Annotated 48-42
That poor aide did not wake up today thinking that he was going to be the one to authorize the Iwatanian surrender, but here we are.
In an earlier draft, Byron was to narrate this page, and the FB ad invites a compare-and-contrast with his ideas.
Original Byron Captions: History moves at its own pace. A lot of times we show up, put in the work, and the world just seems to ignore us, or laugh at our efforts to fix anything. And then, maybe two or three times in a lifetime… A thing happens.
FB: History is long periods of thinking you know how things will be, punctuated by short shocks that leave you flabbergasted whether you’re on the right side of them or not.
What does the alt text mean?
“Good game, no replay.” It’s terminology that would probably be familiar to Xan and Shanna’s gamer associates.
Ah, thanks.
If I remember correctly, you mentioned that when you began this comic, you didn’t actually plan to have the World’s rebellion defeat Gastonia. Did you have any initial plans for how the war would play out?
One option would have been a pre-defeat team-up against the Purple People-Eater…
Hard to do that with Taro running things.
Our original plan did involve a unification of peoples, but they would have all come together to stop HR, rather than conquering one another through war and then fighting HR. Our original template was for each charter member of the Peacemakers to end up running a nation, as Gravedust did. Syr’Nj, Byron, and Bandit would’ve run B’ial Vezk, the Gastonian Army, and Gnometown respectively.
Best would’ve been HR’s ally, his powers enhanced but his mind half-crazed as the world that once worshipped him turned against him. I don’t remember when we decided he’d get an actual redemption arc: it may’ve just happened naturally as Flo got more fond of him. But the long-term plans for him were among the first to change.
Frigg would’ve had an arc somewhat similar to Gravedust’s, conquering Harky and becoming Queen of the Trolls and thus Conqueror of the Rebels. Penk was not part of our plans at the beginning, and when we introduced him, we though he’d stay locked into more of a common-soldier role. As the Rebellion developed, though, I think we both felt like that narrative was a little too colonialist, no matter how much we loved the “Frigg the troll” pun.
Good to point out when that “iconic photo” is used that the kiss was very much uninvited and unwelcome for the girl.
It’s pretty violent, when looked at with that in mind.
Goddamn dudes gotta ruin everything with their lack of concern for consent.
You’re not the only person to see it that way, but it’s worth noting that the “girl” herself saw it differently. (Alternate link for non-subscribers here.)
That link to the MT page is just a selection of headlines, no article.
You sure? It takes me right there.
I’m afraid I don’t know the HTML code to put the link in nicely, but here is the link if it works right.
That link is a transcript of the interview with the woman.
And of course I forget to add the closing bracket… well, such is life.
Here’s what she said to Washington Post:
“It wasn’t my choice to be kissed,” she told one interviewer. “The guy just came over and grabbed!” Another reporter asked what she was thinking at that moment. “I hope I can breathe,” she said in local news footage since removed from the Internet: “I mean somebody much bigger than you and much stronger, where you’ve lost control of yourself, I’m not sure that makes you happy.”
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/02/22/wwiis-most-iconic-kiss-wasnt-romantic-it-was-assault/
So, I think the obit is probably very busy whitewashing something that was in fact not OK.
Re: the kiss photo.
It was a moment of happiness, relief and ecstasy following the revalation that the war was over, and that the sailor would not have to submit himself to a very real danger of death.
While in ordinary circumstances his action would be actionable, in that time and place it was (just) excusable. After all, he did not go any further to force himself on the girl. And who knows how many other instances, greater or lesser in extent, happened on that happy day?