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 country which has 4% of the world's population, but 46% of the handguns, had two major mass shootings over the weekend (and at least five more since then, brining the total to over 250 this year alone). A President who has made a career out of attacking immigrants went so far as to say that White Supremacy was not a good thing but don't expect any changes in gun control, a former President who didn't mention any names, urged people to reject language from any of their leaders that feeds hatred or normalises racism.

Police in Japan have released 10 names of the staff at Kyoto Animation who died in the recent arson attack. Chances are, if you're an anime fan, you'll have seen some of these people's work.

Between the UK, Hong Kon, North korea and the rest, any attempt to describe the current political stateleaves me in a really foul mood, so instead, and after the sad outlook of the first two entries this week, I'm linking to a ten hour youtube video of restful wave sounds and beautiful shorelines. You're welcome.

Germany's Fiona Kolbinger has beaten more than 200 men to become the first woman to win the Transcontinental Race, cycling more than 2,485 miles across Europe in just over 10 days.

I've watched the first episode of "Pennyworth", the new series about the world's second most famous butler (Sorry, but Jeeves is still number one) before he worked for the Wayne family. It's... unexpectedly odd.

I suppose their London is to real London as Gotham City is to New York, in a very stylised and clearly somewhat alternate reality (The fashions are a strange mix of decades. There are zeppelins, and people in stocks for petty crimes on the street) oh, and a Fascist organisation wanting to take over the country (no change there then), and former SAS soldier Alfred Pennyworth caught up in it all. Jack Bannon is no Sean Pertwee, but he's a plausible ex-soldier and I'm interested to see where this goes. Paloma Faith steals the show as the wonderfully workaday sadist Bet Sykes.

The trailer for Season 2 of "Titans" dropped this morning. I wish I could be more interested in it than I think I am, but if it keeps up the relentless violence I'm pretty much done with it, despite liking some of the new characters being introduced (And though I know the villain revealed at the end is an obvious one for Titans, I wish they had maybe gone for someone else, someone not as overexposed as this one is... I mean would the Fearsome Five be too much to hope for?)

Marv Wolfman will write the Arrow episode of the Crisis on Infinite Earths TV "event". Kevin Conroy is also confirmed to appear during the CoIe crossover as an "older Bruce Wayne in the future"... OOOH! Batman Beyond perhaps?)

The next batch of She-Ra episodes arrived (I'm not sure 6 episodes counts as a season) and did some very nice character work, with Adora getting a clue about her past, Cat-Ra being a fascinatingly flawed character who keeps sabotaging ANYONE'S chance of happiness (especially her own) through her jealous obsessions, Scorpia being her delightful self, Hordak getting a sort of sad backstory and he and the even more socially clueless Entrapta maybe starting to see something in the other they can relate to. That's a LOT in six episodes...

English versions of Ladybug episodes; Gamer 2.0, Puppeteer 2 and Party Crasher arrived on Netflix in the US (I think) and confirm that whilst Cat and Ladybug are good for each other, I really can't see Marinette and Adrien being healthy, at least until Marinette gets over her stalkerish tendencies.

Comments

[owlbrigade1]

Jeeves is not a butler, he is a valet (to rhyme with mallet, not ballet); a "gentleman's gentleman". A butler administrates the household, a valet is dedicated to only one person. Admittedly Jeeves would occasionally be loaned for a spot of butling in a pinch; and Alfred does blur the line in that while he is technically in charge of Wayne Manor, that manor consists mainly of one man; however Jeeves is still a valet and Alfred is still a butler. Therefore, Alfred Pennyworth is the No.1 butler. Jeeves is the No.1 valet.

And I hate that I know all this. On the other hand, focusing on this incredibly trivial distinction is a good way to avoid the rest of the world. Next up: Which Crichton/Kryten is best: The Admirable or the Electronic?

[icon_uk]

To quote Futurama

"You are technically correct - the best kind of correct" :)

Though this begs the question, was Jeffrey on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" technically a butler, since there were no other staff?

[owlbrigade1]

Yes, his duties included taking care of the full family so he was a butler.

Also; technically correct is indeed the most satisfying kind of correct.

[mastermahan]

Which Crichton/Kryten is best: The Admirable or the Electronic?

Best Crichton is clearly John.

Michael was alright.

[tripodeca113]

Well it seems like Anthem is being quietly dropped by EA. This does not bode well for Bioware.

I played some Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. That was a fun little game, I was willing to overlook the Inhumans when they showed up. I'm also glad that it featured family-friendly characters like Jessica Jones.

I finished playing Prey, it took a couple of hours to get going, but I enjoyed it. Though I did find the climax a bit lacking.

The developer of Ooblets have gotten quite a bit of backlash, after they announced that the game would be an Epic Store exclusive, and went about it in probably the worse way they could have.

I watched Archer Danger Island. I guess it was okay.

[thezmage]

The coma seasons have been more miss than hit for me. They don’t seem sufficiently dedicated towards portraying them as either dream sequences or as standalone plots. I’m glad we’re getting one last spy season.

[deh_tommy]

Where's you see that Anthem is getting dropped?

I'm glad they didn't just shelve or cut the Inhumans. I hope they get to stay around and avoid the fate that befell the X-Men/Fantastic Four outside of comics.

Old Prey or new Prey? Is there any connection between the two at all, or do they just share the same name?

[tripodeca113]

When I said dropped, I meant that EA seems to be distancing themselves from it, (much like what they did with Mass Effect Andromeda), which might mean that Anthem will suffer the same fate as Andromeda.

The new Prey, there's no connection between the two, they just used the name because it fitted the new property.

[thezmage]

There’s, like, a 5% chance that the Jason Todd titans team survives to the end of the season

[informationgeek]

I attended Tampa Bay Comic-Con this year and got to meet Peter David. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to ask him about Marville and the insanity that went on there. He seemed very annoyed already when I showed, explaining he had to deal a person who asked him the prices and details on every single book he had for say, spend ten minutes there before deciding to just walk off without buying anything.

Got to meet Grey Delise, Carlos Alazraqui, Takeshi Miyazawa, James Arnold Taylor, and even got a picture with Kevin Conroy! :D

Attended the Ron Perlman Q & A panel too. Managed to ask him one question about the killer elevator film he was in. He barely remembers it and is sure that his performance sunk the entire killer elevator genre in America.

[skjam]

I had a couple of books signed by Mr. David back at ConVergence in July; he seemed pleased by my internet handle. (And actually buying some books.)

[scorntx]

So... that She-Ra.
That was a surprise ending, and some very interesting developments.
Scorpia continues to be love incarnate. Everyone should have a Scorpia in their life, and Catra's biggest failing is not recognising how good she has it.
… well, that and her insane jealousy and latching on to the wrong people for love and acknowledgement, but apart from that...
And we have a new contender in the Awful Parent Sweepstakes.
(Not quite enough to displace Shadow Weaver from her leading position, but definitely a serious threat.)


Looking at those CW DC shows, it does raise the question that the showrunners have gone nuts, and how exactly one would notice.
(Mind, it seems to be working for them...)

[arilou_skiff]

Hordak and Entrapta sure blew up, huh.

And Catra well... made pretty much the worst decisions she could for half the season.... Ouch.

That said, what I found interesting was Mara: the indication is she didn't hide Etheria: She hid the universe *from* Etheria.

[zachbeacon]

I absolutely love Hordak and Entrapta's unlikely friendship .... but Catra seems to have tanked that.

[matrix_dragon]

Catra's hopefully at her lowest point, which means we might be on our way to her taking responsibility for her actions and working out her shit.

[scorntx]

Given her actions through the last three episodes, that... doesn't seem very likely.
Like, at all.

[obsidianwolf]

You know my biggest worry with Titans season 2 is that now that Batman is going to appear that the show will start to shy away from what to me is one of it's best features. How utterly screwed up someone taken in as a vigilante's sidekick as a kid would be.

After all Batman is DC comics golden idol so any time criticism is brought up about Robin in DC properties even those trying for "realism" it pretty much always gets shuffled off as Batman doing the right thing after all.

[ozaline]

The LCS posted a sexy Nightwing pic yesterday done by one of the staff members, Daniel Schneider

https://www.facebook.com/HHComics/photos/rpp.104316202952560/2585705601480262/?type=3&theater

If that link doesn't work I put it on imgur: https://i.imgur.com/bgiNQyA.jpg


Thought you ought to know.

[icon_uk]

You are doing the Lord's work there! Thank you :)

(Though I might suggest crediting the artist on the imgur post, it seems only polite)

[ozaline]

I'll do that. Didn't think of it, cause it's a private post I only planned on linking here, in case you couldn't see the facebook link.

[deh_tommy]

Currently playing* through Halo 2 on Legendary with my brother (*by which I mean I sit back while he does all the work because I'm terrible at games and just one person dying sends you back to your last checkpoint). Jackal Snipers can go crawl back to whatever abyssal Hellmouth they clawed their way out of.

I'm excited for Halo Infinite, but I'm wary of the story and marketing after how Halo 5's campaign turned out.

[deh_tommy]

Crikey, that just feels so... wrong, seeing what happened to KyotoAni. I hope the victims (both living and dead) find peace, and the person or persons responsible get help.

[skjam]

I review space pirates! http://www.skjam.com/2019/08/05/manga-review-captain-harlock-the-classic-collection-1/

[zachbeacon]

Another terrible week in the real world.

On to the bread and circuses ...

The incredibly short "season" of Ladybug introduced a character that might be even worse than Chloé.

About halfway into the new season of Veronica Mars. I get why fans want Veronica and Logan together but I still can't buy them as a long term couple. Was pretty funny to see the armature sleuth club hang a lampshade on it.

This week's Young Justice was a big improvement over last week's nothing of an episode. A lot of big reveals along with some new questions. I like Aquaman's boyfriend now that they've expanded him past his "blink and you'll miss it" cameo last week.

[silverzeo]

I know it not really news, but for bunch of nerds for comics and superheroes, i thought to share.

This week's episode of Kamen Rider Zi-O, the heroes of the show actually foiled the big bad's plan. But NOT because they got a powerup/new toy that makes them OP to defeat the baddie, but rather using their wits and playing a gambit.

It is a VERY rare occasion to happen in these show. Even though most of the power ups are gained through a trial or have a pathos to them so that they do feel naturally, they rarely have brilliant to deal with the monster of the week other than "hit the weakspot/opening" or "new toy". But once every blue moon, they pull out a brilliant move, kinda like in Power Rangers In Space/MegaRanger, the Blue Ranger came up with a brilliant strategy to deal with their evil counterparts: Wear the same color and have them fight each other to fight the original Ranger they were to program to destroy.

In Zi-O's case: One of the other riders got stuck in self enclosed time-loop/world, which in turn brings out Dark Rider. They came up with a elaberate plan using one of the older power-ups, one that fuses them all into one rider, to break the world with the "help" from another dark Rider, Eternal... though I think they may have stretch his "power" a little much here...

[silverzeo]

The Sonic the Hedgehog crossover with O.K. KO: Lets Be Heroes got online too, on the CN website and Youtube too.

And it. Was. FULL of Sonic references from pretty much ALL the mediums! Some on the nose, some more subtle, and some in a more meta-way or 2... though I think the one exception would be Sonic Underground... not too sure if that was referenced or not..

[silverzeo]

For the Gamers: The new Super SMash Bros Ultiamte Update happened last week: You can play as The Hero(es) from the Dragon Quest franchise. Here are their move sets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciLEX04BVFM

[cygnia]

Tomorrow, I fly off onto my first cruise ever...with my in-laws.

[icon_uk]

From the ellipsis before mentioning "the in-laws", I'm not sure whether to offer congratulations, or commiserations... but in either event, have fun!

[silverhammerman]

I've completed the research for my Masters degree and submitted it, so I'm pretty pleased with that. Now I've got three weeks or so of nothing to do before I move to a new city and begin the long, dehumanizing process of looking for a job. Still, good to be done with the research!

[junipepper]

Congratulations!