Zombie Cliche Lookout: Where Did They Go?
People disappear all the time. That goes double when you’re in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Whence do they disappear? Well, lots of places. Some people run away to escape their current life and start anew. Many others are eaten by zombies. And then there are those with creepier fates. The ones who escape the zombies, but fall prey to other monsters. And there are always plenty of monsters out there.
It’s a pretty old cliche that the real monster is man, and it’s one that comes out time and again in zombie tales (and practically any other kind of story you can think of). The zombies, after all, aren’t really evil. Their pitiable creatures that are only acting on their instincts to feed. Sure, they’re scary and creepy, but I’d never consider them malicious. People, on the other hand, have an almost certainly unique capacity for evil, and there’s no doubt this will live on long into the zombie apocalypse.
About this Episode:
Look guys, that solar eclipse that plagued us in the last episode has moved on. Oh happy day!
Discussion Question: Most Useless Careers in the Post Apocalyptic World
Imagine for a moment that you have a new job as a career placement officer. Sounds boring enough, right? Well now let’s imagine that this job takes place in the post apocalyptic world, perhaps sometime after humanity has turned the tide against the zombies. Your job is to take refugees and other survivors, and find work for them that most fits their skillsets.
That – admittedly rather cumbersome – back story out of the way, what sort of people are going to be your biggest challenge? Soccer moms? Life coaches? Middle managers? Why?
Murphy is staying strangely silent – I wonder what he knows? 😀
Maybe that Lou broaches no BS?
I wish we could get a feel for character’s ages from the minifigs. They basically come in two varieties, plain, and old (and there aren’t that many “old” heads, mostly generic adult). How long was it before we learned that Stu is a teeny-bopper?
Maybe Murph knows that Lou can back up everything he’s said? Now whether he’s a hard-core criminal or a vet with three tours in Afghanistan is something I hope we pick up on later.
I wish the same thing. More variety, please! And not just the same faces with headsets, dammit.
Murphy is likely weighing things out. It’s not quite working out the way he pictured.
In order to make a minifig expressive, I’ve noticed you make them talk with their arms a lot, throwing them up in disbelief or disgust, for example. It’s hard to get that emotion with Murphy handcuffed. With that face, though, I would say you’ve pulled off pensive ok.
Oh yeah, the handcuffs are definitely an issue, but the expression on his face is absolutely perfect for the situation.
As to the questions of what I’d assign those three you mentioned in the discussion question I’d answer as follows:
Kitchen hands. Every apocalypse scenario is going to need someone to cook, clean and do the dishes. Soccer moms work well here. 😉
Life coaches: Basic combat training for them, then pout them onto training others in your group and making sure they’re always in top physical condition. Because if your life is going to depend on these people they will have to start pulling their weight and help shape up the rest of the mixed bunch you’ve probably acquired.
Middle managers: I view these as tactical experts and front line advisory planners. Perhaps even put the more hard-case types out there in the front lines. They might also come in handy in designing and planning a secure compound so keep the better ones in back where you can get them onto planning base layout early on and managing it once it’s coming together. With some help from the first two in the discussion question you should have a smoothly running base with these people in charge. At least until the soccer mom’s kids play up! 😀
Life coaches = cannon fodder. I love this.
That’s a strange interpretation, as I never actually said “cannon fodder” anywhere in my post. 😀
Kill ALL the looters!
Scottish call center workers would be fantastic front line soldiers.
I’ve never gotten a Scotsperson calling a call center. I’m gravely disappointed.
He’d be the one yelling in your ear “If it’s not Scottish it’s CRAP!
Well we are nothing if not honest 😀
Most worthless careers in a post-apocalyptic world? Easy. The folks that contributed to its creation: judges, lawyers, politicians, government bureaucrats, code enforcement officers, HOA directors, human resource managers, and bankers.
If Lou is crazy, I’m not seeing it yet. He’d be justified in disposing of looters, brigands, and thieves in a civilized society. In a WROL scenario even more so. That creates a “reverse looting” scenario: Men come to your place to rob you blind and kill you. They wander into your shotgun traps while you’re weeding the garden. Oops. Oh well. Hey, I wonder if they had anything good on them? Ammunition? Medicine? Good boots?
Like the man said, “To hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms.”
My wife and I regularly joke about how useless our careers would be in a post apocalyptic world.
I still contend that your wife is very necessary for the zeepoc. One of the endearing points for one and all is is that this is a time to cull and reboot humanity. After the initial horror is survived and those who are left start to find a sense of balance, rebuilding social structure will be paramount. We’ll need brains like your lawyer-love who knows her judicial history, who knows about ethical formulations, how to think etc. The much needed survivalist mindset will get us through the acute stage of the crisis at the onset, the thinkers will get us through the subsequent decades and help us rebuild civilization. I see your love-lawyer being like Auntie Entity and building a Bartertown.
This is an extremely interesting point. Saying that someone is useless because of their career (or lack thereof) is, of course, just spurious fun. There are a ton of people out there (I’d argue the vast majority) with a ton of ancillary skills that aren’t necessarily reflected in their career.
Most useless job? Hmmm…. I going for model…
Oh my; when you say the solar-eclipse is over; it is really… really over, isn’t it 🙂
This is a nice arc, I’m really wondering what is up with this Lou.
It looks like someone has set off a magnesium flare out side!
Most useless job…….how about fast food workers? ‘Do you want braiiiins with that’
I think that although a persons job may not have any real merit the person themselves may still have something worthy to contribute.
Extended warranty salespeople at big box electronic retailers? Private real estate agents for hedge fund managers? Synergy consultants for the major motion picture adaptation of “50 Shades of Grey?”
As someone noted before, the job alone’s not the full measure of the person. For all I know the consultant above would end up an effective warlord like the sales guy in “the Postman” – and who’s to say that a short-term warlord isn’t a useful thing in such a situation? I’d shudder to think of the insignia and battle cries, mind you…
Oooh No. Our much-loved Citizen Brick is under fire for their custom ‘Breaking Bad’ models. Read this article through, it’s absolutely ridiculous.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2415463/Outrage-toy-company-creates-crystal-meth-lab-children-Breaking-Bad-play-sets.html
1. Citizen Brick is not a toy company. It’s a CUSTOM toy website.
2. It’s not endorsed by Breaking Bad or The Lego Group.
3. Did they REALLY think this would be sold in shops to children?
Saw that as well BeefThief, typical of the Daily Fail being reactionary about a non existent story! still…..stops them going on about immigrants I suppose!
Totally love the Breaking Bad play sets as well 😀