Off Topic Tuesday!

[icon_uk]

It's "Off-Topic Tuesday" time!

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 amongst yourselves.

I try to avoid partisan political postings, especially in countries I am not actually a citizen of, but even so, the latest Donald Trump statement is worthy of mention.

Communications tech can actually reaffirm faith in humanity

Eagles of Death return to perform in Paris

Galavant Season 2 opening number revealed!

Comments

[q99]

I'll just toss this out-


Various community members! If you were a superhero, what would your hero name be?

[deh_tommy]

That probably depends on what special abilities one brings to their heroics. I would like to know where certain things are at any given time (like a lost toy or missing person).

[owlbrigade1]

I think I'd probably be a super-villain than a superhero if I had any sort of superpowers, at very least an anti hero. If I had superpowers then I'd focus on making sure politicians were a lot nicer to the underclasses. I'd be known as "Ian Duncan Smith's Killer Has Struck Again", and I'd be happy with that.

[zapbiffpow]

Straight answer? Superhero, Blitz; supervillain; Consequence.

Or Conzie, which I guess is what Blitz would nickname him if they ever went toe-to-toe. Separate skill-sets apply.

[icon_uk]

Would depend on what my powers were and what I wanted to use them for.

I would want the flashy "flying brick" powers, though flying would be nice.

Telepathy would be terrifying and I wouldn't want anything which could influence other people's minds (too creepy)... unless it was to link peoples minds in some sort of safe psychic environment where people could hash out their issues without committing large groups of people to physical combat for it.

I'd want subtle, low key sort of powers because I'd never be able to operate in the open.

The linguistic abilities of my little icon buddy would be wonderful (I think)

Wisdom would also be a valuable one.

Phasing, teleportation, invisibility, telekinesis, some sort of technopathic ability would be nice, there are websites too loathsome to even go into here I would love to be able to delete from existence with a mere thought.

Icon is already used by a very different character and most of the good ghost names are well overused; Ghost, Spectre, Shade, Phantasm, Wraith, but something along those lines.

[baihu]

Singha. Possibly with a 'The' in the front. Or with part of my name so 'Singha Sam' for that alliteration thing.

It's sanskrit for 'lion' and is the old name for my country Singapore (which literally means 'lion city'). Guess that means I'll be a local hero, or have an idealism angle like Captain America.

Also NOT animal-based powers. Probably generic powerset.

Honestly though I'd probably model myself around Jenny Quantum more than anything.

[junipepper]

Already have one. "Mom."

:-)

[skjam]

Deluxe Man.

[lb_lee]

Enh, I'd be stuck with Loony-Brain; it's what I'm already known as in real life. (Had I known I would develop minor internet fame, I would've chosen more wisely, but hahaha, hindsight.)

[deh_tommy]

So, how did people here find Doctor Who on Saturday? I'll admit I quite liked the episode, though admittedly I objectively have terrible taste judging by almost everyone else's reactions (not to mention that I tend to be fond of things others aren't, like 'Shadow the Hedgehog', 'Civil War' and Steven Moffat's later episodes on the aforementioned show, among others).

[owlbrigade1]

I felt that it knocked Dobby the House Doctor off the top spot for worst season finale. I felt that Moffat was being far too obvious with which concepts he wanted etched into canon that he forgot to put a story around them too. It was a collection of set pieces, a common Moffat fault, with very little connecting them beyond "this sounds like a cool idea". The only bit I liked was seeing the old TARDIS control room, and I feel it was a crying shame the way even that was used and handled.

There is an article in the most recent SFX magazine (Issue #269) which has an interview with him and he kinda implies he is getting burnt out with the show and is ready to move on. I really hope he does, but he seems to have the same trouble letting go as Jenna Coleman does (The timestream should have been the end of Clara's journey). It reminds of 1986 again, when JNT kept on saying he was going to leave, but he took so long doing so that there was no time for Cartmel to save the show.

[icon_uk]

I quite liked it.

I especially liked that the Doctor found Gallifrey again (which is not something I would have bothered with) and immediately ignored it (or at best made use of it) because he cared more about his friend who had died as a result of their bloody minded actions.

There are plenty of niggles, like how Me and Clara can even pilot a TARDIS since they're not Time Lords with the right genetics to link with it. And the Doctor and the Time Lords seemed to come and go quite handily from within the Matrix despite everyone saying that you could never leave (There was a MAINTENANCE hatch? Who would have used it, and why?)

I'm torn on Clara's fate, on the one hand it's fun that she has TARDIS of he own, and it's a nice exit for the new series longest running companion, but on the other hand, her death had a significance and impact, and that was rather diluted.

I also have major, major issues with the Doctor shooting the General with a gun that killed him. I don't care that he' was a Time Lord with regenerations left, the Doctor deprived him of one of them. And since we'd already had the scene where the soldiers had stood aside because the Doctor NEVER carried a gun, it didn't so much show how far 12 was prepared to go for Clara, it seemed to show that the writer had gone too far.

[laughing_tree]

Loved it. In principle, I don't like the idea of Gallifrey appearing on-screen, as I feel it can't live up to the implied grandeur and unfathomable-to-mortals-ness we get when it's only spoken of. But if they're going to do it, at least it's in stories of this caliber. And, as others elsewhere have pointed out, it might be the most explicitly feminist Who story ever, with Clara exposing and rejecting the Doctor's paternalism, so there's that.

[janegray]

The Psychonauts tag on tumblr was taken over by gamergaters a couple of days ago (though thankfully fans have taken the tag back) and I want to strangle them. There are no words to express my contempt for the entire movement.

On a happier note PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2!!!

I hope Tim doesn’t fuck it up. He is a creative genius, but is terrible at handling money. They need to hire somebody to spray him with water when he looks about to throw all the money on digressions. Focus, Tim, focus!

[informationgeek]

I'm excited about the game myself, but Tim really needs someone to help him with the money due to his company's problems with it.

[informationgeek]

So, what do you guys think so far of the Marvel relaunch/reboot/reawakening/reborn/return? Any particular favorite or least favorite titles?

[obsidianwolf]

Personally I'm very underwhelmed it isn't really different enough to justify the mess that was secret wars and many of the problems with characterization and writing that had cropped up continue to plague titles even after the reboot.

Plus some of the new designs are starting to bug me like the appearance of the guardians of the galaxy (original version) in the new guardians of infinity Nikki for instance was drawn with hair that had burning points instead of bald with actual fire for her. (not to mention Martinex doing an iceman impression instead of the blocky faceted design I always loved)

In general it really seems like nothing has changed if I liked the title/character before I still like it if I didn't the reboot that wasn't really a reboot hasn't fixed things enough to really matter.

[laughing_tree]

Is it my imagination, or has traffic here been on a noticeable dip for a while? These days, even when people post pages from the latest "big" comics, like Secret Wars or Batman, the entries often get fewer than ten comments. A year ago, that almost never happened.

Is it current events, with the seemingly endless tragedy, putting people out of the mood to talk comics, or something else?

[obsidianwolf]

Personally the events are part of it. I mean I've reached the point where I'd be repeating myself If I commented on anything Hickman was doing over in secret wars.

[tonybennett3]

The first 2 states to vote in the Republican Primaries, Iowa & New Hampshire, are pretty homogeneous. The race, guns, warmongering, etc. is designed to give him a 'boost'. He'll start moderating his message as the election cycle goes on, or the Republican Party will disavow him.

What I like about his particular brand of idiocy is that his rhetoric has pulled all of the 'crazies' out of the closet. You need to identify the symptoms to apply the cure.

Google 'What the matter with Kansas' to understand his self-destructive appeal in the 'American Heartland'.

[his_spiffynesss]

I doubt Trump could moderate his message at this point. He's such a pathological liar I doubt he could even admit he was wrong about something.

He might be dominant in the polls, but whether he will actually get votes is another matter completely. The reality is that Conservative voters tend to vote conservatively, that's why the exceedingly vanilla establishment guys like McCain and Romney end up getting the nomination. Trump's persona and radical stances are not going to play well in Peoria.

[nightauditguy]

How about that Supergirl reveal?

[zapbiffpow]

Heh, totally did not see it coming. Much.

Examining the other side of that reveal, I assume the real Hank Henshaw's going to reappear sometime in the future for a Cyborg Superman storyline. I remember Smallville!Henshaw having this really good character arc, so something to compare, I guess.

[cyberghostface]

Part of me wonders if Trump is deliberately trying to sabotage the Republican Party.

Also has anyone here seen 'Krampus' yet?

[icon_uk]

No, but I recently made a horrile, Krampus movie related mistake. A couple of weeks ago I saw a DVD in the local supermarket called "Krampus", and I'd heard there was a good movie called that coming out, and assumed that like such excellent movies as "What we do in the Shadows" or "Troll Hunter" it came to DVD pretty much bypassing cinema.

What a bloody awful mix up THAT was, it was the cheapo naff version, seemingly made by a bloke and some of his mates with a free weekend and no budget. And THEN I saw the advert with the cinema release date of the "proper" Krampus movie.

On the other hand I picked up "Monster Hunter", which is not a good name (It's apparently also known as "Dark was the Night") for a rather superior old school horror movie, with muted colours, a nicely atmospheric setting and some very decent performances as something (or someone) prowls around a remote township.

[skjam]

The latest review at my blog is of a Planet Stories reprint, good old pulp SF. http://www.skjam.com/2015/12/05/magazine-review-high-adventure-143-planet-stories-issue/

Tomorrow is the third anniversary of my blog, so I will be posting my thoughts on the current run of Shonen Jump's online edition.

[starwolf_oakley]

Maybe Trump is doing his own version of the 1972 Robert Redford movie "The Candidate." He knows he's going to lose, so he can say whatever he wants. (The movie is a little more complicated than that, though it has been a while since I've seen it.)

[baihu]

Tomorrow is the PC release of Guilty Gear Xrd Sign. It's the awesome love-child of rock music, OTT anime tropes dialed up to 11, and some of the best damn cel-shading I've ever seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOpJ10YEiwI

Those aren't pre-rendered cutscenes. Those are made with the in-game engine, they're all 3D models.

Since I always played with the Japanese voices, I had no idea they gave Slayer a 'Sean Connerish brr'. And then he speaks a nonsense Japanese haiku while punching someone into space. It's perfect. Absolutely. Perfect.

[janegray]

If only the new King of Fighters could look that good too... :(

[cygnia]

Tomorrow is my first gig with the new improv troupe. :-D

[lissa_quon]

Congrats! Break a leg!

[tonybennett3]

O.K. S_D we need your help. Out there in the cosmos is planet Keplar 22-B. We need your help to change the name to Namek, the home planet of the Dragonball Hero Piccolo. https://www.change.org/p/nasa-changing-the-planet-name-of-kepler-22-b-to-namek

If this campaign is successful, think of all the planets we could name: Gallifrey, Oa, Hala, Vegeta, Mogo, Krypton, Arrakis, Zenn-La, it boggles the mind! Within 2-3 generations, children will demand that we journey to the worlds of legend...