Kitsune9tails
-
Posts
1574 -
Joined
-
Oh, and now that I rethink it, Sister Psyche isn't quite as old as I was thinking: I beleive she started heroing in the 1950s...
-
Thanks a lot for your answer (so far)! Speculation on that scene has been varied, and one theory was that she had an anachronistic/hypocritical mindset regarding such things. Having it be fatigue/annoyance puts her in a different perspective. It also puts her Praetorian counterpart in a new perspectve to me as well.
And the doorknob gunnysack explanation makes perfect sense. -
Quote:(1) You are a wise man. Or at least a wise guyOriginally Posted by TroyHickman
(1) There's no way I'm getting in the middle of a thread with this title, especially given some of the stuff I saw skimming through it. If you remember the days when I would get involved in such threads, you know what I think...
(2) I'd be glad to answer specific questions, though, if you've got 'em.
(2) Without regard to any classified knowledge you may possess, how do you parse Sister Psyche becoming angry to the point of yelling at an adolescent male for imagining her in her underwear?
Does the fact that her outfit is skintight impact the level of justification for her reaction in any way?
Suppose you were commissioned to write a story about her, set in 1890. What springs to mind in terms of how her attitude, role as a super-powered being in respect to her gender, and outfit would differ? -
Quote:Interesting. I always accepted that particular hand wave without challenging it.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
In fact, Magneto's magnetic powers have always been depicted as so strong that the canonical explanation has often been that while Magneto can project magnetic fields from his own body, his greater power comes from somehow tapping into and controlling the magnetic field of the entire earth. This is what exempts him from having to deal with things like trying to lift a submarine while standing in a plane without instead drawing the plane down into the water.
...
Keeping in mind, of course, that in reality the earth's magnetic field isn't strong enough to really do that.
In terms of powering superheroes, how strong is the magnetic field of the earth?
Would it make a difference if you were able to collect all of the lodestone in the earth into one place? -
It would depend on whether you were going with the layman's term of 'force' as in the kind of energy that deforms an object when you push on it strongly enough...which is often interpreted as 'concussive force' or 'kinetic energy'...
And the physics term 'force' as in intermolecular forces, fundamental forces, that sort of thing.
The Power Pack could specifically manipulate the Four Fundamental Forces: Gravity, Density, Energy, and Acceleration. -
I am in the process of tempting a friend over from another game where you can play Wizards Or Warriors. She prefers RP/chatting to grinding/raiding. i don't think she is locked into a concept, Fantasy/SF theme-friendly groups may be preferred.
Any takers? -
The fat guy was Harry Leland, who could manipulate his own mass/gravity field.
Shaw was in shape. -
Exactly. Concussive Force, as another poster said.
Actually, I think we've covered all of the salient points:
- Shaw can absorb concussive force.
- The more concussive force he absorbs, the stronger, tougher, and faster he gets.
- If he were attacked by a murderous but otherwise unprepared Hulk while he himself were unprepared, he would get one-shot-killed.
- If he straight up fought the Hulk, the Hulk would eventually get strong and angry enough to one-shot kill him.
- Shaw might be able to engineer circumstances where he would defeat the hulk, but it would take outsmarting the Hulk (who is a part-time genius).
- The Movie suggests that Shaw can absorb nuclear energy to some degree. -
Quote:But of course, in this case, that is precisely the point.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
The instructions fail in that mission is that your objective is not nearly as explicit in telling you HOW to find the exit when the thing you thought was the exist doesn't work any more.
This game goes overboard in letting you know how to do things.
Even when it is not hand waved in the text, you magically know the proximate location of your next obective, the next Contact, which boxes to check, that last guard you missed on your way to the back of the defeat all (thanks devs), the last glowie, the exact place to place those bombs/runes/candles etc.
This is good and fun.
But it is also good and fun to have the occaisional mission where the point is actually to find the thing you are supposed to find.
Some players are into that. Some players are into that sometimes.
I'm not sure if an explicit paid product was the place for this mechanic, but there is nothing wrong with its' occaional use, along with: defend the object objectives, escort missions, chase the npc objectives, avoid the patrols, and various other things besides "defeat that guy".
I will toss in a vote in favor of adding a sorely needed "Rocks fall, everyone dies" animation, along with an appropriate amount of damage (and a badge with that title, and even a cut scene [preferably lavishly rendered] with BABs digging you out of the rubble, and...) -
I now have this mental image of a Granite Armor with a granite ponytail and a red silk bow.
-
In any case, no matter how powerful Shaw's energy-absorbing abilities are, they pale before his power to get intelligent, fit young women to wear corsets.
-
I think that's me you are paraphrasing. Thanks, if so.
-
This may bring us back round to the gender related part of this discussion.
You see a male humanoid character that is otherwise unfamiliar. He is big and muscular. He looks "manly".
You see a female humanoid character that is otherwise unfamiliar. She is big and muscular. She looks ..."manly". -
Heh, the Devs just can't win.
Put out a new mission with familiar mechanics, and it's "nothing new".
Add new mechanics and you get "how was I supposed to figure that out; it's new!"
Put in instructions, and you get "I can't read all that while playing!"
Just have fun making your game, Devs, most of us will have fun playing it (most of the time).
-
Aha! An excuse to post this video!
-
Sakura gives me fits also.
However, her characterization follows right on the traditional heels of similar shows as DBZ, Saint Seiya, Hokuto no Ken, and the like.
In the East, "Gang of uberpowerful men with some female support staff versus evil"/"tournament fighter" seems to be its' own specific subgenre, right along with "all-girl tournament/cheesecake fighter" series such as Ikki Tousen or even Sailor Moon.
I propose that Western concepts of strength versus agility are borne out of Western martial arts : Wrestling, Boxing, Street Fighting...where the fighter who is both big and agile is unexpected. In the East, the concepts of size and agility were (mostly) laid out as orthogonal in their martial arts long ago and formed the basic expectations and concepts of their media.
For another example, in most Western Media, a fighter in the age range of 40-80 years is expected to be in decline; relegated to using experience and brains over speed and strength. A young action hero facing an old guy in combat is risking looking like he is beating up a relatively helpless old man.
Meanwhile, in the East, the older warrior is expected to hit harder and faster and more precisely. The young Shonen Hero is shown to be exceptional by besting them.
Where this divides along gender in the East comes less from the concept of strength/speed/skill/agility, none of which are really expected to reflected in one's build (in fact, the idea that the big guy is expected to be stronger is often poked fun at), but in fighting spirit!
...which, unless in a Mama Bear situation, females are expected to have less of. *sigh* -
Quote:Haven't seen the movie.Originally Posted by Chyll
Which seems to counter the way he is killed in the movie... unless it isn't a defensive toggle and getting mezzed turned it off...
Going to have to drink my Nerd Continuity Perceptors into unconsciousness first. -
In this case, "kinetic" seems to be 'impact' energy. Energy of molecular valences pushing other valences out of the way, as opposed to the energy of an acidic chemical reaction or a submolecular nuclear reaction.
There seems to be a threshold below which he treats the energy normally so he can see and hear. His ability is probably a defensive evolution, so impacts that cannot hurt him he cannot absorb.
Impacts that would normally damage him he absorbs at some rate less than 100%, Say 99% as a guess/example.
So if the Hulk smashed him with 90 tons of of force and he were unprepared, he would experience 1800 pounds/900kg of force all at once and be squished.
However, if the Hulk were to apply gradual pressure, Shaw would get tougher faster than he would take damage, depending on the amount of pressure.
In most situations the Hulk wins, because Shaw cannot get stronger than however hard the Hulk is hitting him, while there is no known limit to how mad the Hulk can get. -
On the subject of The Descent, from Wikipedia:
Filmmakers originally planned for the cast to be both male and female, but Neil Marshall's business partner realized that horror films almost never have all-female casts. Defying convention, Marshall cast all women into the role, and to avoid making them clichéd, he solicited basic advice from his female friends. He explained the difference, "The women discuss how they feel about the situation, which the soldiers in Dog Soldiers would never have done." -
Quote:It has often been said about Ginger Rogers' dance partnership with Fred Astaire that she did everything he did, except backwards and in high heelsOriginally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Most of the time, a female lead will be put at an extreme disadvantage - she's weaker than "the hero," she has to fight harder, she can't do as much, but she perseveres anyway..
But making the hero the most competent member of the cast is one of those Western things that makes me take frequent breaks to anime.
Granted, anime is also fond of stuffing characters in the fridge just to make the hero (and audience) feel justified at giving the villain the royal beatdown he deserves (I'm looking at YOU, Kenshiro! And you, Goku!)
Having a character suddenly die "unfairly" (I'm looking at YOU, Josh Whedon!) isn't what I would call a pet peeve, but it has to be pulled off very well for me not to end up angry at the screenwriter rather than the villain.
And now we are completely off topic.
I think.
EDIT:
On the subject of female characters that exist just to provide sexual tension and then die so the hero can go into the final confrontation with some angst...is that really any different from any other member of the cast (barring the sexual tension)?
What I mean is, what specifically has to be done with a character to transform her from "The heroes' girlfriend" into "a real character who happened to be the hero's love interest"?
And how does that differ from being:
The employer who is upset at the hero's ways but keeps sending him on missions
The totally not gay best friend of the hero
The cool old guy who teaches the hero stuff
The menacing rival who may or may not turn out to help the hero
The plot device geek
The big strong quiet friend of the hero
...at this point aren't we just arguing in favor of deeper characterization all around, or ensemble casts? -
Quote:Yes.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Wait, are we talking about Trinity here? .
Trinity does get eventually rescued by Neo, but prior to that she rescues Neo, and she manages to escape from an Agent (with some timely help from an Operator, but that's how it's done).
I definitely beleive that she was written as a role model character, even though I agree that her destiny was to fall in love with the male lead (actually, I beleive, so that he could fail to save her); it's kind of meta that way in that her role in the story was actually a major plot point of the story itself.
And that doesn't count as being 'stuffed in the fridge', I looked it up. To be Stuffed in the Fridge, you have to be killed and then deliberately left for the hero to find later, not killed while in battle alongside said hero (Edit: it does say the use of the term has expanded over time, but that same expansion makes it non-sexual).
As for Carrie-Ann Moss' acting, watch Memento.
Right now.
I'll wait.
(I'm not saying her acting is stellar in this, it's just one of those movies everyone should see. The fact that it stars half of the Matrix cast in a story about manipulating one's perceptions is just bonus lolz). -
Successful Blockbusters with prominent female characters I feel one was supposed to desire to emulate:
V for Vendetta
The Matrix and sequels
The Professional (um, sort of) -
OT: Tex, the array of characters in your sig brings a smile to my face and a slow clap of respect to my hands every time I see them. We gotta team sometime.
-
Quote:I think the problem is that she is slipping toward the role of 'default token hero to be horrified/fearful/despairing'.Originally Posted by Feycat
No... the problem is that she looks literally like a blow-up doll.
That and her portrayal in the comics and game seems on the surface to be full of contradictions (I'd like to see the costumes she wore in 1860, 1890, 1920, 1940, and 1960). She is either a very deep, complex character with enough issues to give Asuka Langley pause, or she's suffering more from Multiple Writers Syndrome than other characters.
Hickman! Hickman! Hickman! *sacrifices a pair of pants* Any insight you are allowed to share? -
Quote:I think you may have your answer right there.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Rather than champion creators' responsibility to shepherd society, I prefer to champion each individual person's responsibility to comprehend his or her desires and make them known to said creators so that they can be better informed as to what people want them to create. In simpler terms, I don't think it's other people's responsibility to shape my with their work, it's my responsibility to shape myself and influence their works as a result.