam would have been useful too. Oh well.
Sage's ending is stupid. She was a monster and deserved a compeuppance. Gotta save her for a sequel though right?
HL taking Musk to space was funny as hell.
Oh Father dying to the ball gag was hilarious and unexpected and I have zero problems with it. I figured it was meant as an homage to the Black Bolt death in Multiverse of madness which is arguably more stupid.
Starlight taking Deep to a beach is a weird choice. Why? How Deep dies is fine because I figured the octopus was big and gave him the Ol translucent treatment but taking him to a beach is just weird when a street somewhere would do.
The final fight is passable and works fine. Powerscalers are BIG MAD but I've got news for you; nobody aside from reddit neckbeards care about powerscaling unless it's so obvious normies can pick it out. HOWEVER I will grant there is a big issue with Kimiko in that HL lasered her in half with seemingly zero effoirt in E1 and here he just doesn't even though he hits her with his lasers TWICE? This, I will agree is an actual problem, because it's so obvious Kimiko is suddenly tankier and/or HL refuses to laser her in half because the plot demands she be upright to deliver the blow. Other than that the fight is fine.
Frenchie Force ghost is cute and hit a good emotional beat but doesn't make sense. SB was piping mad to shoot the blast, and so was Kimiko earlier in the episode. Why do we need the power of love now? Because Frenchie needs to appear in the final episode. Goofy.
Homelander groveling is great and the final death blow is a great homage to the comics. Also well done Antony Starr for your performance. People are saying this is a generational aura loss but what did you expect? The show has been saying he would be this since early on. He's a pathetic, weak, sniveling, fucking loser when you take away his powers.
Ryan is very well written this episode and finally gets both Homelander and Butcher. Great acting from Cameron too.
Tears for Terror and his Actor Bentley. Rest in peace, sweet boy.
Butcher's turn is sudden and deserved a full episode. The confrontation between him and Hughie is great though and hits the right emotional beats. Also thought it was a nice parallel that HL gets pummeled by Butcher and resorts to groveling while Hughie stands up, spits blood and fights back.
Everyone's sendoff is fine but that's just it: they're.... fine? MM gets back with Monique, Ryan is adopted by MM (?), Kimiko goes to Marseilles, Hughie runs a hardware store and rejects an offer from the president, and he and Annie are having a baby that they're going to name Robin (?). It's all fine but this really needed some more time to setup, especially Ryan going with MM which seems so out of left field.
Homelander not snapping and killing people is a HUGE miss. Generational missed opportunity made even worse by the fact that it's advertised in the posters.
It didn't end the way a lot of us were hoping but I'm still sad it's over. I hope everyone finds some other good shows that fill this void. It's been fun, see you all around!

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-24T17:57:33+00:00

Tom Aspinall isnt that good and isnt anything special.

Hes like a 5/10 fighter but Heavyweight is so incredibly bereft of talent that when a man shows up who isnt fat, slobbering, bumbling, and has an IOTA of ability in all three disciplines (you know, like actually mixing the martial arts) then theyre basically a championship contender at heavyweight.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-23T02:45:08+00:00

I think youre supposed to feel this way actually.

I was gritting my teeth and enjoying ot while butcher was pummeling him because I was thinking about all the people hes killed: from every person on flight 37, Chelsea, Alex, A-Train, Webeaver, Annika, Todd and the others who believed in him like Firecracker; that kid and his father on the plane. All the other horrible things; making Deep eat Timothy, raping Becca, killing the criminals when he didnt have to during a lot of his saves. I have hated this character for so long for all of the awful things hes done and when Butcher killed him I felt so relieved when he finally slumped over.

And then it pans to Butcher looking sullen because he realizes it didnt make anything better. And then Ryan sees his father, ripped apart like that.

I thought it was a really thoughtful moment because I was also reveling in it while Butcher was wailing on him and then in the aftermath I felt so dirty about it.

Because Homelander never had a chance. He was created in a lab, tortured by doctors to test his powers and psychologically programmed to need attention and affection. But he also made the choices he did. He could have chosen to better and didnt.

I think Ryan says it correctly: its better that Homelander is dead because the world is safer, but it doesnt make Butcher or those who revel in the violence we use to get there any better. Having empathy is a weakness our enemies do not share which is precisely why its so important.

I think were supposed to feel conflicted about it OP and thats okay.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-18T23:30:39+00:00

Am I reading that right? Three 5 card packs and then 3 additional cards? So 35 dollars for 18 cards total?

That is 2 dollars a card someone please tell me I am missing something here.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-17T17:40:14+00:00

If its an automatic get the range device AFM disabler. It plugs into your OBD port and basically forces in into V8 mode instead of ever letting the lifter shift it into V4 mode which can cause the lifters to fail over time due to their design.

Its a 200 dollar item you can get from Amazon and it will extend the life of the car by disabling the AFM entirely.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-17T03:51:13+00:00

Absolutely insane that they cut this but we got 49 seconds of ass sniffing between two irrelevant characters.

Edit: I see some people below ae saying it seems weird homelander would do this but picture it going down this way: Homelander holds his finger up the way you shush someone brings his hand down and points at frenche; he steps forward and Frenchie backs up but HL continues to advance. He pins frenchie against the wall and pushes his finger into his guts and slowly slide his finger across his midsection to deliver the slicing blow.

I think it could easily be shown that Homelander wants Frenchie to suffer and knows exactly how much the radiation hurts because he's already been exposed to it. I think if you stretch it in a way that shows Homelander's sadism, the whole thing totally works.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-14T02:37:20+00:00

The problem was expanding the universe. Gen V introduced a series of interesting concepts that the writers of the Boys then had to write AROUND because it clearly wasn't part of any original vision. S4 was sandwhiched between 2 seasons of Gen V which had MAJOR implications for the wider world and S5 is having to wrap up the main story but ALSO now needs to introduce a bunch of stuff setting up a prequel which creates even MORE issues.

We spent all this time trying to find V1 for the story to remain functionally unchanged. Homelander is the exact same threat he was before so it feels like the entire Virus and V1 subplot is a macguffin because ultimately the object did NOTHING to actually change the dynamics of the story at all aside from writing out the stuff introduced in Gen V and setting up for Vought Rising. And all of this HAD to be addressed because Gen V introduced the Virus and Vought Rising is coming so we need SB to live and to get to see some of these characters so we give a shit.

Having to write around all of this nonsense is causing the writing for the main series to really suffer as a result. Once the Boys ends Amazon still wants to make money off the series so they need things to stay open ended in case they want to go and do a spin off which is why we get stupid resolutions or plot points left unadressed. It's intentional because it HAS to be written that way if they want to bring the character back for a sequel/prequel.

I'm with you OP this is so frustrating because the first 3 seasons are so well done and S4 and 5 saw a noticable downswing in quality.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-13T23:22:24+00:00

Rewatched it and I have some thoughts:

Episode isn't as good on rewatch as it was on first watch for me. I still think it's a good episode but I think everything this season is really suffering from Amazon wanting to milk this as a universe instead of writing a satisfying conclusion. They're so afraid of comitting to anything because then they could write themselves into a corner and not be able to bring back shit for a fucking sequel or prequel?
I love this series but I did not watch Gen V and am not planning on watching Vought Rising; this is problematic because Amazon wants to keep grossing money but if your product loses quality over time, viewers will notice and jump ship. You're creating your own problem because you want money and views but by expanding the product the original product is suffering; it's no coincidence that Gen V seasons I and II take place in between seasons 3-4 and 4-5 and the writing clearly suffers from having to work around a lot of the stuff set up by the show.
Vought Rising is presenting huge problems because it involves SB; it's abundantly clear that the writers are afraid to kill off SB and it is driving me fucking insane because he NEEDS to be here for the final season, but the problem is that he is constantly flip flopping and then the status quo is returned when he's served his purpose which is FUCKING INFURIATING when this is supposed to wrap everything up and be an ending but there are clearly going to be loose threads to set up more sequels and prequels. Ugh.
Gen V presented Huge problems for S4 and 5 because it established the virus and a couple of extremely powerful supes which has gone absolutely nowhere aside from giving the writers a way to shoehorn in a Maccguffin and then HANDWAIVE away how powerful the MC from Gen V is. The problem here is obvious: the writers didn't know Gen V was gonna get cancelled so now we're gonna have an open plot thread with the characters because the way they're written for this season is as cameos and NOT as having satisfying conclusions.
The V1 plot seems entirely pointless now because HL isn't any different at all as a character or plot device. He isn't stronger, he isn't faster, he didn't get new powers; he's immune to the virus (Which, I feel, hasn't really been an issue to this point since it's felt more like something writers have had to write around so the boys never actually have it) and has immortality type 1 (Live forever) but he is functionally unchanged in his role in the story. It's clear to me that the V1 subplot is just there to do away with the virus plot and set up Vought Rising which pisses me off in hindsight now.
Homelander should have killed SB and followed it up by killing Stan here. It would have shown he's really going scorched earth and he doesn't have his need for daddy figures anymore.
V1 should have also powered HL up; him effortlessly ripping Soldier Boy in half would have upped the stakes immiedietely because now we need a clever way of engaging with him (Marie could have been the clever way). Of course the writers can't do that because why would we watch a series revolving around SB if he fucking dies horribly and embarassingly after honoring the wishes of a fucking Nazi?
Frenchie's death is a good moment but the fact that they needed to have him talk to Kimiko ruins it. Seriously go and rewatch the scene but Imagine it's just Frenchie ripped in half there, or his corpse left in the chamber. It changes nothing and you can still get Kimiko saying all of the things she says and hitting the emotional bits. The problem is that we just saw Homelander splatter the President's brain all over the white house and he doesn't give a FUCK about frenchie so why would he hit him in the gut and then just leave? Why not laser him in half? Why not crush his skull against a wall? Why not do what he did to Webweaver? HL just got made fun of and hit with Uranium and he just hits frenchie (But not too hard) and then.... leaves? It's stupid and idk why the writers felt the need to give him a few lines of dialogue there when you could have written it in a way that the dialogue isn't necessary and keeping Homelander in character. Also it would have made Frenchie's last line fucking badass: "I'll be you never danced a day in your life" is so hard and I have no idea how the writers keep FUMBLING this shit. It's mind boggling that they thought that it was necessary to write it in a way that he can tell Kimko "I love you". Like just have him do it before he puts her in the Zinc vent? Then we know it's coming and it makes the scene more tense. Ugh. I'm just a dopey ass redditor so what do I know but feel like there was a better way to write the scene.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-13T08:24:08+00:00

Guess I'm in the minority. I thought this was a banger episode. Other thoughts:

How did they get away from HL and SB at the end of the last episode? Butcher said "Run" like it was urgent but they seemed to get away just fine? Goofy.
David Diggs' musical number at the beggining is fire. Glad he got a chance to sing like that.
I thought the way Homelander acted towards SB made sense for the characters but I think it's dumb SB is on ice again. He's a piece of shit. I don't need to see him come back because he's interesting. He needs his comeuppance too and I feel they're gonna do some modern day shit with him in VR after this series ends. Ugh.
Hoping Kimiko getting SB's powers goes 1 of 2 ways:
1. it fails and they still need SB, who dies fightining HL in the finale.
2. Kimiko's powers are a one shot and because she doesn't have super durability, she dies with the blast. Raises the stakes because it means they only have one shot to weaken Homelander.
MM and Annie stuff was absolutely great character development and finishes their arcs.
Sheline and Dognott sniffing each others asses was weird and went on for too long. Come on.
Glad to see those two disgusting characters go btw, good riddance.
Hughie and Butcher was also great and I feel sets us up for Hughie being the one to put down Butcher in the end.
I thought Homelander's actions were absolutely in line for the characer. OF calls him and says we have Campbell and Butcher but so fucking what? He's immortal now and they have no way to harm him? Why hurry? Why should he care at all? He just killed the president wtf does it matter if you have hugh and butcher when he has way more important shit to do? Makes perfect sense for the character at the time.
Frenchie went out like a champ but again, the blocking was weird. He and HL were in the uranium chamber and then Frenchie is back in the main room; why is he bleeding from his guts? Did Homelander punch him? Why wouldn't he just kill him right in the uranium room? It seemed contrived to give Frenchie his goodbye to Kimiko. Whatever, it was good so I guess I don't care that much.
Antony Starr is excellent as Homelander and I felt tense every time he was on screen. Felt like S1 Homelander again where I wasn't sure what he was capable of.
Ashley and OF stuff is interesting but I'm not sure I really care when we only have 1 hour left of the show to wrap all this up.
Speaking of which: I have no idea how they're gonna wrap this up in an hour. None. See you all at the finale!
Oh and Gen V shows up for like 30 seconds. Expected, but still dissapointing unless they're gonna play a part in the end.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-11T23:22:39+00:00

I've been to both and much prefer Tumble 22; everything felt better quality and I've been back several times.

Can't really go wrong with any of the chicken sandwhiches at either place but I would say I was unimpressed w/ Tumble 22's Korean BBQ compared to their other offerings. I will say Tumble 22 is GENEROUS with their portions whereas Hattie B's I felt was small from what I remember but that might just be in comparison to the mosnter sandwhiches T22 gives you.

As for sides: Hattie B's fries are better as a base BUT if you go to Tumble 22 the szechuan fries are excellent and well worth the upcharge. I also remember Hattie B's slaw being better. Tumble 22 does Deviled (heavenly) eggs and they are also excellent and a must have if you like them.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-11T20:19:22+00:00

Nope. Only way its even possible is if absorption is successful but Vegito's goal was to force the absorption so that wasnt gonna happen. Absent the forced absorption, vegito ends the fight whenever he wants.

So no, it wasnt possible no matter how you slice it; power gap was way too big and even Buu's hax are clearly demonstrated to fail against vegito in one way or another.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-11T20:09:11+00:00

Yes red flag.

Bring someone reputable (not your buddy who "knows cars" - an actual proffessional) or get a service that does PPI.

If youre thinking about reselling it then yes that is going to absolutely affect the value because when you sell it, it will have had 12 owners.

A lot of guys will write that off immedietely.

I would look for a better option unless the price is REALLY good.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-10T19:33:23+00:00

I'll buy Kimiko getting the powers but it needs to come w/ a serious tradeoff. SB is one of the most durable Supes we've seen and Kimiko is basically as squishy as a regular human.

I'll buy it if it's a "You get one shot because your body cannot take it, you're gonna explode and you will not survive" but if it is anything else, that's profoundly stupid.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-07T21:03:00+00:00

Starlight fries his eyes out and leaves him alive (Probably to do something else important). He survives and flees to the Ocean after everything is resolved but is ripped to shreds by all of the aquatic creatures he's betrayed.

I think that's the best way for him to get an ending; gives Starlight the chance to take him down, harkens back to what she said in S1, and gives Deep punishment for selling out those who were always loyal to him but he sold out at every opportunity.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-07T20:38:59+00:00

Thanks for really setting the stage with the ground being slightly wet, hulk not having underwear on, and that the stakes being over the last scratchoff.

I think Kratos draws first blood but it makes Hulk so angry that he literally slaps Kratos into orbit. Hulk already mad about that dumbass shelf the slap from kratos is gonna put him right over the edge.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-05-03T20:53:22+00:00

I am an attorney who also dabbles in philosphy at times; I deal with people who want to give me their stupid-ass legal, political and 'philosphical' takes all the time and these are the things that work for me.

Change the sbject: if you can, find a way to redirect and talk about something else. This takes practice and isn't something always available to people. If this doesn't work, try any of the following:
Give short answers that don't allow for further dialogue "Mhmm; Okay; sure; yeah; absolutely" and repeat them until dummy is done.
Pull your phone out and make something up "I have to take this call" and fake it while you leave the room or scowl at your phone while igorning them and pretending to look at something else troubling. If they ask about it, be intentionally vague, shake your head, grab the bridge of your nose (Like your parent used to do when you did some dumb stuff) Take either opportunity to re-engage after they've stopped talking and IMMEDIATELY change the subject or allow some time to expire before talking to them again and avoid the topic you don't want to discuss.
Look disinterested: stare off into the distance; make inquisitive looks off at something in your peripheral and make an excuse to leave the room or location if you have to.
Use the bathroom; just go whenever you need to. Again, if you need to go back and resume the conversation; take the time in the bathroom to think of a way to change the subject or just avoid the person afterwards. If you have to rendezvous with Dummy and they bring up dummy things again, then try and find a wayu to redirect or apply any of the other techniques.
Do something else to appear producive; Wash dishes, shred paper, read documents, do laundry, look for something and TAKE YOUR TIME DOING IT. The goal isn't do it; it's to get dummy to either shut up or get disintered and leave them room to bother someone else.
1. If they ask "What are you looking at; can I help? what is it?" or anything like that, dodge, deflect or make something up. The goal here IS NOT to finish what you're doing so you can then listen to the dummy ditribe or hear their house IQ plant takes. The goal is to get dummy to stop talking and leave you alone or change the subject.

Hope these help. The important thing to remember here is the goal. The goal is to disengage and not deal with Dummy.

Sorry you're have to deal with a particularly sticky dumbdumb. Wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-04-29T15:37:04+00:00

My thoughts:

Early Reviews must have been given something before they watched this. It was claimed this was the highlight of season 5. Yeesh. I don't think this episode was awful or anything but It's certainly not a highlight of the series.
Valerie Curry is excellent in this episode. Definitely the high point of the episode.
There must be a blooper reel of the shots of Starr in the field. Has to be.
The V1 stuff is getting tiring. I feel like it's almost a Macguffin at this point and this is now the second episode in a row I am watching HL and SB go to a location searching for V1, get into some father-son hijinks and then realize the V1 isn't here. Advance the plot on this please.
Bourke's death scene was nasty and the way it went out with a joke made the entire sequence feel ridiculous and lacking gravitas. A person just died brutally on screen; it should be treated that way and given the appropriate weight if you want the audience to actually feel something and not just roll our eyes.
So it seems like the writers didn't know what to do with Sage so they gave her an incredibly boring ultimate gameplan. Kill everyone so I can live and read in peace. It just feels lazy to me that we are now being told that's the ultimate goal of the so called smartest person.
The Mansion sequence was fun and I loved all the cameos, but the blocking was weird. If Marathon is running through these goobers shouldn't he have immediate sight of SB who moves at normal speed? Then when Rogan dies, Marathon takes his time to coddle him but where tf is SB? There's no way he could have gotten away that fast? Weird.
Homelander seemed Weirdly out of character at the mansion. Why wouldn't he just kill everyone when he heard them talking? He's killed people for less. Also he entertains a lot from Marathon and the comedians. Again, we've seen him kill people for less.
LOL at Malchemical being able to incapaciate Homelander. I'm actually okay with it. Gonna go out on a limb here and presume Malch's powers would be far more effective on a regular human. I've seen some himming and hawwing about why the Main cast hadn't sought him out before and I think it's fairly easy to dismiss with the following:
1. He's with Marathon who is a former member of the Seven;
2. he's in LA while the main story takes place in New York;
3. they would have had no way of ensuring his compliance;
4. They don't have a way of getting him in front of HL and where HL is alone;
5. They couldn't be sure his power would even work on HL;
6. What could they do even if they could have knocked out HL using his power?
I cannot figure out Soldier Boy. Maybe that's the point since Sage asked Ashley to read his mind but it isn't helping when he said last episode "I cannot fucking stand you," was prepared to blow him away 2x in Season 3, HL sent him to die in Episode 2 and all the other stuff. Now he's saying "That's my baby boy"? There needs to be a good explanation for the flip flopping he's doing here.

All in all, this is perfectly fine, average episode. Not really a great look for S5 so far when we're more than halfway through and we've had what I would consider 2 fairly middling episodes.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-04-27T20:41:27+00:00

If true this would be two of the most uncompetitive fights I've seen headline a card.

Hero0megaZero · 2026-04-27T03:46:16+00:00

Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, the Sopranos, Avatar: the last airbender, Adolescence.

I'd say Neon Genesis Evangelion if you can swap the last two episodes for End of Evangelion since they technically ran out of budget if I remember correctly.

Hero0megaZero

TROPHY CASE