Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday

[sistermagpie]

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, have some fun and vent as necessary.

Normal board rules about conduct and behavior still apply, of course, so think twice before posting something that might cross a line, as always.

Comments

[onsokumaru]

So, it's the beginning of a new season of anime.
It's a good opportunity to ask a question to those who watch new anime every year: who are your personnal MVP among 2021 characters, so far?

For me it's:
Winter 2021: Palona from "To your eternity": A courageous young woman who, despite not being a great warrior or anything, risks her life and challenges superstitions and traditions to save her friend
Spring 2021: John from Shadows House: A kind hearted and hot blooded boy, who is like a battle shonen protag lost in an unusual fantasy setting.
Summer 2021: Rajdhani from Sonny Boy. A rational and friendly boy who dedicates himself to understand the strange world around him, helping his classmates to deal with the very unusual isekai(s) they landed in.


As for this fall's anime, I like what I watched so far.

*"Heike Monogatari", an adaption of a classic of japanese litterature, is stunningly beautiful. It feels like a Ghibli movie. The first episode is rather dark and introduces an interesting panel of characters.

*"Mushoku Tensei" season 2 is still good and shows character growth, while introducing a strange demon lord. But it seems they are doing that frustrating thing when two characters keep missing each other.

*"Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside". The loooong title is pretty accurate. Seems to be a nice slice of life anime, at least at the beginning, with some boobies to please the eyes.

*"Irina the Vampire Cosmonaut", the story of a friendship (or more) between a vampire woman picked as experiment subject for the first unhabited space flight, and the kind hearted soldier who serves as her jailer/instructor. The whole thing happening in a fictional country that is totally no USSR. This kind of relationship is rather common in anime, but the whole mix of vampires with cold war and space race provides an original context.

[iamrman]

I have started to re-read the Busiek/Perez run on Avengers. I loved the first arc especially. Everybody that had ever been an Avenger and they got a Medieval makeover. The Romani-inspired costume that Scarlet Witch would go on to wear is one of the reasons why she is my favourite Avenger.

As for DC, I am presently re-reading Bombshells. The volume in particular I am reading is the one that introduces the Bombshells version of Vixen. She used to be an Olympic athlete and thrashed the Germans during the 1936 Olympics. If that's not enough, she even stole Hitler's dog! The series is full of badass ladies beating up fascists. Also, it is very gay!

Elsewhere, I have been reading lots of Archie. The Pep Digital volumes are dirt cheap, so that suits a cheapskate like me.

I used to only be reading it for the pretty girls, but Jughead has rapidly become a favourite. He is a mood.

[tinygaylaura]

Bombshells is probably the single best piece of superhero fiction ever made

A friend of mine told me "You need to read this" and they were not wrong. It was the best superhero comic book I've ever read

[scorntx]

Last week, set pictures of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts revealed the vehicle forms of the 'bots and 'cons.
I'm going to go on a limb and guess the red motorbike is Arcee. (*incoherent angry muttering about motorbikes*)
The 'cons seem to turn into trucks this time around. And I'm also going to guess the slick looking sportscar is probably Nightbird (going by the cast list).
Just saying, Nightbird probably isn't the mean-looking tanker truck.


The Beeb finally announced when Doctor Who's back on the telly! Yay!
October 31st.
... but... early evening watching in the UK, in October, when most people in Britain have an annoying obsession with launching fireworks for hours.
Also, Sontarans. Kind of yay! And a new villain called... the Flux.
Which, ah... doesn't sound threatening exactly. More like a nasty disease.


The new trailer for Star Trek: Discovery is out.
Ugly new uniforms! A Ferengi! Slow-motion running! Explosions! A wibbly energy thing!
... aaaaaand another plot about how All Life As They Know It is in danger.
I'm almost missing the unsubtle social allegories.

Predictions indicate that among the things that might be short in the UK over winter are: Lorry drivers, food, soft drinks, energy, salt, paper, children's toys and hope.

In the course of tidying up the garden discovered two toads.
So the "supports multiple toads" theory is vindicated. Huzzah!

Also I discovered that cats, given half a chance, will eat mac'n'cheese and tortilla chips humans leave lying around.
If "lying around" means "on the kitchen table".

[owlbrigade1]

Predictions indicate that among the things that might be short in the UK over winter ... and hope

I ran out of that years ago. I went down to the shop to get some, and they were all out and said it had been discontinued. They were also out of "a life" as well. I must get one of those at some point too.

[tinygaylaura]

"Books mention "Hope"

What was hope?"

*Buzzes in* "Was it a spice?"

"Could be"

*Buzzes in* "Is it a vegetable?"

"Equally plausible"

REMAIN INDOORS

[arilou_skiff]

Hey, we've got Lower Decks. No reason to be sad for Disco.

[tinygaylaura]

Saw No Time to Die recently and I thought it was a good way for them to end Bond's story. Without giving away spoilers I think that they found a good way to say goodbye to Craig's version of Bond and end the story in a satisfying way. Craig will be a hard act to follow especially after how this film ended this era of Bond films.

I will be curious what route they take next. It'll be another new start as this does bring a definitive end to this version of Bond so they can't just say that it's the same character played by a different actor as with previous Bond's. But whether they'll go with another origin story like Casino Royale or just jump straight in and assume everyone knows all they need to know by now like Marvel did with the MCU version of Spider-Man is anyone's guess

Speaking of famous fictional franchises from Jolly Old England, the world got its first proper Doctor Who trailer this week. Not a lot of information that we didn't already know but we do now have a start date of the end of October. I liked the previous season a lot so I hope this one will be good especially after such a long wait

Moving from England to here in the states, we got some great news from DC this week with the reveal that Jon Kent is canonically bisexual. It's amazing to think that only a few years ago DC was still being homophobic as shit and occasionally tossing us a bone to shut the Loudmouthed Queers Up. I'm not saying Dan Didio being fired made things better but I sure am thinking it. We've got Tim Drak and Jon Kent both having been revealed as canonically bisexual in the past month, books starring lesbian characters like Crush and gay black men like Aqualad and we'll soon be seeing Ivy and Harley together and starring in Harley's ongoing as a couple

I'm not saying DC can't still do better and improve but it's good to see some steps forward instead of steps backward

I've started the Y: The Last Man tv show. Not really sure what I think of it yet but it's interested me enough that I'll stick with it. We've also gotten some casting news for the Sandman show and I love the actress they picked to play Death of the Endless.

I watched the What If finale two parter and for the most part I really liked it. I thought it made fun use of the idea of having these universes cross over with each other and it was great to see Ultron as the villain again. I do wonder if Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is going to be able to match the What If show for weird fun tho...the show's given us Star Lord T'challa, Thor the God of Frat Parties, Hank Pym assasinating the Avengers and Darcy Lewis giving new meaning to that old saying "Fuck a duck"

Gonna be hard to top that

[iamrman]

Not to out on my tinfoil hat, but no sooner was DiDio fired, but Wally West became the Flash again and people actually acknowledged the existance if Cassandra Cain. Coincidence?

Who has been cast as Death of the Endless? The other casting chouces have been pretty interesting.

[deh_tommy]

Always a pleasure to see you around.

I hope the Platinum End anime ends better than the manga did. Talk about a downer ending...

[stubbleupdate]

I got another begging email asking me to merge my comixology and amazon accounts (which operate under two different email addresses...good luck with that)

How long can I hold off, and will it even work?

[mister_terrific]

It did for me with a bit of tweaking. Given that all purchases will be going through Amazon shortly, probably best to go ahead and get it done.

[leahandillyana]

The world events are too saddening. Poland is going to leave the European Union. The Highest Court of dubious legitimacy judged that joining the Union was against Polish Constitution. It’s a matter of time before the government announced the country must leave. There were massive protests against the decision, bigger than those a year ago when the Court banned abortion in Poland. Unlike the earlier protests, dominated by young people, people of all ages demonstrated against leaving the union. The highlight was a 101 years old Polish soldier who took part in the Warsaw Uprising giving a speech and calling the men who tried to muffle her fools. “Shut up, you fools, shut up,” is my favorite response.
The temperatures now dropped below the freezing level in the whole country and there’s snow in some places. This is alarming for the situation of the refugees. Many are found with severe hypothermia, but still they are dumped on the Belarusian side to die in the forest. Even those who make it to the refugee camps are driven out the border at night. Press and NGOs are still not allowed in the Eastern provinces, but hunts now can officially take place even though even the movement of the locals is severely limited and ownership of arms by the locals is forbidden. This is truly the 1939 Germany, and it will only get worse once we leave the union. Hyperinflation has already hit the country, with prices rising by a third in three months.
I don’t have anything positive to say. I see the lava flow on La Palma destroying places I’ve read and written about and it makes me even sadder. I mean, those are not (so far) irreplaceable treasures of nature and culture, but ‘things that are lost forever’ hits my particular generational trauma, so to speak.

[cygnia]

Is Icon OK?

[janegray]

I heard he's buried under a shitton of work :(

[donnblake]

You know, I've always sort of assumed people find Daniel Craig attractive- he's got, y'know, muscles, and unreasonably blue eyes, and the Bond films often take a moment to frame him as eye-candy- but it occurs to me that I haven't seen him attract the sort of public expressions of thirst that say, Chris Hemsworth or Benedict Cumberbatch inspire.

[owlbrigade1]

I would describe DC as being technically attractive. He's got all the ingredients, in all the right places, but despite it all, he just doesn't click. For me anyway, but I'll admit that I prefer guys with dark hair, and green eyes too, who are more toned than muscley. There is nothing wrong with DC, he is certainly n ot a bad actor by any description either, and as long as he is happy in how he looks that is all the really matters. Just I dunno, he is more like how a statue is attractive than how a person is. And I don't have the vocabulary to properly define that concept.

[mister_terrific]

I've been watching "Midnight Diner" on Netflix and really enjoying it. Just finished the first season--premise is that it's a small izakaya in Shinjuku that's only open from midnight to dawn, and while there's only one item on the menu, if the Master has the ingredients he'll cook anything a customer requests. It's a story anthology, and damn it hits the feels hard at times.

Going in for my COVID booster shot and flu shot tonight. Had to make a reservation with Walgreens to get 'em, as they are absolutely swamped right now. Plus my employer, a Great American Railroad, just announced they intend to comply with the federal mandate re: vaccinations. Glad I work remotely, let's put it that way.

I'm kind of amused--I write a lot of fanfiction, mostly in Owl House these days. About a month ago I wrote a very short two-part story and decided it really wasn't good enough to put on Ao3. Last week I decided what the hell and put them up--and my hit count is insane (for me at least). You never know...

And I'm going to take a second to kinda-brag. My mother-in-law passed away about a year ago, and her husband took it very hard. We've been keeping as much an eye on him as we can--he's 86 this week--and one of the things that's really bothered him is that the cemetery she's buried at hasn't put the stone in place. So I called them yesterday and they let me know they were installing it today--which they did. I checked. :)

Now, I have no idea whether it was my call that got them moving or something else, but you know what? It couldn't have hurt, it was kind, and I figure it's my good deed for the week.

[janegray]

-I write a lot of fanfiction, mostly in Owl House these days.

Link?

[owlbrigade1]

I'm angry at the post office. I bought some crown imperial fritillaria bulbs by mail order. Now the thing about those bulbs is they smell pretty funky. Especially if they get bruised, which they will get if you look at them with a hard stare, never mind roughly handled. So they arrived in a box which had been torn open, and resealed in the "this package was opened for inspection" tape. The postie was properly apologetic though, he said that the depot manager had flagged as possibly containing "illicit substances" because of the smell. Also they came at 6am to deliver it instead of 11am, because he said he couldn't take the smell in the van for the whole round. So I had a badly sealed box of ponging bruised bulbs, which I had to plant first thing, because I couldn't take the smell in the house either.

I am never buying these again. I only got them because Monty Don on Gardeners World said that blue tits and great tits (types of UK birds, sort of like a chickadee) feed on the pollen in spring. The birds can find someone else's next time.

[stubbleupdate]

If you're a fan of association soccer or human rights abuses, you'll have heard about the sportswashing happening up in Newcastle, England.

If you haven't, then enjoy David Squires' comic about it for the Guardian

That's right! The man who ordered the execution and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi now has his own football club!

[janegray]

That disgusting fucker has bought one of my favourite franchises too, something I've been loving for literal decades and that brought me a lot of comfort as a kid.

https://www.pcgamer.com/a-company-owned-by-the-crown-prince-of-saudi-arabia-just-became-snks-largest-shareholder/

There I was, celebrating the fact that The King Of Fighters was getting more attention than ever with new games (including spin-offs), new merch, an anime series, an upcoming movie, multiple novels and comics (actually good comics for a change, I've been dying to post some of The King Of Fantasy, I even bought the Japanese volumes, but the only English translation is on pirate sites)... and then I find out it's because SNK got a big sale from a goddamn real-life war lord.

[stubbleupdate]

I did buy matching t-shirts for my girlfriend and myself, based on my own design.

I gave her the large one and said "I'm not sure if the sizing is right; try it on" and it swamped her. She said it was a shame I couldn't return it, and I gave her the small shirt, which confused her. "You bought two? In case one size didn't fit?"

Then she worked out it was couple shirts, and was well chuffed

[janegray]

That sounds super cute

[lordy_co]

We've had an extended holiday this weekend here in Brazil so I'm very relaxed. Like, I just can't remember the last time I was so chill since my master's desgree course started. I think it's fair to say that the only good part of living in a Catholic country is the huge amount of holidays we get,

Watched the Star Trek Discovery trailer, despite not having watched season 3. Seems very...Discovery-esque, which is a shame since I hoped this season would be more episodic, focusing on all the big galactic players on the 31st century.

Creative Assembly released the full roster for the Empire of Grand Cathay for thir upcoming game, Total War Warhammer III. You can read it here. Warhammer fans are very happy since it's the first time in 30 years that Cathay gets more than a couple lines of vague description on someone else's book.

We have a trailer for the new Scream movie. It looks good, and since it's my boyfriend's favourite horror franchise I'll probably be watching it on the theaters.

Will Poulter (cousin Eustace from the third Narnia movie) has been cast as Adam Warlock for Guardians of the Galaxy vol.3. I'm happy since I like him and he's been through a bit of a rough spot (he deleted his social media accounts a couple years ago due to bullying). Let's just hope James Gunn doesn't ruin the character.

On a closing note, I've been listening a lot to Men at Work and they have some very, very good and surprisingly deep songs.

[melplayspersonal]

So, New York ComicCon was this past weekend. I only attended on Friday, but it was a HUGE difference in the years I've been since then and years before. On the one hand, it was nice to walk around (especially for the merch) and not have to shove and squish between people to get anywhere. On the other hand... well, we all know the reason WHY. A lot of my favorite artists/vendors couldn't attend as well, which was a huge bummer.

But, on the plus side, my cosplay was a huge hit, as far as I'm concerned. People shouting Magica's name, asking for photos - I even had someone ask to take a photo WITH me! In all my years of cosplay, that's never happened. I even had a small (5-6) crowd at one point! And to top it all off, after a hilarious and very entertaining Big Broadway Nerds panel...

I got to meet James M. Iglehart!!! He's been in Hamilton, the original Genie from Aladdin on Broadway, and voiced Taurus Bulba from Ducktales 2017! Not only did he recognize who I was, he told me he loved me!

All in all, glad I went.

[tripodeca113]

Star Trek the Next Generation season four part two

Galaxy's Child: Picard kills a space whale. Geordie realizes he's been a creep.

Night Terror: Troi saves the ship by flying in a really goofy way.
As O'Brien is the most prominent non-main character, if something if impacting the crew, they have to show him suffering for the audience's sake.

The Nth Degree: Worf attempts to kill Barclay

Qpid: Q makes the crew pretend to be Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Fantastic. They don't do stories like this anymore.....

The Drumhead: Picard realize that Betazoid intuition is grossly immoral. Worf learns that Klingon cultural exchange programs are a bad idea.

Half a Life: Troi's mother returns, what zany hijinks will she get up to......wow that got real dark.

The Host: Riker's conscious is overwritten by an alien. Dr Crusher meets her soulmate, but can't enjoy it due to not being bi.

This introduces the Trills, who I understand will be portrayed in a completely different manner in later episodes.

In Theory: Well, this was a weird one. I can understand having a story about Data trying out a romantic relationship. But then they entirely drop it for the climax. Someone has to fly a shuttle in front of the Enterprise to detect invisible phenomena, that could damage the ship. So, Picard immediately volunteers to do this even rejecting Rikers offer to do it (despite the fact there's no-reason for two important people to do this mission).

Redemption: Well, that was pretty decent. It concluded the Klingon civil war plot, and wrote Worf out in a moving way. There's a lot of story potential for Worf going back to the Klingons which I look forward to seeing developed. It's a good thing the writers won't undo this by the end of the next episode, right?

One odd thing was that Picard refused to help the Klingon leader, despite the Klingons and Federation being allies. He says he can't interfere in internal matters, but he's okay acting as a mediator.

Also, the Romulans are revealed to have a Tasha Yar. I do hope the writers have a decent explanation for this.

Hooray my copy of Yakuza spinoff game Lost Judgment arrived. So far most of the new features seem a bit clunky, but the rest seems like more of the same.

Deviantart is apparently offering a subscription service. Considering that in recent years they gave the site a terrible new design and managed to remove every useful feature...yeah not getting my money.

oh, look a trailer for the Game of Thrones prequel, set in the safe past after the showrunners shot themselves in the foot. I wish the writers (none of who seem to have written for Game of Thrones) the best. They have a lot of work to do, to try and dig this franchise out of the ditch.

My copy of The Golden Age arrived. I didn't recognised all the characters but it was decent enough.
Astro City will be coming back next March for a special.

[scorntx]

Ah, Night Terrors.
One of the creepiest episodes of Trek, as the entire crew of the Enterprise (except Data, Troi and Guinan) lose their marbles, helped by some of Ron Jones' spookiest work...
And all anyone ever remembers is the Fantastic Flying Troi scenes.

Qpid. Because some people saw the Kevin Costner Robin Hood and thought "what if we took out all the bits peopled liked about that film?"
(meaning Alan Rickman.)
There's an old Trek novel where Q claims all his encounters with Picard over the years were part of a Fiendish Master Plan... except for Qpid.
"I just wanted to see you in tights."

The Drumhead. Last episode to feature Ron Jones music, because he was fired for being too good.
(Well, the given reason was his music 'distracted' the audience from the writing. The sarcastic response is that in that case they could've just done something about the writing...)

-wow that got real dark-
Just you wait until Dark Page. Ooft.

-the Romulans are revealed to have a Tasha Yar. I do hope the writers have a decent explanation for this-

... They have a explanation, yes.


Is that The Golden Age as in the DC series, or some other thing?


-Astro City will be coming back-
It's been too long since there's been Astro City. It's been, what... *checks*
THREE YEARS?!
That can't be right...

[lissa_quon]

Time continues to be hell over here. I'm trying to find ways to feed a woman whose mouth is a hell scape - and her tastes getting pickier.

Also I am now the receptionist/secretary for all the doctor info. Hazard of being the only one in the house who already had a calendar and planner set up.

I am very tired but still need to work on my own freelance/art market shit. Caffiene has stopped working for me in any capacity. On the plus side Drawtectives started a new season and one of my fav authors wrote another one her special brand of "wtf fantasy romance" novels. So I at least have media to consume when I can.

[zachbeacon]

I can’t decide if I like Black Widow on its own merits or if I’ve just been missing Marvel movies so much that I was predisposed to liking it. Like, I didn’t hate any of it* but I’m struggling to think of much that love about it. David Harbour is great at playing adoptive fathers and I enjoy the Widows’ sibling dynamic.

*Which puts it well ahead of a lot of Marvel movies.

Anyone else watch the Muppets Haunted Mansion special? Glad they went with a Gonzo/Goelz-centric story since I find a lot of the newer performers off-putting.

[ladymidath]

Well we in NSW are happy to be coming out of lockdown which means I can catch up on some movies I want to watch, like The Suicide Squad. I have also be able to catch up on my reading. I want to get, Hellblazer John Constantine Rise and Fall.
Otherwise, I have been watching some great shows like Doom Patrol, Y The Last Man and Work In Progress. Other than that, not much else has been happening.