Quiver

Kwaan probably just had an eidetic memory, as Redbird says. Apparently (though I only did a quick search), that kind of recall is extremely rare in children, and virtually non-existent in adults...by which I mean there hasn't really been any conclusive, undeniable proof of adults possessing it. Since we're dealing with magic, we can probably fudge things a little bit (and there is some debate on the topic in real-life; one case apparently involved a woman proving she did have it, but then refusing to repeat the experiments afterwards), but those numbers make Kwaan's claim... plausible, I think. If eidetic memory really is so rare to be virtually non-existant, then it makes sense why no one would believe his claims. (Of course, those words are still from Kwaan's point of view, so we can sort of afford some leeway. From what I could find, being able to scan a page and recite it instantly, as the quotation claims, isn't really how eidetic memory works; so either Kwaan is exaggerating his abilities, or it can be chalked up to as magic stretching how things work in reality a little.)

I was going to say that the Unmade killing the Heralds would be a win for Odium... except Taln was killed, and he didn't "die", he just went back to the torture room. Maybe the Oathpact stated that killing all ten heralds would be a win for Odium, and anything less than that would be a loss... but in that case, one would think that all of Odium's forces would be focused on killing the Heralds. Knights Radiants are powerful and all, but sometimes the Heralds came back and Rosharans didn't even have Iron (unless I'm remembering "Taln's" quote wrong?) In that kind of situation, how difficult would it be to direct the Thunderclasts et all to just kill all the heralds? So... I dunno?

It's not a bad day- particularly given what you guys have been saying- but it is a little frustrating. Still, hopefully it will be absurd enough that one of you guys will get a laugh out of this: A dog ate my fan fiction. To explain- I've been having truoble with home computer stuff, so I've been making use of other computers from time to time. So, lately I've been kind-of working on some writing. I'm not going to try claim I had thousands of elegant prose written or anything- it was just rough concepts and random note-taking/research stuff. Anyway. I had all this saved on a flash drive. I had that flash drive in my coat pocket. I was visiting my cousin, while wearing that coat. I forgot I had said flash drive in my pocket. I was playing with the dog and... at some point it tumbled out of my pocket. I managed to see it, and had enough time to yell for the dog not to touch it.. which, in hindsight, might have just drawn the dog's attention to it. Things sort of proceeded from there. So, there's either two options. Either the dog stole my flash drive and took it somewhere else- which is possible, he's a pack rat... or he swallowed it. Honestly, I'm more grateful that the drive in question was tiny. It's possible that he did swallow it, and if that's the case, it's unlikely he would choke on it (he definitely didn't choke all the time I was there) but... yes. A dog ate my fan fiction.

Now, to be fair to Equestria Girls... ... ...Yeah, I got nothing. Equestria Girls is awful, and the songs are terrible. The only good thing to come out of that mess was Sunset Shimmer, and even then, the movie itself didn't do that great a job of portraying her. I've mentioned before, in concept she's Pony Darth Vader, in execution... not so much. At least the comics and fan fiction do a better job fleshing her out. Though- to be strictly fair- Rainbow Rocks has a significantly better soundtrack. Anyway... funny video Kobold. Which unfortunately means I now owe the Capo two favors. That cant end well for me. EDIT To expand on the "Rainbow Rocks is better soundtrack" thing.. All the songs in EqG are chipper, bright and happy; there isn't reall any difference between any of them, and they arne't particularly memorable. In fact, "Helping Twilight win the crown" is the only one that is at all memorable... and that's kind of sad, since the song itself is rather bland. Rainbow Rocks has a pretty interesting variety of songs; it has a mix of solo's (for Trixi and Rainbow Dash) and group music, as well as having an actual "battle" between the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms. There's more variety in the beat and genre they use; each character basically has their own unique motif, beat and rhythm to their songs. It's not perfect, but it's a significant improvement from the samey music that clogs up the original EqG film.

Welcome! The Mistborn books are a great gateway drug to the world of Brandon... after you're finished Alloy of Law, I'd recommend readign Warbreaker.

We need to get Kobold to post here. If he posts a lot of nonsense that we don't upvote, his post count goes up. At the same time, his upvote:post ratio decreases. Eventually, his upvotes will be completely meaningless, and even though he has over nine thousand upvotes, they'll be worth less than a hundred. That's how upvote economics works, right?

Eep. Sorry for not checking back sooner, but yeah, I meant characters who were the Dark Lord archetype- like Sauron or Voldemort. So, uh... Redbird wins? I'll... be over here trying to think of a better question for next time...

Thranduil Luthien Celeborn Gilgalad Feanor Haldir Elros/Elrohir Name five "Dark Lord" characters

You're dead to me. Okay, seriously... I'm with Titan. I very, very nearly said Well of Ascension, because Zane just doesn't work for me. I have to agree with everyone else who said that the spark between him and Vin just wasn't there, and considering how important that is for that particularly sub-plot... I also, frankly, found him a bit more of a cliché than I was expecting, especially after having finished The Final Empire. The bastard son, ill-treated, hidden from the rest of his family, with all of the superpowers, and who is brooding, and dark, and intoxicating to the heroine, and complex... It just didn't work for me. He didn't contribute enough to the book. Buuut... I have to say Way of Kings. Now, let me make it clear; I love the Dalinar and Shallan sections of the book. I love Roshar, and most of the time, I read that book because I wanted to learn more about the characters and the world they inhabit. But by Celestia, I did not like Kaladin. I mean... I should like him. Butu I just didn't. Honestly, I still don't all that much. My feelings for Kal are very mixed and muddled up, and something that could probably be a topic on their own, so I'll just stick with what bothered me in WoK about him: Too much of the storyline was focused on him, but he never did anything. Now, I'll prface by saying I have grown a certain appreciation for him. His inability to act is sympathetic and makes sense, given his position in the army as a slave. His depression and downward spiral reflects that- and from what I've read on this forum, is a fairly accurate picture of real-life depression. And I applaud Brandon for including such a portrait in his books. But for every chapter of Kaladin talking about how bad lighteyes are (without giving much of his flashback portions away), how he's a slave, and how sad he is. And it makes sense, but... it made his chapters difficult to wade through, since it felt like minimal stuff was happening, whereas Shallan and Dalinar's chapters had a lot more momentum. Of course, going back to read those sections now, I'll probably find more stuff buried to pick up on. In my first WoR reading, for instance, I thought Kal refering to Moash as his best friend came out of no where; re-reading it, I'll probably find more references to it. Kal's story in WoK is probably realistic, and a lot more subtle than I give it credit for... but my initial impressions don't do the guy any favors. (Oh, and I'm ignoring Elantris and the short stories because I haven't read them... but I have tried reading Elantris three or four times now. It's unfair to say it's the worst, since I never finished it... but it probably would be my least favorite. Still, WoK is my least favorite book that I have finished.) (Though I do find myself not being especially thrilled with Kal's arc in general, really, for spoilerific reasons, so I won't go into them here, but... yeah. Kaladin is probably my least favourite protagonist of Brandon's, actually. Of course, I also hated other characters in books at first, but they became my favorites (Sana, in ASoIaF), so he might grow on me, but right now... I'm just not feeling it.)

Typical denier thought pattern. People can't start fires to make global warming happen? Well, I'll show you! ...Actually, I have nothing to contribute. I just found someone denying global warming posting about flame wars not happening funny for some inane reason. Honestly, I have no idea about it. I haven't done any research or anything into it, so I don't feel qualified to comment. I do however, feel qualified to give you an upvote for making a joke at your expense, so... up vote.

I've heard really good things about this show. I saw one episode- about a boy band, to avoid spoilers- but... Well, it was okay. I could definitely enjoy watching it more often. My only problem is, because I prefer having everything from beginning to end, I don't want to just start watching randomly. Which means waiting for channels to go back to the pilot/first episode/whatever.

You have just validated my childhood. Fetch me a lance.

I plan on reading all the threads anyway, soI'm, personally, not in desperate need of a summary. It was just more of a random suggestion.

Sorry to bother you guys about this, but I was wondering if someone could make a topic (or at least a post) on how these games line up, timeline wise with each other? I am kind of obsessive about following things in order. I realise at a certain point, it gets hard -if not impissible- to say when topics line up in the timeline, but I'd find it useful to know what page of Portland I should start reading the Dalles or Astoria from. Also- as a more general thing- would there be any way for you guys to summarise events so far? Obviously, you've been busy with posts, but I think having a rough idea of what's going on might help new would-be players from getting list or intimidated by the volume of backlog posts to get through.

@Snoopy Lord of the Rings? Edit Facehoof. Sorry, didn't see Kasimirs suggestion for some reason. Just ignore me.

Funnily enough... I kind of liked the neck-snap. It was how the movie handled it afterwards that bothered me. (The following lecture is one of many reasons why my pony OC is so going to be called Soap Box. I seem to lecture people a lot.). Anyway. One of the key tenets of a lot of modern superheroes is that they don't kill; ever. They find another way, a different way, a better way. Part of that is because they need to keep characters available for future stories, of course- it's why the Punisher doesn't have a regular rogues gallery- but it's also because of mroality; because killing is bad. I always find it sort of interesting how heroes react to it though. Batman has his rules; no killing, and no guns. He once admitted that he thinks about murdering the Joker all the time (see the Red Hood film/storyline), but he never does it because it would never stop at just one killing. He finds it too easy to cross that line, so he has rules, standards he holds himself to to make sure he never does. Superman, on the other hand? Just doesn't kill. He doesn't have a rule telling him it's not what he does, it's just... something he doesn't do. He doesn't kill people, ever. Batman has a mental rule to remind himself of that, but Supes just has the whole thing internalised to the point that, if you told him superheroes don't kill people, his response would be "Well, duh." Which is why I kind of like the killing of Zod. Murder is treated by readers, and cinema viewers, as a casual thing; at the end of the movie, whoever they are fighting gets blown up, or shot, or whatever, and the hero goes on with their lives. Man of Steel's ending had the potential to be awesome; Superman has no choice. Zod is going to kill the planet if he doesn't stop him... and, frankly, how can Superman stop him? Zod is threatening families, so Superman kills him. He snaps his neck. And it breaks him. Zod is a horrible person, but killing anyone- even someone who, arguably, deserves it- is so wrong, so traumatic, that he breaks down. He cries, and screams. I kind of was hoping for everyone to start cheering him, while he has a breakdown about how terrible it is. He felt it- and it's obvious he didn't like it. It whos that killing is wrong. The problem is that the moment is covered up by him going back to happy, quippy Superman with the government and grinning Clark Kent. I'm not saying h has to brood over it... but it was amoment that should define him. He must never kill again- and the ending kind of ruined the power of that for me.

I'd actually recommend reading Warbreaker after you finish Alloy. As well as being one of my favorite books of Brandon's, I think it works best when you read it alongside/as a companion piece/as a sequel/whatever to the Mistborn series. Anyway, besides that, welcome!

On a scale of Harmony to Nightblood, how much do you want to destroy evil today?

You have now ruined Stormlight Archive for me. If that isn't how Nin got Nightblood, I will be beyond disappointed.

Yeah, sorry Twily, but I'm with Blaze on this one. This guy is awesome. Also, if you were watching an Aquaman movie from home... well, I wouldn't blame you, actually. I was excited about BvS at first, but more and more I get the feeling it's going to be the same dull, dark and gritty stuff we've seen before from Snyder. Still, you'd be missing Jasomn Mamoa as Aquaman. Awesome. (And yeah, fo anyone who doens't know, that is Mamoa's offical look for BvS, tweeted by Snyder. It looks awesome.)

Sorry about that. Er... please accept an upvote as apologies? Also, damnation it!- I can remember the main characters, but I keep getting stuck on seven or eight rather than getting all the way to ten. Ah well.

I don't know if there is a strict limit; I was basing it off of LeftVash winning when no one answered. ...Except his was up for three days instead of two. Sorry if I was a bit premature...

I think Blaze wins? He's almost at 48 hours anyway.

So, according to Martin... Guess that answers "will they spoil the ending" stuff; even if they do spoil it, it will only be in the broadest strokes. Unless Martin is lying. Which he might be. BOOK SPOILERS.

How did I miss this? Anyway, according to the article I linked to, it was an attempt by the people responsible (who were not the creators of the game) to encourage diversity within the gaming community. And honestly, that's a very laudable goal. Regardless of the realities, gaming is viewed as a male demographic; from what I understand, that's part of the arguments in the Gamergate scandal, and from the impromptu research I just did (on wikipedia, for whatever that's worth) more than a handful of women in the industry have been threatened with rape, death, and other such things. Women becoming invovled in gaming is a good thing, both when they are developers and as players, but who would want to join an environment where the above happens? So, having a women-only game to raise attention that, yes, girls can play video games and give people a "safe" place to try it is pretty good. Excluding lesbians and transwomen obviously isn't, but as I say, I see the issues involved here as being issues with regards gender in general, rather than sexual identity or orientation. And, just in case it's not clear, I don't mean to imply that all gamers are mysoginists, or that gaming is a male-only environment. It's not. But saying that (at least in the public conciounce) that it's a male-dominated demographic seems like a fair comment... and if developers think that their audience is a largely male one, and doesn't cater for female gamers, or creates an environment that doesn't welcome female developers, that that's an attitude that will only hurt things in the long run. For a comic book example... Marvel recently announced they will be doing a book set in the year 2099, which would feature a female Captain America. According to an interview with Peter David (the books writer), the original design was someone who was more lean and willowy, and they replaced it with one based closer on female body builders, because... well, the serum gave Steve Rogers super muscles, it should do the same for women. Apparently, male fans disliked the new design, whereas female ones love it; and I'm sure at least part of that is because women in comics have had a history of having... certain body types, with certain...er... proportions. Honestly, I like this new design, and it is a lot more memorable and visually interesting to me than other female Caps have been. I may have issues with Marvel, but the fact that it is expanding it's female characters and treating them with respect is great, and probably will result in more girls picking up comics, or becoming comic creators in the future, which will only strengthen the industry.