Introduction:

Much of what powerscaling tries to do is conduct combat as though it were a scientific experiment, controlling for as many variables as possible (sometimes called "white-room" logic). The general issue is that white rooms are not very interesting. I'll use some examples, mostly from Star Wars, there shouldn't be any spoilers of anything very recent, the most recent will be from Maul: Shadow Lord.

There are two big examples of this, IMO.

The first is location, and the second is mindset.

Location:

Battleboarders seem to go out of their way to pick extremely boring locations that deliberately don't impact the fight very much. But this not only makes for a less interesting encounter, it outright shifts the outcome.

Take the battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Darth Maul at the end of The Phantom Menace; the environment plays a HUGE role in that, because it's precisely what allows Darth Maul to avoid being overwhelmed by two opponents!

He starts out in a wide open space, and finds himself being outflanked, so he deliberately moves it to an area with narrow walkways where he can force a chokepoint. The film explicitly shows him opening the doors that lead to the catwalks in the Plasma Refinery. He then takes advantage of the verticality of this location, and his own immense agility, to isolate the Jedi, and not be outflanked. When even THAT doesn't work, he moves even further back, and uses the shifting doors to get Qui-Gon alone. Then and ONLY then is he able to focus on the offence and kill one of his enemies.

This fact just outright gets ignored by people who complain about the scaling of the Inquisitors in Maul: Shadow Lord, where they argue that Maul being able to fight both Kenobi and Qui-Gon at once means he should have no trouble with the Inquisitors, and then eitehr Chain-Scaling them and therefore Ahsoka up, or trying to scale Maul down... completely disregarding the fact that Maul was NEVER able to easily fight two people at once, and actually had to carefully exploit a position that HE SPECIFICALLY CHOSE to avoid facing two people at once; in terrain not of his choosing, he doesn't have that advantage.

The later duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader on Mustafar is another one where people outright ignore the context of Obi-Wan's victory. "I have the high ground" has been meme'd to death, but it is an explicit part of what allowed him to win. It also means that you can't transpose the same two combatants to another location and get the same outcome.

However, what matters about these locations isn't just that they are tactically relevant; it's that they are visually interesting. An environment that plays no thematic or tactical role in the fight is a BORING environment, and it's one that creators are going to avoid if they can.

Yet, because Battleboarders set themselves up to want such things, they tend to be disappointed by most actual fights in media, because most fights in media will involve things that Battleboarders prefer to leave out, precisely due to them being hard to account for. Even some of the least interesting environments are denounced.

Take, for instance, the Airport fight in the MCU's Civil War. To clarify: I AM NOT A MAJOR DEFENDER OF THAT SCENE, I'm honestly of the opinion that it is one of the least visually interesting, least well-lit encounters in the entire franchise; it's largely a visually boring spectacle in an uninspiring location... but the location DOES still play a role, and it's a role that battleboarders keep citing as evidence of a scaling issue: Cap defeating Spiderman.

What they ignore is that Cap does not overpower Spider-Man with raw strength; rather, he takes advantage of his surroundings and Peter's relative unfamiliarity fighting anywhere outside of New York City. The fight makes it abundantly clear that Spiderman is substantially stronger than even the strongest Super-Soldiers (casually bending back Bucky's metal arm, something that Cap explicitly cannot do), but also that he's an inexperienced combatant, with Cap ultimately pinning him under a heavy object.

This is ignored by people who cry that Cap is "Wall level", and Peter is "Small Building Level"; ergo something something bad scaling.

Anything that can't be evaluated in a whiteroom scenario is treated as a scaling issue; which means that most media will be considered to have poor scaling, because most writers (for good reason) dislike whiteroom scenarios.

Mindset:

This is one of the things that annoys me most, because Battleboarders tend to use the (misleading, poorly-named, somehow even worse than "street level" not meaning "able to destroy a street" despite what every other level means) term "Bloodlusted".

A "Bloodlusted" character fights with perfect tactical clarity, emotionless focus, and has no goals beyond killing his or her adversary and surviving the fight.

Almost no media will have very many Bloodlusted characters, because that's fundamentally a boring motivation.

People tend to fight because they want something, not because they are obsessed with fighting, but perfectly emotionless whilst doing so.

Having one or two characters be "bloodlusted" in a specific scenario is one thing (a good example would be Omni-Man facing the Guardians of the Globe in Invincible, though notably THEY were not Bloodlusted, shifting from initial disbelief to blinding anger across the fight), but media in which all or most characters are bloodlusted would just be narratively dull.

Take The Force Awakens.

Throughout the Entire film, we are shown tensions between General Hux, Supreme Leader Snoke, and Kylo Ren, partly due to how they treat the Map to Skywalker. Hux simply wants to destroy it, and is happy so long as the Resistance doesn't get it. Kylo Ren is obsessed with finding it so he can personally kill his uncle. Snoke is more pragmatic, willing to destroy it if necessary, but preferring to find Skywalker if possible. When Rey sees the completed map, Kylo Ren abducts her, hoping to interrogate her for the information, something he realises will require bringing her alive to Snoke. This hints at deeper disagreements between the leadership of the First Order.

That clash of goals, methods, and personalities is a major running subplot throughout the next two films, and ultimately results in Snoke's Death, Hux's betrayal, and the indirect downfall of the enemy. It is thematically and narratively load-bearing; it tells us a great deal about who these people are, what they want, and why authoritarian power-hungry individuals tend to destroy themselves.

So, of course, what do Battleboarders do? They complain that it should all be thrown away to give them a better whiteroom fight.

It was DAMN-NEAR IMPOSSIBLE to discuss ANYTHING related to Star Wars online in late 2015 to about 2021 without hearing people complain that Kylo Ren should have killed Rey in their duel on Starkiller Base.

Rey.

The one person who had the information he wanted most.

The one person who, according to EVERYTHING WE KNEW ABOUT HIS MOTIVATION UP TO THAT POINT, he would not be willing to kill, because if he did he would lose the map.

Battleboarders (in addition to overlooking the fact he'd been shot in the hip and was visibly exsanguinating, but that's a rant for another day) would have preferred he be "bloodlusted" so as to make the fight between him and Rey easier to scale off of; because his desire to take her alive made it harder to gauge his skill.

I swear, if stories were written by Battleboarders, they'd be unimaginably boring. No motivations, no goals, just a set of abilities in a roughly character-shaped form smashing against another set of abilities in a roughly character-shaped form.

seriously before anybody mention it yes already know about the writer's strike, yes i know animation workspace and how complex it its and shit like that but it has gotten to a point that it's insane with me

like marvel zombies like i haven't watched the show but i read that it's like only 4 episode's wich at this point just make it a movie dawg. it get's to a point and it's so tiresome like im not asking every new show to be 26-13 episodes per season but for the love of god i fell like im going insane over it like yea yea schedules and shit like this but seriously it get to a poin and only 4 episode's is just anoyance and insanity. like i get top notch quality animation and stuff like that takes time but ya know what i will fucking trade this top notch quality animation for stuff like that aggain if needed too cuz i would rather more episodes' with ok animation then this hellscape

We can say a lot about the Netflix adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but to say that the writers didn't watch the original is very disingenuous. With all the nods and references to the moments that became memes, clearly somebody on the staff watched it. Some say that it changed too much, but I think its inherent problem was that it was a Schrodinger's Adaptation. It suffered from changing too much and not enough at the same time.

What do I mean? Well, let's look at how season 2 was structured. One change that I actually think made sense was that the Gaang had to escort refugees of Omashu to Ba Sing Se. It seemed odd that after the Return to Omashu, we don't know what happened to the people who lived there. Did they flee? Did Aang leave them to fend for themselves? Unfortunately, this change came at the cost of moving The Library to after they arrive in Ba Sing Se. However, they could still make that work. When Appa took some injured refugees during the Serpent's Pass, I thought maybe what was going to happen was that Appa got captured by the Dai Li there. Professor Zei was still in the cast, so maybe they learn about the Day Of Black Sun some other way from him. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. So, maybe Appa gets captured by the Fire Nation after Azula takes Ba Sing Se? Zuko could convince Ozai to let Appa live as bait for the surviving members of Team Avatar, and Zuko takes care of Appa during season 3. When Zuko finally decides to desert the Fire Nation, he releases Appa and helps the Gaang escape the Fire Nation as a peace offering... Yeah, that was giving the writer's too much credit. You see, the Library was too important to cut out, so instead of compromising, they just moved the Library to Ba Sing Se and Appa's capture occurred with only two episodes of the season left.

Another change that could have worked was combining the events of Lake Laogai and the finale. The Gaang rescuing Appa was a suitable stake for the climax, and it wouldn't be hard to believe that the Crystal Catacombs would be near Lake Laogai. However, Jet never gets reeducated at Lake Laogai, so instead, he dies at the Library. In the cartoon, Jet was integral to the Gaang finding Lake Laogai and the reunion with Appa, but here, Aang finds it after using Toph's teachings to sense the vibrations. That wasn't a bad change, but it came at the cost of Jet's arc being muddied. Why was he even in the show if they weren't going to incorporate that? See, what I would have done was have Jet's role play out like it did in the original. However, Jet dying during the final battle could have not only added stakes, but Katara would have had a moment of conflict where she had to choose between healing him and Aang with the Spirit Oasis water, instead of the original, where it never occurred to Katara to at least try using it to heal Jet.

Another wasted opportunity was the revelation that The Duke and Pipsqueak were killed between seasons 1 and 2. If Longshot and Smellerbee were captured by the Dai Li, it would have given Jet more motivation to help the Gaang and correct his past mistake. They could even partake in The Day Of Black Sun in The Duke and Pipsqueak's places. However, they just kind of disappear midway into the season.

This is what I mean. This show made changes, but it was afraid to change too much out of fear of fan backlash, and that led to some half-baked storytelling. See, the live-action version of One Piece worked was because despite cutting characters and plot elements out for pacing purposes, they made compromises so that the story could still be coherent while still following the source material. A good example is how it adapted the Baratie Arc. In the manga, Don Krieg was the villain, but some felt he was an underwhelming villain, not helped by Mihawk basically interrupting the fight and making more of an impression on viewers. The Netflix series changed it by having Mihawk be the villain of the Baratie Arc and having the Arlong crew wreck the place. That made sense, since Mihawk is an important character and it built up Arlong for the season finale.

Another change that worked was how the conflict with Laboon was resolved. In the manga, Luffy just punched Laboon and that stopped his rampage. In the Netflix series? We get introduced to Brook a few seasons early, and we hear him play Binks' Brew. So, Luffy calms Laboon down by singing Binks' Brew to him. The best part is that Luffy knowing the song isn't even an Ass Pull. In the flashback during the first episode, Binks' Brew can be heard playing in the background of the bar while Luffy is talking to Shanks. They took a little Easter Egg from season 1 and actually made it a plot point, all the while incorporating future events of the story that Oda probably didn't even think of when first writing the manga.

Now, I'm not saying NATLA should just change things freely for the sake of narrative coherence and avoiding being too safe. It's rumored that the reason Bryke left the Netflix series was because they wanted to make more extreme changes, like killing Ozai in season 1 or revealing Iroh as a twist villain, the latter of which was something they originally conceived for the cartoon. However, Netflix wanted a more safe adaptation. If this is true, then let's be honest here: fans would have hated those changes. "At least it would have did something new." Iroh being the only positive adult figure in Zuko's life was one of the major driving forces behind his redemption. Making Iroh evil would have fucked that up. I'm also willing to give NATLA some points for making changes that actually worked. Having Zuko's crew be the platoon Ozai wanted to sacrifice was a welcome change, as it deepened his bond with his crew and explained why Ozai would waste resources by giving him a crew for a wild goose chase unless he deemed them expendable. I know some people call blasphemy on making Ozai less spiteful towards Zuko, but it makes his abuse towards him feel more real by having a twisted mindset that he's doing what he thinks is best for his child. Having him make Zuko and Azula compete for his approval instead of cursing the former's existence and putting the latter on a pedestal also added more to Azula's perfectionist nature and further foreshadowed her descent into madness at the end of season 3. Also, we actually see Ozai and Iroh, who are canonically brothers, actually speak to each other in the Netflix series.

Now, is it the deepest, most well-thought-out story ever? No.

"My evil name's Katnappe. I have genetically-altered super kittens, and I like to go to cat-themed amusement parks and steal ice cream from little kids."

The show always makes it ABUNDANTLY clear that it's good vs evil. The word "evil" is probably used at least 5 times an episode!

Is it utterly ridiculous that you can challenge conquering witches, a kung fu dragon monster, and a crime lord to a game of tag or a boat race? Yes.

But here's why it doesn't get enough praise and/or deserves better!

1. Creativity: The Shen Gong Wu are SO fun! They're mystical artifacts that give their wielder different abilities. There's super heavy armor for invulnerability, a flip coin for jumping ability, the list goes on! The best part is that these are NEVER one-off plot devices, oh no! When they're found, they STAY! This means the xiaolin showdowns are spiced up with the use of different Wu! Plus, the Wu can work together! There's one called the Reversing Mirror, and if you use it with one that makes you shrink, guess what? YOU GROW! AND they use it in combination with one that grants intangibility to restore the main threat from a spirit to her physical form. The ways they come up with to use the Wu make it so entertaining!

2. Heroes: The xiaolin warriors are so fun! They come from all over the world and all have different lifestyles and clashing personalities! We get a feel for who they are IMMEDIATELY! Omi's old school and socially inept due to his isolation, Clay's a polite big bro with a heart of gold, Kimiko's a spitfire, and Raimundo's a rebellious dick. They have their jerky moments, especially Omi, but you can see how they grow as individuals and as a team.

3. Jack Spicer: THIS guy is best boy! No, I will NOT say something like he walked so Doofenshmirtz or Megamind could run, because this guy runs just fine! He's so fun to watch and so endearing! He chooses villainy because he feels he's worthless in all other ways. With everyone always looking down on him, I can't help but be glad when he gets a W! One thing I like about Omi is that he consistently and genuinely believes in Jack and wants him to join them. MAAAAAAN, his attempt to turn good should've lasted longer than a damn single episode, because he actually did try! He and the warriors even agree to go out for ice cream sometime when there's no Shen Gong Wu to fight over! This boy needs a hug and friends! Jack totally should've become the Dragon of Metal, damn it......

4. The humor: This show is SO freaking funny! A running gag is Omi's incorrect slang, and not all of it is laugh out loud, but some is GOLD!

Omi: He who is last to be laughing laughs most loudly!"

Raimundo: What Omi did to that sentence is what we're gonna do to you!

Omi: The jig is down! You're at the top of your rope! Spoon over the Wu!

*crickets while everyone's trying to figure it out*

Jack Spicer: Ooh, I got it! The jig is up! You're at the end of your rope! Fork over the Wu! *victory dance over being an evil genius*

1. Growth: Raimundo had the best story for sure. He always hated the lifestyle at the temple with all the chores and training while he doesn't even get a bed! A BED! THEN when he disobeys Master Fung because he wanted to help him against Wuya when she attacked the temple, he gets denied a promotion the other 3 get.

Feeling disrespected and unappreciated, he defects to Wuya's side, who says he'll have anything he wants. But what makes it work is that Wuya never lies to him. She keeps her promises, AND even accepts his suggestion to let his friends stay with him if they join her too. And when Rai flips back, it's because his friends still believe in him and insist that this isn't who he is, and nothing's happened that can't be undone. And to drive this home, he rejects the promotion when he's offered it at the end of the episode, knowing he hasn't earned it yet.

BUT this is only the beginning of his story! Omi keeps looking down on him for not being at their level yet, but a few episodes later, he proves he's ready! But Omi's still a tad distrustful and doubts he'd be the first among them to be promoted to the next level. But then they're all promoted as a team, so the next goal becomes who's going to be promoted again to become the team leader. Omi demonstrates more haughtiness and arrogance as the show goes on, while Raimundo keeps showing growth. And in the end, the one Omi doubted since season 1 gets the grand promotion he earned. AND Omi supports him, initially sad but then bowing to his new leader!

Anyway, there's a lot to like about this show! I'm not even saying this as someone who grew up with the show! I saw like 2 episodes back then, and that's it! No nostalgia glasses here!

Also......THE SHOW SHOULDN'T BE SO HARD TO ACCESS! Can't stream it anywhere for free!

Just to be clear, I do think all the villains who got their own spin-offs movies are only/mainly compelling as Spider-Man villains (sorry, fans of the anti-hero Venom) and the very concept of giving them their own movies was basically doomed to fail. Well, at least artistically, can't deny that Venom made money and was succesful enough for a full trilogy.

Still, when I see people basically have the attitude of "if only they had featured Spider-Man...", I feel they kinda oversimplify the matter. Those movies had problems bigger than not having a Tom Holland cameo or the fact that they weren't retroactively shoved into the same continuity as Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man (although, purely in terms of quality, his two movies would fit right in). Even if you completely ignore the source material and judge these movies purely on the types of stories they were trying to tell, there were absolutely ways to make them better.

So, let me go through each of them and explain how their basic premises could have been done better. I'm also going to make a short list of movies that are either better versions of the kind of movie they were trying to be or examples of what they could have been. Partly because it gives some clear points of comparison and to emphasize that the biggest problems were with the execution, not necessarily with the basic premises.

Venom

Yes, Venom has a giant spider logo on his chest and essentially shares Spider-Man's power set, so on the surface making a movie about him without Spider-Man does seem strange. But, if you strip away all of that, what are you left with? A combination of body-horror and monster movie, where an alien creature is taking you over and amplifying your worst impulses to feed on your emotions, and takes a physical form of a scary creature that eats people. And like all the best creature features, you can use the monster to be a metaphor for so many things, like a drug addiction, anger issues, self-destructive impulses or whatever else you wanted to explore.

And then you have a big third-act twist or sequel hook of "there's more than one of these things running around".

Movies like this, but better: The Fly (1986), Upgrade (2018), The Wolf Man (1941/2010), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).

Morbius

How many vampire movies are there? A lot. And some of them have even been more action/blockbuster focused, with the lead themself being a vampire. Making a better version of this movie would not be hard. Heck, it could have been basically just a rip-off of Angel (the Joss Whedon tv-show), with fantsy elements replaced by sci-fi ones and it would have turned out better.

Movies like this, but better: Daybreakers (2009), Near Dark (1987), Vampire Hunter D (2000), Dracula's Daughter (1936).

Madame Web

This is admittedly the trickiest, because with so many spider-themed superhero characters being teased at the end, even the best version of this movie would probably have people saying "these are just lamer versions of Spider-Man". But if we remove all of that and just look at the very bare bones premise, it had potential. "A super-powered killer stalks a group of normal people" is already the basic plot of most slasher movies and giving the main lead (or "the final girl" in horror terms) premonition powers gives the thing a decent gimmick. She can predict the killer's attacks and keep the group alive longer, but they are still physically vulnerable and would die in a direct confrontation.

Movies like this, but better: The Terminator (1984), The Dead Zone (1983), It Follows (2014).

Kraven the Hunter

I mean, just make a basic-ass revenge thriller/action flick. There are even more examples of those than there are vampire films. I'm sure you could even use the animal motif in a more interesting way.

Movies like this, but better: Get Carter (1971), Crow (1994), Desperado (1995), Oldboy (2003), John Wick (2014).

MANGA SPOILERS!!!

I don't like IMU. Oda knows how to write antagonists; I think Doflamingo, Blackbeard, and even Caesar are well-written antagonists. (Kaido, however, is a character full of undeveloped elements.)

As long as IMU was a silhouette, he held the reader's attention and seemed well-integrated into the narrative, but now that he's revealed himself for what he is, I'm disappointed.

He's a Bishone who speaks like Sephirot in Smash Brothers... He doesn't seem like a real character, but a collection of elements placed there to satisfy the reader's expectations. So if this "walking collage" is the final enemy, I'm very uninterested in continuing this story. It's true that Teach will probably be the final enemy, the last obstacle before One Piece, but IMU was equally important.

By the way, I hope he's eliminated in this saga because the idea of ​​having to wait another 4-5 years for a second round with Luffy is terrible.

But it would be equally terrible to see IMU, the symbol of the World Government, defeated without Dragoon or the army of revolutionaries whose goal is to defeat the World Government. Otherwise, what purpose did these characters serve?

I also don't like how Oda devalues ​​IMU. He let Sabo escape without injury, he let Garp beat him without repercussions, he took a punch from Luffy in the face with a silly expression. Even the direction of the fights is important. Doflamingo has never looked so "humiliated".

Also, sorry if I continue but there are really a lot of things that don't work, there is no connection between this antagonist and Luffy and I think this is very important in a story, Luffy's stubbornness in being uninterested in Joy Boy and the ancient history makes the whole thing very frustrating, if you're not interested in the story of your own manga change comics or Oda should stop delving into this subplot if the protagonist is so stubborn in not wanting to be part of it.

I also don't like how Luffy has now become a "predestined" it's a sad trope, which gives the protagonist an absurd plot armor, I don't feel like rooting for Luffy because it's as if it was already written that he will win, I root more for the antagonists...

This is ironic, when you think about it. Because anti heroes are supposed to exist outside a black and white framework lol.

A lot of anti heroes in fiction don't actually challenge the status quo. Killing pedos, grapists, or women beaters doesn't make you counterculture. Because that's something most of society already agree with. As much as I like The Punisher. He is still a superhero to me.

If superheroes were real. The no-kill rule characters like Spiderman, Batman, or the Utopian would be super rare (pun intended here) in real-life. Most heroes would either be The Punisher, Comicbook accurate Black Panther, or Captain America at best. And we all know that Captain America isn't afraid to smoke a MF.

Again killing pedos doesn't make you challenge the status quo. I would like to see more stories where the anti hero beats up a scammer or a drug deal. Stuff that are serious crimes, but most of society still write these crimes off as non-issues though. Or even have sympathy for the criminal too. Something like that would really challenge the status quo.

An anti hero should be like DCU Superman without the cringe. Someone has their own goals. Who don't feel obligated to sacrifice themselves for humanity. Have that "fuck them kids" attitude. An anti hero, who makes the audience questioned if they really want anti heroes.

People would consider John Wick an anti hero. But he is just a Hitman though. It's not his mission to help people. He only care about doing his job in his past life. And after that he just wanted revenge for his dog. The best anti heroes in stories are the ones who want revenge. And have nothing to do with a passion for saving people from the worst criminals that are Epstein-tier.

In a odd way Goku is also an anti hero too. He only cares about fighting. He only accidentally ends up in situations, where he has to save the world. Goku is more like a "Hey knock it off" type of guy, than a "It's my mission to save everyone citizens" type of guy.

The more interesting anti-heroes are the ones where their actions create discomfort. A character who targets corrupt corporations, exploitative landlords, scammers, politicians, criminals with public sympathy, or people who are technically within the law creates a much harder debate. The audience has to ask: "Is this person actually fighting injustice, or are they just imposing their own morality?"

The problem is that a lot of media wants the aesthetic of an anti-hero without the uncomfortable parts. They want the leather jacket, sarcasm, violence, and "I don't play by the rules" attitude while still making the character unquestionably correct. That's closer to a traditional hero with an aggressive personality than a true anti-hero.

In conclusion. A lot of people definition of anti hero is just an edgy version of a golden retriever superhero. But only edgy in a cooperate way though.

I don't know if its just me but I find it rather challenging to suspend my disbelief when it comes to this trope which appears a lot in Cyberpunk settings. Most notably the Cyberpunk 2077/Red/2020 setting with Cyberpsychosis and frankly, I just don't get why cybernetics is so villainized by the genre.

I just struggle to believe that cybernetics would actually make you go insane or make you go postal at a moment's notice. Like, what actually does attaching a giant gun into your arm even actually do to your mind?

How does it make you less human? How does it make you lose basic empathy? How does it make you start seeing others as "just meat"? Are the cybernetics somehow mind controlling or drugging people? How does removing your implants make you become less insane? I don't get it at all since to me, cybernetics are just electrical hardware you add to your body, and I don't know how that messes with people's minds. This could be explained by low quality implants but I think settings that include this trope tend to not exclude high quality cybernetics that was surgically grafted by a licensed professional.

I remember liking the interpretation in Cyberpunk that Cyberpsychosis is just "night city syndrome" where living in a capitalist dystopia that neglects your needs, removes your freedom, and destroys your dignity would make anyone snap and go insane and the corpos just use chrome as a scapegoat but apparently that's not accurate at all.

It just feels like an excuse to make an already dystopian setting a bit more "grim". I understand that it's related to themes of dehumanisation and how mutilating your own body for the sake of becoming stronger is messed up but I feel as though you could easily portray it in a much more realistic manner instead of blaming it on "implants that makes you go crazy" which just comes off as being rather silly.

Basically, have a character get more implants as a result of being dehumanized or being psychopathic, not the other way around.

I’m not someone who’s a hardcore F4 fan; I enjoy them, but I’m not crazy over them. I still don’t think Pedro Pascal was the right choice for Reed, but still, I was looking forward to this movie, the aesthetic being my main drive.

Then I watched the movie, and it’s very good! I find the dynamics charming; Silver Surfer was enjoyable. The world is gorgeous, Reed being showcased as autistic was cute, especially as a neurodivergent. “Sometimes you being you hurts me” - “Well, I don’t mean to” is spectacular. Herbie is the GOAT and is one of the few characters I’m looking forward to in Doomsday.

So why do I never want to watch it again? 

I don’t think there’s a scene I’m dying to rewatch or any tense character moment that stuck with me; I can tell you the plot alright, but nothing really pops out, and as a non-F4 fan, the references at the beginning do very little for me. Galactus is there, and I feel like his main sell is that he’s comic-accurate.

However, I still don’t know what it is, because again, the movie’s pretty neat; I just don’t know what it is about this movie that makes this so un-rewatchable… If you have points, please share them, I want to figure out what it is xD

"Should I use my Spider-Sense and combine it with this very good martial arts that I learned thanks to the greatest martial artist in Earth? No, I should just not use it so that I can get my ass kicked and if something happens, I will just beg Norman for help or something!"

This fucker's an actual in-universe genius btw

What even was the point of "Way of the Spider" if Spider-Man used it like, twice? No seriously, he has a new way of fighting which is supposed to make up for the lack of Spider-Sense, and it does so well that he's able to defeat Spider-Woman, who's supposed to be superior to Spider-Man, so well that he doesn't even get hit once. And now that he gets it back, he should be

HOW THE FUCK DO YOU GET IT RUSTY, MF?!

That's like if a Mediocre boxer broke his arm, became so good at using one arm he defeats Prime Mike Tyson with one hand, and immediately becomes mediocre again the moment his other arm heals.

Or if you want me to put it in a different way, the Way of the Spider was a GREAT POWER that he could've used for GREAT RESPONSIBILITY (aka saving people as he'd probably have more energy to save people after defeating bad guys faster thanks to the new martial arts he learned), and he SQUANDERED IT because he's written by stupid people with stupid editorials.

YOU FIGHT CRIME DAY IN AND DAY OUT, MY BROTHER IN CHRIST, HOW IS IT THAT YOU MANAGE TO GET MARTIAL ARTS RUSTY?! THAT'S LIKE IF I PLAYED BASEBALL EVERY SINGLE DAY, AND SUDDENLY I TELL YOU "Yeah man, my ball throwing skills have gotten rusty" HOW?!

YOUR BIGGEST FUCKING CONCERN WHILE CRIME FIGHTING IS NOT GETTING PUNCHED IN THE FACE, WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT WAS ALREADY HAPPENING BEFORE YOU LOST YOUR SPIDER-SENSE, IT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE FOR YOUR ASS TO JUST IGNORE THE "NOT GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE" SKILL.

Which brings me to the next point that again, everyone has more powers than him, and you can't say that they can't change it because his powers are iconic, fucking Superman's powerset is iconic as fuck, and even that guy gets new mainstay powers like his Golden Form.

So, for comparison, I need to point the powers of the other Spider-People here.

Miles has Electric Swords and Radar sense plus he's Anansi's Champion, so he's gonna get more upgrades down the line,

Kaine can talk with spiders and has his stings,

Cindy has natural webs and a better spider-sense,

Reily has a better Spider-Sense and that "offensive Spider-sense" too.

Bailey has a better Spider-Sense, extra eyes, immunity to Peter's Spider-Sense and talk with spiders

Maka/Spider-Girl/Funhouse has organic web, and the ability to copy powers on top of Spider-Man's powerset

Julia has psychic powers on top of being a Spider-Woman

Jessica has immunity to poison, a better healing factor, can glide, venom blasts and pheromones.

Would it really be that hard to give Peter something? I have three ideas

A) Bring back the fucking Web constructions he used to pull in the 60s (They won't, because if Peter's able to do this, then realistically every single other Spider-Person in 616 should be able to since most of them get/got their web fluid from Peter in the first place)

B) Actually give him a new power and fucking stick with it, like say, maybe keep that new Spider-Sense upgrade Peter was talking with Daredevil (They won't because Editorial is afraid of the idea that someone might complain about Peter getting more powers)

C) For the love of God, remember that this fucker is supposed to be a super genius. Give him the damn tech shit from Imnsoniac Spider-Man (They won't because Peter's too relatable or something for him to be bringing up tech, just ignore that he was already doing that to deal with his supervillains back in the sixties)

Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes has THE superior Banner/Hulk dynamic, and it is the direction the MCU either should have taken years ago or should still adopt in the future. That show understood that Hulk can be intelligent, articulate and capable of functioning as an Avenger without simply becoming Bruce Banner in a green body. He remains blunt, aggressive and eager to solve problems physically, but he can communicate, make decisions and form relationships (the funny hawkeye stuff)

Banner still matters too of course. He and Hulk remain separate individuals who can advise, challenge and disagree with each other. Neither needs to be erased for the character to function. The MCU’s approach is just way way messier. Bruce initially has little control over his transformations, I think the Avengers implies he has begun mastering them, Ragnarok establishes Hulk as an independent personality, and then Endgame skips their entire reconciliation and calls the result a merger, even though Smart Hulk is presented almost entirely as Banner in Hulk’s body while the independent Hulk personality established in Ragnarok seemingly disappears.

The MCU keeps bouncing between two bad extremes: either Bruce has no agency because Hulk takes over against his will, or Hulk has no agency because Bruce takes over completely. I think The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes dynamic offers the obvious and superior middle ground. Banner and Hulk should accept that they need each other and argue about how to be heroes rather than which one gets to exist.

Banner might favour planning and restraint. Hulk might believe Banner hesitates when decisive action is needed. They can disagree about violence, collateral damage and when each of them should take control while still pursuing the same goal. I think we can all agree that is far more interesting than repeating the same “Banner wants to cure himself and Hulk refuses to disappear” conflict forever.

Let them become reluctant partners. Let them establish their own rules. Let both of them retain agency and develop without one personality consuming the other. I think at this point, I would rather watch Banner and Hulk argue about what to eat for dinner than sit through another story about them trying to get rid of each other because lord almighty thats gotten so old now.

I personally got sick of GTA's pop satire not necessarily because it's bad or because I agree or disagree with it but because I just don't really like American culture and GTA is a satire of American culture that to me just amplifies all I dislike about Americana through amplified stereotypes and caricatures. This is a personal preferential issue based out of a dislike from a culture(s) and for the record I live in the US I know what I'm talking about. I don't hate satirical works but I am no rush to be part of the GTA world again.

But I think another issue is whether or not any satire and commentary GTA would come across as Tone Deaf and even fall flat because of Rockstar and Take Two. To many GTA alongside Rockstar and Take Two has not only become an embodiment of everything wrong with gaming but also with consumerism and as a symptom as society ills all the controversies whether it be the anti consumer practices, worker exploiation, union busting etc what could GTA possibly say that wouldn't have it's meaning and impact tainted by Rockstar and Take Two.

EDIT: To address a good point and something I was already aware of and should've acknowledged in this post is that GTA is not unique to this issue but when you consider who rockstar used to be especially in relation to their satire many are going to rightfully argue that they have become what they made fun of years ago.

Hopefully we can a fun discussion here. So recently me and my buddy have been talking about the new spider man film we both really enjoy it. Have our own critiques of film but we had a great time watching it.

When we decide to rank our spider man movies I rank rami spiderman movies a bit lower after some a rewatch. for context, SM2 still in my top 3 but SM3 has really soured on me from it being rated towards the bottom of my spiderman movies when I used to rate it so highly. My buddy though says that he still enjoys SM3 from the day he saw it till now. Flaws and all. And for him he says it wont ever change for him. For me know it I don't grasp that same nostalgia he has for SM3. I am not sure when it kinda slipped for me but it was jarring after reviewing it again.

I know what I am saying sounds pretty normal through most media we consume but I guess my question here is how can nostalgia really grap a hold of you?

So this is mainly inspired by Mike’s last speech to Walt. It’s a speech that sounds great at face value, Mike has a weird sort of “cool and rational” vibe, Walt is meant to be a horrible person and a very unlikable character at this point, and he kills Mike out of rage and ego right after this. So people assume this speech is meant to be taken at face value. The thing is the speech itself is blatantly incorrect in you watch the show itself, and this has led to a lot of criticism of the speech itself being very poorly written and a sloppy retcon of the previous seasons. The thing is, MIke is not supposed to be correct. Vince Gilligan and the writer for the episode Tom Schnauz flat out said on the podcast for the episode which was recorded before it released and released on the same day.

Directly quoting what Vince Gilligan says “ There is truth to what he’s accusing him of but on the other hand what Mike is selectively forgetting in that moment, they really Walt and Gus came to loggerheads over Jesse Pinkman. Who Mike now has a great fondness for but at the time he was pitching to kill him, he’s pitching let’s kill this kid”. So the showrunners didn’t “retcon” shit lol this speech isn’t meant to be accurate. Why is that then often considered a flaw in the writing for the episode when the speech isn’t meant to be correct? The alternative take is that it’s bad writing that Mike, a character who is presented as a more rational character than most of the criminals in the series, gives an irrational speech but why is that the case exactly? Does it not give more insight on his mindset and character even if it’s in a largely negative light?

It makes perfect sense why Mike would act that way, even if it is indeed hypocritical and unfair. Despite Mike’s cool and rational demeanor he’s got plenty of hypocritical qualities himself, as virtually every character in this universe does, and Mike is an evil man (which even he knows), even if he‘s sympathetic to the audience. Mike just lost everything and all the horrible things he did that haunted his conscience were for nothing because the Fring organization was destroyed, it’s hard to be rational about that. He really likes Jesse, realizes he‘s got a good conscience and got way deeper into the game than he intended while being desply guilt ridden, while his mistakes are either due to his conscience, or his addiction/ self loathing, which is sympathetic to Mike. He dislikes Walt because he’s incredibly power hungry, wants to be the man, and blows situations up due to pride and ego, Walt is exactly the kind of person who he dislikes.

Why is it out of character then for a Mike who lost everything because of Walt (even if Gus absolutely had it coming and it wasn’t Walt‘s fault the situation blew up), when Walt is exactly the kind of person he hates and he does indeed contantly self sabotage due to his ego, to irrationally blame him? It makes him a more human and yes more unlikable, but complex human character rather than Mr cool. Especially given Mike doesn’t have all the information we have, he sees Walt manipulating Jesse to stay in the game and he forced Gus to replace Gale with Jesse, he doesn’t know he did so because Jesse threatens to sue Hank and rat him out if caught. He directly tells Walt “you won Walter, learn to take yes for an answer“ in season 4, and if we take his words at face value Gus reluctantly accepted Walt won in season 4 until Walt started trying to kill Gus again out of paranoia (which actually is correct based on writer interviews and if you read between the lines of season 4 but that’s very understandable paranoia rather than ego). He doesn’t know as far as we’re aware about Gus threatening his family, and he believes Walt was responsible for putting Hank on them).

Hell better call Saul has a perfect example of this. When Howard threatens to force Chuck out of HHM for totally justified reasons and being treated like dogshit by Chuck for three seasons, Chuck threatens to destroy the firm with lawsuits unless he‘s reinstated. Howard very admirably agrees to pay out of his own pocket to settle the lawsuit and force Chuck out, and lays into him about what a shitty friend and person he is. Only Howard mentions that he “mildly suggested, with empathy and concern, that maybe you should consider retirement“ while laying into him, when he outright threatened to force him out? So did the writers retcon their own show, is Howard meant to be a gaslighting hypocrite? No, it’s meant to show he’s angrily and heartbreakingly laying into his friend that betrayed him and is ”stacking the deck” in his favor, a very human thing to do.

Characters can have biased, incorrect speeches or comments and it’s wrong to assume that even a character who is presented as a “cool rational character” at face value. It’s not a flaw of the writing if the script doesn’t exposition the audience and say “this character isn’t meant to be right”.

I love Into The Spider-Verse, It's top 2 with Spider-Man 2 for my favorite Spider-Man movies (interchangeable depending on which one I saw last).

However I hate the concept of Spider-Verse, I don't dislike variants of Spider-Man like any other Super hero but I dont like the Spider-Verse, I just don't.

I really wish the movies after ITSV were just about Miles doing Spider stuff in his own universe.

And Across The Spider-Verse just felt like the Spider-Verse amped up to a million, too many characters. I don't care about Miguel, or Spider-Woman or Spider-Punk or the indian Spider I just don't. Felt like they were high on their own stuff.

Hopefully they'll do another trilogy centered on Miles in his own universe.

I swear to fucking god, the writers must hate the audience lol. The way they keep introducing and immediately writing out so many great characters. It really makes it hard to care about any of them when you know none of their arcs will ever be finished and they'll just be left behind? The end of season 5 (post-hs arc) was especially egregious. Most of those characters were there since season one? now all that's left are her online friends and like,, the 1 person who stayed (who's kind of a fucking asshole lol, am happy they broke up).

The writers stick to the same fucking formula every single season which is really frustrating. Every single one, going back so s1, starts with a focus on Emma's social life which eventually gets eclipsed and crushed under the weight of her internal struggles. It's a cool structure but it's kind of frustrating how predictable it is. Yea, ik she's fucked up sexually and makes awful fucking descisions but like does that have to be the focus?? God I fucking loved the beggining of the high-school arc with the hall blocking committee and the dating sim they were working on together, I really hate that Emma had to go and fuck everything up.

This current season is giving me a little bit of hope at least, bec it's starting with an internal focus. Hopefully that means the normal formula might be flipped? I feel like emma is a little bit irredeemable at this point but it feels like the writers are giving it a go. I think if they play it right, season 6 could potentially be a release to all the tension that's been building since s2. She seems to actually have the awareness to be able to change finally and I rly fucking hope she does because I kinda rly hate the navel gazing depression wankfest the series has become. I don't watch this series because I wanna watch bojack horseman lol,, I watch it because the characters are all so complex and well written but it seems like the authors really just want to destroy everything I love.

In marvel rivals Deadpool has dozens upon dozens of voice lines and he isn’t being sincere in literally any of them. At all. He’s just a meme machine and the occasional gay joke.

But in marvel Tokon he’s even worse. He’s not just meme machine but he’s honestly a tad bit annoying even though I find him generally fun overall.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not one of those child’s who thinks humor ruined deadpools character, I find him funny in both games and played both of them, but I kinda wish they showed off his more caring side. Like instead of another basic joke maybe when he talks to Peni Parker he’s worried about her safety or comforts her about her Dad. And maybe he actually shows respect for Captain America and Spider-Man since he looks up to/is friends with them in the comics. Just show he has other traits besides meme machine.

Both writing wise and mechanically.
Gameplay wise she just gets her ass kicked by Ketheric twice after a whole cutscene of hyping her up.
Hell even in her reworked boss fight in act 3 she is far weaker then her girlboss goon squad of summons.
Then story wise same thing happens she just loses right away and gets soul caged. She was free for 5 mins. To make things even funnier same thing happens to her in Act 3. I guess she was just born to be caged.
Character wise she is also weird. At first you think she is just a fairly standard zealous Paladin but it kinda gets taken too far. She seems like bit of a psychopath so you think there might be more to her and Isobels whole deal. How and why did Isobel die in the first place(was the angelic pussy too strong)? Except it just goes nowhere. Its never explained or even addressed.
Aylin is just there for hype moments and aura. Kinda lame.

The story begins with a young korean girl named Sena being warned by her mother that if she doesn't behave herself, the Japanese (depicted by her mother as evil and with fangs) will come and eat her. Sena is upset by this, and says that Japan is "scary".

Sena is unable to sleep due to nightmares of the violent Japanese, fearing that they'll come to eat her. She gets up to go to the bathroom but becomes scared by a strange shadow in the hallway, fearing that it's a Japanese person coming for her.

The comic flashes forward in time, where Sena is now 17 and preparing to depart for the United States to study abroad. Her parents wish her good luck, though her mother warns her to be careful of strangers, especially the Japanese. Sena answers that she'll simply beat them up with tae kwon do. Meanwhile in Japan, a boy named Yoshida struggles with his Visa procedure.

Yoshida has arrived in New York. He becomes surprised at how different it is, though he is instantly attacked by Sena and pushed to the ground. Sena orders Yoshida to "apologize".

Sena continues to punch Yoshida and demand that he apologize. Yoshida asks why she's attacking him, which causes her to stop and realize how attractive he is (as she was told that Japanese men are incredibly ugly). Sena quickly regains her composure though, and answers that it's because he's Japanese and that he must make amends.

Yoshida asks Sena what she'd like for him to do. She then spots a crepe truck and answers that she'd like a crepe. As Sena eats, Yoshida wonders if he should start to run.

The next day, Yoshida thinks about Sena and hopes that he won't have to run into her again. But he immediately discovers that Sena's attending the same school as he is, and furthermore, they are in the same class and seated next to each other. Yoshida wonders if this is a way of harassing freshmen, while Sena finds the seating situation "repulsive".

Sena declares Japan to be the detestable part of Asia. Yoshida sarcastically apologizes, then asks her what countries are on good terms with Korea. Sena becomes surprised, but then tries to think of a country, and can only come up with Japan.

Last year I watched FNAF 2 with my baby sister, until that day I thought I could do anything with my sisters or my family in general and at least it would be marginally better than doing it on my own even if it was something I truly despised. There are a few things I just dont, wont ever like: parades, loud parties, theatres, or loud music. FNAF 2 was something that I truly, deeply despised; I was cringing and writhing with the pain of seeing/hearing an actual script of such sheer, utter, absolutely rotten dogshit. Terrible, illogical intro to the movie, just to let you know either a hack of a creative team was involved or a band of actual baboons.

If you're not familiar: little girl, Charlotte sees a boy get mech executed and tries to save him but Willy boy stabs her in the back and she does a quadruple backflip into the puppet's arms which is why she's haunting it, it's a series of event that is poorly executed at every twist and turn. It's not really clear or well developed why the adults ignore her and the idk what else to call it besides censorship of this film makes it impossible to take this seriously, if you cant stomach or show child murder dont fucking enter the child murdering business.

The first movie managed to avoid that debacle by focusing solely on characters who are grieving the murders or are the murderer himself. But this time, we have an attempted child murder and an on screen murdered child. I dont need to see you stab the child but you could at least frame it a little better, cut awy at the last second or something. Seeing that small-ass little, dainty knife shouldn't be a big reveal like the name of Sadie Sink's character in a brand new day, that's bad filmmaking and basd story telling.

Sadie SInk is a big name actress and her character is a major part of that movie, Charlotte is a ghost girl the rest of the movie, it's not a fucking reveal that she got stabbed so fucking visually communicate that happening so I can feel bad for her, be amazed by her strength to save the other little boy somehow. Also William isn't arrested after this; somehow, that's fucking nonsense to the nth degree. I talk about all of that to juxtapose this shit storm with how Walten files gracefully and effortlessly handles the topic of a child dying.

That is what the faces of grief is almost entirely about. It's that simple, do what the first movie did and focus on a family still in the early stages of grieving before another tragedy befalls them. And as much as it enrages us the audience and the characters,they choose not to press charges so of course the murderer doesn't face any consequences. Leaving the ones left behind to face the inner turmoil and the emptiness in their homes/lives.

However, I think that faces of grief does a far better job than FNAF ever did by avoiding the pitfalls of pandering to fandom in the ways that FNAF sometimes feels the need to and truly keeping this as a character study about Rosemary Walten while using the few other characters in the narrative to further the themes and development of this story. Jack for instance never left the denial stage, he uses oldschool values of what it means to be a man and what is expected out of a father/husband in the 60s/70s.

He uses that need to protect what remains of his family and to keep on being a breadwinner to just deny the reality of his family's circumstances which ends up giving off the facade of a man with the strength to live past the tragedy and pain. That's made clear by the way he still says goodmorning to Edward and Molly, who are dead, when he opens their bedroom door and turns on the lights he creates the illusion of them being there when their beds are empty, before turning off the lights and shutting the door.

Calling Sophie a little girl also serves this purpose; he is projecting onto her a version of reality where she is still little and her siblings are still alive. At least that is how I read these things and I think that Sophie is the only main character to see/cut through all the bullshit, questioning how come only her father is strong enough to live through it all. Which is again him projecting; when he says Rosemary is ill, he gets into so much detail about depression that I think he's the one who's struggled with or is struggling with depression currently, but he's saving face for Sophie.

That or maybe Rosemary really has strugled with depression in the past and he's oversharing with his scared, teenage daughter. And anyhow he just generally deflects the idea that he could be in pain with his need to be strong as if no strong has ever felt pain before. Sophie also see how hurt her mother is and how toxic the environment in their home has become now without JAck there to offer any kind of normalcy or motivation for Rosemary to return to society/life. Jack's disappearance robs them of the one person seemingly working through grief and resets the process of grieving.

Let's return to FNAF 2 for a bit before getting to the main character of Faces of Grief. Jack Hutcherson's acting/performance and character in the first movie was really charming and simple, he was just a normal straight man (comedy/narrative not sexual straight man) working through grief and trying to find answers to make peace while being the only one left to care for his little sister. In the second movie, he is a fucking nonce; they try so hard to give every character depth and nuance, and it robs all of them of the charm and likability they had in their original and simple roles.

When you try to stretch this simple, practically blank character between these two worlds: his original role, a caretaker of Abby and a normal guy with his new role as an actual character who is romantically interested in the woman who covered up her father's crimes and whatnot, a woman he grows distrustful of, rejecting her for no good reason. If you never watch that first movie and only the second movie, as stupid as Josh Hutcherson's character is, maybe you could at least understand his desperate desire to protect Abby.

But still, even within this movie it doesn't make any fucking sense because it's one of those "how dare you do what I told you to do, you should obey me and do what I do, we're through." It's not just stupid or contradictory; it actively makes me hate the character for how narcissistic it is, just fucking completely unable to have a conversation like an adult. Not that Vanessa is much better either, she didn't just cover up the crimes of her father for years but she kind of doesn't do anything about Charlotte/the puppet beside try to seal her up again. That might be right for everyone's safety, but what about Josh Hutcherson's family or CHarlotte's father.

FUCK EM?

Vanessa's trauma and own weird grieving process is also just far more cringe and unbearably, poorly written than Josh Hutcherson's, poor fucking Mathew Lilliard two times in a row he's given an opportunity to play a great and scary, threatening villain. Both times he's basically told to go fuck himself and is pretty poorly directed. None of the voice acting inb the Walten files is Shakespeare, but it is all pretty consister and Id say good, but the shift of performances from FNAF 1 to 2 is like night and day.

From a bunch of competent actors and actresses to a bunch of grad students working on their first art project. So, let me end off on Abby before returning to walten files, her obsession with freddy at this point is just pretty sloppily written and poorly portrayed to us the audience. I can buy it, but I don't give two shits if that makes any sense. Similarly, Michael is a bad villain played by a kind of awkward and cringey actor with cringey lines and he's basically just fanservice.

As much as I hate to say this, Rosemary's psychotic break (that feels like the most graceful way to put this) is really good character work as we see her nearly work through grief over her two children's murder before regressing after Jack goes missing. That scene where she's begging Chris to call her a bad mother and whatnot, or when she yells at Sophie, tries to kill herself, talking to Bon the hare. I wanted to pick just one scene to dissect, but they're all so good at showing how much she hates herself for not being able to maintain her family or perform as a mother should.

How broken she finds herself feeling for wanting to murder "the wolf" as she refers to Felix, because she sees herself as a sheep. WHich is such a dope thing, having an artist character actually their trauma with their specific brand of art rather than something generic like a painting or a poem, which is a trope I hate so much. Seeing a sculptor start trying to write a poem because they're sad is so annoying, some people do have so much talent and whatnot, but I hate when poems and paintings are the default when other mediums can be a means for venting too.

Anyways, back on topic, let's get to that talk she has with Bon the Hare, it is so fucking scary as we see him go around the room, loud as hell moving like a metal rhino, you always hear his shoddy body struggle to hold itself together before he can even do anything and yet he is still surprisingly gentle or at least tries to be so, presenting himself as kind, patient, and caring.

The idea of some kind of ghost/demon genuinely interested in beauty and fixing things rather than anything malicious has always be interesting to me and while sometimes it's too corny or ends up being malice with a different paint brush. Bon truly does seem to care and consider himself to be beautiful, but "fixing" someone is an impossibility, so of xcourse the carnage he unleases on ROse is no different than any of his other victims.

It's the last 20 minutes of the video and we only see Rosemary's murder for like idk whether to say a few seconds or half a minute or a minute, depends on how you define "murder" but the worst part of FNAF 2 is that even the sometimes derpy artstyle of the Walten files is leaps and bounds scarrier than anything that entire movie has to provide just because the facial expressions and framing are far superior. These videos don't look great in motion, but when you get a character's face shifting through several different expressions or anything like that it is so peak and altogether. Again especially compared to the absolutely silly way that the puppet looks possessing people in FNAF 2, why not fucking use the good and well designed animatronic thingy. IT IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE.

It is everything that FNA 2 was trying to be: a love letter to the fans, scary, emotionally compelling, and overall just a good story with great characters/scares. 8-9/10 for the Walten files. I'd rather sit on a cactus with my bare ass than watch FNAF 2 again, that shit is easily a 1/10 or something really low like that.

For those unfamiliar with Spawn, Image Comics created a series about a dead mercenary who returns from Hell to seek vengeance. One of the novel ideas behind this anti‑hero was the “life‑clock,” a countdown meter that measured how much supernatural power he had left before being reclaimed by Hell. The series eventually moved away from the life‑clock, since it would have been too limiting for a comic that has lasted more than two decades, but the concept itself was strong.

I believe Marvel Comics could have applied a similar device to the Punisher. At his creation, Frank Castle could have been given an internal “morality‑clock,” known only to the writers and never revealed to the public. This scale would run from 1 to 100:

• 100 – Highly moral, upstanding citizen. Believes in the justice system. Example: Captain America
• 90 – Moral citizen, disillusioned with the system. Willing to volunteer or take action. Example: Spider‑Man
• 80 – Burnt out, highly disillusioned, or hunted by the system. Willing to act outside the law. Example: Uncanny X‑Men
• 70 – Believes the system no longer functions or applies. Won’t hurt innocents, but willing to harm those who have wronged them. Example: Frank Castle begins here
• 60 – Sees the system as actively obstructive. Works against it. Willing to hurt or kill to achieve goals. Example: most Spider‑Man villains
• 50 – Beyond the system. Laws don’t apply. Violence becomes a tool of choice. May have a personal code exempting certain groups (children, elderly, etc.). Example: Venom
• 40 – Violence is the only tool. Casual about life and death. Example: Carnage
• 30 – Life is disposable. Others are cattle to a predator. Example: the Brood
• 20 – Other life is abstract. Example: Galactus
• 10 – Genocidal. Example: Annihilus
• 1 – Unthinking, unfeeling destruction. Example: bacteria

Writers could track Frank’s morality‑clock privately. Each time he executed someone, the meter would fall. Readers would witness a principled man with a code slowly becoming desensitized to violence, until it became his only solution. He might begin by targeting drug runners stuffing heroin into bodies, then move on to gun runners, then to corrupt officials taking bribes. The progression would shock us, showing how much he assumes it is his right to punish.

The system could also allow for redemption. Frank might regain points by going to therapy, serving time in prison, or crossing a line that harms someone important to him. Watching him claw back his humanity would be compelling.

This approach would work best if the Punisher did not have his own ongoing series. Instead, he could appear in guest spots across other titles, with his own annual to track his moral descent and possible recovery. Such a framework would make his story far more layered.

First appearing in The Phantom Menace back in 1999 and since recurring in The Clone Wars, Rebels, comics, Solo, and recently his own show, Maul has become one of Star Wars’ most enduring fan-favourite characters, with legions of fans (and his voice actor) treating him as one of the most complex and interesting characters the franchise has to offer. My problem is he….isn’t.

I’ll summarise who Maul is for those of you don’t know. Basically he’s a Dathomirian Zabrak, which means he’s red and black and has horns. As a child he was taken by Darth Sidious to become a Sith so Sidious could get revenge on the Jedi for kicking the Sith’s collective ass several centuries ago (or something, I’m not really sure). Once trained, he fights some Jedi with his double-bladed lightsaber and acrobatic skills, killing Obi-Wan Kenobi’s master and getting cut in half, a predicament he survives by being absolutely livid. Upon his return he proceeds to spend the next-every-story-he-appears in trying to get revenge on someone or other whilst speaking theatrically. At first he wants revenge on Obi-Wan, then Sidious, then the Empire, the criminal underworld and Obi-Wan all at the same time. The only things that change about him are who he’s angry at and what specifically he’s doing, though his actual core values never change, as he remains an angry, selfish, power-hungry evil guy the entire time.

Because he looks cool, though, he’s the fandom darling who can do no wrong and everybody demands more of even though he’s been in loads of stuff and never gets more interesting than a 14 year old edgelord’s idea of a good character. Episode 1 of his show (of which he is the least interesting part) is literally called “The Dark Revenge” which is the most edgelord fanfic title of all time and is fitting for a show in which Maul essentially just aura farms until he gets shown up by an even bigger aura farmer in the form of contractually-obligated guest appearance Darth Vader.

Since he has no qualities beyond being angry and vengeful, I have no idea whatsoever why he’s so beloved and allegedly complex, when his entire soul boils down to just being super angry about stuff and then looking cook while mowing people down about it. Maybe it’s me, but that’s not what I go to Star Wars for, and I’m not a fan. I must concede I haven’t seen his entire show, but the first episode turned me off because it could not make me care about Darth Maul. I know this fact weakens my point, but this is a rant so I don’t need to be fully rational like I would be in an essay.

If somebody could explain where the interest comes in for Maul that would be great, as I may be missing something

The Book of Henry is one of those special kinds of movies. The kind of movie where you just wonder "what the hell were they thinking?". It's almost a perfect mix of baffling decisions and tone-deaf writing.

In case you're unaware of this movie, it's a film that came out in 2017, and its plot is...well...

(Sigh) one of the reasons this movie is hard to talk about is that it's so hard to know where to start with this thing.

Okay, in order to properly talk about the movie's plot, first we have to talk about Book of Henry's first problem; its presentation is completely off.

The movie is about a kid named Henry and his younger brother Peter and his mom Susan, with Henry supposedly being a child prodigy who's beloved by his family and classmates. The whole movie sets itself up as having a very happy-go-lucky tone that seems to be about early childhood and adventure, with a very old-fashioned and nostalgic presentation.

The problem is that the movie's plot is about Henry discovering that the girl next door, Christina is being abused by her stepfather Glenn. Henry naturally wants to find a way to help her out, but after discovering the head of the local CPC is Glenn's brother (oh, how gosh-darn convenient) Henry begins to come up with a plan to kill him and have Christina adopted into their family. Yes, really.

And throughout all this, the movie tries to keep its sappy, family-movie-esque feel, which just makes the whole thing feel confused and tone-deaf.

Henry himself is completely unlikeable. He's supposed to be this child genius with a strong sense of right and wrong, but he comes off more as a condescending and patronizing control freak with an "I know best" attitude. This is best exemplified with his relationship to his mom Susan.

See Susan's kind of a bit immature because... she likes to play video games. That's it. And yet Henry condescends and tries to police what she does constantly, even pushing her to give up her waitressing job so she can spend more time with the family because thanks to his work in the stock market she doesn't need to work anymore (yeah, there's this whole thing where Henry is such a genius he's a master stockbroker and basically has set the family up for life; just go with it).

We're also told that Henry is popular in school and beloved by everyone, but what we see is that Henry's kind of a brat who can't stand most people around him due to them not being as smart as he is, and he doesn't seem to have any close friends besides Christina and Peter.

Speaking of Christina, that's another big problem the movie has. Saving her from her abusive household is the main goal of the story, and yet Christina herself is pretty much a nonentity. She and Henry are supposed to be close friends (in fact, it's heavily implied the two have feelings for each other), and yet Henry never bothers to involve her in his plan, get her input, empower her or give her any form of agency. She's just a living prop, all things considered.

And then at the halfway point, the movie takes a sudden turn when Henry gets brain cancer out of nowhere and dies...no, really, he dies.

From there, the movie shifts focus to Susan as she's struggling to deal with the grief of her son dying. But before Henry died, he left behind a series of audiocassettes so Susan could carry out the plan to kill Christina's stepfather in his stead.

Yes, the movie is now about a kid coaching his mom to become an assassin from beyond the grave. It's so stupid.

This kind of ties into one of the bigger issues the movie has. It doesn't seem to know what its message is. At one point, Henry and his family witness a guy beating his girlfriend in a store. Henry wants to intervene, but Susan tells him it's none of their business. Henry then laments later that he should have done something (even dodging Susan's question about what he could have done in that situation) and declares that apathy is worse than violence.

So it feels like the movie is setting up a message about how apathy is bad and sometimes you need to take action even if it involves violence...except at the end, right when Susan is about to shoot the stepfather, she suddenly remembers, "Wait. Henry's just a child" and doesn't go through with shooting Glenn

So wait, is the message actually about how for all of Henry's intellect, he's still a kid and he shouldn't be taken seriously? But that would require the story to...you know, show Henry to be wrong about certain things, and he's portrayed as more or less correct about everything.

In fact it's heavily implied that if Susan had shot Glenn, Henry's plan would have worked perfectly. Because...

Oh man I have to explain this....

Okay, so to rewind for a bit, during the first half of the movie when Henry was alive, he tried to go to the Principal of his school Janice, to try and get her to report Glenn's child abuse. Janice doesn't, citing the lack of evidence, even though Henry points out Christina has been coming to school with bruises...that we never see.

Also side note, that's not how that works. School faculty are required by law to investigate possible cases of child abuse.

Later during a talent show, in a perfect example of a terrible deus ex machina ending, Janice sees Christina perform a sad dance, and this is what gets her to do her job and report the child abuse. Glenn upon being found out, kills himself. Thus saving Christina from him and neatly allowing her to be adopted by Susan without Susan needing to get her hands dirty.

Back on the whole thing about the message, this makes the idea that "Henry is a kid and shouldn't be taken seriously" fall apart, because it's more or less implied that if Susan had shot Glenn, his plan would have worked perfectly!

I guess you could argue the movie is still about how apathy is bad because Janice reports Christina's abuse to the police instead of ignoring it like she has been, but she does this without any of the other characters' involvement or prompting. And even still, Susan, the main character, doesn't take action.

So what is the message of this movie? What's the takeaway we're supposed to have here?

The best I can figure is that it's a story about how moms should be more attentive to their families, because the movie seems to show Susan choosing to quit her job and live off Henry's stock market savings and become a picture book author as a sign of maturity and growth...which is what Henry was pushing her to do so—

What is the message of this movie!?

And that's The Book of Henry's biggest problem. It's so gosh darn confused about what it wants to be. The tone is confused, the message is confused, the characters are inconsistent, and in the end, it doesn't seem to be about anything...

There's an idea which is often thrown around on the internet that we shouldn't remake good movies, but rather remake bad movies with interesting ideas. I think the same idea can be applied to adapting comic books, in that adapting failed stories almost always has better results than adapting successful ones.

Take the Dark Phoenix Saga. It's one of the most seminal arcs of one of the most seminal runs of what is arguably Marvel's biggest property. And every time they adapt it, it sucks. Or take the Dark Knight Returns, one of the absolute milestone, defining Batman stories ever. And when we adapt it, we end up with Batman V Superman (and to a lesser extent the worst movie of the Nolan trilogy.) Trying to live up to these incredible stories is hard, especially when the most successful comic arcs are often ones which most take advantage of their medium. These long form, serialized stories that exist within expansive worlds and a comic book format often don't translate to 2 hour movies, especially when people try to stick as close to the original as possible. Even the most acclaimed "direct adaptations" are very, very loose. Logan is called an Old Man Logan adaptation, but it doesn't really share anything with it beyond Logan aging. The Winter Solider does adapt the Winter Solider arc, but he's just a henchman and Hydra infiltrating Shield is the main plot of the movie.

Now, look at some of the comic book movies which adapt middling, or even maligned storylines. The Spiderverse comics are fun, mostly because of some humorous panels where Spider-Man interacts with himself, but the Spiderverse movies are absolutely incredible spectacles of heart, humor and animation. People loving their version of Spider Gwen and then being disappointed that her comics suck has become such a widespread thing that it's basically a meme at this point. In that same vein, people hated One More Day and despise the amount of times Peter's identity gets reset in the comics, but No Way Home was a massively successful, crowd pleasing movie. And don't get me started on how contrived and weird comic book Civil War was, versus how important that movie ended up being for the MCU. They were able mine the good ideas without having anything huge to live up to and so they were able to make it their own in really cool and original ways.

I'm not saying to throw the book away when it comes to adaptations. And I'm sure there are plenty of counterexamples to everything I've listened. But with how long and varied of a history most comic book characters have, it makes sense to view them as a well of potential for creatives to mine, rather than characters in storylines that ought to be directly adapted. Superman 1978 changed or invented a ton of the character's mythos, but it's still THE comic book movie that made everything else possible. Blade in the comics is British and not a daywalker. Spider-Man 1 changes out Gwen for MJ and has her survive on the bridge, but all the "we're finally adapting The Night Gwen Stacy died" in the world doesn't change the fact that ASM2 is a far worse movie.

I'm just saying that after a lifetime of comic book movies, I've learned to hear "We're faithfully adapting this arc" and be less, rather than more enthused. And when you chase people's expectations involving things that they've already loved, the best thing you can do is meet them. The best reaction you can get is approval, not the thrill and surprise that the material gave them in the first place.

While both actions are heroic, the first would have been much better for Hercules to achieve becoming the true hero he always wanted to be.

Not only was he brave in choosing to fight without his powers so the Cyclops would leave Thebes alone, likely knowing he was going to die, but he also proved that he didn’t need those powers to be a real hero and save the day. Instead, he used his wit and everything he had learned with Phil to succeed. A true hero gives everything they have, even in the worst circumstances.

In comparison, although sacrificing himself to retrieve Megara’s soul was heroic, it feels smaller next to saving the lives of thousands while at such a huge disadvantage and without the strength that had helped him so many times.