tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6464382918796251124.post5354368742416313787..comments2021-05-16T13:41:12.015-04:00Comments on The Chaos Beast: Subject 13 #7 - CommentaryScott Delahunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06735796666483741699noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6464382918796251124.post-31234226751295223282013-08-20T19:19:04.463-04:002013-08-20T19:19:04.463-04:00Ideally, the superhero stops the bank robbery duri...Ideally, the superhero stops the bank robbery during it, not before it can happen. Attempted robbery is still a crime, and catching the crook in the act will at least get him into the legal system. Some of it is a matter of when the crook is stopped. If the crook is stopped too early, he hasn't committed a crime and can turn around and sue the hero. At some point, letting him succeed becomes a problem; most people won't make the jump from "I stopped him from doing this," to "I had to let him continue so that the authorities see how much of a danger he is."<br /><br />What helps with the World Trade Center attack is that the vast majority of people weren't expecting it. It was outside the public's perception of what terrorism was at the time. So, even heroes might get caught unawares, at least for the first jet. However, with the rescue operations, supers would go an help and be onsite for the second. It could be a way to depopulate the supers.Scott Delahunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06735796666483741699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6464382918796251124.post-84548111084013515432013-08-20T00:36:31.303-04:002013-08-20T00:36:31.303-04:00It's not necessarily just a time travel thing....It's not necessarily just a time travel thing. Picture it this way, from the perspective of Superhero M.<br /><br />A person tries to rob a bank, and M stops them. They then try to kill someone, and Ms stops them. They then try to release a plague, and M stops them. This person is obviously not getting the message, and (for whatever reason) is able to remain in the clear. Any attempts by M to get police or others involved runs into the block of "well, they haven't done anything wrong". Thus the fixed point - the villain has to SUCCEED at something, and be revealed AS the villain. Otherwise the situation will simply get worse, and the public will remain oblivious. So, a tragic event occurs, and we get:<br />Public: "Where were you? Why did you let him kill a room full of people?"<br />M: "If I'd prevented it, next week he would have destroyed the whole city."<br />Public: "You can't know that!"<br />M: "Not 100%. But I'm statistically confident."<br />Public: "Screw you!"<br /><br />If anything, the accusation should be that the villain wasn't ALLOWED to kill the ONE guy, because at that point he could have been locked away, and we wouldn't even have the debate about killing the room full of people. The superhero should only get involved if the guy gets AWAY with it. Personally, I think this is why some superheroes don't spend tons of time mucking about with minor crimes, they need to get after the people who are escalating before that gets out of hand.<br /><br />This may also be a really terrible way to look at things.Gregory Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06547180132612659893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6464382918796251124.post-70272736031992878102013-08-19T20:40:29.835-04:002013-08-19T20:40:29.835-04:00I tend to abuse the snooze. I have effectively fo...I tend to abuse the snooze. I have effectively four alarms set - an old cell phone that has three separate alarm settings and a short timed alarm function. If I can wake up after the second, I'm ahead of the game.<br /><br />The Hayes family let me show Nasty's old school without having her tell anyone. The family also let me show off a loving mother-daughter relationship that Nasty could envy if she ever thought about it.<br /><br />The "fixed point in time" thing works well with time travel - some events have to happen. But, so far, I don't have time travellers. A failure by heroes to stop a disaster like the World Trade Centre bombings would turn a lot of people against them. "Where were you? Why didn't you do anything?" With some heroes, they just don't have the ability to do that. But heroes in Superman's class do have the ability, so now the question becomes why didn't they and what could be a greater danger while still not trivializing what happened. It's something I have to think about, especially now that I've expanded the setting somewhat.<br /><br />This is the issue where I started looking at the work as more than just blowing off steam. The subplots are building up, ready to become the plot when needed. If someone started with this issue, then there's information missing. I haven't really gone back to Nasty's first use of her power or how she got it, but it's more a small detail at this point compared to everything else.Scott Delahunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06735796666483741699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6464382918796251124.post-62848442565856845192013-08-19T14:19:20.569-04:002013-08-19T14:19:20.569-04:00I've never understood the snooze habit. The sl...I've never understood the snooze habit. The sleep you get after an alarm is restless at best. I set the alarm for when I need to get up, then I get up. Without coffee. I'm probably in a minority.<br /><br />The Hayes family in out of the blue is a surprise, but does allow for the needed backstory of information. The history provides the context for showing that both mother and daughter are good at jumping to conclusions.<br /><br />Interesting tangent, and information of which I was unaware. My natural inclination for "Why didn't someone stop X" is to say "Because the people were stopping Y"... some event that we don't know about, because of all the attention on X. There's also the matter of the "fixed point in time" from Doctor Who, which... perhaps it's insensitive, but I believe it to a certain degree. We're not blessed with seeing the whole picture.<br /><br />Finally, the last scene remark is a good point, and one of the annoying facets of a serial - you may have some people who have read since the start, some who enter in the middle, and some people (like me right now) who do an archive marathon session. It's not easy to satisfy two groups simultaneously, let alone all of them. It's also impossible for a person in one category to properly analyze how it seems to the others.Gregory Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06547180132612659893noreply@blogger.com