zslane

Back in 2014 I went through a major Lulu phase, pulling together PDFs and making "deluxe" hardcovers for many things. Only a couple of them were Hero System related. Among the other books I had made was this deluxe hardcover collection of the old FASERIP books:
 


 
These are fat hardcovers with full-color interior pages. Each one cost me about as much as a brand new college textbook, and that's after applying a substantial discount. The fun part was designing the cover graphics and, of course, seeing the final product in all its glory.

I think by 18-20 it wasn't "my family won't let me," that dominated her thinking, but "this is how I've always earned my parents' approval (and maintained a decent relationship with my sister)," and that conditioning set itself pretty deeply within her psyche. Acting in all ways like a normal human was the one way of life that she internalized as valid and proper and safe. I can see how it might take a few years of experience in the big, bad, adult world of life in the big city to chip away at that conditioning.

I think by 18-20 it wasn't "my family won't let me," that dominated her thinking, but "this is how I've always earned my parents' approval (and maintained a decent relationship with my sister)," and that conditioning set itself pretty deeply within her psyche. Acting in all ways like a normal human was the one way of life that she internalized as valid and proper and safe. I can see how it might take a few years of experience in the big, bad, adult world of life in the big city to chip away at that conditioning.

I kind of feel we have to cut god-like heroes some slack. If we go too far with the whole "Think of all the people who died because you took time away from superheroing; they're blood is on your hands!" attitude, then we put a completely unfair burden on them, and by extension, anyone with the ability to do good but an unwillingness to spend their entire waking lives doing it.
 
Maybe my libertarian roots are showing, but I think every hero has a right to decide for themselves when, where, and how they are going to help people. Or maybe it's because I didn't grow up in a household or culture in which guilt trips are turned into high sport, but I have zero desire to castigate Kara for not heroing sooner (or more often), nor do I feel morally entitled to do so. When Cat Grant tried to play that card, I just wanted to slap her in her CG-enhanced face.

That chart amply demonstrates that WB can't make a bona fide hit with any property other than Batman. Even Blade II, which did reasonably well, was a Marvel property distributed domestically by WB. Only the Batman films did better than Marvel's worst performer, The Incredible Hulk. That's just sad.

I kind of feel we have to cut god-like heroes some slack. If we go too far with the whole "Think of all the people who died because you took time away from superheroing; they're blood is on your hands!" attitude, then we put a completely unfair burden on them, and by extension, anyone with the ability to do good but an unwillingness to spend their entire waking lives doing it.
 
Maybe my libertarian roots are showing, but I think every hero has a right to decide for themselves when, where, and how they are going to help people. Or maybe it's because I didn't grow up in a household or culture in which guilt trips are turned into high sport, but I have zero desire to castigate Kara for not heroing sooner (or more often), nor do I feel morally entitled to do so. When Cat Grant tried to play that card, I just wanted to slap her in her CG-enhanced face.

Oh, it's not a DC-only thing, that's for sure. It pervades all movie/tv culture now. The predominant strain of most action/political thrillers today is that which makes the U.S. government/military ultimately behind the all the villainy. Of course, Hollywood wants to eat their cake and have it too by usually positioning the villain as a single rogue whacko (usually with a small team of unthinking stooges at his or her side) rather than trying to have us believe the entire government is rotten to the core. But even that tired scenario leads one to wonder what kind of government puts those whackos in charge in the first place, especially since their whacko philosophy is rarely ever hidden from view in their every-day lives.

Yeah, but Harper's job wasn't to merely remove J'onzz from his post at the DEO (a reasonable action), but to find anyone who knew about it and prosecute them all as if they were terrorists so that the government would have a pretense to haul J'onnz off to Cadmus (disappearing anyone who might sympathize or resist).
 
I'm just more than a little tired of our own government and military being portrayed as villains that are every bit as awful, corrupt, and malevolent as world-conquering Kryptonian exiles or evil high-tech corporate masterminds. That might have been fresh and sobering in the 1960s and 1970s after Camelot fell and comics had to turn the U.S. government into villains just to remain culturally relevent. But half a century later that trope is just plain worn out, at least for me.

Back in 2014 I went through a major Lulu phase, pulling together PDFs and making "deluxe" hardcovers for many things. Only a couple of them were Hero System related. Among the other books I had made was this deluxe hardcover collection of the old FASERIP books:
 


 
These are fat hardcovers with full-color interior pages. Each one cost me about as much as a brand new college textbook, and that's after applying a substantial discount. The fun part was designing the cover graphics and, of course, seeing the final product in all its glory.

One of the problems I have is that the show is so inconsistent with the basic competency of the characters that I never know what to expect from anything they do. I mean, how can Bobbi and Hunter be such great infiltrators when they can't even detect a squad of Russian soldiers advancing on their position from the front? And yet Bobbi can walk around dressed in a long coat and pass as part of the Russian security detachment inside the facility without anyone being even a little suspicious (until the plot demanded a minor complication, of course).
 
I really want to remain a fan of this show, but the writing is going to have to get tighter and less sloppy if I'm going to stick around.

I expect Supergirl to get excoriated in the press and on social media for acting like a grade A b**ch for a day or two, sure. But I don't believe emergency/crisis workers would suddenly start taking down their banners in her honor. Little kids wouldn't throw away their Supergirl shirts so quickly. Most little kids wouldn't even understand the social/psychological dynamics at play, and would reject nasty rumors with staunch defense, at least for a while. Long enough for Supergirl's reputation to be repaired, I'd think.
 
But the demands of the dopey plot must always reign supreme, discarding common sense if that is what is necessary to get the narrative past the next commercial break, right?

It was a good episode except that I personally don't care for the Public Turns Its Back Overnight on Superhero Who Makes A Mistake trope. I guess the whole of National City is as fickle and shallow as Cat Grant. I did like the explanation for the red kryptonite though.
 
I'll say it again, Melissa Benoist is an absolute treasure.

Back in 2014 I went through a major Lulu phase, pulling together PDFs and making "deluxe" hardcovers for many things. Only a couple of them were Hero System related. Among the other books I had made was this deluxe hardcover collection of the old FASERIP books:
 


 
These are fat hardcovers with full-color interior pages. Each one cost me about as much as a brand new college textbook, and that's after applying a substantial discount. The fun part was designing the cover graphics and, of course, seeing the final product in all its glory.

Back in 2014 I went through a major Lulu phase, pulling together PDFs and making "deluxe" hardcovers for many things. Only a couple of them were Hero System related. Among the other books I had made was this deluxe hardcover collection of the old FASERIP books:
 


 
These are fat hardcovers with full-color interior pages. Each one cost me about as much as a brand new college textbook, and that's after applying a substantial discount. The fun part was designing the cover graphics and, of course, seeing the final product in all its glory.

Back in 2014 I went through a major Lulu phase, pulling together PDFs and making "deluxe" hardcovers for many things. Only a couple of them were Hero System related. Among the other books I had made was this deluxe hardcover collection of the old FASERIP books:
 


 
These are fat hardcovers with full-color interior pages. Each one cost me about as much as a brand new college textbook, and that's after applying a substantial discount. The fun part was designing the cover graphics and, of course, seeing the final product in all its glory.

Back in 2014 I went through a major Lulu phase, pulling together PDFs and making "deluxe" hardcovers for many things. Only a couple of them were Hero System related. Among the other books I had made was this deluxe hardcover collection of the old FASERIP books:
 


 
These are fat hardcovers with full-color interior pages. Each one cost me about as much as a brand new college textbook, and that's after applying a substantial discount. The fun part was designing the cover graphics and, of course, seeing the final product in all its glory.

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.
 

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.
 

Funny!  I say that because my idea of the perfect RPG system entails exactly one book ... of 400 pages or less... resting on a coffee table with no other materials around it.  That's actually -why- I was drawn to Champions: 1st through 3rd Editions were tiny and 4th Edition ended up being exactly what I was looking for, as one book absolutely could do it all.
 
I think it got kind of ridiculous with 5th Edition (too big) .... and the 2-volume 6th set is absurd in its verbosity ... so colour me pleased to see Champions Complete, since it was a return to what I felt Hero System should be.  You just shouldn't need a crate of books or a directory full of PDF's to play any RPG, IMHO.

No, you're right, not every episode has to be an arc episode. But it would be way more awesome if every episode was.
 
Ever since Babylon 5 in the 90s and Lost in the 00s, I have had a diminished tolerance for episodic storytelling. I want every episode to build the mythology and advance the primary plotline. Throwaway episodes are a waste of time, money, and effort IMO. When fans can assemble a "binge cut" of a series by cutting out half its episodes, so that only the arc episodes remain, you suddenly realize just how much useless filler most tv shows pack into their seasons. This is a major reason why the 10-episode, no-filler, binge-series model has become so popular.

I just sort of wish they would be done with Ward. I was never a huge fan of the character, even when they made him more interesting by turning him into a villain.
 
Can't say I'm a big fan of Lincoln either. I guess you could say Marvel is 0-2 in coming up with love interests for Skye/Daisy that don't mostly bore me to death.
 
Then again, it is the women in this show that make it worth watching for me in general. May, Bobbi, Simmons, and Skye are far more interesting to me than their male counterparts (Coulson, Hunter, Fitz, Lincoln). Though I confess I do have a soft spot in my heart for Fitz.

Yeah this show is turning out to be a guilty pleasure for me. Half of it is moronic, but the other half is irresistable because of Melissa Benoist.
 
Sometimes the writing goes to unintentionally odd places. For instance, when Lucy Lane challenges James on his relationships with Superman and Supergirl, she uses language reserved for spouses who are being cheated on. It's as if she's accusing him of being one step away from having a three-way with them. James' guilty expressions don't help diffuse the awkwardness (Superman and Supergirl are supposed to be so wholesome they make Mr. Rogers look like Larry Flynt).
 
Just the same, I find myself tuning in to watch every week; hell, I even look forward to it. Damn you Melissa Benoist!

Yeah this show is turning out to be a guilty pleasure for me. Half of it is moronic, but the other half is irresistable because of Melissa Benoist.
 
Sometimes the writing goes to unintentionally odd places. For instance, when Lucy Lane challenges James on his relationships with Superman and Supergirl, she uses language reserved for spouses who are being cheated on. It's as if she's accusing him of being one step away from having a three-way with them. James' guilty expressions don't help diffuse the awkwardness (Superman and Supergirl are supposed to be so wholesome they make Mr. Rogers look like Larry Flynt).
 
Just the same, I find myself tuning in to watch every week; hell, I even look forward to it. Damn you Melissa Benoist!

Normally I would stop to consider the notion that Oracle being taken as a code-name means there is a Barbara Gordon out there in the Arrowverse, and she used to be Batgirl, which means there's a Gotham City and a Batman and... But then I stop myself and realize that that bit of wink-wink dialogue was strictly fan service and not meant to have any setting implications whatsoever.

Well, he'll have stunt doubles for most of the martial arts sequences, just like every other show with martial arts has for its star(s). Daredevil and Into the Badlands come immediately to mind as examples. After all, Daniel Wu isn't buff, and he doesn't have to be in order to come across as the most lethal clipper in the Badlands. The actor playing Iron Fist will have to be in shape, sure, but he won't have to look like Capt. America just to portray a convincing martial artist whose most devastating attack is a mystical, energy-infused punch.