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.

Again, the real world news this week is particularly bleak on many fronts, with the Afghanistan situation being especially concerning. There was never going to be a "good" exit strategy, but this seems to have been an especially bad one.

As a Brit, I will note, because why should I facepalm alone, that in the UK we have Nando's that have run out of chicken, and McDonalds that have run out of milkshakes, because we have a shortage of Heavy Goods Vehicle drivers, mostly thanks to Brexit (and not just Covid despite some earlier reports). So our Government's decision this week to announce new International Trade Envoys is looking particularly... either optimistic, or ironic depnding on your innate levelsof cynicism..

And as a Scot I'll note that, in Scotland, the Green Party have entered into an alliance with the ruling Scottish National Party, the first time Greens have had that level of political influence anywhere in the UK. (This also makes the likelihood of a second Scottish Independence Referendum in the next few years even more likely)

The 2020 Paralympics start today in Tokyo.

Finally remembered to get that second collected volume of "Check Please!" Ngozi Uzaku's delightful webcomic about college boys, hockey and baking, (Though not necessarily in that order) which, if you haven't read already, I'd encourage you to try.

Build-a-Bear are doing Lord of the Rings... Not sure I ever felt the need for a cuddly Gollum, but I've seen weirder things.. probably.

If anyone, maybe from our South American members, can cast any further light on this, apparently a clip from a purported pilot for a 1990's live action Saint Seiya adaption, known as StarStorm. I'd be very interested. Allegedly, Masami Kurumada did not allow it to happen, partly because of them making Andromeda Shun a female (Oh the Netflix related irony), but I have my doubts about it. The much older characters, the cast being topless (apart from Shun) under their uncomfrtable looking Cloths.

Speaking of such things, a live action version of Natsuki Kizu's manga "given" has been released in Japan, which is on Crunchyroll. I don't envy them having to follow last years well-received anime, and especially coming up with something on a par with the musical gut-punch of "Fuyu No Hanashi".

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Star Trek The Next Generation: It turns out that the people from Gargoyles were in things before!
It's not great.

I think it's pretty obvious that Picard is actually Wesley's father. He doesn't like his son, but feel's a sense of familial obligation so that's why he lets him on the bridge and bother all the other people.

I don't really understand Wesley. I see why you'd have a younger character who could be mentored by the other characters, and learn life lessons, but he's apparently a genius and they keep on applauding him when he doesn't deserve it.

Deanna Troi. Her job so far is to go "I'm trying to read their emotions Captain, but I can't get a strong read on them". Also, she can do this over a viewscreen.
Tasha Yar she's a generic Strong Female Character who's strong, and tje writers keep on having her break down and cry
I feel like Gordi, Data and Worf could be interesting character, but they haven't gotten enough time yet.
Q is a highlight. I think he's just lonely and wants them to be his friends .

I don't think the writers know what the Prime Directive is. They say "We can't interfere", but the societies are clearly aware of and interacting with intergalactic civilization.
Oh yes in the 24th centaury apparently, they let crew members bring their family aboard. That seems like a great way to wipe the entire family out in one go, even if we pretend that Starfleet isn't a military organisation.


Code Of Honor:..............what......
Oh God is it racist. And they have an awkward attempt at humour with Data. And a scene where they let Wesley sit on the bridge. Why?

Why make Code of Honor? Why remake The Naked Time?

The Walking Dead has begun its final season. It looks like the pacing might be kind of slow. When you only have 22 episodes left, why not spend 8 episodes going after a gang of raiders?

[cricharddavies]

I think it's pretty obvious that Picard is actually Wesley's father. He doesn't like his son, but feel's a sense of familial obligation so that's why he lets him on the bridge and bother all the other people.

Uh. No. I can't blame you for having this take, but matters are not as you are interpreting them. Picard had never met Beverly Crusher before Jack Crusher's death, and they don't know each other all that well at this point in the series.

The first season is pretty much universally regarded as the worst. As to "Code of Honor", it's pretty much all on the writer of that particular episode, who went on to write almost exactly the same story for an episode of SG-1.

[icon_uk]

Deanna's range being dependent on her ability to see someone regardless of their distance from her always irritated the heck out of me. If they had even mentioned she had training in reading body language (of humans AND alien species) in addition to active empathic powers it might have helped

Wesley was a character Gene Rodenberry wanted, but it would seem that not many of the writers did. PLus introducing a child into a rigid hierarchical structure was never going to be straightforward unless they made him their mascot or somesuch, and they dodn't want to do that. (Also, if you think Wesley got hate, imagine what the poor actor would have got from the fandom if Rodenberry had given in and allowed them to make Wesley a girl named "Leslie" instead!)

The Prime Directive doesn't allow interference in non-Federation/pre-warp civilsations, but it also doesn't allow the Federation to intervene in what are considered to be purely internal matters of pretty much any world. (cf Justice, an episode which should have led to Security Chief Tasha "I've studied all of this planets laws" Yar losing her job pretty much instantly)

Code of Honour is... bad, and I'm just gonna assume you haven't reached "Angel One" yet because... ouch!

[arilou_skiff]

There was a writers strike early on, so a lot of the early episodes are either recycled scritps meant forthe cancelled "Phase Two" TOS series, or stuff written by various randoms. Hence the varying quality and tone, and why something like Code of Honor might slip through.

[juniper6]

This is bringing me back to my university days, when TNG was brand, spanking new. A bunch of us had to hike over to a friend’s off-campus house every week to watch. (Hardly anyone had a TV in the dorms, and no one had cable. And you needed an actual TV with cable hookup; the worldwide web had very recently come into existence and it was entirely text-based. Streaming was a ways off yet.)

We mostly hated the first season, as I recall—Wesley was particularly scorned—but we still watched. It got better, mostly.

[tinygaylaura]

The first two seasons are rough but I promise the show gets much better with season three onwards

[skjam]

Gearing up for my father's memorial service this weekend. It will be at the Osprey Wilds Audubon Center near my hometown--Dad was among many other things a birdwatcher and generally a fan of the outdoors. I'll be reading I Corinthians 13.

Over at my blog, I look at Godzilla: Singular Point. http://www.skjam.com/2021/08/19/anime-review-godzilla-singular-point/

[icon_uk]

That's a beautiful passage to read, and sounds like the perfect location.

Offering you appriopriate digital hugs as required.

[dewinged]

I loved Check Please! And I still miss it terribly

[deh_tommy]

A lot of Destiny 2 info got leaked recently, and that looks like what we’re learning of the upcoming DLC matches them pretty much perfectly. From a gameplay perspective things sound much better than what they did with Shadowkeep and Beyond Light which were little more than glorified filler, but from a story perspective... you know how Game of Thrones, Doctor Who and Star Wars all had their big finales leaked ahead of time and no one believed them at first because of how unbelievably stupid and jumping the shark-y they sounded? The same thing pretty much happened here.

I’m so bloody tired of the game’s obsession with moral relativism. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always advocating for looking at something from every angle, but sometimes both sides aren’t equally bad or good or valid, not everything is about perfect 50/50 balance and the answer doesn’t always lie in the middle. The game’s gearing up for some “morally grey” bullcrap again and every time they do that they fall hilariously, pathetically flat.

[iamrman]

I have reached 'Season of Mists' in my Sandman revisit. Lucifer abdicates the throne of Hell and turfs everybody out. He also gives Dream the key to Hell, presumably out of spite for a previous humiliation. That results in various interested parties arriving in Dream's realm to get their hands on the key to Hell.

I have probably said it before, but it always amuses me how coy Marvel is about the existance of the Devil. DC not only admits that the Devil exists in their universe, they give him his own series. Also, he looks like David Bowie!

Also, I have almost come to the end of Walter Simonson's Thor and can't decide where to go next. Should I continue on to the DeFalco and Frenz run or go all the way back to the Lee and Kirby issues?

I'm not sure which run I like the best. The Lee and Kirby issues are undoubtedly important and I always like reading the first appearances of various characters. I also like the DeFalco amd Frenz issues as they are a nice mix of Silver Age fun and rad 90's attitude.

[lego_joker]

Season of Mists was my first Sandman - I'd caught a short summary on TV Tropes and the concept sounded dope - and once I was in I never looked back. It always struck me as interesting how that series was coming out right as the "mainstream" DCU was imploding with its own cosmological crossover in War of the Gods.

Lee/Kirby Thor... I'd bother with it only if you're either a Super-Completionist or love Kirby that damn much. It is the most work Kirby's put into anything outside of F4, but the plots are all pretty stock, and about one in ten have anything resembling a satisfying resolution. There's no semblance of continuity either - one second Loki is Asgard Enemy Number One, the next he's an acknowledge royal prince who has Odin's ear whenever he wants it.

[malurette]

Oh thank goodness I managed to find the sketchbook full of very kinky fanart I'd misplaced several weeks ago. I've gone through all my piles of stuff at home and my junk drawer at work several times without success, the possibility that I'd lost it on a train was small but not nil, and my best guess at this point was that I'd forgotten it in the breakroom at work and would have to knock on the janitor's door to get it back. But no, it had just slipped out of the back of my drawer and fallen to the bottom of my desk unit. Oh I'm so relieved.
(And a bit of clearing out and organizing that junk drawer doesn't hurt!)

[leahandillyana]

For the whole summer, Belarus has been throwing out its refugees and Belarusians who want to escape the country. It opened its borders to anyone who wants to leave and forced the refugees to leave. People have been leaving via Lithuania in thousands, to the point where massive refugee camps were created in the small country before it closed its border with Belarus. Now Belarus is trying to do the same with Poland. Unfortunately, anti-refugee bigotry combined with anti-East-Slav bigotry are alongside queerphobia and antifeminism the core politics of the governing party.
For over two weeks, 32 refugees from Afghanistan, men, women, elderly, a teen girl and a cat, have been forcefully camping on a small piece of land between Poland and Belarus. Border guards are preventing them from crossing on either side and preventing people from helping them, not allowing food or even medical help (one of the elderly refugees has kidney problems and is out of meds). There’s massive border guard presence and nobody is allowed within 300 meters of the people. There are military trucks constantly on and guards parading with carabins. It’s psychological torture, worse than putting kids in cages under Trump, resembling the Waco siege.
That’s not everything. Polish government had barbed wire put on the whole border with Belarus, which does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to prevent people from crossing (some branches or a board is enough to ‘conquer’ it), but is a symbol encouraging bigotry against refugees and foreigners in particular. There’s a plan to build a massive concrete wall across the borders with Belarus and Ukraine, which is honestly laughable. It wouldn’t be possible to even start building it until May due to humid atmosphere and the mesh fence they are planing to install before that is extremely easy to overcome. There’s been an increase of hate crimes against East Slavs. The refugees detained while crossing the borders talk how the guards were forcefully throwing them back towards Belarus, beating them up and destroying their tents and cellphones.
What can we do to help those people? Absolutely nothing. There are organisations and MOPs more powerful than all of us combined whose attempts to help were thorougly rebuffed. Nearly all the non-governmental media in Poland, including for once most of the catholic ones call to let those people in (which is another reason why the bill currently being processed aims to shut them up). The government remains deaf.
The USA froze the assets of Bank of Afghanistan, meaning the we cannot send money to the country as the people won’t have any means to access them. Non-bank alternatives such as Paypal seem a good alternative. Here are some links:
https://tuulikki.tumblr.com/post/659786844231368704/there-are-many-children-in-afghanistan-but
You can also help Nichelle Nicols, who suffers from dementia and lost most of her money: https://www.gofundme.com/f/shields-up-nichelle-nichols
Or help animals in Turkey, suffering from widespread fires: https://www.facebook.com/HaytapEnglish/
Or in Lebanon, which is suffering from a fuel crisis on top of longer economic crisis: https://www.facebook.com/AnimalsLebanon
I don’t know what else to say. I feel so hopeless.

Mod Note!

[icon_uk]

Generally speaking we do not allow donation appeals on scans-daily, so as not to guilt-trip members who might not be in a position to to afford to donate

Also we do not have the resources to vet the reliability of such recommendations made on page we are responsible for, no matter how well-intentioned the person recommending them might be.

We've allowed some leeway on off topic posts, but please keep it to a minimum.

[scorntx]

Apparently a global pandemic is not a sufficient reason for not maniacally searching for means of employment when you and a good percentage of your familial circle are in the vulnerable and extremely vulnerable categories.
(Even when most of the time the government's contradictory advice was "stay inside at all times.")

Found two toads in the garden. (Not in the same place.) That's an increase of two hundred percent.
... though there is a worry the cat might chase them.
However, since this is a cat who it turns out can be terrified by a squirrel, maybe them toads don't need to worry.
(It wasn't even a big squirrel. Starting to worry about that cat.)
Also, blooming slugs were gettin' at the tomatoes. Little slimy buggers.
Turns out slugs bounce if you throw 'em hard enough.


Being easily susceptible to hype, looked at some news about that new Pokémon.
Kind of intrigued. Plus, this new Growlithe is super-adorable.
Also Sinnoh in the past.
Cursed hype...

Reading the Gruenwald Cap run has made Bendis's treatment of D-Man all the more irritating.

Looking through Wikipedia, seems over the last while someone's been purging articles on Wildstorm characters and concepts, on the grounds of "notability".
Not that I've got much opinion either way, but given some of the other articles found on Wikipedia, like that big article on Cap / Bucky shipping, sounds either super-arbitrary or like someone had a grudge.
Hmm...

Doing some book-shopping the other day, managed to find a copy of Pratchett's "Monstrous Regiment".
Think aside from The Last Hero that's all the Discworld books.

[malurette]

Toads should eat slugs so I hope they'll stay?

Hooray on getting the whole of Discworld!!

[cygnia]

Kickstarted "Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?" (graphic novel) and got my copy of it yesterday. Really well done if you're a fan of true crime.

My allergies are a beast. We've been kicking up a shitload of dust getting the house ready for renovations and my nostrils are clogged with mucus no matter how many times I blow or sneeze...

...at least I'm HOPING it's just allergies. There was a jackass bragging about going to Sturgis in the next booth over when we went out to breakfast on Sunday. Despite us being vaxx'ed, with my luck he's a superspreading plague baron.

[arilou_skiff]

I have been playing Humankind, the latest Civ killer (?) and its been a frustrating experience. Some ideas are good, but often the overall thing just doesent quite come together. The pacing is sometimes odd, the maps are much more interesting than in civ with elevation changes and chokepoints and such but that also means units have a pain pathfinding, etc. Its one of those "This could be good if..." things and actually made me want to go back to Civ VI (whcih I didnt have a great opinion of)

I have been watching Kageki Shoujo! which is... interesting, its about a bunch of girls enrolling at a (very thinly) fictionalized version of the Takarazuka Revue. Its good, surprisingly het for a "Girls only theatre troupe" show, but it has some good character moments (especially when they contrasted the very different mores and equally high pressure situations of two very different japanese theatrical traditions) and was willing to show a bit of the dark side of these high-pressure institutions.

Its not quite willing to say "These things are abusive and its bullshit"; but at some point I would at least want to see someone quit and have that be the right decision for them "This kind of pressure isnt worth it for me", rather than the entire "Just stick through horrific stuff to reach your dreams!" thing.

[janegray]

Anybody watched the Evangelion movies? I have a bunch of questions about them, please.

[zachbeacon]

I watched them and also have questions. Considering how many plot points from previous series aren't resolved until later (in interviews and the like) I doubt they were ever that interested in answers.

I saw a headline last week that made me laugh. It implied that, because Evangelion had ended (for a third time), "Evangelion fans are finally happy". Its like they don't know us at all.

[janegray]

Profoundly irritated that, because of Brexit, I'll likely have to stop buying Marvel/DC comics. I used to buy them from Amazon.co.uk and TheBookDepository, but now every time I get a parcel from the UK I have to pay customs on top of international shipping. Comics just aren't affordable for me anymore. Thinking that the Urban Legends trade might be the last one I buy. Possibly the upcoming Robins mini, because I love the idea of the five Robins working together like I love breathing, but definitely gonna have to massively cut back after that.

(Yes, they DO publish M/DC books in my own country, but the translation is usually atrocious and the lettering is worse, and I refuse to spend money on that).

[juniper6]

Brexit seems like a lose all around. I’ve been buying digital comics, mostly because my eyes are aging and being able to enlarge things really helps. It’s not the same as having a collection, but it also doesn’t attract dust, so I’m good with it. And no shipping fees! 🙂

[owlbrigade1]

After a period of relatively cooler weather, the heat is back on again here. We've got a mini Indian Summer here in my bit of Scotland. I could never cope with the heatwaves other parts of the world have.

I had many other thoughts over this last week, but I am too hot to remember them right now.

[deh_tommy]

I’m playing through the first Kingdom Hearts for the first time. I’m surprisingly enjoying myself a lot more than I thought I would. I’m getting a real kick out of seeing and getting to run around all those Disney setpieces like Jane’s camp or the Halloween Town Square recreated in such loving detail. I wonder what kind of movie Kairi would have had if the Hollow Bastion never fell to Maleficent.

[scorntx]

Is it the original, or the Final Mix version?

Apparently the upcoming GKids Neon Genesis Evangelion Ultimate Edition is missing something.

[zachbeacon]

Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like on
A-Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me

(Also its a $274.99 discounted pre-order price and doesn’t have the Rebuild movies)

[lordy_co]

My semester starts today so I'm a bit anxious, but I'll try to be as brief as possible.

Watched The Suicide Squad this weekend. Great film. It's a shame we don't get to see much of some characters, but it does wonders to those that don't bite the dust too early. Amazing character rescue of Rick Flag, who was basically a no-character in the first movie. It also features some criticism of American* imperialism, whic is always welcome. Amazing visuals, some good fanservice (in both senses of the word) and there's even some Brazilian songs throughout the film! I really enjoyed it.

Shang-Chi and Candyman both release this month, so I'll probably try to also watch them at the movies.

My Brazilian song recommendation this week is the lovely Às vezes, ("Sometimes"), by Tulipa Ruiz. A really cute song about being in love with a messy person, and how hard it is to just let go of our passions sometimes. I hope you enjoy it.

* Fun fact: some people here in Brazil refer to Americans as estadunidenses , that is, "United-Stateians", in an attempt to disconnect the name "America" from the USA.

[cyberghostface]

Finally watched "What If". The idea of Thanos being heroic and redeeming himself was interesting but it's a shame it was just used as something to show how perfect T'Challa was.

[zachbeacon]

Talking Thanos out of genocide is a bit much but I think a lot of T'Challa's accomplishments are less because he's perfect and more because he's not an idiot like Peter.

[zachbeacon]

I was reading the current Nightwing series.

Volume seven ends with Dick looking for Vicky Vale and a new character after they've abducted by a supervillain.

Volume eight kicks off the "Ric" nonsense.

Am I right in assuming this is one of those stories that will never get resolved? Has Vale been seen since?

[cricharddavies]

Vickie has appeared in the backup story currently running in Detective Comics. I don't know whether the storyline you mentioned was resolved or forgotten.

[thezmage]

Okay, I know it's so late that only Icon will see this and I'm probably wasting my time, but I'm reading the old Larry Hama GI Joe and this is some of the best comics I've read in awhile. In retrospect, at some point I got it in my head that Larry Hama wasn't a good writer, but obviously I was very, very wrong. I don't suppose anybody can tell me what bad books he's written that may have given me that impression?

[tinygaylaura]

GI Joe is such a fun and weird comic

[leahandillyana]

For something lighthearted, check out this fanart of Batman and Joker cosplaying as Pretty Cures: https://twitter.com/j4hn/status/1401181567486103554

[icon_uk]

Welp, not unseeing THAT anytime soon! ;)

I've always loved this one!

http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040119.html