Lord Liaden

AlgaeNymph's OP was clearly referencing conventions of the current official Champions Universe, so I was operating on the assumption that was the basis for discussion. All my own references are to CU elements.

Following the rationales I list above, I would say that the reason psionics plays a role in the future, is because of its link to Artifice. As societies grow more and more technological, the environment people are surrounded by is increasingly Artificial, which naturally encourages the development of psionic talent. The utilization of ch'i and other spiritual forces (I would include in that the "miracles" attributed to many "holy men/women" in the Western spiritual tradition) would have been easier and more common when most of humanity lived closer to the Natural world. Note that both of those forces are internal to living beings, whereas cosmic power and magic are explicitly external forces not dependent on living things. For that reason I believe it would be appropriate for each of the latter two to have a cosmic Archetype in charge of it. On this forum thread it was suggested that the mysterious entity called Luathon, of the "Eleven Lights" spell suite, could be that Archetype for Magic, part of the Zoa of Chaos, responsible for the ebb and flow of magic across the Multiverse. But it was also suggested that Luathon should have an opposite number in Order, one responsible for the maintenance of physical laws allowing matter and energy to take coherent form in any universe, an Archetype of Science. I've taken to calling this Archetype, "the God Particle."

I guess a lifetime in captivity is a step up from being eaten.

I think the goal of many "journalists" today is to try to extract a juicy sound bite they can spin out of context into something controversial to use as clickbait.

This "Doocy" guy got a name that certainly sounds like it fits him. I've watched multiple press conferences where he keeps trying to ask "gotcha" questions like he's dealing with the lying fools that used to front Trump. But he just comes across as unprepared, childish and not very bright.

I have to add another: psionic energy, the power generated by the mind. That's a rather significant distinction within the official Hero Universe, in that psionics continue to function in the future after magic goes away, albeit at a generally reduced level. Psionics have a strong basis in science fiction, so I can see why Steve and Darren made that choice. My own working premise for my games has evolved over time, and crystallized during recent discussions about the CU here on the forums. How I would approach it now is that these four forces are aligned with the Four Zoas, the fundamental concepts of Reality, which as is official, include sapient cosmic Archetypes embodying these forces. I've mentioned here before that I decided "cosmic power" is the force underlying physical laws, the manifestation of the elusive Grand Unified Field Theory. As such it would fundamentally align with the Zoa of Order. Magic warps those laws, and can be made to do so according to the subjective will and imagination of living beings. That would fit with the Zoa of Chaos. Psionics as a power of the mind naturally accords with Artifice. I would call ch'i a spiritual force, the energy of Life and the Soul, hence an expression of Nature. Specifically regarding the Cosmic Gems, the origin I gave them is that they were created by the Trickster, the CU cosmic entity of Chaos who causes random events to disrupt the predictability of existence. I thought it would amuse him to put powerful tools channeling Order into the hands of individuals who would thereby promote Chaos. 😈 I have more about this in mind, but I don't want to monopolize the discussion. At least not this soon.

Edited for political content. 😔

I have to correct that. Thanos was Jim Starlin's creation. Jack Kirby had no direct input on the character, although Starlin readily admits that Darkseid was a major inspiration for him. The initial concept for Thanos and the Titans had nothing to do with Eternals, rather they were an offshoot of the Olympian gods. The Eternals connection was a retcon. Jack on his return to Marvel created the Eternals and Celestials; Mr. Machine/Machine Man and other inspirations from his adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey; Devil Dinosaur and his prehistoric adventure world; and I'm sure I'm forgetting other characters.

You absolutely have the right to like or dislike anything. But looking at the daikaiju genre as a whole, IMO it's tough to objectively say that anything in particular doesn't fit in. These movies have featured giant dinosaurs, giant insects, giant dragons, giant turtles, giant dogs, giant humanoids, giant aliens, giant robots, and giant things for which there aren't even words. Toho Studios even adapted a giant version of Frankenstein's monster! My own view is that Legendary Pictures has done a pretty solid job of setting up a world in which all these things can co-exist and interact, so that if you can accept its basic premises (and I admit not everyone can), it all hangs together rather well.

I saw this as a comment on a YouTube political video, posted by one Rich Delgado: So... - Biden is President - Dobbs is out - Trump can't tweet - Newsmax is getting sued - Fox, Giuliani and Sidney Powell are getting sued - Newsmax has to pay Rachel Maddow's legal fees - Giuliani gets a big fat disclaimer before his radio show - Mike Lindell's movie is pulled from YouTube. Man, I am LOVING 2021!!!!

That is tragic. But I have to say, "glacier" and "India" are words that don't normally connect in my mind. Silly cliche, of course, since India's northern border is the Himalayas.

Yep, this new movie was in the planning stage at least since Skull Island, probably earlier. In the interest of fairness, I should point out that King Kong vs Godzilla was the third movie in the franchise, from 1962; while Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla was the fourteenth and came out in 1974. By that point we're looking at a whole different continuity. But it is true that the writers for those movies would sometimes give Godz whatever plot ability they wanted for a particular movie. The character's origin and history were also rebooted several times, even from one film to the next.

The idea is hardly unprecedented, there having been an earlier Kong vs Godzilla movie where they were close to the same size. I should note that in said movie, Kong needed an additional gimmick to beat Godzilla too. They gave Kong the power to absorb electricity to vitalize himself, and to release it by touch. If the origin of the axe is what people are guessing, it makes more sense than that in context. I do like that this movie seems to be weaving the mythology of this "monsterverse" further into the story. It feels like it's part of something bigger.

We're the monkeys with typewriters. Just by random chance we're bound to turn out something good.

Lots of people don't understand their own kink. But I would guess Gov. DeSantis meant something like, "at bayonet point," an image of armed compulsion.

No, this is how you get... der Leiter! You just need to change the mustache...

Champions International: Lugendu is in the website store. Purchased and downloaded, will read and review soon.

This reactor won't be doing anything it doesn't normally do, they're just going to take unusual measurements. In a comics universe or RPG game setting, they wouldn't be measuring time violations, they'd be trying to deliberately create them. And yes, "hilarity" would ensue.

The comment section seems to have dubbed that move, "the atomic b!tch-slap." To me it looked less like a slap, and more like Godz raked his claws across Kong's face.

The official Japanese trailer, with a little different footage.

If that's the hand of God, it would explain a lot.

Thank you, Kaiju Krusader. I particularly remember 2001's Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, which has as its instigating premise, the corpse of the Godzilla killed in 1954 being revived and regenerated by the collective souls of those unjustly killed by the Japanese military during WW II, possessing Godzilla to drive him to destroy Japan in revenge. That's not only thought-provoking, but a bold move for a commercial film made for Japanese consumption. But that was still, at base, used mainly as an excuse for awesome giant monster action.

Yes, it is wrong to powergame. But you can overpower anyone who doesn't like it.

Well that's your problem. You never realized that those weren't humans. 👽

I know scholars who would literally give their right arms to spend a year in the Library of Alexandria before it was ravaged. I shudder to think what they'd give to get into this place.