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kajnrig

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  1. kajnrig
    *sigh* Such a lackluster ending to a lackluster show...
  2. kajnrig
    Ooh, nice to see it's still being worked on. After the initial trailer years ago, it quickly became my most anticipated PS5 title. I would have liked to see a release date, but no biggie.
  3. kajnrig
    Fair enough. But the prequel fighting style was itself such a departure from what came before it, that I just sort of shrugged off the sequel trilogy style doing the same. For the most part I too didn't care for it; it was all serviceable enough, but nothing to write home about. I mean, they clearly received the lion's share of resources and budget. I don't know if it's fair to say they were the only ones earning their keep when everyone else wasn't really earning much of anything. Or maybe I'm wrong and the cast and crew did work just as hard on the rest of the show as they did on the fighting, in which case... oof.
  4. kajnrig
    Didn't put up my thoughts of the previous episode because I'd pretty much checked out. To summarize: What happened was dumb, and the "fallout" from it equally so. I only decided to watch this because it was the final episode psych! and what the hell right. To summarize my thoughts of the final episode: What happened was dumb, and the "fallout" from it equally so. The fights were neat, but I still dislike that you can tell they're fighting with glowing sticks. They were all I wanted from this series, so I suppose in that way all my expectations were met, but I never thought I'd have to trudge through all the worst aspects of the prequel trilogy in order to get there. Oh well. It's done now. Time to move on and forget all about it. I like the not-Sith helmet a lot. Very good design, that. Boo. The Last Jedi throne room fight is spectacular. It's among the most beautiful sequences in the franchise. I mean that with absolutely zero irony; I don't care that fans like to meme on it, whatever, they probably think the prequels are good movies anyway. I don't think they were blinded by their love of the source material, I think they just sucked at telling a story. They truly reflected all the good and the overwhelmingly more numerous bad about the prequels: there are some truly good ideas strewn throughout this mess, but execution, execution, execution. who cares who cares absolutely yes frakk that guy who cares No, but seriously:
  5. kajnrig
    Oh wow, that is a funky-looking design, not at all what I expected. I thought it would basically just make the bottom exhaust look like the top so you'd have this like three-pronged tail end sticking out the back with the exhaust nozzles seeming to be set into the airframe.
  6. kajnrig
    I remember hearing in a random video or magazine article or something that in response to a late ATF requirement, McDonnell drafted up designs for a thrust vectoring YF-23. Anyone know if this is the case and/or if it ever made it to any form of visual representation? Getting a model or a Ace Combat mod based on even prototype artwork would be cool to see.
  7. kajnrig
    That's the style right now. I'd prefer something more diegetic as well, but... eh.
  8. kajnrig
    For what it's worth, they're re-releasing all their AoZ MG kits on PBandai at the moment.
  9. kajnrig
    And also, one more time, repeat it with me class: Master File isn't canon. I mean I know, shut up about canon we're just looking at art for reference, but just sayin'.
  10. kajnrig
    I don't know his filmography. Is that a common thing in his movies/music/shows/etc.?
  11. kajnrig
    I dunno, given how slavishly devoted this show is to the Prequel Jedi, I'd say it's the opposite. It's the most uncritical Star Wars fan, the as you say "hard core fans that simultaneously would never find any fault with anything "Star Wars" related" who this show seems both written by and aimed at. There's no other explanation for them continually insisting that no, the Jedi are super cool and nice and good guys, y'all!, while simultaneously having them do some insanely ethically heinous crap. Swinging the weight of the Republic around in order to quell other religions is super wtf-y of them; how can you not know better than to have them do it in the first place, or to then implicitly endorse it narratively? I actually found that to be one of the few moments of decent worldbuilding and unforced fanservice. It doesn't get undue focus, it doesn't overstay its welcome. The writers don't use it to make tortured references to other parts of the canon. It gets brought up organically in the scene - or organically enough, given how... shaky the writing still is - and all you learn about it is exactly what you need to know about it: its name, and that it affects lightsabers. Then it's right on to other aspects of the helmet. Fans correctly guessed what it was beforehand, but it still could have been any number of alternatives, and moreover, it wasn't a wink and nod reference the way, say, repeating a movie's title in-dialogue is. Anyway, this episode is... fine, I guess. It has the veeery slight hints of the veeery beginnings of what I'd actually want from a morally-dubious Force story, but it spent 3/4 of the story getting there. And jesus, stringing along the frakking mystery box "what really happened in Brendok?" nonsense was already testing my patience; now I just don't care. There is no form it can take that can make me reassess my opinion of the show as a waste of everyone's time. I'll see you all after the finale, I guess. Maybe. I dunno. EDIT: Speaking of, did you know Anakin did his college thesis on Darth Plageius the Wise?
  12. kajnrig
    Wow, was there no preview of this, no hobby show prototype, etc.? All of a sudden, just up on HLJ?
  13. kajnrig
    "Him"?
  14. kajnrig
    Its original practitioner was an ancient master from galaxies away called Wimp Lo. He was purposely trained wrong, as a joke,
  15. kajnrig
    asdf I don't necessarily have a problem with that worldview, because it's an honest and accurate assessment of the Jedi as they are in the Prequels, but it's at such odds with the almost mythic status they've gained by the time of the original films. But that's beating a dead horse... grumblegrumblegrumble With regards to the helmet, I wasn't particularly thrown by it. There have been plenty of examples of physical materials withstanding lightsaber blades, so this just seemed like another instance of it; and even its extra effect I would have been fine if it were nothing more than a little flourish to make this depiction stand out. I did find it neat that they played with the mechanics of lightsabers, though. It reminded me of... god I forget where/when this was, but there are separate moments where Luke deflects a TIE's laser blast and strikes some lava dragon's scaly hide and his lightsaber similarly shorts out for a moment. Are modern play sabers able to both light up and hold up to fairly strenuous, high-impact use? Or maybe there are other logistical/practical reasons why they had to use larger saber handles. Otherwise if the size of the hilts is meant to be a depiction of older technology as you say, that's kind of neat. A bit incongruous given the rest of the world's tech doesn't similarly see such regression, but neat nonetheless.
  16. kajnrig
    Well, we can see where the budget and time and storytelling resources were unsurprisingly spent. Some bits of quite inventive sword and martial play. A Buddhist monk beating someone with his bare hands is always satisfying. I've never quite gelled with Nu-lightsaber tech. Unpopular opinion: Something about them using literal glow sticks makes it look like they're using literal glow sticks, and it's super distracting. There's something super funky about a blade made of light that doesn't emit light, and I greatly prefer it to the more "realistic" effect they use nowadays. If I ever get the chance to do Star Wars, I'm definitely going old-school with that aspect of it. The Jedi as protectors and followers of rules-based order strikes me as mildly odd, given some of the... is it Legends? The old Expanded Universe? Legacy? L-something... anyway, given some of the old material (and even RotJ IIRC) framed strict order and rules as an aspect of the Sith. But then this is Star Wars, where such things were "good" or "bad" almost on anyone's whim on any given day. So... meh. Anything else...? I dunno. I'll have to pay closer attention next time I see this episode, if I do see it again. Otherwise, back to mild indifference for me.
  17. kajnrig
    I thought we were talking just the general quality of the stuffs, not their function as money-makers. If we're talking about finances, sure, I could agree they're probably spending more on the shows than the shows are bringing in. I could even be persuaded that that's the case even if you factored in all the merchandising, licensing, etc. that said shows generate. But as far as the quality of the thing goes, Disney Wars is pretty similar to Lucas Wars, all things considered.
  18. kajnrig
    It's weird, I've generally had a decent if unmemorable time with the Star Wars shows. Mando season...2? When Luke shows up? was a good time. Boba Fett was perfectly fine up through the point I eventually dropped it (before that slo-mo speeder chase I caught years later on YouTube the other day, what WAS that???? ), same with Ahsoka. Obi-Wan Kenobi was ultimately worth it too, I think. So... yeah. I dunno, guys, this whole doom and gloom about Disney Wars seems overblown. Of course I say that yet have spent the last five pages absolutely trashing The Acolyte.
  19. kajnrig
    If this were the case, I - again - would have liked that to be conveyed. This was my very assumption when no explicit reason was given, but as it is, it IS just an assumption and not corroborated by the show itself. This was exactly my thinking as well. Why else would they bring the fact of their not being within Republic boundaries up? See, if there were an implied "shared best practices" type thing between these Force-believing religions that would compel the Witches to allow the Jedi to test them, I would find that extraordinarily interesting. Like, perhaps they both strongly emphasize the importance of developing Force sensitivity as children, and the Jedi invoke that similar belief to the Witches as something of an olive branch to convince them to allow the Jedi to test them. I'm guessing there's some sort of manipulation by the Mystery Sith as part of a Bigger Conspiracy. Recency bias also plays some sort of role here, I'm sure. I remember all the hardcore fans ragging on the Sequels for having "bad" lightsaber fights and thinking back to the supposedly good old days of the mid-2000s and... all the hardcore fans ragging on the Prequels for having "bad" lightsaber fights. Star Wars might be seen as poorly-written only now, but it's only building on the weak foundation that was allowed before. Creators shouldn't be scared of changing what doesn't work, and fans shouldn't be scared of Star Wars changing, maybe even drastically. I mean, yeeeah, but that was an old Jedi Knight reminiscing nostalgically. He speaks of the Jedi Knights the way, say, Sam Seaborn talks about the US of A (first thing that came to mind, dunno why): It's timestamped to provide some context, but at about 2:29 he waxes poetic about the US thusly: "This country is an idea, and one that has lit the world for two centuries! And treason against that idea is not just a crime against the living!" It's rhetorical language, it's theatrical language. It's language meant not necessarily to strictly convey facts, but to express a mood, an emotion, a devotion to and expression of a personal ideal. EDIT: Yes, let's make this wall of text wallier. Is she bald? I thought Kelnacca just had neatly-combed and -styled hair. Granted I wasn't looking very hard...
  20. kajnrig
    Personally, I've always thought the term "Jedi Knight" was weird because of its monarchical implications, and how such implications are at odds with the idea of a republic. But on the other hand I've also always associated the term "Jedi Knight" more with the religious term, ie a member of a militant arm of a religious order (a knight belonging to and fighting for specifically the Jedi) rather than any political state (a knight in service of the Republic/Empire/their king/etc. who happens to be a Jedi). That may be true; I think the show could have done a better job of informing us (or maybe just me ) of that. It's why I would have wanted an extended time frame for the events on Brendok. Or even something as simple as the characters referencing the past would have helped give me some context for how Osha is the way she is and why. There's a short scene in Attack of the Clones where Obi-Wan and Anakin talk about their past adventures while riding an elevator. It's hamfisted writing in its own way, and the acting is as stilted as it is throughout the rest of the movie, but it still serves to inform us about the characters, their past, their relationship to each other and the world and people around them, etc. Osha and Mae could have used something similar to at least give us an idea of what life used to be like for them. I watched the latest episode again just to make sure I caught anything I might have missed the first go around (btw @Seto Kaiba the subtitles say "ma-n-i-c-ally" not "ma-n-i-a-c-ally"), and a point occurred to me again that I neglected to mention before: we don't know or learn why Osha wants to be a Jedi. Or why she thinks they're good. Or why the Witches think they're bad. (There is the barest hint of religious persecution wrought by the Jedi upon the Witches, but it's extremely vague, almost like the writers haven't fully thought out what that persecution looked like.) Or why, despite thinking the Jedi are bad and possibly having an ugly history with them, the Witches let them impose their customs. Indara says to the head witch Aniseya, "You cannot deny that Jedi have the right to test potential Padawan."... immediately after both sides have made it clear that 1) they're on bad terms, and 2) this planet isn't part of the Republic and thus the Jedi presumably have no jurisdiction here. Do the Jedi have the right? What kind of right, ie divine/legal? Why? And yet Aniseya acquiesces. Again, why? Could she not simply tell them "No, frakk off out of here, unless you plan to show us the same hospitality that drove us here in the first place, in which case frakk off out of here AND take this parting gift of an arrow to your face while you're at it."?
  21. kajnrig
    Reina preorder is up. HLJ: https://www.hlj.com/v-f-g-macross-delta-vf-31a-kairos-reina-prowler-aos06526 Amiami: https://www.amiami.com/eng/detail/?gcode=FIGURE-171411 HS: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/11096667 BBTS: https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/280496
  22. kajnrig
    Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, because my impression was that one of the twins wants doggedly to be her own person, as if she has always wanted doggedly to be her own person; the other acts as if "two of one" is so obvious as to be taken for granted, as if it has always been so obvious as to be taken for granted. At the very least, they and their elders take each other's attitudes and presumably disquieting attitudes in stride almost as if "oh boy there goes Osha with her rebellious streak again" or "oh boy there goes Mae again with her animal cruelty." Like, Osha isn't disturbed at all by Mae's aforementioned animal cruelty, nor does she cite it as a reason for her growing disillusionment with the coven; she just tells her to knock it off and they move onto the next scene. No voicing her concern to her mom(s), no reflecting on the incident in her room, no perhaps taking time to bring it to the attention of Sol in an act of intimation that brings them closer together... I've known a handful of twins IRL and they've swung all the way from one extreme to the other, from doing everything together and matching clothing to expressly avoiding being in the same room as each other. But regardless of how much they want to be like/different from each other, they DO tend to resemble each other in their behavior, mannerisms, thinking patterns, etc. But what I meant when I brought those things up wasn't so much that I wanted to see those specific things and that specific type of sibling relationship - empathy, prediction, separation anxiety, etc. - just that, whichever way the creators wanted to go with their sibling dynamic, their depiction of it could have allowed for more... flourish. Nuance. Expression. I wanted to see their being siblings reinforced through secondary and tertiary means, especially when they had prime reference material in the actresses themselves. Which is exactly my point. If Star Wars can get away with not having "bad writing" associated with it despite its "choicest cuts" being of iffy quality, then so too can fanfiction writ large. Or from the other way around, if fanfiction is synonymous with poor writing because the vast majority of it is poorly written, then so too should Star Wars be synonymous with poor writing because the vast majority of it is poorly written. The vast majority of everything is poorly written, as a matter of fact, but it's only fanfiction that gets lumped with the association. Thus I'll always go to bat for fanfiction. But anyway, that's the most minor of nits I've picked. I agree it's to do with the source material, I disagree that it's out of fear of losing the audience. Or rather, I don't think the two are necessarily so closely linked as the creators of The Acolyte fear think it is. The Jedi were a completely different beast before Lucas started his work on the prequels. The "source material" of Star Wars didn't include a literal Chosen One prophecy until he just decided to add it in alongside a tortured Jesus analogue. Fans have been open to more change to Star Wars canon than these creators seem to think they are, sometimes accepting even objectively bad changes. I get the feeling this show's creators write more out of fear of upsetting an imagined status quo rather than out of a desire to tell a compelling story. I will say, and this is starting to veer outside of The Acolyte specifically and into the Star Wars canon more broadly, I hate that the Jedi have become synonymous with The Republic. The show treats the Jedi's values as being one and the same as the Republic's values, which... no. No, religious dedication to a life of celibacy and worldly detachments(?) is not synonymous with dedication to running society via rules developed from the assent and often compromise of a variety of perspectives, no matter how much the Prequels might assert otherwise. The Jedi are (or should be, at any rate) like the monks of European monasteries, or the ninja clans of the Japanese warring states, or indeed the Shaolin monks across the breadth of Chinese history; unique, generally isolated communities whose interests occasionally align with their respective governing states but more often are merely inoffensive to them, and indeed occasionally are at odds or even threaten them. That last bit was clearly an idea Lucas was trying to express in his prequel depiction of the Republic and the Jedi Order. He just wasn't fully up to the task of it. I've heard vaguely of Force Witches before, but being the Star Wars plebeian that I am, I don't know anything beyond that they exist. I can't say I'm too surprised that their previous depictions have been as straight forward as they were. One more gripe I had with this Episode 3, kind of related to the others I've had: I would have liked to spend more time on Brendok and see the events play out over a longer period. Obviously there's more going on and my opinion might change as more is revealed, but with regards to the gripes I have so far, an extended time period of Witch-Jedi interaction could have settled many of them.
  23. kajnrig
    Poor writing and fanfiction aren't synonymous. Some of the best - heck, arguably THE best - parts of Star Wars are for all intents and purposes just "elevated" fanfiction. It IS poorly-written, though, that much is true. Or at the very least, it's muddled writing. Unclear. Imprecise. It seems to want to depict the Jedi as well-doing sages... but more often than not it shows them imposing themselves on others. It seems to want us to empathize with the witch coven... but it shows them being antagonistic and collectively a bit overquick on the figurative draw. It seems to want us to think of the personal drama between Osha et al as just that: dramatic... but more often than not it shows everyone kind of just talking past each other. The acting feels wooden, and I can only suspect that this was a result of the directing... or show-running... or something beyond the ability of the actors themselves to change, because I've seen better from all of them. (Or at least all of them that I recognize.) The sisterly relationship doesn't have any of the wrinkles, nuances, etc. that you see from real siblings, much less twins. I see that the actresses who played Young Mae and Osha are actual twins, and it would have been nice to see them maybe inject some of their real-life experience as such into the roles. Or tweak the script here and there to show as much. Have them be extra empathetic to each other. Have them able to predict the other's behaviors. Have them be increasingly perturbed by their lack of unity over their future. Let the actors chew the scenery a bit more than not at all. On the other hand, I suppose The Acolyte is again only following the lead of the prequel movies. Still doesn't make it okay, though.
  24. kajnrig
    I guess this show updates on Tuesdays then? For some reason I was thinking Wednesdays. Maybe because of X-Men 97.
  25. kajnrig
    I told myself I would only get the Makina, Reina, and Kaname ones... but then I saw preview pics of the Freyja and ended up preordering one. And now I'm already committing to 4 of 5 members, I may as well finish the group, right? After all, it only makes sense. Aye yay yay...
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