OT The Nerdy stuff Thread

[MrDollarBills]

Live action Airbender is being released tomorrow on Netflix. They better not mess this up.

I'm kind of in the boat where I know about Avatar and Korra, but I never really watched it because by the time it came out i was averse to watching a Nickelodeon cartoon, which in hindsight, was silly because everything I've heard and read indicates that it's an amazing series with incredible world building. Can I go into this blind?

[KnicksGadfly]

Live action Airbender is being released tomorrow on Netflix. They better not mess this up.

I'm kind of in the boat where I know about Avatar and Korra, but I never really watched it because by the time it came out i was averse to watching a Nickelodeon cartoon, which in hindsight, was silly because everything I've heard and read indicates that it's an amazing series with incredible world building. Can I go into this blind?

Hehe I'll be able to tell you in a while.

The TV show has a lot of heart, though...I'd put it above Invincible on my list, and that's not a knock on Invincible, either. Characters are memorable and they go through their own character arcs in the series and show real growth. Also lighthearted humor, and the creators put in care when it comes to the action and fighting. Some tragedy and darkness too.

Some kids shows do that well. Damn, you guys ever read Animorphs? I read all of them and those books messed me up

[DOT]

Live action Airbender is being released tomorrow on Netflix. They better not mess this up.

I'm kind of in the boat where I know about Avatar and Korra, but I never really watched it because by the time it came out i was averse to watching a Nickelodeon cartoon, which in hindsight, was silly because everything I've heard and read indicates that it's an amazing series with incredible world building. Can I go into this blind?

Watch ATLA

Just do it. It's incredible, and it's one of those shows which can be watched as an adult and still get a ton out of. There are a couple of bad episodes in season 1 (like even as a huge fan, I still skip the great divide on rewatch cause it's pure filler in the worst ways), but the episode after that, the storm, is when the series goes from being just really good to incredible, and it never really lets up after that

Korra on the other hand, is kinda mid. Like, ATLA was specifically constructed to last exactly as long as it did, so they knew where they were ending it and how long they had to get there (kind of, they thought they could add another season in there, but it would've been in the middle instead of adding on to the end) so it's all very cohesive. Korra, they never knew when they were gonna get cancelled or what they wanted the overarching story would be, so it's more of a typical show where the seasons are kinda disconnected. Also season 2 is legit awful and I didn't go back to watch seasons 3 or 4 until years later which is a shame cause those 2 are actually pretty good

So I'd say absolutely watch the original, even as an adult, it's not too long. And Korra might be worth a watch, but it's never as good as the original and doesn't get good until season 3.

[MrDollarBills]

Live action Airbender is being released tomorrow on Netflix. They better not mess this up.

I'm kind of in the boat where I know about Avatar and Korra, but I never really watched it because by the time it came out i was averse to watching a Nickelodeon cartoon, which in hindsight, was silly because everything I've heard and read indicates that it's an amazing series with incredible world building. Can I go into this blind?

Hehe I'll be able to tell you in a while.

The TV show has a lot of heart, though...I'd put it above Invincible on my list, and that's not a knock on Invincible, either. Characters are memorable and they go through their own character arcs in the series and show real growth. Also lighthearted humor, and the creators put in care when it comes to the action and fighting. Some tragedy and darkness too.

Some kids shows do that well. Damn, you guys ever read Animorphs? I read all of them and those books messed me up

I think i was in my "I'm too cool for that phase" when animorphs came out, I was busy buying bootleg anime from the black market

[MrDollarBills]

Live action Airbender is being released tomorrow on Netflix. They better not mess this up.

I'm kind of in the boat where I know about Avatar and Korra, but I never really watched it because by the time it came out i was averse to watching a Nickelodeon cartoon, which in hindsight, was silly because everything I've heard and read indicates that it's an amazing series with incredible world building. Can I go into this blind?

Watch ATLA

Just do it. It's incredible, and it's one of those shows which can be watched as an adult and still get a ton out of. There are a couple of bad episodes in season 1 (like even as a huge fan, I still skip the great divide on rewatch cause it's pure filler in the worst ways), but the episode after that, the storm, is when the series goes from being just really good to incredible, and it never really lets up after that

Korra on the other hand, is kinda mid. Like, ATLA was specifically constructed to last exactly as long as it did, so they knew where they were ending it and how long they had to get there (kind of, they thought they could add another season in there, but it would've been in the middle instead of adding on to the end) so it's all very cohesive. Korra, they never knew when they were gonna get cancelled or what they wanted the overarching story would be, so it's more of a typical show where the seasons are kinda disconnected. Also season 2 is legit awful and I didn't go back to watch seasons 3 or 4 until years later which is a shame cause those 2 are actually pretty good

So I'd say absolutely watch the original, even as an adult, it's not too long. And Korra might be worth a watch, but it's never as good as the original and doesn't get good until season 3.

I'm gonna check it out, i think it's on Paramount Plus

[j4remi]

Spoiler:

Luffy toying with Saturn and then snatching up Kizaru and Saturn simultaneously is elite stuff. The power scalers are gonna lose their minds.

Spoiler:

Peak.

Spoiler:

It seems like Vegapunk had the message as a dead-man's switch, like it's One Piece and nobody ever dies, but it looks like it's set up to go off automatically by him dying. Especially cause he doesn't say anything or make any noises after getting stabbed. Also,
I'm feeling a bit vindicated about my reading of Kizaru, a lot of people were expecting him to turn good, but I always felt like his character was defined by him just being a cog in the machine, like that's all he wants and he's able to put aside his personal feelings for it. Plus, having 3 "good" admirals to only 2 "bad" ones would be kind of imbalanced.

Oda isn't ACAB, but one of the themes of One Piece is definitely that you can only get so far up in the military/police before your ideals become so corrupted you can't stay "good" anymore. Garp being the prime example, but even then Oda still seems to side with the idea that Garp is still propping up the corrupt system and therefore isn't really a "good" guy

Though my personal reading is he isn't disagreeing with the long term goal of people like Garp, being that he's trying to train the next generation to be better so that eventually there are enough "good" marines to actually enact change which he couldn't do as a single person

But going back to the chapter itself and the feat of Luffy holding them two back, I don't think Kizaru and Saturn are that strong, or rather, they're more specialized. Kizaru is kind of a glass cannon, he can hit as hard as anyone and is difficult to catch, but when you do, that's it for him. And Saturn kind of takes a lot of damage and is rather slow, but has insane regeneration abilities (the likes of which we haven't seen from any non-Logias). So it's different from like, Kaido and Big Mom where you need to be a certain level to even have them take damage from you. It's still impressive because they are in that top tier, but I think anyone else as strong as them wouldn't be so easy to hold back

The most important part though: No break next week.

Yeah, I'd pin Saturn somewhere between Yonkou First Commander and Yonkou if I had to make a rough guess. He no-diff'ed Bonney, Sanji, and Frankie in one go. So he's no joke, but it seems like he's a pure tank. But that still makes Luffy's feat here pretty heavy, and I think it also adds to Kaido's legacy considering how evenly matched he was with Gear-5.

Spoiler:

Agreed about Kizaru. I remember seeing someone compare the first three Admirals salaryman tropes in Japan. I'd hoped Kizaru would have a change of heart, but it felt unlikely ever since I'd seen that breakdown. An idea I've warmed up to recently is that Kizaru might become the fall guy for this epic failure. I don't think there's much subtext for it, but it'd be a fitting conclusion for him.

On another note:
I think it's interesting that Sanji mentions something strange about Saturn's eyes and that Saturn never says anything throughout this chapter, after being so talkative before.

I know there's a handful of theories that the Gorosei are literal puppets for Imu. I always thought that hit too close to Nagato/Pain from Naruto, but this chapter got me wondering about it. But now that we have Punk's Satellites, there are ways to make it work that won't feel too derivative imo.

[DOT]

Spoiler:

I know there's a handful of theories that the Gorosei are literal puppets for Imu. I always thought that hit too close to Nagato/Pain from Naruto, but this chapter got me wondering about it. But now that we have Punk's Satellites, there are ways to make it work that won't feel too derivative imo.

Spoiler:

I don't necessarily buy that, just cause we've seen the 5 of them interact with Imu when there's no other witnesses, and even if it's for a brief moment, I don't think they'd need to receive orders from him that way if they were literal puppets. Plus when Cobra confronts them and they've decide he's gonna die, they still seem to have agency of their own

There's just too many unknowns about the Gorosei and Imu to do anything but speculate. I can think of a few options off the top of my head, first is that if they are just devil fruit users with mythical zoans, he's taken enough damage that the will of the fruit is taking over (or this is his full transformation, he doesn't appear to have arms or a torso, just his head is human-ish but I think that's in line with the Ushi-Oni which is what is speculated his fruit is)

They could also be beasts which ate human-human fruits, like imagine if those mythical creatures did exist as servants of Imu, and then after the Void century they ate devil fruits which allowed them to blend in as humans. So when we see them, they're just always transformed into their human form, and the form we see now is what Saturn actually looked like

Or they could be actual devils, remember dude teleported onto Egghead using a magic circle, which is still to be explained and I can't wait to see animated cause I feel like if they nail the sound direction that could be one of the most tense moments of the series. Potentially Imu made a deal with the devil for the power to win the war 800 years earlier which granted him immortality and the Gorosei as vassals as well as created devil fruits, which would be why they're called that. I mean that theory's much more out there, and I'm not a big fan of "now it's time to kill god" endings like how Naruto pulled that twist out of nowhere and is why Boruto exists but it's still possible

The one character I do want to see switch sides is Kaku though. Not cause he's strong or anything, but I've always felt like of the CP-9 and CP-0 agents (other than Stussy of course), he was the only one who had a twinge of regret for what he did. Plus he wasn't in on Lucci's subterfuge at the start of the arc, dude just got bubble'd the moment Lucci did his thing lol

[Meat]

Live action Airbender is being released tomorrow on Netflix. They better not mess this up.

I'm kind of in the boat where I know about Avatar and Korra, but I never really watched it because by the time it came out i was averse to watching a Nickelodeon cartoon, which in hindsight, was silly because everything I've heard and read indicates that it's an amazing series with incredible world building. Can I go into this blind?

Yah, I think I fumbled this show too. I let the fact that I was a Chinatown fansub vhs kid stop me from watching “American anime,” and I missed out

[MrDollarBills]

Live action Airbender is being released tomorrow on Netflix. They better not mess this up.

I'm kind of in the boat where I know about Avatar and Korra, but I never really watched it because by the time it came out i was averse to watching a Nickelodeon cartoon, which in hindsight, was silly because everything I've heard and read indicates that it's an amazing series with incredible world building. Can I go into this blind?

Yah, I think I fumbled this show too. I let the fact that I was a Chinatown fansub vhs kid stop me from watching “American anime,” and I missed out

My man!! Those chinatown fansubs were my lifeblood as a teenager grainy vhs footage with highly dubious translations...these kids nowadays don't know how raw it was back then.

Yeah i missed out. I'm gonna watch the show....60 episodes is daunting but I'll try.

[j4remi]

Spoiler:

I don't necessarily buy that, just cause we've seen the 5 of them interact with Imu when there's no other witnesses, and even if it's for a brief moment, I don't think they'd need to receive orders from him that way if they were literal puppets. Plus when Cobra confronts them and they've decide he's gonna die, they still seem to have agency of their own

There's just too many unknowns about the Gorosei and Imu to do anything but speculate. I can think of a few options off the top of my head, first is that if they are just devil fruit users with mythical zoans, he's taken enough damage that the will of the fruit is taking over (or this is his full transformation, he doesn't appear to have arms or a torso, just his head is human-ish but I think that's in line with the Ushi-Oni which is what is speculated his fruit is)

They could also be beasts which ate human-human fruits, like imagine if those mythical creatures did exist as servants of Imu, and then after the Void century they ate devil fruits which allowed them to blend in as humans. So when we see them, they're just always transformed into their human form, and the form we see now is what Saturn actually looked like

Or they could be actual devils, remember dude teleported onto Egghead using a magic circle, which is still to be explained and I can't wait to see animated cause I feel like if they nail the sound direction that could be one of the most tense moments of the series. Potentially Imu made a deal with the devil for the power to win the war 800 years earlier which granted him immortality and the Gorosei as vassals as well as created devil fruits, which would be why they're called that. I mean that theory's much more out there, and I'm not a big fan of "now it's time to kill god" endings like how Naruto pulled that twist out of nowhere and is why Boruto exists but it's still possible

The one character I do want to see switch sides is Kaku though. Not cause he's strong or anything, but I've always felt like of the CP-9 and CP-0 agents (other than Stussy of course), he was the only one who had a twinge of regret for what he did. Plus he wasn't in on Lucci's subterfuge at the start of the arc, dude just got bubble'd the moment Lucci did his thing lol

Spoiler:

I agree that there are too many unknowns to get far beyond speculation. The only bit that I think is fairly certain is that they're not human, which this arc has really stressed. But I don't think the interactions with Imu discount them being similar to the Vegapunk satellites now that we've seen they interact with each other and have kept knowledge to themselves in some cases. It's not my favorite explanation, but I've gone from completely throwing it out to keeping an eye out for hints.

Not that I'm sold on any single explanation. The concept of them being beasts or demons that ate human-human fruits could be really cool, and it's unexplored territory. We've seen objects and animals that ate fruits, but we've never gotten any explanations on how it works beyond that.

I forgot about the demon summoning circle, too. The concept of them being devils would be pretty cool, especially considering we've seen lunarians and Skypeians who look like angels. Where you can have angels, you usually find demons/devils. I wouldn't love Imu making a deal with the devil. But only because I prefer Imu to be the devil that the other WG nations made a deal with (figuratively speaking in this case, rather than the literal devil).

On the Kaku tip, I swear that when Water 7 was dropping weekly, I rooted for Kaku to be the shipwright they'd add. He was my favorite from before the CP-9 reveal. I completely forgot that he was around somewhere, but he always struck me as the most likable member of that clique. The return of the Usopp/Kaku gag would be great. Plus, it'd be cool if his knowledge about CP-0's movements made him a foil to Caribou. Caribou feeds BB secret info, Kaku feeds the Strawhats secret info...Shanks feeds the Gorosei (kidding...mostly)

God, I love how much theory crafting the One Piece world offers. It's high-key got me looking at shows like Frieren and wondering about stuff, "if Himmel couldn't pull the sword from the stone, and Qual was too powerful to kill, whose to say the Hero's Party vanquished the Demon King rather than sealed him or something similar?" type stuff.

[KnicksGadfly]

Damn the guys who made SpiderVerse are trying to pitch Batman Beyond to WB...WB needs to stop funding stupid crap and just support their proposal and enjoy the profits.



Also, I'm sad to hear about Kill the Suicide Squad, considering the Arkham games are one of my favorites

[j4remi]

I'm kind of in the boat where I know about Avatar and Korra, but I never really watched it because by the time it came out i was averse to watching a Nickelodeon cartoon, which in hindsight, was silly because everything I've heard and read indicates that it's an amazing series with incredible world building. Can I go into this blind?

Yah, I think I fumbled this show too. I let the fact that I was a Chinatown fansub vhs kid stop me from watching “American anime,” and I missed out

My man!! Those chinatown fansubs were my lifeblood as a teenager grainy vhs footage with highly dubious translations...these kids nowadays don't know how raw it was back then.

Yeah i missed out. I'm gonna watch the show....60 episodes is daunting but I'll try.

I'd highly recommend watching the anime before/instead of the live action. I'm three episodes into the live-action, and it reminds me of One Piece. It nails a LOT of the vibes, but it's moving fast, so some story beats felt better in the animation. It's definitely worth watching.

[j4remi]

Damn the guys who made SpiderVerse are trying to pitch Batman Beyond to WB...WB needs to stop funding stupid crap and just support their proposal and enjoy the profits.



Also, I'm sad to hear about Kill the Suicide Squad, considering the Arkham games are one of my favorites

After the X-Men '97 trailer dropped, I geeked out with some KFTV heads about how great 90's cartoons were. I got X-Men, Batman TAS as 1a and 1b; with Batman Beyond, Spider-man TAS, and Static Shock as the shows that made me a comic book head. I still have a Batman Beyond comic where Harley Quinn pops up as a cussing grandmother with her two trash-talking granddaughters somewhere.

[DOT]

Spoiler:

I don't necessarily buy that, just cause we've seen the 5 of them interact with Imu when there's no other witnesses, and even if it's for a brief moment, I don't think they'd need to receive orders from him that way if they were literal puppets. Plus when Cobra confronts them and they've decide he's gonna die, they still seem to have agency of their own

There's just too many unknowns about the Gorosei and Imu to do anything but speculate. I can think of a few options off the top of my head, first is that if they are just devil fruit users with mythical zoans, he's taken enough damage that the will of the fruit is taking over (or this is his full transformation, he doesn't appear to have arms or a torso, just his head is human-ish but I think that's in line with the Ushi-Oni which is what is speculated his fruit is)

They could also be beasts which ate human-human fruits, like imagine if those mythical creatures did exist as servants of Imu, and then after the Void century they ate devil fruits which allowed them to blend in as humans. So when we see them, they're just always transformed into their human form, and the form we see now is what Saturn actually looked like

Or they could be actual devils, remember dude teleported onto Egghead using a magic circle, which is still to be explained and I can't wait to see animated cause I feel like if they nail the sound direction that could be one of the most tense moments of the series. Potentially Imu made a deal with the devil for the power to win the war 800 years earlier which granted him immortality and the Gorosei as vassals as well as created devil fruits, which would be why they're called that. I mean that theory's much more out there, and I'm not a big fan of "now it's time to kill god" endings like how Naruto pulled that twist out of nowhere and is why Boruto exists but it's still possible

The one character I do want to see switch sides is Kaku though. Not cause he's strong or anything, but I've always felt like of the CP-9 and CP-0 agents (other than Stussy of course), he was the only one who had a twinge of regret for what he did. Plus he wasn't in on Lucci's subterfuge at the start of the arc, dude just got bubble'd the moment Lucci did his thing lol

Spoiler:

I agree that there are too many unknowns to get far beyond speculation. The only bit that I think is fairly certain is that they're not human, which this arc has really stressed. But I don't think the interactions with Imu discount them being similar to the Vegapunk satellites now that we've seen they interact with each other and have kept knowledge to themselves in some cases. It's not my favorite explanation, but I've gone from completely throwing it out to keeping an eye out for hints.

Not that I'm sold on any single explanation. The concept of them being beasts or demons that ate human-human fruits could be really cool, and it's unexplored territory. We've seen objects and animals that ate fruits, but we've never gotten any explanations on how it works beyond that.

I forgot about the demon summoning circle, too. The concept of them being devils would be pretty cool, especially considering we've seen lunarians and Skypeians who look like angels. Where you can have angels, you usually find demons/devils. I wouldn't love Imu making a deal with the devil. But only because I prefer Imu to be the devil that the other WG nations made a deal with (figuratively speaking in this case, rather than the literal devil).

On the Kaku tip, I swear that when Water 7 was dropping weekly, I rooted for Kaku to be the shipwright they'd add. He was my favorite from before the CP-9 reveal. I completely forgot that he was around somewhere, but he always struck me as the most likable member of that clique. The return of the Usopp/Kaku gag would be great. Plus, it'd be cool if his knowledge about CP-0's movements made him a foil to Caribou. Caribou feeds BB secret info, Kaku feeds the Strawhats secret info...Shanks feeds the Gorosei (kidding...mostly)

God, I love how much theory crafting the One Piece world offers. It's high-key got me looking at shows like Frieren and wondering about stuff, "if Himmel couldn't pull the sword from the stone, and Qual was too powerful to kill, whose to say the Hero's Party vanquished the Demon King rather than sealed him or something similar?" type stuff.

Plus we know that aliens exist from Enel's cover story, though I'm fairly certain that isn't gonna come back into play just cause it's been so long, I think Oda intended that to be part of the story but has dropped it cause it went in a different direction

Spoiler:

Also, I'm pretty certain that Vegapunk's announcement is gonna be almost entirely stuff we as the audience know, with only a couple of reveals for us. I would assume it's gonna be the reveal of Imu's existence which in and of itself would be a huge revelation, as well as potentially the name of the ancient kingdom and the fact the current WG overthrew it. Cause like, we know about Imu, and the Revolutionaries know, but the Strawhats and everyone else don't

I get that about theory crafting, but in the instance of Frieren, I prefer the story to be what it is, because to me the subversion of Himmel not being able to pull the sword but still being the hero that defeated the Demon King is more interesting

Plus, Frieren is just a better show for being a more low-stakes, personal growth journey than anything else.

[MrDollarBills]

Damn the guys who made SpiderVerse are trying to pitch Batman Beyond to WB...WB needs to stop funding stupid crap and just support their proposal and enjoy the profits.



Also, I'm sad to hear about Kill the Suicide Squad, considering the Arkham games are one of my favorites

WB is run by crackheads. This would break 400m easily

I

[MrDollarBills]

Spoiler:

I don't necessarily buy that, just cause we've seen the 5 of them interact with Imu when there's no other witnesses, and even if it's for a brief moment, I don't think they'd need to receive orders from him that way if they were literal puppets. Plus when Cobra confronts them and they've decide he's gonna die, they still seem to have agency of their own

There's just too many unknowns about the Gorosei and Imu to do anything but speculate. I can think of a few options off the top of my head, first is that if they are just devil fruit users with mythical zoans, he's taken enough damage that the will of the fruit is taking over (or this is his full transformation, he doesn't appear to have arms or a torso, just his head is human-ish but I think that's in line with the Ushi-Oni which is what is speculated his fruit is)

They could also be beasts which ate human-human fruits, like imagine if those mythical creatures did exist as servants of Imu, and then after the Void century they ate devil fruits which allowed them to blend in as humans. So when we see them, they're just always transformed into their human form, and the form we see now is what Saturn actually looked like

Or they could be actual devils, remember dude teleported onto Egghead using a magic circle, which is still to be explained and I can't wait to see animated cause I feel like if they nail the sound direction that could be one of the most tense moments of the series. Potentially Imu made a deal with the devil for the power to win the war 800 years earlier which granted him immortality and the Gorosei as vassals as well as created devil fruits, which would be why they're called that. I mean that theory's much more out there, and I'm not a big fan of "now it's time to kill god" endings like how Naruto pulled that twist out of nowhere and is why Boruto exists but it's still possible

The one character I do want to see switch sides is Kaku though. Not cause he's strong or anything, but I've always felt like of the CP-9 and CP-0 agents (other than Stussy of course), he was the only one who had a twinge of regret for what he did. Plus he wasn't in on Lucci's subterfuge at the start of the arc, dude just got bubble'd the moment Lucci did his thing lol

Spoiler:

I agree that there are too many unknowns to get far beyond speculation. The only bit that I think is fairly certain is that they're not human, which this arc has really stressed. But I don't think the interactions with Imu discount them being similar to the Vegapunk satellites now that we've seen they interact with each other and have kept knowledge to themselves in some cases. It's not my favorite explanation, but I've gone from completely throwing it out to keeping an eye out for hints.

Not that I'm sold on any single explanation. The concept of them being beasts or demons that ate human-human fruits could be really cool, and it's unexplored territory. We've seen objects and animals that ate fruits, but we've never gotten any explanations on how it works beyond that.

I forgot about the demon summoning circle, too. The concept of them being devils would be pretty cool, especially considering we've seen lunarians and Skypeians who look like angels. Where you can have angels, you usually find demons/devils. I wouldn't love Imu making a deal with the devil. But only because I prefer Imu to be the devil that the other WG nations made a deal with (figuratively speaking in this case, rather than the literal devil).

On the Kaku tip, I swear that when Water 7 was dropping weekly, I rooted for Kaku to be the shipwright they'd add. He was my favorite from before the CP-9 reveal. I completely forgot that he was around somewhere, but he always struck me as the most likable member of that clique. The return of the Usopp/Kaku gag would be great. Plus, it'd be cool if his knowledge about CP-0's movements made him a foil to Caribou. Caribou feeds BB secret info, Kaku feeds the Strawhats secret info...Shanks feeds the Gorosei (kidding...mostly)

God, I love how much theory crafting the One Piece world offers. It's high-key got me looking at shows like Frieren and wondering about stuff, "if Himmel couldn't pull the sword from the stone, and Qual was too powerful to kill, whose to say the Hero's Party vanquished the Demon King rather than sealed him or something similar?" type stuff.

Plus we know that aliens exist from Enel's cover story, though I'm fairly certain that isn't gonna come back into play just cause it's been so long, I think Oda intended that to be part of the story but has dropped it cause it went in a different direction

Spoiler:

Also, I'm pretty certain that Vegapunk's announcement is gonna be almost entirely stuff we as the audience know, with only a couple of reveals for us. I would assume it's gonna be the reveal of Imu's existence which in and of itself would be a huge revelation, as well as potentially the name of the ancient kingdom and the fact the current WG overthrew it. Cause like, we know about Imu, and the Revolutionaries know, but the Strawhats and everyone else don't

I get that about theory crafting, but in the instance of Frieren, I prefer the story to be what it is, because to me the subversion of Himmel not being able to pull the sword but still being the hero that defeated the Demon King is more interesting

Plus, Frieren is just a better show for being a more low-stakes, personal growth journey than anything else.

Himmel Frieren's husband is the GOAT. Never seen a character like this dude to be able to rizz up a woman from beyond the grave is an impressive feat

[MrDollarBills]

Damn the guys who made SpiderVerse are trying to pitch Batman Beyond to WB...WB needs to stop funding stupid crap and just support their proposal and enjoy the profits.



Also, I'm sad to hear about Kill the Suicide Squad, considering the Arkham games are one of my favorites

After the X-Men '97 trailer dropped, I geeked out with some KFTV heads about how great 90's cartoons were. I got X-Men, Batman TAS as 1a and 1b; with Batman Beyond, Spider-man TAS, and Static Shock as the shows that made me a comic book head. I still have a Batman Beyond comic where Harley Quinn pops up as a cussing grandmother with her two trash-talking granddaughters somewhere.

That comic is most likely an adaptation of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker?

Batman: TAS is the undisputed #1 for me, Justice League/JLU #2, X-Men #3, Batman Beyond #4, Spider-Man #5. I vaguely remember Static Shock.

[j4remi]

Spoiler:

I don't necessarily buy that, just cause we've seen the 5 of them interact with Imu when there's no other witnesses, and even if it's for a brief moment, I don't think they'd need to receive orders from him that way if they were literal puppets. Plus when Cobra confronts them and they've decide he's gonna die, they still seem to have agency of their own

There's just too many unknowns about the Gorosei and Imu to do anything but speculate. I can think of a few options off the top of my head, first is that if they are just devil fruit users with mythical zoans, he's taken enough damage that the will of the fruit is taking over (or this is his full transformation, he doesn't appear to have arms or a torso, just his head is human-ish but I think that's in line with the Ushi-Oni which is what is speculated his fruit is)

They could also be beasts which ate human-human fruits, like imagine if those mythical creatures did exist as servants of Imu, and then after the Void century they ate devil fruits which allowed them to blend in as humans. So when we see them, they're just always transformed into their human form, and the form we see now is what Saturn actually looked like

Or they could be actual devils, remember dude teleported onto Egghead using a magic circle, which is still to be explained and I can't wait to see animated cause I feel like if they nail the sound direction that could be one of the most tense moments of the series. Potentially Imu made a deal with the devil for the power to win the war 800 years earlier which granted him immortality and the Gorosei as vassals as well as created devil fruits, which would be why they're called that. I mean that theory's much more out there, and I'm not a big fan of "now it's time to kill god" endings like how Naruto pulled that twist out of nowhere and is why Boruto exists but it's still possible

The one character I do want to see switch sides is Kaku though. Not cause he's strong or anything, but I've always felt like of the CP-9 and CP-0 agents (other than Stussy of course), he was the only one who had a twinge of regret for what he did. Plus he wasn't in on Lucci's subterfuge at the start of the arc, dude just got bubble'd the moment Lucci did his thing lol

Spoiler:

I agree that there are too many unknowns to get far beyond speculation. The only bit that I think is fairly certain is that they're not human, which this arc has really stressed. But I don't think the interactions with Imu discount them being similar to the Vegapunk satellites now that we've seen they interact with each other and have kept knowledge to themselves in some cases. It's not my favorite explanation, but I've gone from completely throwing it out to keeping an eye out for hints.

Not that I'm sold on any single explanation. The concept of them being beasts or demons that ate human-human fruits could be really cool, and it's unexplored territory. We've seen objects and animals that ate fruits, but we've never gotten any explanations on how it works beyond that.

I forgot about the demon summoning circle, too. The concept of them being devils would be pretty cool, especially considering we've seen lunarians and Skypeians who look like angels. Where you can have angels, you usually find demons/devils. I wouldn't love Imu making a deal with the devil. But only because I prefer Imu to be the devil that the other WG nations made a deal with (figuratively speaking in this case, rather than the literal devil).

On the Kaku tip, I swear that when Water 7 was dropping weekly, I rooted for Kaku to be the shipwright they'd add. He was my favorite from before the CP-9 reveal. I completely forgot that he was around somewhere, but he always struck me as the most likable member of that clique. The return of the Usopp/Kaku gag would be great. Plus, it'd be cool if his knowledge about CP-0's movements made him a foil to Caribou. Caribou feeds BB secret info, Kaku feeds the Strawhats secret info...Shanks feeds the Gorosei (kidding...mostly)

God, I love how much theory crafting the One Piece world offers. It's high-key got me looking at shows like Frieren and wondering about stuff, "if Himmel couldn't pull the sword from the stone, and Qual was too powerful to kill, whose to say the Hero's Party vanquished the Demon King rather than sealed him or something similar?" type stuff.

Plus we know that aliens exist from Enel's cover story, though I'm fairly certain that isn't gonna come back into play just cause it's been so long, I think Oda intended that to be part of the story but has dropped it cause it went in a different direction

Spoiler:

Also, I'm pretty certain that Vegapunk's announcement is gonna be almost entirely stuff we as the audience know, with only a couple of reveals for us. I would assume it's gonna be the reveal of Imu's existence which in and of itself would be a huge revelation, as well as potentially the name of the ancient kingdom and the fact the current WG overthrew it. Cause like, we know about Imu, and the Revolutionaries know, but the Strawhats and everyone else don't

I get that about theory crafting, but in the instance of Frieren, I prefer the story to be what it is, because to me the subversion of Himmel not being able to pull the sword but still being the hero that defeated the Demon King is more interesting

Plus, Frieren is just a better show for being a more low-stakes, personal growth journey than anything else.

The thing is, I don't think it'd necessarily have to change the stakes. It'd just recontextualize the past, similar to Himmel and the sword. Half the fun of Frieren's flashbacks is seeing how her understanding of the past has shifted because of her experiences in the present (for example, she loved those damned head pats no matter how much she complained). There's so much subtlety that's fun about that show. Stark too for that matter. The present experiences reshape the way they view the past.

The fact we've never seen the Demon King or heard much about the encounter makes me think they'll recontextualize that too, though I'm not sure how or what meaning there will be to take from it.

[MrDollarBills]

Spoiler:

I agree that there are too many unknowns to get far beyond speculation. The only bit that I think is fairly certain is that they're not human, which this arc has really stressed. But I don't think the interactions with Imu discount them being similar to the Vegapunk satellites now that we've seen they interact with each other and have kept knowledge to themselves in some cases. It's not my favorite explanation, but I've gone from completely throwing it out to keeping an eye out for hints.

Not that I'm sold on any single explanation. The concept of them being beasts or demons that ate human-human fruits could be really cool, and it's unexplored territory. We've seen objects and animals that ate fruits, but we've never gotten any explanations on how it works beyond that.

I forgot about the demon summoning circle, too. The concept of them being devils would be pretty cool, especially considering we've seen lunarians and Skypeians who look like angels. Where you can have angels, you usually find demons/devils. I wouldn't love Imu making a deal with the devil. But only because I prefer Imu to be the devil that the other WG nations made a deal with (figuratively speaking in this case, rather than the literal devil).

On the Kaku tip, I swear that when Water 7 was dropping weekly, I rooted for Kaku to be the shipwright they'd add. He was my favorite from before the CP-9 reveal. I completely forgot that he was around somewhere, but he always struck me as the most likable member of that clique. The return of the Usopp/Kaku gag would be great. Plus, it'd be cool if his knowledge about CP-0's movements made him a foil to Caribou. Caribou feeds BB secret info, Kaku feeds the Strawhats secret info...Shanks feeds the Gorosei (kidding...mostly)

God, I love how much theory crafting the One Piece world offers. It's high-key got me looking at shows like Frieren and wondering about stuff, "if Himmel couldn't pull the sword from the stone, and Qual was too powerful to kill, whose to say the Hero's Party vanquished the Demon King rather than sealed him or something similar?" type stuff.

Plus we know that aliens exist from Enel's cover story, though I'm fairly certain that isn't gonna come back into play just cause it's been so long, I think Oda intended that to be part of the story but has dropped it cause it went in a different direction

Spoiler:

Also, I'm pretty certain that Vegapunk's announcement is gonna be almost entirely stuff we as the audience know, with only a couple of reveals for us. I would assume it's gonna be the reveal of Imu's existence which in and of itself would be a huge revelation, as well as potentially the name of the ancient kingdom and the fact the current WG overthrew it. Cause like, we know about Imu, and the Revolutionaries know, but the Strawhats and everyone else don't

I get that about theory crafting, but in the instance of Frieren, I prefer the story to be what it is, because to me the subversion of Himmel not being able to pull the sword but still being the hero that defeated the Demon King is more interesting

Plus, Frieren is just a better show for being a more low-stakes, personal growth journey than anything else.

The thing is, I don't think it'd necessarily have to change the stakes. It'd just recontextualize the past, similar to Himmel and the sword. Half the fun of Frieren's flashbacks is seeing how her understanding of the past has shifted because of her experiences in the present (for example, she loved those damned head pats no matter how much she complained). There's so much subtlety that's fun about that show. Stark too for that matter. The present experiences reshape the way they view the past.

The fact we've never seen the Demon King or heard much about the encounter makes me think they'll recontextualize that too, though I'm not sure how or what meaning there will be to take from it.

The scene where she pats Heiter's head was so good. her dynamic with those three goofballs is so strong, and we only get it in piecemeal.

[MrDollarBills]

If you guys like Frieren and Himmel, another show with a good relationship dynamic is Mao Mao and Jinshi from Apocathery Diaries. Mao Mao is just as dense as Frieren is, and frankly, a lot more unhinged (which makes her so entertaining):

Watch on YouTube

So good. It's crazy that both of these shows came out around the same time.

What i like about these relationships is that it's clear that it's unrequited love, but the men who are smitten with these women don't act like their love interests owe them anything. It's refreshing.

Not to spoil, but in a later story arc in the manga of Frieren, you really get to see just how good of a person Himmel was. I would watch a whole prequel about him honestly but the series does a great job of showing a lot without showing everything