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Fair point, but being able to have a machine shop with a mill and water jet and forge and whatever else you could want to wrought intricate custom metal and do fabrication would probably help any magical endeavor
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Aug 17, 2014 03:07
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Loving Life Partner posted:Fair point, but being able to have a machine shop with a mill and water jet and forge and whatever else you could want to wrought intricate custom metal and do fabrication would probably help any magical endeavor Or, gently caress, having enough zeros in the bank to pay svartalves to handle that poo poo.
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Aug 17, 2014 03:10
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Loving Life Partner posted:Fair point, but being able to have a machine shop with a mill and water jet and forge and whatever else you could want to wrought intricate custom metal and do fabrication would probably help any magical endeavor Doubtful. Harry would be completely incapable of actually using a facility like that; he'd hex a water jet to death in minutes just by being in the same room as it.
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Aug 17, 2014 03:48
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Khizan posted:Doubtful. Harry would be completely incapable of actually using a facility like that; he'd hex a water jet to death in minutes just by being in the same room as it. Now I really want to read that short story.
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Aug 17, 2014 04:43
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Khizan posted:Doubtful. Harry would be completely incapable of actually using a facility like that; he'd hex a water jet to death in minutes just by being in the same room as it. Well, as long as he's a few states over as they're actually _doing_ the fabrication...
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Aug 17, 2014 07:07
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Wittgen posted:Butcher said somewhere that maintaining his magical tools is the equivalent of a part time job. I think time, not money, has always been the limiting factor on how many magical tools Harry has access to. This won't be a problem once his standing army Little Folk 'level up'. He'll have his own elves! Take that Kringle!
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Aug 17, 2014 07:22
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While SI has had some members who are aware of super natural issues and know what its about, like Murphy's dad, its mostly there to investigate weird poo poo and provide a plausible explanation for why people think they saw a werewolf disembowel their husband. Its also there to dump lovely cases, cops who hosed up one way or another, and is generally the the place under the rug where things get swept. IfLester Freamon did police work in chicago instead of baltimore, hed have been dumped in SI instead of the pawn shop unit. Lester probably wouldve had a few shotgun shells loaded with rocksalt though too.
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Aug 17, 2014 18:44
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Xtanstic posted:This won't be a problem once his standing army Little Folk 'level up'. He'll have his own elves! Take that Kringle! Has it ever been explained why Toot is getting bigger? Is it because his influence among the Little Folk is spreading?
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Aug 17, 2014 18:49
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apostateCourier posted:Has it ever been explained why Toot is getting bigger? Is it because his influence among the Little Folk is spreading? Because his liege lord, Harry, is getting stronger and has a high rank inside the faerie hierarchy. That also explains why Toot and his mooks are now Winter instead of being wild fae like they were in the first books.
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Aug 17, 2014 18:51
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As far as I'm aware, it's because he's making deals with Harry constantly, and the Fae get stronger the more deals they make. It's explicitly stated that the really powerful Sidhe like Lea earned their positions by making lots of bargains with mortals, and Harry is feeding Toot pizza every week!
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Aug 17, 2014 19:31
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SpookyLizard posted:IfLester Freamon did police work in chicago instead of baltimore, hed have been dumped in SI instead of the pawn shop unit. Lester probably wouldve had a few shotgun shells loaded with rocksalt though too. Goddamn, now I want HBO to make a Dresden Files/The Wire crossover, complete with McNulty banging white court vamps, Bunk arguing with Lea and Rawls being an rear end in a top hat to everyone.
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Aug 18, 2014 00:22
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One thing that I find odd is that in Small Favor Harry almost kills Nicodemus, and down the line he remarks that he doesn't think anyone else has figured out the secret to it. ...So shouldn't he be telling everyone he can (Knights, Church, Murphy, whoever) about this instead of apparently not saying a word to anyone?
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Aug 18, 2014 04:38
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Maybe he was afraid it would put a great big old target on Harry and his friends if word got back to Nicky that his secret was being spread around. Of course now that the Denarions are pissed at them anyway I'd hope at least Sanya and Butters are told.
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Aug 18, 2014 04:51
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Yomtom posted:One thing that I find odd is that in Small Favor Harry almost kills Nicodemus, and down the line he remarks that he doesn't think anyone else has figured out the secret to it. Long story short, Harry thinks that in the future he might really need a necktie.
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Aug 18, 2014 05:16
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the dogs pissed and poo poo all over the living room again (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Aug 18, 2014 09:30
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I will probably withhold breakfast as punishment
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Aug 18, 2014 09:33
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Loving Life Partner posted:Just finished Skin Game, thoughts dump coming (yeah I'm late, being poor and relying on the library sucks) The deal with this was that whatever question followed the use of the word wizard was answered with the first word said by the other, with the rest of the sentence as cover. Questions like Grey asking Harry if he wanted whatshisface (Harvey?) retrieved alive, or if he wants things to devolve into end game yet, etc. The best example is when Grey ended a sentence with the word wizard after walking in at the end covered in blood, Harry asks if he killed Anna, he answered "No particular reason not to" and only the No mattered, letting Harry know he didn't kill her. Searching for that particular word is easier on a kindle, to be fair, haha.
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Aug 18, 2014 13:42
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Illuyankas posted:The deal with this was that whatever question followed the use of the word wizard was answered with the first word said by the other, with the rest of the sentence as cover. Questions like Grey asking Harry if he wanted whatshisface (Harvey?) retrieved alive, or if he wants things to devolve into end game yet, etc. The best example is when Grey ended a sentence with the word wizard after walking in at the end covered in blood, Harry asks if he killed Anna, he answered "No particular reason not to" and only the No mattered, letting Harry know he didn't kill her. Searching for that particular word is easier on a kindle, to be fair, haha. I don't know if I would have ever noticed any of this if it hadn't been pointed out to me. Maybe I should read the books on my re-read instead of listening to the audiobooks.
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Aug 19, 2014 12:58
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mrking posted:I don't know if I would have ever noticed any of this if it hadn't been pointed out to me. Maybe I should read the books on my re-read instead of listening to the audiobooks. There are a bunch of other things too like Making harry know he didn't kill the banker guy and asking harry if michael was on the up and up
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Aug 19, 2014 17:16
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OptimusWang posted:Goddamn, now I want HBO to make a Dresden Files/The Wire crossover, complete with McNulty banging white court vamps, Bunk arguing with Lea and Rawls being an rear end in a top hat to everyone. I can just see a Denarian lookout running back to warn the others: "Sanya comin'." Fake edit: "I'm a Knight of the Cross. I redeems Denarians."
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Aug 21, 2014 16:19
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Mouse!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBTaMDfRFtI
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Aug 23, 2014 16:48
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My folks have an English Mastiff. When my dad's goddaughter was really young she'd ride him like a horse. I can't believe I never made that kind of connection.
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Aug 23, 2014 20:59
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I really liked Skin Game. It felt good to have Butcher dial back the heaviness a bit after such heavy hitters like the previous 3 books. I wonder if Butters is going to start training with the Einherjar now since the last time he was asked he said he would as soon as he got a working lightsaber. I'm on a re-read of the series and I'm on Cold Days right now. I just noticed for the first time that (spoiled in case new readers are here: Ghost Story, Cold Days) Demonreach actually confirms that he was Silence in Ghost Story. When he's talking to Dresden in the prison and Harry asks for an explanation for the building power he says, "YOU ARE TOO LIMITED, IT WOULD DAMAGE YOU, AS IT DAMAGED YOUR SPIRIT." I was just working on assumptions that it was him, but the whole "preconsidered vocabulary" thing threw me off until I realized he hadn't actually spoken before.
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Aug 25, 2014 06:17
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So, halfway through Ghost Story, and it really bugs me how loving casual everyone is about Harry being loving dead. It's like he popped out of town for six months and the fact that he's undead is like a minor sidenote to most people.  "Oh 'sup Harry, long time no see. I heard you died?" "Yeah it's pretty annoying." "Oh so long as you're here can you help us out with some crazy supernatural poo poo like we normally do? Oh and we've all acquired plot devices that allow you to see and hear you despite you being invisible and dead." "Sure no big." It doesn't help that Harry's reaction to dying is so deadpan. You'd think he'd be slightly more upset at the crushing finality of it, since there's literally never been a reference to anyone dying and being resurrected. It doesn't seem to be a thing that is remotely possible in this universe. He's also extremely blasé about the overwhelming odds of spending a joyless eternity having his personality and humanity slowly drain out of him and turning into a wraith. I know that, obviously, by some crazy miracle plot device he'll get resurrected at the end of it all since he's alive int he next book. I just feel this premise could have been handled way better. It's still an alright read, but it's by far the weakest of the series, so far. Oh and while I'm at it, what's up with everyone hating Marcone? It would be slightly more believable if we ever saw the guy do anything but be super helpful and an indispensable ally to Harry and the gang. Yeah, we're told that he's mr. super bad criminal man who done some bad stuff, but it's really, really hard to take it seriously since we never see any of it.
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Aug 25, 2014 21:29
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Geisladisk posted:You'd think he'd be slightly more upset at the crushing finality of it, since there's literally never been a reference to anyone dying and being resurrected. Kemmler was killed several times and came back. Harry mentions it in a few books.
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Aug 25, 2014 23:39
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Yeah, it always struck me as kinda odd that Harry isn't friendlier to Marcone. Like, at all. Marcone is only ever vaguely implied to be a horrible bastard, and shown to be remorseful and seeking redemption for some of the horrible poo poo he did, especially when it comes to innocent bystanders. I mean the dude does run a hugely profitable criminal enterprise, which regularly like sells drugs and poo poo and that's more or less heinous unless he's a very progressive drug dealer and doesn't sell to addicts and does like needle exchanges and community outreach stuff. Nevermind the violence and etc. Though in a couple of years Marcone will probably be full on legitimate.
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Aug 26, 2014 09:06
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SpookyLizard posted:Yeah, it always struck me as kinda odd that Harry isn't friendlier to Marcone. Like, at all. Marcone is only ever vaguely implied to be a horrible bastard, and shown to be remorseful and seeking redemption for some of the horrible poo poo he did, especially when it comes to innocent bystanders. Harry looked into Marcone's soul, remember? Marcone has a shred of humanity in him but he's still a terrible person who runs a criminal enterprise that profits of the misery of others. He is less bad than some but he's still bad. Now, it would still be smart of Harry to try to stay on his good side but Harry Dresden is physically incapable of ever trying to stay on someone's good side unless they are anything less than a full-on God and he is in their domain. And sometimes not even then. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Aug 26, 2014 |
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Aug 26, 2014 09:53
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SpookyLizard posted:Yeah, it always struck me as kinda odd that Harry isn't friendlier to Marcone. Like, at all. Marcone is only ever vaguely implied to be a horrible bastard, and shown to be remorseful and seeking redemption for some of the horrible poo poo he did, especially when it comes to innocent bystanders. Well Harry knows exactly how far Marcone is willing to go to achieve his goals, but yeah if it wan't for the soulgaze he would be friendlier.
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Aug 26, 2014 09:56
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I think that Marcone is probably the weakest part of Butcher's writing. I hate hate hate being that guy going "show, don't tell", but goddamnit. If Marcone is a bad guy show me him being a bad guy, don't just tell me he's one while you write him in as somebody who is, essentially, one of the good guys.
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Aug 26, 2014 13:23
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Really hope Even Hand makes into the next short story anthology. Also besides the murdering and drugrunning he runs a brothel, and Harry's Harry.
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Aug 26, 2014 13:58
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Khizan posted:I think that Marcone is probably the weakest part of Butcher's writing. I hate hate hate being that guy going "show, don't tell", but goddamnit. If Marcone is a bad guy show me him being a bad guy, don't just tell me he's one while you write him in as somebody who is, essentially, one of the good guys. Isn't there a Marcone short story that opens with him murdering a couple of people to send a message?
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Aug 26, 2014 16:11
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Khizan posted:I think that Marcone is probably the weakest part of Butcher's writing. I hate hate hate being that guy going "show, don't tell", but goddamnit. If Marcone is a bad guy show me him being a bad guy, don't just tell me he's one while you write him in as somebody who is, essentially, one of the good guys. Marcone is annoying precisely because we're only ever told he's bad. Every time he shows up he never does anything except care about children and provide Harry with massive material support and goony backup. He's evil-by-exposition. "Well, there comes that loving jerk Marcone again with a bunch of hardcore badasses and unlimited funding to back me up in my fight against evil. What a loving dipshit. Man, I hate that guy."
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Aug 26, 2014 17:05
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It is unfortunate, but I chalk it up to Marcone being far too smart to do anything that would set Harry off directly in front of him. That would be a really, really bad idea. His entire MO regarding Harry is to show that he's a reasonable businessman, while behind the scenes running his criminal empire.
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Aug 26, 2014 17:10
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I totally agree about Marcone never being shown as evil being an annoyance. I kind of hope Marcone slips up at some point and shows his true nature in front of Harry so that Harry can smack him down hard. Marcone being completely unreasonable and dickish at the end of Skin Game gives me hope.
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Aug 26, 2014 17:32
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Wittgen posted:I totally agree about Marcone never being shown as evil being an annoyance. I kind of hope Marcone slips up at some point and shows his true nature in front of Harry so that Harry can smack him down hard. Marcone being completely unreasonable and dickish at the end of Skin Game gives me hope. Harry would probably still go after him, but he is a signatory of the Accords so it would bring a shitstorm.
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Aug 26, 2014 17:36
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The books are called the Dresden files. You'll note Laura and Marcone don't get killed by dresden like the cackling necromancers/black court/random goons do. That's because they understand "Harry is dangerous" and thus don't push his buttons. I mean, there's thousands of pages of people being cackling bad guys, who get Dresdened. Then there's these two characters that are 'bad by exposition' because Harry is constantly reminding himself that they're evil even when they do everything they can to avoid giving him an excuse. Go read Even Hand if you want more insight into outside-of-harry's-line-of-sight Marcone. He's a consumate businessman, he does what he has to do to take care of what he cares about and the devil take the rest. That means treating Dresden well because Irritating Dresden has been shown to be Unwise.
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Aug 26, 2014 17:36
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I had no idea people were annoyed by Marcone. He's awesome!
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Aug 26, 2014 17:46
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He is awesome. I think people are more annoyed at how Dresden goes on and on about how horrible he is without us ever actually seeing him being evil. I think comparing him to Lara actually helps make the point. Both Lara and Marcone are professional monsters who stay out of Dresden's way or aim him at unprofessional monster as suits their needs. Lara, however, has never seemed to be anything other than monstrous. I've never doubted her evil, but Marcone just doesn't seem very bad.
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Aug 26, 2014 17:59
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Wittgen posted:He is awesome. I think people are more annoyed at how Dresden goes on and on about how horrible he is without us ever actually seeing him being evil. Marcone's crimes seem to be: -Selling drugs (not to kids) -Prostitution (ethically) -Gambling??? -Bribing officials -Killing rival criminals, who are all decidedly Bad Guys
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Aug 26, 2014 18:03
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And stealing the Shroud of Turin.
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Aug 26, 2014 18:15
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