Matt the Bruins

There are ideas they reject? They sell gizzards and those famous bowls!

For what it's worth, Menton has Teleportation listed as an example power from his Vast Psionic Powers VPP under the name Psychokinetic Body Transmission. So it's at least theoretically available as a psionic power in the Champions setting, though there probably aren't that many powers Menton is unable to access as such.

Pity he never bought off the "Can never admit he might be wrong" Psych Limitation.

Collateral damage is half the fun of exterminating wasps. Napalm the nest and watch the little @#$%!s fly away burning!

Since packing for the imminent move has made my kitchen counters and mixing bowls unusable, I opted for baking store-bought spanakopita instead of making my usual spinach & dill dip for the family holiday gathering. Healthier and a lot less effort, but I think I'll return to the tradition next year.

I subscribed to HBO Max principally for access to all the DC movies and series. Thanks to James Gunn that's no longer a feature for me, so once I finish Chernobyl and my mom finishes Hacks it likely goes onto the pile of "thanks but no thanks" streaming services.

If Heinberg had the time to write a screenplay for WW3 with Jenkins directing, I think it would have been a recipe for a really enjoyable and successful movie.

My best friend and I were in Florida for some kind of outdoor event. I don't remember what it was, just walking through a park/festival area at night with other attendees to get there. Then we had some kind of problem with our rental car and were stuck, and ended up staying at an absolutely decrepit, falling apart frat house. Whose inhabitants included Murray Bartlett as a Van Wilder-esque 50-year-old fraternity brother.

Fire Island: A modern adaptation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice mapped onto the social status conflicts and romantic foibles of a group of gay friends spending one last week at the titular vacation destination. No surprise that the basic premise and storyline would be good when built on the skeleton of one of the great literary classics, but I thought the execution was deftly handled and it had some important things to say about race and privilege within the gay community. Also, Bowen Yang completely blindsided me by giving a powerful dramatic performance that was understated and nuanced.

Coogan, Tyson, I'm not picky...

The only problems I can recall the GOP proposing and enacting solutions for in recent years are border control and corporations/higher tax bracket individuals being expected to pay taxes.

My family Thanksgiving meal is Saturday at a cousin's house; today was just me picking up Chinese takeout for Mom and myself to enjoy (our local Cracker Barrel being far too covered up to be a viable option). In a couple of days I'll be gathering all the ingredients for a big Caesar-pesto salad with romaine and spinach, and assembling them on-site. Handily, prep for a recent plane trip left me with an overabundance of 1-quart freezer bags, so I can also show up prepared to facilitate leftovers for all attendees and leave with the salad bowls I brought.

😆

19 hours ago, Grailknight said:

 

Silver Age Dr Fate could have soloed Black Adam or Sabbac. It wouldn't be easy. They would have a slight edge physically but he's just as tough as they are. At the time of Flash of Two Worlds and the subsequent JLA/JSA crossovers, only The Spectre was clearly more powerful than he was.

 

To be fair he would have had more need of a team than Superman did in JLA.

Golden/Silver Age Dr. Fate had flight/super-strength/limited invulnerability even without using the helmet's active mystical powers, but I never had the impression that they were near the level of Black Adam or Sabbac. I distinctly recall him being put in the hospital by a villain collapsing a brownstone on him in the 1970s. In that respect the movie was pretty faithful to the source material.

Of course, through the Helm of Nabu he also had command of magical/cosmic forces that have been both called out on panel and demonstrated to be greater than Darkseid's. The character's only real weakness was that they go away if you can yank his helmet off. I can see why the movie went for somewhat nerfing him to make him a good but ultimately outmatched fight for Sabbac rather than having a supporting character able to defeat the villain with a snap of his fingers but just choosing not to do so. Movie not titled Dr. Fate, after all.

On 10/26/2022 at 4:49 PM, Hugh Neilson said:

 

There have been some more powerful iterations, but I can't recall one who could scrap with Superman.

The post-Zero Hour Hawk God one probably could, and I think that recent Hawkman series retconned Barbatos as one of Hawkman's incarnations, so...  As far as classic superhero versions of the character, though, no. Comics seem to go back and forth on whether he's just a regular guy using weird science and magical gear or has innate superhuman qualities as well, but even in the latter cases he was never one of the heavy hitters.

That said, I think what the movie did with him worked extremely well, and they needed someone who was able to go toe-to-toe with Black Adam in a physical fight, even if at an advantage. Hodge's performance felt more in-character for the Carter Hall I remember than any live action adaptation I've seen previously, even if the particular details of his superheroics deviated from the source material.

I've heard from people with families that Chapek nickel-and-dimed the theme parks so much that even perennial customers were getting fed up and going elsewhere on vacation. That probably triggered the ejector seat in his office more than any other single thing, including Disney+ and film studio performance.

I'm sure this will be a big problem for Marvel when Brie Larson's Captain Marvel steps out of the movie screen Purple Rose of Cairo-style to beat up ComicsGate hecklers in the audience.

The Moderna bivalent booster only gave me a sore arm last month, and after a trip to and from Las Vegas in tin cans packed full of unmasked mouth breathers, I think I can vouch for its effectiveness.

Back to DC movies, while Dwayne Johnson playing a charisma-free murder hobo isn't ideal for building audience enthusiasm, I can't say it's exactly a poor adaptation from the comics version. I've been mystified by the character's popularity since the beginning of the millennium.

I am glad to see Hawkman and my all-time favorite comics character Dr. Fate featured in a live-action movie. I never actually expected the latter to happen, even with the boom in superhero movies.

Resurrecting this long-dead thread to post my take on it. Some while back I tried to stat up Dr. Strange, and that feat was one of the ones I used for sample spells:

Images Of Ikonn: Mental Illusions 30d6, Alien class of minds (150 Active Points); Concentration (½DCV; -¼), Extra Time (Full Phase; -½), Gestures (-¼). Total cost: 75 points.

I figured at that level, it would be enough to reasonably get an EGO+30 result against even Galactus' mental defenses—assuming stats similar to Xarriel's—and effectively drop him into a coma from which he no longer interacts with his surroundings.

Well, after all, who would want to instill an affinity for one's brand in consumers at an early age? Just look how that strategy has failed miserably for Disney!

7 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

 

Schrodinger's Batgirl

So it featured the Cassandra Cain version of the character?

My hometown had a Sambo's when I was a kid, and I've eaten at a Howard Johnson's on vacation. Of the others I'd heard of Arthur Treacher's and Red Barn, but can't recall ever eating in one.

Aren't the golfers at those country clubs? Where the rich people who make public policy hang out? I expect those will be green long after individual lawns have dried up into a dust bowl.

Ruh-roh, Raggy!

Here's a Naked Advantage I gave to the field leader of a military-sponsored super team, to give her leadership some oomph with mechanical effects. It's 6th edition, but I think could be translated to 5th without too much difficulty.

26    Seasoned Field Commander: Usable Simultaneously for +4 Combat Skill Levels (up to four recipients at once, one at a time, Grantor can take power back, Limited Range, Recipients must remain within LOS; +3/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Incantations (-1/4), Recipients Must Hear And Understand Orders (-1/2)