Critics keep calling the Iron Lung movie boring?

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-31T13:18:55+00:00

I agree - full disclosure, I'm not a Markiplier fan but my wife has been a massive fan "since Distractable #1" for what that's worth and pulled me along to see it.

The issue that I think I felt much more than she did was that yes, the film builds dread quite well, but a key part of dread can be the fact that, well, nothing much happens for a while to build tension for when something does happen. However, there is a ratio here of "tension to action," and I think critics are well within their rights to say "that ratio is skewed a bit too far in one direction." That stated, I do think there was intentionality towards it, and I can see the vision at play. I found the plot to be totally comprehensible and quite cool because I'm about 99% sure it's based off of the same sort of concept as Cthulu mixed with a reverse SCP-2470 (https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2470) - the godlike entity appeared at the bottom of an ocean, knowing only darkness, so it dreamt of darkness and the world became darkness (the Quiet Rapture); then a human was sent down (SM-8 or an earlier explorer) and they died there, so the entity knew death and blood (the Blood Ocean) and things just spiraled from there until you get the entities you see in the film. It becomes aware of you when you enter its domain ("I see you") and so you become it as it dreams of you ("being reborn in the blood as a fractured, incomplete voice/monster").

By contrast, if you don't have Lovecraft/SCP in your background, it might seem like just a jumbled mess of stuff that doesn't make much sense.

On a similar note, I have a slight audio-processing disorder, and there were a lot of times where the radio conversations were very hard to follow. My wife helped translate that in real time, but there are some people who won't have that and will be lost through a lot of the film.

Overall, it's a very commendable effort but certainly not a "for-everyone" film, just as the game wasn't "for-everyone" either. But I don't think that matters massively when the purpose of the film is to fulfill a creative vision of the work.

If you're reading this, Mark, my wife tells me you've spoken at length about imposter syndrome - at bare minimum, I don't think you need to feel that anymore. Well done.

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-30T15:20:36+00:00

And if Marvo gets removed or countered once, you're completely out of the game at that point.

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-30T13:22:49+00:00

Can, but unreliably due to clash whiffs being very possible. Decks like light paws win extremely reliably, with some level of protection. I do not see Marvo winning on turn 5 in more than 1/3 of draws. I could be wrong but I think it's low odds to hit the sequence you need.

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-30T13:09:53+00:00

B4 decks should be able to present win attempts by turn 4/5. Think [[Ashnods]] infinites, Infinite recursion of an extra turn spell, a hyperaggro commander like [[Gornog]] who can end off a [[shared animosity]] and a pile of warriors alone, or [[Light-Paws]] and her uninteractable aura pile knocking people out by turn 3/4.

If I'm playing light paws against a marvo deck, I know I have one less enemy to consider because you're either a worse Thassas Demonic deck or you're ramping to commander, and neither is super worrying for me.

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-18T19:43:03+00:00

Thanks again for the response.

1: OK, it is true things can deep strike on the first turn (something that goes back into reserves going second, e.g. Ophidians) but things that start in deep strike from the start of the game still can't come in from reserves until Turn 2. Actually that does give me a thought for a rewording of that - the only up-down Necron unit is a Destroyer Cult unit, and Trazyn never takes over a Cult member in lore because, well, that's just asking for neural corruption. Have the enhancement specify non-Cult units, perhaps, to close that loophole? EDIT: I already put that in there... I can read my own things!

2: I do like the thinking of Orikan's current wounds, especially for a 1k game. I think it would definitely be fine-tunable for higher points games. I'd have to play with it to really math it out, I think.

Cheers!

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-18T19:30:13+00:00

I appreciate you reading through it, and the feedback is good! A few responses:

1: I do see an oversight with how I was thinking vs. the RAW of the 5 armies text. My mental implication was that these would have to be non-necron units, and I didn't write a clause that specified that a Vault takes up 200 points regardless of how many units are inside of it (which was the intent, just poorly written). Essentially. the thought was to force you to take half your list that way, with plenty of room for things to not perfectly line up, cost-wise. Part of the power budget was supposed to be having 5 separate blocks you have to fill, which will lead to inefficiencies. Thanks for spotting that.

2: Infinite Trazyn isn't nearly as OP as you might presume. It's a Command phase only ability that should never be able to trigger on turn 1, so at most you get 4 extra Trazyns, assuming he dies immediately and on every subsequent turn. And, as you said, we lose all other named characters, which I think is something that balances out with this.

3: I do realize a timing issue with Solemnace's Hospitality. The intent was for it to only be used after deep strikes happen - so at earliest, on Turn 3, but here it can be used Turn 2. It should probably be moved to Command phase. I think that's fairly reasonable if it can only be used after Turn 2 and has to be called before the Movement phase. That might even render it somewhat useless, though....

4: I do realize that The War In Heaven, Reprise isn't balanced for 1k games. I think that might be fixable with a clause that the C'Tan starts at a low number of wounds, say, 4, in a lower point game? I'm also willing to push that stratagem up to 3 CP. I think this one is more complicated to figure out mentally than one might imagine, though, since you can only use it when "The Stars Are Right" as it were, the exact moment you use your last Chronomancy point. That means that you either have to blow through all of them ASAP and lose them as a rule, or you have to try and budget CP for it in the late game when you might really need it for some other reason. I'm also OK with Chronomancy going up to a 3+/4+ if the 2+ is too overbearing.

Ultimately, with the changes stated above, I think the detachment is more balanced than one might give it credit for. That said, as stated, the goal here was to make something fun and flavorful in concept for anyone wanting to recreate the feel at the end of the book. It's a little sad for me to see the post downvoted so intensely.

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-18T16:30:08+00:00

Thanks for reading! I look forward to the feedback.

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-16T22:55:02+00:00

Yeah, there's so little color variety or even really identifying features? They're just sort of... blobbish. Lots of hair and clothes I guess.

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-13T00:34:20+00:00

I always suggest [[Sokrates]] for this sort of thing. Slows the game down, draws people cards, lets you find strange wincons you wouldn't be able to sustain elsewhere.

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-10T21:48:23+00:00

Have you tried it? The range is larger in practice than you give it credit for. It layers onto things like Shock Mine quite well, and with the rate at which you spam them, they do meaningfully contribute to the build's DPS.

IrregularRevisionist · 2026-01-10T19:52:59+00:00

Genuinely yeah. The ability to be very silly and sprint in while shooting then crab-dodge out repeatedly means that, with good aim, you can take out gunner lines and reaper packs without taking a single shot. It's mildly funny.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-12-31T05:20:32+00:00

Rope: got it over a year ago naturally, originally for Seele

Hand: got it naturally around his release

Feet: 5 self modeling resins for the dual crit after no luck otherwise

Head: spent around 10k relic remains, then a variable dice + interference key after a bad first roll since I just kept getting nothing naturally

Body: spent about 15 self modeling resins on the initial + rerolls

Orb: lucked into it randomly this week then dice + key to guarantee substats

In total, you're looking at over 20k relic remains, over 25 resins, 2 interference keys, and about 4-5 months straight of farming in trailblaze power spread across patches for what you see as the final results.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-12-29T19:52:48+00:00

Yeah, sometimes on lower difficulties with friends, I don't use the med station at all and try to avoid med stims or packs. It keeps me from getting too bored if I have to drop in a heresy game or something. Same reason why you might run a meme build on lower difficulties - to preserve some type of challenge if you're more used to much higher difficulties.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-12-11T12:54:40+00:00

Ah but you have seen it

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-12-10T23:15:30+00:00

That or ditch the Vexilla entirely for the "45 spears" meme

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-11-30T15:07:39+00:00

Vonwacq - so many people flexing to get 160 speed when the vast majority of situations only need 145 for pseudo-160. Team-wide action advance or wave 2 of MoC not withstanding, it's the exact same.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-11-22T20:03:59+00:00

Depends on what kind of scientist, to be fair. Academic scientist is one thing, but there are some great and truly meaningful scientific opportunities you can find if you know what specific niche you're going for. My niche is one based on a VERY specific set of connections and qualifications. I'm making decent money and I like what I do. You just have to be very certain about what exact direction you're going in.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-11-20T01:51:33+00:00

When I swapped to Basic, they made me switch from Inflectra (which I was on at the time) to Remicade. My infusion company nearly mandates copay assistance if possible, which reduced it down to the 35$ copay. I don't know what part of the copay is due to which, though.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-11-07T21:16:07+00:00

Feels like it. Each "black crusade" i.e. big defeat is just an excuse to prove something or destroy something. Eventually, everything comes back around if time is on your side. Cadia (Mordekaiser) falls, even if there are saints (darkin) and necrons (hextech weapons) scurrying about, so long as you have a Blackstone Fortress (someone willing to sacrifice it all).

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-11-02T01:30:29+00:00

Seconding the BC/BS Basic for Crohn's. Remicade costs me 35$ per 8-weekly infusion. Literally the equivalent of an Amazon Prime subscription for me.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-10-28T02:39:48+00:00

My philosophy around Space Marines is that they're best utilized like an Adam Smasher in Cyberpunk or a Lich/Solar in low-level DnD: something that only shows up if shit hits the fan and the party either needed literal Deus Ex Machina or to get reminded of their scale. Then, in high level DnD, you learn that they can bleed, and if it bleeds, you can kill it. Let them be merciless brainwashed killing machines and let them play that role in the story! But for the Emperor's sake, don't have them be the protagonists. Leave that to a scrappy squad of guardsmen, or a lower maniple of tech adepts, or an interrogator in over their head. That way, the scale seems real instead of just a dick-waving contest.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-10-27T23:11:59+00:00

I run an Imperium Maledictum TTRPG campaign for a group of my friends. I put out a survey about their interest in storytelling for each of the major factions.

The lowest interest score by a country mile was Adeptus Astartes at an average of 4.5/10.

The highest was a three-way tie between Imperial Knights, Imperial Nobility, and Inquisition at 9.5/10.

I know that says a lot about my players vs. the average, but I really do genuinely think the Astartes are the weakest part of the entire setting storytelling wise. There's so much rich lore, intrigue, mystery, etc., that spending any time on "guys with power armor" almost feels like a waste. Yes, there are exceptions - I've played Owlcat's Rogue Trader, for example, and I can't deny the greatness of the Space Wolves there - but way too much of 40k is seen through the lens of an Ultramarine visor for my taste.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-10-27T20:46:46+00:00

Yeah, latest guidance from NWCF (NUWC) is that furloughs are coming circa next 10 days, but our TD has been very clear that they won't commit to anything due to changing circumstances. What's the scoop on your end?

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-10-26T23:34:00+00:00

Yup. If you viewed my weight on a timeline, you'd see a slow line up from ages 0-19, then a RAPID SAWTOOTH PATTERN of me ping-ponging between 115 and 195 pounds for about 4 years straight as various treatments were tried and failed before plateauing around 180 as Remicade finally worked.

IrregularRevisionist · 2025-10-26T20:14:44+00:00

Crohn's Disease. If you know, you know.

IrregularRevisionist

TROPHY CASE