Considering the UFO sightings in Peru and the Inca legends it would be especially hilarious if Patton declared the indignity Andean people as yet another lost tribe of Isrealites. That must be liberated from the fowl clutches of the papist hordes.
I'd say this would be more accurate...You could say... he went out with a bang!
West Virginia had its fair share of Confederates and Unionists most notably Stonewall Jackson though he's more associated with Virginia and Isaac H. Duval. My guess is that you have ancestors that fought on both sides. The state is also one of the most conservative, Republican and Christian places in existence which likely influenced the creation of this timeline.End of page curse and I missed this one!
I have mentioned before things that have inspired me to write WMIT, but it's been ages and I probably have new stuff to add to the lst. lol
Star Wars. The cyberfunk aesthetic I have long-planned for NUSA is quite similar to the set decor of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, crossed with 2001. The concept of larger than life villains with wildly different characteristics is definitely playing into WMIT too. Crippled Patton is essentially Yankee Grievous.
Warhammer 40k. Obvious. Eternal war and glory to the emperor. Beyond the Yankee legions being similar to the Imperial Guard, the Europan, New Holy Roman, and the Tsar have all hearkened to 40k's insane aesthetic.
Starship Troopers (book and movie). No explanation needed. One of the biggest fiction influences on me ever.
Dr. Strangelove. My favorite movie of all time. It's absurd. It's depressing. And it's hilarious.
Kubrick in general. The Shining, of course. And DEFINITELY 2001. 2001 comes closest to the style I want for the Pinnacle Future.
Lovecraft, King, Hitchcock, Bloch, and Tolkien. World building, terrific villains, eerie flavor that is instantly recognizable (Tolkien isn't really eerie, but you get the picture). Also, the bizarre or extremely catchy place names. Fairvale is on the canon map in Pacifica ITTL, and that's also the fictional Californian town that Psycho was set in.
1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 (DUH)
Fallout (my love of world building brands and companies directly spawns from my many hours spent pouring over the terminals, trying to figure out what happened at this office or that factory. John Henry Eden was a big inspiration as well for how I write some of my speeches. Caesar as well. Mafia II also influenced my branding.
The Men Who Built America (I LOVED that show. HIGHLY rec it if you haven't seen it. I've said I picture WMIT being a documentary in my head. Well, the narrator of TMWBA is my inner monologue.
A childhood full of Turner Classic Movies and AMC on constantly, playing mostly westerns and war films.
G.I. Joe. My childhood obsession. I am beyond excited about the new six inch line. Don't tell me "Chuck Oswald" couldn't be replaced with "Cobra Commander" and the character would still feel the same. "Y O U S N I V E L I N G N I N N Y!" Also, the file cards that came on the back of the package for the 3 3/4 inch figures. My gosh, I still have those. I used to memorize them. Once again, that really impacted me and the Fallout terminals give me the same creative vibe. Also, the many different Cobra troopers and regiments. Ugh. The best part of my childhood, was flying my Cobra Crimson Command Copter around my living room and lining up all my minions on parade to greet Cobra Commander as he touched down, and I would voice and act out all sorts of batshit insanity based on my cobbled-together understanding of war. lol I also inherited all my much older cousins' plastic army men, and I still have notebooks somewhere from when I was ten and writing down crazy "campaigns" that would last weeks between the Greens and Tans. I always was a Tan boy. Glory to General Plastro and the Revolution, the Green fascists will be destroyed. I also had a huge tan tank from the 80s, which I used as my own Schwerer Gustav, lmao. Yeah, I was a weird kid. I told everyone I was gonna grow up to be a general like Patton and Rommel. I don't think that dream is gonna happen, but give 2020 some time. lol
Indiana Jones (also obvious). The concept of 1930s villains tracking down obscure or impossible relics always intrigued me.
The Age of Napoleon, by Will and Ariel Durant. I always loved the Napoleonic era, and I spent a whole summer taking in this massive tome when I was 13 after picking it out at the used bookstore. Around this same time I found TL191 in my local library. I was hooked on Turtledove for the longest time.
The Book of Mormon. No offense to actual Mormons out there, they've all been nice to me. But the concept of the one true religion originating in 19th century America after thousands of years of human history has always amused me. I'm not even saying they are wrong (I don't have the answers and I'm happy for you if Mormonism fills the void you had), but I am amused by the thought. The same thing for Christian Science and the Millerites, etc. 19th century religions have this weird flavor I like, even if I don't believe them. Thus, Fundamentalism was born.
Late night History Channel, circa 2002. lol
Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Film by Thames Television. Best documentary I have ever watched.
The Disunited States of America, by Harry Turtledove. WMIT first popped into my head as glorified fan fiction of DSA.
*deep breath*
My own religiously insane childhood as the youngest son of a literal cult leader in the foothills of West Virginia, which I've mentioned a lot before. "Israel is God's Kingdom reborn. They'll all be saved in the Last Days so they don't have to be Christian or baptized and I don't care if you think that's not fair. Catholics, though, are dirty sinners and idol-worshippers. We are fundamentalist Christian soldiers and we need to be ready to die for our faith because George fucking Bush is going to persecute us." Turned out my dad was just worried the church would get busted for tax fraud, incest, and rape. FUN. My dad is the literal inspiration for AFC and 2.0's MadnessBilly Graham's personality and attitude of "I am great and will only become greater". Almost all of AFC's teachings are directly lifted from my childhood, which is hilarious as he used to read WMIT and he never put two and two together. lol We might not have handled snakes, but Jolo was just down the road, and we knew tons of people who did. The volunteer fire department also ran the town like a mafia/secret police, as there were no police. They would assassinate people in broad daylight (including a family member while they were dressed in stolen EMT clothes and a stolen ambulance; they threw him off Sandstone Mountain). My childhood was basically me getting homeschooled at Eden's Gate. Lmao In addition to a radio show, my dad also ran for President in 1992, three years before I was born. I shit you not, he created something called the (WAIT FOR IT) The Christian Freedom Party, and he would go out and walk the streets trying to convince people to join him. Fun fact: my original notes for WMIT had the MDP being called the Chrisitan Freedom Party, but people would have just thought I was copying Turtledove instead of my dad. lol
He made my sister and mother work hours and hours packaging up fliers for his lunacy until their fingers blistered. He also would talk all through my childhood of how I was his heir and he was going to form a new Freedomite Baptist Convention. He said he never expected to win the Presidency, which makes him sound slightly more rational, until he said,"I wanted to become well-known and start a nationwide movement." I even began saying I was going to be a pastor and take over the movement one day. It was surreal and absurd, and it gave me a real insight into how people can be brainwashed into total horseshit from a young age, and how others (my older family members) played along out of a sense of respect/duty to Father. Sadly most of his pamphlets got ruined in a leaky storage building. He also had at least 5,000 cassette tapes of his own voice talking about politics and religion. He even wanted to make the jump to tv during the late 90s/9/11 era. My dad is now financially destroyed, divorced, living off government money in subsidized housing, and drives a rusted out shell of a 2003 Pontiac he bought for 500 bucks, and none of his family speaks to him. Something tells me Jesus wasn't impressed. lol To make it even WEIRDER, he grew up best friends with Lt. General Douglas Lute, and his best friend in later life, a crazy Vietnam veteran, started a neo Confederate movement and would attend church service in a modern Confederate cosplay uniform that literally looked like something from Jake Featherston's wardrobe. Fun fact, the organization that he branched off of and supported was the one that organized the Charlottesville Torch March. This good old boy is currently campaigning in local politics for a "Sovereign, Godly, and Traditionally Southern Floridian Nation." Lmao
There's wayyyyyy more influences and inspirations, but that's a good start. Feels good to rant about my bizarre upbringing again, lol. Aside from that last entry, all the others are positive/neutral influences. No one has to tell me "sorry bud" about the childhood bit. It's what it is. lol I'm fine now. At least I got some crazy stories out of it.
So just watched the original Predator yesterday and does anyone else think it would be darkly awesome for some Pinnie troops to find themselves being hunted down in the jungles by a vicious alien hunter? You're Pinnacle Fluids ain't gonna save you Jessie!
So just watched the original Predator yesterday and does anyone else think it would be darkly awesome for some Pinnie troops to find themselves being hunted down in the jungles by a vicious alien hunter? You're Pinnacle Fluids ain't gonna save you Jessie!
The filmmaker probably had some solid titanium cahones to have even go through with it.Sounds like something that a subversive filmmaker could make. On the surface its a Sci-Fi film that shows Pinnie Boy's fighting an alien in the jungles of South America and gets past the censors that way. However upon a rewatch of the movie its actually a brutal deconstruction of the Pinnacle Man and a critique of the Climax War. As what the Yanks have done to Latin America the Predator does to the Yanks.
Give the Predator strange similarities with inferior stereotypes, like red colored dreadlocks and green growing eyes, and make it so the heroes are the most possibly square jawed pinnacle and give it a happy enough ending so that people can think the message is that the Pinnacle Man can surpass it's enemies no matter how lethal they are, but throw the bitterness and subtext enough to make the deconstruction. If you want to seem an Oswald loving pinnie make the heroes of different Better races, who sacrifice together against the heathen alien for President Oswald and the fullfiled New Jerusalem.Sounds like something that a subversive filmmaker could make. On the surface its a Sci-Fi film that shows Pinnie Boy's fighting an alien in the jungles of South America and gets past the censors that way. However upon a rewatch of the movie its actually a brutal deconstruction of the Pinnacle Man and a critique of the Climax War. As what the Yanks have done to Latin America the Predator does to the Yanks.
I'd be interested in a TL where Fundementalism takes over but the RU getting some losses in causes them to mellow out.The mention of Mormonism as one of Napo’s inspirations gave me an idea for an EU timeline where Fundamentalism doesn’t take over the Union, but just becomes like Mormonism OTL: a weird, sometimes controversial, conservative minority denomination, that slowly mellows out and becomes more “normal” over time.
"Operation Enduring Climax begins."
An Enduring Climax eh? That sounds like Yankee Jehovahite Tantric Sex Magick From Beyond the Veil.