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.

An abbreviated entry today due to other commitments.

The US Electoral College has now formally and conclusively confirmed Joe Biden as the next President of the USA. The current President of the USA has still not conceded.

Georgia's Senate run off voting has begun.

In the midst of triumphant news about the COVID vaccination campaign rolling out, the UK Governemnt has simultaneously had to put London into it's highest level of lockdown because of an increase in cases, and despite also insisting schools don't close early for Christmas, have on intention of changing their mind about the three day relaxation of rules for the days over Christmas. It's all a bit... inconsistent, and most people I know have already pre-emptively decided that they are not going to go an see their family this year.

Germany has also done much the same on a countrywide level.

Brexit just keeps on going and going like a zombie Energiser bunny. Companies are still being told to prepare for a big change sixteen days hence when most of them still have no clue what the situation will be. Will it just be bloody complicated, or INCREDIBLY complicated?

Since it isn't technically on topic elsewhere, please feel free to chip in on the 413 new Star Wars series announced last week by Disney. I sort of lost track of them all.

A Happy Hannukah to those who celebrate it.

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Dear God, Disney is horrifying. More than ten Star Wars shows planned? Well, they’re going to run this well dry. The Mandalorian was popular, so now we’ll get an endless string of TV shows, all trying to do the same thing, with no understanding of why it worked. It would be nice if the Ahsoka show was animated, but it’ll be live action and she’ll have terrible short head-tentacles. I only really care about The Bad batch. I hope the rapid expansion fails and they all get shit-canned. I don’t care about the other franchises. From what I can tell Scarlet Witch and Vision’s relationship was poorly received, so I don’t see why they made a show based around it.

Cyberpunk 2077-Ah it seems like it’ll be outcome number two: the important lesson about managing expectations, and not pre-ordering video games. I can’t say I didn’t expect this, but I did it anyway.

Oh, look a CGI announcement trailer for an upcoming Mass Effect game, which contains no gameplay footage, or concrete indication of what the final product will be like. Hmmmmm, I’m going to advise caution here.

Hmm it looks like Spider-Man 3 Home Invasion, is going to be some sort of crossover film. So I guess that cliff-hanger ending wasn’t that important, as they seem to be making a different film.

Oh my God, Suki’s getting a comic focusing on her. Sure it’s set during the cartoon, but it’s something.

That Winx Club show sure looks bland and generic. If I had any faith in the live action Avatar The Last Airbender show, I’d be even more worried.

[icon_uk]

All the Clone Wars characters were massively stylised, so I don't have any problem with them having to make design changes for a live action version.

I will applaud the Winx club trailer I saw for NOT having all of them be the same wasp waisted designs they had on the cartoon, I will however, heave a sigh over it for being so dreary looking a show. You're a show about magic and fairy's, at least look like you're having some FUN with it!

[owlbrigade1]

I'd prefer an animated Ashoka show too, if for no other reason than they could drop the transphobic live action actor for someone less awful.

[zachbeacon]

RE Star Wars:

Yeah, I remember when Disney said they’d have a new SW movie every year. Then Solo underperformed and episodes eight and nine got … mixed responses so they pulled back. I guess Mandalorian doing well means they’re all in on streaming … until they have another flop and start chasing the next trend.

Also not crazy about live action Ahsoka which is a shame because I really like the character in her original form.

RE Marvel:

So far Scarlet Witch and Vision’s relationship seems like a blink and you’ll miss it Easter Egg for comic fans. They invested more time into the aborted Steve/Sharon relationship (and Cap/Widow. And Cap/Bucky.)

As noted earlier this week in another thread, I have to take any Spider-Man news with a grain of salt.

RE Disney in general:

Its hard to get excited about any D+ announcements when we’ve seen barely any of the shows they announced at launch a year ago. Sure Covid is responsible for SOME of it but that doesn’t excuse all the months with little to no content early in the year. We’ve seen zero of the Marvel shows and won’t even be seeing one of the ones that’s already finished until next year. At this point it feels like a video game announcement; I wonder if I’ll see Metroid Prime 4 before Hawkeye.

[malurette]

Thanks to a conjuction of "my neighbourhood is terribly unsafe at the moment so even without covid-related restrictions I don't feel like leaving my house for fear of finding it broken into when I come back" and "our covid sero test is one of the best, yay! laboratories are ordering tons of kits and there's no time to manufacture them all!" I'm looking forward to my holidays getting cancelled. Or at least postponed by several weeks?

[leahandillyana]

Last week I've been robbed by some asshole at a knife point. The only thing I lost was a badge with a well-known pro-tolerance & pro-diversity slogan, but I feel I should have protected myself and my things. "My things" in general are pretty rough, I've been having a problem with financial stability for half a year. I am living with my parents, so it's not too bad, but as every time my bank account gets nearly empty by the next salary I get sadder. It frustrates me, because I specifically try to spend as little as possible and yet end up with less money than when I wasn't trying at all. I've gotten pretty good at finding things I want for cheap though.

[icon_uk]

I'm sorry for what you went through, that must have been horrific

For what it's worth, every single support group will tell you the same thing; You made absolutely the right choice. No "thing" is worth risking your safety over, so choosing to put yourself over a possession is 100% the right call.

[lilacsigil]

Oh, I'm sorry, that must have been really scary. And much better to lose a badge than your life!

[skjam]

Last week I mentored a new hire; first she'd listen to my calls for a few hours, then I'd listen to her calls and coach. Went better than expected. Since the physical office I had worked at is gone now, I am working from home indefinitely, though the main office hopes to have some folks back in the workplace in June.

Over at my blog, I celebrated the eighth anniversary of it by posting my thoughts on the new series in Shonen Jump! http://www.skjam.com/2020/12/12/manga-review-shonen-jump-2020/

[scorntx]

So there's a teaser out for the next Mass Effect, and Bioware are being all coy about whether it's following up on the original trilogy or Andromeda.
Admittedly, speculating is kind of meaningless after a minute-long teaser, but it sure looks and sounds like the former. Which is frustrating.


That episode of Discovery was... unusual.
It was nice of them to give Yeoh something more to do than just stand around making smug remarks.
But the 'science', even for a ship powered by mushrooms, is just stupid. And contrived.
Not sure if I'd label it a redemption story, since... well, Georgiou hasn't really shown much signs of changing. She's just not murdering and eating people, but not actually becoming better.
Which makes the idea she's somehow softened from her year or so hanging around with the Feds fall a little flat.
(At least show her drinking a root beer or something.)

Have a feeling where the next episode is going to go. Kind of hoping it doesn't, but knowing Discovery, it almost certainly will.

[icon_uk]

I think that they're sort of showing that Georgiou talks the talk, but she's can't quite walk the walk the way she could before she spent time in the Prime Universe.

She's still an utterly horrible person, but she's not quite as quick to kill as she was (unless it's an assassination attempt) which is a minor shift in Prime terms, but a big one in Mirror terms.

[tripodeca113]

The Mass Effect trailer, does raise a lot of potentially interesting questions, I just doubt that Bioware has has any satisfying answers for them.

[zachbeacon]

It’s a Wonderful Life gets better every time I watch it.

Hey, does anyone have any holiday comic recommendations? Preferably stuff that can be found on Marvel Unlimited or DC Universe. I thought I’d read just about every holiday special in the past 20 years but this weekend I stumbled across a digital comic where Ghost Rider beats Krampus after getting a pep talk from Santa.

Anyway, taking a short break from the holiday binge to watch the new season of Hilda because its nice to have a fantasy series about English children that hasn’t been ruined because the author is a monster.

Also watched a couple episodes of Daughter of Lupin. I can’t decide if I like the show or not but dear god its WEIRD. Also, considering the name of the show and the fact that the female lead is clearly descended from the literary (and also, presumably, anime) Lupin, the show seems really reluctant to use the name; yeah, I get why the family wouldn’t use the name while hiding in plain sight but even the cops call them “the L family”. I’d assume it was a rights thing if not for the name of the show.

[icon_uk]

Oh, I forgot Hilda Season 2 was out. That's something nice to look forward to! :D

[thezmage]

JLA #60, where Santa Claus joins the Justice League is still one of my favorites

[nightauditguy]

Apparently William DaFoe and Thomas Haden Church are in talks to be in the next Spider-Man. Multiversal Sinister Six?

[zachbeacon]

Nothing like undoing a character redemption in a good Spider-Man movie so they can salvage a plot they were setting up in a bad Spider-Man movie.

Still, I appreciate that the "Multiversal Sinister Six" likely won't just be a half dozen Goblins.

[owlbrigade1]

One of the lesser casualties of Brext, my planned row of apple trees. Lubera, the only company in the world which supplies the variety I want, is pulling out of the UK until at least 2022 or 2023 at the earliest, because of the fustercluck that is this stupid thing and has had to cancel my order.

It is a tiny drop in the ocean compared to the big losses other people are experiencing, but I feel it is indicative of just just how massive the impact actually is. It is losses big and small all the way down to what we can grow in our gardens. If the losses are so entwined in daily life, then I feel it shows just how much of a mistake this is. It may be the biggest self inflicted political wound in history.

[lordultimus]

JUST TELL ME WHETHER TRUMP AND THE GOP LIKE EACH OTHER OR NOT!!!

[zachbeacon]

Its weird. When Bush Jr was on his way out all the sycophants turned on him. Trump lost over a month ago and most of the GOP is still denying reality. It doesn't bode well for the future.

[bradygirl_12]

Trump hasn't conceded yet and he never will! Narcissists don't do well with defeat.

[owlbrigade1]

Just think of all the times you hear "family found dead, no suspects sought" on the news after the male breadwinner loses their job or is told their partner wants a separation. Now remember that instead of a baseball bat or a shotgun, trump has nuclear codes. The world will not be safe until Biden officially takes office. Then I will give a sigh of relief. Until then, worrying.

[cygnia]

My husband's folks tested negative for COVID thankfully.

And there's gonna be a 2nd season of "Staged"!

[deh_tommy]

Man, a good bit of the stuff I normally really like and was looking forward to I ended up rather disappointed in this year (Doctor Who, Destiny, Bojack Horseman, The Dark Pictures, Excalibur, Star Wars Episode IX, etc.). I’m curious about watching Adventure Time: Distant Lands, but I liked the way the show ended and I’m worried about being disappointed again.

[thezmage]

Found a Call of Cthulhu actual play podcast that grabbed me finally: Ain't Slayed Nobody, which has a main campaign set in the old west called "The Y'all of Cthulhu." If you like actual play comedy horror podcasts you should give it a listen.

Little concerned not to have heard anything about Monsters At Work during the Disney announcements

I can be sympathetic to the people concerned about the effect on their payment from the HBO Max same day release plan, but with a global pandemic going on and theaters not being safe to visit for awhile I really can't give less of a shit about the ones talking about preserving "the cinematic experience" or some such. And, no, I don't have to side with the rich directors just because they're less rich than the major corporation

[spider_man6]

As shady and problematic as Disney is these days, I'm very much looking forward to all the Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel stuff they announced. Anything Star Wars that's a TV show and has the budget and interesting lore to back up the universe clicks for me.

So...Cyberpunk came out, and my experience hasn't really been...benefitical. I got a cool witcher-esque necklace with the game's pre-order, but the PS4 experience I've had hasn't been very good, and all the stuff CDPR has put out added to my worries. Gonna' leave it alone until I score a PS5.

Re: The Joker

[icon_uk]

That's more on topic than off isn't it? :)

And we already have a post devoted to the news.

https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/9056855.html

[capnduckman]

Oh man! I'm super excited for the new Percy Jackson series. One can only hope they stay truer to the books than the movies...

But then i think about artemis fowl, and weep.

[ironymaiden]

Artemis Fowl is why I was horrified by the announcement that they bought the rights to The Thief. There's no way they get those books right. They might be unadaptable, and certainly not as family fare.