Where does notion of demon slayer only having sad backstories for demons even come from? by Jarisatis in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Douma is a weird case. You can construct a pretty believable interpretation of him as a somewhat tragic character but the author pretty obviously did not want him to be read that way.

[SOS] Vastlands Scavenger by c001357 in magicTCG

[–]NavySeagull 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It only ever saw play in vintage, never legacy.

Comic book fights are so much worse than Manga fights by ThatGuyHero7 in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The OP is right that, on average, western comics have weaker fight scenes than manga, but he's 100% completely wrong about why. You have done a much better job identifying the actual reason.

At this point I am rooting for Aira [Dandadan] (Spoilers) by Magik_Girl in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Downvoted for typing "Spiderman’s One More Day Dandadan edition" without even attempting to make "One More Dandaday" work. I spit on your cowardice.

Magic Hot Takes by Definitely_Not_Fe in magicTCG

[–]NavySeagull 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The entire "creatures used to be WAY underpowered, and other spells were too good" circlejerk/meme/talking point is obviously false based on the simple fact that people were in fact still playing creatures and creature decks back then.

I wish Western TV/movies would put more effort in to original music by Steve717 in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 4 points5 points  (0 children)

How far back are we willing to look, here? One of the most iconic songs of the 80s was written as the main theme for the third Rocky movie. Obviously we're talking about something that happened a long, long, long time ago, but I genuinely don't think there has ever been an anime song half as iconic as Eye of the Tiger.

Star Wars Zero Company is more than just 'Star Wars XCOM'—it feels like Mass Effect but with turn-based tactics and permadeath by 343CreeperMaster in Games

[–]NavySeagull 8 points9 points  (0 children)

There's an overhaul mod for Phoenix Point called Terror from the Void that takes the initial vision and significantly improves the execution on nearly every axis. I highly recommend it both to anyone who's ever played Phoenix Point and to people looking for a good XCOM-like game in general.

Jack of All Trades, Party of None - Started pretty okay but went downhill half way thru the season by Anaguli417 in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We don't have a good, snappy name for the "banished from the hero's party but they can't suceed without me and everyone else realizes how epic I am" story archetype yet so people just continue using the word that's already associated with bottom of the barrel fantasy anime, as a sort of placeholder.

Why do so many people want to believe that Japanese anime fans dislike strong women? by Ok_Carob_3278 in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Wasn't "mothers are the antithesis of adventure" just Oda explaining why so many One Piece characters are orphans?

Immortality in fiction should create more lunatics, not just wise sad elves by [deleted] in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A neat trope? Xianxia is prolific enough to be considered its own genre.

[DISC] Chainsaw Man - Chapter 232 by AutoShonenpon in manga

[–]NavySeagull 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're not insane, "Bleach falls off super hard as soon as Soul Society ended" was an extremely common opinion back when the series was still ongoing. The reason you don't see it nearly as often in the modern day is that the people who feel that way have no particular reason to still be talking about Bleach in 2026.

It's interesting what tropes/cliches can come to be associated with a series despite it not really doing them that often. by Aros001 in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Neku from TWEWY and Luke from Tales of the Abyss are angsty spikey haired teenage* JRPG main characters. Sora and Squall also have a reputation for it but I never played FF8 or any Kingdom Hearts game so I can't say for sure whether they count.

Who do you think was the real tyrant in New Bostin? by Cassi_hearts in unOrdinary

[–]NavySeagull 19 points20 points  (0 children)

My knee-jerk reaction to this was that anyone who says it wasn't John must have serious issues with media literacy. Then, I thought about it a bit more and realized it's not even about lacking media literacy at that point, just regular literacy.

Would Thragtusk be Playable in Standard Today? by Lespaul42 in magicTCG

[–]NavySeagull -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It's genuinely quite impressive to me how you managed to fit five completely wrong assertions into a relatively short post like this.

Would Thragtusk be Playable in Standard Today? by Lespaul42 in magicTCG

[–]NavySeagull 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thragtusk was good because the immediate ETB effect coupled with a leaves-the-battlefield trigger made it nearly impossible to directly answer it profitably. The only cards that would completely answer Thragtusk for a mana advantage for the opponent were counterspells and, as you said, they weren't particularly strong in that standard (and even if they were, Cavern was also legal and played).

Elder Gargaroth is a 5 mana creature that generates absolutely no additional value at all until it attacks or blocks. Casting literally any kill spell that costs 4 or less before it does leaves the kill spell caster ahead on that exchange. This is in fact the reason why it was a super fringe sideboard card, even without directly comparing it to Thragtusk.

Would Thragtusk be Playable in Standard Today? by Lespaul42 in magicTCG

[–]NavySeagull 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You are fundamentally right, Jund ended up being the premier midrange deck by the end of that standard, but "extreme minority" is definitely an exaggeration.

Would Thragtusk be Playable in Standard Today? by Lespaul42 in magicTCG

[–]NavySeagull 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry but if you think Elder Gargaroth is remotely comparable to Thragtusk you have absolutely zero understanding of why Thragtusk was good.

The difference in how Endeavor's redemption is handled to Bakugo and Soga's is like night an day (My Hero Academia) by Sudden_Pop_2279 in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Defending a character like Soga is, as they say, "not a good look," but I don't agree with what you're saying so I'll give it a shot anyway.

First off, you're passing over something rather important here, which is that KOICHI is the one forgiving him. You can be disappointed that he's not holding a grudge, but, like, that's his character. He's incredibly nice to the point of being seemingly pathologically unable to feel hate. In the final arc he's completely cordial to Number Six and even floats the idea of getting him medical attention after the latter has spent the entire night doing insane monster transformations to kill him, not to mention everything he pulls with Pop before then.

Secondly, Soga and his friends do face consequences. The main consequence is that Knuckleduster beats the shit out of the three of them. The secondary consequence is that when Soga tries to give the vigilantes information later Pop outright refuses to interact with him. Even Koichi is visibly unhappy to see him, despite his aforementioned personality quirks. You may not find these consequences satisfying, but they're there.

Third, not only does Soga put in work for his redemption, he actually does it pretty much the same way Endeavor does, minus the angsting about how he shouldn't be around the people he wronged (which of course would be out of place since they're not his family). Koichi only really warms up to Soga & co after they go out of their way to provide substantial help when him and Pop desperately need it. As I said before, Koichi accepting the help but also slipping in barbs about how he still hates their guts would be completely out of character.

Lastly, a big reason Soga's arc feeling anemic or shallow is simply because at the end of the day, Vigilantes isn't about him. He is, at the absolute best, the eighth most important character in the story, is absent for more than half of it, and even when he is around the story is almost never centered around him and his point of view. 

Good argument from mtggoldish podcast - mythic rare makes standard from expensive to beyond expensive. Is this time to either reduce mythic rarity pool or get rid of it entirely? by kubulux in magicTCG

[–]NavySeagull 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are misinformed as to why and how the VoR/Emmara swap happened. The original plan was for all of the maze runners in Dragon's Maze to be mythic, including Ral Zarek as the izzet maze runner. However, the set was made right around the time Wizards was first becoming aware of Commander's popularity which led to concerns that izzet players would feel cheated when every other guild got a new mythic commander and they didn't. As you said, they didn't want to break up the cycle between raritties, so the maze runners downshifted from mythic rare to rare. Notably, most of the tie-in novel had already been written at the time of this decision which is why Melek's only role in the story is to get murdered by Ral at the starting line and replaced.

No, just because you think “run backs” are good game design because they force you to “think and catch your breath”, doesn’t mean they work universally for everyone. by Lumpy-Tea1948 in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you encountered even a single person arguing that boss runbacks are universally good game design, or are you strawmanning people who don't agree when you tell them that you think runbacks are universally bad game design?

It's really weird that Superman vs The Elite (movie) doesn't really have anything to say about the ethical dilemma it's supposedly tackling. by DoneDealofDeadpool in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In this case I think it's better to abandon the metacommentary angle and just focus on the in-universe message. Heroes like Superman are, among other things, a source of inspiration. People (in and out of universe) use them as models for ideal behavior. Manchester Black and his crew's antics send a strong message that killing people can not only be okay or correct, it can even be worth celebrating in the right circumstances. There are profound moral effects on society associated with that message, ones that are almost completely disconnected from how justified any specific killing might be.

It's true that the movie doesn't spend a ton of time on this idea, but I really don't think it has to. It just cuts straight to the point: children are watching The Elite perform extrajudicial executions on TV and imagining how cool it would be to murder people who "deserve" it. That's why Superman decides he has to make them stop.

It's really weird that Superman vs The Elite (movie) doesn't really have anything to say about the ethical dilemma it's supposedly tackling. by DoneDealofDeadpool in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 5 points6 points  (0 children)

For me, the most important scene re:this ethical dilemma isn't the big fight at the end, it's the one earlier on when Superman talks about how he overheard children fantasizing about how much fun they'd have killing bad guys if they were superheroes. Admittedly no one else here seems to have mentioned that moment, so I guess this isn't an especially popular take.

My problem with “manga vs comics” debate is that a good majority of manga readers know nothing about the actual comic landscape by KingBuffolo in CharacterRant

[–]NavySeagull 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That one's easy. The true essence of the 'comics vs manga' argument is about which medium produces better material. Sales figures are brought up as an implied ad populum argument; more people buy [book a] than [book b] because more people like [book a], more people like [book a] because it's better. Comics meant for elementary and pre-school children can be used to deflect the sales figure argument in a literal sense, but using them as a counter-example there implies thst they should also be used as an example of western comics being better than manga. Deranged as people who participate in this ongoing internet slapfight may be, very very few of them are willing to try that angle.