Oh Happy Days!

[Osiris]

Agreed. I would really liked to have seen how that situation would have been resolved if Pegs was able to continue to negotiate. Durai seemed to soften up a touch to her...now whether that be a tactic or legit...guess we'll never know...oh but no...Some asshat had to shoot off a couple of shots and ruin our fun.

I would give anything to find out who the shooter was. He's (or she's) the fucktard who brought it all down.

[Cabbage Patch]

There seem to be a lot of people on the Forum that are extremely fond of the Mallers, to the point that they’re willing to overlook some pretty glaring character flaws. Let’s not forget that the Mallers are, at their core, a criminal society. The Mallers’ territory wasn’t clearly defined, but we know it included all the areas where they scavenged for supplies, and we know that that included the Tower (Tardust and Bricks were just blocks away hunting for runaway slaves when they captured Lizzie). The incident with the tanker didn’t cause the conflict, it just put the Tower on the Mallers’ radar. In my opinion the Mallers felt that they already owned the Tower, and that everyone in it was a squatter and an unclaimed slave.

[yarri]

There seem to be a lot of people on the Forum that are extremely fond of the Mallers, to the point that they’re willing to overlook some pretty glaring character flaws. Let’s not forget that the Mallers are, at their core, a criminal society. The Mallers’ territory wasn’t clearly defined, but we know it included all the areas where they scavenged for supplies, and we know that that included the Tower (Tardust and Bricks were just blocks away hunting for runaway slaves when they captured Lizzie). The incident with the tanker didn’t cause the conflict, it just put the Tower on the Mallers’ radar. In my opinion the Mallers felt that they already owned the Tower, and that everyone in it was a squatter and an unclaimed slave.

Cabbage Patch, I agree with your post. The Mallers operate under toddler mentality. "If I can see it its mine." "If you think its yours. Its mine" "If I touched it in the last day. Its mine" etc... How do you defend your self against a force that has already decided your stuff is theirs?

[HardKor]

There seem to be a lot of people on the Forum that are extremely fond of the Mallers, to the point that they're willing to overlook some pretty glaring character flaws. Let's not forget that the Mallers are, at their core, a criminal society. The Mallers' territory wasn't clearly defined, but we know it included all the areas where they scavenged for supplies, and we know that that included the Tower (Tardust and Bricks were just blocks away hunting for runaway slaves when they captured Lizzie). The incident with the tanker didn't cause the conflict, it just put the Tower on the Mallers' radar. In my opinion the Mallers felt that they already owned the Tower, and that everyone in it was a squatter and an unclaimed slave.

I agree. When the Mallers first came to the Tower (both when they sent Scratch and Latch and then later when they showed up en-masse for the War) they weren't looking for their stolen tanker. They were looking to negotiate a deal to move in. And to me that means they most likely wanted to take over from the inside, since they had the numbers advantage. And while the shots that started the War cut off the negotiations so we'll never know for sure how things would have ended up if the Tower and Mallers had brokered a deal, my suspicion leads me to think it would have been more Trojan Horse than alliance.

[Creem_Filling]

There seem to be a lot of people on the Forum that are extremely fond of the Mallers, to the point that they’re willing to overlook some pretty glaring character flaws. Let’s not forget that the Mallers are, at their core, a criminal society. The Mallers’ territory wasn’t clearly defined, but we know it included all the areas where they scavenged for supplies, and we know that that included the Tower (Tardust and Bricks were just blocks away hunting for runaway slaves when they captured Lizzie). The incident with the tanker didn’t cause the conflict, it just put the Tower on the Mallers’ radar. In my opinion the Mallers felt that they already owned the Tower, and that everyone in it was a squatter and an unclaimed slave.

I agree. People seem to ignore how aggressively violent they are. Yes, the tower fired at them, but then (Angel or Michael, can't remember) tried to explain to them that it was a rogue person. Plus how willing they are to kill all these innocent people and hold people slaves does not justify that they're "just trying to survive". Honestly, I feel more sympathy for the colony. While I feel that the chain of command was bad, I can also see the logic in it. The mallers have completely lost their since of humanity.

[nikvoodoo]

There seem to be a lot of people on the Forum that are extremely fond of the Mallers, to the point that they’re willing to overlook some pretty glaring character flaws. Let’s not forget that the Mallers are, at their core, a criminal society. The Mallers’ territory wasn’t clearly defined, but we know it included all the areas where they scavenged for supplies, and we know that that included the Tower (Tardust and Bricks were just blocks away hunting for runaway slaves when they captured Lizzie). The incident with the tanker didn’t cause the conflict, it just put the Tower on the Mallers’ radar. In my opinion the Mallers felt that they already owned the Tower, and that everyone in it was a squatter and an unclaimed slave.

It's hard to say the Mallers claimed the places they scavenged as their territory. We don't know exactly how large they think their territory is, but they hit Locked and Loaded but I don't think they consider that their territory. No one was standing guard there when Angel and Saul went there, but they did have people looking out for the fuel depot (Scratch, Latch and Charlie). And we don't know how far away Lizzy was when she was kidnapped by Bricks and Tardust. Presumably, she was close to the Tower, but we don't know for certain.The Mallers were en route to the Arena when she was found, and The Tower is on the way to the Arena from the Mall. Lizzy's circumstances are most likely completely coincidental.

The attraction to the bad guy in any piece of entertainment is usually for one reason: they do the things you'd love to do, but you know you can't. I don't think any of the Pro-Maller crowd would claim they forget they are convicts or even bad people. I think they embrace the fact that they were convicts and are now free from the rules of society and can really go to the extremes of their personality. But to claim that they are simply bad people and that's that is short sighted. They are still people, meaning they have multiple facets to their personality. If Scratch didn't have the ability to care or love, she wouldn't have flipped her shit when Latch was killed. If Durai was a cold blooded sociopath, he wouldn't have sounded scared or anxious when the Shots Heard Round the World were fired in chapter 12.

You can hate them, but don't think they are your simple run of the mill mustache twirling bad guys who tie damsels in distress to the railroad tracks for no reason.

[HardKor]

The attraction to the bad guy in any piece of entertainment is usually for one reason: they do the things you'd love to do, but you know you can't. I don't think any of the Pro-Maller crowd would claim they forget they are convicts or even bad people. I think they embrace the fact that they were convicts and are now free from the rules of society and can really go to the extremes of their personality. But to claim that they are simply bad people and that's that is short sighted. They are still people, meaning they have multiple facets to their personality. If Scratch didn't have the ability to care or love, she wouldn't have flipped her shit when Latch was killed. If Durai was a cold blooded sociopath, he wouldn't have sounded scared or anxious when the Shots Heard Round the World were fired in chapter 12.

You can hate them, but don't think they are your simple run of the mill mustache twirling bad guys who tie damsels in distress to the railroad tracks for no reason.

Yeah I do find many of the Mallers to be intriguing and even sympathetic. Bricks comes to mind first as he seems to be more of a "dumb muscle" type or is at least treated that way by those around him. But he seems to show more compassion than the others we've seen (heard). Even Tardust would come off as more affably evil if he hadn't been introduced as a scumbag rapist (I don't care how many witty lines he gets, there's no coming back from that). And Durai strikes me as more of an organized crime type, a "professional" who is more calculating than most. Scratch though is rage incarnate. Even when she's "under control" her voice comes off as seething rage bubbling just beneath the surface and when she blows up I feel the need to put on my brown pants if you know what I mean.
She's been willing to not only kill some 20 odd Tower residents in her quest for revenge, but has also show a willingness to "dispose" of anyone who even remotely stands between her and what she wants. She uses the other Mallers as cannon fodder because they are "weak" and she may be planning to usurp even Durai. Scratch is a well done character but she doesn't exactly bring out the warm fuzzy feelings.

[Miss]

The whole tanker innsident could have been handled more.... well slightly diffrent I suppose....... like the tower suggesting they bring somehow empty it then have brought it back, but it was in that confrintation that brought the tower group to the notice of the mallers and it was meationed earler the mallers are a bunch of hard core criminals so pretty much full of aggression and once they found out where the tower was and relazing that they had power (once the power went out) that aggresive side of the group came out and regardless of how the talks went when Duri showed up they came prepared to aggressively take what they wanted whether or not the tower said sure come on in there would have been a fight, and Mike said quite clearly we dont know you well enough and not prepared to let you in at this point in time, even though he had no intentions of ever letting them in, and Pegs killed Latch when he came in to the tower to cause harm violence and potentally death to her Mike and the rest of the tower, what was she to do LET HIM, and then there is Scrach the woman who was a slight nutter beforehand loses her twin which pushes her even more over the edge and starts coming up with varrious situations in order to exact her revenge for her much milder mannered twin brothers death and the tankers at the arena and the one the didnt get blown up there gave her the oppritunatty to do so, and getting her hands on a memeber of the tower(Lizzie) was just icing on the cake

[Osiris]

The whole tanker innsident could have been handled more.... well slightly diffrent I suppose....... like the tower suggesting they bring somehow empty it then have brought it back, but it was in that confrintation that brought the tower group to the notice of the mallers and it was meationed earler the mallers are a bunch of hard core criminals so pretty much full of aggression and once they found out where the tower was and relazing that they had power (once the power went out) that aggresive side of the group came out and regardless of how the talks went when Duri showed up they came prepared to aggressively take what they wanted whether or not the tower said sure come on in there would have been a fight, and Mike said quite clearly we dont know you well enough and not prepared to let you in at this point in time, even though he had no intentions of ever letting them in, and Pegs killed Latch when he came in to the tower to cause harm violence and potentally death to her Mike and the rest of the tower, what was she to do LET HIM, and then there is Scrach the woman who was a slight nutter beforehand loses her twin which pushes her even more over the edge and starts coming up with varrious situations in order to exact her revenge for her much milder mannered twin brothers death and the tankers at the arena and the one the didnt get blown up there gave her the oppritunatty to do so, and getting her hands on a memeber of the tower(Lizzie) was just icing on the cake

Well I mean... let's not say things we can't take back or anything.

[Guestmaster]

The whole tanker innsident could have been handled more.... well slightly diffrent I suppose....... like the tower suggesting they bring somehow empty it then have brought it back, but it was in that confrintation that brought the tower group to the notice of the mallers and it was meationed earler the mallers are a bunch of hard core criminals so pretty much full of aggression and once they found out where the tower was and relazing that they had power (once the power went out) that aggresive side of the group came out and regardless of how the talks went when Duri showed up they came prepared to aggressively take what they wanted whether or not the tower said sure come on in there would have been a fight, and Mike said quite clearly we dont know you well enough and not prepared to let you in at this point in time, even though he had no intentions of ever letting them in, and Pegs killed Latch when he came in to the tower to cause harm violence and potentally death to her Mike and the rest of the tower, what was she to do LET HIM, and then there is Scrach the woman who was a slight nutter beforehand loses her twin which pushes her even more over the edge and starts coming up with varrious situations in order to exact her revenge for her much milder mannered twin brothers death and the tankers at the arena and the one the didnt get blown up there gave her the oppritunatty to do so, and getting her hands on a memeber of the tower(Lizzie) was just icing on the cake

I don't mean to de-rail the discussion, but that was a pretty impressive run-on sentence.