Episode 737 - Why take over the world?
Apr 28, 2025
People in stories, especially bad guys in stories usually want to take over the world, but why? What's really to gain? Even in reality it's a complex question. That's what we're talking about here.
Topics and Show Notes
What's the real reason to want to be the boss of everything? Money isn't the objective because when you become the leader of everything money is irrelevant, you control all standards and commerce. Is greed a motivation? Well no because being the boss of everything eliminates the motivation for greed. Power is the only true objective: being the ultimate boss means you can control everything. It's a crap load of responsibility and work though.
On a smaller scale, why do you want to be the leader, the CEO, the king, the boss, the emperor? It could be because you have an overinflated ego and you think you deserve it so you can show off to others (Trump). It could be that you want power and control over others. Maybe it's the only way to can achieve safety and security, by getting to the top and being in charge of everyone else? Or maybe you have a vision for the future or a passion for something and being the leader is the only way to can enact your vision or preserve it?
A very small scale example: I rose up on this site and became its leader. I started out as a comicer like everyone else, joining in 2003, positing my comic in 2004. Dylan Squires, creator of the site (known as Volte6), was always the leader then. I became more involved in the community and was made a moderator. I was passionate about the site and wanted things to run well and do right by the community. Eventually I was made an administrator with power to run the site. I was part of a small group of fellow admins. As time passed they all left and it was just me in charge. Through negotiation I took control of the site from the owner at Wowio. I later established my own team to help me run things. Through all that my only motivation was to make sure the site stayed running so that people could post their comics as usual and get comments and engagement. I'd love if someone else could be in charge instead of me though but it's a very complex and expensive process.
Why do you think people want to take over the whole world? Especially bad guys in stories?
This week Gunwallace has given us a theme inspired by Degrengolada - Creepy, brooding, building, exciting, evocative. Something exciting and interesting is about to begin! This is a slow, measured dance that’s leading to something big!
Topics and shownotes
Links
Featured comic:
OLYMPIAN HEIGHTS - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2025/apr/21/featured-comic-olympian-heights/
Featured music:
Degrengolada - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Degrengolada/ - by Paulie Blade, rated A.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
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Episode 736 - Resurrection
Apr 21, 2025
Happy Easter! Well that was Sunday, but happy Easter anyway. In honour of that yearly and ancient ritual holiday that has its roots in the rebirth of spring in the northern hemisphere our Quackcast is on the theme of resurrection! The idea that people can come back to life in realty is pure fantasy but it is an essential part of all different kinds of fiction.
Episode 735 - Anime
Apr 14, 2025
Welcome to another DD Quackcast! We were going to discuss Ad Hoc rationalisations and also “what happens AFTER you take over the world” but both topics were waaaay too trumpish and we didn't feel like getting negative and ranty about that fellow's foolishness so we thought we'd talk anime instead! But what is anime? At its simplest it's just cartoons like any other but they happen to be from Japan. There's more to it though, most anime has a articular look to it: reasonably realistically drawn worlds and reasonably realistic figures but they all tend to have slightly oversized heads, huge expressive eyes, tiny noses and mouths, and very stylised hair and reactions. That's not always the case but it's pretty typical. But these days “anime” is also made in Korea, China, France, the USA and more, it's become a style rather than a country of origin thing.
Episode 734 - When love turns to hate
Apr 7, 2025
When love turns to hate… It's a common trope in fiction: partners split up and their once loving relationship turns to one of bitter acrimony! We see hate turning to love frequently too, that's another common trope, I saw both when I watched Willow again last night. Mad Martigan and Sorsha went from hate to love to hate to love again, and Sorsha and her mum Queen Bavmorda went from love to hate. It's a staple in fiction because it's a staple in reality.
Episode 733 - Watch again: Rediscovering
Mar 30, 2025
Watching, reading, and listening to things a second, third or even a million times can offer you a whole new experience. Why do we pick up the same thing to enjoy again? It could be nostalgia, it could be the need for comfort in the familiar, maybe it's research, or maybe you're rewatching the early episodes of a series so you can get more enjoyment out of new, later episodes that you haven't seen before?
Episode 732 - Meet the Parodians
Mar 24, 2025
Parody and satire are a certain kind of humour. They're VERY easy to do because you just base them off real, already existing things, then you twist it a bit to add humour and make it ridiculous. But that's where it gets tricky! Satire is a parody of a real situation rather than fictional, it tends to have a harder edge. Where it usually goes wrong is that people mistake it for something straight, i.e. NOT satire, not comedy, not exaggeration or ridicule. The two main approaches to parody are a broad satire of a genre, like Princess Bride on fairytale fantasy, or a more targeted approach like Spaceballs which satirised Star Wars, and things in between like Airplane, which made fun of the film Zero Hour but also used it as a chance to parody the disaster movie genre and include a shotgun approach to pop-cultural jokes, making fun of everything happening in the 1970s.
Episode 731 - Contrariancast
Mar 17, 2025
I love those characters who bitch and moan and want to do things differently, although they don't usually take up the leadership role themselves, they just THINK they should be leader instead, but they don't really want to be one. They become a sort of fake antagonist… they're not the REAL antagonist, they just like to spice things up and add tension because they don't want to go with what the leader or the rest of the gang says.
Episode 730 - Lighting by The Doodler
Mar 10, 2025
Today we have on a super special guest, The Doodler! This is another on our technical series about art making and this time we're talking about lighting. Tantz suggested we interview The Doodler for this because she's Tantz's go-to person for lighting issues in scenes. It was great to chat with The Doodler about her lighting techniques and the different challenges presented by different scenes. The Doodler was much better at explaining the concepts than I could have been so it was a pleasure to have her on the cast!
