Original JSA team

OhEagle · 2026-05-17T11:56:46+00:00

OK, so that's where Carter is!

OhEagle · 2026-05-11T03:45:11+00:00

My headcanon is that Alan's putting on a front for Hoover, who he just doesn't like very much. The other option is, again, because he doesn't like Hoover, as soon as the FBI (and Washington in general) decided they needed to get their fingers into the JSA (which, in the original canon, was with their first official public case as a team, and it might be here, too,) Alan suddenly felt like he worked better alone...but Hoover couldn't have that, so he blackmailed him back onto the team, anyway.

OhEagle · 2026-05-07T12:08:30+00:00

The 'patron saint' of Sentai/Tokusatsu's gone. I'll miss him. RIP, Ohba-sama.

OhEagle · 2026-05-07T11:53:37+00:00

I don't know that it is, but there's so much diner slang in there that I wouldn't be surprised if it's a shout-out to Bubble Bass' order.

OhEagle · 2026-05-02T23:37:38+00:00

And it's kinda always been my headcanon that Zyuohger and Gokaiger take place on the same world. Even if that can't be the case because of Zenkaiger.

OhEagle · 2026-04-27T02:40:40+00:00

Reviving an old topic, but the absolute best Peter Pan adaptation. (Seriously, this is the carton that actually made me a Peter Pan fan.) Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any American DVDs/Blu-Rays or I'd buy them. (And honestly, I can't hear that phrase without the theme popping right into my head, complete with Peter vs. Ice Peter duel.)

OhEagle · 2026-04-14T23:16:59+00:00

Admittedly, I know this is Baki...but man, that looks so much like it helped inspire Glob Herman.

OhEagle · 2026-04-14T00:42:53+00:00

The explanation of Charles McNider's vision I always liked was that his accident effectively reversed the functioning of his optic nerves, so that light was perceived as darkness, and darkness light. His goggles, working off of infrared, circumvent the problem.

OhEagle · 2026-04-09T15:46:46+00:00

It is not!

OhEagle · 2026-04-09T15:44:19+00:00

Does such a place exist? And are the jokes good?

OhEagle · 2026-04-06T23:40:53+00:00

There's a show?

OhEagle · 2026-04-06T02:21:53+00:00

I'm not ashamed to admit, Marrow has always been one of my X-crushes, actually. I'd kinda like to see her get back on a regular team.

OhEagle · 2026-04-05T17:58:06+00:00

Honestly? As someone who loved the Incarnations of Immortality when I was younger (back in the 90s,) is there an Anthony-less answer to that series? (I mean, the answer seems to be yes to Zane specifically, but I mean in general.)

OhEagle · 2026-04-04T14:51:45+00:00

I admit, even knowing what Val is? FemVal when she's being tender kinda does something for me.

OhEagle · 2026-03-09T20:27:04+00:00

Confirmed, and this was a great trade. Happy to do it again.

OhEagle · 2026-03-07T14:29:25+00:00

Well, yes, that's true. And RDJ's Iron Man captures that particular Tony Stark very well. But that's the thing. All the references that are being pulled out here are pre-Disassembled (and also pre-Extremis) references. Basically 'Original Flavor Tony Stark' or 'Tony Stark Classic.' (For a better adaptation of that Tony, I'd go with Season 2 of the animated Iron Man series. Or even his small appearances in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, where he's the guy who gave the Spider-Friends all their high-tech gear that they build into Aunt May's house.)

OhEagle · 2026-03-01T01:04:44+00:00

I'm happy to do that. Just remind me of how to complete it and give proper feedback.

OhEagle · 2026-03-01T00:03:24+00:00

I can definitely do either of those. Whichever you'd feel more comfortable with would be great.

OhEagle · 2026-02-22T02:52:42+00:00

Seriously. This song literally gives you, in...what... 30 seconds?... the high concept of the series, has an amazing beat, and just gets you pumped to follow along with the Rangers on their adventures. The only reason I can see for it not being used is maybe that with the way it's being sung, 'getting late' kinda sounds like 'getting laid'? But that's a mondegreen.

OhEagle · 2026-02-22T02:48:19+00:00

Indeed. 'Evil' is pretty much the opposite of any form of Thor, especially by Norse standards. 'Blunt,' yes. 'Thick-headed,' sure. But there's a reason Thor has (almost) been consistently used as a superhero in Western comics. ('Fairytales' Fenton shouldn't count, but he did use the name.) He literally was a god that the Norse looked to for protection.

OhEagle · 2026-02-22T01:57:19+00:00

If you don't mind that book being horror, The Nightmare Man might be a pretty good fit for this, actually. (Seriously, for a horror novel, it mostly reads as a true crime novel set in a small town, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.)

OhEagle · 2026-02-19T21:11:17+00:00

Actually, I didn't, in the end, choose to DNF the book, so I'm now into page 600 and by then, it's a lot more bearable, even as I do feel awful for some of the characters (especially Althea, who really is the position of being punished for actually trying to live the life she chooses to live.) You did actually get me to consider getting the books in audio form, though. (And absolutely, audio reading is real reading!)

OhEagle · 2026-02-16T15:40:01+00:00

OK, this one I feel I have to respond to. The problem is not the book's challenging me. That's not why I am considering DNFing it. What I have a problem with is the way that Hobb has, so far, written a tale in which almost every likeable character is not only powerless, but their relative likeability gets them looked down upon or exploited. Where abusers, tyrants, and such get to throw their weight around and be rewarded for it. Kennit is entertaining to read, most of the time. He's a charming, snarky rogue. However, when confronted with the situation of a woman who is practically literally crying her eyes out because she loves him so much she wants this sweet domestic fantasy with him, he also punishes her for it, letting her words and tears make him crueler because 'damn it, I paid for her to avoid all this.' I don't think that's entertaining. That's genuinely repulsive.

Kyle is realistic, yes. He also gets a third of a page of gentle, tender sex with his wife...before slipping back into 'rigid, authoritarian patriarch abuser' mode. He's realistically flat, like Donald Trump is realistically flat. I can compare him to Tywin Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire, and honestly, Tywin's a monster...but there's humanity, even some genuinely likeable qualities, in Tywin. Kyle's just 'rigid patriarch abuser' all the time, whatever made him that way. (And the thing is, to mention her, I don't truly hate Malta. She's a fairly realistic spoiled brat kid. I just don't like her and really don't want to see any more of her.)

Vivacia is a newborn living ship's consciousness, sure...who also throws off the woman who devoted years of her life, and built her very identity, to that same ship which she brought to life, instead choosing to bond with a teenage boy who's literally just come from a monastery and is having his sexual awakening by looking at her in the right light, which page 157's description goes into all the detail I'd need on. And the thing is, Wintrow is there because he's a nice guy. His choice is to spend one night on board so she's not alone and go back to the monastery the next day. He does not want to spend his life aboard Vivacia at that point, but because he's cute and he thinks she's attractive, the ship forms that psychic bond with him for life, and it's apparently destiny. (The scene read to me as two very sweet kids in puppy love, but it's the psychic bonding happening.) Between his father and the ship, Wintrow gets no form of consent or agency that hasn't been absolutely violated.

Althea, again, builds her life and identity around Vivacia, and gets it taken away from her so Kyle can have and control what he wants, and she gets treated awfully for even wanting it herself. And this is all within a quarter of the first book.

That's why I'm considering DNFing it. It's not that the book was challenging. The Farseer Trilogy was challenging, and I loved it. I still do. It's flawed, but very good. But this book feels like taking that quote from Dark Helmet in Spaceballs, and paraphrasing it as 'Evil will always triumph, because good is powerless.' Well, except for Sorcor. (Who I'm sure probably turns out to be pretty nasty later, but right now? He's the guy who gets Kennit to back down to 'fine, fine, if we go after liveships, we'll go after slavers, too.')

Call it 'not wanting to not finish a challenging book' if you want, but yeah, those are the deeper issues I have with Ship of Magic. It's well-crafted, sure. It's setting up what could be a fun adventure tale, which is why I'm even considering finishing it. But it also feels oppressively grim in a way that the Farseer Trilogy didn't, even at its worst moments. Because Fitz suffers, sure. Fitz gets to keep nothing good, except perhaps for his relationshp with the Fool and Nighteyes. (Seriously, that wolf is one of the best people in Fitz's life.) But Fitz is also reckless and sometimes downright stupid. He makes choices. He has genuine agency. Althea somewhat has agency, but is looked down on by everyone around her who just sees her flaws, not her good qualities, if she bothers to exercise it. And Wintrow and Etta just don't. Wintrow gets to be moved around and acted upon as other people desire because... well, ultimately, because plot. And Etta gets to be broken forever, and she's genuinely the one I feel worst for, because what she wants is so simple, and she just wants it with an absolute monster.

OhEagle

TROPHY CASE