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 intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.

Normal board rules about conduct and behaviour still apply, of course.

Another week where the mainstream news is VERY hard going, so I'm just... not going to go.

June is, of course, Pride Month, which is very much ON topic with us here on scans_daily, so please enjoy it as best you can given your personal circumstances.

Just started reading one of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse's "Mycroft and Holmes" novels when I saw it in the lcoal library (And libraries are a thing again! YAY!) Seems very promising so far.

Watched "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" when I saw it was on Netflix but, never having read the original books, found it rather unengaging, and wasn't really sure who this was being marketed at since it felt like a sort-of-R-rated episode of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?". (Having looked at Stephen Gammell's illustrations for the orignal books, they are TERRIFYING and, in fairness they did go with his design for the Pale Lady, but I think she lost something in translation to 3D). Oh well.

For anyone feeling that they might be too old to celebrate their art, here's Eileen Kramer, a 106 year old who still paints, writes and dances.

Miraculous introduced it's new Bee Miraculous holder with the new heroine Vesperia supplanting Chloe/Queen Bee in a story memorably titled "Queen Banana". Chloe will do anything to keep the yellow and black theme going I guess.

"Cruella" has come out to.... mixed reviews might be the best word. The tragic backstory is either completely loopy or is so meta a nod to certain other traumatic origin tropes that it is breathtaking.

So, along those lines, this weeks random question: Favourite fictional villain? You don't need to justify your choice, nor will we assume you endorse their actions. Just which one engages you the most?

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Essay writing essay wriiting I always manage my time badly and have to craft at least 40% of them in the last two days. I just want to watch Cobra Kai with my dear sweet mother....

Cobra Kai has confirmed the obvious return of a classic baddy. Yes the highlight of Karate Kid 3, Terry Silver. For the first time in my life he seems to have captured the public consciousness. But will he work well in the shows somewhat more grounded tone? While the writers change him, but mess up his vital charm? I don't know, but at least we'll learn what Dynatox has been up to for the last three decades.

So, what's apparently the script of the scrapped live action Powerpuff Girls pilot was leaked......Maybe it's fake (I kind of hope it's fake). If it's real.....we dogged a real bullet.

I saw a trailer for the Cruella film once, I didn't see why they didn't just make an original film about a woman planning a heist. I still don't see why they didn't just do that. Still we got some funny memes out of it.

I started reading Swamp Thing, everyone's favourite Man-Thing clone (yes, I know it's not that clear cut). This Alan Moore guy is going places. I accidently bought the first volume on Ebay. There was an auction going on, so I placed the first bid. Then I realised I could read most of the series through the university I go to. Sadly, in the time left no-one else outbid me. Oh well.

When I go downstairs at night, I hear scurrying. I think there's mice.

[tinygaylaura]

They are apparently planning to rewrite the script and pitch the pilot again

We may have dodged that bullet but they're reloading and ready to take aim again

[tinygaylaura]

I need to catch up on Miraculous and soon

I think Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark would have worked much better as an anthology film personally as I think trying to make it work as one single narrative just didn't quite work. For me anyway

So excited for Pride Month!

I plan to make the most of it and I have lots of fun plans with friends that should make it one to remember. I am also very very excited fo the Pride Month related content coming from DC and Marvel this month which all looks absolutely wonderful. I've just bought the new Poison Ivy book DC have put out and I can't wait to start reading it

Less good news was that a good friend of mine suffered a bad fall this week. Any good wishes for them to get better soon would be appreciated

I feel like I need to see Cruella because I can't quite believe the spoilers I've heard about it are true and I need to confirm with my own eyes that the internet isn't playing a trick on me

[lilacsigil]

I hope your friend is doing okay.

[fra080389]

I don't know if the tragic backstory in Cruella was supposed to be a parody. I mean, "dalmatians killed her adoptive mother" is so ridiculous that people were used to tell it as a joke. It is like if in the Mulan live action they actually put someone spitting in the matchmaker's bean curd to explain why she was so mean that morning, because Granma Fa said it as a joke in the animated movie.

My favourite villain... mmm, I'm more an anti hero/sympathetic antagonist person, but there is a villain who is totally unsympathetic and with basically no redeeming qualities (well, more and less, I liked his questionable sincerity and comical reasonableness in crazyland, so there is that) I found very compelling: Solf J. Kimblee from Fullmetal Alchemist (the manga).

[lego_joker]

My reigning theory is that the movie was originally pitched as a black-comedy (a genre Disney's had precious little to do with before, but hey, it's a new frontier to conquer...), but somewhere along production someone kept wanting to make it more like Maleficent, to guarantee it would recoup its box office.

Granted, I'm not sure how well it would've done even as a full-on black comedy. Those kinds of stories are hard enough to pull off in feature-length even with studios that do 'em for a living.

[tinygaylaura]

I attempted my first post here on scans daily and after some trial and error figured out how to do so, only for most of the images I shared to not display properly. I am pretty downhearted about that.

[icon_uk]

Not to worry, you are far from the first to find it tricky when starting out! :)

[onsokumaru]

Got my first pfizer shot yesterday.
Until the very end, my best friend tried to talk me out of it by sharing vids about people's arms becoming magnetic or the vaccine being used to sterilize people. Part of me actually wish that last one was true.
I mean, he could at least try something less phony, like using the recent russian propaganda (https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/may/25/influencers-say-russia-linked-pr-agency-asked-them-to-disparage-pfizer-vaccine) about the severe side effects being understated by bigpharma. But no, going right to "Bill Gates is planning to mind control and/or genocide people".
So far, my arm hurts a little bit, but it's not as painful at the sunburns I got walking back from the vaccination center. Curse you, lizard people! I figured it out! The vaccination was actually a trap to lure me outside on a sunny day so I would get skin cancer!

I recently watched the first Violet Evergarden movie. Like with the series, I got from" meh, this is boring" to "it's a terrible day for rain, Lieutenant Hawkeye".

The recent jump manga Candy Flury is a bit disappointing. An action manga with a female MC is refreshing, and her personnality is also a nice change from many shonen protags. But the story itself is already going from cliché to cliché. And I'm not sure how long the writer can be creative with using candies as superpowers.

As for the QOTW, I realize I don't have a single favorite villain. Several characters I like very much are coming to mind (Doflamingo from One Piece, Twice from Hero Academia, Dr Doom...), but no one is head and shoulders above the other.

[icon_uk]

The magnetic arm bit is just SO absurd as to be ludicrous and I won't even comment on the sterilisation notion. What do people hope to achive with such things beyond other people's stress and suffering?

I've had no ill effects, and in fact my wifi reception improved thanks to me being technically a 5G mast since my second jab. ;)

[skjam]

Went to see "The Dry" (I like the ending) and "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train" (good, but clearly for fans primarily) in the theaters. It was good to be back.

Also went to see my folks for the first time in over a year. Dad's not doing very well at all; multiple things wrong at the same time. Still, good to see them.

Got a new mask with a goat design by my youngest niece. Cute!

Over at my blog, I talk about the latest issue of a long-running mystery magazine. http://www.skjam.com/2021/05/31/magazine-review-alfred-hitchcocks-mystery-magazine-may-june-2021/ Also, please click one post forward for a blatant self-promotion post.

Favorite villain? Hard to say, though Mom/Isabella of The Promised Neverland was one of the best in the arc that focused on her.

[deh_tommy]

The script for The CW’s Powerpuff leaked online, and tweets posting snippets are apparently getting copyright stricken so that’s all but confirmed to be real. I found at least two different drafts online, but for the most part they’re pretty much identical. If you want to read that for yourself I can try and DM you or you can find that yourself if you don’t want to be spoiled here. With that out of the way, that’s exactly what you’d expect when you hear “The CW’s Powerpuff Girls”. That’s everything I was hoping for/against. Highlights include:

•Blossom suffers from anxiety and PTSD that gets laughed off by the others, and she has literal conversations with her inner child. During one of her panic attacks, she blacks out and Buttercup tries to snap her out of that by jokingly threatening to leak her nudes online. Everyone speaks in hip slang, and #lingo.

•Bubbles is a cynical, mean, washed up fresh out of rehab party girl who likes to drink, screw boys, and pines for the glory days of when they were younger. Ace is her manager, and she used to have a thing with Butch of the Rowdyruff Boys (who’se become a hot bartender).

•Just like I predicted, Buttercup is gay (or maybe bi? She likes women anyhow). The Girls and the Professor walk in on her having finished sex with a random girl she met at a bar, and depending on the script you read she used to cheat a lot.

•Professor “Drake” Utonium is a narcissistic abuser who demanded his girls play according to a character bible, micromanaged their lives and was focused on keeping “the brand” in check. He used to date Ms. Bellum (whose face you apparently do see) and the girls *hilariously* ponder among themselves how they were in bed. That’s implied at the end he’s going to work on these brainwashing caterpillars the villain was using to take control of the Girls once more and repair their broken family.

•Mojo Jojo isn’t a monkey, he’s two humans. The first is Mojo Mondel, the meek lab partner of “Drake” who went on to become the Girls’ sworn enemy and was accidentally killed by Blossom, causing the big split that set the story in motion. The second is his son Jojo, who becomes the mayor of Townsville and plots to destroy the Powerpuff Girls so he get re-elected and take revenge on the Girls for killing his dad (but he also has a secret crush on Blossom? Drama!). Jojo does have a pet monkey, though.

•The cartoon was actually just a propaganda piece to sell the franchise. I think Bubbles calls the Professor out on whitewashing and straightwashing them all. These are the REAL Powerpuff Girls!

[tinygaylaura]

Buttercup being gay is awesome

Making her a cheat and making the professor a homophobe and a racist and an abuser is not great

And everything else about this sounds just genuinely awful as well

Also

Having a character who set out to create "The perfect little girls" be named Drake is extremely unfortunate

And what a surprise the CW's idea for what to do with Mojo Jojo is to make him just some regular looking dude. I can't wait until we get to see Him (A white guy with stubble in regular clothes) Fuzzy Lumpkins (A redneck white dude with some stubble in regular clothes) Sedusa (A white woman in slightly sexier regular clothes who the show will probably slutshame) and the Amoeba Boys (Three white dudes with some stubble possible wearing expensive suits and reimagined as part of the Townsville mafia)

[iamrman]

Looking forward to the Hellfire Gala to kicking off tomorrow. If the free preview is anything to go by, everybody's going to be looking extra af. I was disappointed that we never got to see Rahne's party frock, so I commissioned an artist friend to design something for her. Imagine, an X-Men event that I actually give a toss about. I still don't know what X of Swords was about.

I finally read my first Archie-related comic last week. It was the latest issue of World of Betty and Veronica Double Digest. I was only in it for the pretty girls and I wasn't disappointed.

Favourite villaim? Too many to mention. Professor Ratigan and Our Lord Doom are the top of my list.

[icon_uk]

Perhaps disappointingly, the one mutant who seems to NOT be "looking extra af" is our resident newlywed omniglot, who seems to be in a standard black tuxedo in the one promo image he's in that we've seen.

Unless he's planning on changing into something special when he starts speaking for Krakoa during the party or the like.

[tinygaylaura]

Favourite villain would depend. Villain who I think of as a villain or who the narrative calls a villain? Because I don't personally consider my favourite "Villains" to actually be a villains

If it's the former I would say my favourite villain would be Megatron. This is a guy who tried to fly the Autobots into the sun, blow the earth up by stealing energy from a secret island full of dinosaurs, had a comic book writer pretend to be a supervillain to make humans think the Autobots were evil, attacked the Autobots with EVIL BRAIN IMPULSES...I'm not even a tenth of the way through here. If it was insane and evil he did it

My favourite "Villain" who I don't think of as a villain would be either Mystique or Poison Ivy. I love them both and I've always been rooting for them more than the "heroes" whenever they show up.

[stubbleupdate]

Megatron was also a famous early riser.

Every operation planned in the pilot happened at sunrise.

Such commitment to the hustle

[scorntx]

You know when someone asks you "what's your favourite song?" and you instantly forget every piece of music you've ever heard?
Don't know if I have a favourite villain. I suppose there are some I have a fondness for, like Nimrod from X-Men, or the Cybermen, but no one in particular stands out.

Bought a collected issue of some 90s Captain America. Was just choosing whichever one the shop had which was written by Gruenwald, and by luck it happened to be the Cap Wolf story.
That was definitely an experience.
The villain's plan is pure, almost Golden Age nonsense.
"I, an EVIL DRUID, will take mankind back to nature, before our lives were cheapened by technology. And also, turn everyone into werewolves while I'm at it, because why not?!"
But, damn, the whiplash of going from that to the back-up stories of Diamondback's ordeal with Crossbones...

Spent most of the weekend in a depressed / obsessive funk. Which sucked.

[iamrman]

The CapWolf story is a lot of fun. It is utter nonsense and I love it. Of course Wolverine and Cable guest-star, cause 90's!

[stubbleupdate]

I've been reading some 2000s era Warren Ellis.

Really enjoying Anna Mercury until it just...stopped with issue 3/5.

I assume it's at least partly related to his catastrophic data loss in 2007, but j haven't seen any mention of it online

[tinygaylaura]

His Stormwatch stuff was great

[malurette]

Sometimes I have to remind myself that my favourite character in LastMan *is* technically a villain. I mean I never forget that he's an asshole and a poor excuse for a human being but the fact that he devolves into a surprise antagonist somehow tends to slip my mind.
Other than him I'm very fond of Zorglub from the Spirou franchise.

[mistersandman]

I've been very fortunate that libraries have been a thing in my city for months now. The books have all been curbside pickup. Apparently they were putting the books into quarantine for a week between getting taken out, which is really the most adorable thing.

As for favorite villain... maybe Magneto? Does he even count?

[tinygaylaura]

I mean I've always thought of Magneto as a hero but especially now I would say he's firmly in the hero category

[cygnia]

I'm partial to Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber and the Sheriff of Nottingham.
The Master from Doctor Who (all of them -- yes, even Eric Roberts)
Christopher Lee as Scaramanga
Tim Curry as Pennywise

[tinygaylaura]

Roger Delgado could lure me into his TARDIS any time he wants

And Christopher Lee is definitely Daddy

Saruman the White?

More like Saruman ALL NIGHT

[leahandillyana]

An university lecturer and LGBT activist was accused by national channel journalist of being behind her friend's rape-murder, an unsolved case from 26 years ago. Every time I think the government propaganda cannot be more evil, they do something unthinkably evil.
About pride month, I want to add my three cents. People online talk about LGBT issues and culture, but these are all white USian LGBT culture and issues. Specific problems of BIPOC LGBT+ people and LGBT+ non-Anglo-American people are lost. And some elements of those cultures may be strange. Some may you find offensive. And if you do, keep it to yourself. You don't know local context. You don't know why a person may have certain fetish. Live and let live. If you want to kick people you deem not LGBT enough during a bloody pride month, you are not very different from the cops who arrested people at Stonewall.

[tinygaylaura]

As long as its consensual I don't find ANY fetish offensive and I support it completely

For LGBT people and just in general

The world will be better off when it realises sex is just fun and trying to attach moronic puritan ideas of "morality" to it is how the brain worms start feasting

Any time someone says a sexual act or fetish is "Problematic" that's my cue to tell that person to go out and actually get laid by someone who doesn't think Jesus is going to put them in the Bad Place for having Naughty Orgasms

I mean that goes for people who use the word "Problematic" in general honestly but especially when these un-fuckable shut-ins start crying about how we're all having sex wrong and we all need to just be more like the fifty chapter Harry/Ron fanfiction they wrote was

[cyberghostface]

""Cruella" has come out to.... mixed reviews might be the best word. "

I mean it has a 73% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a 97% audience approval rating, so it's more positive than not.

As for favorite villains, too many to choose from. Joker, Randall Flagg, Pennywise and Hannibal Lecter come to mind right now.

[bravest_spinja]

I put as much stock in Audience scores as Zodiacs, but yeah, a 73% from critics is actually pretty solid for a movie many are wondering why it even exists, except to drive a trend into the round.

[leahandillyana]

Trying to say something light hearted, so forgive me for making two comments in a row, a question about villains was a perfect one. I LOVE villains, half of my favourite characters are villains, I think. My favourite breed is "noble intentions at unacceptably high human cost (and possible power high on the way)" but these are rare, so I usually stick with extravagant villains and yandere girls. Some of my favourites are:
90s Sailor Moon anime: honestly every single villain, even if they appeared in an episode only, each of them had more life and characterisation than many main characters in other anime
Utena: Souji Mikage
Evangelion: Kaworu Nagisa
Seraph of the End: Mikaela Hyakuya, Krul Tepes
Sarazanmai: Leo and Mabu
She-Ra 2018: every single character in that cartoon is exciting in their own way, but special mention goes to Catra
Voltron 2016: Lotor and his Generals
Castlevania: Sisters' Council, Hector, Izaak
Madoka: Homura Akemi, Mami Tomoe
And many others!
By the way, have you realized that Disney made an incestous couple canonical in Cruella?

[deh_tommy]

I can’t pick a favourite villain to save my life. I’ve certainly got preferences, but there’s so many I adore that that’d be easier to list which villains I don’t like.

...wait, what’s this about Cruella?

[mazway_75]

For villain, still has to be Doom.

Yes, the arguments on whether he's pure ruthless monster (Waid and Fraction), a "noble demon with honor' (Byrne) or something else but really, it's hard to argue with how imposing he is in the armor, the genius, the ego (the man talks out loud because he's recording his every word for prosterity) and such. So yes, difficult as he can be, the fact you can't say what is the "real" Doom is why he's so great to read.

[mazway_75]

And if you dropped out of Superman and Lois, get back in. Because the stunning twist on who "Captain Luthor" is was absolutely brilliant from the build to the payoff and can't wait to see it unfold.

[zachbeacon]

Honestly the "Captain Luthor" thing left me scratching my head for a number of reasons...mostly in relation to "why use that name?"

As in "its weird that his real name is X because that's the last person I'd expect to have an antagonistic relationship with Superman"

Also, "why did he use the Luthor name? What's their connection?"

(I am a little relieved that the name was an alias and not another case of redhead erasure though)

I was more surprised by the Lois revelation.

[lego_joker]

Despite roughly the last 20 years or so of DC's output...

It's still the Joker. Always have been. Probably always will be.

(In terms of potential it'd probably be someone like Two-Face, but in terms of "how many stories has this character produced that I love and would reread at the drop of a hat?" It's still the laughing man.)

[kamino_neko]

I'm replaying Danganronpa right now, so Monokuma is the first to come to mind.

One of the few Affably Evil characters who don't feel Faux Affably Evil to me. (Though, ironically, arguably it is...depends on how you interpret certain things... specifically (spoilers for the first game, so ROT13'd), whfg ubj pybfryl Whaxb vf pbagebyyvat Zbabxhzn, naq jurgure ure crefbanr ner whfg punenpgref be fbzr sbez bs QVQ.) And Faux or not, he's amusing, more than he is annoying. Even though he's also a transparently evil lech and Whaxb vf pbzcyrgryl bss ure ahg.

[thezmage]

Favorite villain? Like the song says, if she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will.

Marvel's Old Man Starlord podcast drops today.

[cyberghostface]

“Watched "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" when I saw it was on Netflix but, never having read the original books, found it rather unengaging, and wasn't really sure who this was being marketed at since it felt like a sort-of-R-rated episode of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"”

As a fan of the books I was underwhelmed as well.

The books are fairly standard retellings of old urban legends but the main selling point was the art to the point there was a huge uproar when they had someone else for the anniversary edition:

https://litreactor.com/columns/the-18-most-egregious-art-replacements-from-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark

The target audience is an odd one. The books were generally read by young kids in middle school but the content was extreme for a faithful live action adaptation for kids (i.e. the scarecrow skinning someone) so a PG-13 movie was probably the best compromise.

But yeah aside from seeing the illustrations in live action it was just a rather dour and boring film. An anthology film like Trick r’Treat as opposed to trying make it one big story might have worked better.

[melplayspersonal]

The, erm, "traumatic origin" of Cruella is still the funniest thing to me - not just for the absurdity, but it's not exactly the best acted scene. Now a lot of the film's fans are pushing back saying, technically, it's not a Freudian Excuse, in that in the film proper, Cruella never blames the dogs for what happens, nor does she go around hurting animals. Which I get to a degree - kinda hard to root for someone who skins puppies. But to me it feels like films like this are trying so hard to be the next Wicked or Deadpool - and fall flat because they don't understand why those work in the first place.

In other words, I'm bracing myself for the next couple of LA Disney remakes, cause we're not getting rid of them anytime soon... not that I plan to see them.

Anyway, favorite villain? Sticking with Disney - Magica De Spell, in all incarnations - 87 toon, 17 toon, comics, etc. She's so delightfully hammy and dumb.

[deh_tommy]

I’m dreading the accidentally racist remake of Lilo & Stitch.

[bradygirl_12]

Poison Ivy is my favorite villain. I identify with her love of trees and plants. Murder plots, not so much. :)