RemusShepherd

I played for the 'game day'. I've played several different Gamma World editions, including the first, so I had to show up for the new one.

Races are random. You roll two origins and meld them together. If none of your origins suggest an animal, robot or plant background then you are assumed to be mutated human. If you roll an origin twice than you are an engineered human with certain advantages. There are no pure strain humans.

The initial gamebook gives 20 origins (which makes 400 combinations). An expansion is coming out soon with 20 more origins. I don't see why a GM couldn't take a monster type and make it into an origin also.

The mutations do not work the same way as previous editions. You get innate powers from both of your origins. You also get a deck of cards from which you draw random powers. You can customize your deck so that your powers fit the theme of your character. (I had a plant/electrokinetic, so I put together a quick deck of defensive, electrical, and tentacle-like powers.) The random powers change at the end of every encounter or if you roll a 1 on any 20-sided die roll. You find Omega technology in the same way, with a similar deck. It can get a little crazy, not knowing what your abilities are going to be from moment to moment.

The mutations and origins are fantastic. Radiation eyes and sonic blasts, actually, are two of the starter origin innate powers. Other mutations on cards or in origins include gravity control, fire wings, teleportation...you get the idea.

Note also that game balance is not a priority. Some origins are over- or under-powered. Some mutations are over- or under-powered. Balance doesn't matter that much; almost every character is a killing machine straight out of the box, and rolling up a character is fast enough that when one dies you can replace it quickly. This is a miniatures game, not a role-playing game where one gets attached to one's character sheet.

Nope. The only advantage humanoid characters have is in interacting with robots.

The new storyline might be the dumbest yet. The Large Hadron Collider was turned on and caused all parallel universes to merge together. The Gamma World is the apocalyptic landscape left over after thousands of bizarre universes were overlaid. The technology you find might be high tech, it might be alien, it might be extradimensional, it might be authentic magic.

I thought the game was a lot of fun. However, it is not a role-playing game. It is a stripped-down, streamlined variant of D&D 4th edition, and it plays like a miniature strategy game. I think I was the only player (out of 5) who even named their character. Role-playing and D&D no longer occur together at the same table. The concept of D&D role-playing is dead. Get used to miniatures.

But for what Gamma World is, it was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind playing it again.

Wolverine's power has been creeping up for a while, and he's regenerated back from almost complete disintegration before.

I think the list failed. Any list of shocking comic moments must include Joker shooting Barbara Gordon. It was a seminal event for the DC universe and absolutely nobody saw it coming.

My choice for runner up would be Kid Miracleman's ****. But that was more or less a self-contained event.

I did that years ago with the cast of my old webcomic, Indefensible Positions. Most of that cast were derived from CoH characters.

First page here.
Ponies continue here.

Serotonin. And a little dopamine.

When something gives you pleasure, it floods your brain with serotonin. With repeated exposure, your brain gets a serotonin rush even in anticipation of being exposed. That's why Pavlov's dogs drooled before they were fed -- they knew that the ringing of a bell meant food was coming. If you think about a show you love you get a little rush of serotonin, even before actually seeing it again. You've been conditioned to respond to that specific stimulus with the emotion of bliss.

This is an adaptation that helps memory, you know. Serotonin works with Dopamine to mediate the formation of new memories, which is why the things that make you emotional are more memorable than everyday events. So when you get a serotonin rush your brain remembers it and craves more.

Now let's replace that happy, serotonin-oozing memory with Sanka.

That's the sensation people feel when they hear that something they love is going to be remade. The original stimulus, which their brain has tuned itself to recognize, is going to be replaced with a stimulus that is similar but not quite the same.

This leads us the uncanny valley, which is an expression of the same concept. Human beings are tuned to recognize the human form. Something close to, but not quite the same as the human form is seen as horrible and terrifying. If it's close to the same, it elicits a positive response because we're tuned to have positive reactions to human beings. If it's very different it creates a new stimuli response in the brain. But if it's close to but not quite right, it causes negative reactions as the brain catches itself on all the differences.

So when they remake a show, it needs to be very, very close to the original to ride on the same serotonin response. If it's very different -- a different show with a similar theme, like Star Trek: TNG was to Star Trek: TOS -- then it can create its own positive responses. But usually Hollywood manages to make something close to the original, but not quite right, and it falls right into the uncany valley of our serotonin feedback circuits. Our brain expects a serotonin rush but it never comes, and so we react with shock and horror.

I'm not a brain scientist, so don't take any of this as gospel. It's just my theory on how our brains work, and why old classics should never, ever, be remade.

But it's got a great heart, and it's a great emotional journey for the protagonists -- through debauchery and back again. Unfortunately a lot of that subtext is missed because the capper, the song Superheroes, is missing from most reels of the film. (It wasn't in the original release; it's essentially part of a director's cut.)

It's the kind of film where you don't think too hard about the plot and just enjoy yourself. Then it's a good film. Even without the audience participation.

Yeah, he's really a minor villain with major powers. I didn't mention him because I didn't think anyone would have heard about him. He killed Zeus in the Ares series, I think, and he killed the god of the Skrulls in Hercules. There's some indication that he gains the powers of whatever he kills. At a minimum, he gains the ability to order their zombie-like (but fully powered) corpses around. Now he's killed Nightmare and maybe Pluto, so anyone asleep or dead is his to command.

Apparently Mikaboshi (aka the 'Chaos King') is the god of the primordial void that existed before creation. He wants to destroy all creation to get back to his comfortable, empty void again.

Peter Griffin is inconsistent, though. He's actually a good father to Chris. He's horrible to Meg, but just indifferent to Stewie. There's no doubt he's a bad father and a terrible role model, but I don't think he qualifies as the worst because he makes an effort toward at least one of his children.

Rusty Venture makes an effort with one of his kids, but because he's Rusty the end result is that he screws the kid up worse than if he had done nothing. And Darth Vader...well, 'Join me in the Dark Side' is not appropriate father-son bonding.

I don't know. I can't look at her without remembering the baboon uterus rumor.

Put Molotov in a cheerleader's uniform and I would be so there.

I noticed that too. My first thought was that guy was dead, and I was waiting to see how the father (What's the character's name, anyway? Are they all that forgettable?) was going to deal with the guilt of killing someone. But they punted on that.

Great SFX; tiny and timid scope. I'm hoping this will change.

Have you ever rowed a boat, or just moved your hand through the water, and seen little spinning eddies in your wake? You might notice that they don't last very long before spinning out and dissipating.

The Milky Way -- and all other galaxies -- are just spinning eddies in the wake of the Big Bang.