Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday

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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 scans_daily. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.

A Happy Hannukah to those who celebrate it. Given recent events in Australia it may not seem like a time to celebrate anything, but that is perhaps the time we most need to.

Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday, so a happy Centenary to him!

However, we lost Rob Reiner, creative genius behind too many memorable films to start to mention (Oh, the hell with it: The Princess Bride, Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, The Sure Thing, A Few Good Men and Stand by Me, amongst others) and his wife Michele.

(I did not think my opinion of the current US President could sink any lower, but his social media post on the Reiner killer was so lacking in sympathy, good taste or even basic human decency that I initially assumed it had to be a fake because no one could be THAT toxically graceless, alas, it was real)

In contrast, today is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth today so let us acknowledge one of literature's most brilliant and witty wordsmiths.

In slightly lowerbrow news, I found out that season 2 of "LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy" had already come out, and caught up on that because I know I needed something to make me smile, which it achieved.

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Well we had a good run but live action Toph is finally here



And a trailer as well.
Looks like their doing The Serpent's Pass, didn't expect them to- okay they decided to take the episodes about our heroes having to make a dangerous journey on foot because Appa the flying bison wasn't there, and decided to add Appa to the story.
Never change live action Avatar The Last Airbender never change....

(I though since Book Two was more serialized maybe season two might lend itself a bit better to the new format, but thinking about it some more they do have a lot of ground to cover in eight episodes)

It's the twentieth anniversary of Moral Orel. They aired the season finale first to confuse people.

hey look the creator of Yakuza.....(the video game franchise) has founded his own game studio and released the first trailer of his game that looks very much like Yakuza, and is in fact set in Toyko's red light district which is the basis for Yakuza's Kamurochō.
Sadly the fancy CGI didn't show off anything that made the game seem like it had it's own unique identity and the images on the Steam page make it look like a bare-bones asset flip. It's early days yet but it's not off to a great start...
(I was kind of confused by the people going 'Yeah here comes Nagoshi to show them how to make a good Yakuza game" when the games made since he left have been good. Well okay releasing the director's cut of 0 that ads new scenes to fuck up the tightly written story and then desisting the original version is bad. But they complain about Majima's Pirate Adventure being a wacky spin-off when it was clearly advertised and intended to be the wacky spin-off.)

Well Australian Ghosts ended on a high note. I decided to watch American Ghosts because American remakes of British TV shows are always exactly as good if not better than the original.
Well initial impressions is that it's fine. No obvious flaws, but nothing really stands out. Overall nagging sense that the original was better (the Australian version also wasn't as good but that did have a 17th century British captain complaining about invaders and unknowingly saying Aboriginal rights slogans so it at least gave you something to analyze)
Hey in the original the woman's near death experience was caused by one of the ghosts pushing her out a window in a deliberate bid to kill her, but here it was an accident when she tripped over a vase he knocked over and fell down the stairs.

Second episode was better,but it feels like something is missing.Perhaps the show isn't mean enough? Also some of the replacement ghosts feel weird. Like how they replaced the noble who got beheaded with a greaser who I guess got decapitated in an accident. That seems a bit overly-complicated to me and not as fun. Maybe they should have just cut him outright since his role is so cut down.
Some lines I enjoyed:
"I'll get rid of the living! I'm a military genius!
"You surrender unconditionally to the British and died of dysentery two weeks later."

"I want the Hudson Valley returned to the Lenape. If you can't do you can turn the radio on in the afternoon."

"I co-wrote the Declaration of Independence. I basically invented democracy."
"Actually, indigenous governments were the model for American federalism, so..."
"But we added powdered wigs and the electoral college!"

[thezmage]

The American Ghosts really takes off when it stops trying to emulate the British version so closely

[numeronone]

I've wishlisted (and looking forward to buy) "Dead Format", a game which has the user playing through genre-specific horror movies while avoiding a monster named "Mary Lighthouse" created to satirise famous pro-censorship advocate Mary Whitehouse. It looks very fun.

It's worth mentioning that the late Rob Reiner was also a massive advocate for marriage equality in California, which is another reason he'll be honoured in his memory.

Got the behind-the-scenes book for Guillermo Del Toro's "Frankenstein". It's very nice.

[mastermahan]

In superhero movie news, The Batman 2 has reported cast Scarlett Johansson, presumably as Lady Shiva.

[cygnia]

Is it confirmed? Other rumours are casting her as Gilda Dent or Andrea Beaumont (from "Mask of the Phantasm".

[mastermahan]

No, I'm making a joke about her starring in Ghost in the Shell and the ensuing controversy.

[full_metal_ox]

Studio executives have a track record of turning joking fannish worst-case-scenarios into to-do lists.

[leahandillyana]

Last week I’ve felt much worse. I was back to only working and sleeping, but well enough to slowly read through The Heavenly Tyrant. I originally planned on not reading the book, but realized that a one person boycott is meaningless in practical terms and only makes me look stupid in my own eyes. Well, I would have been better had I ignored the book, as it not only had no themes and plots I enjoyed in The Iron Widow, not only did the portrayal of the main character evolve to make her appear much weaker and less intelligent than in the first book, not only is the threesome from the previous book irreparably broken, not only do the politics that make up most of the plot make no sense in-universe and are presented in a painfully simplistic and naive at best and primitively propagandistic manner at worst, being more jarring than giant animalistic robots, but also the story supports some of the most repulsive political ideas the world has suffered from in the last century.
Va gur ortvaavat bs gur obbx, Mrgvna naq Murat nfpraq gur guebar bs Uhnkvn naq vzcynzrag n pbzzhavfg eribyhgvba va n znaare pbcl cnfgrq sebz Znb’f bja phygheny eribyhgvba. Gur eribyhgvba vf cbegenlrq va cnfgry pbybhef gnxra fgenvtug sebz pbzzhavfg cebcntnaqn, jvgu ab qbjafvqrf orvat cerfragrq bs vqrnf fhpu nf pbyyrpgvir chavfuzrag, choyvp rkrphgvbaf sbe rpbabzvp pevzrf, be vzcevfbavat crbcyr fvzcyl orpnhfr gurl nccrne jrnygul. Rirel qbjafvqrf bs gur eribyhgvba ner cbegenlrq nf n erfhyg bs vagragvbany unez ol pbhagreeribyhgvbanel npgbef be n jbex bs n srj onq nccyrf, whfg yvxr fbivrg cebcntnaqn rkcynvarq gur unefu ernyvgvrf bs yvivat va gur pbzzhavfg oybp, naq gur ener vafgnaprf jurer gur ernqre zvtug unir sryg flzcngul gbjneqf gur ivpgvzf bs gur flfgrz ner vzzrqvngryl sbyybjrq ol ernffhenaprf gung gur punenpgref jrer greevoyr crbcyr jub qrfreirq gurve sngr. Lbh jbhyq unir gubhtug gung fbzrobql jub bepurfgengrq gur riragf bs gur svefg obbx jbhyq unir frra nyy bs guvf, ohg bhe urebvar ng orfg pna or ernq nf fbzrobql jvyyvatyl oyvaq gb artngvir rssrpgf bs gur cbyvpvrf gung frrz gb or znxvat bar bs ure terngrfg qernzf vagb ernyvgl, naq ng jbefg n oybbqguvefgl ovgpu rawblvat gnxvat eriratr ba crbcyr jub erzvaq ure bs gur crbcyr jub unq uheg ure fb zhpu.

Gur shegure vagrecergngvba vf hasbeghangryl fgeratgurarq va gur svanyr, jurer Mrgvna naq Murat’f nggnpx naq qrfgehpgvba bs gur Urnirayl Pbheg (juvpu vf eriryrq gb or n genqvat fgngvba bs n fcnpr-snevat uhzna pvivyvfngvba jvgu n ynetr pvivyvna cbchyngvba engure guna na nyvra zvyvgnel fgngvba gur cerivbhf obbx vzcyvrq vg gb or) vf zbqryyrq ba Unznf’ nggnpx ba Vfenryv frggyrzragf va 2023, naq Mrgvna rkcyvpvgyl qvq abg nggnpx rfpncr fuvcf (juvpu fur xarj jrer pvivyvna, hanezrq naq fybj, naq juvpu fur xarj yvxryl unq xvqanccrq jbzra sebz gur cynarg ba gurz) bayl orpnhfr gur qroevf sebz gur fgngvba bofpherq gurz.
Like, what. What the hell was that, How are the readers supposed to sympathize with somebody like that. I cannot help but compare her to several protagonists from danmei novels I’ve read, who are in-universe portrayed as villains, murderers and tyrants, yet tend to display more compassion and humanity than Zetian. Even Yue Wuhuan from Mistakenly Saving the Villain, who has similar personality traits to Wu Zetian, only takes revenge against people who wronged him and can tell that you take different revenge on people who were assholes and people who engaged in human trafficking. I lost all of my positive sentiment towards the first novel and only feel even worse after reading.

[iamrman]

This week’s comics ramblings:

Batman: Knightquest- The Crusade Vol. 2. The volume starts with the arc where the Joker decides to become a movie mogul. It goes about as well as you would expect. Of course, the Joker throws a hissy-fit when he realises the Batman he is fighting isn’t “his” Batman. The Shadow of the Bat issues continue to have ugly art.

Cable Classic. John Romita Junior draws a very wide Cable. I mean, Romita's Cable must be wider than he is tall and he isn’t exactly short in the first place. Also, Cable keeps trying to make “stab his eyes” happen. He is worse than Doctor Octopus and his fixation with casting dice.

Captain America Epic Collection: Arena of Death. Cap goes undercover and has to fight a gauntlet of super-villains. It’s not even as if they are *good* super-villains. I mean, Ramrod! It seems more a case of Mark Gruenwald digging through the Marvel Handbook in search of the most obscure bad guys.

Captain Atom. The first appearance of Major Force and he was just the worst right from the start. Naturally, a perfect candidate to receive super-powers.

[scorntx]

Can't ever imagine characters going "stab your eyes" without saying it like a pirate.
Shame Cable and Stryfe aren't pirates.

(Cable's sister in-law is named Hope. As is his second wife. And his adopted daughter.
And yet he honestly thought he was the clone. Only a Summers could have an arrangement that convoluted...
arr.)


Knowing Gruenwald, he probably didn't need to check a handbook. He probably just remembered them off the top of his head.
"Alright, who did I not kill with the Scourge of the Underworld...?"

[scorntx]

So. That trailer for Avatar season 2.
Ooh, more Suki. That's me sold.

Wait, what've they done to Zuko? They've made him look... ... cute!
"I am neither cute nor tiny!"
"You are pretty cute, my tiny nephew."

So long as they just happen to skip over Appa Alone, I'm good.
(Seriously. Skip Appa Alone. Please.)

Mercifully, it turns out that Z-A's DLC does not have a new Charizard Mega Evolution. Phew!
... but it does have Zubat.
Damn it.

Also apparently they were thinking of making a Johto prequel. Which...
... don't get me wrong; Z-A is a fun game. It's just...
We could'a had a freaking Johto game!


With only one issue left to go, Ultimate Black Panther seems to have just given up on everything.
So long, Inan. You definitely appeared on page. Sure, you didn't do much and we barely learned a damn thing about you, but you definitely occupied space that would've otherwise gone unoccupied.
(I think that would probably be my first and biggest criticism of the NUU; The Ultimates is the only title that bothers doing any world-building at all.)


Right now currently got a fixation on a thing fae AC: Shadows.
See, there's a timeline on the main menu with supposedly significant dates.
Some of them are easy to figure out (previous AC games, or 1066 or 1215).
But then there's ones like 1616, and I can't figure out what specifically that could be about...

[cainofdreaming]

Quick google would suggest that 1616 is the death date of Achille de Harlay, who I assume was part of the game set in France, and Will who shook a spear.

[scorntx]

Given the two games set in France are in the French Revolution and the Viking Siege of Paris, that seems a little unlikely.
(I did give 1616 a once-over on the Olde Farmer's Wikipedia, but turns out there was a lot going on in 1616 and none of them seemed like a likely possibility.)

[lilacsigil]

I know little about Assassin's Creed, but I'm pretty sure there's a Japanese game and 1616 was the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

[scorntx]

Ooooh, yes. That'd probably be it.


(... just a touch embarrassing, given Shadows is the one set in Japan, features Tokugawa a little bit and has a whole biographical database entry on him which almost certainly mentions details like when he died.)

[thanekos]

Bruce Wayne goes on Hot Ones.

[malurette]

Netflix is removing all its Star Trek series in three weeks That's not funny I'm not done watching DS9 and Voyager and haven't started on Enterprise yet
Gods forbid I accidentally stumble upon an illegal pirate site that would conveniently have nice closed captions on its episodes?

[mastermahan]

I assume this is related to Netflix and Paramount fighting over buying Warner Brothers after David Zaslav flew into the side of a mountain? Boy, I sure love that the streaming era means we can lose access to stories because companies are fighting.

I know nothing about where to find captioned bootlegs, and I just DMed you about something completely unrelated.

[bradygirl_12]

His Orangecy probably hasn't even hit rock bottom yet.

He couldn't be a more narcissistic, vile human being. 🤬

[full_metal_ox]

In related news: pro wrestling legend Mick Foley is leaving WWE over their continuing support of Donald Trump; the Orange Fool’s commentary on the Reiner murders was the last straw.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2025-12-16/mick-foley-parts-ways-with-wwe-president-donald-trump-rob-reiner

Paywall dodge: https://archive.ph/y6yYS

[skjam]

My legs are acting up again, hope I can avoid hospital time.

Over at my blog, I look at a Batman movie: https://www.skjam.com/2025/12/15/movie-review-batman-mystery-of-the-batwoman/ and if you missed my Shonen Jump update, go back a page.

Marvel Puzzlequest is having a Cosmic Invasion theme, and the chase character is Cosmic Iron Man, though from what I've heard of the game She-Hulk is the MVP.

Christmas looks to be smaller this year as none of the greatgrandchildren will be able to make it.

[ladymidath]

What happened in Bondi has left us all reeling and heartbroken. I love Bondi although I live near the beaches on the other side of Sydney. We are a resilient lot though and we will all get through this together.

[sisterofbloomerjunior]

Mom's home for now, and will start rehabilitation at home.

Finished Season 5 of TMNT 1987 earlier today. Should I slog through the last three episodes of Season 10, or just jump to the final episode, then watch the first two seasons?