zslane

Maybe that's what a D&D dragon has become, but in the days of OD&D and 1st ed. AD&D, the prototype for the Ancient Red Dragon was Smaug, and he sat upon his treasure horde all alone, and didn't need a powerful array of minions and leveled agents to be an unholy terror to an entire region of the (campaign) world. Don't let the fact that he had an Achilles Heel type weakness detract from the challenge he alone represented. 
It wasn't until players routinely bragged about their 30th level characters and dragons became Just Another Monster in the MM that there was a need to turn them into the equivalent of supervillain organizations just to make them a challenge again.

I think the more long-form storytelling structure that overlays the MCU "phases" is one of the ways in which the movies get to feel a little bit like the comics. Sure, each issue (movie) is a standalone tale that is fun to experience on its own. But if you get onto the ride and stay on, you get further rewarded with a richer experience after seeing multiple threads woven together into a larger tapestry. The mere fact that Marvel has been able to pull that off successfully to the extent that they have is nothing short of astonishing. Nobody outside of Marvel thought it was remotely feasible given the conventional wisdom espoused by the traditional Hollywood braintrust. I see the MCU as a cinematic triumph, warts and all, especially given just how much worse it could have been (*cough* DCEU *cough*). I for one am not tired of any of it (yet). I still want more.

I think the more long-form storytelling structure that overlays the MCU "phases" is one of the ways in which the movies get to feel a little bit like the comics. Sure, each issue (movie) is a standalone tale that is fun to experience on its own. But if you get onto the ride and stay on, you get further rewarded with a richer experience after seeing multiple threads woven together into a larger tapestry. The mere fact that Marvel has been able to pull that off successfully to the extent that they have is nothing short of astonishing. Nobody outside of Marvel thought it was remotely feasible given the conventional wisdom espoused by the traditional Hollywood braintrust. I see the MCU as a cinematic triumph, warts and all, especially given just how much worse it could have been (*cough* DCEU *cough*). I for one am not tired of any of it (yet). I still want more.

I think the more long-form storytelling structure that overlays the MCU "phases" is one of the ways in which the movies get to feel a little bit like the comics. Sure, each issue (movie) is a standalone tale that is fun to experience on its own. But if you get onto the ride and stay on, you get further rewarded with a richer experience after seeing multiple threads woven together into a larger tapestry. The mere fact that Marvel has been able to pull that off successfully to the extent that they have is nothing short of astonishing. Nobody outside of Marvel thought it was remotely feasible given the conventional wisdom espoused by the traditional Hollywood braintrust. I see the MCU as a cinematic triumph, warts and all, especially given just how much worse it could have been (*cough* DCEU *cough*). I for one am not tired of any of it (yet). I still want more.

I think the more long-form storytelling structure that overlays the MCU "phases" is one of the ways in which the movies get to feel a little bit like the comics. Sure, each issue (movie) is a standalone tale that is fun to experience on its own. But if you get onto the ride and stay on, you get further rewarded with a richer experience after seeing multiple threads woven together into a larger tapestry. The mere fact that Marvel has been able to pull that off successfully to the extent that they have is nothing short of astonishing. Nobody outside of Marvel thought it was remotely feasible given the conventional wisdom espoused by the traditional Hollywood braintrust. I see the MCU as a cinematic triumph, warts and all, especially given just how much worse it could have been (*cough* DCEU *cough*). I for one am not tired of any of it (yet). I still want more.

I think the more long-form storytelling structure that overlays the MCU "phases" is one of the ways in which the movies get to feel a little bit like the comics. Sure, each issue (movie) is a standalone tale that is fun to experience on its own. But if you get onto the ride and stay on, you get further rewarded with a richer experience after seeing multiple threads woven together into a larger tapestry. The mere fact that Marvel has been able to pull that off successfully to the extent that they have is nothing short of astonishing. Nobody outside of Marvel thought it was remotely feasible given the conventional wisdom espoused by the traditional Hollywood braintrust. I see the MCU as a cinematic triumph, warts and all, especially given just how much worse it could have been (*cough* DCEU *cough*). I for one am not tired of any of it (yet). I still want more.

I would be profoundly disappointed if Marvel restricted the type of stories they told within their vast fictional universe to just a single style. Not everything in the MCU is huge, angsty, and epic. There is plenty of room in the MCU for small stories with low stakes and non-epic drama (e.g., Luke Cage).

I would be profoundly disappointed if Marvel restricted the type of stories they told within their vast fictional universe to just a single style. Not everything in the MCU is huge, angsty, and epic. There is plenty of room in the MCU for small stories with low stakes and non-epic drama (e.g., Luke Cage).

I would be profoundly disappointed if Marvel restricted the type of stories they told within their vast fictional universe to just a single style. Not everything in the MCU is huge, angsty, and epic. There is plenty of room in the MCU for small stories with low stakes and non-epic drama (e.g., Luke Cage).

Maybe that's what a D&D dragon has become, but in the days of OD&D and 1st ed. AD&D, the prototype for the Ancient Red Dragon was Smaug, and he sat upon his treasure horde all alone, and didn't need a powerful array of minions and leveled agents to be an unholy terror to an entire region of the (campaign) world. Don't let the fact that he had an Achilles Heel type weakness detract from the challenge he alone represented. 
It wasn't until players routinely bragged about their 30th level characters and dragons became Just Another Monster in the MM that there was a need to turn them into the equivalent of supervillain organizations just to make them a challenge again.

My 6th ed. collection looks like everyone esle's.
 

 
As do my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th ed. collections, pretty much.
 
But I also have a couple of books nobody esle in the world has.
 

For those who dislike the show that much, I recommend doing what I did with Arrow and Flash: stop watching. That decision has saved me many hours of time better spent on other things (some televised, some not). I continue to watch AoS because I like the MCU and, despite its flaws, I like (most of) its characters and I have fun watching the seasonal plots unfold.
 
As for this episode:
 
As usual, the best thing about the show/episode (for me) continues to be Fitz/Simmons. However...
 
 
 

Dennings was annoying, but not Jar Jar annoying. Just saying.

Yeah, magical devices be magical. Feh.
 
It's just a cheap plot device to make it impossible for viewers to anticipate anything (because Ophelia can now do anything! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
 
This episode was fun at times, but it was so dumb at many other times:
 
 

Yeah, magical devices be magical. Feh.
 
It's just a cheap plot device to make it impossible for viewers to anticipate anything (because Ophelia can now do anything! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
 
This episode was fun at times, but it was so dumb at many other times:
 
 

I liked The Incredible Hulk quite a bit. I don't know why people are so blah about it. It was a great spin on The Fugitive. Ed Norton was a lot like the Ultimates version of Banner, and we know that the MCU borrows heavily from the Ultimates continuity, so I saw a lot of good parallels there. Don't get me wrong, I think Ruffalo does a bang up job as Banner, but I would also have been perfectly fine with Norton continuing to play Banner in the MCU.
 
I also loved Cap: First Avenger. I also understand it was just an origin story movie, and it did that admirably. The ultimate goal was to get him into the modern world in preparation for the Avengers, and I don't have a problem with that agenda. IMO, it did not interfere with the telling of his origin story one bit. I didn't get the sense of rushed pacing that everyone is referring to. Not sure why, but I just didn't.

I liked The Incredible Hulk quite a bit. I don't know why people are so blah about it. It was a great spin on The Fugitive. Ed Norton was a lot like the Ultimates version of Banner, and we know that the MCU borrows heavily from the Ultimates continuity, so I saw a lot of good parallels there. Don't get me wrong, I think Ruffalo does a bang up job as Banner, but I would also have been perfectly fine with Norton continuing to play Banner in the MCU.
 
I also loved Cap: First Avenger. I also understand it was just an origin story movie, and it did that admirably. The ultimate goal was to get him into the modern world in preparation for the Avengers, and I don't have a problem with that agenda. IMO, it did not interfere with the telling of his origin story one bit. I didn't get the sense of rushed pacing that everyone is referring to. Not sure why, but I just didn't.

Sure, the Meachums were "interesting", but the Iron Fist show I was given wasn't the Iron Fist show I was looking forward to. Not even close. So no matter how good some of the performances/characters were, it was all in service to a storyline I felt was a complete waste of valuable production time and money.
 
I can only surmise that the folks who kinda liked Iron Fist had no ideas going into it what would constitute a great Iron Fist show, and so had few, if any reasons to be disappointed. They and I are not of the same tribe, that's for sure.

Sure, the Meachums were "interesting", but the Iron Fist show I was given wasn't the Iron Fist show I was looking forward to. Not even close. So no matter how good some of the performances/characters were, it was all in service to a storyline I felt was a complete waste of valuable production time and money.
 
I can only surmise that the folks who kinda liked Iron Fist had no ideas going into it what would constitute a great Iron Fist show, and so had few, if any reasons to be disappointed. They and I are not of the same tribe, that's for sure.

I don't really see any similarities between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, aside from super strength. Each of their shows were completely different from each other. Kilgrave was nothing like Cottonmouth or Diamondback. The noir detective genre is nothing like the Harlem Renaissance blacksploitation genre. Jessica is a hard-drinking hot mess who cares for only two people in the world. Luke Cage is a man of honor and hero to his community. They couldn't be more different.

I don't really see any similarities between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, aside from super strength. Each of their shows were completely different from each other. Kilgrave was nothing like Cottonmouth or Diamondback. The noir detective genre is nothing like the Harlem Renaissance blacksploitation genre. Jessica is a hard-drinking hot mess who cares for only two people in the world. Luke Cage is a man of honor and hero to his community. They couldn't be more different.

I don't really see any similarities between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, aside from super strength. Each of their shows were completely different from each other. Kilgrave was nothing like Cottonmouth or Diamondback. The noir detective genre is nothing like the Harlem Renaissance blacksploitation genre. Jessica is a hard-drinking hot mess who cares for only two people in the world. Luke Cage is a man of honor and hero to his community. They couldn't be more different.

It is typical of superhero teams that they overlap in power sets. Not much need for Thor when you have Hulk. Not much need for Black Widow when you have Captain America. Etc. I think there are much more significant genre tropes to object to instead (like how every show absolutely must start our heroes at the very earliest stages of their heroing careers...Jessica's barely-acknowledged past notwithstanding).
 
Besides, the Defenders isn't really the point of all the Netflix shows, though I know the company line has been "it's all going to culminate in the Defenders". The real emphasis (in terms of the bigger picture for Marvel Entertainment and Disney) is, and always will be, on the on-going solo series where such overlap isn't an issue. The Defenders is just a fun team-up series that will, in all likelihood, not see a second "season". That's just my prediction, but I think once that is out of everyone's system, it'll be back to the next seasons of each of the individual shows and they probably won't even bother with another Defenders season. Why would they when it's just easier (and cheaper) to have cameos and 2-3 episode crossovers from time to time with the other characters instead?

I don't really see any similarities between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, aside from super strength. Each of their shows were completely different from each other. Kilgrave was nothing like Cottonmouth or Diamondback. The noir detective genre is nothing like the Harlem Renaissance blacksploitation genre. Jessica is a hard-drinking hot mess who cares for only two people in the world. Luke Cage is a man of honor and hero to his community. They couldn't be more different.

I don't really see any similarities between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, aside from super strength. Each of their shows were completely different from each other. Kilgrave was nothing like Cottonmouth or Diamondback. The noir detective genre is nothing like the Harlem Renaissance blacksploitation genre. Jessica is a hard-drinking hot mess who cares for only two people in the world. Luke Cage is a man of honor and hero to his community. They couldn't be more different.