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Covok posted:Anyone hear ever play the balla rear end Alien rpg by Free League? I've been wanting to play it forever. It is lit AF. I’m in it! No really! There’s a character named after me in the Colonial Marines Operations Manual expansion.
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Sep 27, 2023 03:38
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Yeah, it's great. Even if you don't play it, the books are excellent world building and solid stories. Highly recommended.
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Sep 27, 2023 05:28
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The RPG is really good for one off scenarios just because of how incredibly likely everything is to murder player characters, plus there's a lot of inter party conflict baked into things. Like, players can use the "manipulate" skill on each other and the rule is if they succeed the person being manipulated either has to do the thing or IMMEDIATELY ATTACK the player trying to manipulate them. Like others have said, the background material alone is fun enough to make it worth grabbing, and it's definitely worth playing as long as you have a group that can accept that they might churn through multiple characters in playing a scenario.
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Sep 27, 2023 07:13
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Owlbear Camus posted:In spite of it being the near totality of their culture and having a technological head start, it turns out yuatja, 1:1, are flat out not as good at killing as human beings are. How do you figure? In all of the movies they win a solid majority of their 1v1s against humans, on top of single-handedly killing groups of humans.
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Oct 1, 2023 01:01
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Queering Wheel posted:How do you figure? In all of the movies they win a solid majority of their 1v1s against humans, on top of single-handedly killing groups of humans. Yeah, the first two movies has their final prey only winning from pure luck and the Predators just goofing around. Predator 2 had Glover only tackling that Predator off the building because the Predator was literally standing on the ledge with his back to him dancing or something for no reason.
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Oct 1, 2023 02:11
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He was taking his asthma medicine
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Oct 1, 2023 02:24
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I dunno man, if I hunt down and kill a dozen deer but the 13th one murders me in an embarrassing fashion I think you gotta notch a W in the deers’ column
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Oct 1, 2023 03:48
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The idea with Predators is that they've been visiting Earth for probably the entirety of human history and the movies are just particularly interesting incidents. The hunts that go 100% smoothly without any serious human resistance(or survivors to document it) aren't notable enough to make a movie out of so we don't see those.
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Oct 1, 2023 04:00
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banned from Starbucks posted:He was taking his asthma medicine The scene where the predator heals itself with that weird medkit that looks like a Bunsen burner and some like... drywall out of the wall? was really bizarre and stuck with me more than a lot of the violence in that movie.
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Oct 1, 2023 04:01
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Basebf555 posted:The idea with Predators is that they've been visiting Earth for probably the entirety of human history and the movies are just particularly interesting incidents. The hunts that go 100% smoothly without any serious human resistance(or survivors to document it) aren't notable enough to make a movie out of so we don't see those. Not just that, the Predator is supposed to be the inspiration for a lot of folklore and urban legends throughout human history - in the comics they’re the inspiration for Japanese Oni, Native American and African “demons”, Spring-Heeled Jack from 1800s London, among others.
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Oct 1, 2023 04:43
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but they are NOT the chupacabra
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Oct 1, 2023 04:47
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Darko posted:New Fifield looks like a werewolf. Always was, acts like a gruff loner early in the film, eats directly out of a big bowl instead of using utensils when everyone is eating/getting themselves together, refers to the map drone as his pups, etc.
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Oct 1, 2023 21:47
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I still like the idea that the Predators are an enlightened Star Trek-ish utopian people and it's just that the only ones humans have encountered are the illegal poaching big game hunter/deranged rich people/were at the Capitol on january 6th ones.
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Oct 2, 2023 00:39
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Mister Speaker posted:The scene where the predator heals itself with that weird medkit that looks like a Bunsen burner and some like... drywall out of the wall? was really bizarre and stuck with me more than a lot of the violence in that movie. That’s such a great sci-do world building moment. You don’t know how it works, but you see it needs some kind of binding agent or reagent or something. He rubs the drywall in his hand to see if it would work, so you know it’s a physical property, not chemical. It’s just enough to make the med kit feel real, and let you know it’s way different from our technology, and this Predator is resourceful. Neo Rasa posted:I still like the idea that the Predators are an enlightened Star Trek-ish utopian people and it's just that the only ones humans have encountered are the illegal poaching big game hunter/deranged rich people/were at the Capitol on january 6th ones. That is in some way supported by the novelization of the Aliens vs Predator comic. It establishes that the female Predators are bigger, stronger, and smarter than the males, but only the males go on hunts. In fact, the males basically only return during mating season, and the hunt has established a mating hierarchy for them so they don't fight about it. The implication I got is that "Predator society" is basically entirely run by the females and the hunts were invented to keep the males out of the way as much as possible Gripweed fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Oct 2, 2023 |
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Oct 2, 2023 01:03
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Neo Rasa posted:I still like the idea that the Predators are an enlightened Star Trek-ish utopian people and it's just that the only ones humans have encountered are the illegal poaching big game hunter/deranged rich people/were at the Capitol on january 6th ones. this is better and funnier than them being a race of aliens that built their entire advanced civilization around hunting things
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Oct 2, 2023 01:05
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there should be a movie about a lone predator hunting humans but he has to avoid the game warden or he'll be fined
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Oct 2, 2023 01:06
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a rogue predator comes to earth to poach during an unscheduled year. he doesnt have a predator license so other wildlife management predators persue him while hes racking up the body count. the movie dynamic is preds v pred v humans in a mexican standoff situation where no one party trusts the others.
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Oct 2, 2023 01:49
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Mister Speaker posted:The scene where the predator heals itself with that weird medkit that looks like a Bunsen burner and some like... drywall out of the wall? was really bizarre and stuck with me more than a lot of the violence in that movie. It was shards of a mirror, and I remember it too. It was legit freaky to see it make a cauterizing paste/hard shell protectant out of glass, heat, and some liquid. I think The Predator used a mirror because of all the silicon and carbon in it, very tough material to work with. Cool scene.
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Oct 2, 2023 03:47
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16-bit Butt-Head posted:there should be a movie about a lone predator hunting humans but he has to avoid the game warden or he'll be fined
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Oct 2, 2023 04:04
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Megaman's Jockstrap posted:It was shards of a mirror, and I remember it too. It was legit freaky to see it make a cauterizing paste/hard shell protectant out of glass, heat, and some liquid. I think The Predator used a mirror because of all the silicon and carbon in it, very tough material to work with. Cool scene. I went and rewatched it. Porcelain wall tile, glass from the mirror, and drywall. Drywall is made mostly from gypsum which would become a plaster under high enough heat. The porcelain and glass would also become molten. So it’s gonna cauterize the wound and then the “paste” would harden to cover the wound. I don’t know how well it would actually work but maybe that’s the idea behind it.
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Oct 2, 2023 04:12
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Hah! That’s great! I figured something similar but had no idea how the substances involved would or could actually work. MrMojok fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Oct 2, 2023 |
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Oct 2, 2023 04:35
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wuffles posted:I went and rewatched it. Porcelain wall tile, glass from the mirror, and drywall. Drywall is made mostly from gypsum which would become a plaster under high enough heat. The porcelain and glass would also become molten. Nice catch! Thanks.
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Oct 2, 2023 06:52
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So Alien Isolation is amazing and in many ways my favorite thing after the original film, but I feel like what makes it so amazing also kinda hinders it. It's the...isolation. It has characters we're supposed to care about but does anybody really? Especially by the end when they were just like "gently caress it, here's another xeno to kill your would-be rescuer lady." If you ever cared about non-Amanda characters, surely Taylor's stupid death or Ricardo's facehugging would make you realize the guy who just wanted to blow everything up was right all along. Speaking of which, why the hell are Weyland-Yutani so obsessed with getting a xeno, to the point they'd buy this no doubt very expensive hunk of junk station/ I've only seen Alien 1-3 and the AVP films, and it's also been a while, but I don't recall it ever being explained.
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Oct 2, 2023 08:01
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It’s a great weapon. You throw a facehugger down and it can completely destroy and wipe out an entire colony. Now the after the aliens take over part…idk but the military likes the first part.
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Oct 2, 2023 08:08
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CelticPredator posted:It’s a great weapon. You throw a facehugger down and it can completely destroy and wipe out an entire colony. There's that plus can you imagine the sort of space suits/body armour you can make out of whatever that exoskeleton is made of? Or if you can figure out how that metabolism takes something from a foot long chestburster to an eight foot murderbeast in a few hours.
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Oct 2, 2023 08:55
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NikkolasKing posted:Speaking of which, why the hell are Weyland-Yutani so obsessed with getting a xeno, to the point they'd buy this no doubt very expensive hunk of junk station/ I've only seen Alien 1-3 and the AVP films, and it's also been a while, but I don't recall it ever being explained. tbh, I'm surprised it is only the weapons division that would kill to get their hands on the xenomorph. This thing can grow from something the size of a rat to the size of a gorilla in less than 24 hours, in an artificial environment with limited nutrient sources that it has no specific adaption to. There's possibly some biological matter-synthesis process going on there that would revolutionise human society if humans could learn and harness the underlying principles.
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Oct 2, 2023 08:55
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Rewatching Deep Blue Sea and holy cow I never noticed how much it rips off that ladder scene in Alien Resurrection.
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Oct 2, 2023 09:56
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wuffles posted:I went and rewatched it. Porcelain wall tile, glass from the mirror, and drywall. Drywall is made mostly from gypsum which would become a plaster under high enough heat. The porcelain and glass would also become molten. I love that all of the Predator's equipment is basically super-advanced tribal hunting gear, down to the first aid kit which uses material from the local environment to make a high tech poultice + cauterizing agent.
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Oct 2, 2023 13:33
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Fil5000 posted:There's that plus can you imagine the sort of space suits/body armour you can make out of whatever that exoskeleton is made of? Or if you can figure out how that metabolism takes something from a foot long chestburster to an eight foot murderbeast in a few hours. I'm still pissed that we didn't get Neil Blomkamp's movie about that
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Oct 2, 2023 18:46
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McSpanky posted:I love that all of the Predator's equipment is basically super-advanced tribal hunting gear, down to the first aid kit which uses material from the local environment to make a high tech poultice + cauterizing agent. Yes one of the coolest things about Predator is that he's simultaneously this "primitive" style hunter and also this apex high tech killer, both of the land and without it, reliant on tech yet also rejecting it, the duality of that makes it fascinating. What a great series, when it hits it hits huge. Prey's ending with the Predator's own high-tech equipment used to kill it was a great play on this theme and one of the reasons it was so satisfying.
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Oct 2, 2023 20:02
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I want to see a fat predator. Like on a rascal scooter
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Oct 2, 2023 20:56
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WHY BONER NOW posted:I want to see a fat predator. Like on a rascal scooter You’re in luck, Elon just started live streaming
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Oct 2, 2023 21:42
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Gripweed posted:That’s such a great sci-do world building moment. You don’t know how it works, but you see it needs some kind of binding agent or reagent or something. He rubs the drywall in his hand to see if it would work, so you know it’s a physical property, not chemical. It’s just enough to make the med kit feel real, and let you know it’s way different from our technology, and this Predator is resourceful. So what you're saying is the whole grand hunt culture is essentially it's a big Ken beach fight to keep them from loving everything up with their Mojo Dojo Hunting Lodges?
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Oct 2, 2023 21:50
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NikkolasKing posted:Speaking of which, why the hell are Weyland-Yutani so obsessed with getting a xeno, to the point they'd buy this no doubt very expensive hunk of junk station/ I've only seen Alien 1-3 and the AVP films, and it's also been a while, but I don't recall it ever being explained. I think there is a cold war zeitgeist that's lost in a modern context of the first movie. It's not explicitly stated but the idea was of getting the alien to use as a bio weapon to use against the "other side."
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Oct 2, 2023 22:09
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The UPP is one of the most fascinating parts of the "expanded universe" we get none of in mainline screentime. I think it makes a neat counterbalance to the ur-capitalist sensibilities of the POV characters and factions. But it works as is and is bleaker if we just take the screen canon that WY owns everything, and what it doesn't own it can rent.
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Oct 2, 2023 22:18
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Joe Chill posted:I think there is a cold war zeitgeist that's lost in a modern context of the first movie. It's not explicitly stated but the idea was of getting the alien to use as a bio weapon to use against the "other side." That's an interesting angle I hadn't considered. I need to re-watch Alien. It's always been far and away the only truly great Alien film to me. Maybe I should also watch Prometheus and Covenant someday, too, just to see why they are so divisive.
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Oct 2, 2023 22:19
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NikkolasKing posted:Speaking of which, why the hell are Weyland-Yutani so obsessed with getting a xeno, to the point they'd buy this no doubt very expensive hunk of junk station/ I've only seen Alien 1-3 and the AVP films, and it's also been a while, but I don't recall it ever being explained. Rewatching Alien a few months ago I found it interesting that there are some general hints in the movie Alien that finding small-a alien artifacts isn't a big deal. No one seems to think the possibilty of the signal being of non-human origin would be particularly remarkable and even a lowly towing vessel like the Nostromo has translation software that figures out the transmission's meaning in a few hours. IIRC Kane does say when he sees the alien vessel that it's not like anything he's seen before but again the inhuman nature of the ship itself doesn't seem noteworthy to the crew. I don't think any of the Alien EU material has explored this idea, but maybe humanity in the Alienverse has come across a lot of remnants of numerous non-human civilizations like the Space Jockey and his ship over the years. Enough that the vessel in Alien is distinct from others Kane had seen but not special enough that it's very existence was an amazing new discovery. Some of it marginally functional enough to be sending out radio signals and the like but otherwise not providing any real info on the species that left the artifacts behind.
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Oct 2, 2023 23:29
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NikkolasKing posted:That's an interesting angle I hadn't considered. Prometheus is great imo and worth seeing in general, I loved Covenant too but it's definitely an unexpected vibe, more so than Prometheus I totally get why people would hate it.
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Oct 2, 2023 23:44
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Something that I don't think gets talked about much with Prometheus (probably because no one has really watched it this way in a decade) - other than reviews at the time including Ebert's - is how much of a good 3D experience it was. It was shot with 3D cameras and Ridley was clearly making the movie with those aspects in mind. I still have vivid memories of being wowed by those lasers scanning through the caves I think Avatar, Life of Pi, and Prometheus are the best uses I've ever seen of 3D, but unlike those movies the fact that Prometheus's sets were so often practical really makes it stand out
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Oct 3, 2023 00:00
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BOAT SHOWBOAT posted:Something that I don't think gets talked about much with Prometheus (probably because no one has really watched it this way in a decade) - other than reviews at the time including Ebert's - is how much of a good 3D experience it was. It was absolutely the best 3D I ever saw in a theater that wasn't Avatar.
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Oct 3, 2023 00:15
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