4/27/25:
Funny thing about the President is that we showed him ONCE in a newspaper article WAY back in Episode 1: Part 11, and then he was only referred to in dialog. So then, when these installments were coming up, I went to get him ready to use again. And I couldn't find his minifigure.

We have like five different minifigure tubs (I have one for Star Trek, two others for major and minor characters from our old Harry Potter Comics, a minifigure pieces box that was once the primary storage, but then we got too many, and then one more tub that's just full of potentially useful figures. And that doesn't even include the scads of blind box figures that my wife likes to collect.) So... long story short, I spent over an hour searching for the dang guy. I was about to pick a new figure and then just retcon that old comic, when I finally found his head. Which explained why he was missing... I'd stolen his body for another figure. Argh. (I'd also idiotically put him in the general storage tub instead of the Star Trek one.) But the head was the most important thing!

Reminds me of a time back in Harry Potter Comics when we literally lost HARRY. Which was absurd, because we had dozens of his head and a few doubles of his torso... but none of his hair. In that particular episode, he actually had Ron's hair, and I made it black after the fact in Photoshop. Then, of course, we found him the next day. Sigh. Oh yeah... and there was another early Star Trek installment where I lost Zack and literally painted his face onto a new figure while I waited for a new head to be delivered from BrickLink, only to find him immediately after getting the new order. The dumb things I find to waste time on.

Comments from the Tagboard:

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04/24/25 10:09 PM
Freezer: Getting strong President Scroob vibes from this guy.

Transcript
Panel 1:
President Ovrildash: Frankly, I'm not sure which of you is more to blame here.
    Dreyer, for putting my political capital behind this idea.
    Or you, Benson, for hiring subversives to operate it.


Panel 2:
Admiral Benson: With all due respect, sir, I was following the directives I was given.
    And are not your standing orders to make every efforto to... legally... remove undesirables when possible?
President: Yes... but you were not supposed to give them carte blanche authority over their own operations!
    On their very first mission, they destroyed a Tajaran battle fleet!
    Do you have any idea what what that did to ongoing trade diplomacy?
Benson: What? Trade diplomacy with the Tajarans? I've never been informed of anything like that.
    We haven't had formal relations with them since the war.

Panel 3:
President: That's the official line. Unofficially... where do you think our newer weapons tech has come from? The base R&D for the quantum torpedo prototypes all originated on Tajara.
    And all we've had to provide in turn are little advancements here and there that will make the Tajarans warp capable in about 10 years.
    I will look like natural development to any other outside observers.
Benson: We've done... what?? Sir.
    That violates the Prime Directive in every possible way.

Panel 4:
President: Yes. And so what? We don't have the luxury of such ideals now. We are facing dangerous threats. The Borg, for instance. They're coming. And we're unprepared.
    And, at the same time, we are engaged in an incredibly difficult task here... taking the Federation away from the old corruptions of greed and capitalism. And into the future... An age of social and cultural progress! Utopia!
    Our citizens are no longer geared toward the relentless pursuit of money and war. We require outside infusions.
    And we were poised to receive such an infusion in the Spoogian deal. Which was perfectly arranged by Mr. Talbot.

Panel 5:
President: So tell me, pray... WHY are the two men who were finalizing that deal in custody on the very ship that was meant to be just a publicity stunt?!
Senator Dreyer: Mr. President... it's an unfortunate turn of events. But we can still salvage this! And truth be told... your poll numbers on defense and foreign policy have improved considerably!
President: That is... true.
Benson: Wait... this is news to me. The Spoogian diplomatic plan was prearranged with their Supreme Advisor?
    I thought the scandal was that Bannister nearly started a war!
    What else haven't you told me?

Panel 6:
Dreyer: C'mon, Grant... you're really surprised? You asked for this.
    When we first met, we talked about you becoming a team player. You told me you were all on board to make the galaxy a better place.
    And I told you that politics get dirty sometimes. But you wanted to keep your hands clearn. And we agreed that was the best plan, because then you'd have plausible deniability.
President: Benson, my boy... you have to understand. We don't trade in money anymore. It's all about power.
    I doubt you'd like to see yours go away, now would you?
Benson: S-sorry. I didn't mean... I was just taken a little off-guard.
    Of course I'm on board. We must preserve our utopia.
    And I believe I know exactly how to remedy this entire debacle. Leave it to me...
    Mr. President.