u/Interface-

"The Fireflies were wrong because you can't vaccinate against fungus so they were the bad guys and Joel was right to kill them."

Even if that were true, which it is not, why is the line drawn there?

Bearing in mind I'm primarily talking about the games here. I haven't watched the TV series, but from what I've gleaned from a bit of research it's basically the same thing, but with theories as to the proper explanation (mother infected while pregnant, I believe?). Onto the topic though;

Cordyceps can't infect real human beings. But we accept that because that's the rules of the setting.

Cordyceps does not turn insects into cannibals or otherwise make them eat other insects. But we accept that humans become cannibals in The Last Of Us because that's the rules of the setting.

Cordyceps doesn't actually control the brain in insects in real life. It hijacks the muscles and the poor things are along for the ride as it pilots their bodies and forces them to climb before self-destructing to rain down spores over a large area. But we accept that it grows in the brain in infected humans and they swarm in dark and wet places to die and spread spores because that's the rules of the setting.

Cordyceps doesn't mutate insects into more grotesque and disgusting forms that are stronger, faster, act different, blow their heads open and make them sense via echolocation or throw spore pockets that explode at a distance. But we accept that it does this to humans in-universe, because that's the rules of the setting.

Instead, the line is drawn at vaccinating against the Cordyceps using Ellie's infection. Because in real life, you cannot vaccinate against fungal infections.

But that argument is not valid. Because we don't know the rules of the setting in that regard.

Ellie is believed to be the first and most likely only person in the world who is immune to the Cordyceps - but she isn't immune to the Cordyceps, she is already infected with it. It just hasn't zombified her. We don't know whether it's a mutated strain of Cordyceps or if it's specific to her as a person down to the genetics (again, in the games, I'm not caught up on the TV series).

In order to even try to manufacture a vaccine out of Ellie's Cordyceps, they need to harvest it from her brain which would kill her in the process. What do they do next? Run tests, or slather the sample on a blade and stab someone with it then see what happens? Will it infect them and make them go zombie mode or will it render them immune to the actual zombifying strain of Cordyceps? It's not like all vaccines are vials and needles of a liquid that you inject into someone's arm. Did you know you can be exposed to cowpox and that builds up your immunity against smallpox, ergo VACCINATING you against smallpox? That would be the exact same thing as being exposed to Ellie's benign strain - if it worked and didn't zombify you. If it works, they are immune by virtue of already being infected by the benign strain, ergo VACCINATED against the malignant strain, am I not correct?

It's all 'if'. Not 'when'.

We don't know if it would work, thanks to Joel.

The Fireflies could have been right. The Fireflies could have been wrong. Joel could have been right. Joel could have been wrong. Yes, the Fireflies fucked up. They put Ellie on the table and under the knife without consent, goodbyes, or informing Joel about it beforehand. Yes, Joel fucked up. He killed a dozen soldiers and the three surgeons in that room to save a girl he treated as and thought of as his own daughter.

What matters is that Joel robbed the world of the possibility of a vaccine, whereas the Fireflies acted unethically, sent him outside without his gear which would likely result in his own death, put Ellie under to start the operation without consent or properly informing any party, and may or may not have killed Ellie in vain.

The vaccine may have worked. The vaccine may not have worked.

That is an intentionally unwritten rule of the setting.

To say that either side is wrong ruins the final conflict. It's meant to be ambiguous. You are meant to not know. And you cannot apply real life science to a fictional setting that already has its own rules just to say 'Fireflies bad Joel good'.

I went to r/PeterExplainsTheJoke first but the vast majority of users there resorted to attacking and downvoting me for not knowing instead of explaining the fucking joke, so that's the last time I ever go there because it's become a circlejerk of "you can't be this stupid" even if it's reasonable for someone to not know. Suffice it to say I've deleted that post.

I know why Robert / Granddad attacked the guy - he is aggressive and prone to violence.

I know why Robert is at the TSA - he is unhireable anywhere else.

I have watched the Boondocks, over ten years ago and never since, so if there's context in the show about the shampoo bottle then I'm not aware of it.

I have never been on a plane or in an airport.

I **don't** know what the issue is with the full-size shampoo bottle.

Bear with me - I'm not 100% certain on all the lore, nor am I a nuclear physicist or radiologist or any of that stuff, but here we go.

Ray Field Energy / Ray Field Radiation is the energy source that facilitates Conduit powers and the enhancement of Conduit powers themselves. Rayacite fragments, colloquially known as Blast Shards, are 'chunks of earth irradiated from Ray Sphere testing' as stated by Lucy Kuo in inFamous 2 during the mission where you learn about Dead Drops and start to find Blast Shards in the game world. It is also the cause of the Plague, which is radiation poisoning brought on by Ray Field irradiation.

The Ray Field Inhibitor, when activated, 'inhibits' Ray Fields. Presumably, it was to destroy Ray Field energy, and it seemed to have worked because all Plague cases were immediately cured as soon as it was activated, at the cost of all / 90% of Conduits and gene-positives worldwide.

But in inFamous: Second Son, Ray Field energy is still present. The DUP Drones that fly around, which you destroy to get points to spend on upgrades, have Blast Shards in them, refined and stamped with the logo, but they are still Blast Shards. Core Relays are similar, they contain Ray Field energy. During the final boss battle, when Delsin calls out to Eugene after getting Concrete he says 'I need a Blast Core', not 'I need a Core Relay', which is obviously a mistake but I'm going to take that as confirmation that Core Relays are made of Blast Cores.

So Ray Field energy is still present post-RFI. Why?

Because the Ray Field Inhibitor actually did not destroy Ray Field energy - it reconstituted it. Moved it along the spectrum. Changed the frequency. Altered the wavelength.

In inFamous 2, Cole has access to Ionic Charges which allow him to use supercharged "Ionic" powers. The name of this mechanic, or the powers, is never stated in dialogue between characters, verbally or otherwise, only in terms of game mechanics, but let's assume that this is confirmation that Ray Field radiation is ionising radiation.

The Plague no longer exists despite the continued existence of Ray Field radiation in inFamous: Second Son. That means Ray Field radiation no longer causes radiation poisoning, no longer causes the Ray Field Plague. That means Ray Field radiation has been moved along the radiation spectrum since its 'inhibition' by the Ray Field Inhibitor, no longer being ionising. It may be closer to microwave radiation or radio waves now, and the reason 90% of Conduits and gene-positives died is because their bodies were unable to adapt to this change, but the surviving 10% did adapt.

What do you guys think?

Image is of the Ragnarok control layout.

Manual jumping is confirmed to be in GOW Laufey and I'm wondering what the layout is gonna be to accommodate it.

In most action games with manual jumping, X is the jump button, but in the Norse GOW games X is dodging so they can't bind it to the dodge button.

The O button belongs to Interact, and sharing it with Jump could work but it can cause conflicts in and out of combat, with interactibles and stuff. Maybe they put Dodge to O and Jump to X? But that could mess with muscle memory.

Maybe the Triangle button? It's traditionally tied to weapon special effects like recalling Leviathan, charging the Blades, or detonating Draupnir. Maybe they change the method of using Faye's weapon specials freeing up Triangle so it can be used to jump?

If nothing else, L1+X might work. When Ragnarok introduced Draupnir and took up Down D-Pad which was Quick Turn in 2018 they made it so that you could still Quick Turn if you held Block while pressing Down. They could do the same in Laufey.

What do you guys think?

My money is on Death, especially after reading Abomination Vault.