A Thought About Dragon Ball Z

I have no real idea why, but Dragon Ball Z has been popping up super frequently for the last couple months. I haven't seen this much DBZ since middle school...

Anyhow, with the Resurrection of Frieza movie, or whatever it's called, coming out, and reviews calling Frieza DBZ's greatest villain but saying he's useless in the movie....
combined with Team Four Star's EXCELLENT and hilarious 'History Of Trunks' video (which I just watched)....
I just realized that the Majin Buu Saga should have happened BEFORE the Android Saga.

Now, I'm not saying they got it wrong for continuity reasons or anything.
My point is that:
1- Frieza has always actually been kind of a shitty villain (he's only remembered as "cool" because he could transform, and because he was the first villain Goku had to go Super Saiyan to kill. Otherwise he's just kind of an ugly little creep with a girly voice.
2- Majin Buu is just super random and arbitrary. I mean, I get it, he's a djinn - a genie, and he's magical and super powerful and whatnot.....but so are the Eternal Dragons, Shenron and Porunga. Except the dragons seemingly have a cap on their power that means they can't auto-solve every problem. Majin Buu should likewise have a cap to his powers that means he can't be an unsolvable problem, so there was no real reason he had to be some sort of ultra-powerful force of destruction.
He was a completely random plot thread that came out of nowhere and could have been handled however the hell they felt like writing him. And time and time again the Dragon Ball series makes the point of showing that mortals willing to go to the greatest extremes, willing to sacrifice everything, and unwilling to be limited by what they "should be able to do", are able to constantly transcend their limitations and overcome anything. With Goku being their leader, and the heart and soul of the team, because he truly aspires to be the absolute most powerful, and has no doubt that he can do it, if he EARNS it.
3- The Android Saga and the Cell Saga are the grand finale of the Dragon Ball series' great ongoing battle from all the way back in the original Dragon Ball. The Androids and Cell are the ultimate creations of Dr. Gero, and therefore the ultimate culmination of the conflict between Goku's team and the Red Ribbon Army.
It also continues the theme of mortals going to incredible lengths and sacrificing everything to transcend their limitations, except that Dr. Gero's methods call into question what and how much you can sacrifice without losing yourself in the process. It questions the consequences of taking what are arguably shortcuts to reach beyond your limits. It challenges the notions of family, humanity, life, and identity.

My main point is that the Android and Cell Sagas are narratively a VASTLY superior final story arc, but also that they pose a series of much deeper philosophical challenges than anything else the series ever touched on. A perfect capstone to complete the series and reflect back on what kind of greater meaning might be derived from the adventures and struggles of Goku and his friends.

Not that it seems like Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z have ever been remotely interested in things like meaning, narrative complexity, or philosophy, but why not right at the end there? Why not take the ending and make it and the entire series mean much more?

And then, from there, fine, sure, keep doing random movies.
'Battle Of The Gods' would serve as an excellent continuation of the lessons - teaching 'there's always something or someone more powerful than you" and "there's always another challenge to face and overcome" and "there's always a better version of you that you can become".

As far as Dragon Ball GT is concerned, I don't know enough about it. But it doesn't need to be part of the same big overarching narrative message/lessons that DBZ dealt with, and that would actually give purpose to the distinction between Z and GT.
i.e. It would answer the question of why GT isn't simply more DBZ.

GT, from what I know of it, could've been handled as an exploration of the concepts and meaning of legacy and consequence.
New heroes continuing in the footsteps of their heroes and ancestors, old heroes teaching the new generation, old evils giving rise to new ones, etc etc etc.


All that said, Dragon Ball Z really isn't like that.
It's a cool series with a lot of flaws.
Just watch Team Four Star's 'DBZ Abridged' series instead. Much shorter, better paced, filler-free, and completely HILARIOUS.

Freedom Planet - Finally a Great "Sonic" Game?

Okay, real talk, Freedom Planet looks like it is probably the best "Sonic The Hedgehog" game ever made.
It started off as a fan-made actual Sonic game before they turned it into it's own thing with no relation to the Sonic IP, but this is CLEARLY superior to any Sonic game ever made.
So, if you like the original Sega Genesis-era Sonic The Hedgehog games, you should uh...be aware that Freedom Planet exists.

For the record:

While Sonic games have a reputation for being notoriously bad nowadays, with the occasional decent game mixed in there, I'm of the opinion that Sonic The Hedgehog games were NEVER actually particularly good.

The original Sega Genesis games are a maddening paradox of game design, in which the game mechanics are designed to make you go fast, but the level design fights your ability to do that at EVERY step of the way, so instead it's just frustrating.

Also, all the parts where Sonic DOES go fast aren't really up to you. You're basically just watching while the game plays itself.

Sonic seems like it was a success because Sega created him to be "edgy" and "cooler" than Mario, so his games are equated with being a rival to Mario games (which genuinely ARE some of the best ever made).

He was made to BE the face of Sega and sell Sega.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sonic, but it's not because of his games.

I love Sonic because of the "Sonic SatAM" cartoon, which was awesome, and the Archie Comics based on the Sonic SatAM world.

It was REALLY cool stuff.

The single most massive mistake the games ever made was when 'Sonic Adventure' came out and -completely- disregarded the existence of the entire Sonic SatAM setting....and instead set it on a..uh..Final Fantasy version of Earth(?) which was super bland and terrible.

Just like DC Comics (where I LOVE the characters and stories, but can't stand the comics themselves because DC constantly makes a terrible mess of their universe) my love for it comes primarily from Saturday morning cartoons in the 90's.

Freedom Planet, on the other hand, -seems- to've actually fixed these issues.

The level designs seem to be slightly more friendly to going fast, and at the same time give you plenty of reasons to WANT to slow down.

And the setting appears to actually be an homage of sorts to the Sonic SatAM/Archie Comics setting of the planet Mobius, with all the woodland creatures teaming up as the Freedom Fighters to battle the villainous tyrant who is terrorizing their world.

Where Sonic abandoned all that to be bland and terrible, Freedom Planet embraces it and is fun, neat, and kinda adorable.

All credit to this recent crop of indie game developers who CLEARLY loved these classic games and understand WHY they loved them.

They obviously understand much better than the companies who made them.

We've got Yacht Club Games who made Shovel Knight, we've got all manner of great "Mario" style games, we've got LOADS of great fan-made MegaMan games (because Capcom has essentially abandoned the franchise), Divinity:Original Sin looks like a great modern isometric RPG (like Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Arcanum, Icewind Dale, etc), and now we've got a superior "Sonic" game.

I've sometimes worried that all the best types of games would be forgotten and lost as the world is taken over by mediocre FPS's, open-world games, and mobile games..

..but if the indie devs keep this up, I think we'll be ooooookay.

-------------------

These guys go over the Sonic stuff pretty well:

Thoughts about Gotham (TV show) and Batman:Arkham City

You know, it's not one that normally sticks in my head as one of the greatest games of all time....but perhaps it is.



Credit where credit's due, there's certainly something to be said for how VERY powerfully and distinctly Batman Arkham City sticks in my memory.
The fact that it has kinda taken over as the definitive version of Batman in my head....

Watching Deadshot on Arrow, watching Penguin on Gotham ...just watching Gotham in general... all take me back to Arkham City.
Even my acknowledgement of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as the true Batman and Joker actually somehow links more directly in my head to Arkham City than it does to Batman: The Animated Series...
Stealing the association with Conroy and Hamill from the DCAU is quite the achievement all on its own....

I suppose I bring this up because every episode of Gotham I watch has my brain persistently trying to extrapolate a path from Gotham's Penguin to Arkham City's Penguin, and sort of trying to do the same for the two James Gordon's too.

Power Girl's Costume

This is a long reply I made to an article with a load of people complaining about Power Girl and her costume's "boob window".

I figured I'd just repost it here rather than lose it to the wilds of the internet.

Also, the original had a lot of weird spelling errors due to my PC freaking out at the time and editing posts not being allowed. That shit drives me nuts, so I'm fixin' it all here.

----------------------------

See, I get the complaint, but I don't really have a problem with the Power Girl costume itself, only the more exaggerated version of it.

I think when it's at it's more modest levels it's actually great. In fact, she's pretty much the ONLY hero I can think of that wears a white costume and actually looks great in it.
It's when it gets to be this HUGE window that it actually becomes a problem.

People complain about female fantasy armor not being protective all the time, and I agree, that is REALLY logically stupid and shouldn't happen for the most part.
The exceptions being if it were maybe an agile rogueish/ninja character for whom armor is of less importance than mobility, and it's essentially just "armor wherever it won't get in the way.
But none of that applies here.

People actually COMPLAIN about Superman's New 52 armored look (which actually looks much better, minus needing some yellow for balance added to the belt region) because Superman doesn't need armor. No armor Superman is going to find is going to be more durable than Superman himself.
The exact same is true of Power Girl, who is an alternate reality version of Super Girl. Supergirl, according to DC, may actually be MORE powerful than Superman, and Power Girl (as a fully adult version of Supergirl) may be even more powerful still.
NONE of these people need costumes for protection. Logically and pragmatically speaking, wearing the minimal clothing they can get away with makes a lot of sense, since, to them, it can LITERALLY only get in the way.
Obviously, it falls apart a little with "why do they wear capes?" (which I think is just their family tradition "because Superman does it", and Superman's cape is the baby blanket he was sent to Earth from Krypton in - so it's his symbol), and the boob window really serves no functional purpose, aside from making it look less just...solid white.

Would anyone care if this was She-Hulk's costume? She-Hulk is similarly strong and indestructible, but She-Hulk is a rather overtly sexual character. She'll use her sexuality as a weapon if it serves her, and a costume similar to Power Girl's would probably be right up her ally (and indeed not that different from what she already wears).
People seem to have no problem with She-Hulk. Would a "boob window", which kinda makes sense for her personality, suddenly make the difference? Is it somehow because her legs are green instead of just regular white skin color?

What about Black Cat? She, like She-Hulk, is absolutely willing to use her sexuality as a weapon. In fact, in a modesty competition, I think Power Girl's outfit might win.
No one has a problem with Black Cat.
If she was wearing Power Girl's outfit, aside from the issue of it obviously NOT being black, would that be a problem all of a sudden?

Is the real problem here that Power Girl is part of the Superman family, and not overtly sexual as a character?

Is the problem that a "boob window" is just an unorthodox form of showing cleavage, rather than a looooow cut thing starting at the neck, which we're just more used to?
Or is it that it bypasses all that upper chest and neck area to reveal only the actual space between her boobs?

There are a lot of really strange, fuzzy logics and lines of acceptability at work in complaining about Power Girl's outfit.
I'm not clear on what they all are.

And I bet just by mentioning She-Hulk and Black Cat, and saying no one has an issue with them, a load of people who are well aware of those characters and their costumes are going to suddenly feel compelled to say they're just as bad, when they never would have before. And I hope they don't, because that will be disingenuous and only obfuscate our ability to dissect this matter and figure out specifically what it is about Power Girl's costume that draws this ire.

Mind you, I'm well aware of the in-universe reasons given for the "boob window", and I agree they're stupid. But I also don't think it even needs an explanation. Cleavage is totally standard as just a normal element of fashion and, to me, that's enough.
As said, I have no problem with the "boob window" itself, only when it gets exaggerated to stupid-huge, impractical sizes.
I totally back Wonder Woman's "woman shouldn't be compelled to hide their femininity, and they should be allowed to wear whatever the hell they want" idea. An idea which feminists once championed, and a reason they once praised Wonder Woman and her outfit.

This whole debate is very weird to me.

Oculus Rift VR Headset

I have to admit, Oculus Rift is sounding a LOT better than it did a year ago.

Now it sounds genuinely like it can provide an experience beyond what is possible with simply a PC or console.
It really seems like this is the third and final piece of the puzzle to complete the PlayStation Move/PlayStation Eye combo.



-- Kinect - on its own its pretty dumb.
-- WiiMotion - on its own its decent-ish, but mostly unnecessary.
-- PlayStation Move + PlayStation Eye - a big step in the right direction, IN THEORY, but still not put to any good use.

But when you combine all 3 - the motion controls, a game camera AND a VR environment...HOLY SHIT!!!


You can move, walk and manage abilities with the analog sticks, interact with objects in the game world, swing/aims weapons, and block with a shield using natural motions thanks to the motion controls, and instead of seeing your actions mirrored by your character on a screen you SEE YOURSELF DOING IT.
None of this trying to "telepathically" control a separate entity into manipulating its environment, and fumbling around for objects that have a weird spatial relationship to you yourself. No. Now you can use YOUR hands to pick things up. YOUR hands to swing a sword.




If the Oculus Rift (or a very very similar technology) doesn't get ignored, and it's well implemented, it could very well be the biggest evolution of games since the 5th Generation consoles (PlayStation 1, Nintendo 64, and Sega Saturn) were released and brought polygonal 3D to games...
Much more drastic than the better graphics championed for the 6th and 7th Gen systems (graphics have ALWAYS been getting better), or online play (we already had multiplayer...*shrug*), or touch screens (just fancier buttons), or motion controls on their own (very few significant uses).

This is the first gaming technology in a loooong time that seems economical, feasible, useful, and revolutionary all at the same time.




Honestly, the only downside I see is that you have to wear that thing on your head... 


I can't say I'm super excited yet, but I sure as hell am intrigued.

Inequalities In Modern Society

We have all this stuff going on right now. Gay marriage equality, women being treated poorly all over the goddamned place, a case of rape where the media is making excuses for the rapists and certain people are blaming and threatening the victim.....

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!?!?!??

How hard can this shit be?

• Make marriage, and everything associated, equal for everyone.

• Treat women as human beings that are just as competent and capable as men, and let them make their own damn decisions regarding their bodies.

• Destroy the lives of rapists and get justice for their victims.

What in the actual fuck is wrong with the world that these things still have to be brought up as things needing discussion?
These should all be givens!!!


You know, sometimes I want to believe that people aren't the dysfunctional, barbarous morons that I think they are. But they just do everything in their power to prove me right.
Some days I think maybe Republicans might not be as bad as I think they are, but the amount of THIS shit that they are making worse is unforgivable.
It almost seems like we can literally divide this country up politically by IQ.
Republicans and assholes with their low IQs, and Democrats and civilized humans with the high IQs.
I'm not a Democrat. I don't agree with a lot of their stances on things, but at least I don't think the things they do are based off of monumental stupidity, UNLIKE SOME PARTY.

It can't be a coincidence that the GOP reminds me of angry chimps who fling poo at the people denying them whatever they want, while the more liberal entities, like The Colbert Report and Daily Show, just sit back and go "Oh my god, don't these primitive apes ever stop flinging poo?" and it's HILARIOUS.
Conservatives have nothing but spite and ignorance as weapons, which gives the liberals all the ammunition in the world to make fun of them for how god damned stupid and insane they are.

It's THAT level of shameless and obvious stupidity that makes us have to fight for equal rights NOW, in 2013.
Seriously, what the fuck?!?

Those givens, people being equal, people being allowed to love who they want, criminals getting punished, victims being defended...I HAVE UNDERSTOOD THIS SHIT SINCE I WAS 5!!!!

I know I'm a genius, but god-mother-fucking-dammit, are people really this stupid?!?!?!?

*supreme exasperation*


Some days I just want to go around punching idiots in the throat, and I think I'd be fully justified, because they are the reason we can't have nice things.

Things Minecraft Really Needs

This list is written post-Redstone Update due to just various frustrations I have with the core version of Minecraft.I'm aware there are all sorts of mods available, but with mods being invalidated when Minecraft upgrades to the next version, it's really frustrating not to have these things in the core game.

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

When I'm building Redstone contraption, I often have to build huge elaborate Redstone paths for no apparent reason. For example, if I simply want to make a Redstone current go UP, I have to build a whole big spiral staircase of blocks to place Redstone Wire on. Why can't I just have a stackable conductive block?
We have loads of material types and creature sizes, but all doors are tiny personal 1x2 doors made of generic Wood, OR Iron. Why not Stone, Sandstone, different types of Wood, Nether Brick, Quartz, etc?
When making architecturally elaborate buildings, Stair and Slabs are AWESOME, but every 10 minutes I find a vertical corner too dramatic, or a hole in a wall that's too deep, or I find I can't build a convincing statue because a block is too thick horizontally, etc etc. All this could be fixed if there were Stair and Slabs that were sideways.
I have all sorts of little issues like this with Minecraft, so that's why we need things like this:
- A conductive block (Redstone Wire and Redstone Blocks are insufficient)
- Bigger doors (2x4, 3x6, etc), and doors made of materials other than Oak.
- Sideways Stairs and sideways Slabs.
- Stairs and Slabs of almost every block type.
- Slabs that stack with Slabs of a different type.
- Fences for the other types of Wood. (Having only Oak and Nether Brick fences is annoying)
- The ability to build decorative statues and gargoyles.
- A "NOT gate" Redstone signal inverter block.

NATURE

To me, Minecraft is a sandbox world where I can really play god and make interesting places and things, but no matter how awesome my constructs in the world are, the world itself seems very hollow and lifeless. Like a model train world where everything is just a decoration. This game needs more wildlife and plant life.
- Plants that grow pickable fruit (aside from Cocoa/Jungle Trees). e.g. apple trees, grape vines, palm tree with coconuts, etc....
- Animals to make the world seem alive -
--- Camels for the deserts.
--- Whales, Sharks, Eels, Crabs, and Fish for the oceans.
--- Birds, Bears, and Deer for all the foresty/temperate biomes.
--- Penguins and Polar Bears for the snowy biomes.
--- Alligators, Frogs, and bugs for the swamp biomes.

BETTER OCEANS

Beyond the simple emptiness of the Minecraft world in general, the Ocean biomes are SUPER lifeless and pointless. I see water as purely decorative, or as an obstacle. At most I might need Ink and then I'll go kill a couple Squid for a minute, but otherwise I avoid the water as a pointless inconvenience. We need more underwater resources. Resources we like and need so that we have a reason to go into the water after them.
And beyond just resources, we need stuff to make the Oceans feel alive, like the aforementioned animals, but also reefs and such.
- Aquatic/Maritime stuff (the oceans are boring as hell)
--- Diving Gear (deep sea diving helmets, basically)--- Air tanks (to fuel the diving helmet)
--- Coral
--- Seaweed
--- Naturally occurring/functional Sponges--- Ships (something MUCH more grand than those dinky little boxes they call boats)
--- Orichalcum (ocean metal to build Maritime equipment like diving helmets, weighted boots, harpoons, anchors, air tanks, etc etc) Wikipedia:Orichalcum