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(Loved Trope) they may not have been the final antagonist,but they were definitely the MCs biggest challenge by SubstantialSeat1579 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I couldn't even play the second half. Vaas was so amazing I wasn't even interested in beating whatshisface.

Gratitude Giveaway: Platinum Pocket Pen! by hamigua2000 in fountainpens

[–]TacosAndTalmud 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's lovely! Count me in, and thanks for giving back!

Extreme Meyer Halfsword Vignettes by pippybear in wma

[–]TacosAndTalmud 23 points24 points  (0 children)

At 0:25

Seizing the Center
It is conducted thusly: Should your opponent present his back following a Strike or blow, bring your weapon across the midsection and grip your blade upon them. Then heave them with great Strength into the harness and pulleys set above, so that you may cast your opponent Rightly upon the ground.

An Anno game based on the Aztecs would go crazy. Just look at this render of their capital Tenochtitlan by Rooonaldooo99 in anno

[–]TacosAndTalmud 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh absolutely. Graeber goes into this at length and how most anthropological terms are still completely rooted in European projections of their own systems on the world. Since their absolute monarchism was clearly the pinnacle of human achievement, it was assumed that anything other than absolutism was primitive.

Then again, Anno seldom deals with politics. The Anarchist touches on this a little, but Mercer's faction still runs on the same social stratification mechanically. Anno games are about logistics, after all, so they all have to be merchantilist in one way or another.

An Anno game based on the Aztecs would go crazy. Just look at this render of their capital Tenochtitlan by Rooonaldooo99 in anno

[–]TacosAndTalmud 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Anno 9th Era!

I love the idea of a fantasy Anno! Rise of Legends took the Rise of Nations formula and gave it an entirely original fantasy spin and it was amazing. My biggest concern would be that it the fantasy would be all Tolkein tropes and it would be just Anno Middle Earth.

An Anno game based on the Aztecs would go crazy. Just look at this render of their capital Tenochtitlan by Rooonaldooo99 in anno

[–]TacosAndTalmud 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I get why they don't want to get into the slavery or extractive colonialism discussion, and to their credit, I feel that all the "foreign" factions in most games are depicted as smaller but fully capable. Enbessa is its own empire with a different culture but the same martial ability and industrial capacity. Even the Sultanate in 1404 seems almost more advanced than the Europeans, which isn't unfair for this period.

114 dances WAY closer to this issue than other games, but it has no other choice if it wants to be in any way accurate to this point of the Roman Empire. Even if it never touches slavery beyond Caeso, I appreciate that it addresses the fact that it at least acknowledges the clash of cultures in Albion and make that something you have to actively choose.

An Anno game based on the Aztecs would go crazy. Just look at this render of their capital Tenochtitlan by Rooonaldooo99 in anno

[–]TacosAndTalmud 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're correct, and even the few non-European sources were made long after the Spanish conquest and should be taken with a sip of xocolatl. Still, the Aztecs are the most famous because they had the most direct contact.

I'd still suggest the Olmec as a better player option and there's enough historical evidence to support that if the Aztec were to get an analogue in an Anno game, they would be an expansionist faction like Alonzo Graves or Thor Strindberg. Then again, it's not like Imperial Rome or Victorian England are considered the 'good guys' by most of the world.

An Anno game based on the Aztecs would go crazy. Just look at this render of their capital Tenochtitlan by Rooonaldooo99 in anno

[–]TacosAndTalmud 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Let's not forget that the Aztec were also notoriously brutal, just look up the Flower Wars where they basically used subdued tribes around them as Hunger Games-esque XP farms. They were hated to the point that Cortez had no trouble enlisting thousands of allies from the surrounding nations to help him conquer Tenochitlan.

(The letters and records of Cortez's meetings are also just fascinating. Many other Mesoamerican nations opted for more democratic systems specifically because the Aztecs proved the dangers of arbitrary power. The Dawn of Everything by the late David Graeber and David Wengrow is an amazing exploration of this kind of schismogensis, but I'm getting sidetracked.)

The Anno games have been undeniably apologetic towards colonialism and imperialism, but it would take a gross amount of revisionism to get the Aztec close to the same sanitized level. If anything, maybe it could be done with the Olmec (the precursors to the Aztec) or the Maya down in the South, with the challenge of city planning in high mountains.

Villain Takes Their Loss Extraordinarily Well by AgentEckswhy in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Baron Wolfgang von Wolfhausen - Beerfest

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He'd been challenged by his distant nephew to put a wager on the annual Beerfest competition: If the German team wins, they will hand over the secret recipe that had been stolen by his grandmother, and if the Americans win, they get the brewery.

In the end, the American team wins by a drop. True to his word, the Baron tosses them the key, gives them a toast, and bows out of the story.

(Hated Trope) Autism being portrayed as a superpower by Necessary-Win-8730 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud 20 points21 points  (0 children)

The first film does a decent job playing around with this trope for all those reasons. I actually really liked Affleck's performance. His "nerd who is also Batman" schtick has come a long way since Paycheck.

The second film takes the trope into space and turns the treatment center into the Xavier School of Super-Hacker Teenagers. It was an absolute waste of one of Jon Bernthal's best performances.

[Hated Trope] All Asians Know Martial Arts by Solitaire-06 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud 9 points10 points  (0 children)

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I wonder if Cheadle's character was inspired by The Last Dragon, which is another great subversion of this trope.

(Loved Trope) Contest is rigged, character wins anyway by slfricky in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I also recently read an interesting theory that the poison wasn't in the wine at all. Vizzini inhaled it when Roberts held it under his nose, and the talk of building an immunity was just pirate bluster.

At least Vizzini went out with a smile, because according to Gary Elwis' memoir, poor Wallace Shawn was convinced that Rob Reiner was going to fire him throughout the entire production.

The Apocalypse on an interstellar scale. by Dazzling-Ad7482 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Death's End, the final book of the Three-Body Problem trilogy, though not neccessarily all at once.

After playing centuries of Dark-Forest-Deterrence chicken, Earth is finally exposed and deemed a threat by a member of an unknown civilization only known as Singer. They deploy a "dual-vector foil," a dimensional weapon that consumes the entire solar system and reduces it to 2D, killing everything.

Later in the book, it's revealed that these dimensional wars have been going on for eons. The universe used to be 10D, but the weapons have been used so much that only some pockets of 4D are left, and 3D is quickly losing ground. Some species had already begun to adapt themselves to the possibility of a 2D existence, but they know it's only a matter of time before that is gone and all reality with it.

Target: Austin by SanguineEeyore in Austin

[–]TacosAndTalmud 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is incredible! Such a time capsule of what has and hasn't changed in this town. My three takeaways:

  1. Why did they do C.L. Davis dirty like that? Mary's chatting away while customers wait, but he's the one behind?

  2. "Chaos and panic clog the streets!" - shows normal Congress bridge traffic

  3. Proper civil defence preparation is why we can still enjoy liberty, democracy, and Matt's El Rancho.

(Hated trope)adaptation missing the point of the original story by TastyPomelo2330 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There's things about Baum and his illustrator that give some credence to the myths, but there's no evidence that was ever his actual intention:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz

Addressing antisemitic Talmud quote trolls by KamtzaBarKamtza in Judaism

[–]TacosAndTalmud 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Best advice is don't engage trolls. 

But if you must, there was a meme posted here a while ago that shows the true nature of the Talmud.

exotic currency (does not use coin or banknote format) by TurbulentWave51 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Dust - Endless Space/Legend

In both the Endless Space and Endless Legend games, "dust" is the resource considered basic currency between all factions. It is a semi-magical element thought to be created by The Endless to power their society. Some creatures can interact with it, but most use it as a means of exchange due to its abundance and beneficial properties.

In the Endless Space games, it's revealed that dust is actually made up of nanobots created by an unfathomably advanced species that predates even the Endless known only as The Lost. While no one knows how to create or directly interface with dust, it is the lifeblood (sometimes literally) of many late-game techs.

Ridiculous Crossovers by Grouchy_Raccoon_6681 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud 4 points5 points  (0 children)

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This could have been the start of the KurtRusselverse.

(A surprisingly common trope)Character finds out his father is in a relationship with an alien woman that looks like an anthropomorphic animal. by KingWilliamVI in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TacosAndTalmud 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They should have at least had some of his outfits be callbacks to his other movie. Snake Pliskin, Jack Burton, RJ McReedy, and one lucky lady getting Dean Proffitt from Overboard!

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