MTG Salvation

The night thing is based less on logistics and more on atmosphere and theme. As a dark character who wields fear like a weapon, Batman is out of place in the daytime. His home is the night. I don't think it's a coincidence that the animal Bruce based his hero persona on is nocturnal.

And I can't remember where it's from, but I remember a quote along the lines of "The world is for those who live in the daylight. It was built for them to feel safe. It's those who live in the dark that need heroes." The premise being that the daytime has the police and other services to protect, but the night brings out far scarier things than the daylight, so the world needs heroes at night more than the day. Or something.

One thing I want to point out about Batman is that he doesn't fight crime as Batman out of the goodness of his heart. My interpretation has always been that Bruce Wayne is just as sociopathic/psychotic as the villains he fights. In several incarnations of the story, Bruce is depicted as a tortured do-gooder, but I've always seen him as a crazed vigilante. He's only considered a hero because the ones he goes after are far worse than he is. The fact that he fights crime is just a byproduct, the reason he does it is to lash out at those he identifies with the man who took his parents from him. Witnessing his parents' death severely messed Bruce up and it's that pain and fear and helplessness and lack of control that he's overcompensating for by being Batman.

I agree with you that generally Marvel has many far more compelling characters than DC. Marvel's characters tend on the whole to be much more multi-dimensional where DC tends to be a fair bit more archetypal. But I think Batman is the one character that DC managed to create with a bit of depth. And when explored properly, Batman can be just as compelling s Marvel's characters.

I quit seven years ago. Never bought another card. Never played another game. Never really regretted it.

*shrug*

Oh, and don't worry man. You're only 19. Chances are you'll find plenty of women who make you feel even worse than this.




Singles Solidarity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, someone's single on V-Day.

Rob, Beth, Jason, Lily and Hud all struck me as being fairly intricately connected. Especially where Lily's concerned. Most of her dialogue in the early sequences are what shape our perceptions of the group dynamics. Her (apparently quite serious) relationship with Jason, she thinks of Rob as her brother, Beth is her best friend, she's the one who informs us that Hud and Rob are best friends, etc. It's through her interactions with the group that we get a better sense of how everyone's connected.

And perhaps it's my own experiences speaking a bit here but in your twenties, your friends more often than not fill the role of family to a greater extent than your actual blood relatives. So for me, it wasn't a great stretch to paint inside the blanks when it came to seeing the connections between the characters. Their actions didn't seem arbitrary or contrived to me, they felt real.

Again, except for Marlena, who save for Lily had no real connection to any of them. She even says as much when she's introduced. But I don't even think she knew why she was following the group. It was likely no more than that, in her fear, panic and confusion, she decided to follow the only familiar faces rather than be alone. Is that fanwanking? Yes. Did I need the movie to spell it out for me? No, I actually kind of like that Cloverfield didn't spend copious amounts of time on speeches and soliloquies with characters explaining themselves and their feelings. In real life, things go unexplained, connections undefined.

What, you guys don't have friends you love enough to risk death in a monster-riddled city for?

I can mostly understand a lot of the complaints about the film (even if I disagree with them), but "Why would they go against reason and try to rescue Beth?" isn't one of them. Putting myself in their shoes for a moment, were it one of my friends in Beth's predicament, I would have gone without hesitation. The only character's motivation I didn't get was Marlena's, but they even touched on that in the subway (even if it still went unexplained).

Complaints about the shakey-cam, revealing too much of the monster, the plotholes and loose ends, the acting and the plot I understand. But complaining because you don't get loyalty to family ... not so much.

I think the state of cardnames is only at play for these two sets. They wanted Lorwyn to have a lighthearted feel, and whimsical, off-the-wall names go a long way toward that end.

Personally, I think they struck a good balance on lighthearted whimsy without going too childish with it. That said, I'm glad it will probably only be for two sets.

Apparently, it's even deadlier serious than I realized.

Deadly serious.

Oh man .... really?? You don't think you're taking things a bit too seriously?

Two swings, two misses. Your mom must be so proud.

Sorry, jolly, you're still not cool.

Awesome! Thank you.

Mind if I repost these in the Rumor Mill linking back here to you as the source?

That's an awful lot of question marks.

Any translations? Also, you may be interested in posting this here as well.