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.

COP26 closed with some steps being made to the basic concept of saving the planet from climate catastrophe, but a lot of misses along the way too.

A teaser trailer for Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, has dropped from Apple+, and it looks promising, though Mokey alone seems to have undergone a significant redesign, not sure why.

A slew of Marvel+ announcements hit last week, with everying from Moon Knight with Oscar Issacs, to Agatha Harkness getting her own spin-off, to the return of the 90's X-Men animated series.

Doctor Who: Flux continued with an episode which was perhaps closer to the sort of storytelling ther BBC were expecting from Chris Chibnall when they offered him the job. Different, complex, offering insights and flashbacks, flashforwards and character beats and possibly confusing the hell out of everyone.

On BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, their first deaf contestant performed an interesting routine with her hearing partner. Halfway through the performance, the music went silent for a time whilst the dance continued.

Comments

[malurette]

Animation Night was cancelled last year and comes back this Friday! On the one hand I'm incredibly excited, on the other hand... maaaybe it's not a good idea with the pandemic still going on. But I still want to go! but it's a bad idea! but people can't attend without a full vaccination so risks are low? but it's still not totally safe! but
Argh.

[deh_tommy]

I’m pretty sure you can still catch and spread COVID even if you are fully vaccinated, that just lessens the severity of thats effects.

[tripodeca113]

Star Trek The Next Generation season seven part one

Descent Part II: I feel really bad for those extras who had to wear the Borg costumes in the Californian countryside. That can't have been fun.

So, I guess Picard giving the Borg free will, wasn't that moral, as it just through them into anarchy. And they went around killing people, but as individuals this time.

This was a mess. Hugh was in it, but he mostly just sat around in a cave and didn't do anything. Such potential wasted. He didn't even see his buddy Geordie.

Laison: Worf beats up a visiting dignitary, but it turns out he's a sadomasochistic so it's okay.
This story shows that Riker and Worf, aren't great with the whole diplomacy thing.
Really this felt the most like a rejected episode of the original show. A season three episode that is...

Interface: Geordie copes with losing his mother while testing the stupidest probe ever.
The idea of Georide learning his mother's missing and presumed dead, at the worst possible time, had real potential. Sadly, it doesn't work here.
Gerodie's mothers a captain and he has a sister? This never came up before.

Gambit Part I: We see why Riker isn't in command.
So, Riker is put in charge after Picard is presumed dead. He does a pretty bad job, coming across as irrational and angry. Thankfully he gets himself captured, and Data is put in charge.

Gambit Part II: Data and Worf use a legal loophole, to unlawfully detain someone.

Well, this was a fair bit better than the first part. Got some interesting worldbuilding about Vulcan. Apparently, there's a group of radicals who want to remove all foreign elements that Vulcan has been exposed too, and become isolated again.

Also, the plot involves finding an ancient weapon which uses the power of the mind to kill people. But when we see it in action, it seems about as useful as a normal phaser. Maybe the fact it was outdated by modern technology was the point.

Phantasms: Picard tries to get out of a boring appointment. Sigmund Froid tells Data to kill.

Dark Page: Troi is put in charge of teaching a telepathic race about speaking. She does a terrible job.

So, it turned out Troi had an older sister, who died when she was young. Her mother took this very hard.

Attached: Picard and Dr. Crusher finally confess their feelings for one another. Then decided to stay friends. BOO!

It was also another episode that implies that Riker might actually be suited to a command postion.

Force of Nature: Geordie would be a terrible cat owner.
It's revealed that warp technology is damaging the universe. This technology having an unintended consequence, is actually pretty interesting. With their main form of travel severely limited what happens next? How will people's lives be impacted? What if some worlds were more negatively impacted than others? Will the Federations enemies abide by the restrictions put in place, or will they continue to endanger themselves and others?

Anyway, better just forget about it.....

Parrells: Worf finds himself in a nightmarish world where Weasley is back.
As Worf goes through dimensions, we see some interesting alternative developments. A world where Picard died in Best of Both Worlds, a world where the Borg won (and Even More Bearded Riker doesn't want to go back), and one where the Bjorians are evil.

Good episode and they remembered to explain why Alexander wasn't around for Worf's birthday.

The Pegasus: Picard helps maintain peace with the Roumlans (who tried to invade two years ago).

Riker is troubled by something he did early in his career, which he now deeply regrets. He's finally forced to address it after years of guilt, so naturally he goes onto the holodeck to watch Archer shot some criminals.

Homeward: Worf's brother tries to save a species in the face of Starfleet's draconian ways.

This was a very interesting story, with a thought-provoking premise and I really wish they'd developed it more.

Sub Rosa: Dr Crusher reads her grandmother's sex journal.

...... ghost fucking.... an entire colony based around the Scottish highlands...

Oh, look a rerelease of This Life that doesn't have the licensed music. Oh, look now we can learn what happened to Dexter after he became a lumberjack.

I watched half an episode of The Dragon Prince. The opening is less concise than Avatar: The Last Airbender was.

Because I hate myself I've gotten The Watch from the library.

[donnblake]

Sub Rosa: Crusher inherits her grandmother's sex ghost.

[owlbrigade1]

Sub Rosa, the Scots get the same treatment the Irish got in Up The Long Ladder...

Dark Page, the episode which did what many fans thought was impossible in Star Trek. It made us feel sorry for Lwaxana Troi. I mean, genuine empathetic emotion.

[scorntx]

-Sigmund Froid tells Data to kill-

It's psychiatric help like that that led to Cyclonus becoming a hobo who talks to hallucinations of his buddies.
Should'a gone to Rung, Data.


Dark Page: The episode that gives Lwaxana Troi depth.
Scary, innit?
... though it's also pretty alarming how apparently she managed to erase ALL knowledge of her daughter, and that Troi never noticed.
I mean, Troi's observational skills are piss-poor on a good day, but... a whole sister?
(And what about family friends? Grandparents? The Betazoid government? Good thing Troi doesn't seem to have ANY extended family, because that would've made things difficult.
And apparently everyone who might've known Kestra just... went along with this? Maybe they were afraid Lwaxana would disappear them too.)

Parallels. The episode that starts the Worf/Troi romance.
Because the showrunners forbade development of Riker/Troi for... some reason.
Maybe because it'd be too much like character development?
It is known that the best romances occur off-screen.

[iamrman]

I went to see Eternals on Saturday. I had no jnterest in going to see it myself, but my sister asked me along. It turned out to be pretty good. I am not all that familiar with the Eternals in the comics. I know the basics, but that is about it.

My favourite part was my sister's friend's reaction to the mid-credits cameo. 'Wat.'

I also watched Shang-Chi on Disney+. That was another good movie. It certainly left more of an impression on me than Black Widow did.

Nothimg particularly notable in my comics reading. At the moment I am re-reading The Sandman: The Wake. It is good to see all the supporting characters again and I love Death's red funeral dress.

[leahandillyana]

I feel so hopeless and powerless. On 11th the Independence March, the largest nationalist and fascist march in Europe, went through the streets of Warsaw, and while there was no rioting or street violence (though there were multiple acts on minor vandalism and indecency), it managed to paradoxically be worse than usual. There were 150k marchers, the largest number in history of post-war Poland, outshining not only the recent mass protests against strict anti-abortion laws but even the famous anti-communist mass protests of the 80s. The aesthetics of the march were explicitly inspired by both fascist Germany (military uniforms resembling SS uniforms in stylistics) and Ku Klux Klan rallies (flaming torches). The antisemitic, queerphobic, racist and xenophobic slogans chanted were extremely violent this year, with the crowds explicitly calling for the extermination of Jewish people. The march was declared to be illegal by the mayor of Warsaw to begin with, but the government overruled his decision and made the march to be their official celebration of the independence day. The police apparently wanted to dismiss the march and arrest the leaders, but they were forbidden from doing so by the minister of justice. At the finale, a large bonfire was made and EU flags, flags of most European and American countries as well as Israel, rainbow LGBT flags, face masks (somehow the fascists decided to be violently antivaxx – none of the marchers were wearing face masks despite it being mandatory and random people they encountered wearing masks were verbally harassed) as well as a copy of Statute of Kalisz (a medieval law giving Jews in Poland personal freedoms equal to those of Christians) were burned. State media cheered on the march for the whole day. One ‘expert’ ‘thinker’ talked about how we need to reintroduce compulsory military service as well as death penalty during peace time in Poland to admire the sacrifices of the heroes of the past (no idea how this is supposed to be celebrating history) and how the 1932 criminal code (limiting death penalty only to successful murder and attempted murder of head of state) was too lenient. I had to start drinking on the previous evening to be numb enough to stand the day. Most of my family and family friends, with the exception of my mother, range from being nationalist to explicit neonazis.
Agnieszka Mikołajczyk, world class operatic soprano, died of covid complications. She was fifty.
I wanted to talk about other things too but they are trvial in the light of current events. I’m honestly scared. I don’t really have anyone to talk to irl. I’ve met with my friends once, but with the pandemic speeding up I’m pretty non-family meetings will be banned soon, as for most of last year and earlier this year. I honestly don’t know how to talk with my family. They seem to operate on a completely different logic. Please forgive me for talking about trivial things now.
I’ve been cooking a lot recently and I came up with a delicious marinade for meats and fish. I use dried herbs – lemongrass, chilli pepper, thyme, tarragon, savory, garlic, mint, basil, oregano, rosemary, cinnamon and smoked sweet pepper in about equal quantities – and lime diet pepsi as the liquid binding element. I call it the ‘unlucky marinade’ because it has 13 ingredients. Most of the ingredients come from my own garden. I’d be happy if somebody tried it out too.
I binge watched Onyx Equinox, and I can honestly say it’s best Western cartoon since Avatar. This title is being thrown around every time a decent cartoon premieres, but I’d wager to say Onyx Equinox may be better than Avatar. The cartoon is excellent in every aspect, and had I known otherwise I’d have thought it’s an anime. It’s very dark, psychologically deep, and at least the female protagonists are very morally ambiguous. I love all the female characters of Onyx Equinox! I learned a lot about Native Mezoamerican cultures and religions from the cartoon and my own ‘research’ (mostly reading Wikipedia) it inspired. Comparisons to Avatar aside, I’d best describe Onyx Equinox as a mix of Evangelion and Madoka with Castlevania level of violence and gore. It’s uncertain whether the show will have a second season, it’s popular in Japan, Mexico and other Latin American countries but unpopular in USA – not as hated as High Guardian Spice, but pretty much overlooked. I’d suggest you try it out and if you enjoy it tell Crunchyroll on their social media how much you liked it. Both OE and HGS formed the initial wave of Crynchyroll Originals, and if I was the company I’d wait for audience response before deciding which show to continue first.
When it comes to other things I watched, newest episode of Yuuki Yuuna continues the themes of the previous one, and at this point the series rivals Magical Girl Raising Project for the title of best Madoka-inspired mature magical girls series. Meanwhile, newest episode of gen:Lock is all over the place when it comes to the metaphors and I have no idea what the creators wanted to convey, but I have strong suspicion it may be something offensive. Furthermore, the animation deteriorates even more, which is especially visible as some scenes from the pilot episode were reused – and the dissonance in animation quality is striking. I feel as if I were watching an early 3d animated series from the 90s. I decided to stick with this mess to its bitter end nonetheless.
I find it interesting that Onyx Equinox, Yuuki Yuuna and gen:Lock all portray a theocratic society, but while Onyx (created by a Mexican author) and Yuuna (created by Japanese authors) sympathize with the people living in those societies and humanize them, gen:Lock (created by US American authors) portrays the citizens of the theocratic society as fanatics rather than, well, multidimensional human beings. It is one of the many cases where I observe terrible lack of nuance in American-made media.
I usually have nightmares, but recently I had an amusing dream in which I watched a live action She-Ra pilot. In the episode, Hordak takes Queen Angella’s She-Ra powers (for some reason she was the original She-Ra in the setting, her costume was nice, resembling classic She-Ra but with pink dress and hair) and kills her, then invites all the female Horde soldiers to a battle royale for the powers. Adora fights and kills Entrapta, Scorpia, Catra as well as other female characters while gloating that she is the only one worthy of the power because she is hot and they are ugly. She’s the last one standing and is granted the powers. When transformed she’s almost completely naked, save for a crown, golden stiletto heels, and pieces of jewelry covering her nipples and genitals. Hordak then puts her in charge of conquest of Earth. The story was terrible, but in the dream you couldn’t say a word against it or you’ll be attacked online by both terrible dudebros who hated the animated She-Ra and progressive fans who believed that the series is above criticism because the lead actress was a woman of colour. It would be hilarious if the Amazon series turns out close to my dream.
Another interesting dream I had was Batman-centered, or rather Robin-center. In the dream, Bruce (who wore a batsuit inspired by Hawkman’s classic look, bare chest, gaudy colours and all) gave up on Damian and didn’t even acknowledge his presence – while at the same time hanging out with a group of all-female villainesses whose reformation was ambiguous at best – and Damian was trying his damnest to regain his father’s love and approval. This reversal of their usual dynamic was very interesting and I’d read a comic portraying such a story, though it was very biased in Damian’s favour.

[deh_tommy]

I’m sorry, that sounds really tough. But there’s nothing to forgive. Talk about trivial things all you like. Your health and well-being is as important as anyone’s.

That marmalade sounds lovely. I’d love to try some myself, but for obvious reasons I can’t. I’m glad you had pleasant dreams.

[onsokumaru]

Watched Eternals and loved it, although it felt like it should have been two movies, not one. I was a bit nervous about the people who removed their mask once in the room, though. Druig looking exactly like a famous french twitch streamer cracked me up.
Oh, and that mid-credit scene made me so happy!

I've read the french comics sequel of Go Nagai's UFO Robot Grendizer and it was awesome. The creators didn't just rely on checking all the nostalgy boxes, they brought a story that is at the same time respectful and very different in tone from the original version.

[scorntx]

Decided to see Eternals over the weekend.
Bit of a difficult watch because someone decided to bring a four year old, and it's hard to pay attention when someone's either crying when somethin' scary happens or going "who's that? What's going on? What did she say?" Right behind you.
[/curmudgeon]
That said, when I was able to focus on the movie... I'm pretty sure I liked it, even if the pace was a wee bit glacial (though given the Eternals was meant to be epic sized, it's fitting) and the stuff wi' Dane was trying juuuust a little hard to set up sequels.
... could've happily done without any Pip the Troll though.
(Kingo was great. So was Phaistos.)


Managed to find a Waspinator at retail last weekend. Yay!
... then it turned out he had a molding error. Some sort of plastic sprue stopping his beast legs from moving properly.
I'd be annoyed, but it is kind of fitting for Waspinator (and it doesn't prevent him transforming fully. But it does make his beast mode pretty wobbly.
Why univerze hate Wazpinator?)

Whole slew of new Studio Series releases announced, all designed after the Cybertron scenes in Bumblebee (since we're not getting Rise of the Beasts for another YEAR. Rrrr...)
Not usually interested in Brawn, but this one turns into some kind of mole-tank thing, and that's cool.


Reaction to more 90s X-Men: Meeeeeeeeh.
Now, if it were more X-Men: Evolution, say...

Not sure how to feel about MCU Spidey getting a prequel.
As for Agatha Harkness...
... she killed Sparky. I'm not going to forgive that, no matter how hammy Hanh is.


And in last week's episode of Young Justice, we learn that Lady Shiva is a monster.
(meanwhile, my fan-lizard brain is more hung up on the idea of Onyx being related to Amazing Man. Figures.)


The personal highlight of COP26 was the Protesting Pikachus.

[iamrman]

Kingo was ome of my favourite parts as well.

As much as I liked Dane in this movie, my omly thought was how he knew nothing.

[skjam]

Been watching Scooby-Doo!: Mystery Incorporated on US Netflix. It's leaving there December 15. Some fun episodes, some irritating running character tics.

Over at my blog, I look at an issue of Analog with what is advertised as H. Beam Piper's "last story." http://www.skjam.com/2021/11/15/magazine-review-analog-science-fiction-science-fact-november-1965/

[thezmage]

I think that Mystery Incorporated is a good example of how something can be both really good and highly overrated.

[owlbrigade1]

For some reason I thought today was Wednesday until I saw this post, so I'll be coping with sense of disappointment for the rest of the day.

[zachbeacon]

After getting about two weeks of Fall, we had the first snow of the season this weekend. Thankfully it didn’t stick around.

Shang-Chi is awesome. Not “worth catching the plague in a theatre” awesome but still one of my favorite Marvel movies. It delivered on nearly everything the Iron Fist show failed to…including a man getting into a fistfight with a dragon.

Very annoyed by the way season three of Doom Patrol ended. After the damage Covid did to the second season I hate that this one also ends on a cliffhanger.

(Also they’ve never been very good people but they’re extra terrible to Vic at the end of the season)

I’ve been reading the last half (vol 5-8) of the most recent Batgirl series. Y’know Batgirl and Grayson/Nightwing were amazing during the DC You and early Rebirth eras but between these stories and the “Ric” era (as well as the weird Dick Vs the Internet stories right before that), DC really ruined a good thing. Oh well, what I’ve seen of the current Nightwing run (co-starring Babs) looks good.

[thezmage]

I wouldn't classify the ending to Doom Patrol as a cliffhanger, personally. There's some stuff they can follow up on but it felt to me like it would have made a good series finale. V qba'g guvax jr'yy frr gur rivy travgnyvn svtug rira jvgu n sbhegu frnfba, gung whfg frrzrq gb or rzoyrzngvp bs gur tebhc qrpvqvat gb orpbzr npghny fhcreurebrf. Yvxrjvfr V qbhog gur nzarfvn jvyy or eryrinag rvgure, whfg n fvta bs ubj gurl'yy fgvyy or svtugvat pevzr jrveqyl.

[llordllama]

Nothing like home working while a roofer bangs away on the tiles directly over my head...but in better news.

Mrs Llama and I also watched Shang-Chi over the weekend, and were very pleasantly surprised (I think Black Widow had lowered my expectations), although why did we have to kill off the villain...again?

Doctor Who...I enjoyed it (many didn't going on the reviews I've seen around) this week more than last. Although, we're halfway through and the lack of narrative clarity isn't great. I'm not a big fan of the Angels so next week might be more of a curates egg again. Jacob Anderson continues to steal every scene he's in - although and if Vinder (loo) and Tamagotchi Lady turn out to be the Doctor's parents, you'll hear the screams on Pluto.

Finally, helped out on on of the water-stops for a charity 16mi hike/run at the weekend. First time around (relative) crowds since...well Feb last year. Was fun, was outdoors and I was masked the whole time. Looks like I'm on the trail marking team for next year too :)

[janegray]

Question: what gift would you buy a middle aged man?

Guy is not my friend (pretty much the only thing I know about him is that he is religious but chill), but he did me a real solid at work, really went out of his way to help me out against an asshole coworker that was screwing me over. I think it would be appropriate to get him a thank you gift for Christmas.

But I have absolutely no idea what to get. Nearly all of my friends are women, and the two male friends are fellow geeks who go for videogames and anime merch. I have zero clue what to get a male normie.

Any suggestion?

[lordy_co]

Maybe get him The Chronicles of Narnia? It's a religious book, a fantasy book, a very easy-to-read kids book....
He'll probably enjoy it, read it quickly and since it's got a presence on pop culture, you'll be able to talk to him about it :-)

[lordy_co]

I am...not well. Like, probably the worst I've ever been. My boyfriends wants me to change my therapist. I wish I could change my life.

I've started playing Return of the Obra Dinn. A very weird, wonderful game, from the same creator of Papers, please. You play as an investigator from the EIC who's been assigned to search the Obra Dinn, a ship which disappeared eleven years ago and just showed up without a living soul in it. Gameplay consists of finding the bones of the dead passengers and crewmembers and using a magical watch to rewind time to the moment of their deaths. You must then identify all 60 people who left London in the ship eleven years ago and find out how they died. And possibily which one of their crewmates killed them. It's a very, very different game and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I also went back to playing Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard's own MOBA. It's somewhat dead, but since you can play with AI teammates that's not much of an issue, and gameplay is still *chef's kiss*.

[speedingtortoise]

I'm so sorry that you're not doing well. I hope that you can weather the hard times and find some change in your life, big or small, that can make things a bit better.

[melplayspersonal]

Well, Disney+ Day dropped a million and one trailers and teasers for upcoming stuff. That one that stuck to me was Rescue Rangers... but not for good reasons. Mostly.

The synopsis is that instead of a reboot or a real continuation, it's some weird Toontown/Roger Rabbit thing where cartoons and Live Action live together and try to take down internet piracy. I wish I was making this up.

During the initial teaser image, there was a clear image of a Darkwing Duck script behind it, which I was excited about until I read the above. Can't say my faith is in a good place.

[stubbleupdate]

Did anybody else make it to Thought Bubble?

I thought it was decent, and my girlfriend enjoyed her first con.

[remial]

ok, so this actually has to do with comics, but I don't know how to post images, and any time I've tried to post I screw something up, so I'll ask here...

I got the 4 Heroes Reborn trade paperbacks at my friendly local used book store for $10. (the older printings not the ones they just released a few months ago.

I don't feel like I got ripped off or over charged on them. they aren't like the best stories ever, but they are fun.

my question is this, I vaguely remember that each of the 4 series had a 13 issue where in the process of going back to the 616 universe they made a stop in the Wildstorm universe, and interacted with the characters owned by Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld.

did that really happen, or is my brain messing with me again?

[zachbeacon]

It happened but I don't think it was even reprinted*. Considering it was an Image crossover at the time and is now retroactively a DC crossover, I think its fair to say that it won't be.

*I need to check my old Gitcorp DVD-Roms to see if those got included.

[lissa_quon]

Not much going on here. MY mom is still recovering from cancer surgery. She's generally okay but very depressed and despondant. But refuses to like - see professionals about it. Between her and my father wearing himself out taking care of her - AND my sister in another state also working hself to exhaustion I feel like the only vaguely balanced person in the room. Considering I have chronic depression - am on multiple meds - and sleep all the time these days - its fcking hilarious. I'd laugh if I could.

In others news - been reading scanlations of the manga Innocent and Innocent Rogue It's a manga about a family of executioners - in pre revolution and revolutionary France.

It's something to behold. It's loosely based on a book about these historical events. And the book is based presumably on the executioners journal from the time period. It starts off fairly standard for a historical manga - with the protag being too pretty for this world with long flowing hair and weeping about his fate. And then his sister runs off - dresses as a dude - cut her hair into a mohawk and Marie Antoinette starts tweeting.

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, it’s a lot more motivating for me to get out of bed when there’s a crisis to deal with. Apparently, that’s pretty common among people like us. Still sucks though.

I hope things get better for you and yours.

[lissa_quon]

Oh in less sad personal news - I'm running an online artist co-op this year.

https://twitter.com/HolidayTwilight - if anyone wants to take a look. We got a wide variety this year. We got renfair artists - some fantasy folks - some horror folks - plushes and some resin folks this year.

[ladymidath]

I have discovered a new Netflix series from Egypt, This is Paranormal and I love it. The lead character is so sweet and rather awkward. I am still watching Legends Of Tomorrow although I don't think I am enjoying it as much now, also Doom Patrol which I think is getting better and better. I finished two Stephen King novels, Billy Summers and Later. It's nice to see him going back to his more original style of writing, his later stories had started becoming somewhat hit-and-miss for me. I am looking forward to the live-action Cowboy Bebop and Sandman.

[thezmage]

I found my enthusiasm for Legends of Tomorrow dropping pretty precipitously last season and I was hoping that was just COVID and Bishop, the absolute worst villain they've ever faced who was now gone for good.

Then came this most recent episode ending with Ovfubc abg bayl pbzvat onpx ohg nccneragyl wbvavat hc jvgu gur grnz, rira vs znlor bayl sbe n fubeg crevbq? I'll watch it but I don't have to like it.