Oh, that's right. I forgot that in the first couple books they'd stopped letting women become dragonriders, and as the series progressed, they resumed their more egalitarian policies.

I always read that as stemming from the fact that only blue and green riders were in a position to "become" homosexual, because only blue and green dragons weren't gender-specific in whom they bonded as a rider. Granted, with the context of the above quote, it certainly becomes much more disturbing, but on its own, it…

Nerd gripe here: the Pern novels are Science Fiction, not fantasy. That's all I have to add to this discussion, aside from mentioning that this news makes me tentatively happy.

THPOILERTHHH!!! Just kidding. I'm actually of the rare breed who are immune to spoilers. Thanks for the input! That seems like a mature way to tackle that issue.

She's Pakistani, though, which means that her culture is influenced strongly by both Islam and Hinduism. Or rather, essentially she's ethnically Indian but practices Islam instead of Hinduism.

I think you missed my point. Whether Billy Batson is black or white, or whether he's Billy Batson at all, the problem, as I see it (and if my memory serves), is that Captain Marvel/Shazam is, in his true form, essentially a separate being from his secret identity. Thus, they have to decide if, when he transforms, he…

The problem with making Billy Batson a POC would be that it would raise some uncomfortable questions. Namely, since Shazam is essentially a separate entity from his "secret identity," would Shazam still be white, or would he be black. If he were white, would that be the same as the old "Super Sayan" problem from DBZ? …

It may be "mean-spirited and kicking down," but let's face it, people who tweet about working on their novels fall squarely into the acceptable targets category.

It's cool. Sorry if I sounded like I was jumping on you there. It's just that a LOT of people have been accusing Al of ripping off Front in the past few days, so I assumed you were another one.

And hosting the video exclusively on the news site that is probably the greatest supporter of corporate excess is absolutely a masterstroke.

Yes, it's truly amazing and maybe even disheartening that two musicians, both nerds, would produce songs about subjects near-and-dear to the hearts of nerds.

Essentially, though, any group that's focused on "defending the Constitution" is a reaction against the current government. I.e. they wouldn't exist if they didn't feel the Constitution needed to be defended, usually from the current administration. Same as it ever was…

I think Shinto shrines were included because at least until WW2, Shinto included veneration or worship of the Emperor. So the logic would be that if you practiced Shinto, you'd be loyal first to the Emperor. It's faulty reasoning, and the same sort of reasoning that led to the internment camps during WW2, but at…

To be fair, though, I attribute how irritating Tyrion is post book 3 less to what he went through and more to the fact that ADwD is just a shitty book (as is AFfC, but since Tyrion's not in that one, it's irrelevant to the conversation).

Wait, gum's down to a dollar, now?

Ahh, that's right. For some reason I was thinking he died along with Ned's father and brother.

Tysha and the horrible things that happened to her account for about 60% of Tyrion's motivation, though, especially from the end of book 3 onward. Without Tysha, a lot of Tyrion's actions from that point on would become extremely suspect and far less sympathetic.

Except that, as I mentioned above, Robert had already fathered at least a few bastards by that point, and was a well known womanizer. No one was under the impression that Robert was a virgin or in any way likely to be a faithful husband.

The problem with treating it as a spoiler, though, is that for those show-only fans, without all the proper foreshadowing that's included in the books, it's probably going to come across as deus ex machina or a fucking Shyamalan ex nihil twist when/if it comes to pass.

Honestly, though, Robert didn't want to rule in the first place. He didn't rebel to overthrow the Targaryen dynasty, he rebelled to murder the family who had (at least in his mind) kidnapped and raped his fiance, and murdered his father and the father and brother of his best friend. He only accepted the crown…