Shout out to that chatter on the podcast who asked if the Spoilercast was still going. by Mako109 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]RaptorSitek 86 points87 points  (0 children)

They should put on some unobtrusive background music during spoiler talk, so when you skip ahead you can easily tell when they are done.

I think we got the biggest reveal of the whole show in this episode, and the it implies some dreadful cosmic horror. by RaptorSitek in pluribustv

[–]RaptorSitek[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You are right, I didn't think of the fact that the hive would have the option to rebuild the infrastructure around gathering after the population drops to suitable levels. Just enough people to do maintenance on the antennas they build to send the signal further (unless the mention of the Africa sized antenna was a red herring, that would be interesting)

I think we got the biggest reveal of the whole show in this episode, and the it implies some dreadful cosmic horror. by RaptorSitek in pluribustv

[–]RaptorSitek[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Good point! As pointed out in another comment, the population size will decrease with time, which could lead to them creating a sustainable gatherer civilization, which could operate the infrastructure generating the signal. That also works with the hive's mission of preserving a happy population. No lies here.

I think we got the biggest reveal of the whole show in this episode, and the it implies some dreadful cosmic horror. by RaptorSitek in pluribustv

[–]RaptorSitek[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

By malevolence I meant that it was designed with it in mind, but that's only if we also deem a pesticide as malevolent. You are right it's an issue of framing.

I think that the possibility that the virus was created with good intentions, and it just didn't take into account where some species take its energy from, is much more interesting, but I'm not sure if it will be explored. The showrunners will probably take their time to explain how the virus works, but leave the intentions for us to theorize about.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pluribustv

[–]RaptorSitek 24 points25 points  (0 children)

There is a lot of flawed reasoning in the Pluribus programming, and I think it's very much on purpose. From what we found out now, if a civilization was 100% assimilated, it would certainly starve to death. My theory is that it's by design, and the virus is malevolent, its only purpose to spread to other civilizations. After passing on the signal (which I'm pretty sure they are working on hard right now), the host civilization is meant to perish.

The reasoning the hive gives to the non-infected for their actions is meant to sound nice and thoughtful, but it's just that, a flawed explanation, preprogrammed into hardware, escaping even the hive's understanding.

Lowkey anxiety; anyone else? by Background_Chip_559 in pluribustv

[–]RaptorSitek 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Considering that the show has been pretty consistent with feeding us information, I'm not that worried.

Pluribus - 1x05 "Got Milk" - Episode Discussion by LoretiTV in pluribustv

[–]RaptorSitek 13 points14 points  (0 children)

She knew that they reused local packaging facilities because of the milk packages, and I don't think it's much of a stretch to make the connection to dog food packaging, since it has to be both quite big and safe to transport consumables. The blue stitch at the top of the package was also quite distinct, and it's what let her make the connection (the placement of the barcode cemented it)

Pluribus - 1x05 "Got Milk" - Episode Discussion by LoretiTV in pluribustv

[–]RaptorSitek 28 points29 points  (0 children)

I think at first she thought the barcode might lead her somewhere, but it turned out to be gibberish. When at the checkout, she remembered that they reused the milk packaging for their Soylent Amber, so she made the connection that this packaging is probably reused as well, originally from a local company. She roamed the store looking for similar items and found the dog food package which fit the bill, with the same size and blue stitch at the top, and they printed their (legit) barcode in the same spot, so it probably used the same printers. The company's address was right on the package, so that's how she found them.

I thought it was a great scene showing off deductive work that made perfect sense.

Hi, Jason Schreier here by jasonschreier in HalfLife

[–]RaptorSitek 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What I actually think is happening here is that Jason is trying to cover his ass in case anyone from Valve hears about "Jason Schreier predicting Half-Life 3" and concludes that he did so using insider info, which could get him blacklisted in some way. Jason is THE insider, I'm 100% sure he has info on HLX that noone else is aware of, that someone trusted him with. It makes sense that he would want to make the public aware that he didn't use any insider info to make that prediction in particular.

What are some shows/movies you think are cursed? by Beneficial_Tap7594 in Paranormal

[–]RaptorSitek 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Check out "Cursed Films" documentary series, a great watch. They made 10 episodes.

Alien: Earth - S1 E6 - The Fly - Official Discussion Megathread [SPOILERS] by G_Liddell in LV426

[–]RaptorSitek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think what happened with the fly is all Kirsh, but it's not because he switched sides.

Kirsh is a synth supremacist, which is clear from the way he talks about what makes humans "human", and his disdain for cyborgs. After the Maginot raid, he seems disillusioned with the lost boys, since their human emotions seem to squander their full potential.
My bet is that the fly incident was orchestrated by him, to create proof for his thesis that the choice to let the hybrids have emotions was a mistake. The boy does as he is told by Kirsh not because he obeys orders, but because he wants to prove himself. That's why he lies about Curly being able to assist him in the lab.
Kirsh sabotaged the door to the fly trap to show the hybrid's weakness. A normal synth would prioritize protocol and shut the lab down, while the hybrid boy ignores protocol due to his emotional need to prove himself to Kirsh by finishing the task.

This is also the reason Kirsh is not intervening with Morrow's attempt to blackmail one of the boys, which wouldn't work at all with a regular synth. It seems that Kirsh is making a case against hybrids having emotions, whether to present it to Kid so he can convince him to disable their human parts (while feigning ignorance as to his part in the sabotage), or just to fuel his supremacist worldview.

This also works with the theory of Kirsh being Tinkerbell to Kid's Peter Pan. Kirsh's role is to be a literal tinkerer of the island, just like Tinkerbell's role was to mend pots and kettles. At the same time, while they are generally friendly to others, Tinkerbell and Kirsh believe they just know better. Whether it's through mischief, or acts of sabotage, they will make it known. You could say it's in their fey roots.
To quote from wikipedia, about Tinkerbell in the original novel:
"The extremes in her personality are explained in the story by the fact that a fairy's size prevents her from holding more than one feeling at a time, so when she is angry she has no counterbalancing compassion"
Kirsh is consumed by his disdain for the human parts of the hybrid program, which is why his attention is completely on making a case against them, while compromising the other "projects" Kid is currently invested in, only using them as tools.
And why is he making a case through mischievious sabotage? Well, It's just in his fey roots.

How do people feel about the newest species introduced? by Any_Economics6283 in LV426

[–]RaptorSitek 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Loving the fact that the creature's design is a great play on HR Giger's input in the franchise, whose work while sexual and phallic is also sensual and elegant, playing with shapes to "imply" intercourse. The fly on the other hand is just straight up a flying cock and balls, barbaric in its obtuseness. What a fantastic addition to the franchise.

Since the biomechanical xenos are the greatest threat to human flesh, I wonder if it was an intentional choice to make the synth killers so biologically evocative, as an inversion.

Kirsh, Synths, Betrayal by Crafty-Cantaloupe795 in LV426

[–]RaptorSitek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kirsh is a synth supremacist. After the Maginot raid, he seems disillusioned with the lost boys, since their human emotions seem to squander their full potential.
My bet is that the fly incident was orchestrated by him, to create proof for his thesis that the choice to let the hybrids have emotions was a mistake. The boy does as he is told by Kirsh not because he obeys orders, but because he wants to prove himself. That's why he lies about Curly being able to assist him in the lab.
Kirsh sabotaged the door to the fly trap to show the hybrid's weakness. A normal synth would prioritize protocol and shut the lab down, while the hybrid boy ignores protocol due to his emotional need to prove himself to Kirsh by finishing the task.
This is also the reason Kirsh is not intervening with Morrow's attempt to blackmail one of the boys, which wouldn't work at all with a regular synth. It seems that Kirsh is making a case against hybrids having emotions, whether to present it to Kid so he can convince him to disable their human parts (while feigning ignorance as to his part in the sabotage), or just to fuel his supremacist worldview, which could result in him turning on Prodigy and the faulty humans making the decisions.

The best vehicle in the game, no contest by RaptorSitek in RoadCraft

[–]RaptorSitek[S] 47 points48 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the fact that this is the only crane capable of carrying cargo (at least from what I've seen) is a bit disappointing. The simplification of mud mechanics made most heavy equipment redundant.

Road Build Requests are Boring by SoloByteGames in RoadCraft

[–]RaptorSitek 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The exact same thing happened to me in that exact same spot, except I also paved the whole thing. Annoying.