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| What should have HT done with Clarence Potter? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 27 2008, 07:38 PM (373 Views) | |
| CT902 | Sep 27 2008, 07:38 PM Post #1 |
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Serf
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A lot of people on these boards have complained that Potter, while at first appearing to be an anti-Freedomite, sold his soul too quickly to Jake after accepting his job offer and lost depth as a character (one person here called him a toady). What specifically should HT have done with Potter in VO-IATD so Potter would be a better character? |
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| SladeJack | Sep 27 2008, 07:58 PM Post #2 |
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The Grand SladeJack
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My first choice would be have him remain as an anti-Freedomite on the run. My second choice would be have him realize that working with the US was his best hope of saving his society's soul and defect. My third choice would have been to have him plot against Featherston from within the inner circle. My fourth choice would have been to have him remain as head of military intelligence without his useless detour as a field commander. |
| When you wipe your ass, make sure you wipe it really well. | |
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| The Guy from Fiji | Sep 27 2008, 10:00 PM Post #3 |
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Bullshitter
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Ditto to Slade's comments. Just imagine some of the awesome scenes that HT could have created if Potter had gone off the map in the early days of the Freedomite ascendancy? Potter gathering allies among disaffected whites and even a few blacks. Potter planning massive acts of sabotage. Featherston having to divert tons of resources to stop this one man he was once acquainted with. Potter having to transition from an insurgency campaign to aiding US occupation forces. Not only could those have made some awesome scenes, but it might have given HT enough of a nudge to get just a little bit away from the 1:1 historical-analog. |
| Sic Temper Molemannis! | |
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| SladeJack | Sep 28 2008, 01:47 AM Post #4 |
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The Grand SladeJack
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I think his greatest missed opportunity for getting away from 1:1 analogs was having it never occur to Long that he could declare Louisianna independent from the CS. The Snake would have to decide if even he dared jettison his nation's most fundamental founding legal principle. And of course the US would do everything it could to make good Louisiannan secession. Featherston would have to decide whether he was ready to bring about the war so early in his covert remilitarization. If he went into Lousianna, it might offer a chance for HT to play with two AHs in one by borrowing ideas from whatever thoughts he might have on what would have happened if the French had chased Hitler out of the Rhineland. Or you might get an even more slavishly OTL casus belli: the enemy invades the weak ally and the strong ally can't help him out because he's clear across to the other side of the enemy's territory. But it would at least then have a more organic feel to it, as opposed to the awkward pushed-into-a-mold the real GWII had. At any rate, given Confederate history there's no way in hell a governor in Long's position wouldn't have considered secession. Now to be fair we had no POVs in Baton Rouge until the one scene on the last day of Long's life, so it's possible he considered it and decided against it, but given how shoddy the story got around that point I'm not willing to assume so. If Louisianna had become a flashpoint, it would have been a shame that David Duke would be too young to play a role. Seeing him as a craven, brutal Freedomite stooge would be fitting. The problem is, as a real, live, honest-to-God Nazi he probably wouldn't even understand why he should be insulted. |
| When you wipe your ass, make sure you wipe it really well. | |
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| Zzarchov | Sep 29 2008, 02:54 PM Post #5 |
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Yeoman
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I agree, a seperate louisianna would have made a far better story, though it could have been used to create a far better analog as well. |
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| SladeJack | Sep 30 2008, 02:15 PM Post #6 |
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The Grand SladeJack
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Another thing about Potter: the accent. He was already an adult when he lived in New Haven so he shouldn't have picked up too much of it. Or, if he did, he should have lost it at some point in the FORTY OR FIFTY YEARS that he was living among his own compatriots since then. |
| When you wipe your ass, make sure you wipe it really well. | |
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| Custer | Sep 30 2008, 03:25 PM Post #7 |
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Resident Kamikaze Warrior
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The accent was awesome. |
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| SladeJack | Sep 30 2008, 05:37 PM Post #8 |
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The Grand SladeJack
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It was dumb. If he'd grown up in New Haven, that could explain its staying power--if he'd gone to one of those waspy prep schools as well as Yale. |
| When you wipe your ass, make sure you wipe it really well. | |
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| Donut Revolutionary | Sep 30 2008, 06:28 PM Post #9 |
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Baron
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What if Potter had ended up as a sort of Rudolph Hess anolouge? |
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1 I am a god among men and run the biggest alternate history site. I've banned more people than have ever joined this forum or any of its predecessors. 2 Yes you have. You attempted to try using one on me. Just sit back, shut up and work. People like you are peons in our corporatized world so accept it. Or at the very least accept us liberals who get you benefits like socialized medicine. | |
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| Custer | Sep 30 2008, 06:32 PM Post #10 |
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Resident Kamikaze Warrior
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He'd be redundant: we already have Vice President Partridge. |
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| SladeJack | Sep 30 2008, 06:39 PM Post #11 |
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The Grand SladeJack
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My real interest is a character who's an original. Actually I wish they'd all been originals, except the historicals. |
| When you wipe your ass, make sure you wipe it really well. | |
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