TMM

It was sooooo good. Knowing exactly what was coming didn't dampen the emotional impact of any of it. 

Personally I would love to see season two/three/four flesh out the years between TLOU1 and TLOU2. There is enough of a gap there, plus you have the flashback scenes and ultimately the TLOU2 story to guide you along the way. I loved the second game and thought the story was fantastic as well, maybe not quite up to the first one but that's understandable considering how good that was.

18 hours ago, tristy said:

I found a really good CM Punk w/ trunks and his ROH/Revolution gear. But the moveset was WAY off - doing standing moonsaults and stuff. The CM Punk by Dre is good actually, but for the purposes of this game I wanted him with trunks.

Any time I see a good CAW on r/WWEGames, I save the post so I can go back to it later. There is a guy who specifically does late 90s WCW guys - he has a really good Giant, DDP, Raven and Sting.

The guy doing the WCW ones is great. He did a huge roster for 2K19, literally almost everyone you can think of, he did. And they were all good

Defract’s Chris Jericho is amazing and the WCW Project guy is back again with a Lex Luger already while now working on a Sting. Yeah, the cross-platform/cross-gen CAW’s are a big thing for this year

I feel like this is karma, but I started a game as Newcastle with the first transfer window turned off, thinking it’d be a fun challenge to get to January and then spend all the money. Turns out there seems to be a bug meaning I don’t get a January transfer budget

For the first time since VAR was introduced, I've had a goal awarded to me (or at least not overturned) by a VAR check and it was my very first one of the season.

I love the logic of the big clubs on this game. As AFC Wimbledon, Man City wanted to sign Emi Buendia from me after one season. He’d had an ok season so I was willing to sell, asked for £60m and they accepted and a few days later, bye bye Emi, thanks, you had a decent season.
Couple of days later I see that he has been transfer listed for £80m with zero interest. Ok, that’s funny. Let’s see if they’ll accept a loan...they did. No fee, 50% of his wages and option to buy for £80m and Emi has returned!

You say shitty, I say hilarious

I completed the main game for what must be the third or fourth time the other day and started on the DLC for what is only my second time, so I'm quite excited. I barely remember much of what was added apart from Touissant being an absolutely huge new area, so that is really cool.
It's definately one of the best games ever, with the story, voice acting and everything still holding up really well.

Everything still appears to be available on Sortitoutsi

https://sortitoutsi.net/graphics/style/1/cut-out-player-faces

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50156033

It’s so bad it’s on BBC

Was really disappointed not to see more of Leah Williamson. She's the best defender in the champions of the WSL who's game is built around playing out from the back...something Phil Neville claims is the "non-negotiable" England style. 

Anyway, all this means is I can happily support the Netherlands. Miedema and van de Donk are so damn good and I'd love to see them against USA.

Obviously I knew it was in the game but it's still pretty cool to finally see it

It's on PC. Xbox announced the Ultimate Games Pass which includes the new PC Games Pass. Incidentally, if you have a Xbox Live Gold pass you can convert any remaining time to the Ultimate pass for £1 and you won't be charged (£10.99 a month) until the originally subscription applies

Agents of SHIELD starts up on E4 tomorrow night. Feels like this is the earliest we've had it.

I appear to be in the minority here but I loved it. 

56 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

I think Sophie Turner is great. She's had some very good scenes. I'm of the unpopular opinion that she's been better than Maisie Williams for quite a while now.

I kind of think there’s a degree of character preference that clouds the perception of acting ability. 

21 minutes ago, Kaney said:

I think my only major concern with Endgame is basically everything here.

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I know it's a different medium but one of the things I really liked about the MCU over comics is the fact that it's all streamlined, one specific reality and that's it. In the comics world you have Astonishing XMen, Uncanny XMen etc etc and they're all separate and have their own stories and so on, I could never be motivated to keep up with them all. In the MCU, theres already more than 20 individual films, and it sort of stresses me out to think that there might end up being a line where Black Widow does this but also Gamora doesn't do this and in this crossover episode Ronan is the bad guy but not that Ronan, the other one and bleh.

I have faith that itll be handled better than that but I just generally dislike the whole idea of alternate but concurrent realities when it was all so straightforward to begin with. I'm probably alone on this though.

9 hours ago, Gabriel said:

Thoughts after seeing Endgame

 

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I heard a few people in the theatre after the movie ended wondering about how Black Widow is still getting a solo film, despite sacrificing herself and the confirmation that you cannot bring back someone who was exchanged for the soul stone.

My theory here, is that they aren't bringing her back. So the next question is, will it be a prequel? I don't believe that it will be... and here is why:

They make a point throughout the film of bringing up that no one really knows the ramifications of screwing with the time-stream the way that they did. It's also brought up that time travel doesn't work like in Back to the Future (because how could it?), and instead, what you do when you travel back in time doesn't have any affect on the future from which you came.

So I believe that Marvel used Endgame as a way to introduce Divergent Timelines, or Alternate Realities if you'd prefer... which is really quite genius. This is going to allow Marvel the freedom to kill off characters in our main MCU timeline, which we'll call the 616 Universe, like in the comics and as referenced in The Dark World. How does it allow that freedom? Well, realistically, if say Chris Hemsworth is wanting to be done with Thor after his next film appearance, they could have Thor die in the 616 Universe... but if he decides he wants to return to the role in any form later on, they don't need to come up with some contrived way to bring him back. Leave him dead in the 616 Universe, but have him show up in films that take place in the other universes created by the Avengers time travel from Endgame.

Adding to that, it allows them the ability to re-cast roles without having the same issues that most franchises do when they attempt that. If Hemsworth decides he's done and then doesn't want to come back, they can cast someone else as Thor in one of the divergent timelines and it won't be nearly as jarring for the fans.

Now, I know that someone is going to come in and say something about The Ancient One's explanation. This is what she said: "The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one stone and that flow splits. Now, this may benefit your reality, but my new one, not so much. In this new branch reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world would be over-run and millions would suffer. Tell me, Doctor, can your science prevent all that?"

So, according to her, removing the stones from a reality and not replacing them would be catastrophic. EXCEPT... when Thanos returned to Titan and used the stones one more time, allowing the heroes to find him, he used the stones to destroy the stones. Therefore, there would be no stones in that reality anymore. So, unless Phase 4 is about a cosmic big bad that comes from the lack of stones, Marvel used that as a way to throw people off the scent a little bit, in regards to alternate realities/divergent timelines.

It is established in the film that going back in time cannot change the future, so even if Captain America returned the Infinity Stones to the exact moment when they were taken, they would still have been taken, meaning that their exploits in the past would have changed what happened, forcing the creation a divergent timeline.

In 2012, instead of Loki being taken to Asgard after the events of the original Avengers film, he escapes with the space stone. I would expect that Loki's Disney+ series will be focused on that timeline. Again, as it is a different timeline, the show will be able to feature other characters without affecting the main 616 Timeline. Interestingly, this timeline's Captain America is believed to be an agent of Hydra because of how Steve Rogers convinced them to let him take the scepter... though, this timeline's Cap is unaware that this happened. I would imagine that something will be done with that, after how Chris Evans said goodbye to the franchise when production wrapped, followed by comments from Kevin Feige and the Russo's saying that we may see more of him. This would be the way to do it, without ruining the ending he was given in Endgame.

In 2013, Thor speaks to his mother Frigga in Valhalla. There isn't anything crazy done here, but it's worth noting that she would have been able to piece it together. The state of her son, the way he told her that there was something she needed to know, and how she reacted to him being there... though nothing crazy happened, it's possible that Frigga figured it out and winds up not dying during the events of The Dark World, in this potential new timeline. Though, it's also possible that because of who she is and what she knows, that she would allow it to happen, hoping that it wouldn't create a new timeline.

In 2014, Peter Quill gets knocked the fuck out by War Machine before he gets to the power stone. It gets returned, but by this point, Thanos has figured out the Avengers plan and dispatched Ronan to Morag. It would stand to reason that a new timeline is created here by Ronan being the one to obtain the stone, while arresting or murdering Star-Lord. So, in that timeline, the events of Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn't come to pass, and with Thanos gone to 2023 with his armies, Ronan would be the one in possession of the power stone, and arguably one of the most powerful beings in the universe.

Also in 2014, Black Widow sacrifices herself so that Hawkeye can claim the soul stone. This releases The Red Skull from his imprisonment as the keeper of the stone. Thanos has gone to the future and died... so the events of Infinity War and Thanos playing puppet-master throughout most of the films don't happen. Ronan is now a very powerful evil, and maybe uses his newfound power to head to Earth in an effort to bring out Captain Marvel. She escaped him once, but at this point, he would be vastly superior to his past self, and may see Earth as a weakness for Carol. She has been accused, and Earth will be judged. That could very well be her next film.

So, now that I've touched on all of that... the Black Widow solo film. I believe that she is completely and utterly dead in the 616 Universe. That being said, her solo film can take place in the 2012 Divergent Timeline. After the Battle of New York, SHIELD and the Avengers believe that Captain America is a Hydra agent. He took the scepter from the Hydra double agents in the elevator, and they don't know where the stone has gone. We know Loki took it, but good luck telling the authorities that. So Cap is on the run, which probably fractures the Avengers team, or causes major changes. Natasha ends up leaving the team in the aftermath and doing solo work for SHIELD. Maybe part of what she's doing is trying to find Steve Rogers, but I wouldn't have him in the film as anything more than a cameo or small part. You don't want to take that attention away from ScarJo.

Of course, in that timeline, Thanos is still alive and working on his master plan...so that has to be considered as well. Not that Black Widow should necessarily be doing anything about that, especially because the Avengers didn't even know about Thanos at that point. But there's a rumored Eternals movie coming. Maybe that movie takes place in this timeline, and they learn about what Thanos has planned and shut him down before he can do it. Or maybe it's Adam Warlock.

There's also the WandaVision show coming to Disney+. Olsen said something that led people to believe that it may be a period piece, but after seeing Endgame and Vision not being brought back, my best guess is that it also will take place in one of the divergent timelines... however, they don't time travel to a point where Vision is still alive. He is created in Age of Ultron, which I believe takes place in 2015. So, for that to work, one of the divergent timelines would need to be similar enough that Tony and Bruce still create Vision, and Scarlet Witch still becomes an Avenger.

Oh, and I didn't even touch on the fact that Captain America and Iron Man traveled back to 1970. They didn't cause much havoc, but it's possible that someone recognized Steve Rogers and that sets off a series of new events, leading to a new timeline. Or it's possible that the missing Pym Particles do the same thing.

What about when Steve went back and stayed with Peggy? I can't imagine he'd be dumb enough to just show up and tell people he was Steve Rogers, but he placed himself in the past, which would HAVE to create a new timeline.

So, beyond the possibilities for all that... why else is this a genius move from Marvel? Because they have the X-Men and Fantastic Four to bring on board at some point. Now, they can choose to plop them into a divergent timeline instead of the 616 Universe... or they could do both. Maybe someone recognizes Steve Rogers in the past, knows that Captain America is alive and sets off to re-engineer the super solider serum, instead creating genetic mutations and leading to the X-Men?

The possibilities are endless here.

 

Give me all of that

I was looking for something to watch and flicked through Netflix and in my recommended it had a couple of Korean and Japanese series. One was called Bridal Mask, so I watched the first episode on the train to work and so far so good, definitely has me wanting to watch more. It’s very Korean, and that’s a good thing.

4 hours ago, Skummy said:

Offshore sounds great, definitely going to check that out.

I'm currently reading "Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire" by Akala, and it's absolutely brilliant.

I, to my shame, didn't know Akala's work until very recently, and it's a wonderful mix of sociology and biography. The first couple of chapters were interesting but "tell me something I don't know", and then the third goes into the public perception of black athletes, and constructs of blackness and whiteness, and I was just absolutely gripped. Phenomenal stuff.

Akala's book is on my to read list for sure.

I read Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge a few weeks ago and it's a really eye-opening read. As a white person, you really don't consider any thing you have as an advantage or any of the subtleties about racism. The chapter about slavery in England was something I was completely unaware of because as far as school education went, slavery was an American thing.

On a completely different route, after seeing the film and having lots of people praise the book I figured I'd give Ready Player One a read. It's really good and while you obviously know the outcome, the journey to get there is so, so different to the film.

45 minutes ago, Arjen Robben said:

In my current save the final of the 2019 Copa America was Argentina vs... Japan B  Somehow Japan B knocked Brazil out on penalties.

Yeah Guinea B were somehow in the 2025 Confederation Cup on my game

I’m giving serious consideration to either the 03/04 season or the women’s league that just got released. But I’m such a stickler for volume and accuracy I’m worried that it won’t be populated enough for me to properly enjoy. Argh!

So...is Titans any good?

They’re moving the show to a different fucking state because one of their fights tested positive and instead of banning him they’re going somewhere that will allow the fight to go ahead. This without telling any fighters on the card it seems

It’s like they knew I was almost home