The first aid station at work, in addition to bandages, also has a few medicines in it. One of them is acetaminophen, the generic name for Tylenol. Instead of calling it acetaminophen, however, the company that makes it decided to call them “non-aspirin” tablets, which I find amusing since everything in the world, except for aspirin, can technically be called non-aspirin and it would be correct.
Friday Question #7
A few weeks ago, I asked the light side version of this question, so this week, we’ll go to the dark side.
Which non-Star Wars character would make the most powerful Sith?
This is another question that I had difficulty answering. I must’ve started writing this paragraph three or four times, each time with a different answer, before settling on what I’m answering now. As I did for the Jedi version of this question, I’m pulling my answer out of R.A. Salvatore’s corner of Forgotten Realms.
Yvonnel Baenre.
Like I said last time, the drow are a cruel and vicious race. For over 1000 years, their city of Menzoberranzan was ruled by the most cruel and vicious of them all: Matron Mother Yvonnel Baenre. She did everything in her power to rise to the top of the city’s hierarchy and even worse to stay there. Anyone who stood in her way or hindered her position of power, including her own family, were dealt with swiftly and mercilessly. Yvonnel enjoyed watching people suffer, even if she wasn’t the one inflicting the pain. In fact, the more ruthless you were, the higher esteem she held you in.
And, I’d be willing to bet that if she had the powers of the Dark Side of the Force instead of her priestess spells, she wouldn’t have lost her fight against Drizzt Do’Urden and his companions.
What about you? Which non-Star Wars character do you think would make the most powerful Sith?
Comic Book Question 12
If you could pick any non-superpowered character to lead a group of superpowered characters, who would you choose?
I can hear all the DC fanatics screaming, “Batman” or “Nightwing.” All of the Marvel people are hollering, “Iron Man!” Well, I wouldn’t pick any of them. My character comes from a series that’s been out of print for a while now. I know I’ve mentioned the series multiple times on this here blog, but I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned the character yet or not, so forgive me if I’m repeating myself. The character I’m picking is from the CrossGen Comics series Negation, and the character’s name is Obregon Kaine.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the CrossGen universe, I’ll summarize:
The CrossGen universe is composed of many worlds, vastly different from each other. The only thing all of the worlds have in common is that all have at least one person/being, sometimes more, that is marked with something called a sigil. These sigils, which looks like the CrossGen logo, grant the person marked with them, Sigil-Bearers, various powers or abilities.
Negation is a large area of space within the CrossGen universe that is ruled by a godlike being named Charon, who decides he wants to conquer the rest of the worlds. Before doing that, he kidnaps a wide variety of people, Sigil-Bearers and normal people alike, and locks them up on a prison world, where his people experiment on the prisoners to find out their strengths and weaknesses. Obregon Kaine is one of those prisoners. A normal human, an ex-soldier, he rallys the rest of the prisoners around him, including those who have impressive powers, and leads them on a daring prison break. Even after they escaped, and were on the run from Negation forces, the Sigil-Bearers looked to him for leadership.
What about you? Which non-superpowered character would you choose to lead a group of superpowered characters?
YouTube Friday: 24320
While not one of their more well-known songs, this is probably my favorite Chevelle song. I wish I could’ve seen them play it live, but both times I saw them were before it was released.
Friday Question #6
Which non-Star Wars character do you think would make the best Jedi?
The first character that popped into my head was Captain America. Steve Rogers, Captain America, that is. Nothing against Sam Wilson, but when you think of the embodiment of good, in the Marvel universe, at least, you think of Steve Rogers. While he would make a very good Jedi, the more I thought about it, the more I thought there might be another character who might be better.
Superman? Maybe, but he’s too powerful as it is. He doesn’t need the Force.
I tried to steer away from comic book characters and the first character that came to mind was from a series of novels that is… long. Very long. Right now, there are 39 books in the series, though I stopped reading halfway through the 35th. I may have grown bored with the series, but after some thought, I decided that the titular character of these books would be the best answer to this question. I’ve talked about these books a few times on this blog before. I am, of course, speaking about Drizzt Do’Urden from R.A. Salvatore’s Dark Elf series of novels.
Drizzt Do’Urden, for those of you who don’t know, is a drow (a race of dark skinned elves that live underground). It is a cruel and vicious race, whose deity rewards ruthlessness and treachery. Drizzt was raised in this environment but found himself constantly appalled by the things going around him. Finally fed up with their evil ways, he made his way to the surface where he became a ranger. In D&D worlds, rangers are protectors who usually have an affinity for animals. In the later books, he also began monk training.
The reason I think he’d make the best Jedi is because he already acts like one. The code he lives by is very similar to that of the Jedi. He actively works to protect those around him, even those who hate him simply because of his race, and is constantly putting himself in danger to save lives.
What about you? Which non-Star Wars character do you think would make the best Jedi?
The Rise of Skywalker
When I first watched The Rise of Skywalker in the theater, I felt anger. Anger led to hate. Hate led to suffering. Once the movie ended, I really didn’t think I would ever watch it again.
Then, a few days ago, I was scrolling around on Disney Plus, looking for something to watch. When I saw it, I hesitated. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put myself through that again. I decided to give it one more chance…
It wasn’t as bad this time around.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a flawed movie. There are many things about it that I don’t like. But, it wasn’t as horrendous as I thought it was the first time I watched it. That was weird to me because normally, it’s the other way around. Normally, I would like something and then dislike it the more I watch it. Then I started wondering why that might be, and the only explanation I could think of was unreal expectations.
I grew up watching the original trilogy movies over and over again. They were, in my young mind, movie perfection. When the prequels and sequels came out, that was the standard I set for them. I wanted them to be as perfect as I thought the original trilogy movies were.
Looking at them now, objectively, I know the original trilogy movies aren’t perfect. No movie is. There are a few that come close. The Dark Knight. Serenity. Tombstone. None of them are actually perfect, however, and it’s unfair to expect them to be.
So, if you look at The Rise of Skywalker by itself, without any of the other moves coming into play, is it a good movie? No, but it’s also not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. There are definitely worse ways to kill a couple hours.
Comic Book Question 11
If you could create one character to stick into any comic book world (it can be a hero, villain, or even just a supporting character), who would you create and which comic book world would you send them to?
I could go the cheap way and tell you all about the three mutant brothers I created for my X-Men fan fiction… again… but that’s three characters, not one. I thought about trying to come up with a new villain for Daredevil. He hasn’t had a good new villain in a while. Although Muse wasn’t too bad. I also thought about coming up with a new Nightwing villain, one not connected to any of the other Bat family or Titans, but then I remembered that’s what they’re trying to do with Heartless.
Ten or fifteen years ago, I had an idea for a new character in the Moon Knight mythos, but it’s eerily similar to Hunter’s Moon, who just debuted two or three years ago. I’m not sure how they did it, but I’m convinced that Marvel stole the idea from me and tweaked it just enough to be different. Also around ten to fifteen years ago, I had an idea for a DC character who would basically be a foul-mouthed Looney Toons character come to life, but the more I thought about it, the more it sounded like The Mask.
No, it’s time to come up with something new… think… think… think…
I got nothing. So, instead, I’m going to take the easy way out and just pick one of the brothers from my X-Men story. I’m not going to pick the most powerful of the three. In fact, you could make the argument that he’s the weakest. Still, I’d choose him over the other two because I think his mutant power would make his interactions with the X-Men more interesting.
His name is Antonio Rodriguez, an Army veteran, and his mutant power is that he’s immune to mutant powers.
That may not seem like much, but think about it. There’d be someone who couldn’t be influenced or have their mind read by Jean Grey, Emma Frost, or Professor X. Cyclops could hit him with his optic blast, and it wouldn’t affect at all. Colossus couldn’t use his super strength to lift him up or punch him across a room. It was a plot point in the story I wrote because one of the characters I used in it was Chamber, and the only way he can talk is through his mutant powers. Their inability to communicate caused problems.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think that’s interesting.
What about you? Do you have an original character you’d like to drop into a comic book world?
33 Grams of Blog 