Chad Gulzow-Man

Just a quick FYI/history lesson: the costume code that originally gave this Praetorian Clockwork transformation power was given out to interested parties at a convention just after Going Rogue was announced--about a year before its release--and the costume options were not available to us at the time.

Honestly, that's pretty much how I see him. He's like an angry Captain Planet that really only cares about the water-covered portions of the Earth.

My own perception might be off base, but I still think he's pretty lame.

That was Darkseid in the final episode of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon, yeah. And it wasn't that he was worried about causing collateral damage, it was that he knew that Darkseid could actually take one of his full-powered attacks without dying. (Like Batman, Supes doesn't kill.)

Note that his full power attack does not destroy any planets.



But Kryptonite isn't Superman's only weakness... just the most convenient one. He can be beaten with physical strength (Doomsday, other Kryptonians), and he has no real defense against magical attacks beyond his physical resilience, or any real psychic defenses at all.

It was.

Spider-Man 3 is definitely within the 10 worst theatrical releases I've ever seen. (It's #2, actually, after Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.)


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There's a lot on that top 50 list (after the first 10) I really disagree with, though. I don't think Alien 3 belongs in the top 50 (especially since Alien: Resurrection isn't), nor does Speed Racer or Kill Bill Part 2. And Ghostbusters 2 shouldn't be on the list at all.

And Iron Man 2? WTF, that movie was actually good. It wasn't better than the original, but it was on par, and I have a REALLY hard time believing that there's any consensus it's the #22 biggest let down in recent movie history.

(Also, where the hell is Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen on that list? That movie is also in my personal top 10 list of worst theatrical releases I've seen. It wasn't just disappointing--it was offensive.)

Last I checked, only in the most fringe story lines did he have the kind of power necessary to destroy a planet, and even then almost certainly not with a single attack.

Superman's general power level is also able to be approximated in the game. (It was effectively held by Statesman, the apex of super powered individuals within the CoX universe.)

I'll admit to harboring a grudge against Aqua Man for the extreme lameness of years past, but giving him a gritty 1990s reboot (a decade late) didn't really help.

"He's got a hook for a hand now," says DC, "isn't that awesome?"
"Meh," says the reader base.
"O-okay... how about a magic shape-shifting water hand!?!"
"Are you friggin' kidding me...?" replies the rest of the world.




I still think the only way to make Aqua Man entertaining is to completely embrace how campy the character is as a concept. Admit the joke, embrace the joke, then turn it around and make it awesome.

Are these puns just stream of consciousness for you? What are you going to do when they start to dry up? And how will you tide yourself over then?

As far as we know, it's probably still there, but it's not working at all as the result of Freedom's change from Veteran Rewards to Paragon Rewards.

A friend of mine talked to Posi at the last Player Summit, and was told that the yearly badge system is completely broken due to the way the NCSoft side of things was changed, and they have no way to fix it on the Paragon Studios end.

That's completely fine, but you could also think of them as the Japanese equivalent of George Lucas. In their early days (when others were footing the bill), there were a lot more checks and balances, which kept their work closer to cultural standards but had enough of their personal flair to set them apart. As their wallets grew, those external checks and balances subsided, and their stuff got kinda... weird.

Of course, unlike Lucas, they're not a one-trick pony, constantly remaking and undoing their original source of popularity. (Unless you count giant robot anime as a one-trick pony, anyway.)

Educated guess: 2nd half of September, leaning towards the 25th.

I didn't actually realize that was them, though it's been at least 10 years since I last saw it. Yeah, that was pretty good. It got... pretty weird, towards the end (which I guess should have been a big clue), but it was a one-shot and it was well done.

I think my issue with Gainax is that they don't know how to tell a story all the way through. They start with a solid premise (I really did like the first 2-3 episodes of Guren Lagann, but was already pretty bored of it even before they killed off the only good character), but after the scene is set, the train never goes anywhere except Angsty Town. It happened in NGE, it happened in FLCL (which admittedly was supposed to be an allegory for teen angst) and it happened in GL.

Jinbe is freaking awesome. (That whole show is, actually.)

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Heck, as far as I'm concerned, the only thing that "anime" means is "an animated show originating from Japan."

Which is, of course, the most basic, literal definition you can boil it down to.

It doesn't pay to sweat the small stuff, though -- I won't argue if someone says that Avatar: The Last Airbender is anime, even if it's largely Korean by design and aired first in the Western world. Anyone who says that wouldn't actually get the difference anyway.

But I digress: there are things in Japanese storytelling that are more or less prevalent than Western equivalents, all boiling down to the differences in cultural mores and preferences.

(Below this is somewhat pointless exposition, not directed at Leo or anyone in particular)

The argument I've been having about "planet crusher" heroes in fighting anime, for one, is that it's a genre that's generally more engaging to Eastern audiences than Western ones. In a Western comic/cartoon, a hero is more likely to defeat an stronger villain by outsmarting or tricking them; in anime, a hero will usually train or focus their skills to match (and surpass) the villain's strength. Japan has fewer qualms about violent content in their cartoons as well, allowing for blood and what-not to be shown after attacks, whereas that's banned almost universally in shows made in the US.

But there are other differences besides the way fights are handled, obviously. Romance is more accepted in anime than in Western cartoons, leading to shows like Tenchi Muyo where all the women want to get with one dude for some inexplicable reason (often called a "harem" anime, despite the fact that the main character usually doesn't want the attention or more than one/two of the women, if even that). The occasional topless woman will generally be thrown in on shows directed at teens, as they're a little more lax with nudity restrictions (and the culture has a history of public bathing, which is why pretty much every harem anime has a hot springs episode).

There are actually a lot of Japanese comics and shows aimed at female viewers as well, focusing on a female character's daily life, dealing with friends and school and crushes/relationships, without anything really strange or supernatural (*cough* Sailor Moon *cough*) interfering with things.

And of course, there's the adult-themed shows--which the majority of Japan finds really gross, I might add--like the tentacle stuff and demons and what-not. But there's a market for it, so they produce it. And while there are plenty of X-rated comics available in the Western world, but not much of it has made the leap to animation (outside of some borderline content produced by Ralph Bakshi, I can't really think of a single legitimate Western cartoon that would actually be considered pornographic).

There is one thing that a lot of people in Western civilizations don't realize, though. Japan doesn't glorify their animation; just like everywhere else, cartoons are generally considered "kid stuff." They realize that there are adults who watch and enjoy the animated shows, but it's considered to be weird. Think about that next time you watch Family Guy or South Park.

I know, I know. That's why I did make sure to say it was my opinion, not a statement of fact.

I didn't go along very well with the general consensus of my university's anime club. Every time I attended a meeting, I felt like I was getting something completely different out of the shows than they were; I didn't enjoy most of the shows that were picked, and the ones I did enjoy were considered mediocre at best by the rest of the group. Plus, I was always laughing at different jokes than the rest of them. And I hate to say it, but the majority of that group fit with the general anime hater's view of an anime fan: overweight, openly perverted and in dire need of bathing.

So I found some new friends and some new cartoons of my own and we watched those. Tenchi Muyo, Dual: Parallel Trouble Adventure and El Hazard were the breakout hits among my friends. One guy was a huge fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which the rest of us got sick of pretty quickly... though I have to admit the robots were some of the best mecha designs of the time. (The same guy then went on to watch Cowboy Bebop without us... I ended up not seeing it until it got put on Adult Swim.) Ranma ½ was pretty well received for the first season and change, but I think all of us were done with it by the end of the second season. Slayers and Slayers Next (Try wasn't out at the time) also went over very well--I remember spending the better part of my semester's spending money on picking those up on VHS.

We even watched some DBZ... but we had to watch it in my room, cuz the dude whose room we usually watched anime in hated that show... (actually, we just talked the other day, and he still thinks it's one of the worst things ever to come out of Japan.)

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So, er, I guess my point in all this is that it's okay to like some anime and not others, because if you look you'll be able to find others who share your tastes, even if they're not the most popular...?

I should really stop posting at 4:00 AM.

Seen it. Took it into account. Still stand by what I said.

Seriously, that was painful.

Premonitions speaks the truth. It's absolutely possible to have a non-lame rendition Aqua Man.

... It's just impossible to have a non-lame version of Aqua Man that takes itself seriously.

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I think those are technically the same thing.

Or at the very least, Friendship would be a subset of Heart, making Heart marginally better overall.

I said it's an anime trope THAT DOESN'T FIT IN WITH THE GAME UNIVERSE. I made no comments one way or the other about it being "acceptable," just that it can't jive with CoX. Western equivalents don't fit in either, but are far less prevalent.

This was also covered in follow-up posts, which you apparently didn't read either. Popular Western comics don't allow for heroes with the power to destroy planets, and those that do either are able to do so via some extremely temporary extenuating circumstances (e.g., Marvel's "Cosmic Force") or are rapidly de-powered or rebooted in the next story line. Villains with that potential in Western comics (such as Galactus) are rare and used sparingly.

You can't make a player character capable of destroying the planet with such little effort, as in Dragonball Z or Guren Lagann. It breaks the game. Ergo, it does not fit in the City of Heroes' universe.

The developers could (and have--someone else already mentioned Rularuu, the devourer of dimensions) create a large-scale threat capable of doing so, but players will never be able to individually match that level of power*. And like all good Western comics, those characters will be used sparingly.

*Outside of "Unlimited Radial Freem!" in Mender Ramiel's first mission.




Oh, and for the record? I'm a huge fan of crazy overpowered dudes and "Fighting Forever" anime. My favorites are Yu Yu Hakusho (where the main character goes from "slightly tough human" to "equivalent of a Demon God" in about three years in-series time) and One Piece. DBZ holds a special place in my heart, but I do recognize that it's pretty trashy now... though I'm still a big fan of Team Four Star's DBZ Abridged.

I didn't like Guren Lagann, but that's because the story was just freaking stupid and the characters were unlikable jerk bags (especially after killing off Kamina). Then again, I think everything Gainax makes is garbage.