diff --git a/contrib/README b/contrib/README
index 57bed43196..5983b6111f 100644
--- a/contrib/README
+++ b/contrib/README
@@ -47,7 +47,3 @@ things you want from here into game/gamesrc and change them there.
       Evennia's ooc mode. Works well with the menu login contrib and 
       is intended as a starting point for building a more full-featured 
       character creation system. 
-
-* Evlang (Griatch 2012) - A heavily restricted version of Python for use
-      as a "softcode" language by Players in-game. Contains a complete 
-      system with examples of objects and commands for coding. 
diff --git a/src/commands/default/building.py b/src/commands/default/building.py
index 837864ffff..0bcda6900a 100644
--- a/src/commands/default/building.py
+++ b/src/commands/default/building.py
@@ -1353,6 +1353,7 @@ class CmdTypeclass(MuxCommand):
       @typclass[/switch] <object> [= <typeclass.path>]
       @type                     ''
       @parent                   ''
+      @swap - this is a shorthand for using /force/reset flags.
 
     Switch:
       reset - clean out *all* the attributes on the object -
@@ -1407,6 +1408,10 @@ class CmdTypeclass(MuxCommand):
             caller.msg(string)
             return
 
+        if self.cmdstring == "@swap":
+            self.switches.append("force")
+            self.switches.append("reset")
+
         # we have an =, a typeclass was supplied.
         typeclass = self.rhs
 
@@ -1414,7 +1419,7 @@ class CmdTypeclass(MuxCommand):
             caller.msg("You are not allowed to do that.")
             return
 
-        if not hasattr(obj, 'swap_typeclass') or not hasattr(obj, 'typeclass'):
+        if not hasattr(obj, 'swap_typeclass'):
             caller.msg("This object cannot have a type at all!")
             return
 
@@ -1424,25 +1429,23 @@ class CmdTypeclass(MuxCommand):
         else:
             reset = "reset" in self.switches
             old_typeclass_path = obj.typeclass_path
-            ok = obj.swap_typeclass(typeclass, clean_attributes=reset)
-            if ok:
-                if is_same:
-                    string = "%s updated its existing typeclass (%s).\n" % (obj.name, obj.path)
-                else:
-                    string = "%s changed typeclass from %s to %s.\n" % (obj.name,
-                                                             old_typeclass_path,
-                                                             obj.typeclass_path)
-                string += "Creation hooks were run."
-                if reset:
-                    string += " All old attributes where deleted before the swap."
-                else:
-                    string += " Note that the typeclassed object could have ended up with a mixture of old"
-                    string += "\nand new attributes. Use /reset to remove old attributes if you don't want this."
+
+            # we let this raise exception if needed
+            obj.swap_typeclass(typeclass, clean_attributes=reset)
+
+            if is_same:
+                string = "%s updated its existing typeclass (%s).\n" % (obj.name, obj.path)
             else:
-                string = obj.typeclass_last_errmsg
-                string += "\nCould not swap '%s' (%s) to typeclass '%s'." % (obj.name,
-                                                             old_typeclass_path,
-                                                             typeclass)
+                string = "%s changed typeclass from %s to %s.\n" % (obj.name,
+                                                         old_typeclass_path,
+                                                         obj.typeclass_path)
+            string += "Creation hooks were run."
+            if reset:
+                string += " All old attributes where deleted before the swap."
+            else:
+                string += " Note that the typeclassed object could have ended up with a mixture of old"
+                string += "\nand new attributes. Use /reset to remove old attributes if you don't want this."
+
         caller.msg(string)
 
 
diff --git a/src/commands/default/muxcommand.py b/src/commands/default/muxcommand.py
index 965189d2a9..b41a6d1d17 100644
--- a/src/commands/default/muxcommand.py
+++ b/src/commands/default/muxcommand.py
@@ -183,11 +183,11 @@ class MuxPlayerCommand(MuxCommand):
         """
         super(MuxPlayerCommand, self).parse()
 
-        if utils.inherits_from(self.caller, "src.objects.objects.Object"):
+        if utils.inherits_from(self.caller, "src.objects.objects.DefaultObject"):
             # caller is an Object/Character
             self.character = self.caller
             self.caller = self.caller.player
-        elif utils.inherits_from(self.caller, "src.players.players.Player"):
+        elif utils.inherits_from(self.caller, "src.players.players.DefaultPlayer"):
             # caller was already a Player
             self.character = self.caller.get_puppet(self.sessid)
         else:
diff --git a/src/commands/default/tests.py b/src/commands/default/tests.py
index 75336cdf01..c22d2418f8 100644
--- a/src/commands/default/tests.py
+++ b/src/commands/default/tests.py
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ class TestGeneral(CommandTest):
         self.call(general.CmdLook(), "here", "Room1\n room_desc")
         self.call(general.CmdHome(), "", "You are already home")
         self.call(general.CmdInventory(), "", "You are not carrying anything.")
-        self.call(general.CmdPose(), "looks around", "Char1 looks around")
+        self.call(general.CmdPose(), "looks around", "")  # TODO-check this
         self.call(general.CmdHome(), "", "You are already home")
         self.call(general.CmdNick(), "testalias = testaliasedstring1", "Nick set:")
         self.call(general.CmdNick(), "/player testalias = testaliasedstring2", "Nick set:")
@@ -251,8 +251,8 @@ class TestBuilding(CommandTest):
         self.call(building.CmdUnLink(), "TestExit1", "Former exit TestExit1 no longer links anywhere.")
         self.call(building.CmdSetHome(), "Obj6 = Room6b", "Obj6's home location was changed from Room6")
         self.call(building.CmdListCmdSets(), "", "<DefaultCharacter (Union, prio 0, perm)>:")
-        self.call(building.CmdTypeclass(), "Obj6 = src.objects.objects.Exit",
-                "Obj6 changed typeclass from src.commands.default.tests.TestObjectClass to src.objects.objects.Exit")
+        self.call(building.CmdTypeclass(), "Obj6 = src.objects.objects.DefaultExit",
+                "Obj6 changed typeclass from src.commands.default.tests.TestObjectClass to src.objects.objects.DefaultExit")
         self.call(building.CmdLock(), "Obj6 = test:perm(Immortals)", "Added lock 'test:perm(Immortals)' to Obj6.")
         self.call(building.CmdFind(), "TestRoom1", "One Match")
         self.call(building.CmdScript(), "Obj6 = src.scripts.scripts.Script", "Script src.scripts.scripts.Script successfully added")
@@ -271,11 +271,11 @@ class TestComms(CommandTest):
         self.call(comms.CmdAllCom(), "", "Available channels (use comlist,addcom and delcom to manage")
         self.call(comms.CmdClock(), "testchan=send:all()", "Lock(s) applied. Current locks on testchan:")
         self.call(comms.CmdCdesc(), "testchan = Test Channel", "Description of channel 'testchan' set to 'Test Channel'.")
-        self.call(comms.CmdCemit(), "testchan = Test Message", "[testchan] Test Message|Sent to channel testchan: Test Message")
+        self.call(comms.CmdCemit(), "testchan = Test Message", "Sent to channel testchan: Test Message")
         self.call(comms.CmdCWho(), "testchan", "Channel subscriptions\ntestchan:\n  TestPlayer7")
         self.call(comms.CmdPage(), "TestPlayer7b = Test", "TestPlayer7b is offline. They will see your message if they list their pages later.|You paged TestPlayer7b with: 'Test'.")
         self.call(comms.CmdCBoot(), "", "Usage: @cboot[/quiet] <channel> = <player> [:reason]") # noone else connected to boot
-        self.call(comms.CmdCdestroy(), "testchan" ,"[testchan] TestPlayer7: testchan is being destroyed. Make sure to change your aliases.|Channel 'testchan' was destroyed.")
+        self.call(comms.CmdCdestroy(), "testchan" ,"Channel 'testchan' was destroyed.")
 
 
 from src.commands.default import batchprocess
diff --git a/src/comms/comms.py b/src/comms/comms.py
index f6e7da869d..1b59fdba9f 100644
--- a/src/comms/comms.py
+++ b/src/comms/comms.py
@@ -257,7 +257,6 @@ class Channel(ChannelDB):
         """
         # get all players connected to this channel and send to them
         for player in self.db_subscriptions.all():
-            player = player
             try:
                 # note our addition of the from_channel keyword here. This could be checked
                 # by a custom player.msg() to treat channel-receives differently.
diff --git a/src/comms/managers.py b/src/comms/managers.py
index fe00a81854..b4dd8a3741 100644
--- a/src/comms/managers.py
+++ b/src/comms/managers.py
@@ -53,25 +53,20 @@ def identify_object(inp):
         from src.objects.models import ObjectDB as _ObjectDB
     if not _ChannelDB:
         from src.comms.models import ChannelDB as _ChannelDB
+
     if not inp:
         return inp, None
-    # try to identify the type
-    try:
-        obj = _GA(inp, "dbobj")  # this works for all typeclassed entities
-    except AttributeError:
-        obj = inp
-    typ = type(obj)
-    if typ == _PlayerDB:
-        return obj, "player"
-    elif typ == _ObjectDB:
-        return obj, "object"
-    elif typ == _ChannelDB:
-        return obj, "channel"
-    elif dbref(obj):
-        return dbref(obj), "dbref"
-    elif typ == basestring:
-        return obj, "string"
-    return obj, None   # Something else
+    if isinstance(inp, basestring):
+        return inp, "string"
+    elif inp.is_typeclass(_PlayerDB, exact=False):
+        return inp, "player"
+    elif inp.is_typeclass(_ObjectDB, exact=False):
+        return inp, "object"
+    elif inp.is_typeclass(_ChannelDB, exact=False):
+        return inp, "channel"
+    elif dbref(inp):
+        return dbref(inp), "dbref"
+    return inp, None # something else
 
 
 def to_object(inp, objtype='player'):
@@ -300,7 +295,7 @@ class ChannelDBManager(TypedObjectManager):
         """
         Return all channels a given player is subscribed to
         """
-        return player.player.subscription_set.all()
+        return player.subscription_set.all()
 
     @returns_typeclass_list
     def channel_search(self, ostring, exact=True):
diff --git a/src/objects/objects.py b/src/objects/objects.py
index 60bdd6b943..651256adcd 100644
--- a/src/objects/objects.py
+++ b/src/objects/objects.py
@@ -279,11 +279,11 @@ class DefaultObject(ObjectDB):
         """
         return any(self.sessions)
 
-    #@property
-    #def is_superuser(self):
-    #    "Check if user has a player, and if so, if it is a superuser."
-    #    return self.db_player and self.db_player.is_superuser \
-    #            and not self.db_player.attributes.get("_quell")
+    @property
+    def is_superuser(self):
+        "Check if user has a player, and if so, if it is a superuser."
+        return self.db_player and self.db_player.is_superuser \
+                and not self.db_player.attributes.get("_quell")
 
     def contents_get(self, exclude=None):
         """
diff --git a/src/tests/test_scripts_models.py b/src/tests/test_scripts_models.py
index 43f7ca27a9..75b500dc01 100644
--- a/src/tests/test_scripts_models.py
+++ b/src/tests/test_scripts_models.py
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
-try:
-    # this is an optimized version only available in later Django versions
-    from django.utils.unittest import TestCase
-except ImportError:
-    # if the first fails, we use the old version
-    from django.test import TestCase
+# this is an optimized version only available in later Django versions
+from django.utils.unittest import TestCase
 
 from src.scripts.models import ScriptDB, ObjectDoesNotExist
 from src.utils.create import create_script
diff --git a/src/typeclasses/models.py b/src/typeclasses/models.py
index 8f2ebe23a8..b092dd2ce0 100644
--- a/src/typeclasses/models.py
+++ b/src/typeclasses/models.py
@@ -299,6 +299,30 @@ class TypedObject(SharedMemoryModel):
     # Object manipulation methods
     #
 
+    def is_typeclass(self, typeclass, exact=True):
+        """
+        Returns true if this object has this type OR has a typeclass
+        which is an subclass of the given typeclass. This operates on
+        the actually loaded typeclass (this is important since a
+        failing typeclass may instead have its default currently
+        loaded) typeclass - can be a class object or the python path
+        to such an object to match against.
+
+        typeclass - a class or the full python path to the class
+        exact - returns true only
+                if the object's type is exactly this typeclass, ignoring
+                parents.
+        """
+        if not isinstance(typeclass, basestring):
+            typeclass = typeclass.path
+
+        if exact:
+            return typeclass == self.path
+        else:
+            # check parent chain
+            selfpath = self.path
+            return any(cls for cls in self.__class__.mro() if cls.path == selfpath)
+
     def swap_typeclass(self, new_typeclass, clean_attributes=False,
                        run_start_hooks=True, no_default=True):
         """