>> I've changed how I think about things, and what I know about things, because of reading and writing. <<

You are made of so much win! That's the kind of enlightenment I want to see happening.

I honestly think that decades of slash, thank you Gene Roddenberry for giving us Kirk/Spock, have contributed to us having a country that is now beginning to recognize marriage equality. Because it's not unthinkable anymore, it's something a lot of people think is adorable in fanfic and that spills over into everyday life.

>> They also were hopeful, and the heroes won, not easily, sometimes they questioned. But they did it time after time. <<

That's what fed into Schrodinger's Heroes, and to an even greater extent, The Blueshift Troupers. I yearn for positive visions of the future.

>> There is a character in a Turtledove series, who becomes the first xenolinguistic expert, because he'd been reading the science-fiction magazines as he played minor league ball. <<

I remember that! It's one of my favorite scenes in that whole series. It shows exactly how mental practice delivers practical benefits, because you know HOW to solve a certain type of problem. I swear, if we ever get first contact, pray it's with fans instead of diplomats.

>> It's not that race requires separate archetypes. But validating only X, that's going to alienate people. <<

I agree.

>> "I do what he does, slower." Sam didn't come out of a bottle. <<

That was one of my favorite lines in the movie. I love Sam. He is not dissuaded just because Steve can run laps around him. He teases back.

>> He's just a kid from Brooklyn, that wants to stop bullies even more than he wants to live through winter. <<

That's why I made a point of including supernary characters in Polychrome Heroics, along with ordinary people who are friends and supporters of soups and NOT just there to get kidnapped. (Well, I have one kidnap target too, but that's just because Antimatter is too messed up to ask Stalwart Stan on a real date.) I want to show how anyone can do heroic things. It's not about having super powers. It's about having super care.

>> Characters aren't archetypes, but they are avatars, striding about showing how things work if Y is done. Well-done diversity gives more breadth of what is done and removes that 'doesn't look like me' bar. <<

Agreed! Minds me of the part about how anyone could play Spiderman because the suit covers every inch of skin. I've made a note to create a superhero with a full-body costume.