General Discussion Mark II

Season 4 looks good so far, and yeah, the show as a whole did have some issues surrounding it...like Brother Blood and the fact that he's incredibly lame, or the fact that story arcs take up at most half of their season, or the lack of Terra between her joining the team and leaving it...but if you treat it as episodic instead of story-driven, it's really good overall. I particularly liked the Thunder and Lightning episode. That said, I've seen literally nothing of Young Justice except maybe half an episode a long time ago, so once I get done reevaluating shows I used to like, I might check that one out too. Though at the rate I've been plowing through Teen Titans, I might reach it before Jojo Season 2 comes out on DVD...

Actually, I saw his Blue Beetle retrospective series, then watched the Titans one and that got me wanting to watch the old show (seriously, it got cancelled 10 years ago, holy hell...)

See, I don't really mind how much of the season is taken up by story arc. I certainly prefer that over an entire season of mostly filler. I can understand how it would be daunting to people, though. And I actually think Brother Blood's really underrated, though I will concede that he's not as cool when compared to Trigon, Slade, or the Brotherhood of Evil. And, yeah, I definitely would have liked more of Terra being an actual member of the team before she jumped ship. And, dear lord, do not get me started in the final episode, my keyboard would break from typing all that rage. But still, overall, I think it's a fantastic show. Certainly better than that other TT show that we will not be naming. It knows who it is.

See, I look at him and see that he has the fewest episodes out of any villain of the series, with Slade getting half of each of his seasons and Trigon leaking out into other villains' seasons, plus all the foreshadowing to him, and then I look at Blood bitching about how Cyborg keeps blowing up his base and how he keeps thinking that robots are better to the point where he uses robot parts for no good reason which just...ugh. I don't like him. He's not funny, he's not intimidating, he's not smart, and if it wasn't for Cyborg consistently refusing to let anyone else fight him because of the blueprint thing, which puts him at a disadvantage, he'd have been done with by his second appearance. Probably by Robin.

Haven't gotten back to the Brotherhood of Evil yet, but I don't think they'll be topping Trigon. In fact, I kinda doubt they'll be topping Slade either, even if Slade is kinda underwhelming (seriously, all the teasing about his identity and his backstory doesn't add up to anything). Slade was still at least both skilled and kinda cool, and definitely made a pretty good shadow for Robin, competitive as he is in this series. Plus, the fact that Robin references Batman as his father is awesome.

I've only heard that show being described three ways: "Awful" "The goofy half of Teen Titans" and "Silver-Age." And sitting at the end of the fourth season, the "goofy" half of the show is...less goofy, more weird. But the best villains are still Mad Mod and Control Freak, because who doesn't love when an action show just trips the hell out?

I'll admit, it's been a while since I watched his episodes, but I recall him coming off at least slightly intimidating. But, I could very well be remembering wrong.

Slade's identity mystery was... head-tilting, yes, but that's likely why it doesn't really come up much, so it doesn't really bug me. Red X, on the other hand, was a mystery that was not and never will be solved. People are still trying to figure him out. Slade was at least a character in the comics who, if you were really that curious, you could learn more about. Red X, though? He was created entirely from wholesale for the show, and, unlike characters like Harley Quinn or X-23, never appeared anywhere else. If the writers knew who was, they never felt the need to share it. And it's really frustrating. Don't get me wrong; he's still a cool character, I just wish we knew more about him.

"Awful" is a pretty accurate descriptor. Even TT at it's weirdest was still watchable, and was really just the show, as you said, tripping out and having some wacky antics. TTGo, however, is just a really obnoxious and in your face comedy, employing just about every method of appealing to preschoolers, with no intent of treating kids like they're intelligent, and with no regard for fans of the original. Also, to paraphrase a different internet reviewer, I'm pretty sure the voice director told the original VAs to speak as obnoxiously as possible.

I honestly just found it hard to call him intimidating when the line I remember best is "Now that's two headquarters you owe me," as if that means anything. Plus calling everyone his "students" is...weak.

Yes, I'm aware of Slade's identity as "Deathstroke the Terminator." But the show is different enough from the comics that it still has to stand on its own merit and not as an adaptation, so the fact that they tease his face, that he has some beef with the Titans, just gets to me. Red X is a mystery for sure, and it's not exactly easy to accept that some random dude broke into a high-security vault in Titans' Tower and stole the Red X suit, but he's at least clear-cut in that he is a thief, looking to get some cash and serve himself. They don't go into him the same way they don't go into Cinderblock or Overload. I wish we'd seen more of him too, but so far as I'm aware, he was only in one episode, with Robin taking his power source at the end of it, so we can assume that he's given up on being Red X.

I just wanted to come in here to say Killer Moth should have gotten some more screen time. I mean come on, he had a cool design and everything... and then he got made into a comic relief villain who only showed up twice.

He doesn't even count as comic relief, really. He played second fiddle to Johnny Rancid. JOHNNY FREAKING RANCID. Like...a generic asshole biker. And to his bitchy daughter. I'll give him credit for trying to act fatherly toward Silkie, though, that was great.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Man, talk about a wasted character.

Alright, it's a few months late, but here's the pictures I took at the convention. I think my photography skills improved, since there's only a few mistimed shot in the bunch, whereas last year I had as many failures as successes. On the downside, I got hit with allergies or something, and after the first day I lost all my energy and couldn't keep taking pictures.










I actually met this one on the train, on my way to class that day, so it was kinda neat to run into her again later and get a photo.


































Fantastic DAN Narukami.




One of those "I don't recognize the character, but damned if I don't love the cosplay" situations. Anyone recognize this?




I kinda messed up, but I actually like the implied motion between the two pictures.













These people were blowing actual bubbles with some solution that made them tougher to pop. Dedication!



This jackass walked right through the shot! People usually seem pretty good about not doing that there, since everyone's constantly taking pictures, so they know to keep their wits about them, but I guess it was a more crowded area.




Actually waited for that message to cycle back on-screen so I could take it for a friend.










My sister really wanted me to take this picture of her with JAMMIES-KAKYOIN! Featuring Jotaro.



...This man is clearly the greatest. Are you SEEING this!? It's like he stepped out of the manga's pages!



I've never seen anyone do their wig like this before, it looks effective. Wish I'd asked about it.










The most embarrassing thing that happened at this convention was that these two were with Dojima <i>and I didn't recognize him.</i> I'm disappointed in myself.








There was a Soul Eater photo shoot. They do this a lot; last year was Persona, and I actually participated. It's in the photos from last year in this topic.















The posing! It just doesn't stop!



A One-Piece shoot. ...I still haven't really looked into that series, huh?





Hidden Phantom! I never expected to see an MMZero character.








Turns out, there were like four other people who showed up as Wild Tiger, same as me, but like nobody as Barnaby. So here I am taking a picture with Origami Cyclone. I remember blanking out completely on a pose, because nobody else asked me to be in a picture the whole time.








#Polnareff (they actually secured that tag on Twitter and asked me specifically to use that if I posted it on social media.)






I caught them just before the elevator arrived, while I was getting a drink from the fountain. It was fun, doing that on the spur of the moment.



There were a few other Howls, but I couldn't find any of them. I have a friend who adores Howl's Moving Castle, so I HAD to get a picture of him somehow.






Prints I bought at Artist's Alley. The last of which has inspired me to, someday, make a Zero cosplay.

Hm. Only recognized slightly less than half of them this time. My nerddom is improving.

And hah, someone picked specifically Izanagi. Izanagi is one of the coolest things about P4. Especially Izanagi-no-Okami with his freaking suit and tie.