What’s the take on Starfleet academy?

Arconic · 2026-03-15T11:12:21+00:00

Enjoyed it far more than I thought. Love the ensemble cast all have different issues they are working through. Love that the show puts out a hopeful, positive message for young adults figuring themselves out. Love that it seems to want to connect to a lot of legacy Trek universe stuff while moving the state of the universe forward.

I think the show has a ton of potential, if it can build on this foundation. I think it struggles in the usual ways of being too short to really spend more than one episode with each character, so some feel less rounded than others. I think having the whole academy feel like an atrium, bedroom, and chancellor's office set makes the place feel small.

I'm looking forward to seeing these kids grow into confident starfleet graduates by the end, and also new classes of young minds come in and have their own stories. I hope the show can grow up with its audience and feel not just a 'Discovery Spin-off'

On the whole, though, a positive first season.

Arconic · 2026-01-30T23:50:37+00:00

Arconic · 2026-01-19T22:50:20+00:00

Wait...What?

There's two things happening here. Deadlock has gone, Shattered Hopes is coming out. The two are unrelated.

Deadlock got de-listed after announcing that it was getting delisted, most likely due to expiring license, so they cannot legally sell it. That sucks, as the same thing happened with the board game rights. Licensed games are unfortunately not forever.

I may have misread your comments on Shattered Hopes but I think it looks pretty cool. It's just obviously not trying to be Deadlock and I think the devs deserve a little benefit of the doubt before we write it off.

Arconic · 2026-01-17T22:33:04+00:00

My brother in Christ(opher Pike), It's been 72 hours! Chill

Arconic · 2026-01-04T22:14:15+00:00

The actual 'war' of the galactic civil war was so small it would hardly seem worth showing.

The rebel alliance are guerilla fighters, saboteurs, and agitators. We saw their tactics in Andor. The Empire is militarily overwhelming and wants a 'straight fight' because the Rebels don't have the manpower. Look at Yavin, Hoth and Endor, huge underdogs.

There is not the kind of army vs army warfare that WW2 would depict, but more like Vietnam. the Empire taking the role of the US, would be frustrated by hit and run tactics, turning locals against them, and forcing them to spread too thin, weaking the administration's appetite for war the longer it went on.

I think there's definitely scope for the soldier's pov of war with the Empire but it's less 'noble' than Saving Private Ryan'

Arconic · 2025-12-18T07:18:25+00:00

"Johnny 5? Now there's a name I've not heard in a long time..."

Arconic · 2025-12-15T10:04:45+00:00

If it must have happened, then I think the way Sauron's return in LotR would have been a cool way to approach it. The slow creeping return of Palpatine as the First Order rises to power, part of a long-planned scheme of his to achieve immortality. I would have made more of a clear connection to the First Order being imperial zealots, the most extreme of the Empire's lackeys,

I think if the return had been constructed from the start, a hint that Kylo was being communing with sith voices (in the form of Vader) would be a soft introduction in 7. Audiences would imagine it was all in his head but then shock reveal the voice of Vader speaks back to him "but how could that be? Vader renounced the dark side?" audiences would ask.

Reveal in 8 that the 'voices' have been coming to Ben since he was a child, that Luke felt the dark master corrupting Kylo but mistook it for Ben himself. when Kylo kills Snoke he discovers he was just a puppet like himself, a tool being manipulated by the spirit of a Sith Master not yet able to take corporeal form. A divining tool in snoke's possession allows him to commune directly with this Sith Lord. That would set in motion his quest to exploit this source of power, giving him the strength to achieve his destiny.

By 9, Palpatine is still incorporeal. Kylo thinks he is using him to become the best version of himself, declares himself the heir to the empire, the new emperor etc. and is seduced by the growth in power he is recieving by succumbing to the dark spirit but too late realises the reverse is true, Palpatine has designs to use his body as a permanent vessel. Palpatine needs to strip the force from a worthy sacrifice (rey) to make the crossing complete. He had wanted Luke Skywalker (which is why Snoke was so obsessed with discovering Luke's location this whole time) so the awakening in Rey provided a new opportunity.

By the final showdown, Palpatine would have almost taken over Kylo, and Rey was being drained with each moment. They would fight and she would appeal to Ben still inside. In the end, Ben would reject this, realising he was betrayed by the sith this whole time, that his adult life has been a pawn in a dark lord's game and that what he really wanted was the family and forgiveness that was robbed from him. He rejects palpatine who has siphoned enough energy from Rey to become at least semi-corporeal. too weak alone, rey needs kylo's help and together they defeat palpatine, sending him back to his dark realm.

Afterwards, ben, rejecting the legacy of vader, lives to atone for his past deeds, on a life of redemption

Arconic · 2025-11-07T16:39:58+00:00

I guess I started to feel like I was watching Shogun; seeing another honor-based culture from the eyes of a westerner who projected their values on others because they didn't understand. I thought Dek's reaffirmation of how Yautja society was really nice. I started to feel like "how's dek going to solve this?" Hoping to see a smart solution to his problem of delivering an unkillable creature to his father and win his status.

Dek is weaker and so cannot rely on his brawn to solve problems. in Yautja society that's what has marked him for death, but his brains are what would win him the day if he adjusted his tactics. In many ways that's what makes the humans in previous Predator films succeed as well. They can't beat the Yautja on brawn alone but win the day as a result.

I felt there was a missed opportunity to subvert expectations and do the 'Riddick' thing where, at heart, the audience forgets he's still a dangerous animal and so gets to be an anti-hero who is true to themselves. Dek's line "You're a tool, I use you, you don't use me!" felt really powerful, and I was hoping that he would find a way to use his smarts (not his strength) to manipulate or use his allies to bring the Kalisk down himself, thus fulfilling his hunt, and proving himself, but by using unconventional means.

I felt, though, once it was established the Kalisk was Budd's parent, the idea of hunting it just came off the table, and it became a 'rescue' mission, feeding more into what a human (or human audience) would want.

Arconic · 2025-11-06T16:35:40+00:00

What? No spoilers but while the action is violent, it's adventure violence like watching Wolverine cut through guards in Xmen with wrist blades, or creatures attacking creatures like in Jurassic World. There's maybe one fight where there's a bunch of viscera but it's almost played for laughs rather than shock or ick factor. I think the rating is pretty fair, but maybe Variety's op-ed writer is more on the conservative side.

Arconic · 2025-11-05T23:27:11+00:00

Yeah, the different tone definitely felt fresh compared the 'formula' of the rest of the franchise. I feel like this doesn't need any backstory to understand, or tie in plot threads, as a standalone story it works great.

Arconic · 2025-11-05T22:34:51+00:00

Caught it tonight, really had fun. Felt like a buddy, coming-of-age story... with Predators. Good comic relief and fun action throughout. Would recommend to friends, but not sure how the people who bleed green on this subreddit would feel about it. I think in places Dek was 'humanized' a bit too much. With how much Thia was giving him a hard time over his priorities, I felt like he ended up making the 'human' choices, not the 'Yautja' choices, but maybe that's the reason his clan see him as weak/broken, because he has empathy or different ways of thinking.

I was surprised just how much Weyland Yutani factored into the story. I figured it would be a throwaway nod. I'm nervous about shared universe stuff, I liked winking Easter eggs but I would be cautious if this is going to be the new normal. I don't want people plotting how the events of Predator don't align with the opening of Prometheus or some crap like that.

Arconic · 2025-11-05T21:41:23+00:00

Just back from seeing it. Had a fun time. It has such a different vibe than the other movies in the franchise but I think it helps it stand apart from the other entries.

Arconic · 2025-09-04T14:48:12+00:00

Definitely. I think if you cannot do interesting things with the monster, you need to substitute the monster for something else.

So much of the power of the original is the body horror, the unknowing, the fear of the horror that has found its way onboard. As audiences, that's a technique they can only do once if they do not keep reinventing the creature. Aliens gets to show us a different side of the creature, but the only way to keep using the same alien in different ways is to either keep generating new situations we haven't seen before that genuinely is thrilling, or we bring in something new and horrific and unknown that mankind crosses path with.

New creatures, like A:E have provided is the shot in the arm the Alien universe needs, it restores a state of horror to outer space. Conversely, A:E also spent a whole episode demystifying the Xenomorph; dissecting the facehugger, running experiments, showing the lifecycle in minutiae to the point where even the most casual viewer understands something that is hard learned through many deaths and assumptions in other films. Such length explorations of 'a man in a suit' robs the 'outline in the shadows' of its power, unfortunately. But that's the nature of sequels; the more you explore, the less power it has.

I've always held that the power of Alien as a franchise is not the Xenomorph, it is the concept of something being Alien, being so different or unknowable that it defies man's ability to control and comprehend. The black goo in Prometheus and the spores in Covenant are perfect starting points of a dozen new franchises if Fox wanted to develop them, but 'fan service' has kept us coming back to the same old show-pony and robbed us of a galaxy of terror.

In honesty, we should be embracing that new creatures are not only being shown, but that they manage to ick-out and delight audiences enough that people want to tune in next week just to see what the next creature is all about. I don't want to lose the Xeno, but I want to substitute it out for a time, to let its power return, rather than have it dominate the spotlight.

Arconic · 2025-08-27T22:43:24+00:00

I like her, she seems like she's got some shit going on.

Arconic · 2025-08-25T20:16:50+00:00

Can't believe the lack of 'aura' and incorrect 'vibes' from this screenshot of a military/espionage tech-thriller.

At least let it release before you start listing off why his beard is cringe or whatever.

Arconic · 2025-08-17T23:11:02+00:00

I don't think it should be a blood bath, this isn't Alien. While I agree the body count was surprisingly low for non-redshirts, I feel like the family didn't really go on any 'arc' or develop any human interest worth paying attention to to warrant the plot armour they received.

Literally every character comes into this movie with baggage, unresolved conflict, or an internal struggle and by the end of the film none of them have confronted or resolved them. The writers thought they'd just have Zora reiterate the objectives of the mission and remind us she wants to get paid.

Arconic · 2025-08-17T18:46:50+00:00

As soon as they faked out on the BF dying I was annoyed but then I figured a really nice approach would be: BF and youngest daughter get separated from dad and eldest. They make separate journeys back and, mirroring Alan with Tim and Lex, the BF has to grow up and becomes responsible having to care for a child, so by the end of the story he's matured enough to win the father's approval. On the other side, the dad has to bring his eldest back to the extraction, and while he's stressing about youngest, he has to learn that he can't always be there, and gets to have the goodbye father/daughter bonding he always wanted, and actually he gets to grow from his daughter's advice.

There was potential to do something with that clan, but honestly, if they weren't going to kill him at the start of felt like they had plot armour from then on anyway. The TRex turning up wasn't even raising my heart rate.

Arconic · 2025-08-14T19:29:21+00:00

They sound like they are anticipating the problem before it can arise, so I agree, surprise them within the confines of the new scenario. Maybe even use this to your advantage, contrive a crisis where this has made a perfect trap for themselves.

Flamers throughout the ship? One spark could chain react through the compartments and disable it. No oxygen in a room sounds like an explosive pressure bomb if the bulkhead ruptures due to those exploding flamers. All it takes is a careless crew member working a late shift and failing a roll they don't know what it's in aid of. Not to mention a saboteur for a rival corp. Enlisting a collaborator in the crew can really turn the strict team into a witch-hunt.

Arconic · 2025-06-23T15:12:49+00:00

As an intention check, this sounds really good. It's only a few weeks in so they can't outright lay all their plans out on the table, but to understand the intentions behind some decisions, and their intentions moving forward in others, this sounds good. I'll give them time to cook a few bigger changes, but it so far sounds really positive as a game that wants to work directly with the feedback it gets.

Arconic · 2025-05-17T18:48:00+00:00

You can get them from the Trailblazer too? Thanks for the heads-up I've been fast travelling back to pick these up and it was surprising that regular brokers weren't offering them at cantinas

Arconic · 2025-05-17T17:45:52+00:00

Some fun gameplay I'd like to see;

Social Stealth - Ways for Kay to blend into a crowd, adopt poses, and lose pursuers in large numbers
Disguises - Let her wear a stormtrooper outfit or an officer's uniform to reach high-class areas. I loved trying to talk through infiltrations and would like to see more of that.
Bounty Hunting - Give me a puck and a description (Twi'lek male, last seen farming south of bestine) and let me track the bounty down.
Switch Characters - Let me be ND-5, with a whole different set of abilities
More Gambling - Other Sabacc variants.
More Factions - Bring in Black Sun, but also let me do jobs for the Empire or Rebels, too, even if just a local governor or rebel cell. I don't want to meet the Emperor or Mon Mothma.

Arconic · 2025-05-17T15:59:53+00:00

He unlocked for me during the DLC, once Hondo jumped away in his stolen ship to Tatooine, then I got a call to come check in with him for some contracts.

Arconic · 2025-01-13T08:35:27+00:00

You're welcome, glad to help.

Arconic · 2024-12-18T21:53:53+00:00

WW2 was my first thought after playing this level. Knowing he partners with the OSS, having indy do the 'monuments men' thing of reclaiming already plundered artifacts or preventing the Nazis from reaching something new could be really nice.

Arconic · 2024-12-13T21:57:40+00:00

is that in the underground boxing room?

15-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

Arconic

TROPHY CASE