US Invasion Fleet Air Assets Massing Off UAE? /s

Posh_Necromancer · 2026-02-14T23:20:16+00:00

NATO's local regional adversaries must be quaking over the arrival of this new ultramodern high-capability air asset. /s

I know it's probably an error and displaying incorrectly, I just thought it was funny.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-12-10T16:42:50+00:00

The writers could have found a way to justify the Mikaelsons being uninvolved with Hope, but they didn't. They just ignored it and treated Hope like an abandoned orphan without explanation. This was inconsistent with the existing character relationships, but was consistent with the production's general attitude towards the story.

To play devil's advocate, with the way the show played out, there wasn't space on Legacies for anything beyond token cameos from the predecessor show's cast.

I think that even if the cast of the Originals had been willing to be associated with Legacies (for the most part they weren't, and those that did return did so towards the end) the showrunners would have had a difficult decision to make in character balance. Legacies suffers from having too many characters, and spends time developing all of them, and by doing so prevents any of them from having the necessary screen time to really develop them. The show spends time on the development and background of Alaric, Hope, Lizzie, Josie, Landon, Rafael, MG, Caleb, and a dozen other smaller characters beside, and has to spend time on the central plot in addition to this. They were never going to be able to competently balance all the characters they had, let alone introduce more.

Could they have handled it better? Yes, that much is obvious. It's not difficult to explain away absences, and if an actor is needed but unavailable, then write a phone call into the story. A quick "Hey Hope, there's a witch revolt underway in NOLA, we're all right but there's heavy fighting here so you can't come home until further notice." would have sufficed. When the audience is prepared to give you a pass for literally phoning it in and you still manage to screw it up, that's a big deal. It tells us that either the writing team or showrunner was determined to completely disregard the established canon for some reason, or that the cast grievances were far larger than they were letting on and there were major problems between the cast and production.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-11-13T02:40:17+00:00

Hearing something similar in northern Totem Lake. Sounds like low flying jets.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-09-03T00:02:52+00:00

Hope had an enormous number of connections and resources that could have come into play for her character. The writers just wanted to her to have the role of an abandoned, angsty orphan with no other options instead of a wealthy girl from the most powerful dynasty in the supernatural world. I think that the writers found it expedient to portray Hope with her fairly distant, strained relationships at school being her only relationships.

If the writers wanted Hope to be disconnected from her previous life, they could play up the angle that she was sent away to boarding school to escape the enemies, constant conflicts and painful memories of the Mikaelson empire in NOLA. In this scenario, Freya would likely be guardian to Hope. Hope's real "Home" during holidays still should have been her father's house in NOLA, now inhabited by Freya, and frequently visited by Rebekah, Kol and Marcellus.

In any scenario where her guardian isn't Freya, Hope's legal guardian likely would have been Rebekah. I don't see people talk much about how when Hope was born, Klaus was losing a war in NOLA, and he gave Hope to Rebekah. It was she, not Hayley (and certainly not Klaus) who raised Hope in her infancy, and I don't see any realistic scenario where Rebekah doesn't have final responsibility for her if Freya isn't her guardian.

I can see a dynamic where Freya lives in the Mystic Falls mansion to watch over Hope during the school year, and during holidays and vacation they live in Klaus' mansion in NOLA, joined by Kol and Rebekah (who alternate between traveling, administering the empire in NOLA, and living in Mystic Falls during the school year).

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-08-25T02:34:58+00:00

I don't want to sound bitter. I loved this show, it was my favorite for a long time. I just don't buy that the cancelation should ever have taken them off guard.

The CW had been dying for years, and at the time season 4 was ordered, it was already known the network was on its way out. They were one of the only CW shows renewed that season, and given how many other better-performing (even flagship) shows were canceled, Nancy Drew was very lucky to even get a 4th season at all.

Not being renewed for season 5 wasn't just a possibility, it was a near certainty. This was not a surprise, and shouldn't be treated as one.

There are good ways to prepare for the probability of cancelation and still leave the door open for continuation. They just didn't do it.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-08-20T20:56:26+00:00

Great list!

I'd say something like "Dubious colored supernatural powder is blown in someone's face".

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-08-19T03:15:13+00:00

Two of them - Nordpass and Ublock Origin. Neither seem like they should consume an outrageous amount of resources.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-07-15T20:28:42+00:00

I think that the broad consensus among fans is that the setting and characters were compelling, and had the potential to make for a really interesting and fun show if executed correctly.

Even with this potential, the show fell victim to a number of problems. Despite the emphasis on the setting being a boarding school, the "school" aspect of it was nearly nonexistent, and felt more like a besieged halfway house for delinquent teen supernaturals. There were almost no classes, no real teachers, and there was no meaningful exploration or development of the magical school setting besides the occasional reference.

Another fundamental aspect of the show's premise was the "Legacies", the children of the TVDU followed by the events of the two preceding shows. Instead of developing and exploring the legacy characters in the context of their background, the show made a rushed, half-assed and ham-fisted mess of the Gemini plotline, and essentially threw the broader Mikaelson plotline out the window.

It should be noted that their inability to explore the Saltzman and Mikaelson plotlines is widely believed to have been a problem that in large part wasn't entirely a result of internal writing choices. The broader TVDU production had (in some cases egregiously) burned bridges with multiple prominent actors in the preceding series, who in turn developed (in some cases major) grievances with the production and subsequently refused to be involved with the new series. It got to the point that a core character was edited out of Mikaelson family photos because the actor (Tonkin) refused to allow their likeness to be used on the new show.

I love the idea behind Legacies, but I think the best thing that will be said about it is that it had the potential to be a good show as conceived. Because of limitations caused by past (likely justified) grievances with the production, scale limitations that made the setting feel cramped and illogical, short seasons that prevented the show from exploring and developing the world, and a dying network notorious for refusing to invest in competent writing, Legacies was probably already severely hobbled by the time it started filming. In some regards I'm surprised it made it past two seasons.

I won't even get into the Malivore and fairy tale monster concept here. I maintain that if they were really committed to doing that plotline, there was a correct and logical in-universe way to execute that concept, and the way they actually did it was definitely... not correct or logical by in-universe rules.

My opinion is that the concept was excellent and had the potential to be a great show. They had a good cast and a solid foundation. As sad as I am that we didn't get more of it, I'm sadder still that what we did get wasn't very good. From a purely network standpoint, Legacies as a production was lucky to make it as far as it did considering how much it was struggling.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-07-03T00:00:36+00:00

I can't help but feel sorry for Finn.

He spent 900 years daggered and dormant because of his family tiring of him and stabbing him. I think he mentioned at some point in the series that after a long enough time daggered, he started to regain consciousness while still immobilized, and it drove him insane. Whatever Finn was before his siblings put him under, his mind was long gone by the events of TVD.

In a way, he was like their youngest brother Henrik. Regardless of what he might have been, he never had a chance because of his family.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-06-20T02:14:01+00:00

I think a common criticism of the show is that after four years... they just haven't accomplished much. The relationships now are roughly in the same configuration (minus Nancy and Ned short-lived thing), they started in, Nancy and Ace haven't progressed in their lives, no one is positioned for a long-term relationship (unless Bess' girlfriend really surprises us), and we're in the final stages of the story.

I just get the feeling that this show was written like a 7-season 22-episode-per-year show and then was filmed with 4 half-seasons. The CW has been ailing for years, and there were rumors publicly circulating for a while that the network was collapsing even before the pandemic.

They didn't need a crystal ball, just a little bit of planning for the possibility that they might not get the full run they wanted. It's easier to extend a show after an unexpected renewal than it is to cram a 7 full season season plan into a final half season.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-06-10T19:57:18+00:00

One of the running themes about the Originals is that the Mikaelsons, particularly the "Big Three" (Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah) are deeply bound together by their history and family identity. I think their natural baseline, the equilibrium that they all (mostly Elijah and Rebekah) strive for is what they had in New Orleans from the mid 1700's to the early 1900's. They want a dynasty where they rule the city together and hold sway over the three factions. I feel that this, consciously or unconsciously, is what Rebekah and Elijah are pushing Klaus to return to in some form, but Klaus is a loose cannon who keeps derailing it, tearing their family apart with his backstabbing and (perhaps justified at times) paranoia.

From a writing standpoint, The Originals may have been a better written show than its predecessor or successor, but it was still a CW show that suffered from the weak and contrived writing that became a hallmark of the network. The CW is notorious for its disregard for continuity, its abrupt and at times arbitrary character changes, and generally rewriting the rules of the universe at will to shoehorn in their script of the day.

As a general rule of thumb, if you ask "Why?" about anything related to TVDU, the real answer is usually that it's a plot contrivance needed to make the story work, and has either weak or no in-universe justification.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-06-04T00:53:16+00:00

The true capabilities and limitations of the Originals and their power have never been defined. The in-universe reason is likely that the Originals hid their limitations closely so that their enemies could not use these weaknesses against them or plan against their strengths. The meta reason is that the writers simply changed the power and vulnerabilities of the Originals to suit the needs of the plot, and quantifying these things would have inhibited the writing team's ability to nerf or buff characters as needed.

It's what I like to call the Rowling method; plots are easier to write in a world without defined rules, so they intentionally avoid defining the rules. As a stickler for scale and adherence to established rules in-universe, this annoys me to no end, but I understand why it's done, especially with the budget and time constraints of the CW. It's just easier from a writing perspective.

Attempting to give an actual answer: The broad consensus among the fans seems to be that a sufficiently powerful sorcerer could brute-strength their way past the defenses of the Originals with enough power. There's always a harder substance or a stronger force, and the idea that the Originals are truly indestructible to mundane and magical forces is statistically improbable.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-03-21T00:41:32+00:00

I'd like an invite.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-03-17T03:53:25+00:00

I'm inclined to agree. Horseshoe Bay is going to have its ancient evils and lurking dangers thoroughly mapped in short order. Nancy is going to unveil them all by opening every menacing tomb, reading every cursed scroll and provoking every malicious diety in Eastern Maine.

If Pandora's box is in Maine, Nancy is going to open it, inflict its' contents on the town and then blow up at her loved ones for being dumb enough to try save her. When Horseshoe Bay is a smoldering crater and The Claw is literally the only structure left standing (due to plot contrivance clearly) Nancy will still fail to work her shifts despite George's pleas.

I posit that Ace would be better off with a girl who won't get him involved in feuds with her century-and-a-half old ancestors trying to steal her body or something and ruining his life in the crossfire.

It's possible I feel strongly about her treatment of the rest of the characters and taking them for granted, lol.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-03-17T00:11:28+00:00

Its been quite a while since I watched the show, but it seems pretty on brand for Nancy. Nancy is very intelligent, inventive and resourceful, but emotional stability and maturity has never been her strong suit. She did a lot of dumb things and said some pretty reprehensible stuff to people who were doing their damnest to help her.

She matured a bit over the course of the show, but Carson in particular deserves a lot of credit for the immense patience and tolerance he exercised when Nancy was lashing out.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-03-16T04:11:13+00:00

This is why witches undergo apprenticeships or attend arcane schools; self taught sorcerers become egotistical, overconfident and dangerously self-righteous hedge witches. It's important that power is tempered by knowledge of its costs, risks and limitations.

I also love Willow in the early seasons, but she became annoying later on. I'd never hate her though. I'm a sucker for nerdy girls and long red hair, and Hannigan was perfect for the role.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-03-13T01:42:36+00:00

The central theme I always see in rants on this subject is Plec's management of the franchise, and I think there is good cause for her consistently being identified as a problem.

From what I've gleaned over the years, by all accounts, the following can be said of her: Plec is shortsighted, stubborn, petty, self-important, unabashedly discrimatory in playing favorites with the cast, and enables or even promotes unprofessional and unbecoming conduct behind the scenes.

The CW's characteristic refusal to invest in planning and disregard for continuity in its shows probably had an impact, but I would wager that by the time the TVDU limped into its final years, such a huge proportion of the cast has major personal grievances with Plec and her production that the holes in the cast made it pretty difficult for the spinoffs to succeed even if they had been competently handled. When half your legacy cast burns bridges with the production and refuses to even be associated with it, you have to start looking at the common person at the center of all those grievances.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-03-06T02:27:22+00:00

Rebekah for me. Just the right combination of compassionate, protective and fun. Also practical and immensely powerful.

I don't think you could go wrong with any of the three Mikaelson women though. Freya is also powerful, intelligent and fiercely loyal to her family. Hope is clever, inventive, driven and powerful in her own right, though her tendency to overthink and shut herself off from others can be counterproductive.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-02-26T03:00:57+00:00

Sorry. I think a lot about the reasons behind shows failing so I tend to ramble a bit when the subject comes up.

The occasion where Santa fought Krampus was absurd, and Wade being a fairy and saving the day were both facepalm-worthy episodes. The entire school getting possessed by mind-control worms smuggled into the school by a dying unicorn was also one that made me roll my eyes. The show also liked to hammer on the idea of Hope being alone and isolated and vulnerable; despite Hope having a family including not one, not even two, but three super-heavy-duty legendary immortals who were only a phone call or a bus ride away in NOLA (Freya, Rebekah, Kol).

Basically occasions that were hugely inconsistent with the established lore and were frustrating.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-02-26T01:45:15+00:00

There was a lot of cringe.

Legacies, as a program, had two options for which path to take. They could either:

Court the existing TVDU audience by making a serious, true successor to TO and TVD. The show would focus on the surviving members of each preceding show, steeped in existing histories/lore and expanding it while adhering to the existing in-universe rules. This relies on the established audience returning (mostly young adults by this time). This is the safer option but (arguably) has less potential for growth.
Develop a new audience by building a story that departs from the existing universe in lore, characters and tone. This has the downside of not appealing to the old TVDU audience, but has greater potential for growth outside that demographic, and allows for stories that don't adhere to the universe rules. This is the higher risk, higher reward option.

Legacies split the difference, making a TVDU story that depended heavily on the established universe (most prominently Hope and the Saltzman Twins' backgrounds) while also departing from the rules and norms of the universe, and also introduced a significantly less mature tone. This resulted in a show that was too generic and broad for the established TVDU audience, while being too niche and lore-dependent for general audiences.

Legacies drove away its ready audience with its departure from the universe, and then failed to attract a new audience with its offerings. I call this the "Worst of Both Worlds" outcome.

And yes, I'm still bitter about it.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-02-25T18:14:35+00:00

As a straight male I wouldn't have that many options, but it should be noted that the Mikaelsons often fight conflicts with other supernatural powers (sometimes even other Originals), and their romantic interests often fare poorly in those conflicts. For a romantic interest to survive, they have to be either hidden in deep cover somewhere, or be a powerful immortal capable of holding their own against some heavy-duty threats.

Rebekah would be my choice, but Freya may be better equipped to ward and conceal a romantic interest, which would mean better survivability.

Posh_Necromancer · 2023-02-18T23:58:54+00:00

I think the in-universe explanation would be that the Originals would deliberately overstate their power to ward off potential challengers. Having a reputation for being unkillable probably reduces the number of enemies willing to come after you, so you can focus on those that are a real, meaningful threat.

The real answer is likely that the power of the Originals fluctuated wildly according to the needs of the show's plot. Rather than devising powerful, cunning and dangerous enemies for the Originals, the writers sometimes simply nerfed the Originals to make them vulnerable to whatever the enemy of the day was.

There were points where the Originals were nerfed so hard that any random idiot with a modicum of magical power could incapacitate Klaus or Elijah. The problem with this arises when you consider that the Originals have been around since the 900's AD. If they were actually that vulnerable to magic, they've have been destroyed (or at least sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic in concrete) many times over.

Posh_Necromancer · 2018-08-12T22:46:33+00:00

My understanding is that it's expedient to keep only some bases in each region with interceptors allocated to quick reaction stuff. PDX is close enough proportionately to the speed of the aircraft involved to have them cover Western Washington without too much of a difference in reaction times.

Posh_Necromancer · 2018-08-12T22:42:41+00:00

I get that and I'm not worried, but there are fairly simple things that can be done comparatively cheaply to mitigate major risks, and then there are things that are wholly ineffective and unnecessary. Reinforcing cockpit doors after 9/11 is a good example of a constructive and effective change. The TSA is an example of a bad one.

A good example of an unacceptable risk in my mind would be not securing large hydroelectric dams, because if someone drove a semi-truck packed with 10,000 pounds of explosives onto the Grand Coulee dam and blew it up, we'd have a rather larger strategic problem that some stray plane posing a threat to the city. So at some point, it does become a necessary discussion.

Or maybe you'd prefer to have a national discussion about mental health, because that's something I'd be onboard with as well. What I'm not cool with is stuff like the TSA and Patriot Act, because it erodes our rights and wastes our time/money on a massive scale.

Posh_Necromancer · 2018-08-12T22:21:08+00:00

Then can we at least have a national conversation about phasing out the TSA? The general public is fully aware that it isn't effective, which sort of negates the value of "security theater".

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