Netzilla

Our Heroes:
Amon-Ra -- An archaeologist who discovered a magical helmet that was a conduit for an anchient god of wisdom.
Faceless -- A shape-shifting FBI agent who doesn't remember what he really looks like.
Diamondback -- A wealthy socialite infused with increadible strength and toughness due to a disasterous science experiement.
Shard -- Sister to Diamondback and the author of aforementioned disasterous experiment which gave her the ability to grow and manipulate crystals.
Double-Time! -- A young lab worker who was accidentlly exposed to strange chemicals granting him increadible speed.
Professor Polar -- A scientist who discovered "cold energy" and accidentally infused himself with it.
Zoltan the Magnificent -- A stage magician who happens to also know real magic.
 
***
 
GM [summarizing the previous session] -- . . .and Shard and Diamondback were going to go investigate the house of the old man who had brought over the package before the cult arrived.
Shard -- We were?
GM -- Well, that’s what you said you were going to do.
Shard -- Well, who said that was a good idea?
GM -- I never said anything about it being a good idea, that’s just what you said you were going to do.
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- I’m great at talking to rational people.
Double-Time -- Have you found any of those yet?
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- He’s tough enough to run for his life if he needs to.
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- Being a fairly recent immigrant, he’s probably doesn’t have a family graveyard yet.
GM -- Seems unlikely.
Double-Time -- We start one!
Amon-Ra -- That’s what I wanted to do last night but you wouldn’t let me!
GM -- No, you wanted to start a crematorium, there’s a difference.
Zoltan -- In the church!
 
***
 
GM -- And you do have Sleight of Hand on your character sheet.
Zoltan -- I do?
GM -- Twelve or less.
Zoltan [looking] -- Huh.  So I do, I missed that.
Double-Time -- He also has Concealment.
 
***
 
Zoltan -- The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, nothing more.
Prof Polar -- The enemy of my enemy is a tool in my hand.
GM -- The enemy of my enemy is still an a-hole.
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]-- I know we barely know each other, but someday I will have extra E.P.s.
 
***
 
Shard -- People keep telling me that it’s not right that I sleep with men-- I mean next to.
 
***
 
Shard -- Can I call [Double-Time’s] boss and pretend to be his relative?
GM -- I’m sure you’re capable of it.  Whether or not it’s a good idea, I’m not going to say.
Prof Polar -- I have an issue with the way you phrased that.  Yes, she’s capable of making the call, but I’m not certain she’s capable of pretending to be his relative.
Shard -- Hey, I did a great job pretending [to Double-Time's boss] to be his girlfriend.
GM -- Which is going to complicate the whole pretending to be a relative thing.
 
***
 
Felix Stauf -- You are proving to be an incredible nuisance.
Zoltan -- Why thank you.  I thought I was merely a good nuisance.
 
***
 
Amon-Ra -- When I catch up to the car, I’m going to put up a barrier in front of it so be prepared to teleport out.
Zoltan -- Right.  He’s casting spells and I’m trying to stop him.  And he can hear everything I say!
 
***
 
Zoltan -- When he cast the spell did he have to use any gestures or incantations or anything?
GM -- He spoke the spell.
Zoltan -- Ah ha!  Unfortunately, I don’t have anything to silence him.
Prof Polar -- Yes you do.  Put your hands around his neck and squeeze.
GM -- Strangle the driver.  Great idea!
Prof Polar -- So far, strangling the driver has been the safest suggestion I’ve heard for stopping the car.
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- I head towards the commotion, because I know that’s where [my teammates] are.
 
***
 
Amon-Ra -- And I’m the dangerous one, eh?  I was just going to take out a building.  She’s taking out pedestrians.
Prof Polar -- Just take out a BUILDING?!
 
***
 
Zoltan -- I just get the feeling I should be somewhere else; screwing things up there.
 
***
 
Prof Polar [OOC] --- I want to by Transport Familiarity: Humanoids.
 
***
 
GM -- My poor blind demons.
 
***
 
GM -- Teamwork, it’s not just for the heroes.
Double-Time -- Yes it is.
 
***
 
Zoltan -- Got your staff back?
Amon-Ra -- Yes, I do.
Zoltan -- You know, most of us don’t let go of our staffs.
Shard -- [groan]
GM -- Not everyone feels the need to handle their staff all the time, either.
Double-Time -- Speak for yourself.
GM -- Well, certainly not in public!
Shard -- You guys are gross.
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- I don’t want to kill him.  I want to humiliate him.  I can’t let you kill him because I can’t humiliate him if he’s dead.

Our Heroes:
Amon-Ra -- An archaeologist who discovered a magical helmet that was a conduit for an anchient god of wisdom.
Faceless -- A shape-shifting FBI agent who doesn't remember what he really looks like.
Diamondback -- A wealthy socialite infused with increadible strength and toughness due to a disasterous science experiement.
Shard -- Sister to Diamondback and the author of aforementioned disasterous experiment which gave her the ability to grow and manipulate crystals.
Double-Time! -- A young lab worker who was accidentlly exposed to strange chemicals granting him increadible speed.
Professor Polar -- A scientist who discovered "cold energy" and accidentally infused himself with it.
Zoltan the Magnificent -- A stage magician who happens to also know real magic.
 
***
 
Diamondback: I like the idea of gathering more information before blowing something up.
 
***
 
Faceless: I’m in charge of this investigation and that means I can do whatever I want.  I just have to explain it to my superiors afterwards; which is the hard part.
 
***
 
Prof Polar: If it gets to the point where there is a sacrificial victim on the altar about to be killed, then we can consider blowing it up or burning it down--
Diamondback [clarifying for certain team mates]: Not the victim!
 
***
 
Prof Polar: So, we’re in the pre-catastrophe phase.
 
***
 
Diamondback: He [Zoltan] freaked out so bad, even Double-Time noticed.
 
***
 
Zoltan: I’m not having any more ideas at all tonight.
 
***
 
GM: The altar stands about yea high and looks long enough to put a body on.
Double-Time [OOC]: That’s a disturbingly specific measurement.
 
***
 
Shard: Can I somehow forget it [the runes on the altar]?
 
Prof Polar: I can find the specific neurons and kill them.  It’s only a few cells of your brain, it won’t do any significant harm.
Zoltan: Oh my.  That’s a little harsh.
Shard: For real?
Prof Polar: Uhhhh. . .yeah.
Diamondback: I’d just like to point out that he’s smart but he’s not a neurosurgeon.
Prof Polar: Well, there’s these new things called x-rays.  I’ll just adapt them for brain scanning. .  
Diamondback: You know, for as much as my sister and I argue, I feel I should stand up for her neurons.
 
***
 
Zoltan: Amon-Ra may be better suited to protecting us as his powers tend to affect whole groups.
Diamondback:  Oh my God!  He said Amon-Ra would be better at something.  We must really be in trouble.
 
***
 
[As Amon-Ra is communing with his patron and refuses the request to relinquish control of his body.]
Diamondback: This is starting to sound like an abusive relationship.  So, if you need help, just let us know.
 
***
 
Faceless: Man, this is going to be a lot of paperwork later.
Diamondback: We’re possibly facing an evil demon-god thing and you’re worried about paperwork?
Faceless: Look, there’s only a couple of things I truly hate in this world: the thought of all of us dying (and that means humanity) and paperwork!
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]: Sorry, I thought we were calling for the snack god.
 
***
 
Double-Time: I punch a group.  I run around so fast, that I hit everyone in the area.
Diamondback: And you can’t pull for hitting your teammates?
Double-Time:  Nope.  That’s why I have tough teammates.
 
***
 
Zoltan: Elder gods aren’t allowed to testify in a court of law.
 
***
 
GM: Shard, you have a Double-Time cowering behind you.  He looks like he needs a hug.
Double-Time: He needs a hug after we finish destroying the scary altar.  Then he needs lots of hugs.
 
***
 
[As the group fights the demon recently summoned by the cultists.]
Amon-Ra: Before we kill the cultists, we need to question them.
Prof Polar: WHAT?!
Diamondback: Should we kill the cultists?
Amon-Ra: Well, we need to ask--
Prof Polar: Discussion for later!  Demon!
 
***
 
Zoltan: Well, I wouldn’t want to tell the FBI agent how to do his job.
Faceless: You’ve got to remember, I’m not an investigator.
Prof Polar: What are you, an accountant?
Amon-Ra: He’s their assault team.
Faceless [OOC and looking at his character sheet]: Honestly, I don’t really know what he does for them.
 
***
 
Prof Polar: Could I talk to this man alone for a minute before any of you psychos kill him?
Amon-Ra: I wasn’t trying to kill him.
Zoltan [imitating Amon-Ra]: I wasn’t trying to kill him.  I was just trying to let his life-force out.
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]: You said to control the crowd.  I controlled them; they’re dead.  I don’t see what the problem is.
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]:  Here [Zoltan’s player], here’s a die with a single pip on each side. [Mimics Zoltan’s player rolling the die] ‘Damn, I got a five’.
 
***
 
Faceless: When I called the cops earlier, I told them we have a case going on here and we’re handling it.  Don’t bother about the noise, it’s all under control.
GM [imitating Faceless]: When things start blowing up and burning down; it’s fine.
 
***
 
Zoltan [OOC]: I’m surprised you made your cultists quite breakable.
GM: Yeah, well, they’re just cultists.
Zoltan: Well, we weren’t expecting that.
GM: Quite frankly, neither were they.

Our Heroes:
Amon-Ra -- An archaeologist who discovered a magical helmet that was a conduit for an anchient god of wisdom.
Faceless -- A shape-shifting FBI agent who doesn't remember what he really looks like.
Diamondback -- A wealthy socialite infused with increadible strength and toughness due to a disasterous science experiement.
Shard -- Sister to Diamondback and the author of aforementioned disasterous experiment which gave her the ability to grow and manipulate crystals.
Double-Time! -- A young lab worker who was accidentlly exposed to strange chemicals granting him increadible speed.
Professor Polar -- A scientist who discovered "cold energy" and accidentally infused himself with it.
Zoltan the Magnificent -- A stage magician who happens to also know real magic.
 
***
 
GM [summarizing the previous session] -- . . .and Shard and Diamondback were going to go investigate the house of the old man who had brought over the package before the cult arrived.
Shard -- We were?
GM -- Well, that’s what you said you were going to do.
Shard -- Well, who said that was a good idea?
GM -- I never said anything about it being a good idea, that’s just what you said you were going to do.
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- I’m great at talking to rational people.
Double-Time -- Have you found any of those yet?
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- He’s tough enough to run for his life if he needs to.
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- Being a fairly recent immigrant, he’s probably doesn’t have a family graveyard yet.
GM -- Seems unlikely.
Double-Time -- We start one!
Amon-Ra -- That’s what I wanted to do last night but you wouldn’t let me!
GM -- No, you wanted to start a crematorium, there’s a difference.
Zoltan -- In the church!
 
***
 
GM -- And you do have Sleight of Hand on your character sheet.
Zoltan -- I do?
GM -- Twelve or less.
Zoltan [looking] -- Huh.  So I do, I missed that.
Double-Time -- He also has Concealment.
 
***
 
Zoltan -- The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, nothing more.
Prof Polar -- The enemy of my enemy is a tool in my hand.
GM -- The enemy of my enemy is still an a-hole.
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]-- I know we barely know each other, but someday I will have extra E.P.s.
 
***
 
Shard -- People keep telling me that it’s not right that I sleep with men-- I mean next to.
 
***
 
Shard -- Can I call [Double-Time’s] boss and pretend to be his relative?
GM -- I’m sure you’re capable of it.  Whether or not it’s a good idea, I’m not going to say.
Prof Polar -- I have an issue with the way you phrased that.  Yes, she’s capable of making the call, but I’m not certain she’s capable of pretending to be his relative.
Shard -- Hey, I did a great job pretending [to Double-Time's boss] to be his girlfriend.
GM -- Which is going to complicate the whole pretending to be a relative thing.
 
***
 
Felix Stauf -- You are proving to be an incredible nuisance.
Zoltan -- Why thank you.  I thought I was merely a good nuisance.
 
***
 
Amon-Ra -- When I catch up to the car, I’m going to put up a barrier in front of it so be prepared to teleport out.
Zoltan -- Right.  He’s casting spells and I’m trying to stop him.  And he can hear everything I say!
 
***
 
Zoltan -- When he cast the spell did he have to use any gestures or incantations or anything?
GM -- He spoke the spell.
Zoltan -- Ah ha!  Unfortunately, I don’t have anything to silence him.
Prof Polar -- Yes you do.  Put your hands around his neck and squeeze.
GM -- Strangle the driver.  Great idea!
Prof Polar -- So far, strangling the driver has been the safest suggestion I’ve heard for stopping the car.
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- I head towards the commotion, because I know that’s where [my teammates] are.
 
***
 
Amon-Ra -- And I’m the dangerous one, eh?  I was just going to take out a building.  She’s taking out pedestrians.
Prof Polar -- Just take out a BUILDING?!
 
***
 
Zoltan -- I just get the feeling I should be somewhere else; screwing things up there.
 
***
 
Prof Polar [OOC] --- I want to by Transport Familiarity: Humanoids.
 
***
 
GM -- My poor blind demons.
 
***
 
GM -- Teamwork, it’s not just for the heroes.
Double-Time -- Yes it is.
 
***
 
Zoltan -- Got your staff back?
Amon-Ra -- Yes, I do.
Zoltan -- You know, most of us don’t let go of our staffs.
Shard -- [groan]
GM -- Not everyone feels the need to handle their staff all the time, either.
Double-Time -- Speak for yourself.
GM -- Well, certainly not in public!
Shard -- You guys are gross.
 
***
 
Prof Polar -- I don’t want to kill him.  I want to humiliate him.  I can’t let you kill him because I can’t humiliate him if he’s dead.

Our Heroes:
Amon-Ra -- An archaeologist who discovered a magical helmet that was a conduit for an anchient god of wisdom.
Faceless -- A shape-shifting FBI agent who doesn't remember what he really looks like.
Diamondback -- A wealthy socialite infused with increadible strength and toughness due to a disasterous science experiement.
Shard -- Sister to Diamondback and the author of aforementioned disasterous experiment which gave her the ability to grow and manipulate crystals.
Double-Time! -- A young lab worker who was accidentlly exposed to strange chemicals granting him increadible speed.
Professor Polar -- A scientist who discovered "cold energy" and accidentally infused himself with it.
Zoltan the Magnificent -- A stage magician who happens to also know real magic.
 
***
 
Diamondback: I like the idea of gathering more information before blowing something up.
 
***
 
Faceless: I’m in charge of this investigation and that means I can do whatever I want.  I just have to explain it to my superiors afterwards; which is the hard part.
 
***
 
Prof Polar: If it gets to the point where there is a sacrificial victim on the altar about to be killed, then we can consider blowing it up or burning it down--
Diamondback [clarifying for certain team mates]: Not the victim!
 
***
 
Prof Polar: So, we’re in the pre-catastrophe phase.
 
***
 
Diamondback: He [Zoltan] freaked out so bad, even Double-Time noticed.
 
***
 
Zoltan: I’m not having any more ideas at all tonight.
 
***
 
GM: The altar stands about yea high and looks long enough to put a body on.
Double-Time [OOC]: That’s a disturbingly specific measurement.
 
***
 
Shard: Can I somehow forget it [the runes on the altar]?
 
Prof Polar: I can find the specific neurons and kill them.  It’s only a few cells of your brain, it won’t do any significant harm.
Zoltan: Oh my.  That’s a little harsh.
Shard: For real?
Prof Polar: Uhhhh. . .yeah.
Diamondback: I’d just like to point out that he’s smart but he’s not a neurosurgeon.
Prof Polar: Well, there’s these new things called x-rays.  I’ll just adapt them for brain scanning. .  
Diamondback: You know, for as much as my sister and I argue, I feel I should stand up for her neurons.
 
***
 
Zoltan: Amon-Ra may be better suited to protecting us as his powers tend to affect whole groups.
Diamondback:  Oh my God!  He said Amon-Ra would be better at something.  We must really be in trouble.
 
***
 
[As Amon-Ra is communing with his patron and refuses the request to relinquish control of his body.]
Diamondback: This is starting to sound like an abusive relationship.  So, if you need help, just let us know.
 
***
 
Faceless: Man, this is going to be a lot of paperwork later.
Diamondback: We’re possibly facing an evil demon-god thing and you’re worried about paperwork?
Faceless: Look, there’s only a couple of things I truly hate in this world: the thought of all of us dying (and that means humanity) and paperwork!
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]: Sorry, I thought we were calling for the snack god.
 
***
 
Double-Time: I punch a group.  I run around so fast, that I hit everyone in the area.
Diamondback: And you can’t pull for hitting your teammates?
Double-Time:  Nope.  That’s why I have tough teammates.
 
***
 
Zoltan: Elder gods aren’t allowed to testify in a court of law.
 
***
 
GM: Shard, you have a Double-Time cowering behind you.  He looks like he needs a hug.
Double-Time: He needs a hug after we finish destroying the scary altar.  Then he needs lots of hugs.
 
***
 
[As the group fights the demon recently summoned by the cultists.]
Amon-Ra: Before we kill the cultists, we need to question them.
Prof Polar: WHAT?!
Diamondback: Should we kill the cultists?
Amon-Ra: Well, we need to ask--
Prof Polar: Discussion for later!  Demon!
 
***
 
Zoltan: Well, I wouldn’t want to tell the FBI agent how to do his job.
Faceless: You’ve got to remember, I’m not an investigator.
Prof Polar: What are you, an accountant?
Amon-Ra: He’s their assault team.
Faceless [OOC and looking at his character sheet]: Honestly, I don’t really know what he does for them.
 
***
 
Prof Polar: Could I talk to this man alone for a minute before any of you psychos kill him?
Amon-Ra: I wasn’t trying to kill him.
Zoltan [imitating Amon-Ra]: I wasn’t trying to kill him.  I was just trying to let his life-force out.
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]: You said to control the crowd.  I controlled them; they’re dead.  I don’t see what the problem is.
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]:  Here [Zoltan’s player], here’s a die with a single pip on each side. [Mimics Zoltan’s player rolling the die] ‘Damn, I got a five’.
 
***
 
Faceless: When I called the cops earlier, I told them we have a case going on here and we’re handling it.  Don’t bother about the noise, it’s all under control.
GM [imitating Faceless]: When things start blowing up and burning down; it’s fine.
 
***
 
Zoltan [OOC]: I’m surprised you made your cultists quite breakable.
GM: Yeah, well, they’re just cultists.
Zoltan: Well, we weren’t expecting that.
GM: Quite frankly, neither were they.

I vote for Arthur Curry to travel back in time. They can call it "Splashpoint".

Well, MCU Hawkeye owes a lot to the version of that character who appeared in Marvel's Ultimates title. The Ultimates line was a sort of alternate universe to the long-established Marvel U, with different takes on many characters. The MCU has adapted elements from both continuities, such as Nick Fury looking like Sam Jackson, and Iron Man's early armor requiring elaborate equipment to get on and off.
 
I consider adapting Ultimate Hawkeye to have been a prudent move, since RDJ's Iron Man had taken over the team smart-mouth role that Hawkeye played in the classic Avengers.

It's someone's right not to appreciate Cavill as Superman. Completely misguided, but their right.
 
As for Evans not knowing Ultron in advance, the majority of people in this world aren't comic nerds like so many of us in this community. Even those who read comics typically just read the titles and characters that personally interest them, and don't buy into the whole "universe" thing. If Evans came to the character of Captain America from outside the comic experience, there's seven decades of history behind him to wade through, and five decades of Avengers history. It's not surprising if his priority is what's in the script he's being asked to perform (which often deviates from comic history anyway).

He might be a decent J. Jonah Jameson if he wasn't dead.

This whole 'you have to be the exact character or you cannot play the role' thing is just truly obnoxious.  Its acting, people.  That guy dressed up as Chewbacca is not, in fact, a wookie.  Benedict Cumberbatch is neither a surgeon or a sorcerer.  Cate Blanchett is not an elf.  Get a grip.

Marvel's shared universe was actually precedent-setting in the comics as well. Prior to that each starring comic-book character essentially existed in their own separate world. They would sometimes appear in each other's magazines, and of course there were team-up titles like Justice League; but the events in one character's title never impacted the others, and each hero had his or her own rogues gallery who almost never crossed over with other heroes.

Despite some criticisms, both The Force Awakens and Rogue One were generally well received by both fans and critics. There was enormous public anticipation and excitement for The Last Jedi. That was the film that changed the whole nature of the discourse. I believe the biggest problem was that the people behind the movie deliberately set out to subvert the assumptions and speculations of the fans. Like Luke said to Rey, "This is not going to go the way you think!" Characters didn't behave or interact the way everyone expected them to. Story points fans were interested and invested in, e.g. Snoke's identity and history, and Rey's parentage, were ignored or undercut. Some plot twists appeared to be inserted as "Gotcha!" surprises, like how Benicio del Toro's character was used.
 
None of these things made the movie bad in themselves; personally I quite enjoyed it. But collectively they imply a disregard for the existing Star Wars fandom. The trust between fans and filmmakers was damaged, and that's going to be hard to rebuild.

Not news, but still useful for a Pulp game...
 
"Phantom Islands" ... historically-claimed islands that don't exist.

Been a while since I last posted quotes from our Legends of the Golden Age campaign.  I'm not really sure where I left off.  Ah well, let's start at the beginning of the last story arc.
 
Our Heroes:
Amon-Ra -- An archaeologist who discovered a magical helmet that was a conduit for an anchient god of wisdom.
Faceless -- A shape-shifting FBI agent who doesn't remember what he really looks like.
Diamondback -- A wealthy socialite infused with increadible strength and toughness due to a disasterous science experiement.
Shard -- Sister to Diamondback and the author of aforementioned disasterous experiment which gave her the ability to grow and manipulate crystals.
Double-Time! -- A young lab worker who was accidentlly exposed to strange chemicals granting him increadible speed.
Professor Polar -- A scientist who discovered "cold energy" and accidentally infused himself with it.
Zoltan the Magnificent -- A stage magician who happens to also know real magic.
 
****
 
Faceless: I’ve been able to do this [use his powers] since I was just a wee lad.
Shard [excitedly]: Can I have a sample of your blood?
 
***
 
Prof Polar: So, you kicked your servants out of their home and moved yourself in?
GM: Well, her folks house doesn’t have nearly as many servants as it used to so they don’t need so much room.
Shard: And my folks wanted me and my experiments out of the house.  So, they moved me out and moved them in. . . You know, that sounds really bad.
 
***
 
Diamondback [OOC]: Why do we have so many NPCs with f****d-up lungs?
 
***
 
Diamondback: We’ve had a rather disturbing incident at one of our warehouses and I need your assistance.  [OOC] I describe the incident to Zoltan.
Zoltan: I see, I’m not much of an investigator, but I suppose I could try.
GM: Actually, he [points to Zoltan’s player] wasn’t here for the description, so you’re going to have to give it to him.
Diamondback [OOC]: I do.
Prof Polar [OOC]: No, you need to explain to the player what happened.
Diamondback [OOC; remembering that Zoltan's player arrived late]: Right!  I have to actually say it.  Gotcha.
 
***
 
Diamondback [OOC]: So, here’s the story.  I went to the first store because I wanted to get peanut butter M&Ms.  However, they didn’t have peanut butter M&Ms.  So, after I lit the store on fire for disappointing me. . .
 
***
 
GM: I was not expecting this level of slapstick, quite frankly.
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]: This is Vanguard, the Slapstick issue
Prof Polar [OOC]: Well, there occasionally has to be a comedy issue.
 
***
 
Prof Polar [to the Cultist they just captured]: Hey, how long have you served this 'Cult of the Naga' and how much do you know?  Are you important?
Cultist [ranting]: I serve the Great Serpent.  I will be greatly rewarded when you are all destroyed!
Prof Polar: Right, so you’re not that important.  You’re just the local--
Cultist:  I will have POWER beyond anything you could dream of!
Prof Polar: Yeah.  You’re the toenail trimmer.  Got it.
 
***
 
Amon-Ra: I’m going to need your tailor to change my skivvies.
Diamondback: That’s an inappropriate use of our tailor.
Amon-Ra: My costume doesn’t have pockets.  So, I figured he could do something about that.
GM [OOC]: Ancient gods of abstract concepts don’t really think of pockets..
 
***
 
Zoltan [imitating Amon-Ra]: I stole these magic artifacts fair and square.
 
***
 
Faceless: I don’t even want to know where the pretty pink ribbons come from.
Zoltan: You really don’t. . . You ever see what happens when a cat eats tinsel off a Christmas tree?
 
***
 
Prof Polar: If I were to establish a cult like this, people who didn’t have the intelligence to keep their mouth shut about the cult would not be people I used for recruiting.  I would enforce that by brutally murdering someone who had committed a small infraction. . .
GM: But that’s how you want to deal with every problem employee.
Prof Polar: Yes, but if I was organizing a cult to end the world, I wouldn’t just want to.
 
***
 
Amon-Ra [reluctantly]: I promise not the burn the [abandoned church] down until we’ve gotten any innocents out.
 
***
 
Prof Polar: We have murderers on the loose.  I don’t like that.
 
***
 
Double-Time [imitating Faceless] -- I’m going to need his clothes, the knife, some cocaine and 2 gallons of red paint. . .
 
***
 
Diamondback [OOC]: “Samuel” sounds like a cultist name.  If it were a cult of bros, I’d have gone with “Biff”.
 
***
 
Amon-Ra: The ancient writings on the altar are likely a conduit of power to the Outer Dark. . .
Zoltan: Condom of power?
Shard: Did you say condom?
Amon-Ra: Conduit!
[and now we're completely OOC]
GM: Condiment!  A condiment from the Outer Dark.
Zoltan: Yes, I’ll take the ketchup, please!
Double-Time:  No, we’re trying to put a condom on the conduit.
Diamondback: Why is there a condom full of ketchup?!
Double-Time: That’s not. . .ketchup.
Diamondback: You should really see a doctor, then.
Zoltan: I think that’s passed doctor stage!
Diamondback: This scene went down-hill really fast.
Prof Polar: Yes t did.
 
[I wonder just how many of our sessions devolve into dirty Abbot & Costello routines?!]
 
***
 
Double-Time [OOC]: We are the Vanguard of Prophylactics.
GM [OOC]: We are the Prophylactics of Justice!
 
***
 
Faceless:  There ain't nobody in here except one scary-ass altar.
Zoltan: Describe the altar.
Double-Time: Scary-ass!
Zoltan: But what kind of ass?
Double-Time:  Scary!
Zoltan: Ah.
Faceless: Yeah, that whole ‘burn it with fire’ thing?  I’m down.

""It's certainly ingenious to show that an object the size of Oumuamua might be sent by aliens to another star system with nothing but a solar sail for power," Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, said in an email. "But one should not blindly accept this clever hypothesis when there is also a mundane (and a priori more likely) explanation for Oumuamua — namely that it's a comet or asteroid from afar."
Coryn Bailer-Jones, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, voiced similar objections. "In science," he said in an email, "we must ask ourselves, "Where is the evidence?, not "Where is the lack of evidence so that I can fit in any hypothesis that I like?"
"Why send a spacecraft which is doing this?" he said. "If it were a spacecraft, this tumbling would make it impossible to keep any instruments pointed at the Earth. Of course, one could now say it was an accident, or the aliens did this to deceive us. One can always come up with increasingly implausible suggestions that have no evidence in order to maintain an idea." "
This is actually a good example on how Conspiracy theories are halfway pointless. Or how a Conspiracy Theory and a Scientific one differ. I need to remember that one.

I don't recall Bernie Sanders' rhetoric towards the Republican congressional caucus being particularly inflammatory, however. Trump talks about the press being "the enemy of the people", calls Democrats "evil", and Fox News says that "we are under attack".  This is the kind of rhetoric used to justify going to war with another country, typically.

My Dad taught me two things about politics:
 
1) No matter what they're telling you, they're not telling you the whole story.
2) No matter what they're talking about, they're talking about money and power.
 
So as much as the current administration stinks of hatred, it's not hatred for hatred's sake. It's a deliberate attempt to play on the old, white, male Establishment's fear that they're going to lose their position of power to a younger, more racially and more sexually diverse political body. 
 
In the 2016 election, the Democratic party tried to build a coalition of all the minority groups they could get on board. Blue collar workers? They've pretty much always voted Democratic (and so have their Union leaders). Latinos and African-Americans? Obviously.  LGBTQ? "You can't vote for Republicans, they're all religious fanatics and hate and fear you." Women? "Any woman who doesn't vote for Hillary is a traitor to her sex." And so on. In not so many words, the Democratic party made the 2016 election an issue of breaking the upper-class white male political hegemony. If you were an upper-class (or middle-class) straight white Christian male, they didn't have any use for you. They literally catered to everyone else. (Or it seemed based on the rhetoric and advertising at the time.)
 
The Republicans, seeing where this was going, went all-in on reinforcing the status quo--perhaps never so simply stated as "Make America Great Again". They cast the progress of the previous three or four decades as a problem that only they could fix. They played on the xenophobia, economic uncertainty, superstition, and general inertia of what is still the largest single voting block in the US. 
 
We know how it turned out, of course.
 
The hate is not the agenda. The hate is a tool to promote the real agenda: To prevent the loss of political power by those who have held it for pretty much the entire history of our country.
 
They're worried about becoming a minority . . . which, I suppose, is a tacit admission that minorities are sometimes treated very badly in this country.
 
 
Of course, I'm not a political scientist--I'm an actual scientist--so this may be completely off. But that's how it looks from where I stand.

I’d say the left has less of a problem with Jewish people and more of a problem with illegal Israeli settlements and Palestinian genocide. 
 
The big big banks do need to be broken up, irrespective of ethnicity. 

Fie! What base knavery is this? That a man should beat his own breast and boast of his aggression and proclaim the beam in his eye gives him vast prowess to judge others? What unknightly behavior that he should forsake the chivarlic virtues of humility, temperance, and fortitude and instead, like a drunkard lurching for fermented swill, seek to claim a crown. Meanwhile, the townsfolk do quake in fear or outrage at his ignoble behavior. Miloth! the man lacks the genteel spirit required of those who would offer to guide a people, ALL the people about, and not just the select few he would favor.  Were he to set one foot in Camelot, even Sir Kay, a bit of a brute himself, would not deign sup with the like, and Arthur would weep to see that an odious weed had arisen claiming to be a flower of knighthood. Fie and Fie again! I clear the dust from my heels and will have no truck with him!
 
 

Veterans were a major part of the opposition to the Vietnam war.

Virtually every march was led by veterans. Nearly every US military base in the world had anti-War coffee shops, usually staffed by veterans, just down the road. There was a whole network of publications by and for veterans and serving personnel. And so on...
 
The stories of anti-war protesters spitting on returning veterans are essentially Reagan era slanders.

Veterans did, however, get shafted, but not by anti-war protesters. Conservative politicians, naturally, cut and minimized their entitlements in the traditional way, the same as veterans have always been treated - heroes in wartime, disposable trash afterwards. But of course being able to blame this on anti-war protesters, "liberals" and so on is a godsend.

Here's to being on the side of desperate men. For whatever acts they may have committed (or not) to get them incarcerated, the use of what amounts to slave labor should be completely unacceptable.

It's like Pixar gave us the Fantastic Four movies we never got from Marvel.

Well, as Cryptic Studios purchased the Champions IP for use in Champions Online, developments in that game probably count as "official canon" for the setting. Legendary Hero Games contributing author, Scott Bennie, is a frequent player of Champions Online, and created a free downloadable "Lore Primer" to help introduce players to the setting, providing a condensed overview of its significant elements. One of its features is an updated timeline noting events in the game, with dates corresponding to when they were introduced. The latest edition of the primer covers events through 2017. You can download Scott's fine work here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzHmfdC4jXPpVmxGd1ZxcHVfbFk/view

Actually, this is an insanely cheap power.  You just have to take your time.
 
1d6 Severe Transform, Damage over Time  +1; 32 charges, +2;  Targets defenses only apply once,+2;  one charge/day , -3; 30 active points. Tack on your limitations and you've got something in the neighbor hood of 10 real points.
 
 

This could also be done via trickery, and anyone Entangled or deeply stunned is at risk.  Yeah, I get such a person could be killed by simpler means, but still.  
 
First, while scaling a Transform for something like this is tricky...I don't see 4d6 being *close* to enough.  
 
Seocnd...why try to make the point cost sane?  This SHOULD be insanely expensive in points, given the consequences.  IMO, it's a pretty common flaw to look for price breaks because we're so focused on points.
 
Last...those Psy Lims aren't the end of it.  Is the victim aware, in any way, of these changes?  They are at the genetic level.  I think the "OMG what am I now???" hasn't been captured at all.  You're also missing the "run away from everyone that I know" that's another essential part of this.  You're also missing some MASSIVE Hunteds that would be implicit...because every other race out there, presumably, would have Kill On Sight against any Genestealer or progeny.
 
Part 1:  if this is an all or nothing to create at least 40 points of Psy Lim...that's 12d6 to me.  I get the special effect aspect that Ego Def doesn't make sense...but is this why you're not taking the Mental Transform stuff...or are you trying to cheese the cost?  Concentration throughout on the extra time?  I don't see that.  Where's the 0 End?
 
Part 2 represents a fundamental restructuring of the victim's DNA.  OK, that's a BODY Transform by my lights.  So, to start with, you need to do 2x the BODY.  You started at 4...without recognizing the doubling aspect, that might be close.  You want to make sure that it takes a VERY bad roll for the Transform not to happen.  I'd push a little higher.  Then...double it?  9 or 10d, if you want to maintain the All or Nothing.
 
Last, there's no recovery at all.  Fine.  Pay for it.  Delayed Return Rate, 5 points per 5 years *at least*....+3 1/2.  Another at least +1 to say the transform's not affected by Regen...or is it?  Or by Healing.
 
If this costs 400 points, it costs 400 points.  It doesn't matter anyway.  This is pure, unadulterated plot device.  All you need is the time required to pull this off, and the fact the vic has to be incapacitated, because those are aspects of the plot.  Nothing else has to be particularly formal...except perhaps to cover What If?  Like, what if the vic has 20 points of Power Def?  Or 2 Body per Turn regen?  But those are corner cases that you can wing as they arise.