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Friday, June 16, 2023

A database-less future?

Since 2007, Dozerfleet has found an online wiki to be an essential tool for its operations. But with the recent announcment that Miraheze is closing, and a current lack of good free MediaWiki hosting farms to turn to in its absence, the difficult decision has been made to, for the time being, shut down all operations on the Miraheze Dozerfleet Database.

The wiki has been backed up, and article XMLs will be used to create an offline directory.

  • The XML archive will remain as it is, though data will be extrapolated from it on an as-needed basis.
  • The wiki online will be used as a guide for setting up offline data repositories, especially for characters and projects.
  • All characters will utilize the XML archive for creation of an offline article pertaining to said character. It remains unknown how long before characters will be made available for wiki article entries on them to be restored online, if ever, and in what format.
  • The most essential details of characters' bios will be fed into Gramps and Plottr.
  • Marvel: Avengers Alliance fanfic versions of characters will get their data published on the Labs blog, under DzMD.
  • Projects will likely get small amounts of their wiki data, such as release dates and key trivia, added to their blog pages.
  • In time, the Database icon will be phased out. This will be a huge undertaking.
  • Information about characters from the early Geroshas can be compiled into a book, which will make up for the wiki's absence on those topics.
  • Classic Gerosha and earlier works not yet finished will soon have more time for completion.
  • Comprehensive Gerosha will also get a book, explaining what happened to it.
  • Cataclysmic Gerosha and its aligned continuity family will have offline articles galore, stored in Microsoft Word or related formats. These will inform all canon moving forward. The most critical details will be added to Plottr. This includes Percolation Warriors.
  • The Dromedeverse will be piecemealed together similarly to the Gerosha multiverse.
  • The Eccentriaverse will, likewise, piecemeal itself together from archives.
  • The greater Gigaverse and Terraverse will have its projects handled on an as-needed basis, though most work pertaining to that is done.
  • Books can be written, piecemealed together from old wiki notes, to account for Ivan's Vault, LCC history, Ferris State TV shows, and SWOCC Studios projects. These would be made available on the blog for free download.

With the wiki no longer online or an issue, once the above are addressed, this will free up a lot of time for creation, thus leading to sooner completion of projects that had been pending for after certain wiki edit benchmarks had been achieved.

Miscellaneous artworks that had been setup for the wiki can be redirected to DeviantArt.

Before work resumes on Corando's Don't Lose Hope, or any of the remaining six webcomics after it, or any literature after that, the remaining last several packs of Sims 4 adaptations of the Dozerfleet Megaverse have now become a top priority. It is the goal of Dozerfleet Labs to complete those packs before The Sims 5 is released. Dozerfleet Labs has no intentions of getting The Sims 5. So after the packs are completed, and the final webcomics are available for download, Dozerfleet will be moving in a very different direction from how it's operated for the last 17 years.

A lot of changes are happening, and quickly!

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Ciem's biggest trauma is more similar to that of Captain America than to Spider-Man

With Across the Spiderverse out in theaters and making a huge impact on the world of animation, it seems only fitting to discuss the issue of trauma in superhero origins, what it is, how it's handled, etc.

It's been said elsewhere that the genre has a tendency to "fetishize" trauma "as a path to power." And while Candi Flippo's powers did manifest when she had to fight off Don the Psycho in the middle school locker room, it wasn't his sexually assaulting her that was the real trauma that gave her the powers. Nor was it the trauma that became the path to her learning how to use her power properly.

By the time the "present day" timeline catches up in late 2015 in Ciem: Inferno, Candi has already unofficially been Ciem for about two years, just without the actual title for her mantle. It's her godfather Imaki's father-like love, patience, and instruction that allows Candi to truly grow in her understanding of what she can do.

If not for Don, there is the possibility that any other trauma response could have manifested her power as well. Any sufficient stress could have done it, since she was the fraternal triplet that had exactly the right unlock condition from her mother to activate Stan's dormant Centhuen Prototype sequence to full potential.

Yet, to truly become Ciem was not about trauma begetting power, but about committment begetting a desire to improve in self-discipline. To make the right call, in spite the price.

Candi is often (perhaps unfairly) compared to Spider-Man, due to both having bug logos and their bodies being fully covered under their suits. And while they have similar danger sense and reflexes, they have key differences too. Ciem uses Zeran wardrobes (and later, a Zeranite Marlquaan bond) to teleport short-range distances, akin to what Nightcrawler can do. Her fighting style is more like a mix of Batman, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler. She uses stingers and darts, rather than webs. She constricts enemies. While Spider-Man is more than plenty strong enough to imitate her constriction ability, she uses this and other combat techniques in a Batman-esque way to account for NOT having web-themed arsenal. Also, save for using special equipment, she can't stick to walls or ceilings like a spider.

Regardless of these distinctions, children with small reference pools do still get the characters confused. Enough that the Centipede in the Spiderverse parodies on DeviantArt have a field day with it.

Yet, the heart of what trauma does shape her the most in her life, actually has nothing to do with a "losing Uncle Ben" moment, as one might expect. Rather, it has to do with her gradual loss of faith in authority structures, due to repeatedly being betrayed by authority figures throughout her life. The version of Captain America seen in The Winter Soldier would much better be able to relate to that sense of frustration, even though different iterations of Spider-Man have had plenty of their own clashes with authority.

Does this mean that Candi has no "Dead Uncle Ben" moments? Nonsense! She first loses both parents in a road rage assassination when she's seven, putting her in a similar camp to Batman and Doctor Sivana from DC. She was then raised by an often-neglectful older sister, when her rich brother Reily outright refused to take her in. Her godfather had joint custody, but of her only, not her two sisters.

Next, Candi lost her daughter, Angie, to a miscarriage while she was in juvie. This left her completely devastated; but it was hardly the moment that shook her the most.

While she was incarcerated for refusing to betray Imaki, she witnessed several guard and prisoners that she'd grown to care about get ruthlessly slaughtered by the Screwworms, Anitos and Korsicht. She was tempted to become very bitter at that moment, but held on to doing the right thing, and defying Darius' bid against her soul.

Then, she lost her boyfriend, Danny, when he fell off a mountain and died. With him gone, she lost all hope of joining his family and starting a new one, to become the mother to her future children that she herself was robbed of.

Next, she lost another boyfriend, Tyrone Menster, to Affadidah's goons. Her brother Reily and his whole family were then killed. Then, she lost her new foster family to the same. Then, she lost her oldest sister to Gunner and Skellig Soorfelt. Then, she lost her godfather in Denison. Her new husband Donte was almost killed, and her new friend Dolly was almost killed. Her sisters were scattered to the wind, and she considered them dead as well.

Yet, none of these "losing Uncle Ben"-type moments were the tragedy that shook her most, even if it did weigh on her to lose so many loved ones.

The repeated attempts on her life she faced didn't shake her either. So what did?

Don the Psycho, Warren Bozil, and Wayne Norfine all either took advantage of her sexually or attempted to at some point. Though, Warren was the least malicious about it, and she was able to forgive his indiscretion, while reminding him that she was married and couldn't let anything continue. Not even rape trauma was enough to push her almost to her breaking point.

In the end, it was something much more banal than that: authority figures doing the opposite of their jobs.

  1. After she was raped by Don the Psycho, both her school and the local police elected to cover up the incident, and demanded she keep quiet about it! They decided to bother her, rather than go after Mendoza!
  2. In spite knowing Stan and Shalia's intentions for Candi, Darius intentionally tried to turn Candi into a heartless assassin. When Imaki helped her retain some of her humanity, and become more of a traditional superhero instead, to come closer to honoring her parents' wishes, Darius started treating her like a rebel for not listening to his defiance instead!
  3. Under all the circumstances happening in Gerosha, a little common sense would've told Officer Naggle and the others that pretending they didn't hear what Candi said, and letting her go when it was revealed she didn't have a bomb, or even driving her to her house and releasing her, would have been a LOT wiser than arresting her right then and there, all while ignoring the actual terrorists acting brazenly all around them! Alas, they were so obsessed with her, they elected to do the stupid thing.
  4. When the obvious course of action for the courts would have been to realize what nonsense the charges on Candi were, and to have her released or put in witness protection or something, they decided they'd rather invent any excuse their imaginations could muster to get her sent to prison instead, just so that they could save face over how stupid the arrest was, by not having to acknowledge how dumb it all was. Meaning, the justice system chose politics over justice.
  5. Candi's legal counsel proved to be such an absolute joke, she knew it was a show trial. But was denied any alternative.
  6. It took Candi going to some lengths to prove that Lonny Factor was Drop-In, and that he was, in fact, molesting Amirah, before Bruce Almin started taking Amirah's accusations seriously. In spite of how highly Candi respected the warden in most other instances, this negligence on his part lowered Candi's confidence in his ability to perform his job.
  7. When Candi suggested a practical solution to a problem that went outside the box, but wasn't technically illegal, her reward was the time out room!
  8. When sent to Cincinnati, Candi was not guaranteed nor supplied any competent team to assist her. She had Jordan Grentzwell, and otherwise, was expected to save Almin from Korsicht all by herself! In a war zone!
  9. In spite knowing that Madison would become a target, higher-up authorities didn't give the Madison campus anything more than the most basic weapons to fight back in the event of an incursion. Had they used more common sense at the top, the staff at Madison would've been better-equipped to protect the various inmates, patients, and juvie students on the campus from Screwworms and Anitos. Thus, Goatgruff wouldn't have had to give his life to save anyone, and Candi would've been able to save a lot more of her fellow inmates' lives. Higher-ups in authority pretending that Madison wasn't a terrorist target, and their refusal to take threats made to the facility seriously, was a serious dereliction of duty that cost dozens of staff and inmates their lives. Yet...NO ONE WAS PUNISHED FOR IT!
  10. In spite having established communications with the Exodus Agenda of both Idaho and Indiana, SCALLOP found itself beholden to a corrupt congress in Texas that insisted that "open war not be risked," in spite of CLEAR signs that Arfaas had already invaded, and there was ALREADY open war! As such, while the Navyrope Society still took action, they were too little too late to save the majority of the Exodus Agenda from being slaughtered near Denison. Candi herself almost died during the onslaught, and the tragedy cost Zize "Plum Bixie" Choi her husband - and eventually, her sanity!
  11. Houston police and Darius repeatedly harassing Candi and her friends, rather than focusing on actual public safety threats, finally reached a point where she nearly abadoned the idea of the Sodality of Gerosha, and joined the Navyropes.
  12. In spite being a significant improvement over his father, Lex was unable to protect Candi from ALL harassment, political persecution, etc. It was only her urge to protect her son, Frank, that caused Candi to continue to tolerate any abuse from the system at all. Many times, she entertained thoughts of joining the Navyropes, and running away from everything. If not for Lex's benevolence, Candi would have probably joined the Navyropes, and become a very different sort of character. Some of her better personality traits would have disappeared behind all her bitterness.
  13. In an alternate timeline, Candi joins the Percolation Warriors. However, fanfics suggest she gets involved with the Spiderverse at some point as well. This doesn't bode well for her in the end, as one of her last interactions with the Spiderverse results in her pheromones having a corrupting influence on Gwen and Miles, leading to her finding them hiding from everyone in Japan - and Gwen being revealed to be pregnant. This causes Candi to consider leaving the Percolation Warriors entirely, as she fears becoming just as bad as the irresponsible cops that made her own past so miserable. Feeling similarly is Tabitha Pang, whose effort to stop Feathertop from destroying the worlds of the Mirror's Edge video games almost backfired disastrously, when one version of Kruger murders one version of Feathertop, steals his powers, and becomes a merged Kruger-Feathertop menace! All inspired by Tabitha's time travel shenanigans to resurrect Faith Connors, no less! It gets even worse when Candi learns that Osborn Spider #47 used her and Miles to jump to a different Mirror's Edge world, and then bit the Faith Connors of that world, creating a Spider-Faith variant!

While Spider-Man has had his share of issues with authority, even within just the 2018 Insomniac game with regards to Sable going rogue, this act of betrayal by authority is miniscule to Candi's feeling of betrayal by authority structures. Peter's overall view of authority isn't shaken to the core in that game, as he already didn't trust Sable nor Osborn much to begin with.

Candi was torn in her early life between Imaki's correct interpretation of Romans 13, which prohibits tyrants from ever being legitimate authority; and the 21st century American pop culture corrupt reinterpretation and twisting of its words, often pushed by the very Christian institutions that should know better, and utilized by tyrants to invoke divine right to their intentional abuses and crimes!

Foolishly, Stan and Shalia allowed Erin to go to a Baptist college that taught the incorrect view. She became indoctrinated, and then informed Candi that she had to listen to Darius more often than not. Meanwhile, Imaki saw corrupt actions in Darius that convinced him that Darius had forfeited all legitimacy over Candi's or anyone else's life a very long time ago.

Candi tried to live her life as much as possible to appease both her legal guardians, but this got harder and harder to do. And when her spiritual and emotional needs started getting neglected by both, she turned to finding a boyfriend as a way to make up for it. Unfortunately, she was offered only low-hanging fruit to choose from. So she picked the two men that were the least low-hanging: Danny Loffin, and Tyrone Menster. Due to their not being quite right themselves, and coming from terrible family backgrounds, they had sexual expectations, that she readily surrendered, in exchange for the emotional support she wasn't getting elsewhere. This led Candi to years of compulsive and unhealthy sexual addiction, which put her in the very situation that got her arrested in 2015, when she had to run home after Danny's house caught fire, and then police mistook her for a terrorist!

Alas, Imaki was just about married to the idea of a Great Sodality, and that Candi's future should revolve around it. As she learned, in spite Imaki's best intentions, his view of her future was very narrow one, lacking in greater perspective regarding what was all possible. The idea that she could always just join the Navyropes if the Sodality method didn't work, was unthinkable to him.

Candi's history with almost everyone she ever knew, and her idea of "faith in a system," was subjected to betrayals that go deeper than even some of the most visceral betrayals that Peter Parker has faced. Rather, the threats posed to her entire worldview are more on the level with a different Marvel hero's disillusionment: Captain America!

It may be useless here to reiterate the entire plot to The Winter Soldier, but the comparison is plain as day. Candi was told most of her life to trust SCALLOP, and believe in the idea of this Big Government structure. And then, SCALLOP betrayed its own founding ideals, and betrayed her, time and time and time again. Her whole view on authority figures in general was permanently damaged due to these constant acts of betrayal. Similarly, Steve was initially brought into what became SHIELD on the pretense that it was out to stop threats like Hydra, and do good in the world - only for him to repeatedly catch SHIELD acting more like Hydra than its antidote! And then, to find out that half of SHIELD had already BECOME Hydra!

Ben Franklin's admonision to America: "A republic, if you can keep it," is a moral warning for the entire world to heed, even today! For even in the real world, we see that Lord Acton's axiom is not easy to cheat regarding power "corrupting absolutely."

In A Centipede Once Again Save the Spiderverse, Candi's aggressive preemptive action to protect Miles and Gwen from Miguel is not motivated by any concern whatsoever with the canonicity of the death of Uncle Ben figures. Which is why when Miguel declares her a "hypocrite" over the fact that every version of Imaki Izuki must somehow die as well, Candi is not even phased. She doesn't care about what Miguel believes is "inevitable." Because to her, Miguel's abuse of power, and cruel mistreatment of Miles, is a far greater sin than any selfishness on Miles' part.

As far as Candi is concerned, Miguel starting to sound like Darius Philippine is far less forgivable than ANY shenanigans that she, Miles, or Gwen could be guilty of by tampering with canon.

Another reason for Candi's lack of concern is the fact that Imaki's death is NEVER HER FAULT in any canon! In Gerosha Prime, Despair Gerosha, Classic Gerosha, and Comprehensive Gerosha; Imaki has a heart attack - not caused by any reason that has anything to do with Candi. In Cataclysmic, Gaming, and Crossover Geroshas, it was Arfaas' ambush at Denison, and SCALLOP and the Texan government with their lack of concern over border security on this matter, that was responsible for Imaki being shot dead. Amidst the chaos, there was nothing Candi could've done to save Imaki.

In spite an accident occurring that traps Kamohoalii, Anarteq, and Nemara in a world based on Disney's Moana, one which is quickly undone, Candi makes the right move by temporarily hiding Miles and Gwen from Miguel in the Hawaii of an Earth-G7.2.9.

In that universe, Earth-G7.2.1's Dr. Jordan Offe, one of the scientists working on various Phexo experiments, gets abducted by the Percolation Wave due to the wave being made unstable by Miguel's hunt for Gwen and Miles. Offe, not remembering what day it was, enters in a shift to work after his G7.2.9 counterpart had left for the day. This prevents Tanya Woven's grandfather from escaping the lab with her father prematurely, when he got uncomfortable with the Phaelite Society of Earth. As such, a similar experiment to the one performed on Stan Flippo was successfully completed on Tanya's father.

Therefore, in Earth-G7.2.9, Tanya Woven developed her own proper centipede powers, and had to befriend Anarteq and Kamohoalii to avoid being locked up by SCALLOP during the Beliah Amendments Enforcement Drive. Unlike her Earth-G7.0 counterpart, G7.2.9 Tanya never properly retired from being Ciem, given she had powers just like Candi's.

G7.2.9 Tanya acknowledged how the destabilization Miguel was responsible for was the only reason she got to be a proper Chilopod Crusader, as she was never meant in the original timeline to be anything more than an elaborate imposter. The fact that this Tanya became Ciem, though she was never meant to properly be Ciem originally, gave Miles a confidence boost that he didn't have to worry about Miguel's opinion about who Spider-Man was supposed to be. After all: Miguel, by creating this new Tanya, had become every bit as big a hypocrite as he accused Candi of being!

Regardless, this core difference is what explains Candi's actions in the fanfic, as opposed to those of the spiders. They're all primarily motivated by the personal tragedy of what seems like the needless loss of someone close and personal to them. Candi, however, is more like Steve Rogers; in that she's primarily motivated by avenging the general moral principles of authority that current office holders have betrayed, that the office may have its honor restored, for the sake of preserving liberty and justice for all in the greater picture. In her view, if this cannot be the case, then no amount of personal sacrifice to rescue a personal loved one will have any long-term meaning. If a tree branch doesn't fall on your uncle; but you do nothing to hold tyrants accountable unto the governed and unto God, then your loved ones will eventually be crushed by the tyanny that you failed to hold accountable. Their fate will be worse than if the tree had killed them!

It's easy to see how the Ben Parker mantra, which seems to invoke Luke 12:48, has been twisted as "just take Peter's powers away, and he'll go back to having no responsibility." Yet, since knowledge is also power, Candi is often there to remind that lack of superpowers is no excuse to act as one having been given no responsibilities in life. That some callings will always be present, and your exact power level will be irrelevant. Tanya feeling obligated to become Ciem even in a world where she had no centipede powers demonstrates this even better than Candi's lecture in A Centipede's Way Home did. So did Tabitha's heroine journey in Sodality: Vindication and Swappernetters, when she acted nobly even before receiving a Marlquaan bond, in spite the fact that only Maurice himself being assigned as her supernatural bodyguard even before she was aware of it prevented her from being killed MULTIPLE TIMES!

While Candi does find it concerning that Miles is so selfish and rebellious as a teen; she considers Miguel's abusive personality and abuses of power to be far worse than Miles' selfishly wanting to rewrite canon to save his father. This puts her in a difficult moral conundrum, where she can understand the points of view of both; and yet still sides with Miles, in spite demonstrating no desire to rewrite canon to save any of her own lost loved ones.

If there's any character that demonstrates this arc's moral conclusions better than Candi, Peter, Miles, or Steve ever did, it was the one man that was far enough ahead of the curve to skip to the end: Charles Hammerstein. Unlike Rogers, Hammerstein grew up already mistrusting authoritarians. His morals were almost in line with those of Spider-Punk, in spite being put in almost a Captain America situation as "Centipede Charlie." He ultimately joined the military when coerced to, to save his girlfriend of Japanese descent from unlawful internment by FDR; but it was only his acting selflessly for her sake that convinced him that tolerating any of the coercion he was being subjected to would ever be worth it. Even then, he viewed the FDR regime as shysters, being wholly unworthy of being trusted or respected.

Hammerstein breaks the scale, as he would also have sided with Miles, in spite being just as bitter as Miguel. He all but entirely foresaw the betrayal he'd face on the frontlines, when his own government decided to abandon him to be murdered by the Japanese. Yet, he knew that he had to fight on and escape somehow, if he were ever to see Lacey again. He vowed that if he did survive, he'd find a way back home as soon as possible, and do to those in high office that betrayed him on the frontlines exactly what they intended to do to him! He didn't care if he were vilified for it: he'd kill the Zionist-controlled reporters speaking ill of him next! And any other pathetic soul siding with these tyrants that got in his way!

Amidst his rage, his being tragically mowed down by the Japanese was what prevented Hammerstein from going down a dark path, which would have been the beginning of an outright antihero if not villain arc for him, as he became more and more reckless while exacting his vengeance. And it's the very lines he would then have crossed, that the Navyropes took pains to avoid crossing, that kept them from becoming the same very thing that Hammerstein would have, had he lived.

Especially in our world, where we don't have huge cadres of superheroes to fight these battles for us, statements like "vigilance is the eternal price of liberty" cannot be overstated!

Friday, May 26, 2023

Minnesota is a criminal rogue state

[link]

Zionists have no excuse

Common Jewish attacks on Paul are refuted here. Millennialism and "rapture" heresy are also taken to task.

For those seeking a TL;DR version: Numerous times, when verses in the Old and New Testament very plainly spoke of a spiritual event, a spiritual revival, a spiritual resurrection, etc., Jews insisted that these events only ever be interpreted in a very specific carnal sense, in plain defiance of the plain intent of the verses themselves!

Modern rabbis are even more in contempt, spending plenty of money to tell you that because they didn't see their carnal misinterpretations delivered to you in specific ways at specific points in history, that therefore, Jesus couldn't be who he said he was.

Tim Brown takes these Jews to task on their flagrant intellectual dishonesty.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Sad news for Ciem: Inferno: The Grand Tour

One would think that history would be kind to The Gerosha Chronicles. In some ways, yes. In other ways, not so much. But while the alternate history world had to struggle with the tie-in tour A Very Anarteq Tour of the Soo coping with the fact that AirBnB wasn't in possession of 1011 Wellington St. in real life in 2015, requiring a retcon to make it so, and further had to deal with the fact that the HD Sports Grill in 2015 had since become a Montana's, these were minor setbacks to one being able to live inside the world of Anarteq: Guardian of the Soo.

Yet, the timelines for Ciem: Inferno and Sodality: Instigation were done both an ironic service and disservice in September of 2022. So, what happened?

According to this article from The Warrick County Standard, the Posey's Market so critical to Earth-G7 Ciem mythos got shut down, just two years after its ceasing normal store operations in the Earth-G7 timeline. Only, it wasn't repurposing as a gateway to Imaki's catacombs to hide the Exodus Agenda from Halal Affadidah's patrols that led to the shutdown.

Instead, Posey's fell prey to something else: poor management. More specifically, health code violations up the gazoo.

Pummeled by the economic brutality of the Scamdemic, and draconian lockdowns that failed to protect anyone from disease, the business had to start cutting corners just to stay in business. The building was old and decrepit. Its infrastructure, in bad shape. And that was on top of other acts of mismanagement leading to lots and lots and lots of spoiled food!

It wasn't just spoiled meat that was an issue, however. All that rotten vegetation that went unadressed had led to a fly population growing out of control. Customers could look forward to being assaulted by horseflies while trying to by canned garbanzo beans. Store shelves in an "out of order" freezer unit tried frantically to get shipping companies to accept recalled products that they failed to pick up from recalls from 20 years prior! The logs were never honored by the companies back in 2002, and were ignored all through 2012. But after 2020, records about it all...went missing.

With credits to be earned from overdue returns, Posey's didn't want to eat the cost to simply have that way-expired product go in the dumpster. Speaking of which, no one was maintaining the dumpsters to deal with the maggot problem. Probaby because the insane city hall had made most practical "cowboy" methods of dealing with the problem illegal, resulting in having to wait for services that the Scamdemic destroyed in order to (never actually) deal with the problem that Posey's was no longer able to deal with itself!

Rather than come to the store's rescue, when it was begging for help, that's not the Indiana way. Instead, the store got kicked while it was down. The health department's sign notices didn't even bother to give anyone an explanation as to why the store had been suddenly closed down. The only thing anyone knew, was that what used to be a mainstay of shopping local in the area, and supporting local store owners, had fallen prey to government red tape. Only an article published later by the local paper finally explained what the rationale behind this closing was.

Who could benefit from letting a store like that die? For one, Big Box. Wal-Mart, which has had its share of issues with meat, and the War on Flies, is big and powerful enough to survive getting slapped with occasional fines by the health department. And was all too eager to eat up the business that Posey's lost. Little guys, like Posey's? Defenseless! And given how tied their hands had been for years, it seemed the problems with that aging store were only destined to get worse. The inevitable finally happened: the store became unsafe to do business in.

What does this mean for Dozerfleet fans? It means, barring a massive internal overhaul and new management, Posey's will likely never again be open to the public. At least, not under that identity. So if you are fans of Ciem: Inferno, and you would love to revisit the locations mentioned in Ciem: Inferno: The Grand Tour as part of your Boonville-visiting experience, just take note that shopping at the grocery store whose parking lot was the setting for Candi Flippo's arrest in Ciem: Inferno is no longer an option.

This is unfortunate, as the cashiers were very friendly. Alas, you can't stay in business in an old building when Big Box wants you gone - especially if you can't control your inventory, and the flies take notice!

Monday, February 6, 2023

Uncovering Lost Wiki Treasures Pt 14 - Candi's evolution across Gerosha timelines

Before the video above was made, and encapsulated most of the points of note regarding the evolution of Candi as Ciem, there was a wiki article that detailed much of it. With Divergency accounting and disambiguation pages becoming the new normal for Dozerfleet characters with multiple variants, much of this old article can now be converted to a blog post.

The article was primarily written before November of 2012, so the variants are focused on Earth-G6 and earlier primarily. However, the above video chronicles G7, G7.2.0, and G7.2.1 variants of Candi, as well as the 12131-F version.

Gerosha Prime (2005)

Genetics and appearance

This was the first attempt ever at the character, being a quick-fix way of trying to put good use to the multiple children that Sims 2 base game Stan and Shalia had in 2005. The other purpose behind Candi's inception was to show how a superhero Sims comic could work, to illustrate a point to users of Mod the Sims Social that not every story had to revolve around teen pregnancy drama exclusively.

Due to the way game genetics work, Candi looked very much white like Stan and bore none of Shalia's skintone attributes. She was also blue-eyed like Stan, since Sim genetics randomly decide which trait is dominant. Had the Dozerfleet founder known how to use SimPE back then, Candi's genetic issues would've been resolved much sooner.

In this timeline, the adult version of Erin was murdered offscreen, and never once depicted. After the opening chapter, no word was ever spoken of concerning her death ever again; only it is to suffice that she gives Candi reason to move away and marry. One other major theme that would continue after this was that Candi had an affinity for dyeing her hair red, though her natural color is black.

Family

In 2005, Denny marries Candi due to her having led to his conversion, as his family is still atheist. We know almost nothing else about Denny; and Donte does not surface in Candi's life until much later on. "L1 the Llama" was originally Jeraime in a high school llama mascot suit, as that was easily pulled from the game's Sports career path. His catchphrase of "DIIIIEEEEE!!!!" was in here, but was downplayed considerably. Jeraime's catchphrase didn't reach exaggerated levels until a reboot attempt in 2006.

In Earth-G3.1, Denny is killed by Capp Aard rather than Jeraime, after being brainwashed into "Dr. Leone" and assigned to make monsters. Candi's pregnancy is less of a big deal in this version; but she does lose Angie shortly after Angie's birth. Jeraime is blinded in this version, and Milp was introduced. This version also established that Candi would have Dana in the future, and that Arfaas wants Candi's head as a trophy.

Donte's half-brother Khumar is introduced in this version as Khumar Emeraldo, recycling the old masculine form name that was going to be assigned to Esmeralda in Stationery Voyagers before that character was made feminine. Likewise, Donte wasn't known as Emeraldon in this version. He was known as "Captain Emerald." Lindsay was still Khumar's wife, but she was at one point attached to an AI backvisor and put in a Janette the Bunny suit to become S2 the Bunny. Dolly was forced into being S1 the Bunny. All such "Bunny Units" were using the game's Social Bunny NPC outfits.

With exception of Miriam and sometimes Marina, it was implied that Candi did not have a healthy relationship with most of her family. Reily ignored her, Erin was a surrogate mother to her when she didn't stay with the McAuleys, Jason and Tanya ignored here, Mike and Jeff outright held her in contempt, and Vince had vanished to some place that nobody knew. (In actuality, he was somehow exported as a Townie and the game all but forgot about him afterward.)

Power losses and nature of enemies

Arfaas' sister Harga attempted to reform and become a human woman named Hannah. By Classic Gerosha, Harga became an impenitent Hebbleskin Gang member. By Comprehensive Gerosha, she was written out entirely.

Candi's power losses in the original cut of Ciem 2 were brought on by feelings of guilt that by developing an interest in Donte, she was somehow cheating on Denny and that Denny was still alive somewhere and somehow. In the 2009 version, being pregnant with Frank became the basis for her developing a vulnerability to a strain of influenza that interfered with her powers. Later iterations of Centhuen Prototype physiology mythos remove most of these plot devices, instead merely stating that pregnancy hormones interfere with focus, making Candi less effective at using her powers while pregnant. Therefore, Candi has to also avoid most pill forms of birth control.

By extension, Earth-G7's retcon regarding why Candi getting pregnant interferes with her being effective at being Ciem also applies to Michelle and Dana's hesitation with the thought of ever wanting to get pregnant.

By contrast, Zize Choi simply grows to believe that she may have been sterilized by the Chinese government without her foreknowledge or consent, explaining why she has a difficult time conceiving a child. Since Zize got her powers via Phex-1 injection, rather than being a proper Phexo Centhuen Prototype, and she never developed proper centilegs, Zize isn't considered a proper Chilopod Crusader. Likewise, she doesn't ever gain Zeran tech to aid with clothing quantum storage nor with teleportation.

Rather, Zize's primary means of combat is still to utilize weapons and military drop tactics on par with her training as an MSS agent. Her rapid healing, high jumping, and other enhanced senses and skill potential make her slightly more than "peak human," but her overall methodology is still standard. As such, the effects of pregnancy hormones on her powers are much less substantial at influencing her performance in the field. Although, if Zize ever did get pregnant, she'd try to avoid conflict for the child's sake. She has no guarantee that her infant child would be able to endure abuse to the extent that she can.

Miriam Flippo, Marina Baret, and Tanya Woven are also interesting case studies on this subject. Miriam and Marina are considered honorary Chilopod Crusaders, since the sequence is inside them to become like Candi. However, they haven't successfully activated it. Without its activation, they have no clear way to ever manifest their centilegs nor control them. They lack the means to be truly superhuman. As a consequence, becoming pregnant wouldn't interfere with their talents any more than it would most ordinary women.

Tanya in Earth-G7, however, isn't a true Chilopod Crusader at all. Propped up with Padua Network tech and Imaki Izuki tech, she's an elaborate imposter of a Chilopod Crusader. However, she knows that if her tech fails, and she's pregnant, failure to escape from enemies in the event of her tech's destruction means being responsible for two lives being placed in danger. This becomes her impetus to retire from being the Ciem of Seattle. Even before Tanya was expecting Yong's child, she had her doubts about continuing as Ciem. Not having Candi's powers, in her mind, made the job suicide.

Despair Gerosha (2006)

This was a primitive attempt to take seriously the continuity started in 2005 via reboot. Awkward though this failed universe was, it established several firsts that have carried on as canon ever since.

Erin's death and Candi's enemies

One of these established facts is that Erin Flippo was murdered by Gunner and Skellig Soorfelt. Her killers were never made explicit until 2006. Despair Gerosha is also the last time that Ciem's archnemesis early-on was named "L1 the Llama." Musaran in Classic Gerosha was a '''BrassTex Mecha''' suit from Mod the Sims repainted to look shrew-like. L1 in this version was a repainted Storm Trooper and a repainted llama mascot helmet. This was still an improvement over the 2005 version, where L1 used the Sims' in-game llama mascot unchanged as his suit.

This was also the first version where Candi saves Denny from a Meethlite's assassination attempt late at night. Candi's attempt to save Denny also leads to the Meethlite's death. However, Classic Gerosha states that Gunner makes the attempt right outside Candi's house. Comprehensive Gerosha has it happen outside the home Candi is renting from Heather, and has Gunner fall on his own knife after a quick and vicious battle with Candi. Classic Gerosha's explosion death for Gunner is also covered in this version.

Relationship with Denny

Another change to occur in this version is that Denny was attending church with Candi well before they got married, and that this version shows them getting married because of their common enemies. That trend carried over into G5 and G6. In 2005, Denny marries Candi due to her having led to his conversion, as his family is still atheist.

Major differences between the first battle for Denny's life in Despair Gerosha and Classic Gerosha are location. Despair Gerosha had the affair happen in a city park. Unlike later Geroshas, where Candi and Denny decide to get married later the same week or following week, the two of them decide to consummate their relationship immediately in this version. They get engaged, but don't marry until after Candi learns she is pregnant.

Other major changes include the fact that Despair Gerosha is the first time that Donte was in Candi's life before Denny. Donte and Denny both meet Candi in this version around the same time. It is discovering herself pregnant that convinces Candi to choose Denny; but Donte remains a best friend. Denny's tragic and sudden death becomes the grand opportunity for Donte to win Candi's heart for good. However, he does get captured; leading to Candi having to rescue him.

Earth-G7 and beyond replaces Denny Levens with Danny Loffin, who in spite having some outdoors and survivalist training, is otherwise just some very friendly teenage boy that Candi falls for when he's proven to have a better heart than most of her other male peers at school. Also unlike Denny, Candi and Danny never actually succeed at getting married, before Danny falls prey to the Hebbleskins' schemes. Candi and Danny conceive a child together; but that ends in a miscarriage.

Earth-G7 and beyond also make the change that Ciem and Emeraldon don't actually meet until some time after Candi loses both Danny Loffin and Tyrone Menster as fiances, with the latter dead due to Halal Affadidah's goons. In fact, Ciem: Ash Cloud goes to some Sleepless in Seattle lengths to keep Candi and Donte from meeting, even though the logic of their circumstances makes it seem highly likely that they'd meet.

Candi's biology

In 2005, Candi had visible pores where her centilegs were hiding inside her. Denny has to strap her up to a device to allow her to hide the openings. This never becomes an issue in later versions. However, 2006 Candi also had half the centilegs at half the length of her 2005 counterpart. In Prime, Candi had 64 centilegs around 16 feet in length total each. These were reduced to only 32 centilegs at 8 feet in length each. By 2007, she'd have only 16 and they'd be about 5 feet in length each. Finally, the 2010 version has only 10; and they are only called "legs" by a technicality of term. In truth, their small size and length of only a few inches makes them more adequately described as stingers.

The year 2006 was also the beginning of efforts to make Candi more biologically realistic in terms of appearance. Her eyes were still gray/blue instead of the brown they'd become in 2010, but her skin was getting darker. Sims 2 depictions are limited, since only four default skintones are possible.

Other relationships

Donte's last name in Gerosha Prime was initially stated as Williams, before being changed suggestively to McArthur. That was fixed in G4, with his name having always been McArthur. The change also reflects that McArthur is the name he was assigned by the game when he was auto-generated for the first time by the Tombstone of Life and Death. Donte is a police chief for the last time in G4. Afterward, it was ruled that he was highly unlikely to have obtained that role. Donte also hides his alter-ego from Candi for the last time in this version. He is revealed to her almost immediately from then on.

Milp is an interesting case in this version. Unlike every other version, where she is at least briefly mentioned before her appearance in part 3, Milp is never once mentioned in G4. However, this version does make it explicit that Jeraime, not Simon, was Denny's murderer.

Candi in G3.1 is first arrested when she is mistaken for a streetwalking prostitute. She is never sent to jail for any reason in G4, though later Geroshas have fun with the idea. Candi's first arrest in G5 is for being Denny's widow, and for hacking a library computer to acquire information about Arfaas' raid and Donte's location. This essentially makes her a freedom fighter captured by Afaas' growing police state; one that has somehow still not figured out that she is either Ciem and / or a Flippo. In G6, she is arrested by a lady officer who mistakes her for Miriam. Due to Candi's ability to heal quickly from injuries, she is unable to pin the officer for brutality. Candi is later detained for about a week, as she is in shock after her battle against Don the Psycho, and the police aren't sure what to do about her mental state.

Candi goes into a coma after giving birth to Angie for the first time in G4. Her G3.1 self remained consciousness all throughout the ordeal. Imaki dies of a heart attack in Candi's presence in G3.1, as well as in G5. Although G3.1 and G6 attempt to make Imaki relevant to Candi's life somehow, G4 had Imaki leave behind little more than a video for Candi to watch. As Candi recovered in the hospital in G5, Imaki died in front of her.

Classic Gerosha (2007)

Along the way to developing the distilled and promising Comprehensive Gerosha (G6) continuity, the Classic Gerosha (G5) of Ciem webcomics proved to be an important precursor step.

This version of Candi's life initiated many firsts in the character's mythology. Even more so, her enemies were revolutionized. S1 and S2 the Bunnies were now only alluded to, with no intention of them ever being shown. One universe generation later, and they never existed at all. L1 the Llama was renamed "Musaran," shorthand for "shrew" in Spanish (''musaraña''.) According to Wikipedia, shrews eat certain types of centipedes. This made pitting Candi against a shrew-themed villain only natural. This version of Musaran was not as crude as the failed L1 suits of before, but was still not as well-thought-out as the Comprehensive Musaran promised to be.

The 2007 webcomic was also the last reference ever made to Arfaas' sister Harga Hebbleskin, who more or less doesn't exist in later adaptations. Gunner's brother, Skellig, was consistently identified as Skellig in this version. However, the surname of Soorfelt didn't get made explicit until 2010. This was the first time that Denny's would-be assassin was identified explicitly as Gunner.

Nolle Barret first made an appearance in this version, leading the charge to destroy Candi's reputation at church. Aiding Nolle is Pete the Shouter.

Another major difference that pops up in G5 that is not found in any other version is the existence of Kelsea Linney. This enemy of Denny's was based on a real-life hairstylist who worked at a salon in Big Rapids. However, the G6 universe sought to be profitable, leading to Kelsea becoming a G5 exclusive.

Donte's job as a police chief in G3.1 and G4 was no longer true as of G5. However, exactly how he afforded his house and what he did with his time outside heroics was never explained. G6 sought to cover those grounds in more detail. His capture happening early in the story is established in this continuity, and is explored in more detail in G6. Unlike in earlier versions, Donte established who he was to Candi early on here. Since he was now Emeraldon and not Captain Emerald, Khumar and Lindsay were renamed from the Emeraldos to the Hamiltons. This last name is a recycling of Anyce Hamilton from Replox: Abstract Foundations.

Just like in Despair Gerosha, Classic Imaki does very little for Candi onscreen. This is also the last time that Imaki is pure Japanese, as his backstory grows more developed after this continuity. Much like Gerosha Prime, however, Classic Imaki dies of a heart attack in front of Candi. This becomes established as true for all later versions.

Comprehensive Gerosha (2010)

Exploring other image formats

This version made significant changes to Candi, but most notably, it changed the size of her centilegs and the strength of her venom. Unique to this version is that a Sims 3 version existed at The Dozerfleet Forum, and was available via DzMD. More work was done with this version to find a template for what she would look like if played by someone real. In addition, this was the first version of Candi to be depicted in 2D using UGO's HeroMachine software.

Also of note, is that she is only portrayed by a Sim in this version for storyboarding, wiki portrayal, lot layout reference, and marketing of her for download. The book cover featured an as-of-yet-to-be-decided version of Candi in a format ''not'' drawn by a game engine. This marked the first time that Candi was primarily marketed outside of game downloads using anything other than Sims software.

Geography more realistic

This was also the first version where Evansville was explicitly called by its real-life name, rather than being dubbed "Dirbine." This change made at least the city where Ciem patroled into a real geographic location, cementing the mythos. Viron kept its name, but was based on Perry Township in Vanderburgh County. This was a departure from traditional Virons, which were entirely fictional towns.

Musaran

Musaran retains his name in this, but a lot of other things changed involving Candi's enemies. She no longer had to worry about Kelsea Linney, Bumphrob, or other villains of that sort. She did, however, have new enemies to replace some of them. Gunner fell on his own knife in this version of his epic showdown with Candi. In past versions, the Meethlite which Candi fights blows himself up. Musaran's slaughter of Viron University students is depicted a little differently here than in the 2007 comic, but that tradition carried over in general.

Allies

G6 also saw a return of Imaki to being more actively involved in Candi's life and in the decisions she made. He dies of a heart attack in her presence, same as in most earlier versions. However, he offers her more actual practical contributions that are more than just referred to. His presence was barely there in 2007's story.

G6 was the first to show much concern for Candi's in-laws: the Levenses. Eric and Patti were only alluded to before, as was Jessie. In G6, they almost got to be shown reacting to Candi and Denny's decision to elope.

In G7, the Levens family is replaced with the Loffins. While they find Candi and Danny's relationship cute, they are surprisingly apathetic about protecting and preserving that union. Roger at one point even gets Danny drunk at a party, then sends Jissika Sundue after him, to get him to forsake Candi, after essentially tricking an also-drunk Jissika into date-raping Danny. However, when the two of them awake and discuss what happened, the ruse is discovered. Neither Danny nor Jissika are amused by Roger getting them drunk and then tricking them into sleeping together, and they part ways after reprimanding Roger. Danny remains loyal to Candi from then on until his dying day.

Lesser enemies

Nolle Barret returned in G6, but her role was toned down significantly. A right-hand man of the church's district president turned out to be manipulating Nolle the whole time. Nobody was ever referred to by name as defaming Candi before G5. In the G6 timeline however, Luke Zahrn is identified as being behind Nolle. Luke is a pudgy, liberal-minded Arfaas sympathizer. He was a replacement for Pete the Shouter, whom Candi handled very differently in the G5 timeline. All of these lesser foes were written out entirely for G7.

In almost every other respect, Earth-G7 pushes Candi in directions that prior variants never explored - especially with regards to her tenuous relationship with the feds, and propensity toward being a political prisoner.