Lurker > Seanchan

Main event next!

Good IC match! It was time for Gunther to move on and to reward Sami for the last year.

No straight heel wins tonight so far. Rhea is a heel in name only. Tag titles were a split.

I think we all know how the main event is going to go though.

Womens match was decent. Bianca is so good, I dont care how much people are sick of her. Jade has a lot of promise but she didnt show too much here.

I wanted more from the Uso match. Obviously this is getting a rematch with a Jimmy win, then a Hell in a Cell finale at Summer Slam or the Saudi event.

Didnt care about the Rey match but that one spot where they helped launch that dude off the rope was dope!

Also, Andrade feels like he should be a bigger deal? I know he left WWE and came back.

Ladder match was fun. Its hard not to have a fun ladder match though.

Rhea/Becky was okay. Certainly not as good as Rheas match last year.

In the middle of watching still, but the absolute fucking DISRESPECT for Dr. Mario is sickening. That's a great game! The few times a year I turn on the NES Mini, I'll inevitably find myself playing Dr. Mario for an hour.

It'd be very funny if the crowd started singing Cody's music during the Reigns/Rock match.

As a casual fan, you can tell me KO is a better technical wrestler but I want to watch Lesnar every time. He's the modern guy that got me to pay attention again at different points over the last 8-9 years.

ZeroSignal posted...

Either way, my bold prediction for WM40: Priest leaves as WHC

That seems about right.

It would mean all the belts are on "heels", except for the fact that Bayley is winning her match at Wrestlemania: Roman, Gunther, Paul, Judgement Day (Tag), Rhea, Kabuki Warriors.

Gunther could lose at Wrestlemania, probably should if they want him to move on to bigger things, especially since he's already got the record longest run with the IC title.

Paul should lose, since he's a part timer and the US belt should change hands more often.

Tag titles, both men and women, who gives a shit. Probably the women's changes hands as they likely want Judgement Day to hold multiple belts and remain a focus.

I guess he had to know his role and shut his mouth?

ZeroSignal posted...

Cody vs Rollins for the WHC

Wait...what?!? I don't watch Smackdown, so what's the reason they gave for not "finishing the story"?

Jeff's opinion of "I remember this game being harder than I showed here" mimics my exact thoughts. I loved that game as a kid but I don't think I ever got past that 3rd boss. Then again, I don't think that game had passwords so that probably makes some sense that I didn't get that far.

Wanglicious posted...

and i get that people are talking of a triple threat but i still think a "head of the table" match does not need the belt. that can easily be worked into a separate fight, a storyline tool to limit their interference at WM, or put at another location.

Agree it doesn't need a title for juice. Someone said it'd make more sense as a SummerSlam match, after losing to Cody at Mania.

Not watching the weekly shows, maybe KO, LA Knight, AJ Styles, and Randy Orton (who were in non-Rumble matches) all feature on Smackdown?

UltimaterializerX posted...

Could this crowd be more dead? Jesus.

Yeah, I noticed that over and over again. A great crowd really adds to a match but a dead crowd just sucks the life out of it.

Anyway, the Men's Rumble was also okay but probably worse than the Women's? Bron Breaker hits those ropes HARD. Other than that, I'm hard pressed to remember much.

Slight surprise with Cody winning rather than Punk. It makes you wonder though because you can't do Cody/Reigns 2 and not have Cody win, right? They teased Rock, but do they use a Triple Threat as a way to deny Cody again without having him pinned? It doesn't necessarily feel like they want to end Reigns reign but it's all set up for that to truly happen this time.

I've got 2 big complaints about the PLE and neither one is new. The first is that the amount of ads is staggering. Since I don't have Peacock Premium, it's just 5-6-10 minutes of ads, plus you don't get the recap of why the match is happening. As a PLE only watcher, the lack of build up/hype is stupid when that's one of WWE's best assets.

The second is that the show is just too fucking long. Four matches (granted 2 rumbles...) took 4 hours, ending around midnight EST. I start getting sleepy and my attention span starts to wander at the end of these things, despite the fact that the endings of the last match should be the most exciting part! No idea how kids are supposed to watch these things live. I'd say start the shows an hour earlier but that's just my East Coast bias.

Oh, and Samantha Irvin is fiiiiiiine as hell!

Women's Rumble: It was okay? That TNA Champ looked great. Nia sucks but she's a good heel? Jade Cargill looked good.
4 Way: Whatever. We all know Roman wasn't losing. People are saying Randy got hurt again?
US Title: As usual, Logan makes an interesting match, though maybe it's just that he's always paired up with good workers. Fun finish.

Steiner posted...

Nick actually <_<

I knew I'd screw that up!

Tony Khan talking to Pat McAfee that its possible Raw could be moved off Monday once it moves to Netflix.

FFDragon posted...

wwe raw to... netflix?

I don't see this ending well. Especially in the newage "cord cutting" era of shuttering streaming services.

In the US. Outside the US, apparently ALL of WWE content will be on Netflix, including the PLEs. I guess this means, in the US, that the PLEs stay on Peacock?

Lets also talk about Pin-Bot getting done dirty! I used to love that game as a kid.

First, Jeff fails to pay attention and know what to do when the ball is locked in multiball. You have to shoot the solar value by hitting the ramp on the left. He wasn't even trying to trap the ball on the right flipper to do that!

Second, as you progress by advancing the planets, you'll eventually update the board with new color schemes. I think there was also a point where enemies or some sort of gravity/magnet things starts happening. When I played, it wasn't about the score as much as seeing how far you could progress.

The devs actually took advantage of being a video game to tweak and play around with what is otherwise a static board. Jeff seemed entirely uninterested in the game and just wanted to compare it to the mechanical original. It's not a top 50 game but it's certainly better than his passing take.

ZenOfThunder posted...

would this have been better as a movie? quality-wise only, obviously an Echo movie would bomb in theaters

I think that's a question that can be aimed at a lot of the D+ shows.

With Echo, I think the amount of content they had would have fit a movie. But I worry they would have tried to make things "bigger" and I liked that this was smaller scale (another reason it'd bomb in theaters aside from the "who's Echo" factor). Best example would be the last episode, where I'd worry they would have actually had a big brawl between Kingpin's men in the vans and suddenly powered up townspeople, rather than what they did.

Echo was fine, not a favorite but not the worst. I was surprised it was only 5 episodes, with something like a 3ish hour total runtime. Maybe makes a little more sense why it was dropped all at once.

I liked that it was smaller scale than many of the other Marvel shows. I also liked that they could just show blood and be a little more gory. There's a death in the 3rd episode that's kinda brutal, not that they didn't spoil it with the end of episode 1 trailer...

Favorite scene has to be the Daredevil cameo in episode 1. I really enjoyed the cinematography of the fight, and how they tried to make it a one take.

Not sure what to make of the ending. Did she actually "heal" the violence in Kingpin? That seems unlikely but she did something to him.

Tears probably beats BotW head to head, even if, outside of that direct matchup, BotW would be ahead of it in the X-Stats. Someone can let me know if that would be the same thing as with Ultimate (taking the Tears slot) and Melee (taking the BotW slot).

I've not, and likely will never play BG3, but I think this result is 100% down to its strength, especially on the back of winning multiple GotY awards. Likely it slips back a little bit in the coming years but it also seems like a game that will stand the test of time. In my mind, I'd put it in that Skyrim, Witcher 3, Dark Souls range; not enough to beat the top nostalgia games here but otherwise capable of winning against almost anything else.

I agree that the last episode wasnt great for the reasons mentioned. But I otherwise enjoyed the season. Then again I enjoyed the first season too when most everyone else was down on it. Im a bit of a mark for a short story, so I just enjoy the format, even if Im worried theyre getting a bit too interconnected with season 2.

Favorite episodes probably Gamora and 1602.

Waluigi1 posted...

Are you guys just waiting until it's all out?

Im away from home and I want to wait to watch on the big screen rather than on my phone. Probably doesnt really matter much for this, but still.

Won't be watching What If until after the holidays...

Been a few years since I watched, but Sinister was a big part of the animated series. And with that coming back, next year, maybe that also impacts things. I know that's not technically part of the MCU...though with multiverse shenanigans, who knows!

I mean, Magneto has kind of been done to death at this point, so that makes sense. And you're not going to do Apocalypse again so soon. Sinister was never in a movie before, right?

He Who Got Fired

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Social media sucks.

Yep. I imagine a chunk of those people leaving out info are doing so intentionally for whatever narrative they are trying to sell.

There's no time in these movies to flesh out even more characters. Especially side characters that are essentially red shirts for 99% of the audience.

Kenri posted...

Yeah I can't speak to the game's quality but spending 4 minutes on it and then going "this shit sucks" and quitting was pretty bizarre considering how many absolutely awful games he's spent 40+ minutes on.

I think he generally tends to do a decent job (or at least seems to do a decent job) of putting his personal feelings aside in the name of "science".

Lopen posted...

Recasting Kang makes his character better imo considering what the character concept is

Don't really think Kang is to blame for anything with the recent MCU woes either. Unless the feeling is we need someone more present and Thanos being background in his build was a thing from a bygone Era.

Unless people are blaming it on Multiverse obsession and saying that's Kang's fault?

I dunno I just don't think it has anything to do with Kang as much as a lack of build/cohesion in the films.

Well, yeah, it's the lack of build/cohesion issue, not anything to do with Kang. But multiverse and Kang are tied together at this point, unless there's another villain that could take his place. I'm not super familiar with the comics, so I don't have any real idea.

I'm fine with a recasting, if they want to stick with this direction though. I'm just not sure if they're going to be able to pull off the larger, overarching plot though, especially since it seems completely missing at the moment.

Yeah, that dude's done.

Realizing the tone deafness of what I'm about to say, but this might be a blessing for Marvel. It gives them an excuse to perhaps drop Kang entirely and pivot away from all the multiverse bullshit.

bump?

Future WWE Women's Champion breaks her college's shot put record:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/18cshpk/brock_lesnars_daughter_mya_lesnar_broke_the_shot/

Sorry for the Reddit link, that's just how I heard about it.

Haven't listened to the GotY podcasts yet but Giant Bomb isn't where I go to for critical, nuanced, smart, well researched opinions.

...I've honestly been thinking recently that I'm not really sure why I continue to go to Giant Bomb at all...

Seanchan posted...

I had to look and uh...The Marvels isn't even going to crack $100 million domestic...

That's basically a fucking disaster!

redrocket posted...

Wait, what?? Not even $100 million????

I already said that a week ago!

Yeah, between the 2 there's already 6-8 games getting chosen each month. That's kind of already too many. In many/most months it's not even really possible to complete all those games, should one be inclined.

What you could think about doing is maybe encouraging "seasonal" games with automatic extra supports. For example, if someone had nominated Cthulhu Saves Christmas for December, it gets an automatic extra support for each person who backs it. In other words, original nominator gives it 2 chances for selection, if another person supports then it gets +2 for 4 total.

That would stack the deck in a "seasonal" game's favor but wouldn't guarantee selection. Just an idea for how to make it work within the existing framework.

TOEM beated!

That was fun! A chill little game in the mold of A Short Hike, but focused on taking pictures rather than platforming. I didn't 100% everything but I did finish Basto as well. Good nomination!

So...was that considered a good Survivor Series?

As someone who only watches the PLEs, I found myself somewhat bored and disinterested. Maybe I just think the War Games format, with the match not officially starting until everyone is in the ring, is stupid?

Maybe it's just that my wax and wane interest in WWE has hit a low point again. I was drawn back in again by all The Bloodline stuff last year and that's not "it" at the moment. Not to mention no Lesnar, who's someone that I love to watch.

I started on TOEM last night. Pretty fun, chill game so far!

Nominate:

Remember Me
Zelda: Link to the Past

Hmm, December is a short month for me and I'd prefer not to spend money but that Pseudoregalia game looks kind of interesting...

I had to look and uh...The Marvels isn't even going to crack $100 million domestic...

That's basically a fucking disaster!

Thorn posted...

Trump's legal team might have played themselves. Called a witness to the stand and then on cross-examination the state AG basically turned on the Phoenix Wright music.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-worst-day-ny-fraud-trial-thanks-to-defense-witness-2023-11

Business Insider reports...

Article worth the read if you're interested in more of the details but LOL they really didn't think this one through.

The longtime Trump executive became weepy in answering the final question from the defense lawyer Jesus Suarez, who asked why he'd left the Trump Organization after 35 years working there.
He left to "stop being accused of misrepresenting assets for the company that I loved working for," he said, wiping away tears as he described a history of being subpoenaed on the federal and state level in connection with the Trump Organization.
"It was like working with family," he said. "I feel proud of what I did."

This was very funny to me.

Yeah, fuck filming in the middle of the week! Oh, wait, that's that show...

^^^ Me, being an idiot