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.

Voting is now definitely off and running in the US elections. Voting has never been more important. And you do have the next Presidential debate to look forward to, this time microphones WILL be muted for parts of it to prevent one candidate talking over the other (I wonder who THAT will disadvantage more... )

I'd try to explain the current UK rules about Coronavirus quarantining, but it's changing so often, there's not much point.

Brands which have seen an increase in sales since social distancing laws were relaxed include over cleaner, air freshner and condoms... That says a a lot... I'm not sure what, but a lot!

Inspired by that young whippersnapper of a 100 year old, Captain Sir Tom Moore, a lady of 104 has decided to complete the length of a marathon (in chunks) to raise money for charity.

A town in Quebec, after a vote, have decided that "Val De Sources" as a name for their town is probably preferable to their old name of... ummm... "Asbestos"

Some enterprising soul has taken it upon themselves to create an entire new episode of the 1980's "Dungeons & Dragons" cartoon, based on the written and released by the author, but never made, final episode: Requiem. A hugely impressive piece of work, IMHO.

I watched the rest of Star Trek Lower Decks. I still don't much like the character I didn't care for in the first few episodes (and a secret is uncovered late in the season that I wasn't aware had ever been supposed to be a secret, so that felt slightly odd), but the rest of it did indeed get more enjoyable. Some of the in-jokes are REALLY geeky, which is always fun.

And Star Trek: Discovery started it's third season with soemthing of a change of pace. Enjoyable, and it allowed Sonequa Martin-Green to show a slightly different side of her acting range, which was nice, though the new character introduced (I assume he's going to be a regular) didn't leave much of an impression on me.

Random question of the week - You wake one morning to find the Enterprise shuttle, the Millenium Falcon and the TARDIS in front of your dwelling. Which do you choose to go with, or do you just turn around and go back to bed?

Comments

[owlbrigade1]

Probably the Tardis. It has the most intuitive user interface. That is to say it intuits the button and lever you need to press and then puts it under your hands to make sure you press it. Plus it doesn't seem to need fuelling or star charts.

[icon_uk]

Oh I think it NEEDS star charts, it certainly HAS them, it just doesn't normally GET a chance to use them.

[malurette]

If I can get a Blue Shirt I'll go with the Enterprise! (If they hand me a Red Shirt I'll just go back to bed.)

[zachbeacon]

What if they told you you're be an "essential worker" when they hand you the red shirt?

[zachbeacon]

My first impulse is the TARDIS because exploring all of time and space seems like the best option. However, things don’t tend to end well for companions.

As much as I love Chewbacca, the Millenium Falcon is a pile of junk and living in the SW universe seems pretty awful.

Conversely, I’m not much of a Star Trek guy but that universe seems like a utopia especially compared to what we’re currently living through.

Granted I know myself well enough to know there’s a good chance I go back to bed.


Y’know, when I watch people demanding for Disney parks to be reopened I really wonder if we – as a society – deserve to survive this pandemic.

The wait time for new Marvel Unlimited comics has gone from six months to three months … presumably because Marvel lost three months this year.

I haven’t read a lot of comics lately but I did read Superman Smashes the Klan this weekend. It was great.

I’ve been gaming a bit more lately. Mostly its been my ongoing Dragalia Lost addiction. I’ve also been playing Mario 35 at least a week times a week; finally, a battle royale game worth playing.

I tried playing Genshin Impact on my PS4. Its very pretty but it suffered from a problem I see with a lot of open world games; it throws you into a giant world while wanting you to start a linier tutorial. I really wish they’d signpost better early on.

BTW Sony is about to make some changes to the PlayStation Store that includes getting rid of wishlists and making it nearly impossible to get PS3 and Vita content.

Most of my free time has been spent watching anime (currently watching Noir and waiting for Funimation to add the last couple episodes of A Certain Scientific Railgun) . I’ll probably comment on some of them in more depth later. I think this will be my last month of Funimation for a while since I doubt I’ll have much free time at the end of the month.

Does anyone have any recommendations for older (or at least finished and dubbed*) short anime?

*I don’t have anything against subtitles but there’s larger time commitment.

[janegray]

Y’know, when I watch people demanding for Disney parks to be reopened I really wonder if we – as a society – deserve to survive this pandemic.

https://whitepeopletwitter.tumblr.com/post/632323757488373760

BTW Sony is about to make some changes to the PlayStation Store that includes getting rid of wishlists and making it nearly impossible to get PS3 and Vita content.

Wait, the wishlist too?

The email I got said they were going to only allow buying PS3 games directly from the PS3-accessed store, and you couldn't buy it from browser or any other access point anymore. But I saw nothing about the wishlist.

Does anyone have any recommendations for older (or at least finished and dubbed*) short anime?

You should mention your preferences. I'm not gonna recommend a sugary sweet romantic comedy to somebody who prefers stuff like Attack On Titan.

[dewinged]

I remember seeing an online-posted script for "Requiem" some years ago. I kinda recall it ended on Dungeon Master's line "The choice is yours.". So what happened in the can episode after that surprised me, with one of them staying behind.

The other 5 get home, but like most other cases of something like this, the story doesn't mention that they're probably persons of interest in their friend's missing persons cases for the rest of their lives. (Looking at you, Guy Gavriel Kay.)

I caught up on DuckTales episodes, including the hour long Darkwing Duck ep. You can see how much the creators loved the originals, which made my really happy with how it all turned out. Bushroot was especially terrifying.

The Batwoman retool still pisses me off, because they could have just recast Kate. I see up in an environment that was "It's only quality of you do things the hard way even if there's an easier way to get the exact same result." It took me a long time to break out of that mindset. They took an easy solution and made it needlessly complicated, which is going to alienate the fans the show had already. (For me, the character dynamics were the most important part of the show, all of which get jettisoned with no Kate) . I don't plan on watching the new one, but I am concerned I'll be considered racist as a result.

I'm working from until the end of the year (at least). I've been considering getting a Switch Lite and Animal Crossing, because I've watched way too many gameplay video series on YouTube. But I am hesistant, because the game came out months ago so I might have missed the boat. :(

I saw the preview for the MODOK animated series...so they shitcanned the Tigra/Dazzler team up cartoon but kept this?!. The hell is wrong with people?

Over the last few months I've seen two B movies on YouTube: Ralph Bakshi's Wizards and The Dragon Lives Again. She to the algorithm the video immediately after them were reviews of the same by a guy named Brandon Tenold. Now...I can't stop watching his reviews of cheesy B movies.

[icon_uk]

Correct, it's easy to find the script of Requiem online and they do change the ending, but I like the ending they chose; one of them likes their new life in the Realm, and has a unique opportunity offered to them.

I've not seen the Darwking Duck one yet, but I've found the last couple of DT episodes to be... just not that funny. Decent adventures, yes, but a bit lacking in the wit they usually have and they brought back perhaps the least intersting villain they've introduced in the Neverglades story (Who doesn't even do much in the story)

[scorntx]

The other week IDW announced they're doing a new Beast Wars comic.
...
I'd be slightly more optimistic if nigh every piece of post-Beast Wars media hadn't been middling to just outright terrible (with the exception of Uprising).
... though the writer is the same person who's done the Ghostbusters comics from IDW (haven't read them, but what I've seen of them on this site looked alright), and the GB/TF crossover (which I have read, and was alright).


Saw that first episode of Discovery season 3.
Don't know about making judgement calls on a whole season on the basis of the first episode, so...
It was okay, I guess? Solid work establishing the new setting and premise.
Although... and with the acknowledgement that Trek's relationship with science has generally always been sitcom worthy, and that it's (presumably) going to get an explanation later, part of the explanation for how the future is the way it is was... um... well.
It was a bit like a sketch from That Mitchell and Webb Look, where a man's in hospital with a broken arm.
"How'd you break your arm, Chris?"
"*shrug* Jus' broke."


... Which Enterprise? Because if it's D, I'd have to have a good long think about it. If it's the NX-01, I'mma go straight back to bed.
And it'd depend on which Doctor's in that TARDIS.
(Three might be nice. All of his companions got to walk away alive and untraumatised, even if the man himself is kind of strangle-worthy sometimes.)

[icon_uk]

There certainly seem to be echoes of "Andromeda" (as in the Kevin Sorbo series) in the future scenario, and given that was a Gene Rodenberry idea too, I wonder how that might echo it.

I hadn't thought to indicate which Doctor, but that's a good point. Two, Twelve or Thirteen might be my choices.

1) Grumpy
2) The "I'm just a clown" routine might get old fast but I do like him
3) Agreed you'd probably get out alive, but you'd never want to see velvet, or smell Hi-Karate aftershave again.
4) A bit much
5) A bit... beige
6) A LOT much, but you'd always know where you stood with him
7) Not keen on discovering that my goldfish dying when I was four was all his fault.
8) Not sure what his track record on companions is either, but if you count Big Finish, not that great
War - NOPE
9) Like him a lot, and wish him well, but his emotional baggage fills half the TARDIS.
10) Defaults to "Arrogant", and overall a bit smug for my tastes.
11) It'd be like babysitting a child that has a flamethrower.
12) Again, grumpy, but I'm Scottish too, so we might have some fun arguments, our eyebrows could at any rate
13) Just wants to travel the universe and timestream, seeing interesting things and meeting interesting people. Adventures usually happen TO her, not BECAUSE of her. More of a traveller than some of the others have felt like.

Belated question.

[owlbrigade1]

When you say Enterprise shuttle, do you mean a shuttle from Star Trek like the Galileo Seven [or the giant U-Haul Picard uses when he has to take a trip with Wesley] or do you mean the NASA test orbiter?

Re: Belated question.

[icon_uk]

Good point. :)

A Shuttle from the USS Enterprise NX-01/NCC-1701-n (where N is a letter beteen "null" and ooooh, let's say "E")

(Since none of the Enterprises could land, and transporting doesn't leave any obvious signs for you to know you would be transported, I thought it was the best indicator)

[iamrman]

My Batman marathon has reached Knightfall. Growing up, I only had access to the comics in my local library and Knightfall was one of those trades (the other ones I read the most being The Death of Superman and Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six). Naturally, my feelings for Knightfall is coloured by nostalgia.

As more the Marvel comics on my list, it is a repeat visit to the Thor: War of the Pantheons Epic Collection. It basically boils down to Thor Vs. Serpentor, I mean Seth the Serpent God. (Seriously though, I can't be the only one that thinks Seth's forces look like Cobra's cast-offs).

[lissa_quon]

TARDIS. time traveling seems more fun than drinking blue milk,and listening to classical trombone solos.

This lull in bullshit news seems almost ominous. I keep waiting for something awful to show up on the news stream. I mean yea we did get the Huner Biden laptop shit but its so stupid you cant even take it seriously. But I've already voted, despite Gov. Abbot's best efforts to prevent that.

Not much else going on - I'm starting to set up a holiday arts and crafts market. Virtually. All the venues and events I usually work with this time of year are...dead. So I decided to try to see what I could do myself.

IN OTHER NEWS - POSSIBLY GOOD NEWS - A Teen Girl has discovered a molecule that might lead to a treatment for COVID.

[arilou_skiff]

My main problem with Discovery hasnt really been the story or acting or anything like that, its just that the colour palette is so dull. Its all so very... dull orange and blue? It just makes it a chore to look at.

[thezmage]

We all knew you were talking about Mariner. Frankly, we were all thinking it. Took a good long while for me to like the character, and I'm still not 100% there, but we'll see in season 2.

Get on the Enterprise, have it drop me off in the future. Replicators, holodecks, super-advanced medical procedures, what's not to like?

Watched the Batman: Death in the Family interactive short. Complete waste of money. The main "Jason dies" storyline leads to Batman literally recapping the Under the Red Hood movie from start to finish. The "Jason blows up but doesn't die" story is just dull and ends almost immediately. Only the "Batman saves Jason" ending has any other decisions to make and some of them are genuinely clever. Of course, the people who bought it digitally will never see those choices, just a recap of a movie they could get for cheaper.

Don't know if I'll be able to complete my Scooby Doo rewatch in the next 11 days, with 19 movies to go. We'll see, I guess.

Watched the second cartoon network made live action film, Curse of the Lake Monster. What is the deal with having real monsters in live action Scooby Doo movies? You have a license to make a monster that doesn't look realistic, take it! Also the romance stuff was kinda funny in the beginning but by the time Velma feels pressured to go on a date with Shaggy it stops being entertaining.

Legend of the Phantosaur was a lot of fun, actually. This is the one where Shaggy gets hypnotized to not be afraid and beats up a whole biker gang. Also Velma gets love struck for a guy who looks almost exactly like her and they actually managed to make this bit entertaining. "Dig it, Scooby Doo" is a catchy song.

Music of the Vampire is a musical movie. Like most cartoons that aren't musical but attempt to do a musical episode, this one isn't very good, but it's still a lot more enjoyable than most that do that. "Done with Monsters" is the best song.

[janegray]

I've never read or watched The Great Gatsby, so I have absolutely no clue who/what it is about. ButI know somebody who has made some of my favourite video reviews and analyses ever, she is really super talented, and she has just made a TGG video, so if you like TGG you should check it out.

https://cushfuddled.tumblr.com/post/632153219670425600/my-gatsby-analysis-video-is-finally-done

[zachbeacon]

Its one of those books that's so very American that I guess it shouldn't be a surprise it's less popular outside the US

(Its also one of those books that's completely wasted on the kids who are forced to read it in school)

The short version is that it's about a guy from the Midwest who moves to Long Island and gets sucked into rich people nonsense. Its about the lengths that people will go to to keep up appearances and how the American dream isn't what it's cracked up to be.

I've seen a lot of gay readings of things that just come across as wishful thinking but this is one where I can certainly see it. Nick seemed far more infatuated with Gatsby than he was with his own female love interest. Also the book is written from Nick's POV and Gatsby's female obsession does NOT come across well; granted she is married to the worst person in the book so it's deserved.

[janegray]

TARDIS.

I know you can't make real changes to history. But there are a couple of things that hurt me very badly and are completely irrelevant to the River Of Time, things that made a big difference for me but for absolutely nobody else on the planet, so I'd use time travel to fix them.

[deh_tommy]

Definitely the TARDIS, because that’s inconspicuous and can both store the other two ships inside thatself and do pretty much anything they can do anyway. Plus, TARDISes are sentient, so I wouldn’t want to hurt their feelings.

Anyone here familiar with No Straight Roads? That’s a bit buggy and the gameplay’s alright, but by gosh I love the presentation. The music, the style, the characters, that’s all... *chef’s kiss*

[janegray]

Just a tip, the game Okage shadow King is on sale.

https://store.playstation.com/it-it/product/EP9000-CUSA02282_00-SCUS971290000001

Look, it's a PS*2* game, with very very obvious PS2 limitations. The loading times in particular are atrocious (though they might have fixed that in the PS store version, I played the disk version), and the dungeons are extremely repetitive.

But the story is fantastic, with a plot twist I never saw coming, and really excellent character moments. It starts out shallow and silly like a looney toons cartoon, then at midday point it hits you with the FEELS train. I genuinely love it with all my heart, and though I understand that most may find its flaws too annoying to tolerate (THE LOADING TIMES OMG), I hope somebody may choose to give it a chance anyway and love it even just half as much as I did.

[cainofdreaming]

Allons-y! That's all.

FAO of Mods

[stubbleupdate]

Where do we stand on linking to sites like boundingintocomics?

IMHO, they can GTFO but I'd be keen to hear a community opinion

Re: FAO of Mods

[owlbrigade1]

What is the story on them? I assume they are bad?

[kamino_neko]

You wake one morning to find the Enterprise shuttle, the Millenium Falcon and the TARDIS in front of your dwelling. Which do you choose to go with, or do you just turn around and go back to bed?

Hmm. TOS Enterprise, TNG Enterprise, or ENT Enterprise?

Mmm. Well, I think, regardless, the TARDIS...while Star Trek is my favourite of the three franchises, the TARDIS just lends itself to more interesting adventures. Just mostly the recurring characters are not as fun.

But if it was the TOS Enterprise and I had some indication I'd either be on the bridge, or a non-Security OPs position, I'd seriously consider it. Ditto if it were a DS9 Runabout.

(This is assuming I'd become an actual crew member/companion...if I was just being brought into the universe, TNG era Trek, all the way.)

[tripodeca113]

Mad Max: Untitled Furiosa Prequel, has announced some new cast members indicating that the project is moving forward. As the film will either involve Furiosa as a slave or Joe’s enforcer, it’s not going to be a fun movie.

It’s been a rough time lately, but some old friends are making a welcome return. Yes the Animaniacs are coming back. Also, their doing a reunion of some show by Aaron Sorkin, but that’s less important.

Huh, Dexter’s coming back. What next Game of Throne season nine? Lost: The Continuation?

[donnblake]

Re: Furiosa- George Miller has enough credit with me after Fury Road that I'm willing to go into Furiosa with an open mind, but I would've preferred to see Furiosa's story continue after Fury Road rather than pick up before it. I admired Fury Road's refusal to do more than sketch out and hint at character backstories and expect the audience to keep up, and I would have loved to see Theron return to the role.

Re: Dexter- my first thought was the little red-headed kid with the lab-or-atory. Which I'd be down for. Ah, well, maybe he'll put in an appearance in the Powerpuff girls series.

[juniper6]

Well, the Star Trek franchise and I are the exact same age, so obviously....I am way too fucking old for any that crap. Back to bed it is.

[zachbeacon]

So apparently AOC will be playing Among Us on Twitch tonight..

https://kotaku.com/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-will-be-streaming-among-u-1845430601

Normally I'd applaud her reaching out to voters on Twitch or visiting people's Animal Crossing islands but - given what little I know about this game - it seems like really bad optics for a politician. I get that DC is also a place full of backstabbing imposters but I think that might cause people to read too much into her performance in the game.

D & D and 11

[steverodgers5]

Thank you so much for linking to the Dungeons & Dragons finale episode! I read Requiem many years back and I knew there was an attempt to get animation started on it, but I never realised they'd actually completed it. Really impressed by how they used the old Marvel cartoons music in it. That was a big part of the show for me, (and sadly something that some dvd releases are inexplicably missing.)
Finally after about 35 years I have closure! :)

I love the Millenium Falcon but I don't think I could pilot it. Going aboard the Enterprise might be the safest, but if it was Eleven in the TARDIS that one wins easily, (and not just because he had two really hot companions in Clara and Amy Pond!) He was just such a jolly, fun loving chap, who really seemed to enjoy travelling through all of Time & Space. So I think that combination would make for the most fun travels...provided you survive the experience!

[werehawk]

If you like this week's theme, you should read the book Armada (by the guy who wrote Ready Player One - the book, not the twisted version of the movie).

Also, I was going to say Enterprise, but I firmly believe that transporters kill the person and recreates them identically on the other side. So, it is a duplicate and not you (who is now dead). So no thank you unless you could guarantee I will never be beamed anywhere.

[icon_uk]

Re: Armada - I hope the screenwriters of "The Last Starfighter" are suing! :D

[zachbeacon]

I'm not sure but I think this means Sweden has a new queen...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-45753455?__twitter_impression=true

[icon_uk]

It's from two years ago, so based on the world since then, I'm not sure if her Royal Highness should be congratulated, or blamed. :D