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Vote to threadban Bioshuffle This poll is closed. |
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146 | 85.38% |
| No (also Goku) |
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25 | 14.62% |
| Total: | 171 votes | ||
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Soldier Boy also seemed to either not age or age very slowly - he would've been ~60 around the time of the Payback showdown in the 80s. Maybe there was something different in how supes got the V treatment that made longevity more likely. Otherwise weird that it would skip Homelander when both his genetic parents had it.
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Jun 25, 2024 19:00
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Mat Cauthon posted:Soldier Boy also seemed to either not age or age very slowly - he would've been ~60 around the time of the Payback showdown in the 80s. Compound V could well be like the Super Soldier Serum in Marvel - nobody's ever been able to make another Captain America because some fluke element of the original creation process was lost. Or perhaps they altered V to expand the scope of Homelander's powers and in the process accidentally wiped out its anti-agathic qualities.
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Jun 25, 2024 19:15
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Kinda wondering if Hughie's dad is going to end up as the show's version of a V-zombie. In the comics dead heroes could be revived using the V in their blood but they were always horrifically brain damaged, so Vought would put them in front of a camera to 'prove' they weren't dead and then quietly lock them up. Not sure where the storyline would go in the show but there's no way he's going to come back right.
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Jun 25, 2024 19:29
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jabby posted:Kinda wondering if Hughie's dad is going to end up as the show's version of a V-zombie. In the comics dead heroes could be revived using the V in their blood but they were always horrifically brain damaged, so Vought would put them in front of a camera to 'prove' they weren't dead and then quietly lock them up. Sometimes, dead is better.
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Jun 25, 2024 19:35
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Mat Cauthon posted:Soldier Boy also seemed to either not age or age very slowly - he would've been ~60 around the time of the Payback showdown in the 80s. He was also frozen for a long time, that likely helped him not age.
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Jun 25, 2024 20:07
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I'm leaning towards Sage being both super smart and super bored, and this gave her something to do besides read.
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Jun 25, 2024 20:42
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Mat Cauthon posted:Soldier Boy also seemed to either not age or age very slowly - he would've been ~60 around the time of the Payback showdown in the 80s. I think it's the process of trial and error. We don't know how many people they went through to get to Stormfront and Soldier Boy. But aside from that designing a Stormfront tier superhero is a lot like building a 1 gigaton thermonuclear weapon- far beyond impractical and a huge liability. Vought figured out it's more manageable to have a roster of mid level supes to draw from/manipulate than a few Homelanders who will inevitably go rogue.
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Jun 25, 2024 20:46
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The Last Call posted:He was also frozen for a long time, that likely helped him not age. I think the Legend specifically says that Soldier Boy doesn't age and this was known before he was captured. Stan also tells Singer in Season 3 that he regards Temp V as "the product perfected" because covering up the debauched celebrity of lifelong superheroes has become such a pain-in-the-rear end. Reading between the lines, he's probably more worried that HL is an existential threat even with aging. So it's possible that non-aging is a rare perk, but since the only Supes with it were both empowered by Dr. Vought, I think it's more likely that he regarded that as a feature for his Nazi ambitions which the company (less interested in those) iterated out.
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Jun 25, 2024 20:47
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Are we taking the whole smartest person thing at face value, and not just as marketing? She comes across as very intelligent, and her ability to read people is on another level; but I don't think she's done anything on the level of what a true super genius in this world could do. So far she's shown to be about as powerful as the guy from The Mentalist (minus the regenerating brain).
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Jun 25, 2024 21:10
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Her being able to read and listen to an audiobook simultaneously, and presumably reading dozens of books a day, are TV code for smart. She also shows immediate mastery of Vought’s particular style of disinformation.
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Jun 25, 2024 21:21
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Sage will achieve whatever her master plan is and then the super hamster from the russian facility will fly through the window and eat her entire brain. “You were useful sage but i have no need for you now,time take over the world”.
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Jun 25, 2024 21:25
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Super hamster, super chickens, normal octopus. The unstoppable triumvirate that will rule for 1,000 years.
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Jun 25, 2024 21:27
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In previews for the next episode we see sheep that can fly as well.
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Jun 25, 2024 21:33
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The Last Call posted:He was also frozen for a long time, that likely helped him not age. That was after Payback flipped on him in the late 80s. Assuming he was at least 18 in 1941 that would mean he's pushing 60 by the time the Russian's put him in the freezer but appeared to be comfortably mid-30s. Avasculous posted:So it's possible that non-aging is a rare perk, but since the only Supes with it were both empowered by Dr. Vought, I think it's more likely that he regarded that as a feature for his Nazi ambitions which the company (less interested in those) iterated out. Yeah the show has hinted that Voight has over time figured out how to tweak the formula in various ways, so makes sense that they would be able to somewhat select for or against specific powers for their marquee products. Everyone else just gets luck of the draw.
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Jun 25, 2024 22:03
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I'd kinda love to get into the science of it all because do they know it's going to completely random crap every time, are there certain markers they can reliably predict with? On the face of it V seems to be pure /roll 100 where you have just as much chance of getting the Superman powerset as you do a 20ft monster cock that talks to plants.
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Jun 25, 2024 22:10
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I don't really understand why Sage can't just be another self-obsessed shithead of a supe. She basically said in her opening scene that regular people are dumb as gently caress but that they are needed for supes to lord over and whip into slavery. Homelander offered her the opportunity to bring this vision into reality and she took it. There's nothing that she's done in the show to indicate that she's not ok with killing innocent people to justify the end result of a societal hierarchy where supes sat at the top.
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Jun 25, 2024 22:25
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That’s what I would tell the angry god that showed up at my door, too.
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Jun 25, 2024 22:29
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I think that the only way you can do a super smart character is to basically have things happen as if by magic and provide no explanation for the viewer, which makes for lovely viewing.
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Jun 25, 2024 22:36
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Professor Shark posted:I think that the only way you can do a super smart character is to basically have things happen as if by magic and provide no explanation for the viewer, which makes for lovely viewing. "Intellect sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic," which is why Sage won't see the Swintopus coming until it's already there.
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Jun 25, 2024 22:45
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Boris Galerkin posted:I don't really understand why Sage can't just be another self-obsessed shithead of a supe. She basically said in her opening scene that regular people are dumb as gently caress but that they are needed for supes to lord over and whip into slavery. Homelander offered her the opportunity to bring this vision into reality and she took it. There's nothing that she's done in the show to indicate that she's not ok with killing innocent people to justify the end result of a societal hierarchy where supes sat at the top. Sure she said that, because that's what Homelander needed to hear to both give her the power to put her actual plan into fruition, and not just tear her apart for being read into his secrets and turning down the offer. She has not yet allowed innocent people to be killed unless I'm missing something. She has 3 neofascists beaten to death for her false flag. I'm sorry but in this political climate, it's hard to buy reactionary J6/Trump-coded politically active operatives as innocent naifs, even if one is supposedly a decent stepdad. Double that when the satire version of that makes them agents of aliteral evil god-king. She had MTG get the poo poo kicked out of her which was frankly cathartic. Now pinning the false flag on 2 random black Starlighters is a real poo poo move, but them getting sprung right away might have been something she'd foreseen or even engineered. I'm not saying she's ultimately up to something kind and benevolent, but if we take as credible that she's a super-intelligence, a one-layer deep read of her short-term tactics shouldn't be taken as an absolute indicator of her ultimate objectives.
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Jun 25, 2024 22:46
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The show should have the balls to just let frenchie and probably kimiko be background/muscle/comic relief. You don’t know what to do with them, it’s fine, stop focusing on them for a while. stop trying to force stuff.
massive spider fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Jun 25, 2024 |
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Jun 25, 2024 22:52
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massive spider posted:The show should have the balls to just let frenchie and probably kimiko be background/muscle/comic relief. You don’t know what to do with them, it’s fine, stop focusing on them for a while. stop trying to force stuff.  Show would be a lot better if all we got from Kimiko so far this season were speech therapy scenes (and being in on ops) and all we got from Frenchie was him going "Sacre bleu!" whenever hyperviolence happens
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Jun 25, 2024 23:06
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Her use of texting/autocorrect to accommodate her mutism did elicit from me a sensible chuckle.
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Jun 25, 2024 23:13
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Sentinel Red posted:I'd kinda love to get into the science of it all because do they know it's going to completely random crap every time, are there certain markers they can reliably predict with? On the face of it V seems to be pure /roll 100 where you have just as much chance of getting the Superman powerset as you do a 20ft monster cock that talks to plants. I've thought about it a lot. I think it's tied to stem cells or telomeres or something. The power sets likely fall under a bell curve: On one end, you have supes with obscure, weak, and/or hard to market skill sets- the popclaws, firecrackers, etc. Most of these are glorified parlor tricks tacked on to an existing non supe talent they'd have to develop to actually be famous. Firecracker doesn't really show off her powers because they're just not that impressive compared to say starlight. Which meant she had to lean harder in the beauty pageant/idealogue angle. If V was formulated to be as "safe" as possible then you'd see lower level power sets like this, since they ensure they're not inherently incompatible with life (ie you can convert your molecules into water... But only once!). Then you have the peak of the curve, the most visibly common power sets. These are typically some variation of enhanced durability, strength, speed, and reflexes. You'll often see those traits with one or two other powers; starlight in addition to high durability has enhanced strength and this is paired with her EMP/energy blast powers. Speedsters fall in this category as well. These make up the most common cohort of superheroes, effective enough to do actual superhero stuff but not the absolute limit so stronger counterparts exist. Then you have the highest end supes which have durability/strength in a class of their own, the Homelander tier. These heroes tended to be put on the tightest leash or are able to use their powers very effectively for political gain like Neumann. They might also have qualities that make them virtually immortal but getting to this point requires a lot of tinkering with V. With Soldier Boy I think they caught lightning in a bottle (in terms of pure powers Noir is just a weaker counterpart for instance). Homelander was specifically engineered from scratch to take things to the limit with all of Soldier boys physical properties on top of flight and eye lasers. And I believe that Golden Boy was going to be the next evolution from Homelander, but to take it this far requires transfusions from his super powered brother (who at best is perhaps Kimiko levels of strength/durability.) Golden Boy not only had durability, strength, speed, flight but could potentially incinerate anything near him.
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Jun 25, 2024 23:34
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People get dumb lovely powers for story reasons and that's it. You can't have a Superman in every country or competing Supermans in the Seven The comics the show is based off of were written by a guy who hates the entire concept of superheroes, so a core element of the whole thing is, as the Brits say, taking the piss out of them
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Jun 25, 2024 23:53
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Mat Cauthon posted:Soldier Boy also seemed to either not age or age very slowly - he would've been ~60 around the time of the Payback showdown in the 80s. That was never established. All we know is Vought's scientist's paid a runaway to carry baby Homelander. Owlbear Camus posted:I'm not saying she's ultimately up to something kind and benevolent, but if we take as credible that she's a super-intelligence, a one-layer deep read of her short-term tactics shouldn't be taken as an absolute indicator of her ultimate objectives. "First pebble down the mountain" after seeing Starlight kick the poo poo out of Firecracker on live TV for the world is see is a very good indicator.
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Jun 25, 2024 23:55
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Owlbear Camus posted:She has not yet allowed innocent people to be killed unless I'm missing something. She pressured Annika (?) into confessing in front of Homelander. Her reaction to Annika getting lasered was "ugh, you should have let her finish her sentence."
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Jun 26, 2024 00:01
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My take on that scene is she was shaken by Annika but thought fast enough to invent a plausible excuse to not give homelander the reaction he wanted.
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Jun 26, 2024 00:02
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He was rather merciful compared to most of his kills. When he was told to put that one scientist "out of his misery" I thought he'd just laser his head off but instead slowly crushes the poor man's skull 
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Jun 26, 2024 00:16
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Avasculous posted:Reading between the lines, he's probably more worried that HL is an existential threat even with aging. Homelander is an even greater existential threat with aging. He's a psychopathic solipsistic WMD. If he was immortal then at least he might be interested in having people around to worship him. But faced with the knowledge of death then with himself being all that matters, he's totally off the leash.
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Jun 26, 2024 00:42
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https://x.com/VoughtIntl/status/1805676106344972666
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Jun 26, 2024 01:19
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The X-Ray for that scene says "yes this is an actual Outback Blooming Onion, the prop department drove two hours to get it."
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Jun 26, 2024 01:36
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You have to wonder if that’s foreshadowing. She can’t regenerate outside of her eyes, and blind oracles have been a thing for a couple thousand years.
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Jun 26, 2024 01:55
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I think the Sage storyline is built on a weak foundation motivation-wise. I don't feel like Homelander ever had much reason to trust her and him actively going out to find someone smarter than him to help was pretty out of character in the first place - it almost felt like the writers realized that they'd killed off every smart Vought character and needed a quick excuse to introduce a new one so they could do a conspiracy storyline. Plus if Sage has her own grand plan it seems rather weak that she only got to put it into practice due to a random whim from Homelander rather than something she (the World's Smartest Person) did to get the ball rolling.
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Jun 26, 2024 01:59
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Irony Be My Shield posted:Plus if Sage has her own grand plan it seems rather weak that she only got to put it into practice due to a random whim from Homelander rather than something she (the World's Smartest Person) did to get the ball rolling. they could always just forrest gump her into earlier scenes from the show, saying ‘just as keikaku’ and nodding in satisfaction hughies girlfriend gets splattered just as keikaku etc.
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Jun 26, 2024 02:07
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Irony Be My Shield posted:I think the Sage storyline is built on a weak foundation motivation-wise. I don't feel like Homelander ever had much reason to trust her and him actively going out to find someone smarter than him to help was pretty out of character in the first place - it almost felt like the writers realized that they'd killed off every smart Vought character and needed a quick excuse to introduce a new one so they could do a conspiracy storyline. Plus if Sage has her own grand plan it seems rather weak that she only got to put it into practice due to a random whim from Homelander rather than something she (the World's Smartest Person) did to get the ball rolling. Homelander believes he can control her with fear, same as everyone else. He's also shown while he will listen to her, that does not mean he will do everything she wants or likes. It's to make a point, it doesn't matter how smart she is, he will do whatever he thinks is best. It's a warning in many ways, he said he wanted someone with some backbone who will talk back to him. Except we all know he really doesn't.
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Jun 26, 2024 02:09
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Good for Vought Burger not calling her SISTER Sage like she didn’t want to be called. Bad for using a reference to a theory that, in her universe, is wrong.. hyphz fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Jun 26, 2024 |
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Jun 26, 2024 02:52
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Irony Be My Shield posted:Plus if Sage has her own grand plan it seems rather weak that she only got to put it into practice due to a random whim from Homelander rather than something she (the World's Smartest Person) did to get the ball rolling. I really really doubt it was entirely random, she was very out of place on a list of potential supes for the 7
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Jun 26, 2024 08:30
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TIP posted:I really really doubt it was entirely random, she was very out of place on a list of potential supes for the 7 Was it just me or were some of the potentials known actors? I think I spotted Zach McGowan as Dog Welder (Vane from Black Sails, but he was on The 100 and Agents Of SHIELD as well)
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Jun 26, 2024 08:34
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Open Source Idiom posted:Was it just me or were some of the potentials known actors? I think I spotted Zach McGowan as Dog Welder (Vane from Black Sails, but he was on The 100 and Agents Of SHIELD as well) the dog fucker is an actor and is supposed to be in some actual episodes this season, I think he was the russian terminator in agents of shield I googled him because I thought it was jon bernthal lol
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Jun 26, 2024 08:37
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