maybe I just dislike that mystery box style of writing so much.

I felt like TFA was pretty straightforward but THIS, great description btw, “mystery box” style writing got SO BAD after that.

Their whole nonsense about “SuBvErTiNg ExPeCtATiOnS” was like watching perpetually disappointing YouTube unboxing videos. Maybe it’s great internet engagement bait, but it sucks for cinematic storytelling. It felt like the writers themselves had no idea where anything was going behind all the random “subversion.”

I liked the art direction tho…

BUT…Even if nothing else made much sense:

• Turning Luke into a cynical burnout ruined his character. That nonsense was a crime against storytelling.

• Finn should have been a Jedi. He got narratively robbed so brazenly after being set up to be an enduring, unexpected hero, and it pisses me off.

Far before the Disney acquisition, the Clone Wars tv series was actually really impressive and fleshed out the world SO MUCH. “Rebels” did the same for the original trilogy, but that might have been post-Disney.

The animators used filmmaking prowess with things like animating camera shots as if they were on a real film set, which lent a so-far unseen level of professionalism and production quality for a CG television series.

I felt so stupid avoiding it when it first got big, because I thought it was a kiddie “franchise show.” It blew me away and still inspires me as a 3D artist. The visual style definitely grew on me as well. :)

A lot of this is speculation based on that disgusting comment AND an interview with her where she toured her old home and showed her childhood bedroom.

When she got there she just went quiet for a moment with a disassociating thousand-yard stare.

Unless he’s serving a purpose to punish us, and show us the logical extremes of a declining hateful and money-worshipping imperialistic culture.

A LOT of us understand the lesson and would like to be excused from the ride now, PLEASE.

EDIT: Apologies for the reply length!!

The overwhelming majority of Christians in the US

I respectfully, sincerely, beg to differ.

Yes, that’s definitely a picture we get when seen through the lens of headlines. We see the loudest and most obnoxious, hateful, and arrogant. We see ‘megachurches’ dodging taxes and preaching patriotism and idolatry to a flag and empire. We see crosses paired with those stupid red hats. We see gospel music “rockstars” at Turning Point rallies.

Raised hackles mean clicks! And clicks mean money. Our enemies boost this coverage to rile up their fanbase and demoralize their opponents.

We don’t see the number of faith based initiatives and charities desperately filling holes left by a gutted social system. We don’t see the everyday believers and even churches who are trying their best to stay sane and love their neighbors (and enemies!) as Jesus instructed.

I’m not even Catholic but kudos to the Pope for calling out the US goons’ nonsense!

Heck, look how long it took for the Guardian to actually report on Christians who are vocal against this stolen identity the Republican fascists are waving around. Ministers and other believers of a multitude of faiths are at protests, getting maced in the face by jackbooted govvie thugs. Churches are delivering food and supplies to families hunkering down trying to avoid capture by ICE.

And keyboard warriors want to lump them as enemies because they have belief?! How about all the people of differing queer identities that believe? Yeah, there’s lots of them too. God bless them, that’s got to be rough.

I’d argue the “vast majority” of Christians are pretty neutral: They could be doing a lot better. They just want to stay out of it, but they’ll try to help other human beings if they can, but they don’t read their Bible too deeply and are easy to lead astray.

The republifascists want to recruit these neutrals by taking over their church’s narratives, by equating faith with patriotism, and that gets easier when these poor (often self inflicted) ignorant neutrals keep getting bombarded with “ReLiGiOuS pPl SuK” messaging. It makes the bad guys look like friends. Then those neutrals become radicals.

A LOT of money has gone into this narrative that Christianity is simply “conservative by default.” Why? Because Christians used to be a leftist thorn in the side of capitalists! (Highly recommend “Behind the Bastards: How the Rich Stole. Christianity”

We’re harder to see. I definitely could do a better job, but we’re there.

The hard-right lean on pretending to be Christian because it serves two purposes: It galvanizes their radicalized blind fanbase, and attempts to snuff out the followers of Jesus that still remain. Letting them win is a net negative.

Thanks for listening to my ramble and for your thoughtful reply. I have to get back to work hahaha. XD

Oo, “beleif iz 4 dums” such a bold and controversial take on Lemmy. 🙄

I hesitate to post this because I really don’t intend to start a flame-chain but…

This is why we collectively struggle to fight these fascist bastards, because so many on “our side” can’t see past the establishment’s glaringly obvious false-flag bullshit, and are so ready to throw many of their friends and allies away, unable to see past their own arrogance.

If you leave no room to reconcile with those of differing experiences or beliefs, you will quickly find yourself isolated, bitter, and surrounded by enemies.

As a Christian who holds utmost love for friends and allies of a plethora of backgrounds and belief systems (or professed lack thereof), and who will resist this “Murica-brand xtian fascism” with all our might, I implore you and others who behave this way:

Please, leave this bigoted edgy pseudo-intellectual Hitchens/Dawkins-esque nonsense to rot, back on Facebook in 2006. Seeing it repeated so often on every stupid thread where this stupid government does a pathetic imitation of Christianity does not help the resistance. It plays right into their hands.

It’s the same reason the “manosphere” and other toxic movements have taken root: It tells certain groups of people who would have taken your side that they are not welcome because of who they are, and yet we’re surprised when they end up clustering with those who exploit them as pawns with claims of acceptance.

We need them, and WE NEED YOU.

Take care out there…

Damn, that’s cool.

❤️

That sounds wicked! I should totally decorate my PC case with an emblem like that too! I’m still using that Corsair C70 that looks like an olive drab ammo box. :D

Awesome (and super spooky) chryssalid figure! I didn’t even know they made those. 😲 It definitely does the creature justice!

Now I wonder what other figures there are, but I realize at this point I’m probably better off making my own fan models to 3D print. XD

I don’t wanna know how old X-COM WoTC is. I always start it, make a bunch of progress, and then have to abandon it for like half a year at a time. One of these daaaays!!!

I gotta go back and try the classics too. There’s open source engines for them now! :D

SO MUCH. I got so hyped for a brief second there a while back, until I realized it was “2042” and they missed the “1”. Then I was like “Aw c’mon for real?”

The aesthetic was really cool, and Titans mode was awesome. Although I’d like if we could solve the problem where every server owner froze titans in place because they’d crash / slow down the server if people moved them! 😂

I even got that preorder version that gave you a flashdrive that looked like one of their dogtags. THAT was cool!

But we need a good smaller studio to basically create a spiritual successor. Definitely wouldn’t trust EA with this anymore! It’d have some rootkit-style windows-only anticheat and a storefront baked in.

It’s right up there on my unlikely wishlist along with “Sims 3 but allow more RAM and multithreading.” 😂

Actually know what tho? Titanfall 2 fills that 2142 niche somewhat closely. That game’s incredible. I’m glad we seem to still have that, at least.

Right there with you! The “attention economy” has absolutely wreaked havoc on humankind. They’re at the core of all of this.

I suppose the reason I put so much blame on the devices is because of all these little design choices with both the hardware and the OS.

For example: Not having access to the file system, the radios always being on, being very anti-repairable, and like you said, apps not being sandboxed by default.

kids grow up with ‘digital babysitter’ ipads, and if you see any of the kids ipad and video programming it might as well be brain-frying crack for kids

THIS so much! We’re gonna be an iPadless household, and I’m telling everyone: If they gift anything cocomelon or equivalent, it’s gonna go right back, thanks but no thanks.

Yeah, education has also been seriously screwed up, I could write entire paragraphs about that too. From “no child left behind” to “whole-word reading” dropping phonics (someone shared an excellent podcast series called “Sold a Story” about that disaster. Basically it taught kids to read like your phone keyboard predicts words. Exactly as insane as it sounds.)

A lot of education has to happen in the home, and we’re several generations into practically unparented kids, whether just plain negligent and broken households or mom and/or dad both slaving their lives away at careers, unable to do any actual parenting and expecting the abused employees of the sabotaged barely-limping school system to do it for them.

But I know it requires some serious societal-level rethinking, including accepting that it’s okay to be bored.

I know we often don’t see it, but there are a lot of bright young people out there, and they inspire others to be bright. I remain optimistic.

And I agree…I think people need to learn to sit with boredom and channel that, without a thousand expensive keys jangling in their faces the whole time. :)

I appreciate the thoughtful reply!

Right on! Just for you…

I’m on overwatch. 😉

Yeah discs are mostly a backup medium for me now, as I’d rather just read things off my server. :)

HOWEVER… I’m not absolutely swimming in terabytes as a lot of self-hosters seem to, which makes storage really suck right now.

…So we still use our blu-rays because I can’t afford to just throw gig after gig on platters like that. :(

I like using Blender too. Granted, I’m already somewhat familiar with it for art purposes. But just for STLs, if you know what you’re doing you can actually get away with quite a bit using a boolean CAD-like workflow!

It’s free under the guise that everything you make is OnShapes IP.

This sounds insanely predatory and messed up. Is this not as absolutely nuts as it sounds? O.o

Just make a tool, and take someone else’s work with that tool as your own? For real? This sounds really sus.

Aircraft carriers and nukes, of course! Yay. So much “winning” for you and me.

This would make for a KILLER Hackaday read if you got a proof of concept working though hahaha.

Windows killed a lot of disc drives around win10. I was convinced my laptop one just died.

Oh but look, running EndeavourOS and what’s this? Works just fine.

CDs and movies no problem. Games probably too, with a little Wine/Bottles magic!

Look out, you’ve got specialized equipment to generate an ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ now! 😎

Yeah I’m increasingly convinced the “Nobody uses discs anymore” thing is a coordinated manipulation campaign by rent-seeking streaming media giants…

Oh yeah, when I see couch co-op games go up, I collect them. I’m so glad this is coming back!

I recently introduced some family to playing Worms: Armageddon hotseat style, and that was ridiculous fun. (And it can run on a potato probably! Lol)

The hardest thing anymore is just getting adults in a room together, and convincing them to try new games and get set up and everything.

(Jackbox tends to be most accessible but I really want to play more involved games with people…)