During a recent viewing of Gokaiger, the child suddenly realized that all the main characters were meant to be aliens, and moreover, aliens from FIVE DIFFERENT WORLDS! The idea that there would be creatures that look exactly like humans from Japan, much less multiple planets full of them, suddenly struck her as questionable for the first time. As a fan of Star Trek, I have long since taken it for granted that all the aliens will be bipedal with rubbery foreheads and I’m kind of fine with that, given the scarcity of non-humanoids with SAG cards. Strangely, though, even in comics where casting issues shouldn’t apply, we don’t see many truly alien aliens. Tellus counts, but Shadow Lass is essentially a powder blue version of Kirk’s Orion dancing girl (costume and all.)

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) thinks that Farscape had it closest to actual non-humanoid diversity, asking:  Does it ever bother you that aliens overwhelmingly look human?

I have long been of the opinion that there’s never such thing as too much of a good thing, provided that you’re the target audience.  Even pursuits that are silly, ridiculous or occasionally fatal can be found to have legions of hardcore fans if you look in the right place.  As an old-school comic book fan, I could probably name half a dozen characters who are widely reviled because of endless cameos, crossovers and multiple monthly books.  Characters like Batman, Wolverine, Cable and others are viewed as awful in some circles BECAUSE of their ubiquity, but having recently read the last arc of Rick Remender’s “Uncanny X-Force,” I once again submit that such theories are somewhat suspect.  The book’s cast consisted entirely of characters who bear such accusations, and proceeded to give Deadpool emotional depth, Psylocke gravitas, and made me care when Wolverine’s son was murdered.  If a paint-by-numbers knock-off character like Daken can be as moving as that story made him, then literally ANYONE can be awesome in the right hands.

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) is the best there is at what it does, and what it does is emit flatus, asking:  What’s the most enjoyable story featuring characters who are accused of being “overexposed?”

While the business of gift-giving is over for a while, it’s still worth ruminating on the subject of the surprise.  Sometimes, the unknown is pleasant and unexpected, other times it’s jury duty on your birthday (not that I’m bitter or anything.)  Whether you believe in resolutions or not, the thought of a new year stretching out before us is an exhilarating and terrifying one all at once, and it makes you wonder what could be around the corner…  Will it be the lady, the tiger, or Honey Boo Boo acting the fool?  Hell if I know, but man, it’s fun to wonder.

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) can be cryptic when necessary, just ask Sergeant Boudreaux, asking:  What do you think Major Spoilers has up our collective sleeves in ’13?