Shower Thoughts MK2
- Thread starter Specter Von Baren
- Start date
Isn't weird that the MCU Netflix shows all went from critical darlings and what many considered the best superhero content on TV to just disappearing off the face of the earth? Well except Daredevil I guess.
Literal shower thought: How is it I can drive a car no problem after years of rarely driving, yet I have to guess (and am usually wrong about) which way to turn the handle to get colder/hotter water in the shower I've used regularly for over ten years?
Shower-ish thought: Why did English (and most other languages for that matter) only develop comparative forms of adverbs/adjectives that increase the amount? Harder, better, faster, stronger... but if you want to say less hard, less good, less fast, less strong you'll need to use a whole extra word or use the antonyms: softer, worse, slower, weaker. And what would those lesser-than comparative forms look like? Hardless, goodless, fastless, strongless? Hardn't, goodn't, fastn't, strongn't? Hardette, goodette, fastette, strongette?
Shower-ish thought: Why did English (and most other languages for that matter) only develop comparative forms of adverbs/adjectives that increase the amount? Harder, better, faster, stronger... but if you want to say less hard, less good, less fast, less strong you'll need to use a whole extra word or use the antonyms: softer, worse, slower, weaker. And what would those lesser-than comparative forms look like? Hardless, goodless, fastless, strongless? Hardn't, goodn't, fastn't, strongn't? Hardette, goodette, fastette, strongette?
I don't remember anyone really loving the other ones to a huge degree. Nobody liked Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage got decent buzz and chatter that I recall, but as the subsequent seasons came out, and then Defenders popped up, and we saw where they went with it, it lost it's shine.
Well I guess the "love" seemed more significant relative to the other superhero stuff on TV: fucking Inhumans lmao, CW shows, Agents of Shield. Honestly I can't remember much about Defenders and the seasons of the shows after it, but I would characterize all of their shows as having great first seasons all followed by dogshit second seasons.
Yeah that's pretty accurate, the "good 1st season, not so good follow up"
Though to be fair, the fact that they got such good criticism versus other comic tv shows, was a bit biased, seeing as how few there were to compete against. I never liked Punisher, because he was meant to be a parody of the jingo-esque 'Murica or I Kill You" mentality of the 80's, but he's become a legit ideal for a disturbing number of people that I know, particularly veterans. So I don't really find him funny, I just see him as a "mass shooter dramatization". Or the fevered coke dream way a mass shooter envisions themselves.
DD 2 went silly in so many little ways, Luke Cage killed off the interesting villain mid-season of season 1. Jessica Jones annoyed me due to her hypocrisy of "I'm to blame for my mind controlled actions, but nobody else should be held to blame" level of self hate that made watching it painful. I...did IF get a season 2? If it did, I didn't watch it that I recall. And Defenders....honestly I don't remember any of it at this point. The whole arc just became about ninjas and goo in the sewers.
The funny thing was that Iron Fist Season 2 was genuinely better than the first. Not that much better, but definitely an improvement.
Defenders is decent, but it had that ninja, dragon goo, and Elektra subplot people got tired of by that point. I liked it for the character interactions and some of action sequences. Jessica Jones and The Punisher I stopped watching after their first seasons. Jessica Jones it was nothing but pain and misery, and The Punisher I had already gotten tired of before that point. Plus it could not make up its mind on gun control and didn't want to offend either side by not saying anything. Making their whole argument pointless and having almost nothing to do with the main villains. Luke Cage had a decent second season, but has a controversial ending to that season. Which doesn't matter now, since all the Netflix shows have been canceled. Which sucks because I was looking forward to a season 3 of Luke Cage and a season 4 of Daredevil. Iron Fist was just boring. I heard the second season was actually a bit better, but I didn't bother to watch it.
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Yeah it didn't really dawn on me until I typed that, how much it sounded like I was describing TMNT. We got ninjas in new york, lots of plot involving sewers, and a magical ooze. And yes I know the Foot clan was made as a parody of the Hand, but the fact that the MCU looped back around to TMNT plots just sort of amuses the shit out of me. As to the action scenes, nothing about them really stood out to me. By that point, each of the shows had rehashed the "hallway fight" from DD 1, so it was just meh.
Yeah JJ was mostly ok for me. I liked some elements of it, others I could do without. Like I appreciate that they tried to address the trauma/guilt angle of the character, but there were so many places where I was like "ok wait but...." at some really glaring logical flaws. Punisher I just don't like at all. PTSD veteran with a bloodlust, gets it in his head that he's worthy of killing people he deems unworthy in the street, and I'm supposed to think he's a hero? Sorry but...no *looks at the US news for the last fucking month* No, white dude gunning down people in the streets he thinks are bad, are not heroes, their a racist statistic.
This was during a time where the execs and censors of each network still asleep or did not care much. Subtleties in the writing and acting in those shows help too. When the show got dark, it did not go overboard. Unlike Legend of Korra. Which tried to be like Avatar, but "edgier", less interesting or useless characters, derailing of certain old characters, and annoying romance subplots that hogs up two seasons leading to waste everyone's time.
Speaking of which, alot of, though not all, Western cartoons from 2010s suffer from bad soap opera romance that either waste the viewers time, takes over the main (and most likely more interesting) plot, or involve and encourage toxic/abusive relationships (Female on Male Abuse is okay in certain regards). Adventure Time, Legend of Korra, and Star vs. The Forces of Evil being stand out examples.These shows in particular, and Loud House, have a habit of just making characters unsympathetic due to bad writing, and we're supposed to like them or find them funny. I noticed a lot of them being female.
There are certain old cartoons from my generation I can't watch anymore due to being too mean spirited, obnoxious characters, a show that can only exist in a certain decade, or the shows comes off as boring. See Rocket Power, Ed, Edd, n' Eddy, CatDog, Ren & Stimpy, Fairly Odd Parents, or Dexter's Lab.
Watch your damn mouth.
But seriously, Ren & Stimpy? They were supposed to be obnoxious, absurd even. R&S humor lurked in that weird realm of the avant garde. I don't think they were going for the easy laughs like a prototypical Saturday morning cartoon, but the ones that take some intellectual understanding to appreciate on more intricate levels, odd because so much of it was crude and crass on its face. It was one of the first shows that toed that the line between children's and adult humor, sometimes so blatantly that there'd inevitably come an age of reckoning where "the joke" became completely different. It was one of very few shows I and my father both enjoyed; I understood later in life why he laughed when I didn't and vice versa. Just saying, it's a show where nostalgia doesn't really serve it so well in that what you laughed at at 10 years old can be starkly different from what you laugh at at +20 years old.
As an adult, dealing with adult problems and frustration, I came to understand. As a kid, Stimpy was silly; as an adult Stimpy's an idiot. As a kid, Ren was mean; as an adult, Ren is the that part of each of us that wants to road rage, but doesn't; that wants to slap the taste out of the mouth of some asinine store employee or co-worker, but doesn't.
Point in case, the segment below: it was funny when I was 10 to see Ren blow up half the planet ala Wile E. Coyote levels of absurdity; at +20 years it's even funnier because I have some rudimentary understanding of geopolitical tension, international conflict, and the concept of "the red button" that nuclear-capable countries are storied to have at their disposal as a knee-jerk reaction to said conflict.
I don't care if it is the point. It does nothing for me at this point. I can still watch some episodes, but most don't do much for me anymore. Doesn't help that the creator of the show is a jackass and he was known for being late and never on time with the schedule. And then that I later find out he was probably involved with teenage girls and was doing things he wasn't supposed to do. Apparently this happened back in early 90s, and when it did, I was about 4 years old. Besides, Ren & Stimpy wasn't even my favorite Nicktoon before Hey Arnold. That belong to Rocko's Modern Life. Then there's not getting into the fact that even when he got fired as director from the show, they made Ren an even more obnoxious jerk. Stimpy got even dumber. For some viewers are working for others they didn't. Do not get me started on Adult Cartoon Party. Never again....
Never!!!
There is no way to fight back against global capitalism. The 1960s had the civil rights movement what do we have??? BLM which American society has marginalized. DSA, Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, and Rebellion PAC which has either sold out or been rendered irrelevant. Antifa which is five FBI informants from falling like anonymous. Russia and China are capitalist, and they are the alternatives to the US-led power. The EU which hates immigration, a whole bunch of Islamofascist governments which are fascists. The socialist governments are all corrupt or dependent on a larger power.
AOC sold out, Ilhan Omar sold out, Ayanna Pressly sold out, Ro Khanna has been marginalized as has Rashida Tlaib, Pramila Jayapal sold out, many so-called progressives are not progressives like Ted Lieu, and Maggie Hassan. Manchin and his merry band of centrist Dems have a lock on Biden policy.
But I don't care, even if I am the last progressive standing, I will still advocate for a whole host of progressive policies. Change must come from the outside, not in congress where they can blackmail you with what I suspect to be Pelosi telling AOC I will cut off fed funds to your district or something like that.
If there is a light at the end of the tunnel it's that the mainstream media is dying too, cable news is dying when it comes to viewers.
AOC sold out, Ilhan Omar sold out, Ayanna Pressly sold out, Ro Khanna has been marginalized as has Rashida Tlaib, Pramila Jayapal sold out, many so-called progressives are not progressives like Ted Lieu, and Maggie Hassan. Manchin and his merry band of centrist Dems have a lock on Biden policy.
But I don't care, even if I am the last progressive standing, I will still advocate for a whole host of progressive policies. Change must come from the outside, not in congress where they can blackmail you with what I suspect to be Pelosi telling AOC I will cut off fed funds to your district or something like that.
If there is a light at the end of the tunnel it's that the mainstream media is dying too, cable news is dying when it comes to viewers.
@happyninja42 I just realized why I like Defenders so much. It reminds me so much of Streets of Rage. A group of vigilantes take on a crime syndicate that involves ninjas. The Defenders: they take on a secret shadowy organization that involves ninjas. Axel Stone & Iron Fist have fists that glow. Axel has a flame elemental in his fists though. Two, dark haired brunette, characters with bad attitudes are Jessica and Blaze Fielding. Blaze is way nicer than Jessica by comparison. Luke Cage and Adam Hunter are the Mighty Glacier black dudes that wears yellow and black. With Daredevil being the odd one out of the group. He can work as the guy with the weird gimmick and is the speedster. Granted, he's about as athletic as Skate or Cherry, but more so than them.
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It wouldn't surprise me if they took inspiration for some of the characters from the Marvel heroes. Like Luke Cage is a pretty iconic black superhero, and very much a signature character of that era of Shaft-esque, blaxsploitation genre. So it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn some of the people that made the game were old school comic fans, and reskinned Cage for their game.
But yeah, the premise of Defenders is solid. Teamup stories of heroes are generally always a solid hit for most fans. It all comes down to the writing of course, and personally I think the writing kind of shit the bed with Defenders, as they tried to tie the main threat around the weakest link of the protagonist team. It kind of dragged the rest of it down.
Yeah I was never a huge R&S fan, though I did like the way they would lampoon the old types of commercials for ridiculous products. That level of satire appeals to me. So things like "Don't wizz on the electric fence!" and "Log!" and the litter box sampling thing (where a horse takes a massive shit IN a mall stall for the purposes of the test), THAT shit I still think was good work. The actual skits, usually did nothing for me. But the commercials, they were golden, reminded me of the tone of the commercials from things like Robocop. Just putting a glaring spotlight on lifeless consumerism and how vapid it is if you view it from an outside lens.
Sega's inspiration for Streets of Rage, mainly came from Streets of Fire and Final Fight. The latter itself was inspired by the film. Axel's name was partially based off of Axel Foley. Axle Stone himself is a copy of another copy. That copy being Cody from Final Fight. Cody himself was an expy of Tom Cody from Streets of Fire.
The franchise has a ton of American influences. So would not surprise me they were inspired by American comic books as well. I think Yuzo Koshiro, even confirmed it himself saying, that the artwork for the past games while still partially manga inspired, mainly came from American comic books. That explains why he, the old game designers, and Sega, themselves had no problem with the art style in the fourth game.
As for the story for Defenders, while I did find it weak in some regard, I still enjoyed it. The show was on point with the character interactions and charisma. I already knew from the moment in season 2 at the end of Daredevil, that the Elektra story and the Hand story from Iron Fist would merge and finish up in Defenders. All I have to say to that is that it could have been worse. At least the show is a huge step up from Iron Fist season 1 and 2, The Punisher, and both seasons of Jessica Jones.
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