technoblue

I enjoyed it. The Netflix cameo was a nice surprise and I like that we are now seeing more of those characters again. I agree with everyone above in thinking that it would have been fantastic if this particular character's portrayal was more consistent, though. That's my only critique. Otherwise, Hawkeye ranks as one of the better of the Disney+ Marvel shows for me.

As an aside, I did watch Black Widow right before getting into this and watching both in sequence was a treat.

5 hours ago, Bolt said:

Finished season 2. Loved it. Loved season 1 too. Looking forward to more!

Same. I might even take some time to watch both seasons again before the new year.

Truly. Thanks for the brilliant build report, @M'Kyuun. 

I'm also super tempted by the UCS AT-AT, especially since the designer included all that cool interior detail. But I'm going to have to resign myself to adding it to my wish list for now. If my space situation changes down the road, I would love to spend VIP points myself and pick it up. I do have the instructions for a minfig-scale AT-AT MOC. I have a long break scheduled over the holidays this year and I was hoping to get some builds done. 

Hopefully, it all comes together.

It's so sad losing such a creative voice. 

May she rest in peace and may her those who were close to her find solace in her memory.

I don't know. I'm a little suspicious whenever Netflix is quick to cancel a show but they are doing it more often these days. Sadly, live action Cowboy Bebop has only been up on US Netflix for three weeks? I guess they are giving certain shows a shorter window to prove that they perform well.

Well that's a downer. I was looking forward to seeing Ed join the cast. Easy come, easy go.

Hm. I guess if you feel strongly about men's health, then I can understand that point of view but the plot isn't a trigger for me.

No, I don't see it as an attack on men, but I'm also not reading in that context. Narrowing this discussion down to that one establishing scene, which is pretty shocking, I'll use sqidd's own litmus test to make my point. If the male/female roles were reversed, it wouldn't matter to me. Granted, I'm not naïve and I also understand that the scene would have its critics either way, but my point is that I would still give the show a chance no matter how it was constructed or who was playing the respective roles. So no hypocrisy here.

I'm pretty mellow these days and this is just a story that the showrunners are trying to bring to the screen. I'm also open to having stories that challenge the ethics, morals, and traditions of the audience. These stories are the ones that often teach us about ourselves.

Anyway, watching the FXX pilot that Thom shared, I'm glad that we started of the new series at a different place (for better or worse). The way the old pilot was set up with the forgotten memory/dreamlike sequence between the other characters was a little confusing.

It looks like this has as much printed detail as the ol' Yamato release. I'm definitely in. I just need to figure out where to buy it. 😅

1 minute ago, sqidd said:

$50 in this day and age is ouch?

The rising cost is an ouch to me and Amazon Japan is currently giving international customers only one choice for shipping.

Eh, I'm okay with waiting for other options.

On a related note, I'm also not a fan of the bulky Yamato/Arcadia style boxes. I wish Arcadia would take a cue from Bandai and redesign their boxes to save on space. Packaging the Valks in bat mode or with the wings folded would be cool, for instance. I wouldn't miss the larger square boxes if they suddenly disappeared.

The price is more or less what I expected, but the shipping from Amazon Japan...ouch. 

2 hours ago, levzloi said:

I'm not going to say that the Showrunners won't take it that direction, they could, given today's society they are very likely to lean that direction.  And I don't want to get this thread shut down for going political, so I'm not going to talk about that more.   However the book the first season is based on, was written over 30 years ago, by a man,  a Vietnam war vet,  and I can tell you it's anything but sexist towards men.  Simply because racism is portrayed in a work, doesn't make that work racist, by the same measure, simply because sexism is portrayed in a work, doesn't mean that work is sexist. 

Good points. I also think it's worth emphasizing how big and small screen adaptations are never one to one when compared to original work. Something is always lost in translation when rewriting and editing a story to fashion it into a script. Even popular big screen adaptations like Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" or Villeneuve's "Dune" take artistic and editorial license that deviate from the original text. I expect no less from this adaptation of Robert Jordon's fantasy.

Luckily, I'm approaching this like "The Expanse" and plan to read the books later so I don't have any expectations. The fact that some of these powerful women of magic introduced early on may be sketchy, chaotic, and even potentially evil does not bother me as a viewer. The story is obviously trying to do something different that doesn't gel with how the fantasy genre puts characters into traditional roles. It reminds me of how Ursula K. Le Guin challenged traditional roles in her own writing. The test will be to see if the series can create consistency within its universe. That's what matters to me. 

This is another series of books that I missed reading back in the day. For me, the first three episodes have been quite engaging although I'm waiting for Amazon to release a few more before I continue with it. I'm not a fan of watching one episode per week on streaming platforms. Given a choice, I'll wait to watch a bunch over a long weekend.

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Finished the series last night. 

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As to Julia, I thought it was an interesting direction to go. Personally, I think she'll make a better antagonist than the all-rage, little-thought personality of Vicious. Julia's a more complex character.  She has the most growth of any character in the series- a nobody backstage hand to nightclub singer, to wife of a wealthy but sadistic mobster, enduring the bi-polar treatment of her husband whose moods shift like sand in the desert- kind and adoring one moment, angry and abusive the next.  Years spent in that kind of environment could certainly change a person. One need only spend some time watching ID channel to see real life examples. So, it made perfect sense to me, after her plot to have Vicious murdered failed, and after his defeat in the cathedral, to seize upon the opportunity to take over the Syndicate in the wake of the Elders' murders.  Keeping Vicious alive is her only all-too-common tv trope mistake.  But Julia is a more cunning foe than Vicious, and her past with Fearless/Spike gives the relationship an extra layer of complexity. I'm curious to see how it plays out. I hope there's a second season, despite all the negative criticism.  Unfortunately, people these days are quick to condemn anything that plays off an earlier work, especially anime. Honestly, I'm not sure how they could have made it much better while trying to keep it true to the anime's spirit on a tv budget.  

Those are good points.

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

 

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I did think most of the villains were over the top, but again, that's a very anime trope, and Cowboy Bebop was full of oddball characters. It does feel like watching the old '66 Batman show at times, especially the psycho dude in Ep 8 Sad Clown A-Go-Go. Just very over the top.  Which leads us to the surprising appearance of Ed at the end. The girl they got to play her looks like she has the quirkiness down. It's going to be a very physical role, if they follow the anime model, so I'm curious to see how that plays out. The show wouldn't be complete without her, though, so it should be a fun ride if second season gets a go.  I'm also looking forward to seeing Faye's story play out; I only vaguely remember it from the anime, so I'm enjoying watching this with mostly fresh eyes.

I finished the back half of the first 10 episodes tonight. There are things that I like about this version, but I find myself very confused now at the intermission.

Here's my spoiler warning for those that need it. 

The live action version is all right, but is definitely abridged and takes some license on the events from the anime. I'm not a fan of all the character changes either (Vicious being the most unfortunate). So far, I've watched half of the new series straight through. Now that I'm up to Faye's backstory, I've decided to watch the anime again to refresh my memory of things as I keep going.

For instance, comparing live episode 1 to animated episode 1, I'm surprised by what was left out. 

2 hours ago, Axelay said:

Could someone please clear something up for me? I haven't read the book in about 4 years, but I'm struggling to remember if something on-screen happened in the book or if it was just a scene invented for screen. Did the Reverend Mother Helen Gaius Mohaim actually meet face-to-face with Baron Harkonnen and instruct him to not kill Paul and Jessica...? I could swear that this never happened, what with their... peculiar... relationship with each other. Maybe my addled brain has just forgotten.

No, that scene doesn't exist. At least, not in Frank Herbert's original books.

I can only speculate that Villeneuve thought it was necessary to give exposition to later events that were shown on screen, and help make the Harkonnen more creepy. That said, I'm also left wondering if it was the best option? Why not reimagine one of the other scenes from part one of the novel?

16 hours ago, Dynaman said:

This latest season of Who is by far the best of the Jodi Whitaker Who.  Too bad the first couple were not this well done.  

I've been happy with Jodie as the Doctor, as well. I would have liked to see her work with another showrunner but I understand not wanting to get stuck in a role and three years appears to be the Who standard. It's a shame her time got scrambled by outside events eating into the schedule.

Chibnall as the showrunner was okay. Like you say, though, it took a while for things to come together. 

7 minutes ago, ValkAddict said:

^ This would be sweet!! I would LOVE a 1/60 VF-1D - yes please!!

HaHa! Okay, not so meh if you missed Yamato's original v2 release and the 30th Anniversary reissue.

I'm nonplussed about the idea since I'm content with Bandai's DX. 

I think Mr. K is being cheeky about the lights on the tower.

I mean, I really don't want to read into it and get my hopes up. To start thinking that Arcadia is considering a TV SDF-1 is folly (but that would be fantastic if there is a glimmer of hope). The only other ideas that come to my mind are a reissue of the 1/60 Angel Birds VF-1A (not bad) or a reissue of the 1/60 VF-1D (meh).

I remember watching him on Quantum Leap, The Langoliers, StarGate SG-1, Battlestar Galactica, and so much more.

RIP

4 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I've been saving my points for years for just such an eventuality. I have enough to cover a pretty good portion of the tab at this point, at least half.  As I've said before, this is THE SET I've been waiting for since they started the UCS line in the early 00s, really since they picked up the license in '99, so I'm down for a copy on day one. I just have to figure out where I'm going to put it. 

That'll be a sweet delivery when your set arrives. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on it. 

Imperial walkers on the north ridge. 

It sure looks awesome, like the UCS Falcon, but I'm not sure I can pick up the tab on it (even with points). Maybe later.

Had a smooth transaction with @GXPT2000. Enjoy the Arcadia YF-19!

The Transformers fandom is unique. Where fans of other toy lines can usually depend on show accuracy (see Macross and Gundam), Transformers fans have a duality with G1. When I take a step back to look at the original G1 toy release, the Diaclone heritage is evident. They had real-world details in alt mode, and blocky bot modes, but the G1 series/movie used artistic license to animate, characterize, and sell the toys on screen. Yeah, if I'm being honest, real-world design and toon accuracy are both representative of what G1 is and always has been. So there is no wrong answer here. No matter our stripes, we are all fans of Transformers. As @mikeszekely wrote, it's what we lean into---our personal nostalgia---then that drives our impressions for G1.

At this point, it's like arguing over someone's interpretation of a drawing or a painting. I would suggest that it's important to remember that people do see things differently and that can be a bridge, as well as being informative and interesting too.  

Myself, I do wish Takara would release more G1 Toy MPs but I am not sure the price would be right anymore. Barring that, Newage is thankfully consistent in doing their own G1 toy releases at Legends scale, so I've been picking up those when and where I can.

1 hour ago, lavinrac said:

Fuke riobot is live on HLJ Right now. Just preordered. Sleep can be uninterrupted!

Yay!