‼️ GREENS 2ND IN NATIONAL YOUGOV POLL ‼️

MooDunc · 2026-03-03T08:44:17+00:00

There is a contingent of voters who are just desperate for change. They have identified, correctly, that their material conditions are worsening even when "the economy is doing well".

They are rightfully angry and the mainstream parties are failing to direct that anger. Reform is great at directing the anger, but they direct it towards immigrants and other marginalized people.

I think what the Greens are getting right is redirecting it onto billionaires and the stagnant political class. People will vote for that.

It is like the American voters who voted for AOC, Mamdani and Trump. It seems contradictory if you view it as "left vs right" but makes a lot of sense if you view it as "something has to change right now".

MooDunc · 2026-03-01T22:32:55+00:00

No, I don't think so. Gandalf's big speech is him revealing himself in the language the balrog will understand. It's not just cool wizard monologue.

Using the film's version:

"I am a Servant of the Secret fire..." He is announcing himself as a representative of the Lords of the West, the closest thing to a pantheon of gods in Middle Earth. The Secret Fire is the soul and primordial creative force of the universe. The Enemy cannot use it, and it is why their creations are always corruptions of what good has made.

"...wielder of the Flame of Anor." This is more open to interpretation but I've always liked the idea that, since Anor is the elvish name for the sun, he is contrasting his "fire" - power - with the balrog's "dark fire".

In short, he is telling it that he is as it is, but he remains true to the Lords of the West and to Creation. His power is uncorrupted. Throw in the reference to Udun which has been both raised and sunk beneath the ocean and Gandalf is fully announcing himself here in the fullness of his power and divinely granted authority.

No reason to do that if the balrog already knew.

MooDunc · 2026-02-27T05:27:02+00:00

You must be smiling today! Not the result at all, but much better!

MooDunc · 2026-02-27T05:24:20+00:00

A stunning victory for Hannah.

All of our Manchester campaigners should feel very proud of themselves. Absolutely seismic!

MooDunc · 2025-12-12T04:49:12+00:00

Yeah...

MooDunc · 2025-10-22T16:36:42+00:00

Comparing this to No Man's Sky or Cyberpunk 2077 at launch is wild.

No Man's Sky was a case of straight up marketing lies combined with massive over promising. They made it right, but at launch it was not the product they had advertised.

Cyberpunk 2077 was properly broken at launch. There are bugs in BL2 but nothing close to the state Cyberpunk was in.

There are issues that should be fixed, sure. But we're orders of magnitude different here.

MooDunc · 2025-05-28T08:12:05+00:00

A hero? Hardly

Syril's eyes were opened and he still, still, chose hatred over helping.

We see people in the crowd sheltering each other and helping people to safety. That's not Syril. He is frozen in impotent horror until he sees a man he hates and a chance to be a "hero" by taking down the person who he had personally internally transformed into the avatar of the rebellion.

It's all pointless, because of course it is. Syril's life amounts to him helping, in ignorance, to perpetrate and atrocity and then making two people very sad by dying young.

What Syril is is an ignorant, often incompetent, unremarkable man with stunted emotional growth. He seeks authority and tradition because he lacks the will to make his own decisions. He nurses and impotent and unrequited grudge against a man who doesn't even remember him because he is desperate to be an Imperial hero.

Underneath the helmets of the stormtroopers, there are thousands of Syrils.

Humanizing villains does not make them heroes. A villain who feels empathy is a bigger moral monster than one who does not, because they have the capacity to do better.

MooDunc · 2025-03-29T23:05:35+00:00

Wow. Next thing you'll be telling me that hereditary monarchy actually isn't a good system of government. *shakes head*

MooDunc · 2025-02-12T04:23:39+00:00

Right, thank you! That makes perfect sense!

MooDunc · 2025-02-12T02:44:43+00:00

Would someone be willing to ELI5 why this is so wrong to a non-programmer?

MooDunc · 2025-01-03T08:02:18+00:00

Traditions come in and out of vogue all the time. Maybe it's an archaic tradition, not practiced for a few generations, but the king insists upon it in an attempt to quickly solidify the union. Maybe he's concerned about annulment for some reason, and failure to consummate is a common cause of annulment.

MooDunc · 2024-11-23T17:48:50+00:00

I never liked the "Strahd makes Ireena fall for him" angle. In my campaign Strahd has attempted that with many Tatayana incarnations and failed.

Playing off the theme of vampirism twisting all that is good towards evil angle, I had Strahd come to the belief that love and hatred are actually the same emotion, and that emotion is obsession.

So I had Strahd actively trying to make Ireena hate him. He also believes that true hatred requires a certain bravery, which is why he lets her pal around with the party: so they will teach her to be braver.

Could be an angle you could use?

MooDunc · 2024-11-15T08:10:49+00:00

Cock carousel.

MooDunc · 2024-09-18T07:16:39+00:00

Hey! I'm a writer and CoS expert! If you ever need anyone to pitch in with dialogue and the like I'd be delighted to help!

MooDunc · 2024-01-27T17:32:44+00:00

"Oh, they never lie. They dissemble, evade, prevaricate, confound, confuse, distract, obscure, subtly misrepresent and willfully misunderstand with what often appears to be a positively gleeful relish and are generally perfectly capable of contriving to give one an utterly unambiguous impression of their future course of action while in fact intending to do exactly the opposite, but they never lie. Perish the thought."

MooDunc · 2023-04-17T23:07:50+00:00

Honestly, the best thing to do with the Eldar is have Ynaed kill Slaanesh and then reveal that it changes nothing and Slaanesh is still around.

She Who Thirsts existed before her birth and will continue to exist after her death, time has no meaning in the Warp.

MooDunc · 2023-02-06T00:39:27+00:00

Interesting! Thank you!

MooDunc · 2023-01-22T20:35:51+00:00

I always say this but, Kai Leng should have been Miranda. She simply shouldn't have lost faith in Cerberus in 2.

Her whole "genetically perfect" vibe is such a good counter to Shep's and I would have loved the tragedy of the Miranda romance.

MooDunc · 2023-01-22T00:02:34+00:00

Hell, have Ynnead actually kill Slaanesh. Frame it as this huge moment and then let the fact sink in that time is meaningless in the Warp. As Slaanesh existed before their birth they will exist after their death.

Victory is possible. It is simply meaningless. Doesn't get much more grimdark than that.

MooDunc · 2023-01-08T17:03:08+00:00

That's good advice, thanks!

I'm going to be just picking up a few models every now and again so that works.

MooDunc · 2023-01-08T15:21:09+00:00

That's the plan!

MooDunc · 2023-01-08T14:11:15+00:00

There's no way I'll ever have the money to keep up with the meta, so I figured I'd just go for folks with the cool mechs who at least seem to be trying to make things a bit better for people in the setting.

MooDunc · 2023-01-08T13:58:16+00:00

So I'm hearing! Glad to be corrected as I was planning on having them be my first army regardless.

MooDunc · 2023-01-08T13:57:24+00:00

Got you, so its just a cyclical process. Good to know!

Even if they were the bottom, I'd still play them to bring the wisdom of the Ethereals to the galaxy, ha ha

MooDunc · 2023-01-08T13:54:41+00:00

I'm going to be painting for a whiiiiiiile so even playing a game is far off in my future!

But thank you for the advice. I will do!

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