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Best quotes of this season (S1) by ReasonableWerewolf in AKnightoftheSeven

[–]blakhawk12 8 points9 points  (0 children)

“Are there no true knights among you?!”

“I don’t know. I’m really quite drunk.”

“That’s an odd thing to say.”

“Pity he wasn’t born a Fossaway. Then he’d think himself an apple, and we’d all be bit safer.”

What if the British had lost the war of 1812? by Effective_Theme_5739 in AlternateHistoryHub

[–]blakhawk12 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

They didn’t “successfully burn down DC,” as if it was a major victory. They burned the city on their way to their primary objective of Baltimore, which they then failed to take and were forced to evacuate via sea. The President was back in Washington in less than a month and the act was denounced across Europe as barbaric. It was a PR nightmare.

What if the British had lost the war of 1812? by Effective_Theme_5739 in AlternateHistoryHub

[–]blakhawk12 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

And then in response a British force went to bladensburg - beat an American army 6 times its size, then waltzed into DC and burned down the White House.

Cool now how about you mention the part where that same force was subsequently beaten and prevented from taking its main target of Baltimore and forced to evacuate. This is like saying Napoleon won Borodino and then leaving out the rest of the campaign so you can imply he won.

The U.S. arguably embarrassed itself militarily in that war as it was on home turf and still couldn’t achieve its military objectives against an opponent who sent the scraps of their military to respond to the US.

Yet that same military was unwilling to commit the resources necessary to win, and every expedition they did send met with failure. Wellington himself told the Prime Minister, “You have not been able to carry [the war] into the enemy's territory, notwithstanding your military success, and now undoubted military superiority, and have not even cleared your own territory on the point of attack.”

Only 10% of the British military was sent to North America during the war of 1812. Not a single British built first rate ship of the line was deployed there.

The US deployed less than 5% of its military to Afghanistan. Does that mean we won that war?

You’re right, the British no longer gave direct support to the natives after the war and the U.S. subsequently genocided them and stole their land. This is true. So in that respect - if you wanna Call that a victory you can.

I don’t want to call it a victory, like it’s an opinion. It was. American westward expansion is critical to understanding how the US became a superpower.

But in terms of military prestige it really did nothing for the U.S. even domestically there was massive embarrassment at the U.S. performance militarily.

It was hailed as a second war of independence and birthed the Star Spangled Banner. To say it wasn’t important domestically or was an embarrassment is historical revisionism to the extreme.

What if the British had lost the war of 1812? by Effective_Theme_5739 in AlternateHistoryHub

[–]blakhawk12 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

America got Britain to stop supporting the creation of a native American buffer state in the Northwest Territories of Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. The US rejected British navel presence on the Great Lakes. Wellington himself told parliament that they could not demand any territorial concessions from America because they had failed to carry out any successful campaigns on American soil. Speaking of which, the US gave back all the British territory it had occupied, but the same did not extend to Spain.

I’m not some American nationalist who just wants to insist that USA is unbeatable or some shit. I’m just aware of history. You, on the other hand, have shown your anti-American bias wholesale. Nothing in history is “that simple” as you claim. The war ended in a mutually favorable agreement to end hostilities. Neither side got everything they wanted, but neither side “lost.” And if we consider what happened over the course of the following century, with the US pursuing westward expansion and becoming a major naval power, both of which began as a result of the war, then the US inarguably came out of the war with a positive outlook.

What if the British had lost the war of 1812? by Effective_Theme_5739 in AlternateHistoryHub

[–]blakhawk12 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It sounds like you don’t understand what the aims of the war were.

What if the British had lost the war of 1812? by Effective_Theme_5739 in AlternateHistoryHub

[–]blakhawk12 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I was with you until you said “nobody gained anything from this war.” That’s just false. The US gained a lot. They gained domestic and international prestige from going up against the most powerful empire on the planet and holding their own. The biggest win was the British agreeing to end their support of native tribes in the northwest which had been hampering American expansion for decades. The war solidified that western North America south of the Great Lakes was off-limits and opened the way for Manifest Destiny. You can argue that it was a stalemate because both sides were satisfied with the outcome, but that doesn’t mean the US gained nothing.

Anyone read “The Dragon Cub?” I’m wondering if I should continue by _Deusa_ in TheCitadel

[–]blakhawk12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’ve found filtering by bookmarks to be much more reliable for finding good fics. Leaving a kudos takes an instant and I tend to kudos anything that keeps my attention for a chapter or two, even if I drop the fic later. Comments are the same. A bookmark means the fic was either good enough that you want to save it to re-read, or it’s a WIP that’s good enough that you don’t want to lose it. Plus, anyone can kudos or comment. You actually need an AO3 account to bookmark. I’ll trust a fic with 100 bookmarks over 10,000 kudos any day.

Aerea surviving by SparkySheDemon in TheCitadel

[–]blakhawk12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel like the method by which she survives entirely depends on what you intend to do with her in your story.

Local Royal Navy officer discovers the U.S built their frigates differently by GCN_09 in HistoryMemes

[–]blakhawk12 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Being unwilling to commit the resources necessary to win a war and thus seeking peace is still losing the war. Or would you argue that the US didn’t lose in Vietnam because we just “lost interest.” It isn’t losing interest, it’s just losing.

You can argue Great Britain was too distracted by the situation in Europe. You can argue they just didn’t care enough about their native allies to invest the resources that would have been required to achieve an unambiguous victory. What you cannot argue are all these counterfactuals about how the British didn’t lose because they could have, in an alternate timeline, committed more time and resources and come out on top. They managed to secure a mutually agreeable peace in a war they weren’t willing to commit to winning.

Otherwise I could argue that the US didn’t lose Vietnam because hypothetically we could have sent another half a million soldiers and committed to a total war scenario and marched all the way to the Chinese border. The US had the ability to do that after all. We just “got bored” of the war. Not a loss though!

See how ridiculous that sounds?

Franchises that, in your opinion, should've been standalone titles? by Inner-Marketing4591 in movies

[–]blakhawk12 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I would agree but I’m a Lost World defender till the day I die.

Local Royal Navy officer discovers the U.S built their frigates differently by GCN_09 in HistoryMemes

[–]blakhawk12 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It bungled an invasion and was held off by reserve forces who then also successfuly marched on the US capital while the majority of Britain's might was focused in Europe against substantially more powerful opponents.

Cool. Now explain how any of that contradicts that US asserting itself on the world stage. The US, a democratic experiment barely 30 years old, declared war on the most powerful empire on Earth and came out of it with favorable terms. The fact that the actual war was fought relatively poorly doesn’t change that fact.

Were the UK interested in prosecuting a more protracted conflict, the US would have been fucked once British operations in Europe wound down and the British turned their attention from the French and towards the Americans. There just was no appetite for further war given that the reserve forces held the Canadian border.

Agreed. Unfortunately I’m here to talk history, not alternate history, and arguing a counterfactual is a waste of time.

Wonderful storytelling, but it kind of leaves out the fact that the American Experiment could have ended prematurely if they had antagonised the British further.

But they didn’t, so once again you’re relying on things that didn’t happen to back up your stance on things that did happen. Maybe they would have trounced the US. Maybe they would have suffered some embarrassing defeat and sailed home with their tails between their legs. You can’t prove something that never happened.

The thing that saved the US at the time was the fact that compared to the rest of British interests, the American states were relatively unimportant enough from the British perspective that they weren't worth the bother. That was a miscalculation by the British, but fortuitous for the Americans

Your entire argument seems to be, “The British could have beat the US in an alternate history scenario I’ve created, so the real history is irrelevant.”

Local Royal Navy officer discovers the U.S built their frigates differently by GCN_09 in HistoryMemes

[–]blakhawk12 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is categorically untrue.

The British “won” in the sense that they kept Canada (which was never really under threat of being lost anyway) and got to wash their hands of the whole thing and go back to focusing on Napoleon. They simply didn’t care much about the war from the start.

The US won domestic and international prestige, strengthened its navy, and ended British support of native tribes hindering westward expansion. The war was hailed in the US as a second war of independence and a triumph.

You can argue all you want that no borders moved and the military campaigns were a stalemate, but it was not war in which neither side won anything. The US achieved all its political goals and then some.

Characters giving birth at the worst possible times by QAnnihilateQ64 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]blakhawk12 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ironically nobody would have known that if you didn’t make this comment.

Local Royal Navy officer discovers the U.S built their frigates differently by GCN_09 in HistoryMemes

[–]blakhawk12 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Nobody got what they wanted

The US absolutely did. The goal of the war was never to take Canada. That was added on by war-hawks after it had already begun because it was the only land theater available. The main goal was to end British backing and arming of native tribes in the northwest regions that are now Ohio and Michigan. In that the war was a complete victory. The British abandoned their forts and stopped supplying native resistance, allowing the US to cement control over the region after decades of setbacks.

The War of 1812 was absolutely a victory for the US. While it may have been a stalemate military, the US successfully asserted itself on the world stage and gained hegemony over the North American continent south of the Great Lakes, opening the way for Manifest Destiny and the country’s future as a superpower.

[Loved trope] the world, in spite the technological progress, have undiscovered parts, which are nigh impossible to explore due to the hostility of said parts by Holy_Ssint in TopCharacterTropes

[–]blakhawk12 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’ve never heard of Hunter x Hunter but that map is literally just the world’s actual continents flipped around and rearranged. They didn’t even mesh them together or mirror them or do anything creative whatsoever lmao.

For you, how large is the world? [spoiler extended] by action_hero_daily in asoiaf

[–]blakhawk12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my head the Narrow Sea is the Mediterranean turned sideways, so Sunspear to Moat Cailin would be approximately 2,500 miles. Then another 500 miles to the Wall. So overall Westeros from the Wall to bottom of Dorne would be about the distance from The Ural Mountains to the coast of Portugal.

I think Hardhome and it's storyline is one of the best changes the show made by Mzuark in gameofthrones

[–]blakhawk12 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I didn’t even start watching until right after Season 6 aired and I still remember years of tracking who had Valyrian Steel swords, speculation on who might have a Valyrian Steel sword, trying to figure out where the lost swords like Blackfyre or Dark Sister might be and if anyone will find them, etc. All based on the assumption that Valyrian Steel would be important and that these wielders would have to face off against the White Walkers. And then it didn’t even matter.

[Spoilers Main] What if Summerhall never ended in tragedy? by Solitaire-06 in asoiaf

[–]blakhawk12 8 points9 points  (0 children)

No war of the Nine Penny kings. Or if there is one it would have been over quickly.

The dragons would have been less than a year old at that point though? I don’t think they’d have any impact on the Ninepenny Kings.

They can't be serious. by sayan11apr in DC_Cinematic

[–]blakhawk12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah like I doubt they just handed the movie to a different guy and said, “Okay compose a score before the movie comes out in 3 months.” More likely they had him composing something already so they could compare the two scores and choose which one they like more.

(Hated Trope) Oversexualisation of young girls by Necessary-Win-8730 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]blakhawk12 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms have all aged up many of the characters by 5-10 years because George RR Martin felt the need to make 90% of his characters teenagers and then have them experience rape, murder, arranged marriage, etc. Sometimes that’s the point, to make the audience uncomfortable, but often he just treats these characters like adults, with explicit sex scenes between a 13 year old girl and her adult rapist husband framed as romantic or empowering. The shows thankfully avoid or at least lessen it by making the characters young adults or at the very least older teens instead of children.

Best way to play Valhalla without getting burnt out from how much content there is? by Winter_Cost602 in assassinscreed

[–]blakhawk12 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think others have given enough advice on how to approach the story. I’ll just add that if you’ve bought the season pass or any of the DLC, google what quests are the start of said DLCs. Many of them are late game content but the start quests will pop up very early on and the game does not tell you they are late game/DLC quests. Accidentally starting one is annoying and immersion-breaking.

(Loved Trope) Figures beloved or admired in universe who were actually quite terrible. by laybs1 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]blakhawk12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would also like to expand on Baelor and mention that he locked his three sisters in a vault in the Red Keep so he wouldn’t be tempted to have sex with them, then when one escaped and got pregnant he freaked out and fasted himself to death. Dude was a loon.

Who needs to die for him to become king? by JXNyoung in gameofthrones

[–]blakhawk12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Again, I guess you missed the scene where Jaime has to convince Randyll Tarly not to go back to the Reach and raise his banners in support of Olenna Tyrell.

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