ShardWarrior

The James Bond film franchise will no longer be controlled by the Broccoli dynasty, after long-serving masterminds Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson announced they are stepping down. The pair will now give creative control to Amazon MGM Studios, which was formed when Amazon bought Bond's parent studio in 2022. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1mn9gz5x3mo I very much hope the Bond franchise receives far better treatment than the Tolkien properties, although I have my doubts about that. Time will tell.

No idea what you are on about and no, I did not miss your point at all.

No one here will ever know the real numbers involved, so you are "armchair quarterbacking" just as much as anyone else. With that said, if you believe Disney only spent only $180 million to make this film, I have a bridge and some swamp land you may be interested in. It has been widely reported and confirmed this film went through multiple re-shoots (at least 3), and it is widely reported now that the budget Disney is sharing publicly is the budget for the re-shoots only, not the entire film or its marketing. Of course studios like Disney can do all kinds of creative things with their bookkeeping to make a film look like it made a lot of money or made very little or lost money. Film studios do this all the time and why many directors and actors dislike the idea of getting a percentage of a films gross because studios use their creative accounting to make a film look like it lost money so they do not have to pay anyone their cut. I have seen many interviews with various actors, directors and producers over the years who have discussed this very topic. As for CA: BNW, I do not see this film doing well. Reviews look to be "meh" at best. I expect we will see a huge drop off in ticket sales for next weekend.

I am not sure people in general are supposed to be fooled by it, rather they are simply oblivious to their surroundings and just not that observant. Not sure anyone remembers this, but Henry Cavill in Times Square wearing a Superman shirt standing beneath the giant billboard for BvS. Not a single person recognized him. I do agree someone like a Lois Lane would be able to figure out his identity though.

Base access is essentially a non-issue. Any character can already access any SG base whether they are a member or not, so long as the SG is sharing the base entry pass code. As far as coalition settings allowing for access permission to salvage storage in any coalition base, I do not see that happening for the numerous reasons already stated in threads on this very topic. I personally do not see it as necessary either. People can already create personal bases for personal storage if they want to store salvage.

Something I like about Empathy is that it does not bury you under layer upon layer of VFX vomit, unlike sets like Ice and Thermal. That has always been a plus for me. I like this suggestion. Most other sets require a good amount of +Recharge too. Nature has some truly ludicrous recharge on some of the powers.

No, I did not and I still do not. While Michael Keaton is a fantastic actor and I think captured the tormented and dark parts of the character, I just cannot take him seriously as a physically imposing and intimidating figure who strikes fear into the hearts of Gotham's criminals. I still love the movies though. I suppose you are going to want to argue about this now, yes?

You can apply this to any role in any play or film or television program. Again, actors are very talented people, but not every actor or actress is the right fit for every role. Well sure, this can work sometimes. Other times, it is a disaster. It worked for Schwarzenegger when he was told he could not do comedic roles. That does not mean Schwarzenegger would make a great King Lear or Richard III or would be the perfect casting choice for a role simply because he really wants the part. For me neither, and yet everyone seems to want to argue about it. I will repeat yet again, I like Pedro Pascal and have enjoyed his work. He is a fine actor. I can repeat that yet again in case anyone missed it. I completely agree. I did not think Gal Gadot was right for Wonder Woman, but I am happy to admit I was wrong. I was in the "Heath Ledger?? Really??" camp when he was cast as the Joker, and was pleasantly surprised by his performance. I hope Pedro Pascal pulls off the part. As of now, I do not feel he was the right choice for it though.

Along these lines, can the SG roster limit be increased? I do not know if there is some technical reason why it is limited, however given that we now have so many character slots and bases no longer have prestige costs, it would be nice if we could get either the SG coalition limit increased or the SG roster limit increased or both.

I am genuinely curious where you found anyone mentioning his appearance or that highly intelligent people must look a certain way? His physical appearance is not the issue. Rather can he as an actor effectively portray the role? I personally do not see it. I simply do not think he is the right actor for the part, nor did I feel John Krasinski right for the role. Not finding an actor or actress right for a part is very common. Directors and casting directors will quite often say they love certain celebrities, but did not think they were right for the required role they are casting for. Many famous actors talk about passing on certain roles because they did not feel they were the right fit for it. Actors and actresses are very talented people, but that does not mean they can portray any role given to them.

Being bummed about others having a different opinion says more about the beholder than the beheld as well. 😉 As I said, and will repeat yet again, I like Pedro Pascal as an actor. I think he is a fine actor and I have enjoyed much of his work over the years. He is fantastic in the Mandalorian. I just do not see him in the role of Reed Richards. That is not an insult of him or his talent.

Me neither. Love him as an actor, but he does not fit Reed Richards to me.

@UltraAlt brings up a good point. There really is more to the game than level 50+ iTrials and TFs. My very first 50 on Live was an Empathy/Rad Blast Defender. I hated the character so much that I never rolled another Empath again, until recently. Every Saturday evening is the Saturday Night Synapse League over on Torchbearer. I like having a stable of different characters to bring for it depending on how I feel. Empathy Defenders are always a welcome addition to the team, so I decided to create a new alt and level it up. I found myself actually having quite a lot of fun on teams, especially running lower level TFs and SFs where Empathy shines. I actually had so much fun playing it that I made another one for me to have on Excelsior. Back to what @UltraAlt touched on, there is more to the game that steamrolling. Not every player is at an advanced skill level and some people really do take advantage of having an Empath on the team. Empathy makes a great partner for duos and small teams. Is Empathy outclassed by other sets? In some ways, sure, but not all sets need to be the same. At least to me, it serves a niche role and does it quite well. With that said, I would not mind seeing some improvements. CM and Absorb Pain being made PBAoE would be spiffy.

Either that or a beacon that lists the available coalition bases to enter, same as the base portals do when you click on them.

A couple of things here. First, a very minor nitpick. Veridian IV had a stated population of 230 million. The population was not in the billions. Second, the focus of the story at that point and the dramatic impact of the scene was Kirk's death. Cutting away to a scene introducing random, nameless people who the audience were never introduced to and did not know would have totally detracted from that. Lastly, the real mistake with the writing of this film was killing off Kirk to begin with. It was not necessary and I personally feel it was a mistake to include the original cast to "pass the torch". The original cast had their ride off into the sunset at the end of Star Trek VI and that was enough. The TNG cast was well established at this point and could easily carry a film on their own without needing to include the original cast members. The story in general had many other issues. The whole concept of the Nexus was confusing at times, especially given that Guinan tells Picard he can return to normal space at any point in time, Picard chooses to go back literal minutes before Soran launches his missile. Why not go back to the moment he first met Soran and detained him? Killing off Picard's brother and nephew off screen was a mistake as well in my opinion. I would like to add that I do enjoy this film for the most part. Shatner is the best part of it in my opinion. He is exceptional in the scenes at his house as he slowly comes to the realization of what is going on and where he is. Despite its many flaws, Generations is still far and away better than the J.J. Abrams and Kurtzman garbage.