Bartimaeus

It's mostly a media-fueled issue. He sucks. He's always sucked. At no point during his NFL career has he not sucked. No biggie, there are a lot of players who suck who never have a word of hate directed their way. Nevertheless, in the late 2000s (and even for some time afterwards), there was such an absolute cacophony of Tebow-related insanity thanks to absolute garbage media outlets like ESPN. The incredibly punchable face along with being such an obnoxiously loud-and-proud Christian that has had his cultists constantly flock to him and whine and scream that he was never given a fair shot and that actually he's good doesn't help any matters. He himself...is not so bad personally from everything I've ever heard, but it's everything that's ever been around him publicly that drives so much hatred his way - much the same way I despise "the Vikings", what I really actually hate are most Vikings fans, but the two get conflated with one another over time...a similar mechanism exists with Tebow and his media presence, I think.

If they aren't currently romancing young children, then Pegasus is probably fine. Probably. (e):

Arion (1986). Hey look, another kind of cool but also kind of off-putting anime poster from the 80s. Arion is a young boy that lives with his blind mother, Demeter, tending to their sheep and gathering food and supplies and such. His good uncle Hades pays Demeter a visit to tell her of current events transpiring, and on his way out, tricks Arion into entering the Underworld and promises the restoration of his mother's sight if Arion, a fledgling Titan, is able to slay Zeus, who is currently embroiled in a war with Poseidon. Demeter pleads with Zeus to save Arion, but her pleas fall on deaf ears. I actually thought it was decent even if, uh, a bit messy narrative-wise and could've been a lot better character-wise. If nothing else, I thought it was a lot better and more fun than Isao Takahata's Horus, Prince of the Sun (1968). ...And I like Ancient Greek stuff, sue me.

Outside of some edge cases where you're min-maxing to build a very low-level character to specifically minimize a particular couple of stats in favor of another for the purpose of PVP (the lower level your character, the better for PVP), Pyromancer is most likely the ideal class base to start from for most any type of character - in addition to the other advantages I mentioned earlier, Pyromancer has about perfectly average stats all around to start with with the notable exception of being weak in divine power (i.e. Faith). And so there is probably one exception to this: I would use a Cleric if I were going for a min-maxed divine spellcaster. Knights and Sorcerers have the worst stat disadvantages compared to a Pyromancer (-6 and -4 respectively - the next worst is -2 for a Thief, and the rest are -1 with the exception of the Wanderer who is actually 0 but who has no angle for making a build over a Pyromancer besides MAYBE if you were going for an absolute pure caster and needed literally zero strength to use weapons while wanting Wanderer's higher Dexterity for cast speed). Pyromancer is really just the best outside of those edge-cases - it's not good design for that to be the case, but it is what it is. And to start out with the Pyromancy Flame is a powerful boon for making some early bosses and enemies a lot easier.

The only really "correct" class in Dark Souls is Pyromancer. Not only do you get immediate access to pyromancies (which unlike the other types of magics do not require stat-scaling and thus can be used with any character so long as you have a pyromancy flame), Pyromancer also objectively starts with the best stats combined with being level 1 (i.e. the most room to grow). Pyromancy is objectively the best class in DS1 - just as Royal is objectively the best in Demon's Souls. DS2 and DS3 would not make the same mistake of having a class that is objectively the best, thankfully. Not that the classes *particularly* matter (you will only be marginally set behind at worst by picking something else), but...it's less than ideal design to have a "favored" class baked in like that. And if you play magic-only instead of melee on your first playthrough, you're a right real toss-pot, .

I was basically treating the first movie as a more competent Death (True)^2, because Death really super sucked and basically did not work even slightly as an abridged "catch up on the entire show so you can watch The End of Evangelion" movie. Also, my brain has been melting trying to remember all of the exact differences between the show and this especially what with me having watched the entire original show in one sitting - makes it hard to recall all of the specific details, guess I'm going to have to eventually watch the show again at some point. The show feels and looks a lot better anyways, so I might as well over this...but I guess since I'm halfway through this already, I might as well finish it too. Miyu:

Evangelion: 2.22 YOU CAN (NOT) ADVANCE [AMAZON EDITION] <ENGLISH DUB> %NO SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISONS THIS TIME% $MAJESTIC'S GOING TO BE THE LAST ONE TO FINISH EVANGELION UNLESS HE HURRIES IT UP$ #BETTER BE DR. PHIL SEIZURING IT UP BY THE END OF THIS OR IT'S NOT EVANGELION# &THIS IS GETTING UNREADABLE SO I GUESS I BETTER STOP& *I WAS RUNNING OUT OF SYMBOLS TO DELINEATE THESE STATEMENTS ANYWAYS* †THEN AGAIN, THAT'S WHAT WE HAVE UNICODE FOR† @majestic was right, Misato really does sound weird in this dub...and it really sounds like it's getting worse. It's very strange, she sounded like 99% herself from the original show in the initial version, but in the first Amazon movie, it was like...maybe 80% herself with a few particularly bad lapses, and now in this second one, it's more like 60% with frequent bad lapses where it's difficult to even tell that it's the original VA. I can only assume it's a combination of aging but also Amazon's more differenter voice direction, particularly because there are still scenes where she does sound like herself, they're just...less frequent than they should be (and also, even Shinji has, at times, sounded not quite himself - there have been a few lines where he's not directly on camera but talking and it took me a moment to realize "oh, that's Shinji" which should never happen). 2.22 stuff:

On the state of the Afghanistan army and the U.S. trying to build them up: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/68d75dfkdampyr0/interesting_insight_into_the_abysmal_state_of_the-zy22bendf0i71.mp4 Thought this was a comedy skit at first, but no... Personally, I'm very happy we're finally getting out: sunk costs should not dictate future costs. Sucks for everyone involved (that we wasted so many lives and so much money and time and effort, for those of them that wanted and depended on us being there, and so on), it really does, but that's life - the best time to have gotten out was right away, the second best is right now. Let's not try to do any more nation-building for a long time, thank you very much - we don't exactly have a good track record of it anyways.

Yeah, I went and checked to make sure - I really do actually have those options when I start it. Sucks to be you, .

Ha. Heh. Yes, especially when it...subverts your expectations, . For probably much the same reason that I can't watch the Japanese, I'm sure you can't tolerate the English! (e): Also, Misato does sound weird in the Amazon English dub - I thought so myself. She sounded more like herself in the original release/script of the movie.

lmao, I'm not sure whether to give you a laughing or crying emote icon...guess it's better to laugh than cry, . ...That's especially strange, though, because *I* have access to the German dub and...all of this for 1.11:

lmao, way to make me look like a psychopath. No, I didn't know that. While I haven't watched the original Japanese and thus I still am not particularly familiar with them...I have listened to and enjoyed each of their covers of Fly Me to the Moon, of which...I mean, there are a lot. I may or may not be an absolute soundtrack fiend. @HoonDing Do you...actually watch any anime at all? The only one I think I've seen you mention with even the hint of seriousness is MAYBE City Hunter, but even that I can't tell if you're joking...

(e): Okay, just to be clear...the second one is called "2.0 YOU CAN (NOT) ADVANCE", right?

Well, KP wasn't wrong: this does very much feel like Evangelion...for the most part. Not nearly as nice-looking as the original Evangelion, but not terrible either (it's probably, stylistically speaking, about as good as one could expect CGI to look, I suppose), and there are some actually good-looking effects/scenes too. Guess I gotta watch the second one...whatever that one's called. (e): Oh wow, they hit me with the old "next episode preview" music after the credits. Dope.

I tried that for a little, but it just sounds so wrong to me. Plus, I mean...I haven't even gotten to Asuka yet, and if Amanda Winn-Lee's Rei was "(non-romantic) love at first sight", Tiffany Grant's Asuka was "I didn't like you at first, but then I couldn't live without you (but yes, in a non-romantic way)". And anyways, like I said, the actual subtitles seem to match the Amazon script more if anything, even though the original script is more what I remember the show and characters being like. So...I guess I'm just going to gut it out with Amazon...

I'm having both play side by side right now, and it's so strange how different the voice direction and script is. Just like...Misato, has been screaming and hurling insults left and right at everything and everyone, including Shinji, in the Amazon script (which, according to the subtitles for the Japanese, is more or less accurate) - in the original English script, she's still yelling but it's a more collected and purposeful kind of yelling (instead of, you know, just sounding completely hysterical), and the insults are minimized or gone entirely. It's really weird and I'm not happy that I can't get the best of both worlds right now.

Her voice is literally a big part of what made me want to keep watching the show after a weird and rough first few episodes that didn't really appeal at all to me. Really, I was strongly considering dropping the show...but that voice was like an angelic choir calling to me - had to figure out what was going on with her. And the fact that the other three (Shinji, Asuka, Misato) are all the same makes it all the more weird and inexplicable. Okay, I'm watching the Amazon version now...and the entire script is different? That's really weird, but I guess I'll have to roll with it. Ritsuko was replaced again...but hey, Rei is back, and that's what matters. (e): Yeah, so, like...this script is way worse than the original script. I just can't win...

They changed Rei's English VA. I thought...I thought all four of them were the same. About to have myself a big ol' Shinji scream right now. I can't even... Evangelion has been cancelled until further notice. Amanda Winn-Lee is like...I can't even begin to describe how important her incredibly distinctive and perfect voice is to that character for me. Like literally, I'll probably remember that voice for the rest of my life is how distinctive and special that voice is to me. Well, I can't watch this. Wait a second... I have to get the AMAZON-specific version of this? Gosh dang it. ...Alright, well, guess I have to do that before I can watch any more. At least I have options!

I switched to the Japanese dub for a moment and it's mildly louder, but still pretty darn quiet. The English is like...next-level quiet, though, so that small bit does make a difference.

Why is this movie so ungoshly quiet? My goodness, I'm two minutes in here and I'm going to have to set my volume to literally the absolute max in order to hear anything. ...I could listen to it on headphones I GUESS, but then I heard Angel Attack play and well, that just seems wrong to listen to on headphones. ...Max volume and getting my ears absolutely blown out from whatever comes on after when I inevitability forget it is, I suppose. (e): Also, the movie looks...okay. It makes me sad thinking about how good the original series looks in comparison, though, .

...Uh, is this another Death & Rebirth vs. Death (True) vs. Death (True)^2 issue? Because if so, a big middle finger to Hideaki "George Lucas" Anno for that, .

Yes, I played and beat it years ago. Gameplay was solid, I liked the world and atmosphere stuff...but the writing was very often clumsy at best. May be partly the translation's fault, though, . Miyu:

Miyu stuff: Evangelion: Guess I'll try the first one, 1.0, and get back to you guys on whether I can take a second one, .

Are you ever watching a show or a movie where you're absolutely blindsided by a twist...that was so incredibly obvious and which there were almost literally legion amount of hints throughout the entire thing (so much so that you had actually literally guessed the twist from the very start but then somehow forgot that you guessed it somewhere along the way because you got distracted with other stuff going on) and then you feel like an absolute babbling baboon when you get sucker-punched in the back of the head as it finally happens? That's me with Eriko right now. Boy do I feel like the big dumb for not putting two and two together. Anyways, I'm going to take the advice of Ronaldo now.

One hundred percent true, which is why I would not disagree it's not communicated well enough (especially when it could've been easily by Miyu herself perfectly sensibly in-universe), . Also, yes, my interpretation is indeed informed by having watched the entire show, which I think clears up a few different things in this regard, at least indirectly, . That's really strange - you'd think that would make Japanese entertainment sound kind of unnatural to actual Japanese watchers. I'd definitely think it'd sound unnatural if your typical American film suddenly did the opposite and only used names and no pronouns.