Remove ads

With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Twelve)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Reader mode
The last factory that made VHS tape players closed down in 2016 so ZOAT is wrong. You could actually get new VHS players when the show aired.
 
Pinklestia said:
The last factory that made VHS tape players closed down in 2016 so ZOAT is wrong. You could actually get new VHS players when the show aired.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Earth 16 is generally a little farther ahead in tech than we are. His statement could be true in-universe.
Mr Zoat said:
That I might have contradicted myself.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well, you had enough room to get out of a direct contradiction.
Mr Zoat said:
Really? Who was buying them?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Old people? Netflix still ships physical copies of movies, a service I didn't realize was still around until I went to visit my grandparents.
 
shepsquared said:
That's like saying neanderthals and humans are the same race. There's been a few thousand years of genetic drift in between the the burners and the modern martians, and the Guardian's meddling.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Except apparently what happens when you remove the Guardian's meddling is you get a new Burning Martian according to the Renegade story.

Genetic drift is about the distribution of existing traits within a population, what you're thinking of is mutation. After mutation occurs then genetic drift would cover the distribution of the mutation within the population.

First of all, humans 20 thousand years ago were the same race, so why you just assume that a race whose generations are three times longer than ours would become a different race is quite odd.

Secondly, not seeing a lot of mutations happening. I don't see a lot of sunlight damaging their DNA since they live in caves, even if the sunlight could damage their DNA through their superhuman resistance to injury. Mutagenic chemicals? Martians have superior technology and the ability to form telekinetic force fields.

Thirdly, martians are masters of biotech, if they can make living spaceships I have no doubt whatsoever that they can prevent or treat genetic damage.

Of course, in New Earth the idea of genetic damage to martians would be rather laughable, since J'onn once reformed his body by assimilating dirt like an even less discriminate Thing, but if that's even a possibility for Martians in this story I imagine Zoat will make it a trick of master shapeshifters up there with power duplication.
 
I'm probably wrong, but as someone whose entire knowledge of this Ma'alefa'ak guy is from the comments here, it sounds like he already went crazy the last time that J'onn was here, he was stopped, and then got his memories of it wiped. His dreams, the convenience of his physical isolation, the mix of anger and fear when that guy joked about him liking to see people suffer...it reads more like repressed/sealed memories than a descent into madness.
 
Last edited:
Empiricist2 said:
Earth 16 is generally a little farther ahead in tech than we are. His statement could be true in-universe.

Well, you had enough room to get out of a direct contradiction.

Old people? Netflix still ships physical copies of movies, a service I didn't realize was still around until I went to visit my grandparents.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

VHS stayed for so long because of few reasons.

Prize, DVD players used to be expensive.

Region lock: DVDs are region locked, VHS is not.

Piracy: It was very easy to get movies in VHS even if they didn't have an official release in VHS.

Eventualy, what killed VHS worldwide was that DVDs became so cheap one VHS tapes started to cost the name than ten DVDs, so even with DVDs lasting way less due to scratches, it just wasn't worth anymore.
 
Pinklestia said:
Eventualy, what killed VHS worldwide was that DVDs became so cheap one VHS tapes started to cost the name than ten DVDs, so even with DVDs lasting way less due to scratches, it just wasn't worth anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
VHS tapes wore out from simple mechanical wear -- the tape would stretch from being wound and rewound, so the quality would degrade a little more every time you watched it. They'd even degrade in storage from temperature variations, humidity, and chemical changes in the film. DVDs may have been more subject to accidental damage by virtue of early DVD players not having very good error correction (and VHS tapes being spooled inside armored cassettes), but the discs last WAY longer than VHS tapes as long as you're able to take care of them.

EDIT: But yes, the fact that a DVD can be pressed for pennies on the disc in a matter of seconds while VHS tapes have moving parts that have to be assembled and each one has to be copied from a master at the factory... no amount of technological advancement could have made VHS cheaper to manufacture than disc-based media.
 
Last edited:
Empiricist2 said:
I'm not sure I understand? Why would you be worried?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I didn't remember what he meant when he wrote that line (the pets style of attack) and thought he might have had to edit the story to change the reference so she learned it from someone else.

Empiricist2 said:
Old people? Netflix still ships physical copies of movies, a service I didn't realize was still around until I went to visit my grandparents.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
When I first got Netflix I did a search of a lot of old movies I had not seen in years. A great many of them were not on Netflix for streaming, or only available on the dvd program. Did you really think they had every movie from the 80's and 90's online? It does not sound like that long ago, but 1986 is 30 years ago! And you need an active contract for all the streaming movies, and a DVD comes with permission to watch that movie as long as the DISK exists.
 
Last edited:
GhostKing 666 said:
That's a poor analogy. Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens were never descended from one another(outside of interbreeding), we're cousin species. It would be more accurate to say that the Burning Martians are the Homo Heidelbergensis to the modern martians homo sapiens(or depending on how closely Red, White and Green Martians are to each other genetically, Homo Sapiens, Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Denisovans).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
To be fair, unless I am seriously mistaken, there are practically no major genetic differences between Red, Green, and White Martians in this setting- the differences are the variations in the psychic viruses that propagate their species' subconscious mind.
Coda said:
EDIT: But yes, the fact that a DVD can be pressed for pennies on the disc in a matter of seconds while VHS tapes have moving parts that have to be assembled and each one has to be copied from a master at the factory... no amount of technological advancement could have made VHS cheaper to manufacture than disc-based media.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's not true! Star Trek Replicators could be invented, bringing back the glory of VHS! :V
 
Remove ads
Demeanour (part 19)
  • Threadmarks
    • 21st April
    03:47 GMT -5

    The acid spat by an adolescent B'ool splatters off my construct barrier. **Remind me why you want to preserve these?**

    T'ronn moves the vacuum into the puddle of B'ool… Excretion, and activates the suction. **If Whites were involved in those sorts of decisions, I wouldn't need to be here.** "Hey, Uncle Ma'al!" Ma'alefa'ak looks around from where he's slathering what looks like quick-drying cement onto the sides of an injured adult B'ool. I note they don't try puking super acid on him. "Paul wants to know why we're preserving this species!"

    "Urrrruuughhhlllgh." The B'ool Ma'alefa'ak is tending to objects to its treatment. Ma'alefa'ak responds by putting his hands on its… I'm not sure what that is. It calms down immediately.

    "That's a complicated question. We don't actually need any of these animals. We can maintain our atmosphere ourselves, either with plants or synthetically. We can grow meats in laboratories-"

    "Urrrrrugh."

    He smiles fondly at his patient. "-not that I'd want to try eating one of these fellows. I don't think it would affect anyone's lives adversely if we let them go extinct."

    "Uncle Ma'al, I'm not sure what you think you're arguing-" T'ronn pulls the partially corroded nozzle out of the waste trench, regarding it with a wary eye. "-but I'm not hearing a reason to keep doing this."

    "Optimism, T'ronn." Ma'alefa'ak sits back, checking his patient over one last time before giving it a pat. It dutifully squirms away. "The optimistic belief that some day we will be able to turn the surface of M'arzz into something we can live on. That we can turn it back into the verdant world the fossil records tells us it once was. We don't have enough species left that we can toss away any of the ones we still have. These guys were apex predators and their bodily secretions formed an important part of the ecosystem they used to live in."

    "Maybe we could just import nicer animals."

    "You know, there's some evidence that the caverns our ancient forebears moved into after the disaster were dug out by B'ool."

    I suppose that might be true. The Guardians' records don't specifically say how the caverns were made, and the B'ool's acid spit is mostly used for melting rock rather than attacking things.

    "They don't have any B'ool in them now. I'm not convinced that our ancestors-" Ma'alefa'ak is watching the B'ool wriggle away. "-made the wrong decision." Ma'alefa'ak doesn't answer or turn around. In fact, he looks a bit out of it. "Ah, Uncle Ma'al?"

    Nothing for a moment, then he jerks his head around. "I'm sorry. You were saying?"

    "Ah… Don't worry." He wiggles the vacuum. "I think I've got it all. What do you want me to do with it now?"

    "We need to take that to the microbiology laboratory. The bacteria living in the B'ool's digestive system are one of the best insights we have into the surface of ancient M'arzz, as well as an indicator of their general state of health."

    T'ronn sighs. "I think I can see why you're the only one who lives out here."

    "No, I'm the only one who lives out here because-." He cuts himself off, frowning.

    "Because you're the only one who can, I know." T'ronn lets go of the vacuum and instead levitates it beside him as we walk towards the exit to the large B'ool enclosure.

    "So, what exactly are your people doing to undermine the Green/Red hegemony?"

    "Civil disobedience. We share information about companies or people who have strong apartheid tendencies and agree not to have anything to do with them. We also monitor and publicise incidents of violence committed against White Martians with semi-official sanction."

    "I'm a little surprised that sort of thing can happen in a telepathic society."

    "Why?"

    "Because they can't just pretend it didn't happen. The victim would have a memory they can share. Right?"

    "I'm doing this-" He momentarily lifts the vacuum. "-in order to create cover memories to hide my political work. Manhunters are much better at it than I am. If they want to they can just erase a memory from someone's mind, and it's even easier for them to edit their own."

    "Have you considered using Human recording devices? They're not telepathic. It wouldn't be that hard to make a wireless transmitter that was small enough to wear so that even if the device was destroyed there would still be a record."

    "That could work." The three of us come to a halt as the inner airlock door oozes closed behind us. "You'll have to show me how to use them."

    He and Ma'alefa'ak alter their shapes for the external environment. I note that the elder Martian completes his change slightly ahead of his nephew.

    Pressure dropping.

    I should have spotted it before now, but Martian airlocks don't flush air, they extract it, telekinetically drawing useful gasses out of the small locked chamber before opening it to the outside. Given that the caves they live in aren't interspersed with airlocks it hardly comes as a surprise that Martians are masters of atmosphere retention techniques. Or maybe they are interspersed with them? I wouldn't necessarily recognise a telekinetic airlock, and I didn't notice anything particular on our way in.

    The outer door oozes open and T'ronn leads the way out onto the Martian desert surface. The air here isn't completely still, but there's still little enough wind that footprints and other markings tend to linger for a long time. Wonder why there aren't any paths? Sure, he couldn't make enclosed walkways due to the risk of escapes, but putting a few stones down? Then I see T'ronn floating just above the ground. Which is probably even easier to do here than it is on Earth. Right. Different assumptions.

    **T'ronn? You there?**

    **Yeah, what is it?**

    **The civil disobedience stuff you're describing to me sounds pretty peaceful. Not.. saying that you're lying or anything, but if it were Humans I imagine that some members of the group would want to be a bit more… Forceful. Direct. You know?**

    **Yes, it's.. not a universal approach. There are Whites who want to be more aggressive about things.**

    I look around, taking in the other domes. Looks like M'gann's team (her, Z'üm and Cha'rissa) have finished with the Sho'keer, and they've got the Sphere with them in trike mode carrying a couple of large containers of Sho'keer eggs. I suppose with creatures that practice r-selection reproduction these sorts of habitat would allow them to successfully reproduce far more than they would have been able to in the wild. And creating a habitat big enough to actually replicate an area of ancient Mars would be a massive undertaking.

    **And?**

    **What happens in a fight when one side has all the apparatus of state and the other side doesn't?** Ah. **Some… [A complex mental image stressing extreme ingroup bloodline loyalty and superiority and the exclusion and/or destruction of everything else.] They want-.**

    **I'm sorry, can you give me a moment? That was a more complex image than I'm used to dealing with.** How could I parse something like that? Strong…

    **Oh. Right. Sorry. I guess in words it would be something like… Hyper.. clan..?**

    A name I recognise from the comics. If I remember correctly they were a group of White Martians who posed as superheroes. I think they had mental influence satellites as well, which was sort of necessary to explain why anyone would turn their backs on the comic book version of the Justice League. And that's about all that I remember. Of course, with Mars still being inhabited and colour being inherited rather than being a result of mental state, if they exist they'd have to be something else. **And what do they do?**

    **They want to kill anyone who takes advantage of us. They've killed Manhunters… They've even killed Red Mar-.**

    **Stop. Try saying it as 'Reds'. Leave off the 'Martians'.**

    **Is that really..? Alright, ah, they've.. even.. killed Reds.** Darn, it isn't an absolute compulsion. **I don't want to tear down Martian society. Mostly, things are pretty good here. But people are angry, and a lot of Whites who don't want to join them give them a degree of.. respect. Kinda hard to explain to someone who's just been on the receiving end of a unwarranted Manhunter mindfray why they should care about the Green who did it getting the same done to them.**
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Mr Zoat said:
    **Is that really..? Alright, ah, they've.. even.. killed Reds.** Darn, it isn't an absolute compulsion. **I don't want to tear down Martian society. Mostly, things are pretty good here. But people are angry, and a lot of Whites who don't want to join them give them a degree of.. respect. Kinda hard to explain to someone whose just been on the receiving end of a unwarranted Manhunter mindfray why they should care about the Green who did it getting the same done to them.**
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    ' who's '
     
    Reader mode
    52,016 more messages…
    Status
    Not open for further replies.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top