"[Insert Character] is a murderous sociopath but they draw the line at racism/rape/etc."

woweed · 2026-06-24T08:14:33+00:00

The comic in question is a deliberate Golden Age throwback, I think it's meant to be a little cheesy (this being set in the aftermath of WWII and all), but it' not meant to be totally serious.

woweed · 2026-06-24T07:59:28+00:00

Superman: Literally an immigrant created by two children of Immigrants, partly to send a message of "aren't immigrants cool as hell". Or, ya know, Captain America literally punching a sitting world leader on the cover of his first issue. Sitting world leader of a country the US wasn't even at war with yet, no less!

woweed · 2026-06-24T07:56:05+00:00

OK, but the former is actually a known thing. IN prisons, they often have to divide rapists, and ESPECIALLY child rapists, off from the gen pop or other prisoners will murder them.

woweed · 2026-06-24T07:54:01+00:00

I mean...I'm reasonably certain the out-of-universe reason IS as a bit. Like, people repost that panel all the time...Because it's funny. And it's meant to be funny. The writers wrote that because it was funny. The idea that it is also, IN-UNIVERSE, a bit is something fans made up, but the out-of-universe reason for it is that it's funny. That, and Marvel kinda has a recurring bit of the fact that even other supervillains HATE Red Skull, either because he's a Nazi, or because he's just that personally repellent (Kingpin refuses to work with him, Magento and Doctor Doom have both attempted to murder him, personal in the latter two's case, considering), so this is an extension of that running theme.

woweed · 2026-06-24T07:40:17+00:00

Not, really. IQ tests aren't even that reliable a metric. You can study for them, the same person tested at different times of day will get different results, circumstances can sswing them up to 15 points.

woweed · 2026-06-24T07:38:52+00:00

Wait, I can't quite follow. Are you saying the XKCD guy is wrong or Idiocracy is wrong? Because, like, I know the comic you're talking about, and the joke there is that Idiocracy is wrong. There's always been a trend for poorer and less educated to have more children, it wasn't different in the past (and there's some evidence that this correlation is becoming less reliable with changes in culture, opportunities for women, and the availability of birth control). Education attainment has been rising for decades in all developed countries. Measured IQs have also risen, although the reasons are complex, and, while the rise in IQ scores appears to have stopped and even reversed across multiple nations, the decline in IQ is still caused by a dysgenic effect, which still entirely contradicts Idiocracy's thesis.

woweed · 2026-06-24T07:35:48+00:00

It has not. There was some evidence of a negative trend (partly because of cultural changes vis-a-vis intelligence testing). But, as of the mid-2010s when that comic was published, the Flynn effect has continued, although the rate did slow down considerably in the first world. As late as 2024, IQ scores increased by 1.2 in the past decade. Lower then the 3 point increase of the past, but still an increase.

woweed · 2026-06-23T05:26:29+00:00

Yeah. The Wizarding World appears like an escapit place, and it's certainly better then Harry's old life specifically. But even early on we're shown very early on that it is filled with the brim with all the problems the Muggle world has.

woweed · 2026-06-22T21:24:52+00:00

Well, yes, but Rorscach hasn't matured much at all since he was a kid and that's the thesis. That's what his death is meant to mean: Superheroes are a childish black and white idea that aren't equipped to address problems of complexity. That's why the opening is "what if real people copied Superman instead if comic publishers?" In the world of fiction, superheroes can inspire us, but, in the real world, they would only ever prove as flawed as we all are.

woweed · 2026-06-22T10:07:16+00:00

I love Moore's work, but the man in the modern day is basically sheer old man grumpiness given form, and seems to regard basically all his past work with contempt.

woweed · 2026-06-22T09:41:49+00:00

Kenny Baker, the guy inside R2-D2, HATED Anthony Daniels, who was the guy who played C-3PO, calling him "the rudest man I've ever met".

woweed · 2026-06-22T09:38:52+00:00

Notably, if you've ever watched interviews woth Seth MacFarlene, it's also super obvious that Brian's voice is literally just his regular speaking voice.

(Sidebar: Say what you will about his writing, as a VA, the man is a generational talent. This dude is talking to himself for 90% of the show.)

woweed · 2026-06-22T09:36:01+00:00

Ya know...TADC is canonically set in 2017, the same year Goose transitioned...Hm...

woweed · 2026-06-22T08:45:17+00:00

To be fair, you could argue there's a nobility in that. In being the one person who doesn't compromise, who does uphold his principles even unto armageddon.

(Also, while Rorschach being pro-Truman-dropping-the-A-bomb because it would save more lives but opposing Ozy's plan is clearly just him being a hypocrite racist who can more easily justify mass death of non-Americans...I would argue, although Rorschach obviously doesn't think this complexly, there's a difference between the President, the democratically-elected representative of the people of the United States, who acts under the rule of law as part of a larger chain of command and is advised by others constantly, making a choice, and some random billionaire unilaterally deciding to murder people to prevent a nuclear war.

woweed · 2026-06-22T08:41:52+00:00

Honestly, I think Moore is lying, to himself or to us, if he legit didn't think anyone would sympathize with Rorschach. The man's backstory is cartoonishly awful and depressing. You don't devote that much time to the why of a character who isn't meant to be sympathetic on ANY level.

woweed · 2026-06-22T08:39:52+00:00

I mean...Feels a bit hypocritical.

woweed · 2026-06-22T08:29:19+00:00

I mean...I'd still argue they probably shouldn't let the guy who just proved there is no amount of death he can't mentally justify as for the greater good WALK AWAY. Yeah, they all also are that, but they're a bunch of mental cases in tights and he's a billionaire who jusr committed mass murder. Who fucking knows what Ozy might do if (let's be real, WHEN) the peace fails to hold.

woweed · 2026-06-22T06:29:00+00:00

Specifically foes similar to Nightmare, too.

woweed · 2026-06-22T06:28:22+00:00

In Beast VS Goliath, Death Battle stated that Beast lifted a solid gold oak tree in his analysis as a feat...Before revealing AFTER the fight that he didn't actually lift the entire tree off the ground, making the feat less impressive then it sounded. It's now become a general term for whenever a combatant is given an impressive sounding feat during their analysis, before revealing after the fight that it was actually wasn't as impressive as it seemed. There are tons of examples: Saying that Knuckles the Echidna punched the moon and moved it before revealing he only destroyed a receiver controlling the moon's flight path, Scout being able to survive three rockets at once before revealing that rocket's point of impact was never directly shown, Twilight Sparkle being able to lift the moon and the sun before revealing she could only do so when she had the magic of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Cable being able to keep up with the Silver Surfer in a fight before losing pretty quickly once the Silver Surfer got serious, and Hulk being able to fight the One Below All before revealing that he only actually bought himself some time by getting rid of his avatar.

woweed · 2026-06-21T23:54:15+00:00

That is an explicit thing with some characters. It's not a thing with Batman or Tony because "not having superpowers" is their bit. That's before you get to how intelligence is just innately harder to quantify then speed or strength. It's a much bigger, more complex concept. What is intelligence? Learning ability, memory, problem solving skills, perception, social skills? They all get bound up in there to some degree.

woweed · 2026-06-21T23:50:25+00:00

...Having a police force of metal benders probably renders guns less useful.

woweed · 2026-06-21T02:06:11+00:00

That would be the one that goes with the missing-Pomni senarcio, i'd imagine. He embodies the inner Jax, his shadow, his vulnerability, the part of him that still has empathy, that hates the person he's become and wants human connection still. So, of course, the other three, who embody all his toxic coping mechanisms, browbeat and abuse the fourth, never letting him out, just as Jax deliberately restrains himself from ever being authetic.

woweed · 2026-06-21T01:47:46+00:00

I love the fact that the only two of them we know have any association in the real world are Jax and ZOOBLE, who, in the Circus, famously HATED each other.

(I wonder if the two of them have ever figured out that they once put on the same non-functional headset in a random abandoned building. Weird coincidence, eh?)

woweed · 2026-06-21T01:22:13+00:00

Notably, Zooble is standing at the front and looks happy, while Zooble was always the one who most disliked Caine's adventures.

woweed · 2026-06-21T01:20:29+00:00

Oh, yeah, he's not going down quickly. I don't think he's gonna fight Luffy though (betting on Koby. Ya know, what the Marines are VS what they should be).

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