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Technically, the NPCD is an offshoot of the Postal Division, but one wonders if the Shallot and Otik have even been in the same room together. I'm not even entirely convinced they didn't just draw straws for it. =]

Before I go adding it to pages:



Also, BTW, what is the NPCD a division of?

~Neshomeh

Yeah, the Shallot's great fun to write, as I've said elsewhere. He's a pompous, officious little berk, and he'd be a lot more unpleasant if he had any actual power. =]

I've not read a huge amount of Stephen King, and I've never even seen a copy of The Tommyknockers as far as I remember, which I admit isn't saying terribly much. I'll take your word for it about the comparisons. =]

Heyo, it's been so freaking long since I've done a movie review! But in the wake of all the positive reactions, hype, and feels surrounding the Black Panther movie, I knew for a fact that I HAD to give it a review after seeing it this past weekend. I am so very glad that we got tickets in advance to watch it, because good golly, it is an absolute masterpiece. Word of warning, this review will be ridiculously spoiler-worthy - I know we've been good with spoilers, but I'll put one below anyway so you guys can use it for replies to this post.

IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT TO DRAG ME AWAY FROM YOU, THERE'S NOTHING THAT A HUNDRED MEN OR MORE COULD EVER DO, I BLESS THE RAINS DOWN IN AFRICA, GONNA TAKE SOME TIME TO DO THE THINGS WE NEVER HAD... IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT TO DRAG ME AWAY FROM YOU, THERE'S NOTHING THAT A HUNDRED MEN OR MORE COULD EVER DO, I BLESS THE RAINS DOWN IN AFRICA, GONNA TAKE SOME TIME TO DO THE THINGS WE NEVER HAD... IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT TO DRAG ME AWAY FROM YOU, THERE'S NOTHING THAT A HUNDRED MEN OR MORE COULD EVER DO, I BLESS THE RAINS DOWN IN AFRICA, GONNA TAKE SOME TIME TO DO THE THINGS WE NEVER HAD... IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT TO DRAG ME AWAY FROM YOU, THERE'S NOTHING THAT A HUNDRED MEN OR MORE COULD EVER DO, I BLESS THE RAINS DOWN IN AFRICA, GONNA TAKE SOME TIME TO DO THE THINGS WE NEVER HAD...

Starting things off with the writing and characterization, I have to say that almost all the characters in the film were enjoyable and engaging to watch, and there were plenty of great moments from everyone concerned. T'Challa, despite being the obvious star of the show, actually feels kinda stoic compared to the liveliness of quite a few of the secondary characters which I'll get to a bit later, but he still has a compelling storyline, and while I was worried that he'd remain somewhat static throughout the movie, there were quite a few gut punches that ensured that he'd grow as a person and also as a ruler. The movie did a good job of demonstrating that he had big shoes to fill in a metaphorical sense, and also that even if T'Chaka had tried to be the best example that he could be for his son, his past mistakes would still come to light eventually and force T'Challa to reevaluate his worldview. This is especially apparent when it becomes known that T'Chaka, when he had donned the Black Panther suit, had been forced to kill the Wakandan traitor whose son would grow up to become Killmonger. It was a split-second decision driven by the impulse to save the life of the other Wakandan spy present, but the urge to keep up appearances for the sake of the nation ended up having far-reaching consequences that would've resulted in far more unnecessary casualties if T'Challa and later M'Baku and his tribe hadn't intervened. That kind of split-second decision is mirrored in the story in general, when T'Challa's lack of information regarding Killmonger's origin story almost costs him the throne and even his life, only being saved by the intervention of M'Baku and his remaining allies' delivery of the last Heart-Shaped Herb. Eventually, after fighting his way back to his own kingdom, he's forced to deal with Killmonger using the only remaining option left after the failure of diplomacy and civility, through violence and possible death. This history essentially repeating itself is one of the biggest contributions to T'Challa's character growth, and also his decision to make Wakanda a more publicly open nation willing to use its resources to aid the world at large in the end. It shows that he's realized how much impact even very short-term decisions can have in a sort of ripple effect, as well as the major setback of trying to lock Wakanda as a whole behind figurative closed doors: that sort of isolationism prevents you from interacting with the world around you and, like it or not, making the kinds of mistakes needed to move forward.

Naturally, since T'Challa sets a pretty high bar, the secondary characters and antagonists kinda have to settle for being second fiddle, but they all have traits of their own that help move the plot forward. The main antagonist, the aforementioned Killmonger, is interesting among the other Marvel villains in that instead of the typical "KILL EVERYTHING" or "take over the world" MO (or sometimes both) without many reasons other than "MWAHAHA I'M EVIL", he actually has a rather valid and understandable reason for his actions. The recent instances of black people being persecuted simply for their color, even in the modern day and age, are a strong force of motivation grounded in a sad reality, although the means by which Killmonger was planning to achieve that goal - by waging war on every other race - were undoubtedly going to cause as many problems as they'd solve if not more. Another interesting factor is how Killmonger's rule essentially divides up the entire nation; while Shuri (whom I'll get to later) is loyal to T'Challa through and through, and goes out of her way to help him and his cause, other characters like Okoye (initially) and W'Kabi simply serve the man in the throne whether or not he's truly fighting for the force of good. This actually threatens to tear the nation apart during Killmonger's campaign, and again, it's only because T'Challa and M'Baku's tribe join forces to stop him that things don't escalate into all-out carnage. As a wise man once said, hate begets hate - whether you think it's justified or not, the total extermination of people who are different than you, even if a few gave you grief in the past, is the wrong way to act, and only makes you like those very people who attacked you first. I have to give props to T'Challa for not falling into the same trap that his father did and offing Killmonger directly; instead, he attempted to show mercy, as well as a Wakandan sunset like in the tales Killmonger had heard as a child, but rather than spend life in prison with his reputation in shambles, Killmonger chose to essentially commit suicide and end the cycle. Even if he nearly caused an all-out civil war within the Wakandan borders, Killmonger is still a tragic figure, and that makes a big impact on all of us.

My favorite character by far, however, has to be Shuri. It's established very early on that she's not only a child prodigy, but also a youthful, spunky teenager with a wholesome sense of humor (and in at least three instances, a penchant for memery, trolling, and cringe-inducing puns on almost the same level as Chibi Yang). While she seems to be a light-hearted comic relief, though, she also plays one of the most critical roles in the story - rescuing the Heart-Shaped Herb that would later be given to T'Challa for his second wind - and her humor is offset by a dedication to her responsibilities as well as her intimate knowledge of the ins and outs of the Black Panther role as well as his loyalty to T'Challa regardless of the situation. It's probably this that leads to her being so important in helping T'Challa recover, and I'm proud of her for being both the heart of the movie (T'Challa, of course, being the soul) and a nuanced and lovable character in her own right.

The writing of the movie is also quite well done due to the points noted above and much more. Racism, prejudice, loyalty, and the impact of even the smallest things are themes that are prominent throughout the entire movie. I was very concerned that the sole major white character, Everett Ross, would turn out to be a villain (though thankfully that wasn't the case, and he gets an awesome support role in the climax that Han Solo would be proud of), and Ulysses Klaue IS a secondary antagonist, but it's interesting that ultimately, the conflict is waged by blacks, among blacks. This ties into the concept that there is no such thing as reverse racism - even if it's blacks persecuting whites, it's still way over the line if it isn't in self-defense. The conflicting solutions proposed by T'Challa and Killmonger - coming to terms with the outside world and reaching out to lend aid to it vs. only looking out for your own and forsaking all others to keep them from harm - are an uncomfortable mirror to a lot of real-world politics in recent years, but in true MCU tradition, it's the idealistic approach that wins the day in the end, although as expected for a conflict as intense as this, there are still quite a few casualties at the end of it all, and unlike many other instances in the MCU and beyond, most of these are impactful and placed tactfully enough to move the story forward.

I dont' even need to say that the graphics and visuals of this movie are absolutely gorgeous. Wakanda as a city is stunning, the various African landscapes breathtaking, and the vehicle design and choreography as masterful as a Star Wars movie. The costume and character design as well are splendid, and it is at this point that I'd like to call attention to the costume designer for this movie: Ruth E. Carter, who's also done work for such films as "Malcom X" and "School Daze" - plus she's African, and has done extensive research for this movie's designs, drawing from a wide variety of African cultures. Really, this entire movie is a feast for the eyes and absolutely worth seeing for that fact alone. My one gripe is that the war rhinos seen early in the movie and then in the climax are notably CGI, and could've been improved with some animatronic work like in the first Jurassic Park movie (or heck, they could even have used real rhinos, but IDK how much hassle that would've resulted in), but that's a minor quibble that doesn't detract from an otherwise spectacular feature.

I'm well aware that complaints about this movie have had to be filtered extensively on RottenTomatoes to prevent Internet Racism(TM) from marring the reviews unnecessarily, but that's a can of worms I'm not going into for the sake of my dignity. On my own terms, however, I do have one suggestion for improving the movie: instead of murdering Klaue just halfway through the movie, Killmonger could've just as easily pounded him into submission and forced him to work for him as a sort of Dragon (in TV Tropes lingo). T'Challa and Ross vs. Killmonger and Klaue would've been interesting to see, especially considering how threatening Klaue was with his cyborg arm and what it could do to both T'Challa and those poor innocent vehicles involved in the car chase in Korea. He'd have made an interesting secondary antagonist that could've opportunistically interfered with the warring parties and stirred up tensions just to tear down Wakanda out of spite. I'm not about to suggest an "Everett vs. Klaue" scenario - which was actually what Everett was planning in the first place when he entered this movie - but giving Klaue a bigger role before he gets offed would've made said murder more impactful and karmatic after all he's done. That's largely splitting hairs, though - I'm sure there are people who instead feel that Killmonger getting rid of Klaue early prevents competition. Who knows?

On a final note, here are two things I really want to see in future MCU films: 1) a movie with a predominantly Asian cast and setting, and 2) a movie starring Devil Freaking Dinosaur. I'll admit that both of these are kinda self-centered, but the first one in particular is probably more desirable at large because there aren't that many Asian characters at all in the MCU (Mantis from Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Colleen Wing from the Iron Fist TV show are probably the only ones I can think of off the top of my head, though I may have missed a few more), but one of the big things I'm noticing from the Black Panther release is that African-American and black children have come to look up to him as a hero in the same way that a lot of girls look up to Wonder Woman with the number growing since her own film release. A quick look at the Marvel Comics online archives presents me with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, who has actually joined the Avengers and would make a very interesting and cool addition to their MCU incarnation. As for Devil Dinosaur, I don't even need to explain why he'd become beloved if he ever shows up in a MCU movie, even as a minor character... just keep him away from the palaeo-discourse and he should be fine. XD

All in all, Black Panther isn't a perfect movie, but it's very close to being one and I'm so happy for its success. While there are a few minor things I feel would've been worth fixing here and there, I don't see any obvious faults and certainly none that detract from how amazing it is. Do yourself a favor and give it a spin - I can promise that you'll be in for a visual and auditory treat from start to finish.

Grading Scheme:
- 96 - 100: A+
- 93 - 96: A
- 90 - 92.9: A-
- 87 - 89.9: B+
- 83 - 86.9: B
- 80 - 82.9: B-
- 77 - 79.9: C+
- 73 - 76.9: C
- 70 - 72.9: C-
- 67 - 69.9: D+
- 60 - 66.9: D
- Below 60: E

Grades:
- Writing: 9
- Characterization: 9
- Pacing: 8
- Creativity: 9
- Consistency: 9
- Cinematography: 10
- World Building: 9
- Music and Sound: 10
- Effects: 9
- Engagement: 9

Final Grade: 91 (A-)

Ix and Charlotte's next mission deals with Percy Jackson elements? *wince* The one I'm working on for Lorson and Dax is Harry Potter/Star Wars, so that one should be safe for you.

You do get used to the effects after a while, but dear lord it was annoying. Poor Ix didn't know what hit her. :P

(partial)

Going back a few pages of Board here . . .
"I Think She's Turning Japanese" is into Twilight . . . Yes, I am going to read that eventually. It deserves the same chance as any other story.

"Field Test" was Percy Jackson, which I haven't even started yet, though I do have the first six books in my bedroom.

"Daughter of Broken Canon" was also Percy Jackson.

. . . Okay, it felt like I had missed a lot more missions than that. Guess my brain was just making me feel disproportionately guilty for shirking responsibility, a thing it is very, very good at.

Eurgh. Sorry to hear the T is so, uh. Affecting.

—doctorlit, thankful to be ace every day

In no particular order, as my brain feels scattered today:

I like how you've presented the Shallot as one of those by-the-book, micromanaging Office Space bosses. I mean, I hate him, and the wheedling way he talks, and his self importance, but I like the way you've presented him. It's well done. I also love the very defining moment when he interrupts his agents bonding naturally to oversee some regimented bonding instead. I also also loved seeing the reactions of the Board of Department Heads, noticeably put off from their usual calmness.

I like that you've taken a Sue-tracking bracelet, something usually used as a source of at least light drama pertaining to a character's core personality and identity, and applied it in a way that turns the bracelet into pure slapstick comedy, and which ultimately isn't a judgment on the character it's a attached to, but only there due to a bureaucratic misinterpretation. It's a fun change. You also kept the times Bogbrush had to appease the tracker infrequent enough that I never quite knew when his dialogue was going to degenerate into advertisement, which gives all such instances the sense of interruption they need.

I like the way you handled the Cube. From the scene that introduced it, I didn't expect it to turn out to be such a problem. Heck, I was outright amused by the conversation between it and Karen. But then, even after Karen moved to the new division, it kept getting mentioned, and kept getting mentioned, and I starting growing uneasy as I realized this wasn't more of the irreverent sort of comedy as the rest of the story, but an actual, serious problem that would need to be addressed eventually. But I'm also glad you dealt with it, at least part of the way, right here in this story, and also that the first step towards eradicating the Cube's mental effects from Karen was also the catalyst for the true bond-forming of the non-Flower portions of the team.

—doctorlit, drawing lots of uncomfortable connections between the Cube and the Tommyknockers right now

Wait, what canons have I been tackling that you're not caught up on yet?
Also hardly anyone's been commenting on my missions these days so I didn't take it personally, no worries

And yep, that's what I've been trying to convey. I'm glad it's coming off like I wanted. Hopefully some of Ix's newfound confidence will come through more in the upcoming cowrite with Zing. Once Charlotte starts getting into shape (and stops whining about needing to actually practice to be good at something), she and Ix should go back to a more balanced team dynamic.

Ix's experiences with testosterone are going to mirror mine-slash-draw from my experience, and (TMI alert!) hoo boy, let me tell you, T is... really, really strong. Yikes.

He's got the same appallingness as the Notary, but in an entirely different way. It's a hoot. I'm glad you like having him around (if such a thing is the right term for that unrepentant berk). =]

Yay, an Iximaz mission that not into a canon I'm planning to consume eventually, so I can read it without spoilers! Because that's why I haven't been commenting on a lot of your other missions lately, if you noticed I wasn't, but you probably didn't notice and I've been making too much of it in my mind but I was afraid of insulting you but I didn't know how to bring it up without sounding weird and

I know I've mentioned on some of the recent Ix-and-Char stories how fun it is that Ix gets to be the stronger, more experienced one now that Charlotte has become human. But I only realized reading this story how valuable it's going to be for Ix's self confidence to shift their focus from their own perceived failings, and to focus more on helping Charlotte become stronger. Which will also make their relationship closer! Yay!

I was going to say something about testosterone not automatically making people easily turned on, but then I remembered that I'm ace, and have no idea how testosterone works in that department. (It works fine for me in the other department. I scared a whole bunch of my coworkers yesterday because they overheard me screaming at boxes of produce.)

—doctorlit, screaming at inanimate objects with regularity

This has nothing to do with the mission (well, nearly nothing), but I didn't want to start a new thread, sooo...

I wrote a song. Or rather, I wrote lyrics, and my friend wrote a gorgeous melody and accompaniment. You can hear her singing it there, at her SoundCloud.

Derik made me do it. That's the only reason it's kinda-sorta-but-not-really related.

But anyway. Song. Yeeee. ^_^

~Neshomeh is brimming with creativity!

Right! I really liked this. The characters were fun, and the juxtaposition of comedy and serious drama was pretty solid (and if you weren't expecting it... have you ever READ Scape's stuff? :-P).

Also, The Shallot is wonderfully hateable. Maybe just because I'm a programmer, and the majority of programmers, IME, have a loathing of those sorts.

For my part, I'm sorry for not finding some off-Board way to discuss the whole thing - the fact that we've been handling it publically for years is no real excuse, just an indication that we should've found a better way ages ago. And I'm sorry for the way I reacted on the thread.

I hope you've managed to absorb that... pretty much literally everybody jumped right in to defend you, so there's no need to be scared of Big Bad Huinesoron commanding the pack to maul you. :) I'm not actually scary, and I hope you can come to understand that. (I also do my best not to get hung up on past arguments - if I did, I definitely wouldn't talk to Neshomeh, who did... that thing... I guess... something once? I'unno, it's water under the internet bridge.)

hS

--when is anything not about me? ;) No, no, I jest (mostly); like Agent Soul said (that is you up there, right?), it's pretty standard practice for the Flowers to invent a role just to make someone feel speci... ah, useful.

I'm glad to hear he's doing well; I'm reasonably sure Ilwion checks in on the kids occasionally (well, I think that's where he vanishes to), so if you see a strange bronze hanging around, it's probably him.

~Dafydd

I'm glad you liked the stuff involving Karen and the Cube. It was something of a sticking point for my betas, and the initial version was a lot darker, so I'm pleased that it's intriguing rather than concerning. As things stand, the Cube is my attempt at figuring out what happens when partners are really, really mismatched in terms of power level and temperament, and it's a really nasty piece of work. The Cube picked Karen for no other reason than because Karen was there and the Cube wanted someone to control. It was something I had to get out of my system in an environment and manner that felt safe to me, and I knew there was a risk of it going really wrong. So I'm glad it didn't.

I'm also glad you liked how unrepentantly awful the Shallot is. He's based on every punchable new-media twerp I've found hanging around fashionable London boroughs like maggots on a picnic, and, well, you can't run a Buzzfeed churnalist content-output agency in HQ and not have it run by an Onion, can you? =]

Finally, the bottom right tea stain in this image seems perfect for the flashpatch.

Thanks for the review, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Like it says in the disclaimer, the Shallot is open for everyone to use, and I'd love to see Nume being forced to deal with him. =]

It's far more telling you thought it was about you. :P

Oh! While you're here, I just thought you ought to know, Zeke is doing great! Thanks for trading those eggs, because I don't know what I'd do without him.

Might get around to writing a proper review, but my brain's frazzled.

I just wanted y'all to know this was good and I enjoyed reading it, even if I know... uh, nothing about 40k. Cheers.

Fairly irreverent, at any rate - which I'm not saying is a bad thing. I second Nesh in asking whether the NPCs will ever actually publish anything - if they do, we'd be up to four different in-universe print publications that actually exist (five, if you include the Manual). Goodness, that's practically a library!

Mortic is very sad that people see him as stuck-up. He was grumpy around the WhatThe newbies, but that was a special case...

Anyway: fun, but really weird.

hS

Because all I can think is that flash patch probably means something extremely rude in Heptapod. ^~ (And not to knock KittyEden, but if you can find a vector-ish tea stain you like in a solid color, I'll doctor up a higher-res version like the others on the wiki.)

But seriously, I enjoyed this story a lot. I was skeptical about a new division just on principle, but I love the idea of the SO and the Board making up some nonsense just to placate an annoying Plant and have somewhere to chuck people they don't know what else to do with. I believe there is precedent for this being exactly how they handle problems like this. ^^

The (sub?)plot about Karen and the Cube kinda threw me, it being a very serious element in an otherwise very silly story, but in a way that makes me want to know more about it, not less. What is the Cube, really? Where does it come from? How real is it? Why Karen? Where is it now? Should we be worried? 'Cause we've got people who can deal with that pudendum if necessary, just sayin'.

If only our friendlier psychics weren't so well-behaved with their powers that they didn't notice the problem... or maybe the background psychic noise of HQ interfered, or the Cube is just good enough to mask itself from casual notice. Any number of possible explanations. ... Sorry, I digress.

The SEP field was a nice (temporary) solution to the problem, though, and the moment of everyone coming together as a team was just plain nice. {= )

Other things I liked... Caroline. The acronym NPC. Bogbrush and his Sue-tracker problem. The Shallot and his terrible personality. The fact that the NPCs are basically Buzzfeed.

Is there going to be an actual publication associated with this, by the way? Such things are a lot of work and difficult to sustain, history tells us, but even one or two issues as an example would be awesome. ^_^

~Neshomeh