Old Man

I have to say this seems like splitting hairs. This gets back to another this I've talked about wrt diversity in comics and movies, which is that while there's nothing wrong with white male heroes, it can be easier to identify with characters that more closely resemble one's own background. Indeed, there is another thread in the NGD right now about a Native American who as a boy was so annoyed that Thunderbird got killed off in the X-Men that he eventually created his own comic line. It's not current-Marvel's fault that so many of their characters hail from a point in the twentieth century where things were more white and male, and I recognize that while tweaking existing characters is hardly a perfect solution, at least they're making an effort. I'd argue that the publishers' real problem is writing. I'd have less of a problem with a Chinese woman becoming Captain American than with the whole Hydra-sleeper-agent storyline. Because to me Cap's value system is more key to the character than his ethnicity or genitalia.

I thought he preferred the latex because it worked better with the clamps?

That gets back to the dilemma we discussed here earlier, which is that Marvel has lots of established branded characters that are white males, and few that are not. So they're stuck--they can continue to field a white male lineup that has brand recognition but is not diverse (and brings in no new readers), or they can publish new characters that are diverse but have no name recognition. Or they can do what they've been doing for decades, which is change up who wears the spider-suit/armor/hammer/shield every now and then. Seriously Mjolnir was carried by a K'Kree for a decade, but a girl picks it up and suddenly people are clutching their pearls? Even the article points out that the "forced" diversity is better for the FLCS' bottom line.

I thought Pariah was more of a latex guy?

Kaepernick is only three years removed from a Super Bowl appearance, and while he's no Tom Brady, it's probable that injuries and the implosion of his team are the biggest reasons for his underwhelming performance the past two seasons. When he finally got back on the field the last few weeks of 2016, with one exception he played pretty well considering the 49ers had become arguably the worst team in football. I suspect it is some combination of injury history, boneheaded political statements, and scheme fit that is affecting his trade market.

I know you are, but what am I?

There are siblings in my family tree with a twenty-year age difference so an older Aunt May is hardly that unusual. On the other hand, it's a sign of the consistent quality of MCU films when people are complaining that Marisa Tomei was cast somewhere. It's like we have to try sooooo hard to find something to criticize.

But "Captain Invariance" isn't even alliterative?

I thought it was an abbreviation for Captain Conservation?

Oh my god, what a monster. Are you seriously raising your children like this?

Never tack downwind. (Seriously, we tried this once. Once. )

Not the head?

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!

It might be. I don't think it'd be easy to fully drain a people. There will be some left in the container no matter what you do.

You know, I was joking with my Judo suggestion, but I'm starting to think martial maneuvers is really the way to go here.

What I miss are those boxes of awful dry chocolate chip cookies that McD's used to have. Cookies that were objectively terrible but if you were in a hurry or on a road trip they were awesome for some reason. Like vending machine burritos or Jack In The Box tacos--they barely qualify as food by the light of day but at two in the morning they're fine cuisine.

Because the downstream interface was set to half duplex.

As if that stopped them from signing Tom Brady, Arian Foster, or Tyrann Mathieu.

Mcmuffins are one of the few forms of egg that I can tolerate. Breakfast burritos are good too.

Doing an excellent Black Widow superhero pose, too. What is that stick thing he's holding?

Last day to enter these three sweepstakes for Kindles preloaded with a dozen SF/Fantasy titles that I still wouldn't have time to read even though I'm sure they are awesome. Does involve allowing Tor to send you spam.

I don't think he'll do anything dangerously stupid that he hasn't already. Keep in mind that Putin owns Trump, having bought him for an 0.5% share of Rosneft. Trump, Manafort, and Carter Page have been working with Russian oligarchs and oil tycoons for decades. The Russian mafia ran a money laundering operation right out of Trump Tower ffs. Putin also probably has plenty of kompromat on Trump. The good news out of all that is that Trump is really unlikely to provoke Putin into doing anything other than spike Trump's coffee with polonium. Ukraine and the Baltics are Putin's if he wants them though. Here is an in-depth article about Trump aides' Russia-Ukraine oil and money laundering schemes over the past fifteen years. Warning: long read, and it may make you feel a little queasy.

The mentalist would make an obvious choice for leader if she could communicate telepathically. Energy projectors are kind of hard since it seems like any and every possible type of energy has been used for some EP or other. But sonic or broad-spectrum electromagnetic effects could have a lot of versatility. Either would allow for levitation, telekinesis, and NND attacks. I'd recommend spending some time on the personalities and weaknesses of each character. Not hard for those of us who are used to building Champions characters, but these will make the story easier to write. And do consider putting more than one "chick" on the team so your book might pass the Bechdel test.

The Greek word for elements appears to be Stoicheia. Aside from ethnicity you could also go with Wu Xin, Godai, or Panchikarana. The fifth element (not to be confused with the film) goes by aether, akasha, quintessence, or void. I also spend a lot of time on Google Translate when I'm hunting for names. The Romanian word for essence, for example, is "esenţă", and for magic is "vrajitoare". The latter doesn't lend itself to much admittedly, but "Essenta" could work.

Give the bears Judo.