Wooohooo!!! It’s the weekend! Take a minute to check out this pretty funny video. We’ll dub it the Nerd of the week.
There’s a lot today, so onward to The Nerdery….
Nathan D – In a nerd exchange program, what non-Star Wars character would you like to see IN the Star Wars universe during Episode 4-6, and which Star Wars character from that time would transfer into the other’s universe? What are their fates/influences?:
This might be considered traitorous, but I would love to see Captain Kirk (Shatner or Pine, although Pine would work a little better) in his prime in the Original Trilogy. He has the right kind of attitude for the series, and it would be interesting to see how he would lead during the Battle of Yavin (where the Rebel Alliance destroys the Death Star… Spoiler Alert, I guess?). It would be fun to see him command a starship while the battle raged on (think Admiral Ackbar, without the crabbiness), and I think he would bring a different command presence. Just picturing him and Han Solo interacting is amazing. For the exchange I would like to see the Emperor go to Star Trek: the Original Series. I was originally going to go with Darth Vader, but the Emperor is just so evil and manipulative that he would make a better villain in the Star Trek universe. He could work his way up through the Federation like he did the Senate and the Captains would have to band together to stop him.
I think it would be hilarious to replace C-3PO and Bender from Futurama. Bender doesn’t have the qualifications that 3PO does, but his attitude would be hilarious in his interactions with Han. “Shut him up or shut him down!” “Well, you can kiss my shiny, metal, ass!…. Hey what the… what are you” –click. Admittedly, with Bender being Jabba’s interpreter the whole plan would have gone down the drain, Han would still be an ornament, and Luke would have gotten himself trapped for nothing, but it would be hilarious. And can you imagine C-3PO in Futurama? He would be the butt of almost every joke, and his reactions to all the shenanigans would be priceless. His conversations with Fry would probably make him short-circuit frequently, and seeing him in the crazy situations that the Planet Express team fine themselves in on a regular basis would be great. Leela and Han Solo would deal with him very similarly I think. — Cam
Whitlee W writes- Who would yoy guys say is the darkest superhero, besides the standard answer of Batman?
Stephen—Hellboy – A lot of characters, for one reason or another, go to hell. They have to fight the devil or demons or zombie Teddy Roosevelt and then they move on. Hellboy… IS FROM HELL. His name even has HELL in it. That’s pretty dark to me. It’s like how when someone tells you they’re from Detroit and you immediately assume they’re family is all dead and they’ve personally murdered at least 7 guys themselves. (Editorial Note: 4LN would like to apologize to the people of Detroit and all Teddy Roosevelt enthusiasts for this contributors remarks. They are not shared by the entire team.)
Cam—I am going to have to go with the Punisher. He is the antithesis of Batman, in that he seeks revenge, not justice. His wife and child were murdered, and now he is going to kill anyone he thinks is evil. That’s really the difference between him and Bats. Batman draws the line at murder (unless you count the movies… he kills almost every villain it seems like), the Punisher is a hunter who only has one goal: eradication of anybody considered bad
Cody— Spawn, all day. I know Hellboy is from hell and the punisher is hell bent on revenge, but this guy was SENT to hell for murdering people that were innocent (unknowingly). His story is filled with so many up and downs. When he is sent to hell he is at the top of his game in the CIA, and is murdered by his partner. In hell he sells his soul to a demon to be able to see his wife. Once he returns, she has moved on, and he doesn’t even remember why he’s there. It’s not just Spawn that’s dark it’s the world around him: Demons, angels, sin eaters, clowns, murder, pedophilia, revenge, and love lost. He’s one of my favorites honestly. Not to mention his suit is made of Necroplasm, for all you non-word nerds out there his suit is made up by death. He’s wrapped in death. FTW.
Robbie—- The darkest character hero that I can think of is Rorschach. Originally I was going to go with Spawn, but there is so much more of a human element with Rorschach. While he is very much a vigilante similar to Batman and will do the right thing, he has this ruthlessness to him that is pretty brutal. With lines like “The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout ‘Save us!’ And I’ll look down, and whisper ‘No'”, I think Rorschach is a pretty dark guy.
Bill- Ok, so for darkest character, I’m going to have to go with John Constantine. After all, he is pretty much the leader of Justice League Dark. Now, I understand that John does everything in life like he’s a backhanded compliment. What he does at first appears to be the right thing but in reality he’s just trying to pull a huge con. He’s quite the dick if you ask me. He’s got to also be the most corruptible character in the DC universe (that might be why I love him, but don’t get me started on Keanu Reeves…) For a little back story on why he’s a corrupt wanker, in the New 52 Trinity War series, he tried to steal Shazam’s power AND all Justice League America, Justice League Dark, and Justice League are all fighting over Pandora’s Box, each character who touches begins to go mad with power until the next unlucky hero becomes possessed with want, EXCEPT Mr. Constantine, because “You can’t corrupt what’s already corrupted.
Melody D. asks: I would love to her you nerds weigh in on the “geek girl,” debate/debacle. I think it is such a window into American culture through the eyes of a microcosm, and I genuinely love hearing new points of view.
This is a question that has several deep rooted answers to it, and please don’t kill me for saying what I’m about to say. I’m going to put it like this. Nerds… can be chauvinist assholes. It’s the truth. Girls in the nerd realm are seen a couple of ways; one as posers (attention whores and just looking for acceptance), and two as intruders (that is not my opinion personally, just how I think it is perceived by most). Harsh words I know. Honestly, if a girl is genuinely into something geeky I don’t think twice about it. Regularly I bounce questions off a coworker that is a pretty big geek herself, but most guys see it as a gentleman’s club. A place they can go and talk about their man things. I don’t think nerds have anything against woman being into what they (the guys) are, heck it increases their chances of after Magic tournament activities, but I do think the nerd world is a safe haven to guys who have been dominated by groups of other subcultures. It’s their dark corner of a room to just be themselves and play games that are uncool, or talk about characters that aren’t real. When a woman comes into the picture and starts dominating with gaming skill or comic knowledge, it sets off the defense mechanism and causes the nerd self-confidence to sink even lower; even in its safe haven. It might be nice window into the heart of men though. We all just want to feel good about ourselves in some way or another. So really, I think it shows how weak men can be, because you get the same reaction when a woman decides to play fantasy football. Being beat by a girl (even as an adult man) is the worst feeling, so kudos to you for staying strong in our idiocy. —- Cody
Thanks for reading, and we’ll catch you guys next week. (Beaming Up) 4LN Crew.