Controversial Opinions (For Everything Other Than DC Comics)

[Gray Lensman]

But that would be awful marketing, since people would think it had Canadian Bacon and Feta.
French Fries nor French Toast are from France.

I remember reading something from Thomas Jefferson about having potatoes served "in the French style", although I've read that the origin is the French speaking regions of what is now Belgium. French Toast has been around since Roman times, although the name we use comes from England (not sure if they use it still, but that was what they called in in the colonial era). There is a semi-popular story about French being the name of the guy who reintroduced it to the English speaking world, but it is probably just a story.

[mathew101281]

But is an animal that is domesticated or only in captivity still that animal?

I'd say they are?

[Gray Lensman]

I'd say they are?

Captivity, yes. But I'd say otherwise about domestication. Once an animal is fully domesticated it's supposed to breed true, the offspring will be domesticated as well, merely by being born.

Even if the genetics look exactly the same, the ecological niche is gone forever.

[Adam Allen]

The Boys on Amazon is not that great. I have had people who are not superhero/comics fans get all excited to tell me about that show way too many times.

There are a lot better superhero tv shows than The Boys. FFS, it's not that clever! And honestly, when some rando tells me they have not seen any of the MCU movies but they love The Boys, it makes me question their taste and/or intelligence. The Boys is not more "adult" than the MCU, and someone thinking so makes me think they somehow never matured beyond junior high.

[Kirby101]

They Boys is not mature, it is just graphic, intense and wickedly funny. Having read comics for 60 years and seeing almost every comic related show or movie, I would say I am not some "rando".

[Adam Allen]

You're also not going to try to tell me how much cooler The Boys are than anything DC and Marvel have ever done. I assume.

It's whatever if people like it. I read some of the comic and really liked it, I've watched the first two seasons of the show; I think it's okay.

My problem with it is when people who don't know anything about superheroes act as if it's the most brilliant thing ever. It's not.

[Kirby101]

You're also not going to try to tell me how much cooler The Boys are than anything DC and Marvel have ever done. I assume.

It's whatever if people like it. I read some of the comic and really liked it, I've watched the first two seasons of the show; I think it's okay.

My problem with it is when people who don't know anything about superheroes act as if it's the most brilliant thing ever. It's not.

No not cooler, just different. It is definitely an anti-superhero show. Far from the best, but still great fun, but very dark.

[Kirby101]

Race walking is just silly.

[CaptCleghorn]

Race walking is just silly.

I do not believe that activity falls within the authority of this ministry.

[Adam Allen]

No not cooler, just different. It is definitely an anti-superhero show. Far from the best, but still great fun, but very dark.

Yeah, now you say that, I seem to recall a thread from a while back, where that was the exact topic. I think the showrunner said something like their show was like the true essence of superheroes or something? Which yeah, led to many people (including myself) opining that the show seems more anti-superhero, though it can be entertaining for that.

That's just it, as far as it being satire/commentary/just comedy, I'm all good with it. It is again, when someone who is not a fan of superheroes at all, starts telling me how The Boys is the best superhero show. It's like, okay, smile and nod -- this person is entitled to their opinion, and they don't need my 50 years of comics opinions weighing in about their opinion.

And I've been doing that, but yesterday my best friend of 30+ years, who is not at all a fan of superheroes, despite my influence having gotten him to read comics ages ago ... texts me that we should watch the new season of The Boys, because it is the best television show to come along in a decade.

And he hasn't watched a single Marvel Netflix or Disney+ show! How? WTF?

I mean, it's a decent show, but I really don't get the crossover power. Because, as I've pointed out, I've experienced this over and over: non-comics fans being excited to rave about The Boys to me.

Daredevil and Moon Knight are both better shows than The Boys. WandaVision is better. Legion was better.* None of these were comedies, but fine: The last Tick show on Amazon was funnier, unless you need the gore and the violence.

Okay, hopefully this is getting the irritation out of my system, because the point is this: If a comics fan tells me The Boys is the best tv show to come along in a decade, I can at least mention the above shows, have some confidence they at least know what I mean, and be content that we just have differing opinions. When people who don't know and don't like comics or superheroes tells me that ... you know, it doesn't endear me.

You know, the very first person who recommended The Boys to me said he loved it because it was a more realistic depiction of what people would act like if they had super powers, than what he's seen in any other (Marvel/DC) depiction. And like -- I guess that tells me that person thinks they would be an amoral *******, if they got superpowers. Okay. Good to know.

/Rant

*eh, just first season on that one. That show really fell off progressively after S1, unfortunately.

[CSTowle]

The Boys on Amazon is not that great. I have had people who are not superhero/comics fans get all excited to tell me about that show way too many times.

There are a lot better superhero tv shows than The Boys. FFS, it's not that clever! And honestly, when some rando tells me they have not seen any of the MCU movies but they love The Boys, it makes me question their taste and/or intelligence. The Boys is not more "adult" than the MCU, and someone thinking so makes me think they somehow never matured beyond junior high.

Few things. First, I agree with you that the Boys is immature, and relies on violence/sex/shock value to entertain. I actually stopped buying the comic because of that (though the comic was worse, love Ennis but sometimes he has little restraint). I think the show does do a better job of making me care about the characters involved and having a real story aside from the shock value/pandering to the 12 year old in all of us. I think it is a good show, and worth watching.

As far as "best superhero show", I'd again agree that it's more of an anti-superhero show/parody of superheroes. But saying something's the "best" or "worst" is an opinion statement, and I treat it as such. My best is certainly not your best, and so on. For example, Legion was probably my favorite show of those listed and think it was better in the 2nd season than the first, and while the 3rd dipped it still made me feel things that no Disney hero show/movie has. And that for a character I could never stand despite reading more X-Men comics than probably any franchise other than Batman (which mean somewhere out there is a Claremont Legion fan who f##king hates this show because it's not true to character).

I think as far as what real people would do with powers, he's probably right in that some would and sadly public image/marketing/exploitation by big business and the government is absolutely what would happen. As well as cover-ups of collateral damage, abuse of power, arms race/weaponization of superpowers, etc. In that it's probably a lot more realistic than the MCU or DCCU (ugh, need a better acronym). It is also a silly show, and relies on blood and **** (though less on ****) as much as a Game of Thrones, but turns out that's a successful formula if you have some story mixed in. And I'd say the Boys does, even more than the comic book.

[Adam Allen]

That differing people with differing moral compasses would behave different if they get powers is like explored endlessly in comics, so some being amoral is not new ground. The influence of public image/marketing/exploitation, all explored from Spider-Man, Iron Man, Booster Gold, JLI/JLU ... coverups of collateral damage, abuse of power, arms race and weaponization of powers ... okay, I slowed down enough to realize, you are talking tv/movies, not comics themselves.

I feel like a lot of those themes probably have been covered in other shows too, but I am running out of my desire to proclaim everything as better than the Boys. Honestly, as I've thought about it, I think the main "crossover" draw this show would have, as compared to any Marvel or DC, is that it is not based on some property with an endless history like Batman or the Avengers. People can get into this show without having nerds come out of the woodwork to tell them all the essential graphic novels they need to read.

I mean yeah, it's a fun show. Like I've said, I've been watching it. It's not superhero fucking Shakespeare, though. And my Superman tshirt is not an invite for someone to share that dumb opinion with me.

[Kirby101]

Another thing about The Boys, it is also a parody of Trumpism, corporate media and celebrity worship. But Adam, judge it on it's own, not what some wanker friend thinks.

You have trouble with non-fans. I have similar trouble with fans of Star Wars who treat it like a religion. Try to tell some of them how inconsistent the Prequels were to the original trilogy.

[godisawesome]

I want to argue that there’s actually nothing wrong with “nostalgia-based” storytelling, and that by the same token, there’s nothing inherently good about “original” storytelling; a corollary would be that complaining about remakes and reboots is a tired bit of whining if you pretend it’s a wholly modern phenomenon, and usually is just misplaced annoyance at something else.

So “nostalgia” and “originality” should both just be dropped as anything but identification of a story’s genesis - plenty of “original” stuff has been completely forgettable tripe even though it’s also the genesis of all successful stories, and while it’s easy to think of “nostalgic” tripe, it’s also easy to find exceptionally good nostalgic stuff that elevated its premise and mythos… and as humanity, we’ve been doing this for thousands of years. Hell, I’d argue that the legend of King Arthur alone had been rebooted and remade about 100 times before mass media was even available, and that’s a comparatively young mythos compared to regular mythology and folklore.

…And kind of tied to that… complaining about JJ Abrams’s stuff for being nostalgic remakes or reboots is misguided, and strictly a pretentious argument with no real basis in reality, actually. He *has* made bad movies, and he *has* bad habits as a storyteller, don’t get me wrong - but they’re not based on his desire to use nostalgia as his starting point. He’s in the same class as Nicholas Meyer and Leonard Nimoy as a Star Trek movie director - they’re all guys who managed to direct two good Star Trek films, and I have to say that Star Trek Into Darkness is still better than most of the other films, even if it’s still pretty dumb in some areas. Similarly, he made the only watchable Star Wars Sequel Trilogy movie in The Force Awakens, and while, like with Star Trek, some of his mystery box-crazy philosophies and shortcuts caused problems with The Rise of Skywalker, that film’s failures have more to do with The Last Jedi being cancerously bad for a multi-part story.

Abrams should be criticized for his desire to take shortcuts and leave stuff unfinished, but frankly, more directors would be better served if they had some of his ability to identify what people liked about past artwork. He may be over-reliant on it, but it’s still an asset, not a liability.

[Jim Kelly]

I started to wonder why people in the U.S. say "Canadian bacon" when what they really mean is back bacon. I found that it's all the fault of Mother Britain. Apparently, back in colonial times, the Brits were short of pork and imported some back pork from Canada. They cured this in brine and rolled it in peameal. Since they got the pork from Canada, they called it "Canadian bacon." Why the U.S. picked up that name, I don't know.

In Canada we just call it back bacon. But that's not the regular bacon that we eat for breakfast. We eat the same regular bacon that people in the States eat. Back bacon is back bacon.

Which reminds me that SCTV started doing "The Great White North" (a.k.a. "Kanadia Korner") when they needed to fill out their Canadian broadcast for the CBC. In Canada, shows had less commercials, so they had extra minutes and they started doing this segment as a send-up of the Canadian Content regulations. The C.R.T.C. required entertainment to have Can-Con to be considered a Canadian product. So Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis came up with this segment, where Bob and Doug did things that people in the U.S. think are Canadian--including frying up back bacon.