Whether or not we are able to admit it, we all enjoy being right. Constantly factually correcting someone on tiny points of order has become indicative of the terrible stereotype of awkward nerdfolk, but even I have to admit there’s a sense of satisfaction in it. Sure, you can’t engage in such behaviors constantly, because nobody likes a smart@$$, but sometimes it’s important to tell people that Ant-Man isn’t some new character created to “rip-off” El from ‘Misfits Of Science.’ (This is a true, actual conversation that I have had, by the way.) As with anything, the key is moderation, and since we all have certain subjects on which we can and will (respectfully, one hopes) correct those around us, we can share them in a safe space here at the MS-QOTD, leading us to today’s corrective query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) has been known to remind folk of all manner of such minutiae, but always enjoys pointing out that Captain America was created as an intentional knock-off of earlier patriotic superhero, The Shield, asking: What’s your go-to “Um, actually…” bit of nerd-knowledge?
14 Comments
I have several that I have to use frequently, but if I list them all it would take a while.
One of the most frequent is explaining that Digimon actually came out BEFORE Pokemon. A few years before the first Pokemon anything came out, back in the days of the virtual pet craze of the 90’s, Digimon came out as one of those virtual pets. You could even battle other Digimon virtual pets through a small connector thing on the toys. Sure, the Digimon anime came out after the Pokemon anime, but the Digimon franchise itself actually came out first.
One that really bugs me is explaining to people that Green Lantern’s ring isn’t just a flashlight, but can create solid light constructs, translate alien and foreign languages and so many other things.
The one that bugs me most is telling teenage girls that Stephenie Meyer didn’t create vampires or werewolves. I wish I could say I was joking about that.
Of course Stephanie Meyer didn’t create vampires…Anne Rice did!
:)
Um actually pokemon came first, pokemon red and green for the Game Boy on February 27, 1996…The digimon virtual pet came out in June 26 of 1997.
Explaining to people the Pre-Crisis Multiverse and remembering the former “Earth” designations (1, 2, 3, C, S, X, etc.)
Ah! Earth-C and Earth-C-Minus! Good times!
Um, actually…
Archie ‘Chick’ Andrews was also a knock-off, but of a movie character.
Rick Jones drove a jalopy onto the testing grounds. Not a jeep. Not a motorcycle.
Woody Allen played James Bond on the big screen.
Since “Agents of SHIELD” started talking about Inhumans at the end of next season, and with the announcement of the Inhumans movie, I’ve had to inform/remind people that “Inhumans” is not “just another name for Mutants”. I imagine this will only get worse from now on
Pretty much everything video game related. People have so many misconceptions about those, but I tend to avoid “um..actualling” too much because its pointless most of the time.
I have one that I absolutely must correct, and I was doing so on a regular basis a few years ago, when Games Workshop produced a Warhammer Fantay MMO. I spent endless hours explaining that Warhammer is not a Warcraft knockoff, but that as it turns out Warcraft IS a Warhammer knockoff.
Back in the day Blizzard was developing a Warhammer Fantasy RTS, but the funding fell through, so Blizz filed off all the copywrites, wrote their own story, and Warcraft: Humans and Orcs was born.
Wasn’t that also the same story with Starcraft that they tried to make a 40k RTS but funding fell through or GW wouldn’t give them the copyright
I’m not sure, Starcraft did come later. It certainly draws inspiration from, but I can’t say for certain.
GW was doing turn based WH40k games when Starcraft came out so likely not?
That midi-chlorians are not the source of force powers in the Star Wars universe. They’re just bacteria that are extremely attracted to force sensitive people. Thus when someone takes a midi-chlorian test they’re testing for presence of a bacteria that appears in people with a strong connection to the force.
You are my HERO.
I gave up on midiclorian arguments so long ago.
It just makes sense that in a time where there are hundreds of Jedi that they would understand how to find force sensitives easier.
Archeotechnology, older technology that is more advanced/better than current, isn’t that hard of a concept. Particularly given Star Wars is in a dark age of technology. Tech has remained the same for centuries after all. Thanks expanded universe.
John Constantine rhymes with turpentine.
H(a?)i-me Reyes (I apologize for this one, I know my Spanish is crap.)