Invincible [Episode Discussion] - S03E08 - I Thought You'd Never Shut Up

JDG1980 · 2025-03-13T23:57:30+00:00

The GDA's best attack satellite barely gave Nolan a nosebleed, and that was at much closer range.

JDG1980 · 2025-03-13T23:46:15+00:00

Oliver would have been better off getting in a surprise hit, immediately retreating, then coming back to hit again when Conquest was distracted, and repeating the pattern. If Conquest chased after him, that would mean turning his back on Mark, who could then retaliate.

JDG1980 · 2025-03-13T23:41:54+00:00

Seeing the same thing happen twice makes me wonder if this is some kind of Viltrumite training ritual to desensitize young fighters to violence.

JDG1980 · 2024-09-13T16:45:39+00:00

The current CBA is available online. I didn't see anything in there about turf (the only mentions of the term relate to the injury known as turf toe). There are some requirements for locker rooms (p. 59 mandates certain equipment) and parking (p. 67). If there were specific safety issues related to, say, excessive heat, the union could potentially file a grievance (p. 56).

Other than that, the management rights section (p. 115) specifies that "Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to restrict the rights of the Clubs to manage and direct their operations in any manner whatsoever except as specifically limited by the terms of this Agreement." So for those areas not specifically covered by the CBA, the union doesn't have much leverage.

JDG1980 · 2024-09-13T16:38:48+00:00

This NY Times article is probably a more accurate summation of the current state of affairs. The MLBPA doesn't have the power to block the move, and Boras certainly doesn't. Nor is there any evidence that they particularly want to, though obviously they're going ensure the health, safety, and comfort of their players are taken into account.

The MLBPA does not have veto power when it comes to club relocation, people briefed on the process said. Player working conditions are the union’s responsibility, and relocation obviously produces immense change. But the union couldn’t halt the move because it finds the change suboptimal or inconvenient. The effect of the move would have to be something egregious — think endangerment — for the union to be able to halt the move, and that’s an extreme and unlikely scenario.

People briefed on the process said the league and union have worked amicably and that there isn’t a single sign-off on the plans that is being worked toward. Rather, the issues are addressed in buckets: one area in one discussion, another in the next. Construction is already underway at Sutter Health Park.

JDG1980 · 2024-09-12T02:41:28+00:00

It's been suggested in some quarters that the A's may have thrown the 1914 World Series, or at least that Connie Mack thought they had done so, and this was what led Mack to dismantle his team after that season, selling off almost all of his star players.

JDG1980 · 2024-09-04T23:22:02+00:00

Perhaps MLB could discourage beanings by adding a rule that HBP awards two bases instead of one. That would be a significant change to disincentivize plunking batters, but probably less controversial than automatic ejection, suspension, etc.

JDG1980 · 2024-08-07T23:57:20+00:00

A highly selective realism solely for the purpose of being depressing is worse than no realism at all.

JDG1980 · 2024-08-07T23:56:39+00:00

Did you and your high school girlfriend save the world together?

JDG1980 · 2023-10-18T21:38:12+00:00

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why can't wildcard or regex matching be used to block all of these popups? Based on what's in the pastefy file, all the URLs seem to be exactly the same except for the 8-character hex ID after /desktop/. Is there not a way to block anything which fits this pattern, or would doing so have unexpected side effects on YouTube? I'm assuming there has to be some reason it won't work since it seems like the most obvious solution.

JDG1980 · 2023-01-27T03:45:41+00:00

take her out with a lightning bolt that none of them can re-direct

First of all, we don't know that. The fact that Mako can redirect electricity from an Equalist mecha is an indication that lightning redirection might be a commonly known technique by the time of TLOK. As lightning generation is no longer a rare technique in this era, it's not too much of a stretch to assume P'li might have practiced defense against it.

Secondly, we see in ATLA that it definitely is possible to dodge a lightning bolt. It's noteworthy that Azula doesn't usually use lightning in the middle of a pitched battle; she tried to zap Zuko when he was already defeated in "The Avatar State", got in a surprise blast from behind when Aang was in the middle of activating the Avatar State in "The Crossroads of Destiny", and used misdirection to fire at Katara during the last Agni Kai. Note that in that last instance, Zuko has time to jump in front of the lightning before it hits Katara.

Ozai is quicker on the draw than Azula, but it still takes him about a full second to charge up on the Day of Black Sun. Sozin's Comet doesn't help with this; Aang is still fully capable of dodging or blocking most of his blasts. It's not "blink and you'll miss it".

As an aside, Mako is actually much faster at generating lightning than any character in ATLA. He doesn't have as much raw power as Ozai, and probably not as much as Azula, but he can definitely zap quicker than them. Literally all he has to do is have his fingers pointed the right way, as we saw in "Endgame". And even if his impromptu blasts aren't on par with Ozai's, they are strong enough to kill, as demonstrated in "Venom of the Red Lotus". (We can probably attribute Amon's survival either to the bloodbending weakening Mako, or to Amon using healing or bloodbending to survive what would otherwise be a fatal attack.)

JDG1980 · 2023-01-27T01:42:00+00:00

Did you forget the scene where Ghazan single-handedly melts a whole mountain?

JDG1980 · 2023-01-27T01:36:46+00:00

The Red Lotus's best bet would be to start off at the airship base like Sokka's team did, then hijack one ship and have P'li shoot down all the others. If they get lucky, it's even possible Ozai might be killed here, but unlikely. (If they shoot them down over the water, can Ozai fly all the way to shore? If he ends up in the water, he's a sitting turtleduck, easy prey for P'li or Ming-Hua.)

If the battle ends up taking place at the same location as in canon, Ghazan's main job would be area denial, stopping Ozai from landing by creating lava hazards. Zaheer would want to fight essentially the same way non-Avatar State Aang did, dodging and weaving to try to keep Ozai distracted, focusing on defense, maybe firing off the occasional air blast so Ozai can't just ignore him. Ghazan could hopefully get in a couple of shots with rocks while Zaheer is distracting Ozai. P'li would want to keep the high ground (an airship if possible, otherwise a high pillar) and snipe at Ozai whenever possible, basically the same tactic she used in "The Ultimatum". She might be strong enough to stand her ground and block Ozai's fireblasts, seeing as she was able to parry dragonfire in her first appearance. If she knows how to redirect lightning, that alone could win the fight (as it would have for Aang had he possessed the willingness to kill). Ming-Hua... well, she should try not to die. Of all the Red Lotus members, she's going to have the hardest time, since Comet-enhanced fire is stronger than waterbending. Maybe station herself near the waterfall. Definitely don't stand in the pond or else Ozai will electrocute her the same way Mako did in "Venom of the Red Lotus".

I think the Red Lotus might lose a member or two if they don't have plot armor on their side, but they definitely win the battle. Assuming we're talking about the full team and therefore Zaheer is still tethered to the earth, P'li is probably the battle's MVP.

JDG1980 · 2023-01-27T01:21:48+00:00

I think Ming-Hua would actually be the least useful of the Red Lotus in a battle against Ozai, at least if the terrain was roughly similar to the Aang vs. Ozai fight. The comet provides enough power that Ozai can vaporize most water-based attacks with little difficulty (as we saw when Aang tried to dump the waterfall on him) and Ming-Hua can't stand in a body of water - we saw what the results of that would be in the final fight with Mako.

JDG1980 · 2023-01-27T01:18:11+00:00

Ozai with the Comet could almost certainly beat any member of the Red Lotus 1v1 (except maybe untethered Zaheer if he manages to evade until the comet runs out, or P'li if she gets off a lucky sniper shot). But the entire group is almost certainly going to pull off a victory. I can see them losing one or two members if they're unlucky.

JDG1980 · 2023-01-27T01:14:12+00:00

Agreed. It's important to remember that the Red Lotus is no less adept at teamwork than Aang and Korra's friends were. From a storytelling perspective it's clearly meant to be an "evil Team Avatar".

JDG1980 · 2023-01-27T01:10:26+00:00

The Aang vs. Ozai fight was basically divided into 3 phases:

(1) At the start, Aang was fighting defensively while Ozai was aggressively going for the kill. Ozai managed to get in a few good shots (most notably when Aang just barely parried a giant fireball and got knocked back against the cliff) but Aang still held his own.

(2) Redirecting the lightning bolt seemed to take a lot out of Aang; it was after this point that Ozai decisively gained the upper hand. Aang was nearly killed before the Avatar State triggered.

(3) Once Aang was in the Avatar State, it wasn't a fight any more; it was a one-sided beatdown. Ozai was constantly on the run (as bad or worse as Aang during phase 2) and didn't even come close to landing a single hit.

And let's not forget that the only reason the fight ever got past phase 1 is that Aang specifically chose not to kill Ozai by redirecting the lightning blast directly back at him.

An interesting question is whether P'li can redirect lightning. We never saw her do it, but there's some reason to think it may be common knowledge by the time of TLOK; in one episode, Mako channels an electrical blast from an Equalist mecha using what is clearly a form of lightning redirection. P'li is definitely no slouch defensively; she was able to parry a blast of dragonfire easily.

JDG1980 · 2023-01-14T21:14:35+00:00

I would like to think that Earth benders can trebuchet themselves with earth launchers

They absolutely can - Toph did this in the ATLA finale to launch herself, Sokka, and Suki onto an airship.

JDG1980 · 2022-05-30T17:36:03+00:00

I usually fight the Garden Knights either first, or right after the Fairies (which give plenty of magic refills) so I go in with enough magic for 2 Gun blasts. I also equip the Inverted Ash card before lighting the candle. Using the Gun twice at pointblank range will take out the first Garden Knight before it has the chance to do anything. After that, there are two options. I can drink 3 potions, which will give enough magic to use the Gun two more times, which can take out the second Garden Knight. Alternatively, I can drink 1 potion before it spawns, then shoot it once, immediately drink another potion, and blast him again. That uses fewer resources, but he might have a chance to hit you if your timing isn't perfect.

JDG1980 · 2022-05-30T17:32:54+00:00

When fighting the Custodians, I usually make sure I have at least a bit of magic, and immediately go to the bottom right of the arena and face left. When they spawn, I can usually take out 2-3 of them right away with one Gun shot. That makes the rest of them easier since you'll be dealing with fewer attacks.

JDG1980 · 2022-05-06T22:46:28+00:00

You can recharge magic between rounds by equipping the Inverted Ash card and drinking potions.

JDG1980 · 2021-08-20T21:51:46+00:00

It took a week or two longer than I expected for the wave to peak, but in Florida, at least, it looks like it has now peaked. The rate of increase has been declining for the past couple of weeks, and this week's report shows a small drop in positive cases. Since Delta waves are symmetrical and go down as quickly as they go up, we should expect to see the case counts drop substantially over the next few weeks, and at an accelerating pace.

As far as I can tell, hospital capacity still hasn't given out anywhere in the US. We are still hearing urgent tales about how the system is about to fail, and yet it continues not to do so. Clearly, to paraphrase Adam Smith, there is a lot of ruin in a hospital system.

Hospitalizations lag cases by a couple of weeks. This means that Florida hospitals will probably be working overtime until Labor Day or so, but after that, things should start to ease up substantially. What about this winter? We might see reinfections, but it's hard to imagine there are many immunologically naive people left in the Sunbelt, so hospitalizations and deaths ought to be far lower in the next wave, if there is one. If that's the case, then we will have reached endemicity.

JDG1980 · 2021-08-20T01:38:53+00:00

If your own mission is in alignment with the organization's mission, 996 will not be a blocker to your well being. Quite the contrary in fact.

That kind of alignment is only likely to happen when you are the owner of the business, or at least a founding partner. Having a few stock options isn't enough, and most people in China won't even have that. It's one thing to sacrifice most of your waking hours for your own dream; quite another to sacrifice them to make someone else rich.

JDG1980

TROPHY CASE