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SpiderHyphenMan
Apr 1, 2010

by Fluffdaddy
Methods of Rationality can at least be defended on the basis that the Harry Potter universe is "our world" in the books, rather than a fantasy realm like Middle Earth or the Avatar world. That alone puts it above poo poo like trying to apply the Periodic Table to bending.

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Sato
Apr 28, 2013

Rosalind posted:

Yeah I have to say the majority of the older Toph fanart is mostly her kicking rear end and not giving a poo poo from what I've seen. That's part of the reason why the art I just shared stood out to me.

Yeah, I was surprised too because Katara tends to be the old sad person in fanart, I assume because she was portrayed at the beginning of the series as the last member of the Gaang still alive. I have to admit I miss those days--there was something poetic about Katara being the last one standing.

Lady Gagazula
Aug 13, 2005

Can't read my
Can't read my
No he can't read my
Joker Face
Melman

RottenK posted:

But there's plenty of fanart of adult/old Toph not being lonely and sad.

Jackard
Oct 28, 2007

We Have A Bow And We Wish To Use It

RottenK posted:

Every inch of wall space is covered by a bookcase. Each bookcase has six shelves, going almost to the ceiling. Some bookshelves are stacked to the brim with hardback books: science, maths, history, and everything else. Other shelves have two layers of paperback science fiction, with the back layer of books propped up on old tissue boxes or lengths of wood, so that you can see the back layer of books above the books in front. And it still isn't enough. Books are overflowing onto the tables and the sofas and making little heaps under the windows.

This is the living-room of the house occupied by the eminent Professor Michael Verres-Evans, and his wife, Mrs. Petunia Evans-Verres, and their adopted son, Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres.

There is a letter lying on the living-room table, and an unstamped envelope of yellowish parchment, addressed to Mr. H. Potter in emerald-green ink.

The Professor and his wife are speaking sharply at each other, but they are not shouting. The Professor considers shouting to be uncivilised.

"You're joking," Michael said to Petunia. His tone indicated that he was very much afraid that she was serious.

"My sister was a witch," Petunia repeated. She looked frightened, but stood her ground. "Her husband was a wizard."

"This is absurd!" Michael said sharply. "They were at our wedding - they visited for Christmas -"

"I told them you weren't to know," Petunia whispered. "But it's true. I've seen things -"

The Professor rolled his eyes. "Dear, I understand that you're not familiar with the sceptical literature. You may not realise how easy it is for a trained magician to fake the seemingly impossible. Remember how I taught Harry to bend spoons? If it seemed like they could always guess what you were thinking, that's called cold reading -"

"It wasn't bending spoons -"

"What was it, then?"

Petunia bit her lip. "I can't just tell you. You'll think I'm -" She swallowed. "Listen. Michael. I wasn't - always like this -" She gestured at herself, as though to indicate her lithe form. "Lily did this. Because I - because I begged her. For years, I begged her. Lily had always been prettier than me, and I'd... been mean to her, because of that, and then she got magic, can you imagine how I felt? And I begged her to use some of that magic on me so that I could be pretty too, even if I couldn't have her magic, at least I could be pretty."

Tears were gathering in Petunia's eyes.

"And Lily would tell me no, and make up the most ridiculous excuses, like the world would end if she were nice to her sister, or a centaur told her not to - the most ridiculous things, and I hated her for it. And when I had just graduated from university, I was going out with this boy, Vernon Dursley, he was fat and he was the only boy who would talk to me. And he said he wanted children, and that his first son would be named Dudley. And I thought to myself, what kind of parent names their child Dudley Dursley? It was like I saw my whole future life stretching out in front of me, and I couldn't stand it. And I wrote to my sister and told her that if she didn't help me I'd rather just -"

Petunia stopped.

"Anyway," Petunia said, her voice small, "she gave in. She told me it was dangerous, and I said I didn't care any more, and I drank this potion and I was sick for weeks, but when I got better my skin cleared up and I finally filled out and... I was beautiful, people were nice to me," her voice broke, "and after that I couldn't hate my sister any more, especially when I learned what her magic brought her in the end -"

"Darling," Michael said gently, "you got sick, you gained some weight while resting in bed, and your skin cleared up on its own. Or being sick made you change your diet -"

"She was a witch," Petunia repeated. "I saw it."

"Petunia," Michael said. The annoyance was creeping into his voice. "You know that can't be true. Do I really have to explain why?"

Petunia wrung her hands. She seemed to be on the verge of tears. "My love, I know I can't win arguments with you, but please, you have to trust me on this -"

"Dad! Mum! "

The two of them stopped and looked at Harry as though they'd forgotten there was a third person in the room.

Harry took a deep breath. "Mum, your parents didn't have magic, did they?"

"No," Petunia said, looking puzzled.

"Then no one in your family knew about magic when Lily got her letter. How did they get convinced?"

"Ah..." Petunia said. "They didn't just send a letter. They sent a professor from Hogwarts. He -" Petunia's eyes flicked to Michael. "He showed us some magic."

"Then you don't have to fight over this," Harry said firmly. Hoping against hope that this time, just this once, they would listen to him. "If it's true, we can just get a Hogwarts professor here and see the magic for ourselves, and Dad will admit that it's true. And if not, then Mum will admit that it's false. That's what the experimental method is for, so that we don't have to resolve things just by arguing."

The Professor turned and looked down at him, dismissive as usual. "Oh, come now, Harry. Really, magic? I thought you'd know better than to take this seriously, son, even if you're only ten. Magic is just about the most unscientific thing there is!"

Harry's mouth twisted bitterly. He was treated well, probably better than most genetic fathers treated their own children. Harry had been sent to the best primary schools - and when that didn't work out, he was provided with tutors from the endless pool of starving students. Always Harry had been encouraged to study whatever caught his attention, bought all the books that caught his fancy, sponsored in whatever maths or science competitions he entered. He was given anything reasonable that he wanted, except, maybe, the slightest shred of respect. A Doctor teaching biochemistry at Oxford could hardly be expected to listen to the advice of a little boy. You would listen to Show Interest, of course; that's what a Good Parent would do, and so, if you conceived of yourself as a Good Parent, you would do it. But take a ten-year-old seriously? Hardly.

Sometimes Harry wanted to scream at his father.

"Mum," Harry said. "If you want to win this argument with Dad, look in chapter two of the first book of the Feynman Lectures on Physics. There's a quote there about how philosophers say a great deal about what science absolutely requires, and it is all wrong, because the only rule in science is that the final arbiter is observation - that you just have to look at the world and report what you see. Um... off the top of my head I can't think of where to find something about how it's an ideal of science to settle things by experiment instead of arguments -"

His mother looked down at him and smiled. "Thank you, Harry. But -" her head rose back up to stare at her husband. "I don't want to win an argument with your father. I want my husband to, to listen to his wife who loves him, and trust her just this once -"

Harry closed his eyes briefly. Hopeless. Both of his parents were just hopeless.

Now his parents were getting into one of those arguments again, one where his mother tried to make his father feel guilty, and his father tried to make his mother feel stupid.

"I'm going to go to my room," Harry announced. His voice trembled a little. "Please try not to fight too much about this, Mum, Dad, we'll know soon enough how it comes out, right?"

"Of course, Harry," said his father, and his mother gave him a reassuring kiss, and then they went on fighting while Harry climbed the stairs to his bedroom.

He shut the door behind him and tried to think.

The funny thing was, he should have agreed with Dad. No one had ever seen any evidence of magic, and according to Mum, there was a whole magical world out there. How could anyone keep something like that a secret? More magic? That seemed like a rather suspicious sort of excuse.

It should have been a clean case for Mum joking, lying or being insane, in ascending order of awfulness. If Mum had sent the letter herself, that would explain how it arrived at the letterbox without a stamp. A little insanity was far, far less improbable than the universe really working like that.

Except that some part of Harry was utterly convinced that magic was real, and had been since the instant he saw the putative letter from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry rubbed his forehead, grimacing. Don't believe everything you think, one of his books had said.

But this bizarre certainty... Harry was finding himself just expecting that, yes, a Hogwarts professor would show up and wave a wand and magic would come out. The strange certainty was making no effort to guard itself against falsification - wasn't making excuses in advance for why there wouldn't be a professor, or the professor would only be able to bend spoons.

Where do you come from, strange little prediction? Harry directed the thought at his brain. Why do I believe what I believe?

Usually Harry was pretty good at answering that question, but in this particular case, he had no clue what his brain was thinking.

Harry mentally shrugged. A flat metal plate on a door affords pushing, and a handle on a door affords pulling, and the thing to do with a testable hypothesis is to go and test it.

He took a piece of lined paper from his desk, and started writing.

Dear Deputy Headmistress

Harry paused, reflecting; then discarded the paper for another, tapping another millimetre of graphite from his mechanical pencil. This called for careful calligraphy.

Dear Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall,

Or Whomsoever It May Concern:

I recently received your letter of acceptance to Hogwarts, addressed to Mr. H. Potter. You may not be aware that my genetic parents, James Potter and Lily Potter (formerly Lily Evans) are dead. I was adopted by Lily's sister, Petunia Evans-Verres, and her husband, Michael Verres-Evans.

I am extremely interested in attending Hogwarts, conditional on such a place actually existing. Only my mother Petunia says she knows about magic, and she can't use it herself. My father is highly sceptical. I myself am uncertain. I also don't know where to obtain any of the books or equipment listed in your acceptance letter.

Mother mentioned that you sent a Hogwarts representative to Lily Potter (then Lily Evans) in order to demonstrate to her family that magic was real, and, I presume, help Lily obtain her school materials. If you could do this for my own family it would be extremely helpful.

Sincerely,

Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres.

Harry added their current address, then folded up the letter and put it in an envelope, which he addressed to Hogwarts. Further consideration led him to obtain a candle and drip wax onto the flap of the envelope, into which, using a penknife's tip, he impressed the initials H.J.P.E.V. If he was going to descend into this madness, he was going to do it with style.

Then he opened his door and went back downstairs. His father was sitting in the living-room and reading a book of higher maths to show how smart he was; and his mother was in the kitchen preparing one of his father's favourite meals to show how loving she was. It didn't look like they were talking to one another at all. As scary as arguments could be, not arguing was somehow much worse.

"Mum," Harry said into the unnerving silence, "I'm going to test the hypothesis. According to your theory, how do I send an owl to Hogwarts?"

His mother turned from the kitchen sink to stare at him, looking shocked. "I - I don't know, I think you just have to own a magic owl."

That should've sounded highly suspicious, oh, so there's no way to test your theory then, but the peculiar certainty in Harry seemed willing to stick its neck out even further.

"Well, the letter got here somehow," Harry said, "so I'll just wave it around outside and call 'letter for Hogwarts!' and see if an owl picks it up. Dad, do you want to come and watch?"

His father shook his head minutely and kept on reading. Of course, Harry thought to himself. Magic was a disgraceful thing that only stupid people believed in; if his father went so far as to test the hypothesis, or even watch it being tested, that would feel like associating himself with that...

Only as Harry stumped out the back door, into the back garden, did it occur to him that if an owl did come down and snatch the letter, he was going to have some trouble telling Dad about it.

But - well - that can't really happen, can it? No matter what my brain seems to believe. If an owl really comes down and grabs this envelope, I'm going to have worries a lot more important than what Dad thinks.

Harry took a deep breath, and raised the envelope into the air.

He swallowed.

Calling out Letter for Hogwarts! while holding an envelope high in the air in the middle of your own back garden was... actually pretty embarrassing, now that he thought about it.

No. I'm better than Dad. I will use the scientific method even if it makes me feel stupid.

"Letter -" Harry said, but it actually came out as more of a whispered croak.

Harry steeled his will, and shouted into the empty sky, "Letter for Hogwarts! Can I get an owl? "

"Harry?" asked a bemused woman's voice, one of the neighbours.

Harry pulled down his hand like it was on fire and hid the envelope behind his back like it was drug money. His whole face was hot with shame.

An old woman's face peered out from above the neighbouring fence, grizzled grey hair escaping from her hairnet. Mrs. Figg, the occasional babysitter. "What are you doing, Harry?"

"Nothing," Harry said in a strangled voice. "Just - testing a really silly theory -"

"Did you get your acceptance letter from Hogwarts?"

Harry froze in place.

"Yes," Harry's lips said a little while later. "I got a letter from Hogwarts. They say they want my owl by the 31st of July, but -"

"But you don't have an owl. Poor dear! I can't imagine what someone must have been thinking, sending you just the standard letter."

A wrinkled arm stretched out over the fence, and opened an expectant hand. Hardly even thinking at this point, Harry gave over his envelope.

"Just leave it to me, dear," said Mrs. Figg, "and in a jiffy or two I'll have someone over."

And her face disappeared from over the fence.

There was a long silence in the garden.

Then a boy's voice said, calmly and quietly, "What."
This is supposed to be a ten year old?

Aces High
Mar 26, 2010

Nah! A little chocolate will do




RottenK posted:

Harry Potter fanfic

What the gently caress even is this and why is it the Korra thread :raise:

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

Methods of Rationality can at least be defended on the basis that the Harry Potter universe is "our world" in the books, rather than a fantasy realm like Middle Earth or the Avatar world. That alone puts it above poo poo like trying to apply the Periodic Table to bending.

They had Playstations in 1992 so it's obviously not our exact world.

icantfindaname
Jul 1, 2008


SpiderHyphenMan posted:

Methods of Rationality can at least be defended on the basis that the Harry Potter universe is "our world" in the books, rather than a fantasy realm like Middle Earth or the Avatar world. That alone puts it above poo poo like trying to apply the Periodic Table to bending.

nah not really

the level of shamefulness is directly correlated to the word count and the amount of pornographic material in it. so it'd be pretty drat hard to be more shameful than MoR

SpiderHyphenMan
Apr 1, 2010

by Fluffdaddy

icantfindaname posted:

nah not really

the level of shamefulness is directly correlated to the word count and the amount of pornographic material in it. so it'd be pretty drat hard to be more shameful than MoR
I'm just going by hearsay, man. I didn't hear about no porn.

Aces High
Mar 26, 2010

Nah! A little chocolate will do




if it came from fanfic.net (or wherever the gently caress) chances are pretty high there's some kind of smut attached to it

RottenK
Feb 17, 2011

Sexy bad choices

FAILED NOJOE

Aces High posted:

What the gently caress even is this and why is it the Korra thread :raise:

I'll admit that I overreacted.

People who try to apply science to the Avatar setting annoy me greatly.

DrSunshine
Mar 23, 2009

Did I just say that out loud~~?!!!
Last night I had a bizarre dream where Korra was captured by Kuvira and brainwashed using that Dai Li lantern thing. Then she became evil and fought for the bad guys. It was like Korra became Jet! :ohdear:

Hauldren Collider
Dec 31, 2012
To be fair Dark Korra was cool and I wanna see another fight with her.

Sekkira
Apr 11, 2008

I Don't Get It,
I Don't Get It,

RottenK posted:

I'll admit that I overreacted.

People who try to apply science to the Avatar setting annoy me greatly.

I agree. Which is why the line bothered me so. I can accept the explanation being 'because magic/bending'. Don't try to apply a half thought out scientific explanation to it which unravels the entire mythos.

RyuujinBlueZ
Oct 9, 2007

WHAT DID YOU DO?!

Hauldren Collider posted:

To be fair Dark Korra was cool and I wanna see another fight with her.

I want to see Korra actually go all out in the Avatar State now. She tore poo poo up last seasons while she was dying and a mess. I want to see her calm, in control, and just destroying everything in her way.

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP

Sekkira posted:

I agree. Which is why the line bothered me so. I can accept the explanation being 'because magic/bending'. Don't try to apply a half thought out scientific explanation to it which unravels the entire mythos.

Maybe toph was wrong.

Toshimo
Aug 23, 2012

He's outta line...

But he's right!

computer parts posted:

Maybe toph was wrong.

You in the wrong neighborhood, motherfucker.

Big Anime Fan Here
Sep 8, 2010

by XyloJW
lol Kuvira has an army of Zaku models

Andrew_1985
Sep 18, 2007
Hay hay hay!
Somewhat disappointing episode, but when Korra & Kuvira 'talked' it really went nowhere. So much could've been said.

However I'm hoping Kuvira has re-Neducation centres neighboureeno

PiedPiper
Jan 1, 2014

I feel they could've foreshadowed some of the smaller revelations (Asami misses dad, Varrick develops a little bit of humanity) a bit better in the previous episodes. I also wanted to see more of Kuvira/Su's flashback but there's nothing worthwhile to actually show besides what was said, so I won't complain.

Big Anime Fan Here
Sep 8, 2010

by XyloJW
Zhu Li is so good at piloting the gundams.

Mymla
Aug 12, 2010
Darth Kuvira.

Sato
Apr 28, 2013
Up on the Nick site.

God, Korra's being manipulated again by people she shouldn't be trusting. I can get it in this case because Kuvira's so much like her, she's been out of the loop so doesn't trust her own view of the situation, and she wants to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she really shouldn't be swayed this easily, by either Kuvira or Suyin.

What are the chances Zhu Li is just playing the loyal supporter to get in the inner circle to save Varrick? Normally I'd say definitely but these writers have burned me before.

Also, Bolin-led prison break in the next episodes?

Aces High
Mar 26, 2010

Nah! A little chocolate will do




Well that episode had a lot of setup and here's hoping that next week it will have a good payoff. I'm curious if Zhu Li is actually defecting or if this is all a ploy to stay near Varrick, we shall see where things go, since I doubt she would turn on him instantly after he saved her life but that's still just one area I honestly was curious if Mako was gonna show up while Asami was at the park but thankfully he didn't and she gets more autonomy as a character :unsmith:

It was nice to see both Bolin and Korra do something different for a change, Bolin pieced things together and now he get's to learn the hard way about these "re-education camps" and Korra tried talking for once but I still feel like more could have been accomplished there. You'd think all that time with Katara and Toph (Toph especially) would've given her some better ideas for how to use words but eh, she's new at this. Still, I guess this episode takes what I had said in my previous posts and turns them on my head

Well Manicured Man
Aug 21, 2010

Well Manicured Mort
When Bolin busted out lavabending in the mech fight I immediately though "Jesus, Bolin just murdered two people." But nah, it's fine, you could see their parachutes the soldiers escaped their mechs before they got roasted.

Sato
Apr 28, 2013

Well Manicured Man posted:

When Bolin busted out lavabending in the mech fight I immediately though "Jesus, Bolin just murdered two people." But nah, it's fine, you could see their parachutes the soldiers escaped their mechs before they got roasted.

Also, on a less lethal note, treebending! Lots of cool unique bending this episode.

Big Anime Fan Here
Sep 8, 2010

by XyloJW
Can't wait for avatar state Korra to fight ultimate metal gear w/ the spirit laser.

Rosalind
Apr 30, 2013

When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change.

It wasn't the best episode. The brevity of Korra's conversation with Kuvira boggles my mind. Didn't you just say you were going to reason with her? How does agreeing to run an errand for her help exactly?

But the episode had lots of Varrick so I enjoyed it.

Rosalind fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Oct 31, 2014

AlternateNu
May 5, 2005

ドーナツダメ!

Sato posted:

Up on the Nick site.

What are the chances Zhu Li is just playing the loyal supporter to get in the inner circle to save Varrick? Normally I'd say definitely but these writers have burned me before.

Almost 100%. We got the scene in the train when he used his piddling man-strength to save her. That and the look on her face when they were forced to give up the fight in the mechs (which was anime as hell, actually, complete with the sideways glace and the "tch" annoyance/anger emote) pretty much guarantee her heel-turn is a ruse. I'm pretty sure she had more lines this episode than all of her previous speaking parts put together which was neat.

And all hail the lava bending mech destroyer!

Surprisingly Dope
Jan 12, 2011

Lope burgs again
I liked the episode, the mech fight was cool and bringing back Asami's dad could be a good way to tie this season more into the other ones/really show how characters have changed. Conversation with Kuvira was a bit lame, but next episode looks to be exciting.

Hauldren Collider
Dec 31, 2012
Is Korra allergic to good decisions?

DrSunshine
Mar 23, 2009

Did I just say that out loud~~?!!!
Hahahaha, Meelo is too genre-aware.

"Why did we go through ALL that trouble to save you, if you're not gonna BEAT SOMEONE UP!?"

Hauldren Collider
Dec 31, 2012
You just know she's gonna deliberately ruin Suyin's raiding party by warning Kuvira.

VanSandman
Feb 16, 2011
SWAP.AVI EXCHANGER
Korra's new to this whole talking thing, guys. Of course she's not going to get it right the first time.

DrSunshine
Mar 23, 2009

Did I just say that out loud~~?!!!
It would be extremely funny, though probably too Game of Thrones-ish, if things suddenly turned around mid-season with Zhu Li standing over Kuvira, a bloody knife in her hand.

I really liked this episode! Yes, Korra's talk with Kuvira was a bit brief, but at least she openly admitted that she never really solved anything in the past three seasons. Character progress for Korra is good! And I loved finally seeing Zhu Li get more screen time -- she's awesome. :3:

"Guards! DO THE THING!" Haha!

SpiderHyphenMan
Apr 1, 2010

by Fluffdaddy
I think that was one of the best episodes they've ever done.

Also realize that Korra actually accomplished something talking to Kuvira, by extending the deadline from a rapidly dwindling 24 hours to after Korra reported back to Su Yin and then came back to see Kuvira. If Su Yin hadn't gone off on her own it's possible, at least from Korra's perspective, that this situation could be resolved without all-out war.

Deakul
Apr 2, 2012

PAM PA RAM

PAM PAM PARAAAAM!

Korra, you dumb as poo poo yo.

Neo_Crimson
Aug 15, 2011

"Is that your final dandy?"
I think Zhu Li just became my favorite character :allears:

Sato
Apr 28, 2013

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

I think that was one of the best episodes they've ever done.

Also realize that Korra actually accomplished something talking to Kuvira, by extending the deadline from a rapidly dwindling 24 hours to after Korra reported back to Su Yin and then came back to see Kuvira. If Su Yin hadn't gone off on her own it's possible, at least from Korra's perspective, that this situation could be resolved without all-out war.

Did she? I thought Kuvira sneakily shortened the deadline from 24 hours (or however much was left) to whenever Korra returned. It could conceivably have taken Korra a while to convince Suyin, but Kuvira knows Suyin really well and I suspect knew that she wouldn't budge. Hearing that Suyin refused--from the Avatar, which makes it official--would have given Kuvira the authority to strike before her stated deadline and would have mollified the Avatar because she was heard (according to Kuvira at least). From Kuvira's perspective the Avatar showing up wanting to talk rather than fight was a win-win.

ufarn
May 30, 2009
Could Korra not have, like, read some books on not sucking as an Avatar, when she was incapacitated?

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Rosalind
Apr 30, 2013

When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change.

ufarn posted:

Could Korra not have, like, read some books on not sucking as an Avatar, when she was incapacitated?

Southern Water Tribe Public Library only has books about snow and ice fishing.

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