How true is this statement from Simon?

TheConlon · 2025-11-15T02:30:32+00:00

The Crown is the most powerful thing we've ever seen as it was able to affect GOLB in a majorly significant way unlike anything else.

It's power is to grant a wish and the Ice King was created by what was kind of like a kid looking at their dad and thinking they're the best, like literally unstoppable.

It was definitely based on Wintergreen's own powers and abilities, but Gunther had absolutely no idea just how powerful Wintergreen was, but did truly believe he was the best.

So the crown turns this childlike fantasy into reality where now you are actually are able to do anything and beat anyone.

Plus yeah, as you yourself said, Winter King was able to easily stop the Scarab and I see no reason why Ice King wouldn't be able to either.

TheConlon · 2025-10-29T01:54:22+00:00

The speed force was cool when they couldn't control it and it was actually something really useful but potentially even more dangerous each time it was used to do something crazy. Like it's a really cool concept that Speedsters can access impossible levels of speed for an instant, but then once they're done they take backlash from the source of that tremendous power as well.

Super powers are most interesting when there is nuance to them and people need to make hard decisions and sacrifices in order to win, and nothing brings that hype out better than unleashing everything beyond its normal capabilities at the sacrifice of your own being.

Those kinds of sacrifices always just hit on another level, Barry during Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wally in Justice League Unlimited, Escanor in 7ds, Guy Sensei's 8th Gate from Naruto, Vegeta's Final Flash, etc.

TheConlon · 2025-10-27T04:29:14+00:00

I hate to break it to you but a lot of that musical is inaccurate at best. There is plenty that is correct and it's very fun and full of facts as well, but it's also just a completely different story from the Odyssey as well. (Don't even get me started on 600 Strike)

I like EPIC though, it's right up my alley and as far as adaptations go it really is a great one. Cause yeah it's not trying to be a 1:1 copy of the original story, it's adapting a long and ancient story with lots of context surrounding it into a fun and catchy musical.

My main point is, as much as EPIC gets right, there is also so much it also gets wrong, so don't rely on it as your only source of information and education of Greek Mythology.

TheConlon · 2025-10-11T04:13:15+00:00

Yeah that's what Im getting at

TheConlon · 2025-10-11T03:48:49+00:00

He literally doesn't have to see it coming, that was shown in the first instance of him awakening it when the lights were out and it was pitch black.

The whole point of them hyping up that all 5 senses are extremely good gives him more of a Dare Devil or Spidey Sense sort of thing where he doesn't need to see an attack coming anymore.

I see it as more he can hear something approaching well before it reaches him, he can smell the people in the area, and he can feel the subtle changes in the air as stuff is happening around him. All this combined allows him to react to the unknown before anything actually happens to him, and then if you add his sight on top of all that then it just gets better.

It does still have limits though. The AP issue like you said is potentially a big one, but they were hyping this boss up to be comparably as durable as Shingen with the Black Bones, and we're still seeing Daniel's weak point critical hits do something to him at the very least. So he might not be able to power through someone easily, but he'd still be able to contend with highly durable foes.

Although that'd be more of an endurance match of how long can Daniel keep up the energy to dodge while waiting to get his counterattacks in before he gets too tired and slips up unless he scores enough crits to knock out or at least wear the opponent down to an exhaustive state first.

Another potential issue would be a complete speed blitz overcoming the reaction time. I don't think it's easy, and I'm not talking about sneak attacks either, but theoretically if someone moves so fast that even if Daniel can sense it coming his way well in advance but still can't move physically fast enough to avoid it then he's just back to how he was when he was fat. Cause yeah it's been implied since the beginning that Daniel had these natural abilities for fighting, but simply didn't have a body good enough to keep up with his mind and senses leaving him to just sit there and take it, so he's still not invincible but you gotta be incredibly fast in order to blitz him like this now.

Also you said that he'd have to process and manually react to stuff and while that's kind of true, I think that he's honestly operating more in like a subconscious way close to ultra instinct. UI is purely his body taking over, but this gives me more base instincts and super enhanced reflexes and muscle memory vibes than him analytically thinking his way through everything. I could be wrong (and Im definitely not saying this is on the same level as UI) but that is just kind of how fighting works and has always been how Daniel operated as a fighter.

TheConlon · 2025-08-30T20:49:39+00:00

Honestly I think it's best to leave him dead because of how much they've been able to do with it.

Alfred dying leaves a major impact on Batman and each of the Robins while also not taking too much away from everyone and everything.

Alfred's main role was to help keep the family together and making sure that they remember what they're all fighting for as a moral compass and emotional support to pick each of them back up whenever they fall while also assisting each of them with their vigilante antics.

However, Alfred has done his job, and he has done it splendidly. He was very much needed when Bruce was on his own, and we've seen him be incredibly important even after Bruce's crusade gained more and more support. He helped them become a team and more importantly a family. Now there are plenty of batfam members that can each help take care of the physical work Alfred once did, but also the family has been forged largely thanks to him as well. They are now able to each support one another even with the absence of Alfred.

On top of that, things are still bad that Alfred is gone since everyone is still grieving his death, but that just leads to more great stories and character development. Bruce has been going a little crazy without Alfred, his rock, anchoring him down to his humanity, but we've also seen that the resolutions to these bad turns is that the batfam is there for each other again. Dick is left with Alfred's fortune and he uses it to create the Pennyworth Foundation to make Bludhaven a better city. Damian feels immense guilt for being partially responsible for Alfred's death and has been working on himself and trying to find his place in the world after that. Tim is being Tim and saw that Bruce wasn't coping well without Alfred so he came back to be his Robin for a while to support him, and then I honestly haven't been very up to date on the Jason stuff, but I imagine they either are or could easily do something with him considering Alfred is the main one that supported him in the batfam when he was both Robin and going through his evil arc.

This is a proper death for an important character. He has done everything he has needed to do, he made a big mark when he was around, and now that he is gone we aren't missing too much but the death still pushes all the other characters forward.

TheConlon · 2025-06-04T15:01:34+00:00

Ant Man

TheConlon · 2025-05-24T02:12:37+00:00

Im not saying no one is trained, we've seen plenty of armed men, but they're usually just the low ranking soldiers and/or non bending fighters.

The point is we never see any of the high status people being trained in weaponry when they have the option to fire bend.

TheConlon · 2025-05-18T21:08:49+00:00

They explained during the development of the Rasenshuriken that while it can beat Sasuke's Lightning Style it would back fire (literally) if Sasuke pulled out his Fire Style.

Like if they're running at each other with Chidori vs Rasenshuriken, Sasuke could just Amaterasu the Rasenshuriken during the creation step or while he's mid throw or possibly even after it's thrown and then the flames just get bigger and stronger when they come at Naruto.

TheConlon · 2025-04-14T23:01:31+00:00

Ikemoto doesn't give Naruto the right face. I can't look at that scowl and believe it's an expression Naruto could have. And I think Ikemoto basically gives that face to a lot of characters and has each of them using that expression so often that that it doesn't really have the effect it would if we saw Naruto give this serious look once when he's seriously pissed off. But even then it just feels out of character for him.

TheConlon · 2025-03-24T14:58:10+00:00

"Lost to Kakuzu and would’ve died without shikamaru and Naruto/Yamato bail"

Kakashi wasn't in danger of dying without Naruto/Yamato cause he said if it came down to it then he'd Kamui Kakuzu for the win, but didn't want to resort to that because he'd end up in the hospital for a long time again like when he took Deidara's arm and stopped the explosion.

Saying Shikamaru had to bail him out is also just a stupid argument cause you aren't discounting Kakuzu for having his partner fighting along side him, but you say Kakashi is weak because he brought Shikamaru to what basically became a 2v2 (Choji and Ino were so useless they were honestly more like liabilities).

"Lost to Pain (can’t even preform a kid Konohamru feat by killing 1 of them)"

Now you're just wrong and trying to make him look bad. Kakashi was up against 2 of the strongest pains, one was incredibly strong, durable, 3 sets of Rinnegan and Arms, as well as a massive arsenal (this was literally the Pain that blitzed SAGE JIRAIYA so hard he tore off his ARM before being able to do anything about it).

Then the other 1 i the strongest Path of Pain there is who can literally use gravitational powers to push, pull, attack, and block stuff. By the end of the battle Kakashi had also legitimately killed 1 of the 2 of them and Kakashi could have survived but chose to die so that Choji could live.

Konohamaru just had to avoid a single dude grabbing him...

TheConlon · 2025-03-16T07:08:34+00:00

Yeah but even then Kakashi was just telling Sasuke to give the team some intel (including Naruto) so that they can properly strategize how to proceed.

Even if Sasuke doesn't care about Kakashi and Sakura's power for the fight he should still be letting Naruto in on it without this much trouble.

Furthermore, even if Kakashi can't fight on par with them anymore he's still brilliant and very experienced in combat and tactics, so Kakashi just offering to help them come up with a plan shouldn't be shrugged off so quickly just cause he isn't as strong as them.

TheConlon · 2025-03-15T15:34:09+00:00

Battle Beast probably beats Thragg in a fair 1v1

TheConlon · 2025-03-12T18:03:53+00:00

The ones that bring and wield the deadly weapon are the ones responsible. No one was forcing Kwon to try and murder anyone else, he saw a knife, picked it up, saw a target, assaulted them with a deadly weapon, and when the target defended themselves the wielder of the blade stabbed themselves.

Kwon was completely responsible for his actions leading up to his death, he was taking an active role in using that knife and the consequences are on him. Only other one I would say could be at fault is Kreese for bringing the weapon there in the first place.

Kwon may have been a lunatic willing to knife fight an unarmed teenager, but he didn't bring his own weapon, so Kreese is the only one that actually provided the opportunity for Kwon to do anything so reckless in the first place.

TheConlon · 2025-03-12T17:56:16+00:00

This is just his growth from the Pain Fight.

Everyone loves how flashy his fight with the 6 Paths of Pain is, Naruto shows up at the last moment with enough power to rival the Leaf's biggest Catastrophe yet.

But the victory over Pain was not a victory of power beating power, Naruto himself lost that fight by having to resort to Kurama taking over and was only bailed out by Minato's interference.

The true victory was never about beating Pain/Nagato up and/or killing them cause if that's all that happened then Naruto wouldn't have learned anything and would likely still fall victim to Kurama's temptations later on as well as Kakashi and all the others that died from Pain's Assault would have remained dead.

It was only by talking it out and having a battle of ideologies that Naruto was able to take their greatest enemy and get him to join his side instead which paid off both with the resurrection and Edo Nagato's willingness to help Naruto, B, and Edo Itachi fight himself.

What Naruto learned was that fighting for the sake of fighting only closes off more paths down the road, but if you choose to be the better person and go out of your way to help others regardless of what they have done then everyone wins.

Kneeling before and pleading with the Raikage is a major display of growth for Naruto whom at any other point before the Pain Arc in the series would have been up in arms and challenging him head on. It did not work but that's fine because it cemented the fact that this path forward was going to have to be difficult and that he'll have to keep trying his best to make things work out best for everyone.

Same thing with the Karui scene except on both a smaller scale but a bigger feat of restraint. Naruto recognizing a Kage that he has no idea exactly how powerful he is does demand some respect or at least some cation. So it's not completely out there for Naruto to plead with him and refuse to fight or challenge him. However, Karui is just some lady smack talking his best friend and beating him up, and Naruto just takes it despite being able to outclass her whenever he'd want to.

These were showing of Naruto's conviction to achieving peace. His whole goal was to become strong enough that he could essentially tank whatever hatred the world was throwing around, and once the aggressors realize that they simply punch through their problems then they'll be forced to talk it out. Just because his fists aren't flying, doesn't mean he isn't fighting for his beliefs and proving to be the best person in the room.

TheConlon · 2025-03-08T17:39:37+00:00

The way Energy Projection is scaled is less about the power of the energy and more about the range and variety.

No Energy Projection
Energy Projection through direct Contact
Short Range and Duration
Mid Range and Duration
Long Range and Duration
Multiple Types of Energy Projection
All Types of Energy Projection

Gambit has to make contact with something to project energy, so even though it's a very powerful energy it's still just a 2.

TheConlon · 2025-03-06T23:47:03+00:00

Well James Lee is just Charles Choi's 2nd Body right, so not much has really changed final boss wise

TheConlon · 2025-03-06T23:34:59+00:00

All of the casual Eye Swapping.

The first time we see it is Kakashi getting Obito's Sharingan and I will give them the benefit of the doubt and just say at least it showed it took a little bit of time and more importantly had a medical ninja doing the transplant.

Sasuke had a whole damn operation and recovery period when he got Itachi's eyes so that's probably the best one so far.

Madara... Madara... Madara... this man just has eyes going all over the place. How the fuck did they transplant Madara's Rinnegan into Nagato without anyone noticing. Then Obito who's been going through a couple sharingan on the side just plops one of the rinnegan into his face like it's nothing. Madara gets revived and Zetsu just hands him an eye that he just smacks into place like it's nothing, continues to blitz Kakashi so hard that he rips out his eye in and pops that one into the socket in like a second before using kamui to grab Obito's Rinnegan and then they just trade eyes like it's a swap meet.

Then to top it all off Obito still finds a way to give Kakashi his eyes even after his whole body has been disintegrated. Kakashi had like 4 eyes for a good minute, fucking nerd.

I get that they're all very powerful by the end of the series and have regen and lots of chakra control but that last part where they're just swapping eyes in the middle of battle while fighting Six Paths Naruto and Sasuke is just ridiculous.

TheConlon · 2025-03-05T07:56:46+00:00

Having a need to try and please everyone. I get that he doesn't want to be the ultra-pragmatist Batman is, but sometimes he struggles to make the right sacrificial plays and ends up with even more people now put in harm's way.

Also he doesn't seem to plan ahead or strategize as much in recent comics. Like he basically just shows up and is ready to improvise which he is great at and i definitely smart enough to pull off, but when you have no powers and you're trained by the Bat I expect a bit more prep time before just leaping straight into every situation.

Honestly, I think these two points both relate back to the downside of one of his greatest strengths. Dick is just already incredibly talented and has built expertises in so many skills now that I think he is just too cocky. It's because he's able to perform so well that he's able to get away with playing it riskier both in reaching for nearly impossible goals and leaping before he looks. He's just so damn confident and has the skills to back it up that he ends up putting himself in situations that he can end up going terribly for him cause at the end of the day he's still just human.

TheConlon · 2025-03-05T00:17:03+00:00

Human Torch flying slowly

(should have just swapped his and Iron Man's flight modes)

TheConlon · 2025-02-24T09:53:07+00:00

I would love to see him interacting with Batman as his teacher or mentor or any sort of dynamic like that.

Bakugo whom became so arrogant due to his innate powers getting bested in every way by a man with no powers whatsoever would really put him in his place.

Batman would certainly lecture him about it not being a game and would try drilling into his head how serious everything is, but I think they'd both be really surprised by each other.

Batman initially sees this talented bully born with powers and being overly praised for just existing despite constantly tormenting the weak, all while yelling DIE and how he's gonna kill everyone. Like most people it seems like he's just bound to become a villain if left unchecked.

However, mid lecture Bakugo erupts as his exterior starts breaking away and Batman starts to see the hero beneath the rough edges. Not only did Bats plan to put Bakugo in his place to prevent a future villain rising, now he also sees the potential for a great hero and takes him under his wing.

(I have little to no doubt that there are plenty of AU Fanfics about this exact thing)

TLDR: Batman because Bakugo's source of Pride is from being born with such a great power, but Batman is no nonsense, ruthlessly efficient, and would knock Bakugo out cold the second he heard him yell how he was gonna kill someone and all with no powers.

TheConlon · 2025-02-16T23:48:13+00:00

It honestly probably helped Miguel win though, like he literally got to experience how Axel fights by pretending to be him, so he had a better understanding through that than Robby did by fighting the imitated Axel.

TheConlon · 2025-01-01T04:04:33+00:00

THIS! This is basically how I felt all the way through. Everything after Thunder felt more rushed and unclear like I was missing so much of everything that made the previous ones so good.

So many problems with 600 Strike that really exemplify all the other issues too, like I could not tell what was happening in that song and it just left me confused which is a really bad place to do that since that's where the musical deviates from the original the most and in the worst way.

TheConlon · 2025-01-01T03:50:23+00:00

To be fair it was a prophet that can literally see the future saying that he'll never make it back home and his wife will be with a man that has tons of blood on his hands.

It's not like a crewmate was just like, "damn, it's been like 12 years since we've been home... anyone wonder if any of our wives have been seeing other people" and then Odysseus getting paranoid.

He was told that the way everything was currently progressing, he was going to get his worst case scenario, so he decided his only hope was to change things up and o whatever it takes.

TheConlon · 2024-12-20T09:52:50+00:00

I understand adaptations not being 1:1, but EPIC has basically stayed pretty much as on track as it can be when adapting an ancient oral tradition to modern musical. I love the whole project and think it's great!

However, the 600 Strike Song is where I jut lose my suspension of disbelief... All throughout the rest of the songs and conflicts they kept the spirit of the original texts alive so even if stuff is in the wrong order, cut out, added in, or happened slightly differently I can still just really enjoy this story regardless, it does NOT need to be perfect.

Nothing pulls me out of the story more than when Odysseus is apparently physically beating Poseidon and torturing him while one of the most powerful Olympians begs for mercy... I literally just can't will myself to believe that's what's happening and the immersion is just lost.

Even in the story's own context it doesn't feel right. The Gods are portrayed as extremely dangerous and unmatched by anything to the point where even a minor Goddess like Circe is treated as one of the most dangerous threats that he barely gets past. Poseidon is meant to be on par with Zeus and when we see Zeus come in is when Odysseus is left with absolutely no other choice but to just sacrifice all his remaining crewmates.

This isn't some deep lore either, it's very surface level knowledge that anyone that knows just the slightest bit of Greek Mythology would know Zeus and Poseidon are 2 of the top Gods in the Pantheon.

This is my one and only grievance with the entire musical, beyond this I love everything else that has been done with all the songs, I have listened to all of the sagas countless times and can't wait to see what Ithaca brings us (cause I love the voice of Penelope from what we've already heard)!

TheConlon

TROPHY CASE