Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
2018/09/02 04:09:23
Subject: Re:Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
Season 4 was quite good, I think the 3 arc system worked well for them, it didn't feel padded.
I was a bit worried about the Agents of HYDRA (am I the only one who thinks HYDRA should stand for something? Hierarchy of Young Dictators for Ruling America?) arc but they pulled it off. Involving the Darkhold/Not~Cronomicon helped a lot to smooth over any logical issues (like say how a cybernetics/robotics dude also came up with perfect VR and AI).
Started Season 5, enjoying it too.
2018/09/03 12:54:22
Subject: Re:Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
Kid_Kyoto wrote: Season 4 was quite good, I think the 3 arc system worked well for them, it didn't feel padded.
I was a bit worried about the Agents of HYDRA (am I the only one who thinks HYDRA should stand for something? Hierarchy of Young Dictators for Ruling America?) arc but they pulled it off. Involving the Darkhold/Not~Cronomicon helped a lot to smooth over any logical issues (like say how a cybernetics/robotics dude also came up with perfect VR and AI).
Started Season 5, enjoying it too.
Agents of Hydra is the best thing they have done so far
I AM A MARINE PLAYER
"Unimaginably ancient xenos artefact somewhere on the planet, hive fleet poised above our heads, hidden 'stealer broods making an early start....and now a bloody Chaos cult crawling out of the woodwork just in case we were bored. Welcome to my world, Ciaphas."
Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos
"I will admit that some Primachs like Russ or Horus could have a chance against an unarmed 12 year old novice but, a full Battle Sister??!! One to one? In close combat? Perhaps three Primarchs fighting together... but just one Primarch?" da001
Hey it's crazy Fitz! Oh how I missed you crazy Fitz!
Honestly I was kind of annoyed how Fitz' solution to brain damage was 'walk it off'. If he'd gotten a special SHIELD cerebral non-crazyifier thingy I'd have been happier instead of catastrophic brain damage just sort of clearing up over the course of a season.
But now crazy Fitz is back and I missed him.
I won't even mention how he's gone from engineer to amateur brain surgeon (and Simmons is now a biochemist/combat medic/surgeon herself) I'll just assume he learned that in the framework.
2018/09/13 02:18:15
Subject: Re:Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
Hey it's crazy Fitz! Oh how I missed you crazy Fitz!
Honestly I was kind of annoyed how Fitz' solution to brain damage was 'walk it off'. If he'd gotten a special SHIELD cerebral non-crazyifier thingy I'd have been happier instead of catastrophic brain damage just sort of clearing up over the course of a season.
But now crazy Fitz is back and I missed him.
I won't even mention how he's gone from engineer to amateur brain surgeon (and Simmons is now a biochemist/combat medic/surgeon herself) I'll just assume he learned that in the framework.
Spoiler:
That's it exactly - in the Framework he was "The Doctor", and was more a general evil mad scientist type - he'd have needed some biochem and surgical expertise to conduct his Inhuman experiments.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/09/13 02:18:45
"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal
2018/09/13 12:18:45
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
Wow Talbot really went full on moustash-twirling villain real fast. I would have preferred it if the writers had avoided the whole 'goatee, black costume, kneel before Zod" deal.
Also the bridge from 'I'm god now' to 'I need more power' was a bit weak. He sure acted like he had the confidence and arrogance to take on Thanos himself, some indication that he was low on power would have been useful.
My God the Reavers are boring, boring, boring. I know the FX budget is limited, but come on, at least try.
Not sure if setting this just as Avengers 3 was going isn't a bit too cute though it explains why they never met the Avengers.
I do love the build up though, I really feel like cracking the Earth is a realistic posibility.
And Deek is surprisingly fun.
Still 3 stars, comfortably mediocre.
2018/09/16 03:47:01
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
Overall Season 5 dragged, the 3 arcs of season 4 kept things moving but even with the high stakes Season 5 seemed to spend just a bit too long in the Space Trashyard and on NewNewHydra. There were bright spots, I liked the Hydra Academy, Mack and Yo-Yo are well done and Deek turned out surprisingly fun.
Ruby/Ninja Barbie was cool, I'd have like to see her stick around, I liked the (very, very bad) idea of making her an agent of SHIELD, it would have blown up but it would have been very entertaining.
Gravaton turned evil much too fast, he needed more doubts and self rightous justifications before he crashed a spaceship into Chicago and presumably killed 100s. Even a simple 'oops' would have gone some way towards helping. He also needed a cape.
The Confederacy was terrible, terrible name, terrible makeup and effects, lame aliens. The Reavers would have been lame 20 years ago on Xeno or Buffy, today the space ninjas were just awful. Even generic Kree would have been better since they're already established.
The conflict over saving Coulson was forced. He had made it very clear he did not want to be resuscitated by unholy alien technology (again!) so a debate between save one dude who does not want to be saved, and save the world didn't do it for me. Just made the heroes look dumb and you should never make your heroes look dumb.
I had to rewatch the final memorial service to understand. My first thoughts were either Simmons is delusional and thinks Fitz survived, or they're all lying to Coulson. Then I remembered the emergency backup Fitz is still on a ship doing a 90 year round trip. Damn time paradoxes. So are they legally still married? Were they ever? Can the Director of SHIELD perform marriages? Is that like one of his powers spelled out in the SHIELD Omnibus Act of 1963? Did Coulson take one of those BS online priest classes?
I liked Enoch and Noah, would have liked to see them stick around. In my mind they should be like the Recorders who show up in Marvel, complete with the exposition-laden dialogue. Hey the main timeline Enoch is still around, hopefully they'll get him too!
And where is SHIELD now? Is it legal? Illegal? In hiding? Were the like 10 folks in the plane it? As I said in the start I like SHIELD because I like the idea of an organization that takes care of superhero stuff. I liked Season 4 because they were back in business. And now? I want 100s of agents with helicarriers and secret bases and flying cars, not 10 oddballs in a plane.
But overall a high 3 star rating, comfortably mediocre.
Navigating online streaming while overseas is... fun. Which services work, which have which content, which will let me use a VPN so I can pretend to be in the US...
Long story short I'm finally catching up on Agents of SHIELD, so sorry for the necromancy but I just finished Season 6 (murder birds and post-apoc truck if you're trying to remember) and it was OK.
More space, space on a TV budget. Painfully generic foe, but at least Sarge's Squad are usually fairly entertaining. The return of Joel Stoffer's Enoch was a highlight for me, even more than Craig Clarke's 'surprise' return.
The move away from comic-centered villains is a good one. Not knowing who the Shrike are does make things a bit more intresting. Shame once we found out there were just...
Spoiler:
Generic evil dimension dudes looking to invade Earth.
Already into Season 7 (the time travel one) and it is much much better.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/07/04 10:26:22
2020/07/05 08:29:09
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
I can't wait for Marvel to regain everything and put it all under the single mcu banner. This seperate tv and movie universe crap is crap and detracts from both.
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
2020/08/16 20:36:01
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
I can't wait for Marvel to regain everything and put it all under the single mcu banner. This seperate tv and movie universe crap is crap and detracts from both.
Good luck? They weren’t supposed to be separate at first, but the movie people wouldn’t talk to the tv people. Like the hoops they go thru to avoid any and all spoilers is insane.
2020/08/16 22:22:54
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
It wasn't JUST that. Kevin Feige was organizing a plot more or less on his own (in that the marvel council either put up road blocks or actively hindered what he was trying to do) that spanned 11 years in what came to 22 instalments (23 with the last spiderman).
The marvel shows were not feiges deal. And when he was like "its not the right time for x" or "the inhumans is a bad replacement for mutants" the council over ruled him. (You might remember a inhumans movie was announced. Then feige went to disney and got freedom from the council. Then inhumans movie was canceled. Then the inhumans show was announced. Oh look. It was HORRID).
ABC isn't interested in a 10 hour movie like netflix. They want a episodic 24 episode season. (At least back when agents started). Its difficult at best to pull off what the mcu has. Case in point, nobody else has done it yet despite several attempts by other studios. How much MORE difficult would it be to then organize casting, writing, shooting, and release of movies to coincide with the episodic nature of 1 tv series? What about 2? (Remember inhumans? Thats supposed to be part of agents of shield) and then you get weird crap like the thor the dark world clean up episode.
Its basically impossible to do that with the way traditional tv networks are structured and not ruin something or everything. Agents of shield is a pipe dream of the worst elements of the marvel council. Inhumans is what you get when those elements get to run rampant.
You can blame the movies side for not playing along, but it was the right choice to make. The tv side should have never been conected. Or started for that matter. Not until it could be made to fit in organically like the upcoming disney + shows are being made to do.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2020/08/16 23:02:50
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
2020/08/19 00:21:44
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
Feige had to get out of that position where he was answering to a group of Marvel people (and the head of Marvel's excessively tight purse strings) in order to really break free.
With all the TV stuff produced by several different groups, it was impossible to keep it within the MCU.
I'm glad that, moving forward, everything they produce now will be completely within a single continuity, rather than all these disparate shows making vague references to the MCU movies.
I mean, I think the only remnant of the Marvel Television days is the upcoming Hellstrom series.
Voss wrote: Huh, I was thinking Inhumans was back on the movie schedule.
But no, its the Eternals. Well, that's much more better.
I'd forgotten how terrible the first half of phase 4 looks, movie-wise.
The Disney+ shows look far more interesting.
I don't think phase 4 looks bad. I mean they made Guardians of the Galaxy and it's one of their best somehow. Eternals could be great and I think will lead to a big story. Annihilation? Galactus? All I know is that I trust they would not be introducing them without a plan. So SOMETHING is coming from this. If not multiple things. (Kit Harrigtons Black Knight is an introduction for another character as well).
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
2020/08/19 12:59:30
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
Hmm. I only remember the Black Knight as a C-list Avenger from the early 90s. That the MCU version would exist to introduce another character surprises me not at all. As long as it isn't bloody Merlin.
Eternals leading to a 'big story' is part of the problem, I think. 20 odd movies to get there and a sort of 'yeah, ok, wrap it up' spectacle ending was the biggest problem with Infinity War and Thanos.
Marvel's 'epic doombringers' like Galactus are the exact sort of things I'd want to avoid. There's pretty much no point in characterization for those kind of characters, and its all CGI yadda-yadda, Deus Ex Machina endings.
Though with Eternals, I'd suspect Celestials. They're already established anyway, with a brief appearance in the Infinity Stone explanation in GotG. And actual use of the Stones would attract their attention to Earth... (Since Eath is canonically a lab/infant Celestial where they're developing anti-bodies to defend Celestial life forms (the anti-bodies being super-beings)). And that explanation was terrible enough in the comics.
Efficiency is the highest virtue.
2020/08/19 13:44:28
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
Current canon (short version) is an ancient celestial died on earth and it’s decaying goo infected life on the planet and eventually gave rise to super powers.
2020/08/19 15:29:27
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
The MCU's success has largely hinged on being faithful to the spirit of the source material, but rarely the letter. There's also a lot of clear workshoping in comics to see what floats. The Black Order was introduced almost immediately upon revealing Thanos as the big bad in Avengers 1 for example.
We've also had a Celstial as a major character in the MCU (Ego).
One theory I've seen tossed around is that the Eternals are going to somehow be tied to the 10 rings of the Mandarin. I'd also not be surprised if they build towards the most recent Secret Wars as the overarching story.
2020/08/19 20:13:30
Subject: Agents of SHIELD Thread "no really, it's quite good now" Edition.
AduroT wrote: Current canon (short version) is an ancient celestial died on earth and it’s decaying goo infected life on the planet and eventually gave rise to super powers.
Ah. I was thinking of an X-factor story when they were living in the crazy space ship and got taken to another planet going through a Supers war (though... they weren't necessarily taken by their ship), and the 'anti-bodies' thing is something someone literally sits down and explains to Cyclops and they just connect the obvious dots. It was pretty heavy handed, as was the 'war,' which was between super-people who look normal and ones that look monstrous, and in the end they all just get subsumed regardless.
I'm not terribly surprised they changed it, but it was so tied to what (admittedly little) I knew of Eternals... eh. There were a lot of reasons I gave up on comics. Hand-wave retcons was certainly on the list.
LunarSol wrote:The MCU's success has largely hinged on being faithful to the spirit of the source material, but rarely the letter. There's also a lot of clear workshoping in comics to see what floats. The Black Order was introduced almost immediately upon revealing Thanos as the big bad in Avengers 1 for example.
We've also had a Celstial as a major character in the MCU (Ego).
Well, that would actually be a case of faithful to the spirit, not the letter, as he isn't one. He does refer to himself that way in the movie, but Ego the Living Planet is celestial in the sense that he's a planetary body, but not a Celestial (the gigantic armor suits that fancy themselves 'gardeners' of civilizations. Because even in the early days they were running out of evocative names and synonyms.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/08/19 20:15:29
