Techwright

Which I did mention, though admittedly I said "a couple of..."

Atlas powerset confirmed!

After that discussion about base coding, I hesitated about posting this, as I've not much hope for a base construction tool redesign, and realize this following wish is "pie in the sky" but... I've been experimenting with the free game Palia. I have to say, I'm very impressed with their base system. Not only is your home/base actually important to running your complete game, the method for setting up the base is very impressive as well. As you can see in this shot, rather than the blue or red boxes around objects that our system uses, they use a grid system looking much like a tartan pattern. There are colored lines and zones to help you know exactly how the piece you're working with aligns with everything else in the room. Want to know if that shelf your hanging aligns with the shelf at the far edge of the wall? Just trace the line, and you're assured. No spitball guessing. I found this accuracy gauge particularly helpful with hanging lighting, especially from rafters. Any flat surface, vertical or horizontal has these "tartan" grids (minus certain items that have a specific game function, like the two pastry tables in the center left of the shot) and can have items placed on it, though the piece itself defines whether it is a vertical or horizontal piece. I couldn't place this chair on the wall, for example. This grid extends outside, allowing you to place flowers, crops, and structures along the ground. Rotation of the pieces is very easy. Stacked pieces can be moved as a single unit. Within the building it means that when I filled a bookshelf with pottery (top left in the picture), I was able pick up the bookshelf, move it across the room and everything moved with it. I can then move the individual pieces once the shelf is placed again. Likewise outside, there's a similar but separate function that will give you a top-down look at your property, allowing you to click on any building or item and move it to another part of your property. All items inside travel with it. If Palia's system has any drawback, it's that most items do not work in a clipping kind of way. So creation of something new by merging two or more elements is not really possible with the exception of yard flowers. Any of these features I'd consider a wish-list suggestion for any future overhaul of the base system. For an in-motion discussion of how this all works, check out this video.

Summary: Warner Brothers, now owners of the rights to Middle Earth stories (though not The Silmarillion) have announced that Andy Serkis, Peter Jackson, Phillipa Boyens, and Fran Walsh are returning to Middle Earth to produce a new film: The Hunt for Gollum. Weta has been mentioned, so perhaps their props and art departments will be involved. It is speculated that the film may release December 2026, the 25th anniversary of The Return of the King. This presumably is a film expanding on Tolkien's writings talking about a massive hunt by Aragorn and the Rangers (should be a band name), and Gandalf at times, to track the movements of Gollum. If you want a summary of that hunt, and the events that occurred during it, see the second video "the complete travels of Aragorn", which I've set to 12:39, the start of the events. It's discussion will end at 15:24. Aragorn's hunt for Gollum actually takes place during the early events of The Fellowship of the Ring. The movie compresses the timeline, but in the book there are many years between Bilbo's disappearance at his 111 birthday party, and Gandalf's return to the Shire to test the Ring in fire. Frodo in the book is actually in his mid-50s when setting out for Rivendell. It will be interesting to see if this movie aligns with the timeline of the books and appendices, or if it will try to align with Jackson's previous movies, despite those being made by New Line Cinema, rather than Warner Brothers. From the book path for Aragorn during this period, there are strong hints about the characters that might appear in this new film. Lothlorian, the land of Galadriel and Celeborne, the Realm of the Woodland elves (and therefore Legolas and his dad Thranduil), Rivendell (suggesting Arwen, her twin brothers, and her dad Elron), even Bree Town and the Prancing Pony Inn (suggesting innkeeper Barliman Butterbur) could appear in this film. The path also crosses Beorn the skinchanger's territory, and while Beorn is, we believe, passed on by this time, his descendants, including his son Grimbeorn, another werebear, definitely occupy the area. I am cautiously optimistic. The problems that came with the Hobbit movie trilogy largely stemmed from demands of a New Line Cinema executive, and with the franchise now moving to Warner Brothers, Jackson may have more clout to keep the tale closer to Tolkien's intent. Even so, Tolkien's writings will need to be greatly fleshed out to make a complete movie. So long as the ridiculous demands of executives stay at bay, I've hopes for a decent film.

If it was truly a flop due to timing (and I have grave suspicions about that due to the number of no-name films that became blockbusters simply by friends telling friends), then the film might weather better in the test of time. There are several films that were box office failures but are now considered classics.

Makes one want to wonder what would happen in an Amalgam comic if Krypto spotted Squirrel Girl...

I'd always thought American Graffiti was his big breakout as an adult, so I always assumed it was his connection to George Lucas. Of course, glancing back at the movie, I see Francis Ford Coppola was producer, so...six degrees of separation from Roger Corman.

It helps that I've seen the entire Rebels series 3 times and, thanks to watching reactor videos, specific moments an untold number of times. 😉

Okay, first off, I always wanted to see Nathan as Green Lantern, but I never expected him as Guy. He always seemed the cocky flyboy of Hal Jordan, and I believe he actually voice the character in a couple of the animated movies. It's not entirely unlike his Firefly character. If he had to play another, I'd have anticipated Kyle, but I'll try to keep an open mind. After all, Nathan is great at aimin' to misbehave. Second, regarding the apparent return of the red tights: I notice they also brought the stooge Otis back, so maybe these are homages to the Christopher Reeves era? Regarding Nicholas Houlte as Lex: while I cannot see it, I do recognize Houlte as having some acting chops, so I'll cut him some slack. Just, please, no more interpretations of Lex like Jesse Eisenberg was asked to play. Lastly, magenta death ray in the background. I'm assuming based on the color that the baddie is Brainiac? That seems a character to build up over multiple films, maybe not as many as Thanos, but the big B doesn't seem like a one-and-done character.

Regarding your hidden content: there was some. It was mostly off-screen and referenced by exposition, however it did play an important plot point in the fourth season:

I remember watching, as a young teen, Battle Beyond the Stars and at the end saying "What did I just watch?". This from someone who was just fine with Battlestar Galactica, Jason of Star Command, the campy Buck Rogers in the 24th Century TV series, and who was about to discover the Tom Baker era of Doctor Who. Apparently Corman's work was something of an acquired taste. I did like the cast, the music (Horner rocked), and some of the other stuff in BBtS, and have watched it twice more in the years since. It's quite possible I've seen other Corman works, especially the ones named for Edger Allen Poe works. Our local ABC affiliate used to have "Shock Theater" on Saturday afternoons, and I'd watch all of the horror films it put on, though time has robbed me of most of those memories. I've long known of the infamous Fantastic Four film, and knew it was done on a thread of a shoestring budget, but had forgotten just how threadbare it was until re-seeing that blurb. Despite it having more cheese than a Wisconsin tourist shop, I do have to give credit to costume/makeup team for making the Thing's face look exceptionally comic book accurate. Reading through a list of his works, I think the thing that most surprises me is the number of really big name films he's appeared in as an actor, probably most as cameos, but still, he's in The Godfather Part II, The Howling, The Silence of the Lambs, Apollo 13, and several others, even to Looney Toons: Back In Action.

In my list of blasters, right after my energy/energy main would be my Fire/Ice blaster. As @Snarky says, a Fire/Fire blaster is a joy, but it does draw a lot of...ahem...heat. I've got one of those too, so I know. Ice is more of a control function, so in combination, I get a chance to face melt and slow/control those who get into a blaster's weaker melee area. His ice patch, though small on a blaster, is still very strategic. Placing it at a corner's edge and backing up, for example, will catch your enemies running around a corner, allowing you to annihilate them while they imitate Charlie Brown with a football. I do have an Ice/Fire blaster as well, but, although I enjoy him, I find his potency less than the Fire/Ice one. I should note that I enjoy my recent Psi/Mind blaster as well. Psi is consistent, and the guy tears through opponents that would challenge my other blasters, however, he has fewer crowd powers and is more of a single-target destroyer, so that might not be for everyone.

League (especially MSR's bowl fighting) and invasion events get out of hand visually. I've no idea how new players figure out the playing field in a white-out of color and light. I've 2 decades experience to fall back on and even that is not enough at times. It sounds like some of the other responders have found ways to turn down league effects graphics. I've asked this a few times over the years, and never got a successful response. So if there is an effective way, I'd be delighted to hear it. I'd be fine if there was a control to reduce by percentage: 75%, 50%, 25%. I'd be happy to still see something of effects, but in a fight, I want to see the characters first. Old players like me will remember the halcyon days when color choice was added to many powers. Or perhaps I should say "headache" rather than "halcyon". Hordes of players immediately went to the brightest, boldest colors they could find for everything, and had no understanding of the use of subtlety in color. As a result, there were a lot of complaints of headaches among other players. I recall having to sadly exit the game on several occasions when I physically could no longer take the visual strain. Fortunately, the player base finally realized the darker colors had benefit as well. The OP mentioned bubbles. I've a couple of bubblers, and realized pretty quickly that darker colors were the better route with them. Showing just enough for another player to realize there's some shielding at play, without blocking his/her view, is how I roll.

What size screen are you using, and how reduced do you make the UI elements? Those both play a factor, and screenshots don't always communicate these. Just from the screenshot, without reference, it looks like you're using something greater than 24", though reduce UI size might create the look as well. @Ukase, what is that remarkable-looking power button at the bottom of tray 9 of your screenshot? I can't recall seeing it anywhere before. My screen: 24", slightly-reduced UI elements, featuring Dr. Nightlight. Probably the most obviously different customization is that I use a boxy 4x3 format for trays 4 & 5. I don't recall when or exactly why I went with this format, but I found for me personally, it keeps things to a tighter zone for my mouse cursor to work with, and I know for some reason I wasn't comfortable sticking the trays at full length under tray 1. I also custom build a "LFG" tab for chat on each character, and generally stick to it, rather than Global. Reducing the box to five chat channels reduces distractions and leave text in the box longer, usually.

The farce is strong with this one. Trying and failing to recognize the two human characters apparently at the focus of this story. The only thing I can think of is the gal with the goggles on the chest piece reminds me a little of Phee the Pirate, but Phee's only a secondary character in Star Wars: The Batch Batch exclusively (for now), and therefore more like a tertiary character in the grand epic of Star Wars. I'm guessing these two characters are LEGO creations? I've done some quick reading after watching it, and it seems that many of the twisted bits we saw tie into popular Star Wars/LEGO memes. The one with a certain goofball is well known throughout SW fandom, but apparently the mashup of TIE and X-wings was a real thing with LEGO collectors, where one figured out how to make the two parts work (I guess there were some special connections that stumped builders to get it right.) And then there's the hooded Jedi. He's apparently an all-LEGO thing, beginning as a nameless character piece in an early SW set, but something struck a cord with fans, and LEGO gave him a very down-to-earth name: "Bob".

Watched all 6 episodes. Not as good as 2022's Tales of the Jedi, though certainly not rubbish either. Personally, I find the first episode to be the best one. Mostly, the series filled in some gaps for certain characters, fleshed out details on some others, and provided some great cameos. The first three episodes were focused on one character, while the last three were unexpectedly focused on two characters. The series visuals continue the high quality that came with improvements in season 7 of The Clone Wars. Some of the battles were on a level almost matching the now-famous mo-cap fight of The Clone Wars season 7. I've seen reactors commenting that they couldn't tell if the fighting of episode 1 was mo-cap or a very high-quality of animation. Episodes 1-3: Episodes 4-6:

We've had a taste of that already (what might happen without training), as discussed in the Mandalorian (cue Spoiler Alert):

Really need a soundbite tied to the latter: "5...4...3...2..."

I'd definitely want a functional secret lair. I mean, you bring up the Batcave, and I'd note that even the sparse, backup lairs of the Londinium Batcave in Batman 1966 and that in The Dark Knight had the best supercomputers for their day.

Curious. I wonder what makes them settle on one voice over another? They worked with Kevin Conroy for close to 30 years. They've had several voice actors portraying Batman these past years. Personally I liked Jason O'mara and Bruce Greenwood in the role.

I'll admit to being confused by all the "Crisis" stuff over the decades. I'd always assumed it was DC's way of jettisoning a lore that had become too cumbersome, and trying something different. That and generating fans and cash, as you've noted.

The next character I sent to collect time capsules got an Echo of Positron, so it seems you're correct.

Mort Walker would be proud. And hey! a couple of callbacks to one of my favorite shows as a kid. We almost got a quality fan-project reboot of it on YouTube, but sadly, only the pilot was made.

Yeah, my rising dominator got the surprise of an Echo Stateman who proved to be a superb tank and aggo holder, speeding up my process. No holding back on the lightning, either. Curiously, I thought he'd only last 4 minutes but he kept reappearing, even after a reboot of the game. I'm not complaining.