Night_Fyre

Wow, they really pulled a Liefeld with Hawkeye's legs. And I agree that Thor should wear his helmet, but understand why he doesn't.

For me, the first few minutes are the best part of the film.

***SPOILERS*** (that have already been said, but still...)














The emotion of losing the mother, the scumminess of the stepfather, the loss of the little sister, and then the arrival at the mental institution all play very well and are beautifully shot and genuinly emotional. As soon as they switch to night club/brothel-mode it starts to break-down. The action sequences, while awesome, then feel forced and thrown-in, and just become a distraction from actual plot.

Yes, I know what ZS was trying to do, I just don't think he did it well. The only Sucker Punch was the one to my wallet.

PS - the soundtrack is great, though.

For the folks saying "It was just a scientist guessing that the aliens want our water...", there's a few things in (or related to) B:LA that *try* to explain why the aliens are here for our water, and specifically invading:

1 - The scientist guy that mentions the ocean's draining specifically points out that our water is in liquid form, and that water is only found in frozen form everywhere else in the universe. Why bother collecting and processing little frozen comets when earth is a giant bucket of ready-to-use liquid?
2 - When the marines are tearing into the alien soldier to figure out how to kill it, the helmets it is wearing combined with the fluid that keeps splashing out of it implies that it is a water-based (or at least water-reliant) life form. This is not expressly said, though.
3 - I saw an interview on G4 where Aaron Eckerhard says "...well they're here for our water, so..."
4 - When they show that an alien soldier has his weapon surgically attached to him, for me, it indicates that they are really commited to combat and war. This could mean that they are not a "let's ask the humans for some water" kind of race, more a "let's kill those f***ers and take their water" type of "people".

All that said, I enjoyed it. Yes the dialogue could have been better, and JEEZ those aliens built that CC fast , but over all it was fun. I enjoyed it more than Sucker Punch.

Thanks,

Troy,

I was an English Lit major in college. I can tell you that out of all the reading I did, the story that stands out the most to me is The Prairie, not because it was a good story, but because the professor told us that it was generally considered good, but was actually terrible. He was going to make us read it anyway, and report on it. The idea was that in school, you're always exposed to content that is considered "classic", or at the very least, "good". He wanted to flip that on us. Though a few students thought it "wasn't that bad", most of us hated that book, but I can tell you that it taught me to think much more critically about what other people told me was good (or bad), and helped me understand the importance of seeing why other folks both like and don't like something.

I don't have a specific movie suggestion, instead I'd say pick a film that you don't like that is generally considered good and see what they say. It'll stick with them

From the original link:

"FF will alter the very fabric of the Marvel Universe"

I'd love to read some comic company writer/higher-up describe a change their putting in place as "Meh... its not a big deal. You may wanna check it out, though."

Batman respects the intention of the law, and the folks that chose to serve honorably. He doesn't respect their capabilities, though. He also generally feels that he's the only person who understands the villains he deals with (well, except maybe for Alfred and he's blown his advice off plenty of times, too), and that whatever plan he comes up with is the only one that will work. There is definitely some dictator in him. That indicates a superiority complex that obviously stems from his parents murder ("I know better than you what it is like to see..."), but also has origins in his privileged upbringing and social status.

Is what he does class warfare, though? I'd say no because I don't think he looks at it like that. Whether you're rich or poor, royalty or commoner, if you're doing something wrong he'll punch you in the face and hang you from a lamp post in front of a police station. Superman would do the same thing. The difference is that Batman would be a dick about it.

The real question is, what will the panel at Comic Con now be called? Cup O' Joe is out. How about "Spinning the Axel"?

*ducks head*

I've always felt that zombies feed not for nutrition, but because the only thing in their barely-working (thanks to the infection) brains is the most basic instinct, to eat. That same brain doesn't realize that they no longer NEED to eat, too. This action leads to another very basic instinct as well, to reproduce. Thankfully through passing on the infection, rather than "bumping zombie uglies"...

EDIT

Bill Z beat me to the instinct thing...

Enjoy:

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/09/...son-6-trailer/

I recently moved from the Samsung Alias 2 to a Droid X, my first smartphone. LOOOOOOOOOOVE it. The thing is a beast.

Pros
- Touch screen is very responsive
- The device is crazy-fast and "snappy" (don't have to wait for things to load)
- Calls are strong and sound quality is awesome
- The 4.3" screen is great even with the brightness turned down and the battery in "Battery Saver" mode
- Swype is the way texting should have always been
- 8 gigs internal and a pre-installed 16 gig card

Cons
- Battery life is "OK". If you're a heavy user like me, you'll be charging it every night. What drains the battery most is the screen and the satellite signals for location-based apps.
- It is a big device. Really pushes "Fits in your pocket" to the edge. Doesn't feel bad in your pocket, but you will notice it for a while
- the home cradle and car mount that Verizon is aggressively selling don't fit if you have a case on the phone (which you should)

I'd like to echo one thing mentioned by a previous poster. With a smartphone you need to be prepared to feel like you're never unplugged. Calls, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc... it is all there, all the time. It does take some getting used to, and a willingness to turn the bloody thing off sometimes to get away. This is the trade off for having your device work as a phone, web browser, document viewer/editor, mp3 player, text/email client, Kindle/Nook, location-based business finder, social network manager, movie player, etc.

My chick and I saw both yesterday. SP first, then went to a late lunch, followed by the Expendables. SP is a better made movie in the "film maker sense" I think. Better writing, fun, more complex, invokes different emotions, etc. The Expendables is simple and silly guns, martial arts, and explosions fun. The bad writing and most-of-the-time bad delivery adds to the personality of the film not as a good movie in the traditional sense, but as a great "turn your brain off and have fun" type flick. I'll watch both again, but neither in theaters.

FINALLY...

Thanks to Baby New Year needing rescuing over and over, Capt Terror (Elec/WP Brute) hit 50 on the morning of 01/01/10. First 50 Villain.

Hey,

I've got a level 43 Elec/WP brute I'm working. It's my first run through of WP on any AT.

I see that WP has a lot to offer. Regen/Def/and Resist, plus end help. Nice. My question is though, is going for high defense kinda self-defeating because of fury?

Right now I've got something like 30 HP/sec regen without RttC (not sure what ii is with it, but it's fully slotted with heal IOs), notable resists of over 50% to S/L and 30% to psi, and 20'ish S/L defense (28'ish to en/neg en & 24'ish to fire/cold).

Should I go for more Defense? And if so, obviously with my durability increasing but at a cost to damage, is it worth it? What about other Brutes, too? I ask because the high defense just seems counter to the idea of the AT.

I mostly solo and have really no problem rolling on Ruthless. I just was wondering what everyone thought about it. If this has been discussed at length before, my apologies... I'm new to the Brute forum.

Thanks,

I got kicked from the ITF once but not for the reason the OP listed.

My team was just inside the first mission. I got a vibe from the tank right off that she wasn't happy, though I didn't know what about. After the first 2-3 groups, she says that she doesn't think we can finish with the team we're using (I forget the exact makeup). We keep going to the next group where a controller dies and quits. I then say "We're already down 2 people, we should prob quit and reform." The team leader replies "Oh yeah watch this." & I'm at the load screen.

I run into the tank that quit a minute later, and she tells me that that was the second try she was on with that team leader, and he was a jerk... that's why she really quit. I was still ticked at being kicked, though.

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Finally my MA/SD can hit stuff with his fist other than using Air Superiority. So long weird CaK, hello punch to the jaw.

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I'm looking forward to changing out Storm Kick and CAK. I might change Cobra Strike too.

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No way I switch Stork Kick's animation... both the attack and landing after for SK with a shield are too cool.

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What toon to blow my influence on?

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Easy answer... one of mine

Finally my MA/SD can hit stuff with his fist other than using Air Superiority. So long weird CaK, hello punch to the jaw.

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I can't stand to play sets like Empathy because I would much rather debuff or attack the enemy. That's just how I get down.

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/Agree, that's why I play a Rad/Rad (MutaJenn on triumph). In teams she's awesome, and solo... well, let's just say that I like to call her "the unkillable MutaJenn". Of course when I say that no one else is around to hear it, but it still counts

Didn't read the whole thread so I appologize if what I'm about to write has been said.

IMO, the whole problem with Defenders is the perception of identity. What is a Defender supposed to do? Let me expand by breaking down the general purpose of each AT:

Tanker purpose - Draw and hold the attention of the baddies, staying on your feet so the rest of the team is in less danger. If you do good damage it's a bonus to solo'ing, but you're survivability will let you win most fights even if you're low damage.

Blaster - Make large BOOMS so the baddies fall down. Doing it fast is a bonus since you don't have much inherent defense.

Scrapper - Flip out and kill stuff, mostly in close range. Can't do that if you're dazed, or weak to incoming damage so you get "enough" damage mitigation to win the fight most of the time. A few too many hits puts you down much quicker than most Tankers, so you do more damage than most Tankers.

Controllers - In charge of keeping the baddies out of the fight all together. Hold them, daze them, sleep them, whatever, all the while doing decent, but compounding damage that adds up quickly. If need be you've got ways to make the baddies weaker and yourself/your team stronger.

Defenders - You defend your team by making the baddies weaker, making your teammates stronger, and dealing damage. While playing solo, you're AT identity is lost as evidenced by your inherent doing nothing for you, and on teams your damage is considered "extra", not necessary, often causing you to get "type-cast" into your primary only, which you share most options for with Controllers.

When we look at Controller vs Defender purely by identity, the Controller will come out to appear as a better on teams since they can effect more baddies and just as many team members. Their abilites to effectively remove baddies from the fight puts them in direct competion with Tankers and Defenders. Solo, these same abilities make playing much safer and often just as fast, if not faster than Tankers and Defenders.

I'd argue that the problem is not just with Defenders, but also Controllers. A while back, Controllers felt that THEY were the ones that couldn't solo becuase their damage was so weak. At that point Defenders had a small solo advantage, but the problem of teaming was always there. Then came containment damage which took away the one thing that could have been argued to be in Defenders' favor... having a damaging secondary. Suddenly Controllers had a primary that could dish out hold/immob's/stuns/pets AND fair damage, plus having the support secondaries of Defenders. this tipped the balance squarely in favor of Controllers.

So how do we fix it, if we decide that it needs fixing?

I think that the first thing that needs to be recognized is that Defenders are a support AT. I'm sorry, but that seems to be the design. As such, we should not assume great soloability. Still, soloing should be possible, and right now it is.

Second, even though Defenders are support, that doesn't mean that the inherent should do NOTHING for us when solo. Why should we not be able to defend ourselves as ferociously as we do our team? Maybe an inherent accuracy bonus since we don't have to "watch" all of our teammates... Or a damage boost when solo, with similar explanation...? I don't know, but the inherent must be looked at.

Third, I think that Controller would need to be looked at. Their effectiveness seems to be higher on control/damage/supprt than almost any Defender combo. Something needs to be tweeked down.

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They are enhancements that you cannot outlevel like normal ones, and some of them come in sets, which give you bonuses depending on how many of a particular set you have in a power. There's an invention tutorial that will unlock when you hit level 10, I strongly suggest you run through it at least once.

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Just as an FYI to the original poster: Since you asked about the game being "casual player friendly", I just want to point out that the Invention Origin Enhancement system is completely skippable. You can take your characters through the game using Training Origin enhancements (available from 1-53, but considered weak), Dual Origin enhancements (a bit stronger & available starting at L15 from contacts and stores that show on the game map), and Single Origin enhancements (the strongest of the store-bought enhancements, & available from contacts and stores starting at L25). IO's were an addition to the game to allow people to customize characters to be closer to their vision via special bonuses that come with using the IO sets. They're fun and powerful, but it can take a while to learn the system, & get the salvage and recipes to make the IO's you want.

The current setup essentially forces you into one of several senarios:

1 - You only use low level, cheap attacks all the way to L20
2 - You heavily slot for end redux (and virtually nothing else)
3 - You carry a lot of blues, plus doing one of the first 2 things in this list

Levels 1-10 aren't reallythat bad if you fight even conns. If you're trying to take on yellow+ you still miss too much and waste endurance. It's slow but can be done.

L10-20 is really where the problems come in. You're getting better attacks that cost much more and it's hard to not-use them, though they are still missing a lot. Also, you're starting to really need to run your toggles. This coupled with the fact that a lot of people hold off on Swift/Hurdel->Health to 16 and 18 for Stamina at 20, that makes L14-20 just torture.

I'm not in favor of everyone getting Stamina as an inherint. That reduces it's meaning to the character and I'm a "story" guy. I REALLY like the idea of a low-level safeguard that gives an endurance recovery boost, though.