Month: July 2023

Rhodey, Part II (Secret Invasion Spoilers) #Avengers #Endgame #InfinityWar #CivilWar #spoiler #MCU #skrull #Varra #Rhodey #SecretInvasion @DonCheadle @MarvelStudios

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It’s been a while since I wrote about the MCU, in no small part because the current phase hasn’t lived up to the last ones. I have my own idea as to how to fix that, but I’ll save that for another post.

I recently read this article, which prompted me to write this post.

Umm, Spoiler Alert?

It’s a TV show, and the episode in question is over a week old. Your grace period has ended.

Sexy.

Secret Invasion revealed that Rhodey has been a skrull for quite some time, though exactly how long is unknown. The only thing we’ve gotten out of the MCU powers-that-be is that he was replaced at some point prior to Avengers: Endgame. The suggestion in the article is that it occurred in or after Captain America: Civil War. Sure, maybe. As a hobbled guy, he was easier to subdue. But I don’t care. Here’s my point.

Rhodey being a Skrull after Captain America: Civil War changes how fans see every interaction he’s had since. His reunion with Team Captain America and tense conversation with Thunderbolt Ross suddenly don’t have the same emotional impact anymore. The same goes for his fun banters with his fellow heroes while they gear up for the time heist in Avengers: Endgame.

Umm, no. At least to that last sentence. Rhodey’s “fun banters” in Avengers: Endgame were actually Rhodey being an asshole. I explain how that’s the case in a prior post, so I won’t repeat that argument here (other than to link to this video). However, the fact that he was a skrull at that point is is a great explanation as to why he was being such an asshole to everyone. He wasn’t their friend and didn’t care about them. Sure, he kept up appearances with Tony Stark, but only because he knew that would be the relationship that couldn’t suffer. Any distance between those two would have been a red flag.

On the flip side, he seemed to get along with Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Falcon, in Infinity War, even showing concern that he couldn’t find him while he was being dusted. Why no animosity? Because Sam Wilson didn’t paralyze him. I mean her. It was a female skrull, Raava (mislabled Varra in the article), that stole Rhodey’s identity. We all just assumed they buried the hatchet in the downtime, but the truth is that Raava didn’t have a grudge against Sam.

But I digress. I think we can all see things that can be rationalized to justify that the switch occurred. All of this is to say that, especially in hindsight, we can easily make sense of the fact that Rhodey has been a skrull, but the “fun banters” don’t take away from that. They’re very much a part of that. They weren’t fun. He was being an asshole.

Side Note #1: I want to say one good thing about Rhodey/Raava. It makes sense that the two personae are played by different actors. They did that only because of the sex-swap, but they should have done that with everyone. What are the odds that Nick’s love interest, Priscilla, had a similar face to her alter-ego, Varra? Every skrull should have been played by a different actor than the one they appeared as in human form because their forms would have been completely different. Instead, Varra just looks like Priscilla in makeup.

Fourth wall break!

Side Note #2: On the other hand, what are the odds that two of the major characters had the names Raava and Varra. Why wasn’t there a Cink Rufy as a counter to Nick Fury? Stupid.

Raava was an asshole.

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Mike Doesn’t Want Anyone to Have Any Fun #RPG #TTRPG #DnD #ADnD #1e @longwall26

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I retweeted something funny on Saturday.

Screenshot below in case either tweet is ever deleted.

I shared a screenshot of Jason’s tweet to other social media, including Facebook, and most who responded agreed that it was funny, sometimes rolling with the joke and adding more. Sure enough, I found the one rotten apple in the bunch.

It went on further, but why burden you with that?

I guess “girls” need to avoid this guy, because he just refuses to have fun. The funny thing is, Mike was one of the people that reacted to the post with a laughter emoji. Go figure.

Don’t ruin the joke.

This is what we sometimes have to deal with in the legacy gaming community.

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Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, who neither contributed to nor endorsed the contents of this post. (Okay, jackasses?)

In case either tweet ever gets deleted, here’s the screenshot.

Vlog: Acceptance and the ORC License #Copyright #OGL #TTRPG #RPG #Pathfinder #ORC #Contract #license #game #gaming #Paizo #vlog

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This is the second of my two planned videos about Paizo’s ORC license. This one summarizes the issues I raised in the last video, follows up on one of those issues, then discusses an entirely different topic. I take a side trek towards shrink wrap licenses, but as long as this video is (41:00), I tried to keep it as brief as possible, so I didn’t mention the mild circuit split on shrink wrap licenses. Basically, sometimes the courts uphold them, and sometimes their skepticism has them strike them down. In other words, the concerns I expressed aren’t merely speculation, but rather based on actual disagreement between different courts. But hey; just watch the video. I wasn’t nearly as fired up in this one.

EDIT: After you watch the video, come back here for point of clarification. I say that shrink wrap licenses are being used in a weird way with respect to RPGs. Here’s another way to phrase it. With software, the licensor places a unilateral contract on their product and says, “This product is paired with this license. Use the product, and you accept the license.” With RPGs, the licensor (e.g., Paizo) isn’t putting their license on their own product, but even if they do, it’s not capable of being accepted at that point anyway, so it means nothing so far. Instead, the licensee (e.g., you) are putting Paizo’s unilateral contract on your own product, and in doing so effective saying, “Yeah, I accept this.” But you never actually say that to the licensor. Moreover, if Paizo accidentally figures out that you used the license on the product, they’re never going to contact you. Everyone is in a contractual relationship with everyone else, but most of us don’t actually know it. That’s weird.

Remember, shrink wrap licenses are unproven where it counts, and there are legitimate reasons not to trust them, not the least of which is that they’re unilateral. Now you’re using them in a way unique to an industry that’s rarely subject to litigation of this sort. That’s even more suspect.

References:

Idea v Expression in Tabletop Role-playing Games
The Merger Doctrine
My One-Stop Stat Block Posts
Something Stupid, and Something Odd

Tread lightly.

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Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, who neither contributed to nor endorsed the contents of this post. (Okay, jackasses?)

Vlog: Idea v. Expression, Consideration, and the ORC License #Copyright #OGL #TTRPG #RPG #Pathfinder #ORC #Contract #license #game #gaming #Paizo #vlog

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This is the first of my two videos about Paizo’s ORC license. This one rehashes (far more than it should have) the idea v. expression dichotomy, and then discusses problems with consideration within the license. I did it off the top of my head, which is never a good idea (over 40 minutes of ums and ahs), so watch it at at least 1.25 speed and expect to take breaks.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as how animated I get.

My second video on acceptance was just recorded, so that will go up tomorrow. It summarizes the issues I raise in this video, follows up on one of those issues, then discusses an entirely different topic. If you have any other questions on either what I’ve discussed in these two videos or what I haven’t, please let me know. I know there are other issues people are contemplating.

References:

Idea v Expression in Tabletop Role-playing Games
The Merger Doctrine
My One-Stop Stat Block Posts
Something Stupid, and Something Odd

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Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, who neither contributed to nor endorsed the contents of this post. (Okay, jackasses?)

Shots Fired! #DieHard #movie

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Here’s an appropriate meme for today.

I know what you’re thinking. “But it’s not Christmas!” Die Hard was released on July 15, 1988. I was in an overheated movie theater when I saw it. It was most certainly not Christmas.

BTW, as an action movie, Die Hard is loaded with unrealistic nonsense. You have to buy into that for action movies. But one thing that bugged me was when, in German, Hans tells Karl to shoot the glass. Karl acts surprised, and we all assume it’s because he doesn’t realize McClain is barefoot, so he doesn’t see the point. However, to run the point into the ground, Hans repeats, “Shoot the glass,” slowly and in English. Only then does Karl, who’s been speaking German the entire movie, understand him.

Happy 35th anniversary, Die Hard!

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Idea v Expression in Tabletop Role-playing Games #Copyright #OGL #TTRPG #RPG #Pathfinder #ORC #Contract #license #game #gaming

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I’ll be recording a video about Paizo’s ORC license soon. This serves as a prologue to that video. Here, I discuss the distinction between ideas and expressions in copyright law.

I recorded this while procrastinating; I didn’t want to go to the gym. Therefore, I didn’t do any research or write a script, so don’t expect any justification for my statements or structure to my words. I just want to make sure you understand a critical issue about copyright law, in layman’s terms, before dealing with the ORC.

But I’d really like some royalty checks.

References:

The Merger Doctrine
My One-Stop Stat Block Posts
Something Stupid, and Something Odd

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Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, LLC, who neither contributed to nor endorsed the contents of this post. (Okay, jackasses?)