Ironik

The lack of incentive is why the vast majority of people have decided to remain either Hero or Villain. It's also why I'm thinking of taking my Vigilantes and Rogues back to "pure." It's fine if you want to completely convert from Red to Blue or vice versa, but playing Gray is not where it's at.

This kind of thing leaves me completely unimpressed.

I've been saying for months that 2010 has been the best year for movies in years, no matter what genre you're a fan of. So hard to predict the winners this year. The King's Speech, true Grit, The Social Network or The Kids are All Right could all easily clean up.

I think the only shoe-in is Toy Story 3 for Best Animated Film. (Although I enjoyed How To Train Your Dragon so much that I bought it.)

Best Actor could go to anyone except Jesse Eisenberg. I'd vote for Colin Firth because his performance genuinely blew me away, but I think it's likely to go to Javier Bardem. But Franco could very well be a spoiler this year. I just can't decide.

Best Supporting Actor will likely be down to Ruffalo and Renner. I think the former will get the nod.

Best Actress is again hard to call. I think the main contenders are Benning and Portman, with Portman taking it. I wouldn't bet money on that, though.

Best Supporting Actress is also anyone's ballgame but likely going to be Steinfeld. The buzz around her is ridiculous. Amy Adams for the alternate if the Academy voters think Hailee is too young and unproven. But Weaver is also a serious contender and just might get it.

Art Direction... wow. Over the top competing with subtle and perennial favorite period British pieces. Probably Alice in Wonderland with True Grit as a spoiler.

Cinematography will probably be Black Swan, but again it's a strong field. Inception and Social Network were both awesome, and The King's Speech relied on brilliant subtlety to get its point across. I'd vote for Speech as they employed nicely framed shots to make you feel uncomfortable... Firth was often shown slightly off-center and big moments had a subtle Dutch Tilt to them to make you feel uneasy.

Costume Design could be anyone but I wouldn't be too shocked to see The Tempest get it.

Director... again, up in the air. Not a bad one in the bunch. Aronofsky, maybe.

Documentary has likewise awesome entries. Exit was funny and unexpected, Gasland and Inside Job were thorough and powerful, but I think Restrepo will get it. Depends on what the Academy members' zeitgeist is like this year. They could be very well tired of the bailout and Afghan war, which really leaves Exit.

Editing: 127 Hours, the Black Swan and Social Network all did extraordinary stuff. I'd vote Social, but probably 127 will get it.

Music for me goes to How To Train Your Dragon, hands down. That was the single best soundtrack all year and easily one of the best ever. It had heavy, heavy rotation on my playlist all summer and fall. I can't see anyone really voting for Social Network or Inception, but Speech might pull it off.

Short Film: Animated has to go to Day & Night. So surprising and amazing, what a terrific concept and execution, easily Pixar's best short film.

Visual Effects... hmm, probably Inception.

Adapted Screenplay could be any one of these but I'd vote for 127 Hours just because of the degree of difficulty. The Social Network might get it just for being awesome and making computer dorks interesting.

Original Screenplay ought to go to The King's Speech. The Kids Are All Right will likely get it.

One-fisted superheroic beating up pseudo-Nazi vampire action! What's not to like? Looking forward to the full-color rendition.

Jim Fixx died of a heart attack like his father, but he did manage to live 9 years longer. For being a supposed genius, he was pretty stupid to not listen to his doctor. Exercise can not make up for genetics and bullheadedness.

"I can't die. It would ruin my image." -- Jack LaLanne, 9-26-1914 - 1-23-2011

On the subject of feasibility of open-handed claws, that wasn't a concern as I was going along with the "hopes" part of the thread title. I seriously doubt they're going to be in the pack, but how cool would that be? "Very cool" is the answer you're looking for.

As to the animations, I don't see the issue. I just logged in my Claws Scrapper Switch Blade who has all the Scrapper attacks. The animations would look fine, I think, and if they're really going to add alternate animations to every power anyway, that's as good a time as any to do it. Some of the existing animations like Slash and Eviscerate would actually look awesome with clawed hands. Follow Up is the only one that doesn't look compatible with clawed hands.

Merely replacing the existing claws/blades with splayed clawed hands similar to the warwolves doesn't look to be any big deal. I wouldn't want freakishly long nails or bizarrely large hands, but there doesn't seem to be a huge degree of difficulty in replacing the standard fists with clawed hands. Just have them transform from the mittens to clawed hands the same way they transform from mittens to fists now.

I never read any of the War Machine comics, so I don't know anything about Rhodey. But Don Cheadle could read the L.A. phone book in funny voices for two hours and I'd buy a ticket.

In addition to the furry tail anachronistically shoe-horned into the Mutant pack and more dog-like heads (spitz/shepherd and pug/Boston, please), I'm hoping for clawed hands to replace the Claws powerset. We've been asking for that since Day Two and it would be useful for more than just anthro and werewolf characters; demons and vampires come immediately to mind.