Techwright

Carl Weathers is indeed showing he is a formidable Star Wars director. I do like some of the others as well, though. Dave Filoni and Bryce Dallas Howard spring to mind. As to the spoiler comment, it is an excellent point, but if I may note... I've been forced to assume... I've watched some reactions and read others, and some have made a comment that I'm kicking myself for not considering (good for them!):

Season 3, Episode 4 - The Foundling, or as I like to say: the completely opposite level of interest from last episode.

The things you forget... 🙄 I started reading the OP and was like, this guy has some crazy thoughts. Who wrote th...why is my avatar here? 🤪

That or to phase out the Incarnate mess, a fair exchange that increases our thematic powers, like unlocking a 7th or even eventually 8th slot on a limited number of powers. Just the 7th alone could create some interesting possibilities with sets. I don't recall what they were, but over a year back, I'd figured out a few other possibilities that could be used besides just slots.

Energy Conversion, for lack of a better term. Think X-man Dazzler, who converts sound to light, X-Factor's former teammate Strong Guy, who absorbed energy and redirected it as powerful punches and kicks, or Marvel's Sebastian Shaw who absorbs kinetic energy of all kinds but can redirect it into his own attacks. In a COH context this could be expressed as a character that can ramp up their attacks depending on how much energy surrounds them or targets them. For example: In solo play, the character would have weaker attacks if initiating fights, suggesting the idea of using the ambient sound in the room for energy. The character would gain stronger attacks when the enemy initiates attacks creating more sound. The character creates very strong attacks when hit by the enemy, redirecting a notable portion of the energies into the character's own energy attacks (or energy shielding). Any damaging attack to the character would suffer a degree of mitigation (due to the absorption and redirection of a portion of the energy), so the Energy Converter would be naturally a bit tanky. An early ability gained would be to drop a sound-making device that delivers notable sound for a limited time, boosting their solo ability. Think sub-woofer, as an example. Such device would appear in a look/animation showing to the character's origin (one for tech/natural, one for science/mutation, and one for magic). In team play, there'd be the added opportunity for team effort. The team could direct their energies at their Energy Conversion teammate who could then deliver powerful single-target blasts greater than any single character could, or diffuse for still potent AoE and cone attacks. I'm kind of surprised that I've not read anything about a Speed Assault, or words to that effect. It's definitely a power set I'd like to see, but its just not practical. It would be hard to implement properly at anything that looked authentic to blazing speed. Were it to be done at faster levels than speedy things we have now, it would be impossible to control. Even if the player's hand-eye coordination were superb for such a task, you'd forever be running into problems with technology not keeping up: slow computers, network issues, etc. Elastic Attack - this one I can actually see as doable, I actually sat down one time and looked at most of the current powers and attacks and found several that I thought could be reskinned to an elastic power set. But the sad truth is, that would be a major redo on look and animation, so I just don't see it happening. (May I eat my words someday).

Card King very much looks like a shoo-in for the Batman Rogues Gallery group The Royal Flush gang. Impressive. Most impressive.

You had me at Miles Davis! Classic and classy jazz kind of guy here.

Is this turning into a west-side-of-The-Pond vs. east-side-of-The-Pond thing? Because I refuse to discuss chips, crisps, and fries while a population cannot even figure out what a "pudding" is. At least we on the western shores have it figured out. We can even turn it into a pie: ( 😉 ♥️ ✌️ )

Actor Lance Reddick died suddenly Friday March 17 at age 60. He was the voice and facial model for the manipulative ally Sylens in video games Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. He also voiced Commander Zavala in the Destiny game series, and was in other game works. You may know his as Charon from the John Wick movies. I understand he played the role in a video game as well. He was a main cast member in The Wire, a show I've not seen, and had numerous guest roles in prominent TV shows. Reading down the list of his accomplishments, In the realm of superheroes and villains I see he also had a chance to voice Ras Al Ghoul and Avengers' Falcon. I first encountered him as the no-nonsense Phillip Broyles on JJ Abrams TV Show Fringe, and though I'd tuned in to watch John Noble play Walter Bishop, I found myself captivated by Lance's performance. Lance had a distinctive piercing gaze and a baritone rumble in his precise speech. Truly sorry to hear of his passing. He was always fascinating to watch. The silver lining is that there are 4 movies and 1 TV series in post that he was involved with. The TV one is the upcoming first season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, where Reddick will play Zeus. I'm particularly interested in The Caine Mutiny Court-Trial, which apparently is a filmed version of Herman Wouk's stage play of the same name, itself based on Wouk's book The Caine Mutiny. You may recall that the book was also turned into a movie of the same name starring Humphrey Bogart and other big-name stars. Reddick is playing the captain presiding over the court in this new version.

OOOOHhhhhh...NOW I see what caused the issue with this episode...

Season 3, Episode 3 - The Convert I'll not lie. The first viewing of this, I liked the bookends but not the middle. However, with the benefit of hindsight and a repeated viewing, I've come to better appreciate the whole. This almost felt like two distinct episodes, but I now feel there's a common thread. More on that down in the Spoilers. EDIT: I forgot to add that Elia Kane's actress, Katy M. O'Brian, in appearance strikes me as having an almost sibling-like resemblance to actor Steve Bacic from back in his Andromeda days about 20 years ago (playing two members of the Rhade family). Looking forward by reviewing the season trailer, I have a thought where this story is going, though probably not the last episode:

Ah, yes! Gotcha!

The year Scooby Doo and gang met Batman, the whole season was about bumping into famous people. Some of the guests included the Three Stooges as well as Jonathan Williams playing a dual role as a cartoon version of himself and a for-kids version of Maude Frickert. How about Predator vs. Na'vi (Avatar)? Seems like the wilds of Pandora would be just the place for a predator hunt. Adding in the size difference and the hostile atmosphere just makes it interesting.

Sorry for the second post, but I just had a thought: can we include historical as an option? I've long wished for a shared Napoleonic War universe of Horatio Hornblower (C.S. Forester's novels, different actors onscreen), Captain Jack Aubrey (Patrick O'brien's Aubry-Maturin series, onscreen as Master and Commander with Russell Crowe), and Richard Sharpe (Bernard Cornwell's series, portrayed on British TV by Sean Bean)

While I don't know how weird it is, Wholock would be phenomenal. A human companion whose intellect rivals the Doctor's own, and who is pretty good in a physical scrap as well. The clash of eccentricities would make it fun. Marvel has Sherlock and Watson characters? Of course, the one so often asked for is Star Trek x Star Wars: Is a universe of smaller ships with teleportation technology, better shields, and modified photon torpedoes capable of rendering a planet uninhabitable superior to a universe of massive ships, weaker-to-no shielding, expensive and hard-to-replace planet-killing battlestations, and the occasional Force user? While it probably won't be space "pew pew", a shared universe of E.T., Cocoon, Starman, and The Flight of the Navigator could possibly be fascinating from an exploratory, sense-of-wonder point of view. I think there's still an upsurge interest in 1980s fare, yes?

Season 2, Episodes 12 The Outpost & 13 Pabu With these two episodes, the main storyline both advances and changes, probably forever.

I don't know...I can think of at least one burger joint that would find your billboard offensive. 😉

I guess we Americans can be glad that our forefathers didn't pick Ben Franklin's turkey as our national mascot!

Thanks for the link. That is a curious apocalyptic choice even if it does suggest a form of annihilation. I'd have expected the Four Horsemen, but then the article does suggest a possible direction being hinted at. I've never seen Reservation Dogs. I'll add it to the list.

Interesting that you bring that up. I grew up with the 1960s Batman in early reruns. It became the definition of Batman on TV or movie until 1989. The "Bright Knight" interpretation was in Superfriends and multiple Batman animated projects into the mid-1980s. During this time, pretty much any comic with Batman that I saw was also the Bright Knight (probably peddling Hostess Twinkies). It was, I thought, the actual Batman. A couple of years before the live action 1989 movie, we were staying at a friend's house while on vacation. On their coffee table was a copy of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight. I picked it up, and couldn't put it down. This was a "bizarre" interpretation of Batman to my thinking (or rather my conditioning), a violent, dark take on a character I thought I knew. Even the artwork felt raw and violent. I don't know why, but I immediately loved it. If anything it seemed to explain the story I heard that the original Batman comics had him carrying a gun (I was unaware at the time that even the violent Batman didn't carry one.) When Michael Keaton's take on the character came out, I found it a fusion of elements of both the Bright Knight and the Dark Knight, though leaning to the latter. I still have a soft spot for the Adam West interpretation, I always will, but I don't see that as anything more than a humorous characterization now.

Personally not a fan of Waititi other than IG-11. Sorry. As to Rian, my first reaction was worse than a cat coughing a hairball. My second reaction was to have a little bit of fairness and ask whether the problem was mostly Rian or JJ Abrams. My third reaction was to recall that Abrams realized he'd have to take the reigns back to have any chance of ending the trilogy with even a modicum of respectability My fourth reaction was a return to my first reaction. I've missed that somehow. What'd they do, quote the opening of Ecclesiastes or something? (Turn, turn, turn...) These responses in orange:

Season 3, Episode 2 - Chapter 18 This episode completely subverted expectations in story direction, advanced three characters, and brought in a legend, fulfilling a series of hints all the way back to the first chapter and I'm excited by all of it.

Captain America as Defender of the Crown? Curious name choice. It's an interesting perspective. Storywise, WWI (and thereby the Bolshevik Revolution) is the transition point from late Steampunk to very early Dieselpunk and that transition gives a lot of leeway show hybrid aesthetics. Electro makes a good choice here, first because of that hybrid -punk look and second because this is the era of Tesla.

Tried it and got Grogu. Cute fun. Not sure how to get Din, though. As to the hidden discussion: