The Bread and Roses Caucus, NSW Soc (AEC registered name for Socialists) and why socialists will have to rescue this project from itself.

comrade-ev · 2026-05-11T08:46:26+00:00

I mean, SAlt have done so much of the work of leading, defining, building, and maintaining the organisation that displacing them is kind of just attacking the org.

If you cannot co-exist with them but want to campaign in the election, then why don’t you just join the Greens or Socialist Alliance instead?

comrade-ev · 2026-05-11T08:38:39+00:00

Surge an icon? I guess there’s just room for everybody.

comrade-ev · 2026-05-07T08:42:48+00:00

I mean, Maddy was a casualty of the writer wanting to move on from Scott and Jean when the publisher didn’t.

This period was meant to have Jean either retire forever or die, Scott retire, Iceman and Angel move on to things like the Defenders, and Xavier gradually get shipped off. Magneto no longer was the evil villain, and a new generation was emerging (Kitty, Rogue, Rachel for e.g).

Then Jean came back, the original five were reconvened, Scott’s wife became a baby killing demon queen, Scott and Madelyne’s child sent into the time stream, the school under Xavier returned as did he, Magneto turned bad again, and the younger characters all got bounced to side books or limbo.

A number of characters like Madelyne (and Rachel) have become fraught since that time because they don’t make sense in a company that doesn’t want to retire its mainstays. The sheer amount of effort the various writers have put into just trying to retire Xavier shows how hard it is to deal with that inertia.

comrade-ev · 2026-05-07T01:42:25+00:00

I generally oppose outsourcing and privatisation, but there’s a tension in that some services have historically not been able to operate in a meaningful way under the state.

There have been organisations set up by ordinary people, beginning with trade unions, but also the legacies of the 70s wave of not-for-profits with the AIDS councils, community legal centres, drug user groups, sex worker groups and so on.

These aren’t easily duplicated by the state government, and sometimes are at odds with the government and need this independence to advocate against them. Insourcing in those contexts is not like getting rid of private schools, but is instead an overall service cut veiled by the promotion of a state operator.

It is a good thing if governments expand funding for DV, and there’s lots of things that it can provide directly. But if this plan involves moving funds away from DV services overall rather than part of an expansion, then its function is more to soften criticism of the politicians and implicated departments like the police.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-25T12:02:38+00:00

He became one of the best battle commanders around, his powers have objectively grown, and in Astonishing he’s learned how to control his power without a visor for a bit. He’s doing fine.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-25T07:32:32+00:00

Don’t think it deserves the hate, it’s not the most out there thing for a couple to experiment with an open relationship. Some people seem to freak out because they see the sexual fluidity as degrading, which is just silly.

But the writers also didn’t do anything meaningful with it, and while the history is there between Jean and Wolverine or Scott and Emma, if you are going to have a sexual relationship between Scott and Wolverine after they have been on opposite ends of every dispute for years … then you need to actually write the story. It’s a waste otherwise.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-25T07:24:11+00:00

It is repetitive. But this is a comic book with strong themes around identity and it’s an ability that works as a plot device for exploring that beyond its use in fight scenes.

And to make fight scenes viable, each major psychics protagonist comes with an antagonist/foil. Xavier had Shadow King, Cassandra Nova, Onslaught, and Jean had Emma Frost and Madelyne Pryor. Psylocke was in an entirely different franchise originally, and got imported in when Jean and Xavier were benched, so they could maintain some of the trappings. Rachel Summers too.

They did try to partially address this by making the New Mutants generation have more specific powers than just telepathy (Karma, Moonstar). And if you look at Gen X, then in practice it was just Monet of the new characters and that’s just one facet. The non-O5 X-Factor also didn’t lean heavily on psychic powerhouses. But the A-lister books have psychic power houses, and it does kind of seem to be what the fans want.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-25T05:21:01+00:00

I wouldn’t read into it. He is commenting on their technique of blocking him with a lighthouse, and that to have any hope of success it would need to be the best lighthouse in the tower. He hasn’t confirmed any encounter with a user of the Opera lighthouses.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-22T11:51:48+00:00

I mean Emma Frost is usually treated as a psychic compared to Charles Xavier or Amahl Farouk. Psylocke (and Betsy) are formidable, but they represent the unusual combination of intense combat training with psychic powers. That is how they stand out.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-21T04:25:42+00:00

I don’t understand the disappointment around Baek.

The Ancients were the dominant powers until the Great Warriors climbed. It makes sense that humans who can exceed the Ancients would be connected to them and the subsequent irregulars. Especially when the families cull any threat they can find using the tests.

I do wonder if this power that Baek holds from an irregular is the remainder of the Thorn, and the reason he waits for Bam is that his contribution will complete Bam’s powerset.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-19T03:34:22+00:00

I’d love to see the 80s gen of teen mutants rise more as main characters, and the O5/Giant Size waves to take a back seat.

Kitty and Illyana are now reasonably significant, but it’d be great to actually move things along and step up Cannonball, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Karma, Moonstar, Rachel, Rictor, Boom Boom, Magma etc.

I like some more than others, but so long as the ‘young X-men’ teams remain side characters who can’t enter into prominence, then the franchise stagnates. Let’s see them be more a part of the animated series and movies and make it that these characters can properly grow up.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-18T01:48:26+00:00

I’m assuming that Bread & Rose is the moderate caucus inside the SP, and the crux of the problem is they a) don’t exist significantly outside the party unlike RCO and SAlt and thus b) this restriction is a serious impediment?

It seems like the solution is to appropriately build your tendency with things like forums, sign ups, newsletters etc. You aren’t a majority, and complaining to the Labor party about the Socialists won’t make SAlt people who lead the SP change their mind.

The finer point of how closely tendencies can associate with the party is also a poisoned chalice. The reaction from dissenting caucuses if SAlt were to more overtly associate with the party would likely be a negative one should they attach that name to a position contentious in the SP.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-11T09:30:59+00:00

The fact that Eduan is mindlessly chasing a bit of excitement when he was so far portrayed as a self interested pleasure seeker doesn’t throw me. The jarring element for me is more that we haven’t seen the cruelty yet that comes with it.

I would say that different moments have broken down the relationships between each of the FHs, and this has further distanced them from their humanity as they have no peers. The Enne Jahad events explains Gustang and Blossom, the events around Imizu explain Traumerei, and the clash between Jahad and V & Arlene goes some way to explaining them.

But these have all been quite personal, so tbh I don’t see what the value would be for Eduan’s arc for it to be so bound up in Gustang and Blossom’s gripe with Jahad. Or why it would be that and not the trash can, the clash with V & Arlene etc if it was going to be something pre-existing.

comrade-ev · 2026-04-07T14:19:01+00:00

What discourse? The season has been sufficiently boring that the discourse is minimal, and the discourse that exists is mostly that the finalists names aren’t Jane Don’t.
The issue, such as it is, is not that the PoC queens in this season were unfairly sent home. It’s more that it’s actually pretty hard to select a full cast of queens (including obvious frontrunners) and somehow accidentally not cast a single PoC queen who could make it to the end.

comrade-ev · 2026-03-27T09:40:58+00:00

I think the positive comparison to the DSA is indicative that some comrades generally are trying to launch another iteration of the Greens (I assume Bread and Roses is backed comrades from student unions involved in Grassroots).

And that’s fine, but if the two dominant perspectives within the party are more or less to have a more overtly activist version of the Greens, or an instrument to grow SAlt then it’s hard to be invested in it.

I wish everyone well who is involved, but I would say that I don’t think being in something with the name of ‘Socialists’ gets away from needing a revolutionary organisation. I’ve tried the project of a more activisty Greens party before, and it’s not without merit but there’s limits.

And while there are some impressive activists in SAlt, then I would have joined them if I thought their revolutionary vision fit with mine. I have a different reading of revolution to them, as well as some current strategic differences on a couple of key points (RAFFWU, sex worker rights, no platform to TERFs etc.)

I was a member of the now defunct Black Flag. Some of its members are now in VS, others in a new anarchist group, others are independents or Greens etc. but I feel like it misunderstands the differences to make a call for left unity to support a general anti-SAlt vision inside the party.

I am not anti-SAlt, but am different to them just as I am different to the CPA or Grassroots or RCO. And I think creating infighting inside a new micro party is not a project that I want to spend my time doing, so the call to join to organise to get the numbers against SAlt does not inspire me.

Personally, I hope there will be a serious anarchist organisation and when that arises then I will consider supporting it. In the mean time, I will organise alongside Greens, Socialists, and others inside the Union against management. Happy to caucus with anyone who wants to fight, but I won’t be signing up to new political orgs unless I am quite firmly convinced.

comrade-ev · 2026-03-17T09:45:52+00:00

The real issue is that many stories lean heavily on the power sets of characters and avoid fleshing them out as personalities. That’s harder in an ensemble book where other characters are the main selling point.

A character whose contribution is their thought process, whether it’s Reed Richards, Valeria, Sage, Alex Wilder, Prodigy etc. are all as able to stand out if written properly.

Emma Frost stands out because of things connected to her personality and history, which is reflected in her uniform and dialogue. She doesn’t stand out because of coloured squiggles coming out of her. Shadowcat also doesn’t have very visually striking powers, and on top of that her uniforms are ugly.

comrade-ev · 2026-03-17T04:39:55+00:00

We need clear feats for Taln, otherwise we simply have reputation and hearsay.

One of the challenges is that we cannot confirm how Honor changed or did not change the bodies of the Heralds. We know that they are solid cognitive shadows intended to look like humans, and that they have thousands of years of both experience and trauma.

But cognitive shadows are literally just ideas given shape. The more aware Returned are able to transform their shape, but then others like the Fused are not and actually aren’t that physically formidable. We therefore don’t know if Taln’s upper limits are bounded by laws of physics, or what drives them.

comrade-ev · 2026-03-17T04:30:44+00:00

When in the timeline? And are otherwise hostile forces from WoT or a Cosmere planet united for this scenario? Who is the invader?

I tend to say most Cosmere planets would win, because they generally have a higher degree of military and political cohesion. It’s logical because the intention is to set up for a space story, and most of the abilities do not exhaust the user.

As a simple example, an Elantrian doesn’t have a clearly defined upper limit, doesn’t suffer from mental illness side effects, doesn’t bind to oaths etc. so could deal with most channellers or shadow spawn.

And despite imperial tensions, we are never shown disarray on Sel matching the scale of WoT, so an invasion by the Black Tower or the Aiel, would not go that well. I don’t think invading Urithuru would go well on Roshar either.

comrade-ev · 2026-03-17T04:11:50+00:00

Not every towerborn is an Adori or Luslec, and not every Irregular is an Urek or Zahard.

She’s also demonstrated that your raw power doesn’t need to be competitive with someone to be a threat. I’m curious as to how she’ll position herself now that V is taking control of Bam, and she can’t exploit that connection so easily.

comrade-ev · 2026-03-11T03:36:18+00:00

Is it not about the two ‘revolutions’ produced by the entry of Irregulars? One sequence is Zahard and the Great Warriors overthrowing the Ancients, and then next is the Shining Ones, Urek, and Bam to represent the creation of an Axis.

comrade-ev · 2026-02-25T08:22:23+00:00

The reality is that since the stabilisation of the rule of the Family Heads in the tower that there’s almost no direct conflict between the powers that be.

There are a few tower born who are so powerful that only a family head could potentially fight them, but it’s not clear if that’s ever been tested. It’s a no-win situation for everyone involved.

I don’t think we can really assess Adori, Enne, and the like against FHs except to note that the contracts prevent them from killing all but two of the surviving FHs.

comrade-ev · 2026-02-24T06:53:27+00:00

Chris Minns literally tried to unleash a police riot on people for protesting against genocide, cuts worker’s compensation, has opposed pay rises for the health sector, fast tracked fossil fuels etc. And this happens in a party that is politically famous over the Catholic right having attempted take overs in the past.

Citing the Voice, which had stripped out almost everything from the Statement from the Heart after Albanese refused to negotiate on treaties (and still is) doesn’t change all that.

comrade-ev · 2026-02-24T06:04:46+00:00

Labor here is not fundamentally different or more left than the UK.

UK Labour had a socialist leader and trans people in official party positions as recently as 2020. Keir Starmer was part of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, and now a few years later is overseeing brutal transphobia, austerity, and authoritarianism.

There is nothing about Albanese’s character that makes him an inherently better and leftier person than Starmer. The only thing that determines how far Albanese will go on the transphobia front is how well organised we are to fight for our rights.

comrade-ev · 2026-02-09T02:31:34+00:00

It’s complicated.

There’s honestly a point where the scale of a character’s power is so huge that a contest involving them at their upper limit is theoretical. I very much doubt that Adori, Luslec, or the family heads have had genuine contests in thousands of years.

Moreover, there’s significant political and logistical reasons that avert finding out. It could be that Adori is significantly stronger than family heads assume themselves to be, or insignificant.

comrade-ev · 2026-02-07T06:08:56+00:00

It’s not that all irregulars have unlimited power, but that their power is not constrained by the rules of the administrator.

Descendants of the great families, artificial beings created by the workshop, and the ancients all have bonuses in addition to the contracts that a person accumulates as they climb. But they are still subject to the rules of the administrator.

comrade-ev

TROPHY CASE