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Sixth Column

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Sixth Column
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Sixth Column is a Science Fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first serialized in 1941 and published as a book in 1949.Sixth Column (aka The Day After Tomorrow) tells the story of six surviving US soldiers after Pan-Asian invaders conquer America. Having recently invented a Doomsday Device that confers its wielder powers not much unlike omnipotence, the surviving Americans begin plotting to free their country using this new technology.Complications arise as they realize how fickle the PanAsians are and how easily they resort to executing captive Americans. To avoid unnecessary loss of life, the Americans decide to set up a fake religion to take advantage of the only freedom given to American people anymore, and start working covertly to overthrow the Asian rule.
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2023-10-13T19:16:29Z
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2023-10-13T19:16:29Z
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DBTropes
 Sixth Column / int_1139de32
type
Scam Religion
 Sixth Column / int_1139de32
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Scam Religion: In order to fool the Asians, the Americans set up a temple of Mota. Using staves fitted with omnipotence-granting weapons, they even perform miracles to keep the Asians away from the temples - in which the revolution is planned.
 Sixth Column / int_1139de32
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Sixth Column / int_1139de32
 Sixth Column / int_116a941b
type
Applied Phlebotinum
 Sixth Column / int_116a941b
comment
Applied Phlebotinum: "The Ledbetter effect", which is explained via technobabble as the unifying principle of matter and energy, grants nearly godlike powers to the protagonists.
 Sixth Column / int_116a941b
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Sixth Column / int_116a941b
 Sixth Column / int_19384952
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Master Forger
 Sixth Column / int_19384952
comment
Master Forger: While scouting the outside world, Thomas visits Finny, a former anarchist forger who gives him a phony registration card and is also known for making counterfeit five-dollar bills. Finny merely requests that Thomas "help your brother when you can" as payment.
 Sixth Column / int_19384952
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Sixth Column / int_19384952
 Sixth Column / int_1994ba0b
type
Gone Horribly Right
 Sixth Column / int_1994ba0b
comment
Gone Horribly Right: When Ardmore arrives at the citadel, he discovers all but six of the people there were killed. Did the enemy do this? No. They did it to themselves. He is informed that the test of the Ledbetter effect killed almost everyone there.
 Sixth Column / int_1994ba0b
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Sixth Column / int_1994ba0b
 Sixth Column / int_2207b002
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Ambiguously Brown
 Sixth Column / int_2207b002
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Ambiguously Brown: Sergeant Scheer has "dark, brown hands," but several passages imply that everyone in the bunker is white.
 Sixth Column / int_2207b002
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Sixth Column / int_2207b002
 Sixth Column / int_23473ae7
type
Adaptation Expansion
 Sixth Column / int_23473ae7
comment
Adaptation Expansion: The original didn't bother to explain the racial bioweapons, and Heinlein had to come up with some sci-fi Hand Waves and Techno Babble.
 Sixth Column / int_23473ae7
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Sixth Column / int_23473ae7
 Sixth Column / int_251bce7c
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Cardboard Prison
 Sixth Column / int_251bce7c
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Cardboard Prison: The "priests of Mota" allow themselves to be imprisoned, knowing that they can use their powers to escape with ease. This has the intended effect of simultaneously emboldening their "congregation" while demoralizing the PanAsians.
 Sixth Column / int_251bce7c
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 Sixth Column / int_34dd5f3
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La Résistance
 Sixth Column / int_34dd5f3
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La Résistance: The eponymous Sixth Column.
 Sixth Column / int_34dd5f3
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Sixth Column / int_34dd5f3
 Sixth Column / int_4eaa9b84
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Author Tract
 Sixth Column / int_4eaa9b84
comment
Author Tract: Heinlein pulls no punches with his opinions regarding the likely outcome of a United States that fully embraces isolationist politics.
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Sixth Column / int_4eaa9b84
 Sixth Column / int_52fbbe7
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Yellow Peril
 Sixth Column / int_52fbbe7
comment
Yellow Peril: In 1941 you could get away with writing novels about evil Asians conquering the USA.
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Sixth Column / int_52fbbe7
 Sixth Column / int_5db59a03
type
Brown Note
 Sixth Column / int_5db59a03
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Brown Note: The Ledbetter effect can be used to disorient, incapacitate, or kill organic life, and can be tuned to the point where it affects only people of specific races. Point your staff at someone and make them crap themselves, pass out, or flee in terror? Done. The pistols handed out by the protagonists to their rebel recruits are specifically designed to kill only PanAsians.
 Sixth Column / int_5db59a03
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 Sixth Column / int_603f1a80
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Pragmatic Adaptation
 Sixth Column / int_603f1a80
comment
Pragmatic Adaptation: Heinlein did what he could to tone down the racism of the original story.
 Sixth Column / int_603f1a80
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Sixth Column / int_603f1a80
 Sixth Column / int_6627695f
type
Author Appeal
 Sixth Column / int_6627695f
comment
Author Appeal: More like Editor Appeal. The story was a reworked version of John W. Campbell's unpublished All. Campbell was adamantly of the opinion that Northern Europeans were the best of races. Campbell was the editor of Astounding Science Fiction and at the time thoroughly dominated the field of Sci Fi. Heinlein was uncomfortable with the racism and published Farnham's Freehold sixteen years later, inverting racist tropes (or at least attempting to). Given that Heinlein was of the opinion that he had removed the racist aspects of the story, consider what the story originally must have been.
 Sixth Column / int_6627695f
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 Sixth Column / int_6a582e34
type
Day of the Jackboot
 Sixth Column / int_6a582e34
comment
Day of the Jackboot: The PanAsians have taken over the U.S. and rule it in a harsh, cruel, and ruthless manner.
 Sixth Column / int_6a582e34
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 Sixth Column / int_6b496083
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Sole Surviving Scientist
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comment
Sole Surviving Scientist: The book begins with Major Ardmore arriving at a secret base hiding 200 top scientists during the borderline genocidal invasion of America. He finds all of the scientists dead from the testing of a Doomsday Device except for a young physicist, a mathematician, and a biologist, although those three manage to finish the device and use it against the invaders.
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Sixth Column / int_6b496083
 Sixth Column / int_6d56cebf
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Chess Motifs
 Sixth Column / int_6d56cebf
comment
Chess Motifs: The main protagonist confuses the PanAsian commander in chief by presenting him with an insoluble chess problem.
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 Sixth Column / int_78a96b71
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Safely Secluded Science Center
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comment
Safely Secluded Science Center: After the PanAsians destroy the U.S. government and occupy the U.S., a secret government laboratory underneath the Rocky Mountains is tasked to develop superweapons that can defeat the invaders.
 Sixth Column / int_78a96b71
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 Sixth Column / int_7bd44eb9
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Smart People Play Chess
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Smart People Play Chess: Both the main protagonist and the PanAsian commander play chess.
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 Sixth Column / int_7ccd2f10
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Press-Ganged
 Sixth Column / int_7ccd2f10
comment
Press-Ganged: Thomas is a local farmworker who, when he stumbled across the military base, was drafted as a private due to the need to preserve secrecy. Calhoun was "jerked out of a university" due to having research skills the army needed.
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 Sixth Column / int_868afe72
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Covert Group with Mundane Front
 Sixth Column / int_868afe72
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Covert Group with Mundane Front: To explain why people will be entering and leaving the Citadel, essentially inside of a mountain, they put the fake religion's flagship temple on top of it, so it's just people going in and out of a church.
 Sixth Column / int_868afe72
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Sixth Column / int_868afe72
 Sixth Column / int_978379ad
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Token Enemy Minority
 Sixth Column / int_978379ad
comment
Token Enemy Minority: Frank Mitsui, the only good Japanese-American character in the book. Which is still saying something, considering how Japanese-Americans were treated back then.
 Sixth Column / int_978379ad
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 Sixth Column / int_a37e27db
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Back from the Brink
 Sixth Column / int_a37e27db
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Back from the Brink: America is almost completely held by PanAsians, and the main characters are most of what remains of the United States Army. They do survive, though.
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 Sixth Column / int_aab97c75
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Super Weapon, Average Joe
 Sixth Column / int_aab97c75
comment
Super Weapon, Average Joe: The Americans have Applied Phlebotinum that allows them to manipulate matter and energy on a fundamental level. They use this along with some old-fashioned subterfuge to turn the tide on an overwhelmingly powerful enemy.
 Sixth Column / int_aab97c75
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 Sixth Column / int_ac320c0e
type
Nuke 'em
 Sixth Column / int_ac320c0e
comment
Nuke 'em: The PanAsians' Superweapon Surprise that allowed them to conquer America was for all intents and purposes the atom bomb. The threat of more destruction is what forces the resistance to operate so surreptitiously.
 Sixth Column / int_ac320c0e
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 Sixth Column / int_acecb17d
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Chekhov's Skill
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Chekhov's Skill Ardmore privately admits that he's an advertising executive and not a professional soldier. This skill is useful for promoting the Scam Religion. Graham was an artist before he got drafted and designs the robes for the scam Religion's priests.
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 Sixth Column / int_b4b006fb
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Pig Latin
 Sixth Column / int_b4b006fb
comment
Pig Latin: The protagonists use this as a secret language to fool the PanAsians, as they observe that it is incomprehensible to someone who is not a native English speaker.
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 Sixth Column / int_b6c94487
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Invaded States of America
 Sixth Column / int_b6c94487
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Invaded States of America: United States is taken over by Asians via surprise attack, with nukes thrown in.
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 Sixth Column / int_ba58393f
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Overnight Conquest
 Sixth Column / int_ba58393f
comment
Overnight Conquest: The war with PanAsia was over in little more than a day, after they nuked all the major command and control centers in a surprise attack.
 Sixth Column / int_ba58393f
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 Sixth Column / int_be02bc15
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Holy Halo
 Sixth Column / int_be02bc15
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Holy Halo: The "priests of Mota" wear turbans that conceal a holographic projector. This projector generates a constant halo over the priest's head, to exaggerate their superstitious impact.
 Sixth Column / int_be02bc15
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 Sixth Column / int_c326149a
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Hobos
 Sixth Column / int_c326149a
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Hobos: One of the first people the protagonists recruit as a priest is a self-proclaimed hobo and helps recruit more to their cause.
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 Sixth Column / int_d5a060a8
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Interchangeable Asian Cultures
 Sixth Column / int_d5a060a8
comment
Interchangeable Asian Cultures: The entire Asia has amalgamated to a massive nation of PanAsia, with most elements resembling Japanese culture. The story was originally written during WW2 when anti-Japanese propaganda was understandably strong... and the Chinese had already been fighting the Japanese for years.
 Sixth Column / int_d5a060a8
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 Sixth Column / int_daef39ee
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Elaborate Underground Base
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Elaborate Underground Base: The Citadel is buried inside of a mountain.
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 Sixth Column / int_dc1761bd
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A God Am I
 Sixth Column / int_dc1761bd
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A God Am I: All of the main characters have near-omnipotence thanks to their weapons, but Calhoun is the one who eventually goes crazy about it and actually thinks he's a divine in their scam religion.
 Sixth Column / int_dc1761bd
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 Sixth Column / int_e5421161
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Expy
 Sixth Column / int_e5421161
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Expy: It's thought that Calhoun (the one who goes crazy and thinks he's actually divine) was a parody of Campbell, the racist editor. As Calhoun was also the name of an inveterate defender of slavery in the nineteenth century and Campbell, rather infamously, also defended the practice...
 Sixth Column / int_e5421161
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 Sixth Column / int_e6c88e42
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Old Shame
 Sixth Column / int_e6c88e42
comment
Old Shame: The novel is actually a version of John W. Campbell's All with the racism toned down. Heinlein considered Sixth Column an Old Shame that he wrote to garner the favor of the racist but influential Campbell.
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 Sixth Column / int_e7f5713a
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Ominous Cube
 Sixth Column / int_e7f5713a
comment
Ominous Cube: The "temples" created by the priest are simply giant empty cubes, which are simple to create using their technology, with the emptiness more awe-inspiring than trying to fill it with stuff.
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 Sixth Column / int_f9c17447
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The Remnant
 Sixth Column / int_f9c17447
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The Remnant: The book follows four soldiers and three army researchers safely hidden in a research bunker during the invasion of the United States. They consider a series of hit-and-run attacks with the weapons in the bunker before realizing this would get thousands of hostages executed. Instead, they scheme to undermine the new regime with a Scam Religion.
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 Sixth Column / int_fcadd0e3
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Impact Silhouette
 Sixth Column / int_fcadd0e3
comment
Impact Silhouette: Invoked for dramatic effect. When the "priests of Mota" stage a prison breakout, they use their staves to carve man-shaped holes in the walls, complete with halo.
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 Sixth Column / int_fd41610f
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China Takes Over the World
 Sixth Column / int_fd41610f
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China Takes Over the World / Japan Takes Over the World: PanAsia, an amalgamation of Asian cultures, uses the opportunity of a severely isolationist American foreign policy to develop superweapons and make a surprise invasion. This is likely a reference to Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a highly euphemistic title for the Japanese Empire. The description of the American occupation is a bowdlerized depiction of Japan's occupation of China.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

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Bindle Stick / int_f333b19f
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China Takes Over the World / int_f333b19f
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God Guise / int_f333b19f
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Hobos / int_f333b19f
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Holy Halo / int_f333b19f
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Interchangeable Asian Cultures / int_f333b19f
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Made of Phlebotinum / int_f333b19f
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Master Forger / int_f333b19f
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Occupiers Out of Our Country / int_f333b19f
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Phlebotinum Bomb / int_f333b19f
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Pig Latin / int_f333b19f
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Press-Ganged / int_f333b19f
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Rocky Mountain Refuge / int_f333b19f
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Safely Secluded Science Center / int_f333b19f
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Scam Religion / int_f333b19f
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Sole Surviving Scientist / int_f333b19f
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Super Weapon, Average Joe / int_f333b19f
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Tagline / int_f333b19f
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Token Enemy Minority / int_f333b19f
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World War III / int_f333b19f
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Yellow Peril / int_f333b19f
 sixthcolumn
sameAs
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