[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

[DirkGently]

Finished The Boys while in lockdown. Short, spoiler free review:

Season 1:
Season 2:
Season 3:

Spoiler review:

SPOILER

Show

Hide

Season 1 was a fun, quality show. Fun world, fun characters, the mysteries definitely had me curious. My biggest annoyance, probably, is wtf was going on with compound V as a plot device? Early in the season, it seems like an performance-enhancing drug that A-Train was getting off the street, and that the other heroes were aware of existing but didn't need. It's being kept in some grungy basement protected by some random thugs. And then we find out...it's the world's largest corporation's biggest product? How the hell did it remain secret for decades while being peddled around like it's low-grade crack?

Season 2 was okay at first but got kinda tiresome. I really hate this thing that shows do where, when they have a bad evil racist character, they'll say things like "Die, you black bastard" or whatever ridiculous crap Stormfront (reeeaaaal subtle name, guys) says. Maybe I'm reading too far into it, but it seems like a spineless attempt to avoid offending...actual racists? Actual racists - at least, the vast majority - do not call people "black bastards". They call them "thugs" or some other dogwhistle term that's not technically race-based but suspiciously tends to get used a lot more towards one race than another, and carries lots of other negative connotations. I dunno, I'm just really over the uber-racist villain, it's so boring. If you want to say something about race, have some %$#%$#% balls and actually call people out, rather than making a straw man everyone can throw rocks at before driving home in their car with an "all lives matter" bumper sticker.

Other than that it was okay but didn't really have the intrigue of season 1, and a lot of the dynamics were getting kinda tired. I'll be glad when shows can stop turning into really blatant metaphors for the rise of Trump. I lived through it. I don't need more of it. Especially not shallow, self-congratulatory versions that have nothing new to say about it except "he was really bad, wasn't he?" Yes, but you'll get nothing from pandering to me.

Season 3...well, by now it's starting to really annoy me in a couple ways. For one thing...and this annoys me about a LOT of shows these days...the show has zero balls about killing main characters, and it's getting ridiculous. Maeve FALLS OFF THE 99TH STORY of the tower, GETS EXPLODED MIDAIR, LOSES HER POWERS, and LIVES? She's not even that important of a character! Frenchie is constantly getting almost-killed and then lives, Kimiko same deal, same for everyone else, good and evil...it's so lame after a while. It's a cartoon. There's no stakes. If this was a show that didn't have much violence or had a lighter tone then fair enough, but this is a show where people die in gruesome ways constantly. It's about as hard of an R-rating as I've ever seen. And they just completely wimp out on having any actual threats.

Another trope that drives me insane...Starlight has become insufferable, the classic uncompromising goody-two-shoes ("You need to solve homelander" she tells Hughie in episode 1. "I don't need you to save me" she tells him in episode 6. Well, which is it?). Homelander has effectively threatened to destroy, at a minimum, NYC and potentially a lot more, he's constantly killing people left and right, and yet she whinges about how they're doing things the wrong way by using soldier boy to kill him - and even lamer, Butcher stops SB from killing homelander at the last second because it could kill homelander's son. How about, I don't know, grab the son instead? How about have a little %$#%$#% perspective? Homelander being alive means a constant body count on and off screen. If that is the situation, that justifies a certain amount of collateral damage if you don't have an alternative option. If you want to tell a story about how the ends don't justify the means, then maybe don't tell a story where the ends are so important? I think all television writers are propagandists for "don't pull the lever" in the trolley problem. No, the actual reason is that Homelander is their popular antagonist and they don't have the balls to kill him off, but they want you to THINK they will, so they keep almost doing it but finding stupid reasons to wimp out.

One last bile-filled note...the characters have gotten increasingly frustrating and static in general. A-train is constantly getting partially redeemed, then doing something incredibly dickish, and back and forth and back and forth, never going anywhere. The deep is somewhat the same, though less redeemed and mostly just a clown. Butcher never seems to progress either. Nobody really does. It's all so stunted. It was fine for one season but after 3 seasons I'm getting pretty sick of it Nobody has moved since the end of season 1. Either find something you want to say, or don't bother.

So yeah if there's a season 4 I probably won't bother. Granted, that's because my trial subscription to prime will be over by then, but still.

If this was a month ago, I wholeheartedly agree that it's not a conversation I'd be willing to have online instead of face-to-face. However, with current events of the past month, I've made a commitment to have uncomfortable conversations with people I disagree with, as almost literally the least I can do to participate. I'm basically applying the "if you see something, say something" method, with the intent to build dialogue. It's far outside my comfort zone, but staying a lurker started to feel wrong. It helps that practically my only "social media" is this forum, so it's not like I'm running headfirst into the more toxic ends of the internet.

After a player's throwaway remark during games in my playgroup this past week we had a fairly lengthily discussion on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and I think all parties left my kitchen table more informed and open to discussion an extremely contentious topic.

Sure, and if Legend was saying "I think these things are true" then I'd back you whole-heartedly, but that's not what he said. He just said "this is what these people think" which is a way less useful argument with a lot fewer facts to be had. Again, I don't see the point.

But from where I'm sitting, it mostly felt like things went:
1) Covid happened
2) Trump did the thing he always does, where he sucks at his job, never takes any responsibility, and then bloviates about how great of a job he did despite all evidence to the contrary.
3) He downplayed Covid because he wanted to pretend that he was doing great and/or didn't want to put in any actual work to fix it.
4) The entire Republican establishment jumped onto the bus he was driving, finding any possible way to downplay Covid or denigrate the work professionals were doing to actually resolve the problem.
5) Eventually Trump decided that solving the problem could be good for his image (without which, of course, he wouldn't bother) and so he pushed for rolling out the vaccine, but he'd already put the reins in the hands of lunatic conspiracy theorists and didn't want to risk losing popularity by saying anything more than a halfhearted "I recommend taking the vaccine".
6) Since Democrats were forced to be the adult in the room and actually push for vaccinations, Republicans pushed even harder into vaccine conspiracies and misinformation so that their base would see the Democrats as doing something evil (Grooming? Possibly, given that the word now has a dozen new definitions per day) rather than doing their jobs, and the cycle continues.

Government overreach? But they want abortion illegal and support the police state.
Company secrecy? Show me the conservative who votes to make campaign finances more visible.

Nah, I think it's real simple. They've gotten riled to the point of frothing lunacy over culture war nonsense, between LGBT issues, abortion, and gun rights. If the democrats solved world hunger, conservatives would say it was just to improve the flavor of all the babies they eat. It literally does not matter what justification they have. You could lock them in a room and prove every single one factually wrong, and they will just find another one. It is a waste of time.

(not to say the Democrats are remotely blameless - they're a bunch of useless squabbling establishment status-quo whiners who have never accomplished anything of note in their miserable lives, and who are happy to let republicans paddle them raw if it gives them talking points to win re-election, which of course they won't)

I have no idea what's happening in NZ politics btw. I assume someone is in charge?

[toctheyounger]

Finished The Boys while in lockdown. Short, spoiler free review:

Season 1:
Season 2:
Season 3:

Spoiler review:

SPOILER

Show

Hide

Season 1 was a fun, quality show. Fun world, fun characters, the mysteries definitely had me curious. My biggest annoyance, probably, is wtf was going on with compound V as a plot device? Early in the season, it seems like an performance-enhancing drug that A-Train was getting off the street, and that the other heroes were aware of existing but didn't need. It's being kept in some grungy basement protected by some random thugs. And then we find out...it's the world's largest corporation's biggest product? How the hell did it remain secret for decades while being peddled around like it's low-grade crack?

Season 2 was okay at first but got kinda tiresome. I really hate this thing that shows do where, when they have a bad evil racist character, they'll say things like "Die, you black bastard" or whatever ridiculous crap Stormfront (reeeaaaal subtle name, guys) says. Maybe I'm reading too far into it, but it seems like a spineless attempt to avoid offending...actual racists? Actual racists - at least, the vast majority - do not call people "black bastards". They call them "thugs" or some other dogwhistle term that's not technically race-based but suspiciously tends to get used a lot more towards one race than another, and carries lots of other negative connotations. I dunno, I'm just really over the uber-racist villain, it's so boring. If you want to say something about race, have some %$#%$#% balls and actually call people out, rather than making a straw man everyone can throw rocks at before driving home in their car with an "all lives matter" bumper sticker.

Other than that it was okay but didn't really have the intrigue of season 1, and a lot of the dynamics were getting kinda tired. I'll be glad when shows can stop turning into really blatant metaphors for the rise of Trump. I lived through it. I don't need more of it. Especially not shallow, self-congratulatory versions that have nothing new to say about it except "he was really bad, wasn't he?" Yes, but you'll get nothing from pandering to me.

Season 3...well, by now it's starting to really annoy me in a couple ways. For one thing...and this annoys me about a LOT of shows these days...the show has zero balls about killing main characters, and it's getting ridiculous. Maeve FALLS OFF THE 99TH STORY of the tower, GETS EXPLODED MIDAIR, LOSES HER POWERS, and LIVES? She's not even that important of a character! Frenchie is constantly getting almost-killed and then lives, Kimiko same deal, same for everyone else, good and evil...it's so lame after a while. It's a cartoon. There's no stakes. If this was a show that didn't have much violence or had a lighter tone then fair enough, but this is a show where people die in gruesome ways constantly. It's about as hard of an R-rating as I've ever seen. And they just completely wimp out on having any actual threats.

Another trope that drives me insane...Starlight has become insufferable, the classic uncompromising goody-two-shoes ("You need to solve homelander" she tells Hughie in episode 1. "I don't need you to save me" she tells him in episode 6. Well, which is it?). Homelander has effectively threatened to destroy, at a minimum, NYC and potentially a lot more, he's constantly killing people left and right, and yet she whinges about how they're doing things the wrong way by using soldier boy to kill him - and even lamer, Butcher stops SB from killing homelander at the last second because it could kill homelander's son. How about, I don't know, grab the son instead? How about have a little %$#%$#% perspective? Homelander being alive means a constant body count on and off screen. If that is the situation, that justifies a certain amount of collateral damage if you don't have an alternative option. If you want to tell a story about how the ends don't justify the means, then maybe don't tell a story where the ends are so important? I think all television writers are propagandists for "don't pull the lever" in the trolley problem. No, the actual reason is that Homelander is their popular antagonist and they don't have the balls to kill him off, but they want you to THINK they will, so they keep almost doing it but finding stupid reasons to wimp out.

One last bile-filled note...the characters have gotten increasingly frustrating and static in general. A-train is constantly getting partially redeemed, then doing something incredibly dickish, and back and forth and back and forth, never going anywhere. The deep is somewhat the same, though less redeemed and mostly just a clown. Butcher never seems to progress either. Nobody really does. It's all so stunted. It was fine for one season but after 3 seasons I'm getting pretty sick of it Nobody has moved since the end of season 1. Either find something you want to say, or don't bother.

So yeah if there's a season 4 I probably won't bother. Granted, that's because my trial subscription to prime will be over by then, but still.

If this was a month ago, I wholeheartedly agree that it's not a conversation I'd be willing to have online instead of face-to-face. However, with current events of the past month, I've made a commitment to have uncomfortable conversations with people I disagree with, as almost literally the least I can do to participate. I'm basically applying the "if you see something, say something" method, with the intent to build dialogue. It's far outside my comfort zone, but staying a lurker started to feel wrong. It helps that practically my only "social media" is this forum, so it's not like I'm running headfirst into the more toxic ends of the internet.

After a player's throwaway remark during games in my playgroup this past week we had a fairly lengthily discussion on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and I think all parties left my kitchen table more informed and open to discussion an extremely contentious topic.

Sure, and if Legend was saying "I think these things are true" then I'd back you whole-heartedly, but that's not what he said. He just said "this is what these people think" which is a way less useful argument with a lot fewer facts to be had. Again, I don't see the point.

But from where I'm sitting, it mostly felt like things went:
1) Covid happened
2) Trump did the thing he always does, where he sucks at his job, never takes any responsibility, and then bloviates about how great of a job he did despite all evidence to the contrary.
3) He downplayed Covid because he wanted to pretend that he was doing great and/or didn't want to put in any actual work to fix it.
4) The entire Republican establishment jumped onto the bus he was driving, finding any possible way to downplay Covid or denigrate the work professionals were doing to actually resolve the problem.
5) Eventually Trump decided that solving the problem could be good for his image (without which, of course, he wouldn't bother) and so he pushed for rolling out the vaccine, but he'd already put the reins in the hands of lunatic conspiracy theorists and didn't want to risk losing popularity by saying anything more than a halfhearted "I recommend taking the vaccine".
6) Since Democrats were forced to be the adult in the room and actually push for vaccinations, Republicans pushed even harder into vaccine conspiracies and misinformation so that their base would see the Democrats as doing something evil (Grooming? Possibly, given that the word now has a dozen new definitions per day) rather than doing their jobs, and the cycle continues.

Government overreach? But they want abortion illegal and support the police state.
Company secrecy? Show me the conservative who votes to make campaign finances more visible.

Nah, I think it's real simple. They've gotten riled to the point of frothing lunacy over culture war nonsense, between LGBT issues, abortion, and gun rights. If the democrats solved world hunger, conservatives would say it was just to improve the flavor of all the babies they eat. It literally does not matter what justification they have. You could lock them in a room and prove every single one factually wrong, and they will just find another one. It is a waste of time.

(not to say the Democrats are remotely blameless - they're a bunch of useless squabbling establishment status-quo whiners who have never accomplished anything of note in their miserable lives, and who are happy to let republicans paddle them raw if it gives them talking points to win re-election, which of course they won't)

I have no idea what's happening in NZ politics btw. I assume someone is in charge?

Its nowhere near as twisted as in the states, but ill write you up a quick sparknotes once my kid goes to sleep. Expect cynical and reductive.

[toctheyounger]

NZ politics in a nutshell as described by one with a passing knowledge at best:

NZ is a democratic politic system which is still ostensibly bipartisan, with the primary parties of Labour (think democrats) and National (think Republicans) making up the lions share of the constituency. There are other parties, such as Greens, New Zealand First, Maori Party and Act but by and large if they're in power they are as part of a coalition with one of the major 2.

Labor is currently in power with PM Jacinda Ardern having cemented a landslide victory in the last election 3 years ago after some great goodwill surrounding the Christchurch Massacre. Unfortunately that has mostly been eaten up with a pandemic response and the general vibe of the country is they're out of %$#% to give about covid. Through no fault of the governments, as someone who studied in public health I think for all of the stumbles and missteps they've done a comparatively exceptional job with the pandemic response here.

In the meantime National is onto its 4th leader in as many years, while they search for someone who can meet Ardern on policy and charisma. Currently under Chris Luxon, a capitalist boomer with undisclosed views on abortion, he's on shaky ground himself having just silenced one of his politicians from voicing their traditionalist views around Roe vs Wade yet unable to equivocally state that National doesn't gold similar views as the Republicans in America. Big yikes, but hey, they're boomers and in some ways it beats the drag queen browline of former leader abd my local electorate Judith Collins.

The current big issues at play are:
Three waters - Labour is seeking to make significant upgrades to the way water is managed in New Zealand, it waste, sewage and drinking. Heretofore managed by ineffective and expensive local governing bodies they want to make this more regional and unified. Because they have majority in parliament on their own they can virtually force this through, and this has ranked the Nats up. Their current polling stand is 'we will repeal 3 waters' with the finest print saying 'instead well basically do whatever you want us to if it buys us the seats'. No surprises, and whilenits a little bold of Labour at least they're doing something.

All Blacks - they've lost 2 tests against the Irish in the last couple weeks, abd its all you'll hear about for now. Its incredibly important, so I'm told.

Fuel prices - much like anywhere this is expensive as %$#%, and Labour have dropped their pound of flesh from the deal until Mid August so that people can manage. Its helpful but ultimately the crackback is going to be fierce.

Elections - I think we're due for another kerry go round next year. Labour is unlikely to govern given theres a lot of anti-Jacinda sentiment out there, among anti vaxxers, small business owners whove been wrecked by covid, right wingers and the 1%, so if she stays on as leader it'll be a coalition at best, most likely. Its anyone's guess who will actually take it out, but my guess is something like a coalition between National, Act and NZ first to fill out the ranks. I don't think that's a good thing, because traditionally they've really only been good at lining their pockets abd those of the already rich. John Key notoriously sold our national energy resources offshore to pay for his partys debt and called it a win, thats just who they are.

Ultimately same %$#%, different %$#%. Just more small potatoes if anything. Are there any politicians here with integrity? Yes, thiugh few abd far between. One up and comer i have my eye on is Chloe Swarbrick of the Greens party. She's well spoken and clever, forward thinking and honest. She's new to the game comparatively so we'll see if it breaks her.

Thats all I've got top of my head. AMA

[Ulka]

Thats all I've got top of my head. AMA

If you had to create a Dating simulator game where you date a non-anthropomorphic Badger what would be the most challenging quest you'd need to complete to win it's love?

[kirkusjones]

Thats all I've got top of my head. AMA

If you had to create a Dating simulator game where you date a non-anthropomorphic Badger what would be the most challenging quest you'd need to complete to win it's love?

Somebody listens to Hello From the Magic Tavern…

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Thats all I've got top of my head. AMA

If you had to create a Dating simulator game where you date a non-anthropomorphic Badger what would be the most challenging quest you'd need to complete to win it's love?

This is how you handle "Any Questions?".

[Ulka]

This is how you handle "Any Questions?".

I was sent a thread of bad dating games by a buddy asking how much it would cost for me to stream me playing through them so that's why I had the idea.

Somebody listens to Hello From the Magic Tavern…

I haven't ever heard of this but I have DMed a game where the party tried to seduce a lady Goat only to realize she wasn't anthropomorphic but truly was just a nanny.

[duducrash]

For commander? I don't think any of them are remotely busted for commander, before or after the nerf. If you want to play them, I wouldn't worry about breaking the power level.

Quite the opposite, I think they are nearly unplayable because of the restrictions. Umori, the Collector the card I gravitated toward to make this example, Umori needed to be much, much stronger to be playable. Some cards have really harsh restrictions and poor payoffs. I wish they were more balanced, the payoff/restriction

[TheAmericanSpirit]

If you had to create a Dating simulator game where you date a non-anthropomorphic Badger what would be the most challenging quest you'd need to complete to win it's love?

Ok, @Ulka, I'll play ball. So first, I would have to scout out a new, superior river to the badger's current (no pun) home. Then, using only my hands and teeth, I would have to carve a channel into the land between the two rivers. Of course then I must also best the native badgers in naked, mortal combat to establish dominance over the new river. After that, I would have to swim upstream back up the channel I just dug to usher the badger of my desire to their new home in a statistically superior body of water, replete with a prebuilt dam courtesy of all the badgers I just killed. That's the extent to which I would take it.

[toctheyounger]

To be fair its a more interesting question than any related to politics in NZ. Its all pretty banal.

As for badgers, we don't have em here so I'm not too familiar. I assume the inevitable bare chested wrestle for physical superiority would be the final stage before winning its love and embracing life with a badger soul mate.

[kirkusjones]

@Ulka, @TheAmericanSpirit it's not badgers, but take a look at The Ratchelor.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

As for badgers, we don't have em here so I'm not too familiar.

And trust me, you don't want 'em. They're Satan's own hybrid of a rat, a skilled engineer, and ecoterrorist. Badgers and otters, man! There just ain't nothing good about a river-dwelling mammal. They're all bastards.

'cept manatees, I guess. They're pretty cool. I even saw one once!

Edit: @kirkusjones how did you even find that?

Edit: hybridization is the process of hybridizing. Hybrid is the output.

[toctheyounger]

As for badgers, we don't have em here so I'm not too familiar.

And trust me, you don't want 'em. They're Satan's own hybridization of a rat, a skilled engineer, and ecoterrorist. Badgers and otters, man! There just ain't nothing good about a river-dwelling mammal. They're all bastards.

'cept manatees, I guess. They're pretty cool. I even saw one once!

Even otters?? But they're so cute and adorable!

[MaritLage]

"Donkt forget to like and subscribe !" XD

[kirkusjones]

@TheAmericanSpirit I honestly cannot remember. Either my girlfriend or I stumbled across it a couple of years ago. It was a fun way to goof around while we were making dinner one night. And now there's season 2!

[TheAmericanSpirit]

As for badgers, we don't have em here so I'm not too familiar.

And trust me, you don't want 'em. They're Satan's own hybridization of a rat, a skilled engineer, and ecoterrorist. Badgers and otters, man! There just ain't nothing good about a river-dwelling mammal. They're all bastards.

'cept manatees, I guess. They're pretty cool. I even saw one once!

Even otters?? But they're so cute and adorable!

%$#% 'em says I! Just watch this and tell me you don't feel for the poor caiman. Dude's just chilling, trying to catch a quick sunbath and these jerks roll up like the bullies from high school, taunting him, trying make him flinch, even biting him and then chasing him off! For what? For fun. Because otters are not cute, they are not your friends, they are swimming vermin with a sadistic sense of humor.

[TheGildedGoose]

[kirkusjones]

Otters and badgers are mustelids. Which means they're related to skunks and wolverines. Which means they are the terrorists of the mammal kingdom.

[Ulka]

My fiancé used to work with Sea otters. They would get daily patdowns by the handlers when moving from area to area because they like to smuggle things in their armpit pockets.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

@toctheyounger see? SEE?! I told you.

[Toshi]

And trust me, you don't want 'em. They're Satan's own hybridization of a rat, a skilled engineer, and ecoterrorist. Badgers and otters, man! There just ain't nothing good about a river-dwelling mammal. They're all bastards.

Otters you say, huh?
I just listened to the Ologies (great poddie!) episode about them and it was eye-opening to say the least. I always thought they were absolutely adorable cuties...
https://www.alieward.com/ologies/lutrinology

[toctheyounger]

Not gonna lie I find otter smugglers more hilarious than nefarious. I'm sure its a big deal though.

Lutrinology... They tried REAL hard with companion names on Ikoria huh?

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Oh %$#%. I just remembered that there's a really tangible difference between a badger and a beaver (which is what I was thinking about when I started the Damn The River Mammals tirade). Sorry @Ulka I have no clue how to woo a badger, my talents are more beaver-related.

[Hermes_]

Thats all I've got top of my head. AMA

If you had to create a Dating simulator game where you date a non-anthropomorphic Badger what would be the most challenging quest you'd need to complete to win it's love?

This is how you handle "Any Questions?".

Next time Sheldon does an AmA, I'll be sure to ask that, I missed the most recent

[DirkGently]

Quite the opposite, I think they are nearly unplayable because of the restrictions. Umori, the Collector the card I gravitated toward to make this example, Umori needed to be much, much stronger to be playable. Some cards have really harsh restrictions and poor payoffs. I wish they were more balanced, the payoff/restriction

Ah, I think I misunderstood. You said companions weren't balanced and mentioned Lurrus being super powerful so I thought you were complaining about how strong they were (in other contexts).

A lot of Umori's strength is that he's a 4/5 for 4. Of course that means stone nothing in commander, especially when he really costs 7. Pre-nerf, in a limited context, he was pretty good though. Within limited, I'd say all of them were pretty viable. Zirda was maybe the worst, and he's probably among the most playable in commander (mostly for infinite combos).

Certainly post-nerf I'd say they're all basically voluntary power-level reductions. But of course that doesn't mean they're unplayable, just that they might not be appropriate for a higher-powered meta.