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.

Part-time snake oil salesman and apparent POTUS Donald Trump announced, for no plausible reason, that he was taking hydroxychloroquine, a drug he has repeatedly boosted the cause of despite there being no evidence suggesting it would be useful against Covid-19, and might actualy be harmful to anyone not taking it for proper medical reasons (like treating lupus) who had an underlying heart condition. Such media-rattling distraction tactics usually suggest something else is up, so keep alert.

In the UK, the Government added "loss of sense of smell and taste" to the Covid19 symptoms list, a mere several months after the World Health Organisation did.

Meanwhile....

For those lacking a sense of smell for whatever reason, the good news is that the Chelsea Flower Show has gone virtual this year, so you won't be missing the scents any more than anyone else.

"She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" finished it's run with a frankly, spectacular series of episodes which managed to avoid pretty much every possible pitfall; The power of gay love saved the fricking world, plausible relationships were established, redemptions were earned, evil was punished (In one case going out with a grand gesture that saved the day, without giving them an easy pass on their previous horrible behaviour), the "Kill your gays" trope was kicked into the tall grass with a steel tipped boot, and She-Ra's new design was gorgeous (With an underlying symbolism I hadn't noticed until it was pointed out to me, but which fit the series concepts of love and friendship perfectly). I wish we were getting more, but if this is it then I, for one, am very pleased with how it ended.

Classic Doctor Who fans have had a lot of childhood dreams made manifest with the announcement that the next set of Doctor Who action figures from Character Options will, as well as including the long awaited Yaz and Ryan figures from the new series, have a "Companions of the Fourth Doctor" set featuring Sarah Jane Smith, and both incarnations of Romana, and another set with the Brigadier, Sgt Benton and Captain Mike Yates from 1970's UNIT.

And more Doctor Who goodness courtesy of the "Doctor Who: Lockdown" youtube channel, which has been putting out little vignettes, often written by the series creators and performed by the original actors, to accompany the many tweetalong episodes. The Pompadour one takes "The Girl in the Fireplace" and adds an even darker twist to an element the show mentioned, but never addressed.

I'm trying "Upload", a sort of sci-fi comedy (with hints of drama emerging) about how life in the future might allow you to upload your personality into a digital afterlife before death, and still interact with the outside world. Some nicely dark humour moments threaded through the comedy, though a few wince worthy moment, but not quite sure how it's grabbing me yet.

Comments

[stubbleupdate]

Is there any way to filter content on gumroad? I've been browsing their comics content and wading through screen after screen of vore and then pages of people putting up pirate movies. Can you blacklist creators?

[locuatico]

That sounds awful. and the Vore part sounds bad, too.

[scorntx]

Well, way to friggen spoil She-Ra for those of us who ain't managed to see the last episodes yet!
*pout*

Opinions so far going between "yaaay" and "awww" and "noooooooo!" with some rapidity.
But it does feel like someone was tossing around the monkey paw. There I was, hoping for more Netossa and Spinerella, but not like that. Not like that!
also, Net casually referred to Spin as her wife and it was the absolute best.
also also, everyone (okay, Perfuma, Mermista and Scorpia) dressing up to infiltrate an underwater party. And That Bit.

Not sure how I feel on the whole thing, might need to watch all of it (*pointed pout*) to be sure.


Apparently some comics are now shipping again in the UK, or not.
I dunno, it's really hard to work out.
And I really, really hate online shopping. Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate haaaaaate it.
(Especially since Forbidden Planet's website is just... urrgh.)


And since the lockdown has apparently been eased 'round These Parts, people have apparently decided that "social distancing" stuff no longer applies anymore.
Makes shopping a nerve-wracking experience. It's difficult to apply that sort of thing in a typically cramped supermarket anyway, but... fuck's sake...
(If there isn't a massive second spike in UK deaths, I'm gonna eat a hat.)

[icon_uk]

Sorry, I didn't think there was anything that spoiler-y there, I mean I think we guessed the save the world part was coming, and I didn't name names.

[icon_uk]

Please avoid the use of ableist terms like "lame" as derogatory comments.

[werehawk]

Love Upload! I think you’ll like it (and not a big time commitment).

[skjam]

People who actually need hydroxychloroquine are now unable to get it filled at full levels without an extra note from their doctor because of a jerk-induced shortage. I have to talk to these people.

Have finally started watching She-Ra and got through most of the first season. I have some questions about the governmental system I hope will be answered.

Over at my blog, I have an open thread about rummage sale finds, and I hope there are some folks who have opinions.

[owlbrigade1]

Jerk Induced shortage could be about so many of my meds right now, from genuinely needing opiate pain relief, anxiolytics; and even my HRT is going through a shortage because some anti transpeople group put out a meme that trans women were using up all the estrogen, and some gullible-and/or-hateful people decided to hoard it all to prevent trans women using it. Now there is an actual shortage where there wasn't any before.

[tripodeca113]

They released a behind the scenes image from Avatar 2. Motion capture mixed with water. I don’t know much about filmmaking but that sounds pretty difficult.

A prequel to Fury Road, about Furiosa. By George Miller? Well his reputation speaks for itself, but I worry about what story the film will have. Will it be the event that gets Furiosa in Immortan Joes focus, leading to her position?

Well I finally broke down and bought all the Walking Dead comics. For many years I’d read the one the library had, stop, wait six months or so for them to get the four or so volumes, and repeat. Still ALL of them for $30 is pretty good values.

Oh look the Artemis Fowl movie isn't going to be released to theatres. This pandemic is a great opportunity to quietly kick a bunch of films out the door.

Red Dead Redemption tenth anniversary. Hooray, for the inevitable passage of time!

[icon_uk]

And the New Mutants movie got another apparent cinema release date, this time August 28th...

[donnblake]

I'm torn because, on the one hand, I'd love to see another George Miller Mad Max movie, and more of Charlize as Furiosa would certainly be welcome, but on the other hand, Fury Road did such an excellent job of showing us its characters and world while directly *telling* us very little about them that a prequel seems almost wasteful.

[dragontail]

I love She-Ra. Like, a lot. Original series, new series, toys, comics, graphic novels... whichever and whatever. Love it. And I don't have the words to express how much I loved the season five finale.

But here's the thing - guys like me are over-represented and over-catered for in fiction. So the thing I'll always, always remember about the season five finale is watching my wife watch it. My wife who hates "having a feeling". My wife who's survived so much in her life and is incredibly tough, but so deeply genuine as well. My wife who would have done anything, as a queer child and teen, for that kind of representation. Those kinds of heroes. And especially *that* ending.

She cried, openly and beautifully, throughout the final two episodes. She broke down over the ending and just kept crying, for a good half-hour after the episode finished, just letting out years and years and *years* of longing for a moment like that in her epic fantasy. On her television. In her life.

So I held her, she clung to me, and she kept crying the happiest tears I've seen her shed outside of things to do with each other or our family. And it's a moment I'll never forget, because it was far too long in coming but also utterly, utterly perfect and *right*.

[icon_uk]

That was.... kinda beautiful to read too! :)

I'm so happy she got something she had wanted for so long!

[mastermahan]

Thank you sharing - that was just awesome to read! I'm seriously happy for your wife.

[zachbeacon]

I liked She Ra but I have some problems with the way it ended.

I think Adora and Bow could have done better relationship-wise. I get that representation is important but their partners are kinda terrible.

Speaking of which, I disagree with you about some of the redemptions. I bought some of the redemptions but some of them depended way too much on using a grand gesture to wipe the slate clean on a lifetime of bad behavior. What is this, Star Wars*? Heck, one of the villains even attempted to pull a Darth Vader as their redemptive move.

I may need to watch it again but were Kyle and co in this season at all? Seems like he and Rogelio check a lot of boxes in terms of representation and EARNED redemption.

The ending is fine but I think there's still a lot unresolved (especially in relation to the First Ones).

I feel like I'm being too negative on something I liked so .... how great was Netossa this season? Did not see that coming.

*Also, finally saw Rise of the Skywalker last night. Not sure if it was an editing thing or JJ's "mystery box" or what but the end of a nine-ish movie series really shouldn't have so many unresolved issues. Apparently some of them get explained in books and interviews but they should have been in the movie because that's all most people see. This is the kind of thing that leads to people "fixing" a New Hope by giving Chewie several medals across various media. Just put it in the movie.

[janegray]

SPOILERS

If you are talking about Hordak, I think the whole point of introducing Wrong Hordak was to show that Prime never allowed his clones to develop any kind of free will of their own, and kept them utterly and completely psychologically dependent on them like a cult leader. Guy even went so far as to routinely read their minds to see if they had started thinking on their own, and immediately mindwiped them if they had.

So, I don't think Hordak was redeemed because he just did one nice thing. It's more like, it wasn't really fair to hold him fully responsible for something that he only did because he had been forcibly indoctrinated into it from literally the moment he first opened his eyes.

I mean, Prime condemned Hordak to a brutal death because Hordak had got sick. It's incredibly blatant victim-blaming and abuse, and Hordak still couldn't see it at all, and still spent every waking moment fighting tooth and nail to be reunited with the person who wanted him to die in the first place. He didn't even think that Prime was wrong as in "euthanizing sick people is not okay wtf" but rather as in "I can still be of use to you!"

I don't think Hordak's story with Entrapta is "bad man becomes good when he falls in love." I think it's more like "ignorant man finds out that he is allowed to have his own opinions." Imperfection is beautiful = you don't have to be like Prime.

Tl;dr: Hordak chose to do evil because i was never even aware that good existed. It had never been allowed to be part of his worldview. The difference between Hordak and Wrong Hordak boils down to the fact that WH had the luck to be taken in by a supportive environment that helped him get out of the cult.

[iamrman]

I am still expanding my comics reading with some Silver Age Marvel. So far the Lee and Kirby Thors are a highlight for me. To Wake the Mangog was pretty epic, but was let down by a disappointing ending.

I don't know how well you folks know the Marvel Epic Collections, but that is how I read most of the older Marvel Comics. Only when they are on sale at Comixology. I'm not made of money! I only used to read X-Men, Spider-Man, but the various Epic Collections has really helped broaden my taste in comics.

I have already read most of the Mark Gruenwald Captain Americas. I know the original CapWolf story has a bit of a reputation, but I quite like it. The Wolfsbane cameo didn't hurt either.

They aren't Epic Collections, but the Walter Simonson Thors and the John Byrne Fantastic Fours are awesome as well. I might even go so far as to say the Walter Simonson Thors are some of my favourite comics.

For the sake of balance, I had better tell you about some of the DC comics I have been reading.

I have been reading The Death of Superman. I have a soft spot for comics from around that time. The only way I could read comics as a child was at my local library, so I ended up renting the likes of The Death of Superman, Knightfall and Return of the Sinister Six a lot.

[zachbeacon]

Obviously the first 100 issues of F4 and Spider-Man are very Important and generally solid reads but think my favorite Silver Age Marvel book was Silver Surfer.

Collections of the early Doctor Strange and SHIELD are worth seeking out if only for the art. Plus you don't have to suffer through the terrible Human Torch stories that were also in Strange Tales.

I have a soft spot for the non-superhero monster and sci-fi books too.

Also, Stan Lee's Daredevil run isn't GOOD but it is wonderfully insane.

[speedingtortoise]

The ending to She-Ra was pretty much everything I could have asked for . . . but now I'm really sad it's over T_T

[janegray]

I feel conflicted between hoping they do more (comics?), and being like GOD NO DON'T RISK IT DO YOU KNOW HOW RARE PERFECT ENDINGS ARE DO YOU KNOW HOW INCREDIBLY UNLIKELY IT IS FOR A STORY TO END SO WELL IF THEY MAKE A SEQUEL THEY COULD FUCK IT UP NO NO NO JUST LEAVE IT AS IT IS

I mean.

BTAS. Beyond confirmed that the sympathetic villains all met horrific ends (except for Harley, who survived, but at the cost of being complicit in the torture of Tim, so that I didn't want her to survive anymore), upped the Barbara/Bruce subtext, and confirmed that Bruce ends up bitter and alone after driving away his whole family.

ATLA. Korra confirmed that Aang died at 66 because the time he spent in the iceberg drained him of his lifeforce. 66 is nothing, my father is well over that and he is still very active. And, as the Avatar, Aang could have easily lived to 200. He deserved so much more than passing away at an age that is considered still relatively young even for normal humans.

Samurai Jack. 'Nuff said.

Star Wars. 'Nuff said

These days the only piece of media likely to have a happy ending are Disney animated movies. Everything else seems to be under the impression that escapism should be something you want to escape from.

So, we got a rare gem, a true honest-to-god happy ending.

I don't want to risk it.

[thezmage]

1. Saw Scoob! this weekend and, while I can understand many of the complaints about it, I love this movie and hope we can see more HB movies in this continuity. It wasn’t a mystery exactly but they still found a way for the entire Scooby gang to be useful while remaining true to their characters. No sudden martial arts skills from Daphne or anything

2. If you liked the fanart I posted two weeks ago, there’s now a 90s Extreme! version of it. I like how they replaced Optimus Prime and Egon in the 80s design with Optimus Primal and Eduardo from Extreme Ghostbusters

[silverhammerman]

I was shocked that the rise and fall of Scoob! seemingly took just a little over a day. I saw things go from "This is fun and has weird Hanna Barbera nods" to "This is everything wrong with corporate animation" literally overnight.

[leahandillyana]

She-Ra was AMAZING. It's possibly the sole example of a show that got continously better as it went without a spectacular crash on approach. Just, wow, that was unexpected. The difference between She-Ra and most other shows was probably because She-Ra was heavily made by Stevenson herself, who plotted the overall series and wrote all the key episodes. It's much less a child of many mothers than cartoons usually are. This makes the series more like a novel than serialized fiction.
On personal note, I'm feeling very bad, with elevated temperature, constant hypertension I cannot beat, gastrointestinal problems and suicidal ideation. Furthermore, I have to work overtime, including on weekend, to finish a large project on time. On brighter note, because I cannot really leave home,I'm writing a lot, currently working on my 75th fanfic. All my stories are here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/works
By the way, does any schedule of what comic gets realeased when exist?

[deh_tommy]

I think MARVEL and DC’s websites say their comics are coming back sometime this June, but that could be placeholder text.

[agent8]

All these comments about She-Ra, which I'm also bing-watching at the moment.
I wish I could say I had the will power not to read the more spoilery comments, but I don't, so I did.
One criticism I will throw at the show, and it's one that other cartoon shows also share.
All the "good guys" are (forgive the term) normal, physically attractive specimens of humanity. Conversely most of the "bad guys" are not "human". Scorpia, Catra, the Crimson Waste bandits, Rogellio, etc. Only Lonnie and Kyle are the named-character exceptions.
It's a message of "normal" (or maybe physical beauty/attractiveness) = good while "not normal" (physical imperfection) =bad/evil. And it's a terrible message.

[zachbeacon]

That's true of most children's fiction. As I kid I remember my mom assuming that Nightcrawler was a bad guy in the X-Men cartoon. I'm guessing it had less to do with Kurt being chased by an angry mob* and more to do with him looking like a demon.

*How often are the guys with pitchforks and torches in the right anyway?

And I maintain that Scorpia was never a bad person even when she was a "bad guy". This is a series where THE HEROINE spent most of her life blissfully indifferent to the fact that she was working for The Evil Hoard.

[deh_tommy]

This is probably a really stupid question, but do I need to have any knowledge regarding He-Man or the old She-Ra in order to watch the new She-Ra? Will I like new She-Ra if I was never that big a fan of the old cartoon or He-Man?

[matrix_dragon]

Absolute reboot, you don't need to know anything. At most, knowledge of the original would only cause the occasional chuckle at moments that are references.

[minervasolo]

I remember people asking a few weeks back, but I think i missed the answer - is there any solution to all of the scans (regardless of host) appearing much smaller than they used to? If I zoom in using ctrl+ the scan remains the same size while the page elements get bigger.

[icon_uk]

It had a post dedicated to the topic a few weeks back

https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/8807352.html

[leahandillyana]

Re: She-Ra, in the discussion surrounding it there are several voices saying that after a character does a bad thing, even if they change their ming and change sides, the only option is for them to die. To keep things vague, many fans hated the ending of the cartoon. What do you guys think of it?

[zachbeacon]

I never liked the idea of always killing off the villain at the end of the story* but I don't think you should end the story with the dictator and the heroes in a group hug. There's a LOT of space in the middle.

*This is why we'll probably never get a proper Thunderbolts in the MCU. So many of the established villains that would fit the theme are dead.