Lurker > HanOfTheNekos

Define Wagner Group for me, please.

Is it a Russian-based merc company? Is MGS4 playing out live, but only in Russia?

Best soundtracks off the top of my head in MCU are

Doctor Strange
Winter Soldier
Black Panther

in that order. But I've not aggressively tried to rank them or anything

Dr. Strange had a soundtrack I really liked and great effects.

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Since I'm not allowed to post in the main MCU thread, I want to say here that I'm one episode away from finishing Ms. Marvel and I think it's the best MCU Disney+ series and second-best installment of Phase 4 I've seen behind Spider-Man, but I think I get why some aren't terribly fond of it even outside of BS racist and/or sexist reasons.

I'm just glad we have proof of you watching something and developing an opinion for yourself :)

fair

Here's my write-up from like 5 years ago:

Most of the MCU movies are watchable. I would say most are enjoyable, or at least neutral. I think two are actively bad. Depending on my mood, this is the better one.

Thats not to say a whole lot. The movie starts by forgetting everything done in previous films - people didnt go their separate ways. Tony didnt get rid of most of his suits. Banner isnt gaining control. Its like they ignored every movie between Avengers 1 and this one.

Ultron just kind of happens. His introduction sucks. His mouth is weird. Ulysses Klaw use is fun though. Why can Ultron just make bits of the road blast up? Like, what? Come on. And 4/5ths of his consciousness are uploaded into this new body (which is clearly Vision)... what does that even mean? Shouldn't the body be more conscious than Ultron at this point? He's an AI, can't he self-replicated? How does this even work? Seems kinda dumb.

They don't really sell you on the stakes. Ultron was a threat... but a very contained threat. How do you have an AI created by the Mind Stone put himself through the entire internet and end up contained to his own constructs? Is that hubris? I guess I got the part where Vision touched him and that supposedly cut him off from the greater network, but that feels kinda lame. Woulda made more sense for him to "show the Avengers what he could do" by hooking up to the network at the tower and blocking him off there.

Winter Soldier destroyed SHIELD... and Age of Ultron basically brought it back. What was the point? This movie should have been Avengers dealing with a world where the organization that created them had fallen, and how they hold up their own identity in a world where nobody trusts SHIELD, and wouldn't trust the Avengers Initiative, a part of SHIELD, anyway.

Why even do the whole HYDRA taking down SHIELD from the inside if you're going to just say "oh well that was the last of HYDRA, it was just von Strucker, they had an Infinity Stone but did nothing with it". At least throw us a curveball and show us that Strucker was behind Ultron in the first place. Make Ultron a result of HYDRA and make it be worth something. Bring back Red Skull or give us Madame HYDRA or something. Give us continuity. Not "oh here's one of the biggest bads in Marvel we can use him as a transitional villain instead of developing earth or Thanos more. Nah, you just get Ultron."

Like what the heck.

That was one hell of a rant, let's talk about some other things this movie didn't do well.

Whedon knew what he was doing. He set Clint up to die. He knew the audience would know it. Just to fakeout with Quicksilver... I guess we were supposed to have a lot of tension built up waiting on him to die... but they waited too long. The climax was already way past the tipping point... at that point, killing someone off is cheap. Avengers 1 was perfect with when it took out Coulson. This was... dumb.

And what the hell is with Banner and Widow? Who said "hey, let's go with this angle"? It wasn't natural. It made no sense when she was talking about running away with him. It was just plain dumb. And now Hulk had an opportunity to run away so that he can... randomly show up in Thor 3? Am I right? I bet he doesn't even show in Civil War. I guess we can eagerly await a stupid Planet Hulk movie, right?

The joke about Cap not liking bad language was drawn out too much. I completely get what people were saying about the humor in this movie. It didn't land. Something went wrong in the process of creating this movie, and I don't know what, but it felt so much like it was a Whedon movie that was trying to be itself and just couldn't fit the bill.

There were still some good lines, but even they felt weird and almost tone-deaf during the film.

I don't think I really got the deal with Tony this movie. They set him up, thanks to Wanda, to create Ultron... but why? Why did she do it? What was the point of her and Pietro anyway? They hated Stark, but cared about people. Why did they fuck around in the beginning of the movie? Why was she played to be weird but then wasn't that weird? Why didn't she and Pietro just kill Tony?

Let's talk about the good things:

1. Thor fucking kicked ass and saved this movie from being a complete disaster. The jokes surrounding people lifting his hammer, them returning to it at the end. His vision, him meeting with Selvig. His general combat. Him finding out that the Infinity Stones were in play and seeking that out. I am a little confused with why Thanos and the Stones would pop up in his fear vision anyway... that implies that he has some deep-set knowledge of it. But who is the purple man in the floating chair?

That's my entire list.

I think the general problem with AoU is that it's bad.

The top tier is good at least

Luis could have won save my MCU...

Paul Rudd is good as Ant-Man, but even better as Celery Man.

AoU is a bottom 2 MCU movie, along with Iron Man 2.

It goes to show that all the effects, acting, all of that means nothing if your writing in garbage.

To me, the best character of the movie was Thor. Everything he did may have been a "distraction" as you said, but it was more interesting than everything else going on. And then Thor had the good notion to get out of a bad movie, and he just leaves. Love it.

Oh wow, I missed all of this.

Iron Man best scene was "Actually, I am Iron Man" to me. That one line helped set the trajectory for everything the MCU would become.

We agree on Iron Man 2 best scene.

Hulk and Thor are better than people like to remember, yes. They're just quite different as movies than what we come to expect from the MCU.

It's interesting that you say Loki is the stand-out in Avengers because I think it's his worst film.

But then you point out how great he is in Thor 2 and that's great because I think it's his best film. Probably my favorite villain in MCU is Loki in Thor 2.

Yes, Winter Soldier is the best MCU movie. Step above the rest.

I feel like Hearthstone would need to make every single card from past sets available after a certain point... maybe the whole previous year? Or have only the two most recent sets be the only ones that require money?

As long as the player can always make some meta decks (even if they're from the top of the competitive season), then you can always bring new players in and past players back.

I have no idea what revenue looks like for the game, but if they could reduce barrier to entry, then that would go a distance. Asking new players and returning players to make 40 card decks with however many legendaries is no bueno

MoogleKupo141 posted...

That was probably one of the greatest first seasons a tv series has ever had.

idk, there are 4 other shows I think had a better season 1 than Andor in this year alone

But Andor is definitely damn good

Damn that was some good shit

there is a post-credits scene, btw

Maniac64 posted...

Great list! Definitely added some characters to my potential ranking lol

I'm going to have to do honorable mention for Princess Iolande to get her in on these lists.

Or also Black Canary who we now have.

WarThaNemesis2 posted...

you top 52 is stinky!

that's canon

That was posted half an hour before you posted in here!

Johnbobb posted...

Time to crown me prediction winner! Right? Right???

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/3/6/AAOJ0pAAD6hY.png

First place is a rat, of course

Saoirse Rat

Maniac64 posted...

Something I have wondered about before this.

Why does Chimp hang out in the Oblivion bar when he isn't magical? That write-up makes it sound like Spectre is targeting him but why would Spectre care about Detective Chimp? Has he wronged someone so egregiously that the Spirit of Vengeance is after him?

He just lives there, and is the leader of the Shadowpact. He frequently leaves to join us on missions or come to debriefings.

Just like Nightmaster can leave without his sword, or Ragman without his suit.

He also just prefers the environment in Oblivion more. He can smoke and drink in peace.

Oh

4. Morro
3. Rex
2. Chimp
1. Patch

Brutale

Kino saying "Can't swim" broke my heart. I don't know if there's a name for that trope of the "Can't go at the last moment", but that has such a way of hitting me. That may have been the biggest moment of the episode for me... I mean, you know Cassian would have said he'd help if Kino just jumped. Ugghh.

scarletspeed7 posted...

Jeez, another not in the top 20? I mean, I don't think Starsa will rate at all, but I'm blanking on what could possibly be #6 that hasn't been mentioned. Maybe a human without a lot of interaction yet? Someone like Jagger?

Ermine has said in the past he likes Ilsa!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/8/6/AAOJ0pAADcgS.jpg

LinkMarioSamus posted...

The Last Jedi repeatedly subverts expectations and doesn't make them meaningful enough. But yes, it is probably the one Disney-era Star Wars product that doesn't just revel in nostalgia.

False, but if you want me to explain why, I will only do so in a new topic.

Andor is different and good, yes.

Star Wars is a big franchise - capitalizing on different genres is a good idea. Mandalorian was great and it honed in on the western/shogun genres to present something very familiar but different. Andor has managed to do the same.

I think that Obi-Wan suffered from not really having that sort of identity, and Boba Fett suffered from being bad at playing its genre. This makes me worry for Ahsoka, which I am hoping is amazing beyond all others.

Yeah, I waited to watch 7-9 altogether and it was worth it.

I think I'm going to look back at 4 and 5 as the downpoints of the series, but it's just really good to watch. But yeah, there's a little too much marinating at times for me to really feel like I want to watch a single episode a week?

I will probably watch next week as it airs, then let the last two episodes sit.

LightningStrikes posted...

That willingness to be different was a strength of The Last Jedi, one of the best Star Wars films,

TLJ was way more standard SW than TPM and ROTS ;)

Anyway, sounding off on Tales of the Jedi. Brilliant series of shorts. I could do without ep. 1, but Dooku is a great character to do more on, and Ahsoka is just the best.

Starsa

Gotta be our Strokehound.

Mike the Rooster

OH GOD IT'S TIME FOR MIKE THE ROOSTER ISN'T IT

OH NO I CAN'T POST THIS UNLESS I HIT THE caps lock key

I don't even know anymore.

Starsa?

I don't mean the slang meaning of tool. I mean she's been used since episode 1 to further her father's ambition.

Parallel, not concurrent

That was brilliant.

I love them doing the parallel episodes with 9 and 10, greens and blacks. It really sets up such strong comparisons.

I'm not planning on reading the book, so don't clarify anything using it to me, but just comparing the two - Alicent tries to be in control as much as she can, but she's so completely a tool. And Rhaenyra, in spite of being a woman who has been bandied about at times in her life, shows that she is strong enough to be Queen. Aegon is a lout - Jacerys is smart and shows wisdom.

I hope Otto gets punked bad in this. He's the worst.

PunishedBen posted...

Allow me to be the one voice of reason. I dont like this idea, because like, how do we...catch scum? Or motivate anyone to be afraid or to protect another player or to do anything? I guess it would have to develop its own meta where we're basically just fake lynching people during the day anyway, which doesnt sound any more fun than the usual format

Those are good questions!

I think what it comes down to is removing some of the mob element, but still forcing people into a state of paranoia. Anyone could be lynched any day. You don't necessarily know.

It could absolutely fail and suck, but it sounded like a little experiment I'd like to see play out.

IfGodCouldDie posted...

Wouldn't it actually be a portmanteau?

uhh yes

No, Corrik, the meme is that you don't turn it into the pun!

When people block Corrik's posts, he's Ignore Corrik.

don't say that, you'll get him banned from gfaqs too

Corrik7 posted...

Sounds absolutely dumb. So I am down to try it

It is dumb. But I'm curious to see how the dynamic of a game changes when you remove vote pressure.

24 hour days would be because I don't want to ask people to give that big of a percentage of their time to the game, but could figure out an alternative.

If people are hesitant to host right now, I have an experimental game idea I wanted to try.

No votes during Day. After the conclusion of the day, people submit votes at night. Mafia kills someone as usual, with a clause to prevent them from killing the lynch choice. Maybe they get told of who gets killed two hours before dawn.

At start of day, the previous day's lynch result is revealed along with the votes. And the nightkill is shown as well.

I was also thinking 24 hour days just to shake things up.

Probably an open set-up otherwise.

What do people think?

I collected almost all of the Koroks without Korok Mask

Ino sucks

I don't think Mafia really needs to take a break. We probably will be able to get the numbers for a similarly sized game as the previous one

I think it's solid as a season-long arc, but they really failed to make the first half of the episodes interesting on their own. Definitely better as a binge than a watch as you go.

Sir

That was fucking fantastic