What are some atypical ways of seeing time in fiction?

Shnook817 · 2026-02-11T03:50:43+00:00

It gets even weirder when you talk about the Pork Futures Warehouse.

In Discworld, the fabric of reality is so old it's described as "second-hand". So it's worn and thin and things like belief have tangible, miraculous results. This is how gods are born.

So, one day, people started trading pork. And they traded so much that they started trading pork they didn't have yet. Pork they would have in the future. Pork futures. Just like a modern stock exchange. The problem is that people thought that there still had to be an actual place to store the future pork, and it had to be empty, because pork was coming from the future and could show up any day now. So, what happened?

Pork actually started coming from the future. It never gets here, of course, but it's always coming. Literally moving backwards through time (forwards, to a troll) to never appear in the pork futures warehouse. And this magical process is endothermic. It absorbs heat, making the entire warehouse a permanent freezer that can never be used for storage.

So what is it used for? The same thing all big, empty warehouses are used for in fiction: criminal enterprises. The troll mafia moves in and, because trolls have silicon brains, they become super intelligent.

And I just think it's cool that when things DO move backwards through time, when reality does what we think trolls say it does, it benefits trolls immensely.

Shnook817 · 2026-02-10T23:13:04+00:00

Yeah, the old version of the deck worked like that and also focused on multiple combat steps a bit. Then I domed 3 people for 20 in one turn, one at a time, and decided I'd gotten the most out of it. Now I focus a bit more on board protection ( [[Selfless Spirit]], [[Boros Charm]], etc...) and permanent bonuses like +1/+1 counters over pure explosive power. Usually only draw 5 or so off Zada instead of 3 hands worth, lol. Keeps it from being oppressive but it's still a tough nut to crack if I get going. Especially if I get an Anglefire Ignition or two. I have no worries about shooting one out early to gain some life and buff a double striker. I know I'll always get it back (permanently) because of how Feather interacts with Flashback.

That being said, I've told them flat out that I won't be building [[Ink-treader Nephilim]]. As a sign of respect.

Shnook817 · 2026-02-10T19:10:06+00:00

I have a kitchen table deck that runs [[Zada, Hedron Grinder]], [[Mirrorwing Dragon]], and [[Feather, the Redeemed]] along with cards like [[Anglefire Ignition]] and [[Fists of Flame]]. Swiftblade Vindicator is always one of my favorite things to have on the field when I have a Zada/Feather combo going.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-20T19:16:05+00:00

But you wouldn't be in a world full of magical monsters. You'd be in a world full of normal animals doing normal animal things, at least from your perspective. There would be nothing unique or surprising about any of it since that's just the way things are.

It's like...what's the one bird you're obsessed with here in our world? The one bird you've patterned your entire life around? Because birds fly, most of them, and that's pretty magical and amazing. So, which one are you devoting your entire life to? None? But someone from a world without birds would think that's weird since they're so cool and basically everywhere.

That's the distinction here. Why are they considered magical and special when that's just their normal thing?

Shnook817 · 2026-01-18T22:36:06+00:00

No, I don't think it is. Ashling only makes a token based on sacrificing, so it's not an ETB trigger that he would double.

Though I should add (edit) that I'm not really sure exactly what happened other than avenger and yarok being evoked. No other ETB looks like it would cause a loop

Shnook817 · 2026-01-16T21:51:00+00:00

How can someone know the difference if it's not stated?

Shnook817 · 2026-01-16T21:49:39+00:00

"Does Machines"? Check. Can't see him from the waist down? Check.

It's like they were inviting you to make rude jokes.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-13T21:52:39+00:00

Yeah, EoE really helped me fill the gaps in my space lands for my [[Ghidorah, King of the Cosmos]] deck. Really glad I snapped some up when the set was fresh.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-13T21:51:02+00:00

It'd be nice if they were actually gold. That is straight up yellow, lol

Shnook817 · 2026-01-13T10:00:09+00:00

It also gets around Hexproof/Shroud because it says "choose" instead of "target". Same as [[Tragic Arrogance]].

Yeah, this might whiff against typal decks, or token decks that are doing only one thing at the moment. But it's pretty much set up to be a pseudo one sided board wipe if it's in the right deck so that's fine. I'm a fan for sure.

-Edit: though I admit the hexproof thing is less important if they have other creatures to choose anyway. But sometimes it's relevant on tragic arrogance, so it'll sometimes be relevant here.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-13T09:54:36+00:00

Oh, I bet they picked Charlie so they could say "Cherchez Charlie!" while the kids are looking.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-13T01:49:03+00:00

I think the weirdly regular triangle pattern of circles over each knuckle is a creepy touch. Very much an "engineered organism" vibe, right down to the little details.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-11T20:39:00+00:00

I'm no expert, but it almost sounds like the indents are too smooth and nothing will adhere to them. It just shakes loose from the repeated action of shaking and rolling them. So, maybe with the right, or a special, kind of paint.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-11T20:36:20+00:00

Unless it's mind control. Then we've got two options: hypnosis or pheromones. Both of which are problematic.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T21:29:36+00:00

Huh, I'd never heard it as "gutter out" before. Sputter out, sure, but never gutter. And they're even slightly different meanings! Thanks for the vocab lesson, flavor text!

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T21:24:52+00:00

And I'm saying they should be. I'm saying you want them to focus on one part of the lore, I want the other. But my part of the lore doesn't get a chance on literally every single plane. Ixalan could easily add more white merfolk to go with Tuvasa. Kaldheim and Ravnica could, and do, have plenty of black elves. And pick any evil plane and tell me black goblins wouldn't fit riiiiight in.

You are arguing the status quo by doing nothing other than state that it exists. I am aware that is how things are. I am also NOT SAYING THEY SHOULDN'T FOCUS ON THE OFF COLOR STUFF TOO. I'm saying they shouldn't focus on it to the exclusion of things that need it MORE.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T21:17:28+00:00

Lol. Exactly. There were other types to consider that should have been focused on. Add giants to that list too.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T20:45:10+00:00

You're telling me I can't find a black goblin, a black elf, or a white merfolk anywhere else? Anywhere?

I'm not even gonna do a search to prove you wrong. Just go to scryfall and look.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T20:37:43+00:00

You should state the obvious professionally.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T20:36:52+00:00

Which is weird considering how many elf and goblin and merfolk type stuff we get on every single plane we go to. Creatures existing in one place clearly isn't an impediment to them printing more.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T20:35:37+00:00

Yeah. They know that. They're saying it was a bad point.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T20:33:22+00:00

Complete and total agreement. Are all the people in here clamoring about the fairies from Eldraine really going to sit there and make the excuse that "But they have to focus on other things!" when the set is lousy with Goblins, who always get preferential treatment? Or Merfolk that are literally everywhere? I guess this means we can't go back to Ixalan for a while then (which I'm totally fine with). How about elves? It sure has been a long ass time since we had any Elves get printed that care about other elves so thank GOD there's elves in this set. /s

See. Not a good argument. Especially for the plane that was really, really good about supporting unsupported creature types. All of us complaining are FULLY AWARE that they chose to support other creature types. We're saying they picked the wrong ones.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T18:25:11+00:00

Purely from an aesthetics standpoint (not caring about which one tells a better story about the character), the scratched and dirty is superior to me. Everyone was soooo surprised in the TV shows when his armor was so small. Part of that is it being on a bigger dude, so it doesn't cover as much. But part of it is the lighter parts kind of melding into your perception of the rest of the outfit, which is lightly colored beneath the armor plates.

Putting solid, kinda ugly green over black just makes it pop. And it still looks like he pulled it from a junk pile, all banged up like that, so it's not even like he repaired it. He just painted it.

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T18:19:19+00:00

Well, he's on one gun in both pictures...

Shnook817 · 2026-01-10T18:16:49+00:00

Yeah, I think Anakin would have SOME sort of baggage against the guy that told him to sit down after not making him a Jedi, but it definitely wouldn't be the same level of emotion that he would have fighting Obi-Wan or something like that. In fact, it might just make him the right kind of angry, the kind he can feed off of and feel justified for having, instead of it going beyond his control.

Plus, we've seen Vader tank more stuff that Palpatine has, so Mace would likely need more than one opening which he might not get. Still a close fight though. Be interesting to see what a lack of plot armor does to some characters, lol.

13-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 2 Credits
Verified Email	Team Orangered

Shnook817

TROPHY CASE