Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday

[icon_uk]

In the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like.

Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.

The intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.

Normal board rules about conduct and behaviour still apply, of course.

It's been suggested that, if discussing spoilers for recent media events, it might be advisable to consider using the rot13 method to prevent other members seeing spoilers in passing.

The world situation is the world situation. If you're following the news, you know it as much as I do, if you're not, then there are better sources than me.

President Biden has granted a pardon to his son Hunter, which he had previously said he would not do, and I suspect he would not have done had the Democrats won, but given Trump has just nominated someone he pardoned (for fraud and witness tampering) to become the new US Ambassador to France (and who happens to be his son-in-laws father) I'm not sure there's much of a counter-argument.

We note the passing of Morgan Lofting, a name you might not recognise but who I suspect, amongst many other roles, was the cause of any number of adolescent... realisations as the stern, bespectacled, leather-clad Baroness on the original GI Joe cartoon.

An article I found, and if I have to live with knowing this is an article which exists, so do you, about the making of the American phenomenon; the Folgers Incest Coffee Ad

Slightly on topic, but DC Infinite is opening up to France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

Just before Christmas, the BBC will release a new edit of "The War Games", coloured and trimmed down from 10 episodes to 90 minutes. It's especially notable for being the last Second Doctor story (as well as the final story to feature Jamie and Zoe as companions), and introduces the Time Lords as the Doctor's people for the first time. It was famously still being written as it was filmed, so there is plenty of padding that can be trimmed, but even some, from somewhere over four hours to a hour and a half should be interesting.

The first two episodes of "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" has arrived on Disney+.

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Have started my job. The important thing is that it's an opportunity for valuble practical experience AND they pay me $30 an hour.

Hooray! The joy of having a new volume of Usagi Yojimbo to read and enjoy and put on my Usagi Yojmbo shelf with all the others!

Battlestar Galactica season two :
huh. the episode that everyone said was stupid and weird was stupid and weird.

hey wait a minute this episode establishes that it's been nine months since the miniseries and seven since the season one finale, but then they refer to events from the previous season as having happened a 'few weeks ago'.

Fb gur Plybaf qrpvqrq gb pnapry gurve Cyna naq pnyy na nezfgvpr jvgu gur uhznaf orpnhfr gurl ernyvmrq gung Bcrengvba: Xvyy Nyy Gur Uhznaf jnf qvfgenpgvat gurz sebz gurve dhrfg sbe wbo.
Fb frevrf bire evtug?
Bu Ebfnyva evttrq gur ryrpgvba. Jryy gung'f na vagerfgvat abgr gb....bu gurer'f nabgure gjragl zvahgrf yrsg naq Nqnzn tbg ure gb fgrc qbja.
Bxnl abj Onygne vf trggvat gur uhzna syrrg gb frggyr ba guvf arj cynarg. Bu gur Ebobg Ynql frg bss n ahxr xvyyvat uhaqerqf.
Naq gur rcvfbqr pbagvahrf ol whzcvat nurnq n lrne fb jr pna frr uhznavgl rvxvat bhg n zvfrenoyr rkcrevrapr ba gurve arj ubzr. Jryy gung'f abg n unccl raqvat ohg vg srryf xvaq bs svggvat sbe gur fubj.Fb gur fubjf bire evtug?

Reading Tom Strong. Well fancy that Alan Moore knows who Lara Croft is.

Hush 2? I can't think of a comic I'm less intrested in reading. The original story was terrible and Hush was such a bad villian he had to get plastic surgery to look like-
What do you mean their finally releasing the Rise of Skywalker comic? oh fuck you

[zachbeacon]

Congratulations on the new job.

[numeronone]

Not to be pedantic, but wouldn't "The Two Doctors" have been the last 2nd Doctor and Jamie story?

[icon_uk]

I had a bet with myself about how long it would take someone to come along and mention "The Two Doctors"... 24 minutes was under even my wildest expectations! :)

I mean, I'd personally rather forget about "The Two Doctors". Whilst it was nice to see Two and Jamie again, it a nasty, unpleasant story with too much violence for my tastes, but...

[numeronone]

It is a mixed bag! While on the one hand the Doctor does literally become a flesh-eating monster, on the other, by casting Troughton and Frazer Hines without doing anything to alter their appearances, it implied that they were just gadabouting on adventures for decades before Two got forcibly regenerated into Three.

(Although given the...[gestures vaguely]...continuity thingy that happened with the 'Bi-Generation' and the Memory TARDIS, maybe "The Two Doctors" now occurs in a newly altered reality. In which, I suppose, the Time Lords attempted to force Two to regenerate, and then he didn't, and they said "Oh. Sorry" and promised not to do it again.)

[cygnia]

Wasn't the writer trying to hamfist a message about converting to veganism too?

[numeronone]

I don't know why he bothered. As though you could ever associate anything 'hammy' with Patrick Troughton... :~P

[tripodeca113]

People also use it to support the 6-B Theory which is another point against it.

[deh_tommy]

Given what’s come about with the Doctor since, I’d much rather the Fugitive Doctor be 6B Troughton over pre-Hartnell.

[icon_uk]

Isn't it the source of the 6-B theory? Because eveyone forgot it was Three who was used for odd jobs for the Time Lords, not Two.

[icon_uk]

Though "Time Crash" did sort of get around that by implying that when a younger Doctor is near an older Doctor, they start to age out rather quickly.

Jamie, on the other hand...

[iamrman]

I feel really Christmassy because I watched Father Christmas on the weekend. It is based on the books by Raymond Briggs, of The Snowman fame. My favourite part is when Father Christmas overindulges on fine food while on holiday in France and gets the runs.

Dad has pickled some shallots for Christmas. We are already well through half of the first jar. Just for testing, you understand.

Does anybody remember the Aliens mini-comics that came bundled with the action figures? Any way, I got the first volume of the Aliens omnibus because it included said mini-comics. Time will tell whether there is enough material to make a post about.

[numeronone]

Father Christmas is also currently available on Channel 4's free catchup service if anyone in the UK fancies a watch!

[dewinged]

We're short handed at my job, due to vacations and one person on FMLA. So there's stretches at work where I'm the only one there. I don't ask for help, because I've tried before and there's always a reason I can't get it. Always.

I ve pretty much stopped asking anyone for anything, because it's always something.

Hell, the only way I'm ever going to play Pathfinder is if I run it myself, which is me putting in A ton of extra work and stress so others can get the emotional buzz I actually want out of it. (And I have a friend who's already a forever GM and I refuse to put anything else on their shoulders; that is not fair to them)

Watching shows? What's the point, everyone hates everything, but when something I'm not fond of pops up it becomes the new hotness. It's gonna happen with Creature Commandos; the same people who think Invincible or Vox Machina are too crass are gonna fawn all over it.

I'm in 2 games, both Starfinder, and I'm tired of Space (tm). I can't even vent about the stuff that bugs me because that's just how things are and how people are and I just gotta live with it or have nothing.

I...kinda remember when I had something to look forward to which didn't involve stress, fear, worry. Vague memories, mind

[skjam]

Work heading into the even busier season as everyone who's had problems with their insurance during the year tries to get it fixed before 2025. I long for retirement.

Had a nice family Thanksgiving, possibly the last time at the family home as Mom prepares for assisted living. The Christmas gathering has been decided as presents for children only.

Apartment management has decided to work on the plumbing, so it's rearranging stuff again for the week or so they'll be coming in.

Tubi TV has been a lifesaver for old/weird movies.

Over at Marvel Puzzlequest, the chase character is now Luna Snow, a newish one I'm not familiar with. Anyone have thoughts on her?

At my blog, which is coming up on its twelfth anniversary, I look at another volume of the Penetrator men's adventure series, which has a...twist...to reasons to invest in cryogenics. https://www.skjam.com/2024/11/29/book-review-cryogenic-nightmare/

[scorntx]

The Beeb announcement had some headlines about how they'd discovered new footage of some old Who.
Turned out when they said "discovered" they meant "made some up".

All the drip-filtered news about this year's Who X-Mas special fills me with an increasing amount of dread. And there was already enough of that to go on with.
Moffat trying to be intentionally light and fluffy, and another "what's the Doctor like when no-one's around".
Which, given who's writing it, I'mma assume is "the same as they always are when Moffat writes them".

But the highlight of December 25th is more likely going to be Wallace & Gromit.

Got that Epic Collection of Streets of Poison. (Really sounds like an 80s metal song, doesn't it?)
That was quite nuts.

Also got bored waiting for a train and just bought The Crossing Line.
Fun little crossover between Avengers, Alpha Flight and Whatever-The-Russian-Ones-Are-Calling-Themselves-This-Week.
It's odd for a filler storyline to last for six issues, though.

Still no sign of The Gift anywhere. That might require a trip further afield.

[iamrman]

Streets of Poison is indeed nuts, and that is why I love it.

It shows you the quality of the Avengers at the time when the filler is better than the main story.

Excited for the new Wallace and Gromit, but I'm not sure how I feel about the new Wallace voice.

[icon_uk]

In fairness, Ben Whitehead, the "new" Wallace voice has been in the role for fifteen years by this point. No movies since then, but any appearances or cameos since 2009/10 have been him, rather than Peter Sallis.

[iamrman]

I wasn't aware he had been in the role that long.

[scorntx]

Streets of Poison is... very early 90s.
Not saying it's not fun, but I could've very easily done without the sight of Red Skull and Kingpin in their skivvies.

[kamino_neko]

It's been a few years since I've been a fan of something that the haters just can't resist the urge to barge into any conversation where it comes up to harp constantly about how they hate it, so I'd forgotten how exhausting it is. (Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, in this case.)

On the other hand, unlike She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, at least if there's any odious politics involved with the hate, they at least keep their yaps shut about that. (Never thought I'd be glad for a return to the halcyon days of 'CALARTS!!!!111!'...only now it's 'middle school OCs!'.)

[leahandillyana]

Is the She-Ra hate related to feminist media analysis? Man do I hate feminist media analysis! Over and over the most female-oriented, inspiring, representative and genre-bursting series get torn to shreds and mocked to the point they become known as the worst thing ever to people unfamiliar with them (with My Little Pony, Steven Universe, and anything made in Asia being probably the series that have highest hate ratio), while series that are deeply problematic getting praised to high heavens (Harry Potter, Star Wars).

[kamino_neko]

There was probably some of that, but I'm thinking of the dorks who said it was 'too woke' because she was buff and showing less skin than her 80s counterpart.

[icon_uk]

I also saw complaints about:

Adora is too young (Though pretty much every iteration of He-Man since the original has deliberately made Adam noticeably younger than He-Man, though they probably complained about that too)

And some bodyshaming of Glimmer for not being supermodel svelte.

[metadronos]

Do those same incels also complain about the lesbian theme which was entirely absent in the 80s franchise, or (as I suspect) do they let it go because "girl on girl is hot?"

[lego_joker]

Man, I was just wondering if anyone else on this comm watched Hellaverse stuff!

(I'm not really Plugged-Into the fandom, but if I had to guess I'd say the original crop of "OMG THIS IS JUST SUPERNATURAL-FLAVORED SOUTH PARK" haters just kinda faded away when the actual show turned out to be fairly low on shock value outside of all the swears. Any haters who stayed had to look for something else to latch on to.)

[onsokumaru]

Can't believe DC Infinite is available after all those years waiting for it.
Except... for some reason I can't subscribe ATM. I hope it's an issue with the app and that it will be fixed soon.
So for now I only have access to some free vertical comics, and I'd rather read Marville and the Unfunnies.

The Dandadan anime adaptation continues to deliever.

I found Tynion IV's Nice House on the Lake at the local library. This writer really knows how to write page turners.
Also borrowing Sfar and Trondheim's Dungeon comics. I love it so much! It's fun, unpredictable, and full of ideas and great worldbuilding. The fact there are several stories taking place at different eras, with different artists and tones, makes it even better.

Took the Black Friday offer to subscribe to Max. I don't intend to stay subscribed for long, as I only wanted to watch Peacemaker and Creatures Commando. So, Peacemaker is fun, although not as unconventional as it thinks it is. I wish the site also had Doom Patrol and Stargirl. I don't even know where to watch which DC show anymore, and I sure won't pay for half a dozen streaming sites.

[cyberghostface]

Haven’t seen any of the other Star Wars shows but I enjoyed Skeleton Crew.

[thezmage]

Trying to finish up Voltron Legendary Defender before it goes off Netflix to an uncertain fate at the end of this week. I've heard it's a rather disappointing ending so my hopes are not overly high.

Interesting timing on this Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cgl/voltron-the-roleplaying-game-0

[zachbeacon]

It's been a while but I remember the reception being about 50% people finding it an underwhelming ending and 50% people being mad their their fan ships didn't become official.

(Still annoyed that this and She-Ra got incomplete physical releases)

[donnblake]

David Eggers's Nosferatu is coming out on Christmas Day. I probably won't catch it on the twenty-fifth, but it's still a lovely present.

[shadadukal]

A shame that DC Infinite isn't available as a web version outside the US. Makes me hesitate to get a subscription.

[ladymidath]

I haven't been doing much, mostly trying to survive the heat and humidity here in Sydney.
We took a trip out to The Gamesmen superstore and at the back, they have a games museum. Seeing games and consoles I used to have made me feel old.