kalinara

Wed, 06 May 2009 15:45:14 GMT

This is turning into one of those periods where even the soothing nature of dragons isn't helping. Probably 'cause this batch are all dying. Darnit.

They are awfully cute though.

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:46:39 GMT

I'm still playing around with eggs as a side hobby. I can't help it. They're cute, and I don't need to do much to come out with tiny pixellated dragons and an undeserved feeling of accomplishment.

, ,

, , ,

If only law school worked like that. :-P

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:54:55 GMT

Yes! YES!

Obama did it!

This is phenomenal! This is what we needed. YES.

I'm still playing with this dragon thing, how about that.

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:54:12 GMT

I have no idea why I care so much about growing little animated gifs. Aren't they cute though?

I may be losing it...

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:33:57 GMT

Feel free to ignore this post. Actually I figure I'll delete it soon. I'm trying to help my poor sick GIF of an egg.

I should not care this much about a pixelized egg...

ETA: It's healthy now!!!

Lookit my babies:

Aren't they so cute?! :-)

Apparently I have an egg...

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:44:03 GMT

Or three...

Willow seemed to be having fun with this thing so I thought I'd try...

I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do with them. But...eggs are cool? :-)

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:01:52 GMT

I Am A: Neutral Good Half-Elf Sorcerer (3rd Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-10

Dexterity-13

Constitution-11

Intelligence-14

Wisdom-11

Charisma-17

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Half-Elves have the curiosity and ambition for their human parent and the refined senses and love of nature of their elven parent, although they are outsiders among both cultures. To humans, half-elves are paler, fairer and smoother-skinned than their human parents, but their actual skin tones and other details vary just as human features do. Half-elves tend to have green, elven eyes. They live to about 180.

Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus</a></b> (e-mail)

...dual class this with rogue, and this is my default DnD character. Eek.

Okay, that's it. Next one's an 18+ strength axe-wielding barbarian. I swear. Yeesh.

(Though for the record, I totally talked myself up. What's an anonymous quiz if you can't exaggerate your best qualities a bit. :-P)

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:04:16 GMT

What Your Hands Say About You

You are logical, analytical, and rational. You have good verbal skills.

Idealistic and dreamy, you tend toward the impractical. You have a knack for getting yourself in sticky situations.

Brainy and intelligent, you are intellectual to the point of being incomprehensible.

Your emotions tend to be well though out. You're willing to wait out a bad situation, and you're never too quick to act.

What Do Your Hands Say About You?

This one amuses me. I don't know if I'm brainy, but I'm certainly incomprehensible.

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:47:39 GMT

Your Score: Robot

You are 71% Rational, 14% Extroverted, 28% Brutal, and 28% Arrogant.

http://is1.okcupid.com/users/156/664/1566642811609810544/mt1114812194.jpg

You are the Robot! You are characterized by your rationality. In fact, this is really ALL you are characterized by. Like a cold, heartless machine, you are so logical and unemotional that you scarcely seem human. For instance, you are very humble and don't bother thinking of your own interests, you are very gentle and lack emotion, and you are also very introverted and introspective. You may have noticed that these traits are just as applicable to your laptop as they are to a human being. You are not like the robots they show in the movies. Movie robots are make-believe, because they always get all personable and likeable after being struck by lightning, or they are cold, cruel killing machines. In all reality, though, you are much more boring than all that. Real robots just sit there, doing their stupid jobs, and doing little else. If you get struck by lightning, you won't develop a winning personality and heart of gold. (Robots don't have hearts, silly, and if they did, they would probably be made of steel, not gold.) You also won't be likely to terrorize humanity by becoming an ultra-violent killing machine sent into the past to kill the mother of a child who will lead a rebellion against machines, because that movie was dumb as hell, and because real robots don't kill--they horribly maim at best, and they don't even do that on purpose. Real robots are boringly kind and all too rarely try to kill people. In all my years, my laptop has only attacked me once, and that was only because my brother threw it at me. In short, your personality defect is that you don't really HAVE a personality. You are one of those annoying, super-logical people that never gets upset or flustered. Unless, of course, you short circuit. Or if someone throws a pie at you. Pies sure are delicious.

To put it less negatively:

1. You are more RATIONAL than intuitive.

2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted.

3. You are more GENTLE than brutal.

4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant.

Compatibility:

Your exact opposite is the Class Clown.

Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Hand-Raiser, the Emo Kid, and the Haughty Intellectual.

If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42% Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well. Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored near fifty percent for certain traits.

The other personality types:

The Emo Kid: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Starving Artist: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Bitch-Slap: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Brute: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hippie: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Televangelist: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Schoolyard Bully: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Class Clown: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Robot: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Haughty Intellectual: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Spiteful Loner: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Sociopath: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hand-Raiser: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Braggart: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Capitalist Pig: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Smartass: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

Be sure to take my Sublime Philosophical Crap Test if you are interested in taking a slightly more intellectual test that has just as many insane ramblings as this one does!

About Saint_Gasoline

I am a self-proclaimed pseudo-intellectual who loves dashes. I enjoy science, philosophy, and fart jokes and water balloons, not necessarily in that order. I spend 95% of my time online, and the other 5% of my time in the bathroom, longing to get back on the computer. If, God forbid, you somehow find me amusing instead of crass and annoying, be sure to check out my blog and my webcomic at SaintGasoline.com.

Link: The Personality Defect Test written by saint_gasoline on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

...I'm pretty sure I'm both more brutal and arrogant than that. I call this test as rigged. :-)

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:05:49 GMT

I think online tests are generally hogwash, but that doesn't stop me from posting interesting ones, like this Aspergers one.

"Your Aspie score: 120 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 110 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits"

Heh. As usual, I'm inconclusive. :-P

I hope I know what I'm getting into...

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 08:46:10 GMT

This is our new project. A Green Lantern RPG set 300 years in the future. Should be fun. Or drive me crazy(er).

:-) If you're interested, take a look!

Meme!

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:14:47 GMT

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want -- good or bad. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified!) about what people remember about you.

Because Morchades did it first...

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 08:17:25 GMT

Advanced Global Personality Test Results

Extraversion	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	46%
Stability	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Orderliness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	40%
Accommodation	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Interdependence	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Intellectual	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Mystical	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Artistic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Religious	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Hedonism	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Materialism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Narcissism	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Adventurousness	\|\|	10%
Work ethic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Self absorbed	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Conflict seeking	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Need to dominate	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	90%

Romantic	\|\|	10%
Avoidant	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	83%
Anti-authority	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Wealth	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Dependency	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Change averse	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Cautiousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	90%
Individuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Sexuality	\|\|	10%
Peter pan complex	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Physical security	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Physical Fitness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Histrionic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Paranoia	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	90%
Vanity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	76%
Hypersensitivity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Female cliche	\|\|\|\|	16%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Urk. This is unpleasantly accurate, honestly...

My Cat is Dead...

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 02:50:18 GMT

My parents called this weekend. There was something wrong with my cat. She wasn't eating. She couldn't really walk. They scheduled her for a vet appointment today.

It wasn't a good prognosis.

So, nestled in my dad's arms, my cat was put to sleep.

My cat was 14 years old. I got her at the age of nine from a pet shop in Sangertown Mall in Utica, New York. There were two cages of kittens by the entrance. Three playful looking tiger kittens in one. One tiny, sullen looking tuxedo kitten in the other, glowering at everyone who walked by.

I fell in love instantly.

It took about forty-five minutes of pleading, during which I christened her "Mittens". I don't call her that though, because I've never seriously considered it her name. It was just something to call her while pleading with my parents. To emphasize how much I wanted this cat. But she has never truly been "Mittens" to me. She's "the cat". That's all the name she's ever needed.

It worked. We bought her for one dollar and two cents and took her home in a cardboard box. She kept poking her head out.

She was very small at first. So tiny she could squeeze under my end-table. I'd had cats before. Once a cat that had kittens. But this one seemed smaller and larger at the same time.

She slept in her box along with my baby blanket. Later, she outgrew the box, but she always liked her blanket.

She was ill-tempered, mean and surly. She loved to scratch. My folks warned me early on that if she scratched me on the face one more time, we would get rid of her. I've been paranoid about having her near my face ever sense. Everywhere else is fair game. My best friend Karrie, three years younger than me, was afraid of her.

We warred a lot. She considered my bed hers, and my feet hunting targets. I'd kick her off the bed when she got too rough. That was the one place that was mine.

We had a strange relationship. Master and servant really. I was to open doors and give her treats. Thus she would deign to be in my presence. She was very intelligent. I could swear sometimes she really did understand what I was saying. Especially when it displeased her.

When I was ten, and had to move her, I'd pick her up like a tommy gun. Arms carefully behind/supporting each set of paws, with the cat pointed out like a gun. It was the only way I could keep her from scratching. When she'd latch onto my hand and scratch and kick, not letting go, I'd hit her with a pillow. When I pulled the pillow up again, she'd be clawing at it.

She liked to hunt. She was very good at it. Once my dad took a mouse away from her. An hour or two later, we found that same mouse on the door step, head and tail intact with nothing but a spinal cord attaching them. Everything else was gone.

She went with us through two moves. From Utica New York to Harleysville Pennsylvania, then three years later to Woodhaven Michigan. She'd always throw up on long car rides.

In Pennsylvania, my mom got a terrier. The cat didn't like her. When we moved to Michigan, we briefly had a pool. Thus the dog had to be on a leash at all times. The cat would sit right outside the leash's range and sneer.

The older she got, the more mellow she got. Well, Mellow is the wrong word. Rather than leap on limbs and extremities to kill, she'd sit and glare with malevolence. She was very good at malevolence. We'd have to warn guests to be careful of her. They didn't always listen, but they often learned better.

Even as an older cat she loved to roll around in the sidewalk dust. She'd even occasionally greet us when we came home by rolling...god help us if we touched her though.

She was fourteen, but she looked younger. Ten or so. She was a big cat, but never fat. She looked long and large framed, more rangy athletic than anything else. She could be beautiful sometimes. She was tuxedo, with white paws, and her nose was black. The swash of black also branched a little. So it almost looked like her nose was forking in two. She had lovely eyes that would gleam eerily in the low light. She seemed to like that effect.

She liked the doghouse. The dog would never go in. Sometimes she'd deign to. She didn't like the lab puppy my mother bought later. She'd sit on the stairs and keep him trapped with us downstairs. It didn't matter that he was huge and she wasn't. She had him exactly where she wanted.

She liked seafood catfood the best. She was picky with wet food, but would eat from dry food kept in the upstairs bathroom when she was really hungry. She liked to eat when I was there.

When she was little, she was mesmerized by the bath. She used to reach in to touch the water when I was taking a bath. She'd bring drops up to her face. Sometimes she fell in. She didn't like that as much. But it never stopped her from coming back.

She liked to lay on my chest. Mostly because having her so close to my face made me obviously nervous. She'd constantly go to the door and scratch and make me let her in and out. Often just as I'd let her out of the room, she'd want in again. She just liked making me get up and serve her.

She was an ill-tempered, meglomaniacal bitch of a cat. My parents claimed to hate her. My mom used to joke about aiming the car at her while pulling in the driveway but that "the filthy one" was too fast. But then...when my cat was sick, my mom cried for a whole day. And when they gave her the injection, my dad held her the whole time. He sounded devastated on the phone. They both did.

I couldn't be there, but it'd have been to cruel to her to wait until the weekend. I wish I could have been there though. I miss her already...

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 00:21:05 GMT

And another:

Huh. Odd. Also, apparently, my eighth most lookalike celebrity the second time was James Ensor. Weird. Heheh.

Heh.

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 05:11:02 GMT

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

25% Yankee

10% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

The funny thing is, I've lived in Michigan now for nine years.

Well, I've had an interesting week.

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 07:55:52 GMT

Okay, so I went to the optometrist for the yearly checkup this past thursday and discovered something strange during my eye exam.

See, during my physical two weeks before, I took an eye test, left eye was fine (20/20 in glasses) but I had trouble with the right, figured it was because they'd shined lights in my eyes and I'm sensitive to that.

Well, it happened again in the optometrist. But this time, because the chart was against a grey wall, it became more obvious that it wasn't actually because of the lights. I couldn't see the chart.

I don't mean I couldn't read the letters. I couldn't see the *chart*. Just...grey.

A slight problem, that. She did the other tests. The stupid eye puff thing which never works because I've got the eye-equivalent of a hair-trigger gag reflex. But it was unnerving when she said "keep your eye on the red light."

"Um. I don't *see* a red light."

"...ah."

So yeah. Then came lots of bright lights, and I re-learned the difference between after-effects from lights and grey splotch from hell. She thought it was an optical migraine at first. But it didn't go away and she saw something in there.

So off to the opthalmologist and retinal specialist for me. There's bleeding of some sort. Apparently I've been legally blind in my right eye for about a month.

And I never noticed. Seriously. How's *that* for obliviousness.

Honestly, it makes me laugh a little. It seems like such an overdramatic response to a tiny grey splotch the size of a dime in my vision. My peripheral vision, everything around the splotch is as good as ever.

Problem is, that splotch is straight on. My center vision. Whereever my eye focuses, *there* is the splotch.

Really, it's more surreal than anything else. With both eyes open, I don't notice. My left eye compensates that well. I've noticed an odd shadow/twitch for a while when I was tired, which was probably when my left eye flaked out, but I never realized what it meant. I don't even get compensation head aches.

It does get a little scary when I close my left eye and try to read something and realize that I *can't*. That's the only time it really sinks in. I've got to not do that.

The docs are gonna do something weird involving needles and dye to find out the cause (irregular blood vessel thing, they theorize) so they can keep it from happening to my left eye. They say it'll probably be permanent, scar tissue's forming.

Oddly though, I'm fine with it. Hell, I didn't notice for a *month*. Might just be that it hasn't sunk in. My poor parents are worried out of their minds. (On the plus side, I get to come home for a bit and be spoiled. Which is kind of nice, as awful as it sounds.)

But in a weird sense, I get the best of both worlds. I get a melodramatic injury to talk about without any real inconvenience.

As long as nothing happens to my left eye. :-)

Because I never post otherwise: a quiz!

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 09:19:49 GMT

Did the Meme Thing:

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 09:59:06 GMT

My contribution to the Green Lantern meme:

The text says it all really! Yay, Mogo!

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 13:09:10 GMT

What is the mystical land of your birth? {13 results with gorgeous anime pics}
brought to you by Quizilla

...um...huh. Least it's pretty. And not evil like *some* people.

For some reason the caption thingy isn't in the URL, so I copied it...

"The Land of Twilight and Solitude

You are the solitary member of the Land of Twilight and Solitude. Although you are intelligent, you are troubled. You seem to fight against yourself. You are isolated in your world and no one can seem to reach you. Your lonely word is peaceful and serine."

...serene is spelled wrong...

New Comics blog

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 19:54:56 GMT

Because I know not a lot of people here are interested in my random thoughts on comics, I decided to make an experimental new blog to put them in:

http://kalinara.blogspot.com

So far it's got some random opinions and will soon have my take on the whole Women in Refridgerators issue. As well as I intend to repost my previous entry there as well.

Yay.

Comics Babble

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:12:32 GMT

In honor of the March solicits which are rumored to come out today, I decided to make lots of lists!

My absolute very favorite characters: (the order tends to change based on what I'm in the mood for reading, but it's always one of these three):

-Tim Drake/Robin (III): I love Tim. I've loved Tim ever since he was an adorable freaky little bat!stalker in A Lonely Place of Dying. He's brilliant (figured out Batman and Robin's identity at the age of *nine*), repressed, intense and efficient. He's a force of nature. He's also completely fucked up, but in a more subtle, more fascinating (to me) way than either Dick or Bruce. It's like...he's sixteen years old and can't really seem to relate to anyone on a natural non-Robin level. It's like in order to become the Robin that he believe Bruce needed, he's carved away everything else, so that all he really knows is his duty. (I think it's also very fitting that when Tim briefly stopped being Robin, it was only because his prior duties as Jack Drake's son ultimately trumped his duties as Robin. And I really do believe that he sees "Jack Drake's son" as a duty more than anything else.) He cares very much about people but doesn't know how to show them without playing the role that he thinks they need him to be: whether it's the scarily competent leader of YJ/Titans, Nightwing's little brother, Batman's smartass sidekick (if in a drier, subtler manner than Dick or Jason had been), junior tech-head to Oracle, and so on and so forth.

The fascinating aspect to me is that the character is portrayed so completely differently in every book I see him in, but he always feels like Tim regardless. It's like the character concept is so blindingly strong that each differing portrayal becomes a facet of the whole. Or something like that. (Ack! That's it! Like that show a few years back! Tim's a Pretender!--yay, now I know what I'll write for the next timfinity challenge!)

-Kyle Rayner/Green Lantern (V)/Ion: I'm weird, because I love all of the Green Lanterns. (Except Jade, who doesn't count. :-P) Alan, Hal, Guy, John, Kyle...which used to be very hard with all the Hal vs. Kyle mentality. Fortunately Hal's resurrection helped ease that a bit, so I can finally admit, I love them all. But I love Kyle best. :-)

Kyle's great! He's like a very strange combination of the most human of the big league superheroes and something else entirely. Some have called him the "everyman" (once I read someone refer to Hal as the hero everyone wanted to be and Kyle as the hero we'd end up being) but really, I couldn't disagree more. He's sweet and sensitive, a bit shallow sometimes, a bit dim, often lacking in confidence or attention span, but he's also the guy who out of sheer blind faith helped resurrect a guy who once tried to re-write the universe (even if Hal later redeemed himself by dying to stop the sun-eater). Kyle Rayner became a god once, and the first thing he did was cut his hair. Then he helped a lot of people, helped heal John Stewart, gave Jade her powers back, stopped meddling when Superman pointed out that people actually had to live their lives, and gave it all up without hesitation to bring back the Guardians and recharge the Central Battery. And later confessed to Hal (who was Spectre) that he thought he'd been very selfish when he had the power. (Hal's "What the hell are you talking about?!" reaction was the best thing ever.) He also once let an ancient medicine man yank his heart out of his chest in order to store the spirits of the JLA in it for thousands of years.

If nothing else, this is the guy that can get along with John Stewart, Hal Jordan (who he managed to impress, while the latter was crazy and Parallax, via hitting with a lead pipe) and Guy Gardner. This is the guy who actually got *Guy Gardner* to *apologize* to him...well, technically say "You shouldn't listen to what I say all the time", but from Guy, that's an apology. John, Guy and Hal almost never get along with each other without bickering/fighting, but they all really like him. (Hell, given the homoerotic undertones in the 2005 Secret Files and Origins, I think Hal more than likes him. Heh, my dad actually read the book and called Hal a pervert for going after someone so much younger. My dad called Hal Jordan a pervert! My dad is awesome!)

Basically I think Kyle's the idealized everyman, as that guy on the message board said: Hal's the hero we'd want to be and Kyle's the hero we would be...if we were incredibly pure of spirit and incorruptable and just that damn awesome. But he's also so very human in other ways, that it makes us believe...well, maybe we *could* be.

-Sanderson Hawkins/Sand (JSA): His name, code name and chemical constituency are all the same! How can you not like him! But really, the real genius behind Sand as a character is that he started as Sandy the Golden Boy. The single lamest Golden Age sidekick character ever. The only sidekick that was lamer was the little martian thing Hal Jordan had in the JLA cartoon in the eighties. The sidekick so lame that when the Sandman himself was post-Crisisly revived in Sandman Mystery Theater, they went out of their way to make Sandy an impossibility. (Dian Belmont is an only child, when he was supposed to be her nephew, and went out adventuring as Sandy herself in the thirties). Anyway, someone sat down with the character concept of Sandy the fucking Golden Boy...and made him absolutely kickass.

See in the 1970s, they did bring Sandy back for a while, as a monster, made that way by Wesley Dodds, the original Sandman's, failed experiment. It's an interesting story idea but really poorly done (though I'd love to see some writer now rewrite it for post-Crisis), and ultimately resulted in a cure for the poor kid and him wandering off to resume his normal life after decades of anesthesized sand-monster-dom.

But then when they started JSA, they brought him back, *really* brought him back. And made him cool and powerful, with Wesley's dreams and his own not-as-cured-as-they-thought sand monster-dom. Lately he hasn't been given as much dramatic stuff to deal with (more focus has been on Dr. Fate, Rex Tyler, and Jakeem Thunder) but he's remained a strong background presence and is naturally always good in a fight scene. He's calm, solemn, quiet and old-fashioned, with a bit of a crush on Hawkgirl (which fortunately hasn't been made into a triangle). His favorite musicians are Artie Shaw and Beck. Enough said, right there. *grin*

I think he's definitely complex and interesting enough to merit a solo book (especially if they play up the detective aspect and the dreams, which aren't really utilized enough in JSA...and they could make it really fun with lots of noir and nostalgic elements). And one of these days, maybe I'll finally get over how Johns and company actually made Sandy the-fucking-Golden Boy into my favorite damn character in the whole book.

10 Runner ups: male,

-Ted Kord/Blue Beetle (II): Insert obligatory "They killed Ted!" wail here. But honestly, it's only a matter of time before he's back somehow. Yeah, he's a relatively minor character, but the whole structure of Countdown to Infinite Crisis basically screamed "Not for long!" Besides, Ted's great: geeky, goofy, brilliant, nonsensical and heart wrenching. He immediately makes great books even better, like Birds of Prey. And he and Booster Gold have one of the best friendships ever.

-Snapper Carr: I love Snapper Carr. I'm not sure why. He's great. Made Hourman the blast it was, also balanced out Young Justice too. I like the symmetry of the JLA's first junior mascot mentoring others. (I also really liked Ronnie Raymond's Professor-like appearances in the new Firestorm for much the same reason)

-Guy Gardner: My second favorite Lantern. Rude, obnoxious, insensitive, but also really awesome. He's brave, determined and irrepressible. And while he'll never be a knight in shining armor, it really is clear when he cares about people. (like when he takes Kyle and John to go model-watching to cheer Kyle up after being tech-ized by the Manhunters). Besides, he's funny.

-Clark Kent/Superman: Yes, I like Superman. In fact, I like Superman better than Batman, even if I like the Batman comics better than Superman comics. I think Superman's very human, very relatable. For all that he's this great icon, he's occasionally arrogant, smug and condescending. He's not really perfect and sometimes falls short of his ideals. But he never stops trying. I'll take that over Batman's broody self-centered fucked-up-ness any day. I hope he kicks Earth-2 Superman's arrogant, judgemental ass.

-Kon-El/Superboy: I like Kon too. I like Kon a lot. He's obnoxious, insecure, loud, arrogant and great. He's grown a lot since his own series and Young Justice, and I'm glad for that too. I also really liked the Lex Luthor twist, and I think his experiences are really starting to mature him into someone really awesome. I hope they don't kill him off. (I particularly like his interactions with Tim Drake. Admittedly, I'm also a slasher. :P)

-John Constantine: Heh, I love John Constantine, awful movie not withstanding. Hellblazer's an awesome comic and John's always very entertaining. I have a particular fondness for the old Swamp Thing issues though. I enjoy seeing how Alec and John play off each other (and Abby's so very pretty), I'm dying to find old issues of Saga of the Swamp Thing online.

-Billy Batson/Captain Marvel: Captain Marvel! Whee! I'm so glad you didn't go splat in Day of Vengeance, please rejoin JSA and have cuteness with Stargirl again! Apologize profusely and bring flowers! And listen more to Mary as she is smarter than you! For some reason, I really really want to give Billy a great big hug and tell him it'll be all ok. I blame this on thwarted maternal issues.

-Bigby Wolf: Fables is great, Fables is awesome, Willingham is not the devil if he can make a comic so chock full of awesome male and female characters. He just really should stick to this stuff and steer clear of things like Robin. The Big Bad Wolf as a sheriff! Bigby's incapable of being anything but incredibly awesome. Though to be fair, every character in that comic is kickass in their own right, even if I'm only sticking to my favorites for this list.

-Cosmic Boy: I love Cosmic Boy. He's a bitch, but you'd be one too, if you spent an incarnation in a damn corset in outer space and got rebooted everytime someone in the DCU present sneezed. Anyway, bitch that he is, he's also got some real fascinating depth. (My favorite moment in the current Legion version is when, about to leave after being overthrown, he actually starts addressing various crowd-members by name and talks about why they joined the Legion. It was mind-blowing and completely altered the way I'd previously seen the character, which I appreciate every reread.) Also have much love for Saturn Girl, Triplicate Girl, Braniac 5, and the Invisible Kid.

-Alfred Pennyworth: Because he's Alfred. Enough said. :-)

10 Runner ups female, (While I tend to be more interested in male characters in general, there are also female characters I love with a passion)

-Courtney Starsmore/Stargirl: I love Courtney, she and Sand are my favorite parts of JSA. (I hope she, Sand, Dr. Mid-Niter and Mr. Terrific get more emotional storyline stuff to do soon.) I particularly like her relationship with Captain Marvel. Courtney's probably one of, if not the best, "normal teenage girl" characters in comics.

-Cassandra Sandsmark/Wondergirl (II): I like Cassie too. For all of the problems of Byrne's run on Wonder Woman, he got one thing right. Cassie started as another irritating little-girl admirer of Diana (though still much better than Vanessa Kapitelis), but quickly became pretty cool in her own right. She intrigued me when she approached Zeus, and then Young Justice made her interesting. I hope she gets to do more in Titans. (Same goes for Tim and Kon...do we really need another: Raven might be evil! Oh noes, it's Brother Blood! plotline?)

-Diana/Wonder Woman: I think Wonder Woman gets a lot of flack. Yes, she's not really a feminist icon. Yes, she spent most of her Golden Age incarnation in various degrees of bondage. But I like Diana. I think she's a really interesting character. I particularly like how they never really bothered with a secret identity (post-crisis) and focus on her role as ambassador as much as hero. She's kind, wise and admirable. (And when she fought along side Artemis when the latter was Wonder Woman...rowr! That straight wig was great!) Also much love for Artemis, even if her character design seemed like a total ripoff of WildC.A.T.S.'s Zealot and Hippolyta who should be brought back instead of crappy Donna Troy.

-Karen Starr/Power Girl: I love Power Girl, I love her strength and forcefulness. I love that she doesn't wear a mask because no man looks at her face. I love the fact that she's aware of her "assets" but also doesn't let that change the fact that she's an intelligent, powerful woman, and that she knows if she were a man no one would have ever criticized her attitude. I also love that she's avoided the Madonna/Whore dichotomy that most heroines straddle. She's a sexual being and it works for her.

-Barbara Gordon/Oracle: I love Barbara. Not so much when she was Batgirl, actually, but as Oracle, Barbara's awesome. She's got a totally unique identity in the hero community and I hope she doesn't lose that when she regains the ability to walk. (That said, I like Dick/Kory and Ted/Babs as couples rather than Dick/Babs. He's too needy, she's too much like Bruce).

-Dinah Lance/Black Canary: Black Canary's great too. I like her especially in her JSA run, where she had a wonderful, maternal presence. She's awesome in Birds of Prey too though. She's not always the brightest (specifically during the tail end of Dixon's run), but I love her personality and demeanor. Ollie's a very lucky man.

-Tora Olafsdotter/Ice: It's weird because Ice isn't the usual type of character I like at all. But she's great. Shy and more stereotypically "feminine", but also undeniably strong too. I love her relationship with Guy too, because she understood that he was a jerk, but he really tried to tone it down for her, and she really appreciated the effort. And she was so very pretty and femslashy with Bea. Yay.

-Lois Lane: It's very bizarre because I never liked *any* portrayal of Lois Lane in the movies or any tv shows, but I really like comics Lois. Yeah, she's often the damsel in distress, but she's also smart, strong and sassy in a way that's actually quite charming. I first realized I liked her when she was one of the first outsiders allowed on Paradise Island, then went back to Superman comics and realized that she really is great. I can totally see why Clark loves her.

-Mary Batson/Mary Marvel/Captain Marvel (II): I like Mary a lot. She's sweet and perky and polite. I like her relationship with Billy in their comic and I loved her in FKAJS. She makes a fun foil to Fire. And her costume is pretty.

-Starfire: I love Starfire too. Yeah, she's an inside joke, yeah her name is Kori'ander, and she's T&A, and such, I love her anyway. She's just so unashamedly sexual (and it's rare to see that in a non-evil female character) and pure with her feelings. She's strong and powerful and just plain neat. That said, I prefer her in Outsiders than the current Teen Titans (though her interactions with Tim always intrigued me), and I think the toon!Titans version is a travesty.

Next, characters everyone else likes but don't do anything for me...

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 13:06:13 GMT

Lots of folks are theorizing what OYL will bring to the DCU. Most are fascinating and probably just as valid as any other theories, however I have to say one thing:

Dear delusional pre-Crisis fans,

Dick Grayson has been Nightwing since 1983. That's the year I was born. Ergo, Dick Grayson has gone by "Nightwing" for 22 years. Ergo, barring Miller's travesty and the Year One stories, Dick Grayson hasn't been Robin in the comics for more than two decades. Even if the Nightwing line is cancelled (and I don't believe it is, they've a new writer lined up), Dick WON'T end up in the robin suit.

Thank god. He's in his twenties, he's moved on, he's even been Batman. He won't go back to being Robin. Deal with it.

---
(That said I'd still rather see a Tim-Batman than a Dick-Batman...I figure they've been building up to it for 15 years now.)

Random Realization

Sat, 03 Dec 2005 10:58:43 GMT

Having just seen more Batman Beyond, have reached a stunning conclusion:

Terry McGuinness=Kyle Rayner (-ring, +batsuit)

That is all

Recap 2x01 Part Two

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:52:40 GMT

I seriously have no idea why this ended up twice as long as my first recap. The episode's the same damn length of time! I guess I just have more opinions this time around.

At the funeral, there's a man with bagpipes playing Amazing Grace. Which is how you can tell this show's Canadian. The camera passes by the three Taelons first. Da'an looks upset, Quo'on impassive, and Zo'or in turns gleeful and pained, probably at the bagpipe music. Heavier background music, with a faint military drum beat, is suddenly audible as a man in full dress uniform strides over to Lili's side. There is something peculiar about his walk, I think he's swinging his arms a little more than is customary for a military march. As he reaches Lili, we see that it is of course, Liam, who really has a gift for grand entrances. It's amazing, I think, how a man in a perfectly fitted dress uniform can somehow at the same time resemble a little boy playing dress up in his dad's clothes. Leeshock pulls it off though, I think it's a combination of body language and the hat, which is pulled down very far along his nose. The name on the uniform reads "Kincaid". Lili demands to know what he's doing there, and Liam puts a finger to his lips before turning to the ceremony.

Sandoval carries a wreath to the flag-colored casket and begins to speak. He begins by quoting a great Shaolin monk, as he is Asian, and all Asian people must quote Shaolin monks. It's like all diver captains must be French. It's a law or something. Anyway, I won't transcribe the speech which is the usual "honor the dead with platitudes" speech. However, he finishes it with a quote from Swinburne's "Hymn to Proserpine" (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/swinburne/hymn.html): "Laurel is green for a season, and love is sweet for a day, but love grows bitter with treason and the laurel outlives not May."

Both Da'an and Lili look devastated during the speech, while the other Taelons and Liam look impassive. In a not so subtle bit of symbolism, the camera settles onto the Taelons during "love grows bitter with treason", and drifts to Liam after "the Laurel outlives not May" which seems more than a little heavy handed to me. The military guys shoot off a 21-gun salute, during which both Da'an and Lili wince. They play Taps and fold the flag, but then the camera zooms toward the bushes, where a whooshing sound and odd displacement haze indicate that the Power Rangers escapee has arrived. Sandoval is given the flag and presents it to Da'an. Quo'on for his part drops a single white rose on the casket. It becomes slow motion, which I tend to hate on principle and still do, but what can ya do?

Anyway, as the rose hits the casket, Liam's eyes immediately dart to the bushes. There is a flash and an image of a Taelon that is clearly not Da'an (Da'an's costume is of a darker shade) is falling, his chest erupting in light as blue particles that kind of resemble falling flower petals or butterflies surround him. They're not of course, they're actually chunks of his own energy, but it really does look pretty, which is probably why the image remains in the opening credits. Anyway, the rest gape as Liam erupts into motion and tackles Da'an. Which is funny, because it clearly wasn't Da'an in the image. But Liam's a baby and easily confused. It might have been neat to see this scene in real time but I don't mind as much because it's vastly amusing to see the expressions of "What the fuck is he *doing*?" that cross everyone's faces. Lili whirls with her gun drawn and Quo'on just gapes as the giant robot shimmers into being, shooting him. Poor Quo'on. Everyone scatters, leading to the funniest part of this episode. Basically everyone scatters, Da'an's under Liam, Quo'on's been shot, and Zo'or's been left just standing there! There is a visible delay before one of the soldiers pulls him to safety. It's like the humans are all like "If we wait a second, maybe it'll shoot him! Aww, nuts!"

Sandoval fires his skrill which drives Rita Repulsa's ex-Robot back. The Robot turns invisible and escapes. Liam takes Da'an's arm and helps him to his feet and as he does so, a small spark of light passes between them. It's a Badtouch! Liam is his father's son! However, as Liam probably still thinks girls have cooties, it's probably more of a "Don'tKillMe-I'mACuteLittleKid!" sort of badtouch than Ha'gel's sleezy "have sex with me" badtouch. It's still funny though. Anyway, unlike Ha'gel's girls, Da'an definitely noticed the spark and stares at Liam. Lili runs over asking if he's all right and Da'an says that he is, but hasn't taken his eyes off Liam. That badtouch was either a really smart thing to do or a really stupid one. Sandoval approaches and Da'an says that Liam saved his life. Liam quickly introduces himself as "Major Liam Kincaid", and says he served with Boone in the SI War even as they pull Da'an away. It's the "Rehearsed too much" syndrome, when you've practiced the speech so long you just have to get it all out. It's cute! Da'an calls out "Until we meet again, Major."

Then the scene turns unexpectedly poignant as Sandoval turns around, "Lucky for us you showed up today, Major." Sandoval is being polite for him, there's only just a hint of skepticism in his voice. "Liam," Liam corrects his surviving father, with a slight tremor in his voice. He holds out his hand a little oddly, palm up, turning it to the side when Sandoval takes it, repeating his name. The handshake is tight and intense, and for that brief second, Liam's face twists. It's powerful because we've seen him born and grow, but this is the first time we really see him vulnerable. He's a child, face-to-face with his surviving father for the first time, with so much he wants to say and no way to say it. The only thing he can do is ask his father to call him by his given name. And it's even worse to realize that Sandoval will probably never use it. Unfortunately the scene is broken by the stupid Power Rangers escapee scanning Sandoval and registering the presence of the skrill. Grr, stupid robot.

Now we see a newscast from the cemetery reporting the assassination of Quo'on by an alien attacker. We find out that President Thompson has dispatched his Secretary of Human-Taelon Relations, Joshua Doors to find out more. Joshua by the way is Jonathan Doors's estranged son who once put a Taelon on trial for murder. This Taelon, interestingly enough was played by Kari Matchett who's better known as Siobhan Beckett. Honestly, she's a lovely woman but the Taelon make-up didn't work for her at ALL. But I digress.

Da'an tells Zo'or that they can't abandon humanity during this crisis and that they must return to Earth. Zo'or's having none of that, he won't allow any of them to go to Earth until it's been destroyed. Da'an doesn't take kindly to Zo'or "allowing" anything as at the moment they are equal in rank until a successor is name. Zo'or thinks that Da'an going down would endanger not only himself, but all Taelons. However, Da'an is wily and suggests that he be used to draw out the replicant. Zo'or being as unsubtle as a thousand anvils very obviously likes this idea a lot. And Da'an's totally playing on it. He also says that he will appoint "Major Liam Kincaid" as his new protector. Zo'or snaps that both of them are to approve any new humans that will work with Taelons. Da'an says then that Zo'or had better get down to an interview then because his "safety demands it". Heh, Da'an's great when he's playing Zo'or.

Back at the underground lair beneath the Church of the Alien Three-way, Lili is tearing Liam a new one in the "What the *hell* were you thinking?! Do you have any idea of the danger you could have put us in?" As she walks by she tugs on one of his uniform decorations. Liam says he had no choice. Instead of asking "why", Doors asks him how he pulled off the masquerade. Augur interjects, "Three guesses other than God or Houdini." Otherwise, Augur's staying pretty quiet in this scene. Lili snaps that she supposes he has a plan. Liam retorts that she'll have to trust that he knows what he's doing. Heh, he's so the reluctant adolescent getting dressed down by his parents at this point. Doors snaps, "Based on what, your twenty-four hour life experience?" Doors has a point there. Liam tells him he may want to withhold judgement as Lili's global goes off.

It's Sandoval, she's ordered to bring "Major Liam Kincaid" to the mothership at once. Lili, alarmed, asks what she should tell him if he asks why. Sandoval says that she doesn't have to tell him anything, but in case *she* wants to know, Da'an wants Liam to be Da'an's new protector. The sentence construction is weird and repetitive there, like Sandoval's against pronouns for some reason. In the background, Liam looks irritatingly smug. He totally needs a smack on the head or something. And yet I kind of find it endearing at the same time, I'm hopeless. In the background, Doors grunts to Doctor Park that he can't control him. I think this is the moment where Doors stops thinking of Liam like a kid and starts thinking of him as a dangerous alien. Which is ironic because Liam's not being uncontrollable because he's an alien, he's being uncontrollable because he's a child that's much too clever for its own good without the experience to teach him restraint or prudence. See if I were Doors, I'd try bribing him with candy. It worked when I babysat.

On the mothership, an incredibly WASPish man in his late twenties or early thirties is demanding answers about the attack. This is of course, Joshua Doors. I think he actually looks a bit like Jonathan Doors in the face too. Interestingly Doors Jr *also* does not seem fond of Taelons. He's also written a book, apparently, which Sandoval quotes back at him. Doors Jr. is about to leave when Zo'or finally tells him that the probe didn't come from the Taelons. This catches Doors Jr's interest. Zo'or and Sandoval explain that the probe came from the Jaridians, who are interstellar conquerors and the Taelons are the only ones strong enough to resist them. Sandoval then explains that the assassin was a Replicant generated by the Jaridian probe.

Doors Jr, is really a much better politician than his dad, and he asks what they intend to do about this. Zo'or tells him that they intend to prepare humanity to meet the Jaridian invasion. Doors Jr asks why the Taelons don't just leave Earth and take the alleged Jaridians with them. Which is, I suppose, a valid question. Sandoval clarifies that the Jaridians would come anyway because they now know of human existence via the probe. The only reason they're not already hear is that they don't have the inter-dimensional technology that the Taelons have. The probe got here because it's essentially a celestial landmine launched a few million years ago. As civilizations rise and fall in much shorter periods, it makes me wonder if what or to whom the probe could possibly be sending to, but perhaps the Taelons have more up-to-date information. Doors Jr suggests waiting them out, but Zo'or assures him that it's not an option. It's only a matter of time before they develop the technology themselves or steal it from the Taelons and then they will come to Earth en masse.

In some subterranean tunnel, the replicant appears to be repairing itself. Maybe it looking like a power ranger villain is a deliberate choice to emphasize how the Jaridians are not as technologically advanced as the Taelons. It's also bulky and massive, which is very unlike the sleek and elegant Taelon technology. It hears the barking of dogs, as a search team approaches. It cloaks itself as the team passes. The dog seems to react to it, but the search team ignores it. Which is probably for the best, really.

Now it's time for Liam's job interview. And let me tell you, Sandoval really is NOT the sort of person I'd want interviewing me for any position. Add in Zo'or, and you've got the ingredients of an interview from hell. Sandoval demands to know what makes Liam qualified to be a Companion Protector. Liam, who's now dressed casually in a smashing leather jacket, thinks his service record speaks for itself. Which brings up the interesting question, did Augur make up and forge all the records on Liam's behalf or was there actually a "Liam Kincaid" who our little hybrid is replacing? Liam's expression is a little similar to the one he wore looking at the computers in Augur's place before the news about Boone switched his brain on. Sandoval clarifies that he's not doubting his skills, he's asking why he wants to work for the Companions. Liam looks smug again, and I want to smack him and hug him at the same time.

He mentions the Irish rune of inevitability (which I tend to think is an irrational and childish attempt to make his father notice *something* about him, even if the likely consequence would be his death...kids are stupid sometimes, especially when they want their parents' attention), and he states that the fate of mankind and the Taelon Commonality is intrinsically linked, adding "but of course, you know that." I *think* he's trying to be as deliberately irritating as possible as well, in the way that kids will be because negative attention is still attention. Sandoval glances at his global and then states that "Liam Kincaid" served as Boone's lieutenant in the SI War. And he says expressionlessly that it was lucky for them that Liam showed up when he did. "Lucky for Da'an." Liam smirks. So irritating! And yet cute! Why?! Sandoval suddenly switches tack, demanding to know about the March of Taipei. (Taipei is the capital of Taiwan, and the SI war is the Sino-Indian War which supposedly took place in 2004 and led to the "War Powers Act" for anyone who is curious).

Apparently faulty Intel led to an ambush in which only Boone and "Kincaid" made it out alive. Sandoval then says that Liam's here to be a Companion Protector but he and Boone couldn't even protect the lives of his men. Amusingly as Sandoval says this, a look of calculation crosses Liam's face as though he's counting down waiting for the right moment, when Sandoval finishes, Liam whirls at him snapping that he will not allow Sandoval to insult the memory of Captain Boone or his men. Zo'or watches with interest, and Sandoval asks if Liam always loses his cool this easily. Liam chuckles and says that that's what Sandoval wanted, wasn't it, Mr. San-do-val. He grins and it's a different expression than the vacant smile or smirks he had before, and I think the syncopation he uses when drawling Sandoval's name is a mimicry of Von Flores's own enunciation pattern. I also just notice that while Liam towers over Sandoval much like Boone did, he isn't nearly as physically imposing. Which makes Sandoval look a bit less small and more evil. Sandoval denies knowing what Liam's talking about. Liam disagrees, saying that a Companion Protector would never allow such an insult to go unchallenged.

Zo'or cuts in asking why Liam was drawn to serve Da'an. Liam counters that it would be an honor to serve any Taelon. Sandoval asks if Liam would be prepared to be implanted with a CVI. Liam hesitates as a CVI with a working MI would cause him to give up both the Liberation and the fact that his other daddy was a horny homicidal pod person with a thing for sex in churches. Sandoval sneers that Liam's wasted both of their time then, but Zo'or cuts in saying a CVI won't be necessary in this case. Sandoval protests, but Zo'or says that they'll be in touch. After Liam leaves, Sandoval protests to Zo'or that Da'an's safety would be severely compromised if a non-implant were to protect him. Which is exactly Zo'or's point as with Da'an out of his way, Zo'or could rise unchallenged to leadership of the Synod and Sandoval will rise with him. Heh, which was exactly what both Da'an and Liam had intended. This way, when Da'an and Liam do survive (sorry, spoiler! :-P) neither Zo'or or Sandoval will be able to challenge his position even without a CVI. Clever!

In the embassy, Da'an is filling Liam in on the details of the replicant, namely that nothing short of destruction will stop it. It is designed to kill Taelons and will continue to do so until it can't. Sandoval approaches them saying that the degenerator shield is now operational. When the replicant attacks, the shield should be able to disable it with electro-magnetic pulses. He and Lili will be monitoring nearby. Sandoval then hands Liam a gigantic gun that looks like kind of like a Super-Soaker with the water tank removed and painted black, for "insurance". Liam accepts the gun, looking a little puzzled. Imagine, giving a loaded weapon to your infant son! Sandoval's a bad daddy! Sandoval also reminds them if there are any problems, the Inter-dimensional portal (which looks something like a giant metal lotus blossom and teleports anyone standing inside to another portal) is their only escape. Which means it will be destroyed. Because that's how these things happen. Sandoval tells them to stay close to it, and Liam quips "Like a leprechaun to his pot of gold." Which, by the way, is a *terrible* line. Yes, Siobhan is Irish and Kincaid is an Irish name, but for pete's sake! The rune referencing made sense, because they were such a large part of Siobhan's life. This line was just stupid.

Back in the underground lair of alien conceptions and births, they are reimplanting Siobhan's CVI through a needle that enters at the base of her jaw. Doctor Park explains again that if the operation is successful, Lieutenant Beckett won't remember anything that could hurt the resistance. Doors asks to what degree of certainty, and Doctor Park states that it's 100%. Simply, should the CVI fail to block the memories, it will overload and kill her. Among them are memories of Liam. Doors looks satisfied. Bastard. Becket is starting to come to, so Doors gestures to the underlings to take her outside. At any hint of a problem, they're to kill her first. *Bastard!*

In an office building, Lili's staring through a window at the embassy, which looks awesome and alien towering over all of the normal buildings around it. She protests that they should be stationed much closer than this; there'd be no way to make it to Da'an's office in time if there is a problem. Sandoval lies and agrees with her. However, he says, Da'an wanted to limit the risk of human casualties, which is plausible enough. Sandoval is staring into a screen where Liam and Da'an are standing in front of a brightly lit thing. Lili sighs saying they'd best settle in for the long haul. Sandoval says that it won't be that long.

Meanwhile in Da'an's office, the brightly lit thing appears to be a game board of some kind. I like alien games, they're nifty. Anyway, Liam places three pieces, causing a two different tones followed by a chime. "Foovlasha," he says. I guess that means he won. The game station/board/whatever darkens, and Da'an admits that he has never seen Foovlasha played on this level before and asks how long Liam's been playing. Liam admits, with a bit of a cocky grin, that it's his first time. He does not however admit that his dad probably invented the game. Which isn't true in the show, by the way, but I like blaming Ha'gel for the invention of everything from alien board games to STDs. He just says that he's good at games. Da'an suddenly grabs at Liam's wrist to Liam's surprise and alarm, the cocky grin immediately gone like the facade it was. Da'an says, "Not as good as you are at hiding the truth."

In their hideout of perpetual surveillance, Sandoval leans closer. He probably was the sort of kid who hung behind doorways and eavesdropped on everyone he didn't like. Da'an finishes, "As written in your palm" and he turns Liam's hand over revealing a small, dark circular mark on Liam's palm. Heh, a sign of oncoming explody-hands? Liam's face doesn't change much but his eyes look positively terrified behind the game board. "You deceived me." Da'an says finally. And from his perch in the hideout of perpetual surveillance, Sandoval snaps that he knew it, and makes to get up. But he stops when Liam very calmly says, "What can I say, you got me." Da'an gives him a tiny, mischievous looking smile and gently brushes Liam's palm with his fingers, before saying "Only a Lashaa master could beat me at my own game." Through the game board, Liam gives him a tremulous uncertain smile and looks close to bursting into tears of relief. This scene is probably my second favorite in the entire episode in terms of acting. Parker pulls off Da'an's gentle acknowledgement and acceptance with her usual subtle flair and Leeshock has just ousted Lisa Howard from her throne in terms of fantastic expression acting. Because Liam-the-character couldn't afford to openly express anything but a bland lack of concern, Leeshock had to display everything Liam was feeling in only the subtlest movements of eyes and mouth. Scenes like this are why I watch this show, stupid power ranger-esque villains and all.

The monitor next to Sandoval goes off and suddenly the music shifts from the gentle strings and woodwinds melody to one with a heavy pulse-like drum beat. Sandoval opens his global and tells Liam they may have found the replicant. Lili demands confirmation of the energy signature which is indeed Jaridian. The degenerator shield is activated, and Sandoval exposits that it should disable the replicant when it enters the office. Lili mutters only if the Taelon programming proves effective, which causes a very brief but hilarious look of "Fuck, caught!" to appear on Sandoval's face where Lili can't see. The replicant is indeed caught like a fly on fly paper but apparently not for long. Liam just manages to pull Da'an down as the replicant shoots, destroying the portal. Fortunately, Da'an knows the fastest way out. As they run, I only just notice Da'an's platformed boots. Heh. I suppose they're meant to make the Taelons look taller and more androgynous. Anyway, the Replicant quickly gives chase.

Just after that, Lili and Sandoval storm the embassy, Lili exposits that they must have fled through the subterranean tunnels, as they're the fasted way out. Liam and Da'an run, Liam deliberately slowing his steps to keep up with Da'an, as far behind them Lili and Sandoval run to catch up. Then it's silent as the Replicant approaches. Da'an is hidden in a small alcove looking very not-androgynous, as the soft blue light and the angle really emphasize Leni Parker's femininity. From a walkway above, Liam starts shooting at the Replicant, driving it back some before sliding through the railing. He pulls out the gun, shoots again, but seeing it does no good, he throws it aside like the piece of crap it is. Liam then wins my eternal and everlasting love by picking up a big pipe and whaling on the giant robot. See, I've a strange love of sticks. Also staffs and lead pipes. I don't know why, but the fact that as soon as the gun didn't work, Liam started whaling on it with a giant stick-like object just makes me gleeful. Even if it's futile, the gesture is what counts.

Anyway, Lili and Sandoval are still running to the rescue, even as Liam continues to whack the monster. Unfortunately the monster gets in a good whack and sends Liam flying. The giant robot's hand morphs into a gun, much to Da'an's alarm, and takes aim at Liam, who manages to get his hands up to ward. The red marks on the palm are glowing and they catch the energy beam, which Liam then reflexively shoots back at the monster. Well, it's not quite as cool as explody hands, but Liam's still a baby, so I guess it's cool enough. Da'an certainly seems impressed. The light in Liam's palms die down just as Lili and Sandoval catch up. The latter tripping over the discarded weapon. "I see the weapon proved effective, Major." Sandoval says, examining it. , "Yeah, Just like you intended." Liam spits out. Poor little guy, it really must suck that your dad is trying to have you killed. On a shallow note, with the sheen of sweat in that blue light, Liam's cheekbones look even more delicate than ever.

Back on the mothership, the Taelons are apparently giving campaign promises. Zo'or believes that the Jaridians will come to Earth and that they need a strong military leader to prepare the humans to oppose them. Da'an counters that their arrogance caused them to bio-engineer creatures for use in a vain attempt to win. Hmm, interesting use of words there, "vain attempt" certainly doesn't mesh with Zo'or's story of the Taelons being the only people able to stand up to the Jaridians, does it? Da'an advocates a joining between the two species. Zo'or spits that it would slide them back a million years in their evolution, but Da'an counters that sometimes one must take a step back to take two forward. Zo'or still doesn't believe that humans have shown any potential to evolve to join with them. Da'an flashes back through the episode, showing various images of Liam, the badtouch at the cemetery, the glowy hands of energy death, tackling Da'an, and the board game, and he smiles, "Perhaps you need to look more carefully." And you know, while I think that that bit was great in an artistic sense, I really do think it made a *terrible* campaign speech. When you've got an enemy looming over your heads, and your opponent's all "We need a strong leader", and you're all "We should ally with this nation." And he's all "And what good will that do" you really should respond with something more than "If you don't know, you're not looking hard enough." *honestly* Da'an! No wonder you don't get elected!

Now it's time for my absolute favorite scene of the episode. Sandoval has returned to his office, where a medtech and Beckett are waiting. Beckett looks very out of it, and I think her hair is longer than it was in the last episode, but maybe that's pregnancy hormones. The medtech explains that they found her wandering in an alleyway, dazed and unresponsive. Other than a few abrasions, she's uninjured. I'm surprised the doctors didn't notice she'd just given *birth* but hey, maybe the doctor was incompetent. Anyway, they're talking around Beckett as though she's not there, but she doesn't seem to mind. Sandoval dismisses the medtech and kneels beside Beckett's chair. He asks her how she's feeling. She shakily brings her hand up toward her mouth before admitting that she feels like she's been hit by a truck. Heh, I love when stoic-type soldier characters are honest. And also, I'd bet! Imagine, conception, labor and birth in nine hours! Not to mention impromptu brain surgery, I'm surprised the poor woman is as together as she is. I like Sandoval's gentleness in this scene too, he really does care about her, he's just too much of a moron to express it. He asks her what happened, but she can't remember anything past looking for Ha'gel.

Sandoval said that Captain Marquette (Lili) had reported that she'd been killed by Ha'gel and Beckett repeats: Captain Marquette? But fortunately, before it can jog any memories, they're interrupted as Liam saunters into the office, smirking, "You wanted to see me, Sandoval?" He does that particularly irritating thing by syncopating the syllables in Sandoval's name. Beckett stares up at him as Sandoval stands, saying that Zo'or was pleased by Liam's victory against the replicant. Beckett pulls herself upright, still staring at her infant son. Sandoval begins to introduce the two, but Liam cuts him off with an expression of subdued delight. "Lieutenant Siobhan Beckett, Protector of the UK Companion," he chirps that it's an honor. Beckett looks dazed and perplexed and apologizes, about to say she doesn't know him. But he shakes his head, and introduces himself as Da'an's new protector. He's looking at her like she's the most beautiful and wonderful thing he's ever seen in his life, which I guess, since she's his mother, she is. Sandoval demands to know how he's acquainted with Beckett, and Liam smoothly replies that the first thing he did was familiarize himself with the Companion Protectors worldwide. As he speaks, Siobhan rubs her forehead and then stares up at him and asks weakly, "Have we met?" The camera zooms in on her ear, which has begun to bleed, which is a sign of a CVI breaking down. We can see immediately the moment when Liam sees the blood drip, even though his face doesn't seem to change much at all: a quirk of the eye and the mouth maybe, but the end result somehow looks horrified and heartbroken at the same time. It is the single finest moment of acting from *anyone* this entire episode. "No," he says quickly, "Not in this life time." And as he shakes his mother's hand, his father glaring at him suspiciously, the episode draws to a close.
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Personally, I find this episode very enjoyable. The b-plot with the Power Ranger take on the Predator was a bit weak, but the A-plot, the introduction of this new main character was well worth it, in my opinion. Mostly though I attribute it to the actors more than anyone else, the episode had fantastic performances from all of the central characters. Not in the least, Robert Leeshock, who's saddled with a character that on paper would be almost absolutely impossible to play. A child, aged instantly to adulthood, with his parents’ memories, no life experience of his own, playing at a stoic army vet role. Imagine trying to express everything your character feels, like a child, but in a way that still makes it plausible that the characters around him actually buy him as a stoic army guy.

In general though, I think they did a good job introducing the new character, which is always a difficult job. They also, in a combination of acting and writing, managed to keep the guy from being an incredible Marty-Stu type of character, by introducing both strengths and faults together, balanced. Yeah he's very clever, good at games, and brave, but he's also reckless, a bit arrogant and smug, and the show understands and works with this.

Thinking about it, when a show tries to introduce a new character, there are three ways that things can go wrong. The first is that they go overboard with the character's strength. Suddenly we've got someone who's the best pilot, the best shot, the best hacker with a genius IQ all in one. They outshine the main characters in their principle roles which becomes infuriatingly. The second way they fuck it up is by trying to convince us that the character is infallible. I don't mind an arrogant or bitchy character when it comes down to it. (I love Liam, Lili and Doors after all). It only bothers me if they try to portray this horrible, self-centered person as the greatest thing in the universe (e.g., Phoebe Halliwell from Charmed, but I'm sure you can think of others). As long as we're *supposed* to see the character's irritating moments as irritating, I can deal with it. They may not be my favorites always, but I probably won't hate them. The third way to fuck it up is to have the character dominate the plot in a manner that makes all the other characters superfluous.

I think First of its Kind does well on all accounts. Liam might be good at games but already we can see that he's not the long term thinker that Doors or Da'an is, and he's not quite devious enough to keep up with Sandoval (though that'll change over time). He also might have gone to the funeral and taken his false identity on his own initiative, he still needed the help and computer expertise of Augur. On the second count, well, there were plenty of times that Liam made me want to smack him, as I said. He's arrogant, pushy and smug, but I get the idea that we're supposed to notice that about him. He's just like the other characters on this show, very three-dimensional. Finally, while Liam was the center of both plots, I thought that all of the important characters were invaluable in their own roles. We also got to see newer aspects of these characters that the situation brought out, like Augur working really well as an older brother-figure. Lili as a friend to Beckett and a nagging, but genuinely concerned sister figure. Da'an too got to display more of a paternal/mentor quality than he'd been able to before, since he and Boone were much closer to equals. Sandoval, too, got to show a different side, as Liam clearly inherited his mother's ability to get under his father's skin. And as the fulcrum character, I think Liam has the presence and charisma that Boone lacked. I can buy him as the center of the show.

On a completely shallow note, I think Robert Leeshock is an excellent choice visually to play the human/alien hybrid. His not-Asian-ness is a bit disappointing, considering his daddy is supposed to be Von Flores. But on the other hand, looking at him, there's definitely something about his face that makes me believe he could have some Taelon (or proto-species related to Taelon) ancestry. Which is weird to think of, as the Taelons are all played by women. I think it's a combination of make-up and those cheekbones.

New character aside, I thought the episode worked okay as a season premiere. I tend to evaluate season finales and season premieres on how well they shake up the established status quo and routine. The less able they are to return to the status quo, the better a season ender/opener it is. In the last two episodes, we've lost a main character, gained one, lost the moderate voice of the Taelon Synod, and got a new opportunity in Lili's promotion. We've also got our first real introduction of the Jaridians as the true enemies of the Taelons.

Visually, I think this episode and those forthcoming are a vast improvement on the first season. They've traded in the more subdue, neutral tones for brighter colors and shimmering lights. The new opening montage and its use of truly visually striking scenes like the butterfly and Quo'on's death really emphasize this show's true strength, which is in its imagery.

On the downside, and this is one big downside, I really do wish Boone had gotten a bit better of a sendoff. The funeral was nice, as was seeing the grief of the main characters, but still, as much as I criticized him, I think he deserved a lot more.

So I'd grade this episode as a B+, (For the record, I graded Joining at a C).