Lucas selling Star Wars to disney turned out to be the greatest thing that ever happened to him. In retrospect, his prequels and remakes of the original trilogy look like far lesser abominations than they once did.

It's like Tiberius having chosen Caligula as his successor.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1113528Lucas selling Star Wars to disney turned out to be the greatest thing that ever happened to him. In retrospect, his prequels and remakes of the original trilogy look like far lesser abominations than they once did.

It's like Tiberius having chosen Caligula as his successor.

I'm haunted by similar sentiments from Razorfist... who said upon Lucas's sale: "Mark my words kids, two-months after 'The Force Awakening', you'll be praying to Jesus-Tittyfucking-Christ for Uncle George to come back and take over the reins of this disaster, and the Prequels will start looking a lot better than you remember."

And yes... I feel like a Roman Senator sharing a seat with Caligula's mount, who is now also a Senator, while the horse takes a Cleveland Steamer in the chambers whilst I'm making my proclamations.

I feel the same way about Hollywood, Marvel/DC comics, D&D, WoD, Blizzard Games, Social Media, Big Tech writ-large, Big Publishing and probably a few other things culturally important to me.

Quote from: tenbones;1113563I'm haunted by similar sentiments from Razorfist... who said upon Lucas's sale: "Mark my words kids, two-months after 'The Force Awakening', you'll be praying to Jesus-Tittyfucking-Christ for Uncle George to come back and take over the reins of this disaster, and the Prequels will start looking a lot better than you remember."

And yes... I feel like a Roman Senator sharing a seat with Caligula's mount, who is now also a Senator, while the horse takes a Cleveland Steamer in the chambers whilst I'm making my proclamations.

I feel the same way about Hollywood, Marvel/DC comics, D&D, WoD, Blizzard Games, Social Media, Big Tech writ-large, Big Publishing and probably a few other things culturally important to me.

There are some folks I like in Hollywood, most not though. Most don't seem to represent anything particularly entertaining or educational. I'm pretty much running and playing old school D&D and RPGs, although I am running a 5e Adventures in Middle Earth Campaign at the moment, and will continue to do so for the forseeable future. I'm really in the process of withdrawing from social media though. At one time, it held promise of being a great equalizer and promoting enlightened free and open discussions to improve our common future, It's being used instead to divide and conquer, and people are using it deliberately to conceal truths and crimes, and to create dissension, and disharmony.

The technology is supposed to improve the real world, instead it is being used irresponsibly by  corporations, governments, and greedy business people to further divide the peoples into different classes, with each class holding different (Some more, some less) rights, and responsibilities (some more, and some less). It is being used to create inequality. The solution, which is manifesting is that people that are disaffected are discontinuing their use of technology, that established truth in science is being deliberately ignored or concealed, and that people are openly mistrustful of technology, because of the misapplication of science.

In that environment, I'm stepping off the crazy train and creating a separate reality, one where the truth is revered, where justice is served instead of injustice, and one where people are treated with integrity and respect. There will be no one that will be paid by myself, or by any of my peers if I have any say at all to ruin the things that I enjoy or love. Good Luck with trying that!

Good post Game Daddy.

I don't know how much of a separate reality we can create for ourselves, but anyone can step off the crazy train into a media-free or media-minimal existence which is probably a very healthy option.

Quote from: GameDaddy;1113576There are some folks I like in Hollywood, most not though. Most don't seem to represent anything particularly entertaining or educational. I'm pretty much running and playing old school D&D and RPGs, although I am running a 5e Adventures in Middle Earth Campaign at the moment, and will continue to do so for the forseeable future. I'm really in the process of withdrawing from social media though. At one time, it held promise of being a great equalizer and promoting enlightened free and open discussions to improve our common future, It's being used instead to divide and conquer, and people are using it deliberately to conceal truths and crimes, and to create dissension, and disharmony.

The technology is supposed to improve the real world, instead it is being used irresponsibly by  corporations, governments, and greedy business people to further divide the peoples into different classes, with each class holding different (Some more, some less) rights, and responsibilities (some more, and some less). It is being used to create inequality. The solution, which is manifesting is that people that are disaffected are discontinuing their use of technology, that established truth in science is being deliberately ignored or concealed, and that people are openly mistrustful of technology, because of the misapplication of science.

In that environment, I'm stepping off the crazy train and creating a separate reality, one where the truth is revered, where justice is served instead of injustice, and one where people are treated with integrity and respect. There will be no one that will be paid by myself, or by any of my peers if I have any say at all to ruin the things that I enjoy or love. Good Luck with trying that!

I quit social media in 2012. Quit Google in 2015. You can do it!

Quote from: tenbones;1113563I'm haunted by similar sentiments from Razorfist... who said upon Lucas's sale: "Mark my words kids, two-months after 'The Force Awakening', you'll be praying to Jesus-Tittyfucking-Christ for Uncle George to come back and take over the reins of this disaster, and the Prequels will start looking a lot better than you remember."

I enjoyed Force Awakens, though it did feel like they needed a bit more exposition/training in the middle for Rei to use force powers near the end. I even thought they did a decent job of showing that Kylo Ren was going easy on her during the lightsaber fight. Not as good as the original 3, but better than episode 1. And I liked Rogue One quite a bit. Probably my favorite Star Wars movie other than the original trilogy.

But The Last Jedi was a hot mess which got worse the more you thought about it. It had a few cool moments, but it set the entire setting on fire for no apparent reason - both characters & continuity. (ex: if a single ship can warp through entire fleets - why in the heck didn't The Separatists have a bunch of drone ships do that)

I haven't even bothered watching Solo yet, though I probably should watch it while it's still free on Netflix. I've heard that it's pretty decent, and I'm sure that it'll leave Netflix soon with Disney Plus starting soon.

Quote from: Charon's Little Helper;1113597I enjoyed Force Awakens, though it did feel like they needed a bit more exposition/training in the middle for Rei to use force powers near the end. I even thought they did a decent job of showing that Kylo Ren was going easy on her during the lightsaber fight. Not as good as the original 3, but better than episode 1. And I liked Rogue One quite a bit. Probably my favorite Star Wars movie other than the original trilogy.

But The Last Jedi was a hot mess which got worse the more you thought about it. It had a few cool moments, but it set the entire setting on fire for no apparent reason - both characters & continuity. (ex: if a single ship can warp through entire fleets - why in the heck didn't The Separatists have a bunch of drone ships do that)

I haven't even bothered watching Solo yet, though I probably should watch it while it's still free on Netflix. I've heard that it's pretty decent, and I'm sure that it'll leave Netflix soon with Disney Plus starting soon.

First off - I don't necessarily want to turn this into another Star Wars discussion, those things suck the oxygen out of the room, even in threads dedicated to them. But I generally agree with you here. And fwiw - I liked Solo... quite a bit, with the caveats - 1) Just pretend Han Solo is his dumb kid brother. 2) My reaction *might* be due to the shitshow that *is* Star Wars currently, and that Solo just seemed more fun than it is. But I've seen it *three* times and I still enjoy it, so...

A big part of this problem in Pop Culture is that it's become politicized and corporatized. Combined with a largely politically and philosophically illiterate and unprincipled populace, which we're now living through the results. The technology is merely the means by which this shitstorm has emerged.

Generally speaking, the Id's are running wild. And its revealing how poorly developed the collective psyches of the west have become. They're weak little screaming emotionally stunted children, wailing for false peace their new retarded religion is promising them at our expense.

I'm not sure we're going to recover or rehabilitate some of these IP's. I think there is a good reason to let them die, or at least let their now radioactive half-lives expire. In the meantime, I see it as a promising time to create new awesome things for people that *want* awesome things!

Quote from: tenbones;1113634I'm not sure we're going to recover or rehabilitate some of these IP's. I think there is a good reason to let them die, or at least let their now radioactive half-lives expire. In the meantime, I see it as a promising time to create new awesome things for people that *want* awesome things!

This. Between Star Wars, Marvel Comics, endless remakes and reboots & etc., it creeps me out the extent to which popular culture continues to be dominated by things my friends and I were into when we were 10 years old.

Quote from: S'mon;1112856Rogue One was a fun "WEG d6 Star Wars: The Movie!" - I could practically see those Force Points being spent.

So true!

I rewatched Rogue One recently and I was struck by how the characters felt like RPG characters you would see around the table for a Star Wars game. You could stat them all using the WEG SW 1e templates.

Quote from: tenbones;1113634In the meantime, I see it as a promising time to create new awesome things for people that *want* awesome things!

Agreed. There will be a breakout hit with fresh new ideas and mass appeal. It may or may not come from Hollywood, and maybe not from the USA, but it will come and it won't be about nostalgia or meta-media or any form of rehash. My bet is an Anime with huge crossover appeal will happen soon and "animated movies for adults" will become a thing in US theaters.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1113738Agreed. There will be a breakout hit with fresh new ideas and mass appeal. It may or may not come from Hollywood, and maybe not from the USA, but it will come and it won't be about nostalgia or meta-media or any form of rehash. My bet is an Anime with huge crossover appeal will happen soon and "animated movies for adults" will become a thing in US theaters.

The US considers 2D cartoons of any kind to be artistically worthless. 3D cartoons nowadays really are artistically void, but make oodles of money anyway.

Anime is a niche market in the West. Furthermore, most anime is aimed social recluses in Japan so it is full of nerd wish fulfillment fantasy like (quite literally) nerds with cellphones saving Fantasyland while surrounded by a harem of ridiculously busty bimbos. That's the typical anime plot nowadays.

When was the last time you watched anime? 2000?

Anime makes me sad. 10 years ago if somebody said, "Anime is just deviant wish fullfillment!" Id get defensive. Now I just say "Yup".

The overall state of animation makes me miserable as that was my major.

Quote from: Shrieking Banshee;1113769Anime makes me sad. 10 years ago if somebody said, "Anime is just deviant wish fullfillment!" Id get defensive. Now I just say "Yup".

The overall state of animation makes me miserable as that was my major.

Totally agree with you. All Western animation nowadays is either idiocy aimed at small children, enjoyable by the whole family, or dead baby comedy. There's nothing for teenagers or adults with taste.

Japanese animation has a variety of genres for people of all ages. The problem is that when it is exported to the West, the exporters don't maintain the demographic categories used by the original. This means that all the anime actually aimed at adults is overwhelmed by a deluge of hot garbage aimed at horny teenage boys, and anime that was originally aimed at horny teenage boys is given R-ratings because of cultural differences.

I don't watch anime anymore because the effort required to sift through the mountains of garbage on the multiple streaming services I am subscribed isn't worth it.

I have the patience to sift through the garbage: Im saying that even the ratio of garbage to non-garbage has increased.

And Im not against childrens animation. Making shows for kids was my original intent. Im saying childrens TV has also gotten worse.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1113770Totally agree with you. All Western animation nowadays is either idiocy aimed at small children, enjoyable by the whole family, or dead baby comedy. There's nothing for teenagers or adults with taste.

Japanese animation has a variety of genres for people of all ages. The problem is that when it is exported to the West, the exporters don't maintain the demographic categories used by the original. This means that all the anime actually aimed at adults is overwhelmed by a deluge of hot garbage aimed at horny teenage boys, and anime that was originally aimed at horny teenage boys is given R-ratings because of cultural differences.

I don't watch anime anymore because the effort required to sift through the mountains of garbage on the multiple streaming services I am subscribed isn't worth it.

Not seeing this. Japanese anime is largely targeted at teenagers. Manga on the other hand has a much wider range but the better material is only slowly translated.

Anime is just hairless furry is all.